That Old Time Christmas Feeling

Isaiah 7: 10-16
Matthew 1: 18-25

I had someone tell me once that the whole Christian story is a myth. That it was all made up from the very beginning to the very end. They cited what they considered to be facts and made a pretty convincing argument. And so I began to question whether it was possible that all that we know, all that we believe about our faith could just be some fantastical myth that brings false hope to billions of people.

I came to several conclusions. I believe in God. I believe in a God that loves us because God had so much love to give that he created the world as a way to express God's love more fully. God doesn't need us to be complete, but we need God to be complete. God created us to give and show love to us. And the more I thought about it, I realized the whole Christian belief system isn't based on "facts" about whether a baby was born in a manger with cows mooing or about a snake in a Garden or if Mary was truly a virgin or any other part of the Bible people like to debate "Did this actually happen?".

Our Christian belief system is built around the idea of a God that loved the world so much that He gave to us the gift that would save us from ourselves: Immanuel which means God with us. Jesus Christ, whatever day he was born, wherever he was born, came to earth to help God understand humanity and to help humanity understand God better. And I believe that to the very depths of my soul. Jesus Christ is the greatest gift we have ever been given.

The other conclusion I came to is it does not matter how historically accurate the bible is or isn't, and let's be clear, the writers of each book were not thinking of writing down history the way we do today. They were telling stories of faith, passed down to them by word of mouth from generation to generation. They wanted the world to know about what had changed their life. Therefore, instead of getting caught up in what is historically accurate and how long the bible says the earth existed and how it began, it is much more important to impart the faith in a God that took darkness and non-existence and created light and life. That's the miracle, people!

It has nothing to do with how many days God took to create the world, but how much love and thought was brought to bear to create a universe that sustains life from the tiniest bug and plant to the largest animals and humans. You want a miracle - look at your own body. The ligaments and nerves and muscles and organs. How each is interconnected and affected by something as simple as two hydrogen compounds and one oxygen compound: water. Our bodies are miracles. The ecosystem is a miracle. Gravity is a miracle because without it, we would drift away from the Sun and life would never have been sustainable.

The things humanity gets caught up in and fight over have nothing to do with the true meaning of Christ and Christmas. Ahaz was told by God that he could ask for any sign from him and he would receive it. God told Ahaz that it was okay to ask for anything, and Ahaz refused. Ahaz understood something that humanity lately seems to have forgotten. In our determination to have and keep what we have; in our inability to see other people's points of view; in our steadfast search to be entertained we have forgotten the deep, true meaning of Christmas and God.

Ahaz tells God, "I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test." Faith and belief. Love and hope. Joy and peace. They belonged to Ahaz because he understood that God has given to us the greatest of all gifts. God has given us life and then as if that was not enough, God gave us eternal life.

What do we do with these gifts? How do we show our appreciation? Tell me, what do you do to make sure the world knows what God has done for you? What do you do to make sure everyone receives the same amazing, life-altering gift that you have been given? Do you show your appreciation to God by living a life of faith and belief, like Ahaz, refusing to put God to the test?

We all are searching for meaning of life during this time of year. It's not that we don't want all that faith and hope and love and peace and joy, but for some reason many of us find it elusive. I think we need to examine our lives. What are our priorities? How much time are we giving to God? An hour a week for church is not going to make that Christmas spirit we miss so much come alive. Spending more time with God is what makes us come alive. God is life just as much as God is love and therefore if we want more life and love, then we need to go to the source.

Little prayers. Wake up in the morning and say "Help me through this day, Lord", and at night say, "Thank you for helping me through the day, and help me to be better tomorrow." Those two lines - those are prayers. They are real prayers. God doesn't need fancy words or an itemed agenda. God needs honesty from us. We need to be honest with ourselves and honest with God. Read a scripture a day and try to memorize it if you can. There are apps on phones and computers these days that can send you a scripture every single day to read. Deliberate do something kind for someone every single day. Help a woman with too many packages and a screaming baby by holding the door for her. Compliment every person you see one day by deliberately looking for something worthwhile in them. Start telling your loved ones you love them before getting off the phone.

If we want to be better people then we need to practice being more like Christ. If we want to be more like Christ then we need to be communicating with Him. If we want to know what Jesus would have done in the situation we are in then we need to know Jesus and that means reading the Bible. If we want that old time Christmas feeling then we need to connect to the one that began it all.

Some of you made an excellent start with the Wynwood Angel tree. Not only did so many of you donate gifts to the people, but then some of you went and delivered them in person. It meant the world to those older people. The carols you sang, the gifts you brought and the time you took to make something that could have been impersonal into a special event will stay with them forever. You changed lives with that angel tree this year. I know, because I've received several phone calls telling me so.

This is exactly what we should be doing here. Spreading good cheer and the message of Jesus Christ not only through words, but through actions. It's not enough to say we're Christians because in today's world that doesn't really mean anything anymore. The meaning as well as the feeling of Christmas has been lost. And it's up to us to get it back and to show others what it means to be a Christian.

You have an amazing opportunity in front of you. May you reach out with both hands to grasp this new gift that God has given to each of us here at Trinity. We have the ability to change lives and to make the world a better place through Jesus Christ. That's not something to scoff at!

Amen.

Joy and Expectation

Isaiah 35: 1-10
Matthew 11: 2-11

At first glance, the passage in Matthew does not seem to have much bearing on the third week of Advent, the week that represents the joy of our coming Savior. However, John the Baptist is a lot like the rest of us and he was waiting for the Messiah just like we are today. John was waiting in a prison cell, when he hears about this man named Jesus who is doing great things and some confess him to be the Lord. But John isn't sure this man is truly the Messiah until he sends one of his disciples to make sure all of his expectations for the Messiah are being fulfilled because there are many that will come and try to pretend to be the Messiah and so John needs to be sure that this man is the one he's been waiting for his whole life. Just like John, we often allow doubts to creep into our hearts due to our expectations of what things should be like.

And so John sends one of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one who is to come, the one John has longed for and tried to prepare the world for over and over again. This tells us something very important. John, with as much knowledge and as much grace as God had given to him did not know if Jesus was really the Messiah. How are we to recognize Jesus if one such as John did not recognize him right away?

Jesus gives us the answer in this text just as he gives John the answer he seeks. Jesus looks at John's disciple and he does not tell him off or tell him to go back to John with mere words of "Yes, I am he". No, instead, Jesus tells the disciple to take a close look at what he is doing and report it back to John. He tells the man, "Report back what you hear and what you see."

There are a lot of false people out there. False prophets and false Christians and false charities, especially around this time of year. It can suck the joy of Christmas right out of us knowing how quickly and easily people are being scammed. Jesus understands our fears and our weariness. Jesus understands our lack of trust and our inability to put our faith in the mere words of another.

This is why celebrating Advent and Christmas is so important. It helps us to remember who we really are, and it helps us to regain our trust in humanity and in the gift that God has given to us. Christmas is not just a fleeting holiday for enjoying the flowering poinsettia before it fades. This is when we remember that we are not just parents, business people, or senior citizens. If you allow any job to define you, you will eventually be exiled from joy. Christmas is when we gather in homes and churches to remember that we are Christians who believe the word of the Lord will stand forever. We believe this Word became flesh and was incarnated to us in Jesus Christ. And we believe that means Jesus Christ stands with us – forever.

John the Baptist wanted to know before he died that the Messiah the world had been promised had finally arrived. He had great expectations for the Messiah just like the rest of the Jews did. They all wanted a Savior, but that savior took on many forms in their minds. Jesus still has that ability today because it has often been said that what we read and what we hear in the scriptures are what we expect from Jesus rather than what Jesus really is. For example, those of us that need a strong Jesus seek out the passages of him where he does not mince his words or actions. For those of us that need a gentle, loving savior we like to read about the Jesus who heals our wounds and offers comforting parables. Expectations can sometimes get us into trouble however.

I do not know who has a harder time with Christmas – those who expect it to be awful or those who expect it to be wonderful. In either case, it is the expectations that create the problem. Christmas is just the herald of good tidings. Do not get so preoccupied with what the herald is or isn’t that you miss the proclamation: “Here is your God. Standing right beside you in Jesus Christ.” In good days, in horrible days, or in ordinary days – that is our source of joy.

Don't you love to see people who are joyful? They have something that is different from happiness, which is more dependent on circumstances. They have joy, which emerges from the inside out, stays with them long after the holidays have faded, and allows them to work with delight.

But joy does not happen when we are caught up in our expectations of who Jesus is and who we are and what Christmas should or shouldn't be. On the news the other day, I saw a woman getting very angry at the idea that a blogger would talk about having a black Santa Claus instead of a white one. She even went so far as to say that Santa Claus came from the patron saint, St. Nicklaus who was from Greece and therefore white. She then went on to say that as we all know, Jesus Christ is also white.

I sat there for a moment, stunned and disbelieving as her panel of white peers did not disagree with her. Did not one of them realize that Greece back then is now what we call Turkey and Turkish people are brown skinned and therefore St. Nicklaus could not have been white? And did she not know that Jesus Christ was born in Israel, in Bethlehem and therefore could not be white either? And why did Santa Claus or Jesus'  skin color matter so much to her anyway?

She was raised with an expectation that they were white and to mess with that expectation took away  her joy and replaced it with fear. Fear causes us to say and do some awful things. The reason we spend four weeks anticipating the birth of our Savior Jesus is so that we can remove the falsities, remove the blinders, remove the unrealistic expectations in our minds and hearts and replace them with the hope, love, joy, and peace that is given through the birth of Jesus Christ.

This year, I want you to examine your heart. I want you to examine the expectations you have not only for this season, but for the coming year, and for yourself. What expectations are holding you back? What ideas do you have about your life and your church that keep you from doing something new? What fears do you hold in your heart that have you lashing out at others without thinking? Where has expectation removed your joy?

At Christmas, we who call ourselves Christians hear the incredible tidings that the Messiah has come to stand with us. That is how we find joy. And when we get clobbered by fear and unrealistic expectations, the joy is powerful enough to get us back on our feet again. That is because the word of God will stand forever.

May your Christmas this year be filled with all the peace and hope, love and joy that God has to offer you in the power of God's holy Word.

Amen. 

Love and Depression

Isaiah 11: 1-10
Romans 15: 4-13

Advent is about preparing our hearts for the coming of our Savior. The one who was born of a woman who was young and inexperienced. She had nothing to her name, and even her reputation was slightly soiled by the time Jesus makes an appearance. All she had to give was her love, and that she gave with abundance to this little baby wrapped in a blanket and surrounded by none of the luxuries and comforts she would have wished for him.

Mary and Joseph know something that no one else knows. This baby was special, and although all babies are special gifts this child was to be a gift to the world given by God. How Mary must have wanted to lavish the finest things on this little boy. How Joseph must have wanted to protect every tiny hair on his little head and wipe every tear from his sweet little face. Their love for Jesus would have known no bounds.

But soon after he was born, they had to flee Bethlehem and head not back to their hometown of Nazareth, but to Egypt to escape death. They never had a chance to give him all the things they wanted to, all the things that God deserves from us. Jesus grew up with a lot of love, but very little in the way of material wealth and possessions.

Christmastime in the 21st century tells us that our children and our loved ones cannot be happy without the best and most lavish gifts from us. We're told that we are to be always smiling during this month. We're to hold peace and joy and love in our hearts, and give thanks for all that we have. We're told so many things and they've created a false ideal. They're NOT true, not completely.

It's okay to not be happy during this time of year. It's okay to not spend a small fortune on all your friends and family. It's okay to be angry and depressed. It's okay to not enjoy this time of year. You're not alone if you sometimes feel that way. It doesn't mean you don't enjoy some aspects of this time, it's not that you don't appreciate what your Savior has done for you. All it means is that life has not been easy on you, and it's hard for you to find peace and joy when your wounds are fresh, and your heart is aching with suppressing it.

Mary ached. Joseph bled. They were expecting a child and it can be a miraculous and beautiful time for parents. Or it can be terrifying and confusing. I suspect that Mary and Joseph experienced both and it was the terror and confusion and uncertainty that plagued them most. No one likes to talk about that though. No one likes to mention the pain of being unwed and pregnant. No one likes to mention the hurt Joseph must have felt to know this son would never be completely his. No one talks about the utter fear and desolation they both must have felt as they came to Bethlehem, knowing that Mary was about to give birth, and they were without support or love.

Do you think they didn't feel abandoned by God? Oh, trust me, they did. God sweeps in and announced Mary is pregnant with a very special child, that salvation depended upon her giving birth to a perfect little son. Do you know how rare that was? 2,000 years ago giving birth was extremely risky and often caused the death of the mother and the child. If the child lived, they didn't always live very long. Not many children made it past their 2nd year, and even fewer made it past childhood into puberty. The pressure they were both under was enormous. She probably had morning sickness all day long for all 9 months from the pressure and stress she was under.

Joseph would have been wracked with guilt that there was nothing he could do to ease this pressure and stress from Mary. He would have stood by her side and watched her throw up, trying to reassure her that all would be well, that God had a plan and would let nothing happen to them. But they weren't stupid. Bad things happen to good people all the time. Bad things happen to those God professes to love more than anything. The Old Testament was filled with those God loved being troubled and hurt. And so Joseph's reassurances would have been slightly empty, like we are sometimes empty during this holiday season.

It's not that we don't believe that God loves us. It's not that we aren't thankful for Jesus Christ coming to earth as a baby and dying for our sins. It's not that we don't want to accept hope, love, joy, and peace into our hearts. We have learned that life is fragile and those we care about can be ripped from us in a couple heartbeats. We have learned that although we struggle to do the right things, that those who do wrong often get what we do not. We have learned that it is in the moments we're supposed to be most happy and joyful, that instead we are lonely and sad.

How do we get past our pain to accept the love that is ours this day? It's not easy, and we may never get past it completely, but there are things we can do.

The first thing we do is pray and offer our troubles to God. We ask that the Holy Spirit be with us during our darkest hours and fill our hearts with good things instead of the pain of past hurts and missing loved ones. The second thing we do is believe that God wants what is best for us. The third thing we do is find the things that do bring us joy. I have not been feeling the Christmas spirit this year, and my grandmother noticed.

She kept insisting that we put up my Christmas decorations and tree before she left this last week. We ended up having to make a special trip to see my sister and so we didn't get to it. She's called every day since then to ask if I put it up. Finally, I asked yesterday why she cared so much if I put it up or not. She told me, "A Christmas tree is a reminder of the promise. The lights twinkle no matter what mood we're in. The ornaments are made from loved ones and the things we enjoy. Looking at the tree brings me peace. It gives me hope that better times will come. You need that. We all need that. Put up the tree, Audra. Give yourself a chance to find some joy in a lonely moment."

My grandmother is a wise woman. I put up the tree last night. I spent a long time watching the lights glitter off the ornaments. I remembered past Christmases sleeping under the tree with my sisters and my mom nearby watching television with us. I remembered the promise God made to us all. Not that life would be without pain, but that God was there with us. That Jesus died for us. That the Holy Spirit never leaves us alone and therefore I am not abandoned to my fate with no hope of redemption.

This may not be your favorite season. This may be a painful time. But even in the darkest moments, we can allow the light of God's love to shine in us and chase some of the gloom and doom away. As Paul said in Romans 15:13 " May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Trust in God. Not yourself or anyone else, but in God the one who gave us the miracle of Jesus Christ, birthed to two people that were just like us and were scared and lonely just like us. Trust in God and allow God's hope to fill you with joy and peace so that this Christmas we may all overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The Lazy and Disruptive

Isaiah 65: 17-25
2 Thess 3: 6-13

There are  many people that make up the body of Christ. Many different personalities and many different ideas and ways of doing things. That is good and that is right. As the Apostle Paul tells us, not everyone can be head or neck of the church and not everyone should be an arm or leg. We need people with different gifts and ideas to make a church whole and healthy. Truth be told, not many churches are whole and healthy, and the one we read about in Thessalonica is no exception.

In the newly formed church of Thessalonica, there were people that were not doing as they should. They were lazy and they were disruptive. There were people that loved to listen to gossip and spread it to everyone who would listen. There were people who were doing too much work and others that were not doing enough. There were people who had forgotten that Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and not them. The author urges the people to remember the example that they had set when they began the church and to settle down.

Paul tells the people it is time to earn the food they eat. With the divisions in American politics being what it is, this has become a huge topic to republicans and democrats. How much should we help the poor? Should we help them at all? Do we help or harm the people when we extend unemployment benefits and food stamps? This is a problem that has been plaguing society for thousands of years.

We are called to help those that need it. We are also called to make sure people can stand on their own two feet. Sometimes, people will take advantage of our generosity and will take what we give whether they need it or not. As a church, as individuals, and as a nation we need to decide how much we're willing to give and when to say no more. Because Paul does tell us that it is okay to look at someone and tell them to get up and work for what they eat. Now, that does not mean there are not circumstances where a person absolutely cannot earn what they eat. However, we are told that sometimes it's okay to be discriminating in who we offer help to. If the person has two good hands and feet and an able mind - by all means urge them to find work.

This week there was a horrible fire that devastated a family's home. They lost almost everything. It is perfectly acceptable to give them help and Paul would be the first to urge us to give whatever we can to get the family back on their feet. If, in a year from now, the family continues to take things when they no longer need it - that is the issue Paul has with the people in Thessalonica. There is no excuse for laziness. He reminds the people they are taking the energy and resources we have away from those that need it when they refuse to contribute to building up the church.

There is another component to this passage. Paul talks about the busybodies. These are the people that can be idle gossip mongers or they can be people who think it is their job to know everything that goes on in the church and so they take on too much work. These people often do not realize the disruption they cause in the church body because they are too busy to notice. In this passage, Paul reminds us that it is not enough to work constantly for the church, but instead we must work together.

He says that although it was his right to do no work at all and eat whatever he wanted, he and his companions did work with the church body to build up the body of Christ and to teach them what is right and proper. Sometimes, we find ourselves getting so caught up in helping that we take on too much and hurt ourselves and others. When we constantly stand up to do a job, it makes others who are more hesitant and unsure of their gifts, recede into the background. They become idle in their work and faith because we have people that are working too hard.

The church is meant to be a working body. Each part has a function. Every person has a place. The church is not a social gathering place. It is not meant to be a place of idle chitchat. We are not to come here and expect everyone else to do all the work. We are not to come here and expect to do all the work. We are not to sit in our pews on Sunday and think that is the only worship and work that is required as a disciple of Christ. Paul tells us that if that is what you think - then you're thinking wrong.

Church is the place we worship God; our creator, savior and redeemer. Church is the place we congregate to make plans to help others. Church is the place where we get prayed over and we pray for others. Church is the place where a group of people with different gifts and abilities all strive to make our community better, healthier, and more in touch with Jesus Christ. It is not the place where idle gossip is exchanged. It is not the place where petty words and actions are committed. It is not the place where people are unable to forgive mistakes.

Because, Paul tells us, if that is what we are - then how are we any different from the outside world? What do we have to offer our community if we cannot get past such things like disagreements and differences in personality? How can we possibly share the love of Christ with strangers when we do not show the love of Christ to those within these walls?

Take a look around this sanctuary. There are people in here you like and respect. There are people you do not like, but you still treat them well. There are people who you have fought with and afterward you have made up with. There are people who you have shared tears of sorrow with at the loss of a friend or spouse. There are people here who you have helped to get back on their feet during a trying time.

If we want to be a healthy church, all of these things are needed and okay. What is not acceptable is when our dislike becomes disrespect. When we have a disagreement and we allow it to fester in our hearts. What is not acceptable is when we create an agenda that hurts the church and hurts our community because we think a certain person or certain group of people or a committee needs punished. That is when our actions and our words show how far we have turned away from the teaching of Christ. Jesus is the one who stood before his accusers and loved them even as they spouted lies and filth at him. The one who as he lay gasping for breath, bleeding and bloody on that cross, he cried out to God to forgive them for they do not understand what they have done.

That is the example we are called to follow. That is the ONLY way we are to treat each other. Anything else is an abomination of Christ's teaching and is a sin against God.

The good news is that there is time to change all of this. The great news is that despite our pettiness and idleness and gossip, Christ has never stopped loving us and believing in us. Each of you are God's beloved child, an heir to the Kingdom of God because Jesus died to make it so. That will never, ever change unless you deny your inheritance. That means no matter how far we stray from Christ's path that there is a way back. Jesus does not leave us alone even when we stop praying and stop acting like a Christian should.

Today we shall take Communion. We shall eat and drink with Jesus Christ, at his Father's table through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That means right now, we can let go of all the sinful thoughts and behaviors we have subjected ourselves and others to and accept forgiveness. We can start fresh; we will be clean and new and beautiful.

Paul's warning to Thessalonica is a warning to us all. Do not become idle in your faith and in your good works. Continually go back to Jesus Christ and accept his forgiveness and love. When we do that, we cannot stray from God's path for very long.

Amen. 

God of the Living

Job 19: 23-27a
Luke 20: 27-38

As Jesus is teaching in the temple, a variety of challenges confronts him. The Sadducees are questioning his authority and attempting to entrap him in a net of his own words. The scribes and chief priests are amazed at all the things he has been teaching such as paying taxes to the emperor and have fallen silent which allow the Sadducees their chance to prove Jesus as a false prophet with improper teachings.

A little background is in order for everyone to understand why this is so important to the Sadducees. The Pharisees and the Sadducees had a huge difference in opinion on what happens after we die. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but the Sadducees believed that when a person died that was it; nothing came afterward. Therefore, when they ask Jesus about the resurrection, they deliberately give an absurd example to try to show why the belief in the bodily resurrection is faulty and wrong. What no one expects, Sadducee or Pharisee, is what Jesus ends up telling them!

As the Sadducees lay out their scenario for Jesus, you can almost hear the scorn in their words and the laughter of the nearby listeners. In a levirate marriage, there was a compassionate law that stated if a woman's husband died the husband's brother would be obligated to marry this woman and raise any children that had been left behind. It was a way to provide a home and security for widows and children who had no ability to fend or feed themselves without a man at their side. This was a law that Moses himself had handed down, and now the Sadducees were going to use it against Jesus. Let's see how he gets out of this one, they were thinking!

Jesus responds by teaching the Sadducees what Moses meant and interpreting their scriptures. For the Sadducees, the Scriptures were limited to Torah or the first five books of the Bible. Jesus honors their tradition by also using the Torah in his explanation. This is the wonderful thing about Jesus. Even when he is putting people in their place and teaching all of us something new and wonderful, he makes sure to honor what has come before his teachings.

Jesus tells the Sadducees that Moses himself said that God reveals himself to be the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Why is this significant? All three of those men are dead by the time Moses is confronted with God at the burning bush when those words are spoken. Therefore, if the Sadducees were right that life ends upon our death, then why would God remember and speak of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Jesus tells everyone there that our God is the God of the living and every person that has come before us and all of us now, and all of us to come are known to God and part of God's plan.

This puts the Sadducees' teachings into complete disarray! Jesus has just announced that there is most certainly life after death and he has used the Torah to prove it! He proves his point by mentioning that God does not say, "At one time I was the God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but now they are dead and gone though I remember them with great fondness." No. God says, "I AM the God of Abraham. I AM the God of Isaac. I AM the God of Jacob." God uses the present tense to announce that God is and will always be the God of those three men. Jesus drives home his point by saying, "For to God all of them are alive."

God is a God of the living, not of the dead. Why does that matter to us? What does it mean for all of us sitting here today?

There are many times in our lives when we feel that God is distant from us and lacks empathy for our lives. We have been hurt by the world and we have felt alone and scared. We have major questions to bring to God, and we're unsure if we'll ever get a proper answer. Jesus assures us that God understands our questions, understands our pain, and although it may take a long time and it may not be in this life that we have every question answered and every wound soothed - eventually God will help and heal us. God is God of the living, not of the dead.

This is a reminder to us of all those that have passed, they are not truly gone from our lives. We will never lay eyes again on them in this life, but after we pass away we will be able to see them again. Jesus also reminds us that this life is different from the one we will have in the afterlife. He says that it will not matter who's wife the woman was because that is no longer important after death. What is important on earth is not always important in heaven.

Time and again, Jesus reminds us that riches accumulated on earth will bring us nothing in heaven. We are told that the power we have on earth will not give us power in heaven. We are told that the people we know on earth that make us seem important will matter little once we are dead. There will be new things that are important, there will no longer be power struggles or any need to have money to live. In a way, the Sadducees were right that we should live out our lives with joy and the expectancy that there is only this life. We should not let fear stop us from doing what we've always wanted to do and we should not hold fast to our money for a rainy day because tomorrow could be our funeral.

But Jesus also reminds us in this passage that after our death, there is life to be lived even if it is different from anything we've experienced here on earth. And so we are called to live life fully and completely, treasuring what we have but not holding on to it too tightly, while at the same time looking forward to eternal life that will be different and better in so many ways.

Our God is a God of the living, not of the dead. There is more to this journey than what we can see and touch and hear. Jesus promises that every person is alive in God's eyes and that is a reassurance that someday we will experience the greatest of reunions with those that have gone before us and with those yet to be born. What a wonderful promise we have been given!

Amen. 

Redemption for Zacchaeus - and for us

Habakkuk 1: 1-4
Luke 19: 1-10

Zacchaeus is a sinner desiring to be saved. He was a rich man that became a tax collector because it would gain him more riches in the town of Jericho. And he did become very rich and very hated. Tax collectors were known to charge the people more than they needed to and kept the extra for themselves. Rome did not care as long as the taxes were paid. There was corruption throughout the tax profession, not unlike today, and Zacchaeus was a man who had taken advantage of the situation and the people.

However, on that dusty day in that town, Jesus arrived and everything changed like it usually does when Jesus comes to us. Zacchaeus had heard of this prophet man who walked with 12 men he called his disciples, but he'd never seen him before. He'd heard this man performs miracles and some others whispered that he was the Messiah. Zacchaeus wasn't sure about all of that, but he was incredibly curious about this man who was both loved and loathed in equal measure by the people.

You see, Zacchaeus was hated. He was hated with a passion and that meant despite his high position, despite his power and authority, he was not respected and he was not loved by anyone. In the passage we read today it said that Zacchaeus was small of stature and because he climbs a tree everyone assumes they meant he was short. But it's possible the passage can be read that his life was one of sin and he was not looked upon highly by others. In fact, many looked down upon him for his actions.

Zacchaeus had taken the easy road to make his money. He did not try to earn it through hard work and determination. He earned it through other people's hard work and sweat. If he hadn't taken advantage of this chance, then someone else would have. He reasoned away his doubts and insecurities and convinced himself he was not a bad guy; he was just a smart businessman. However, it is hard to reason away the scornful looks and disgust he saw on so many people's faces when he walked by them. And so, when he hears about this man that the Pharisees also look down upon, but the crowds seemed to enjoy so much - he became very curious about him.

Could it be that this man was truly the Messiah- the Anointed One of God? He went out to see for himself what was so special about this man called Jesus. There was a huge crowd that day and everyone was beckoning and clamoring to see Jesus as he walked by. Some in the crowd were singing, others were crying, and still others were muttering hateful words as he walked into town. People that were sick lined the street calling out to him, "Please, heal us!" and others were yelling obscenities at this man who thought he was so powerful and good. Poor Zacchaeus, who only wanted a glimpse of this man, could not get through such a crowd!

He pushed and he shoved, but because of who he was he found that he was on the outside looking in. He was on the fringes of this crowd with no way inside to see this man that intrigued him so much. Instead of giving up, he looks around and notices this big sycamore tree up ahead. "Yes!" he thought, "I will climb that tree and as Jesus passes by I will see this man and decide for myself what is so special about him!"

And so he began to ran, and then he climbed up, heedless of his expensive clothes and the dirt and tears he was putting into his clothes in his eagerness to see. Jesus began to walk by him and suddenly, he stops and looks up. "Zacchaeus" Jesus calls, "Come down here because I am going to your house today."

Jesus knew his name! How did he know who he was?! He had called out to him and invited him into his home! That was a serious breach in etiquette. Not only should he not sit with a tax collector and obvious sinner because to have dinner with one such as him was to say he was equal to Jesus, but a person never invited themselves without a proper invitation first. But Jesus once again forgets about etiquette and rules and laws because he has seen a sinner that needed saving. A sinner who had been so eager to glimpse Jesus that he had forsaken his dignity to climb a tree.

Jesus knows your name just as he knew Zacchaeus' name. He also knows exactly where you are at in your life and he is still calling out to you to come down from whatever sins have kept you from him because today, he wants to be with you. When Jesus calls out to us, like the crowd around him there will be people that will scoff and scorn. They will say things like, "No one could forgive the mistakes you have made!" "You are not good enough to be loved like we are loved!" "Jesus would never pick YOU out of everyone else he could choose!" But Jesus, he looks at us and he does not see the past. He does not see the sins. He sees a lost soul that needs him desperately and like the gentle Savior he is - he reaches out and enfolds us into his loving arms and his heart.

When Jesus did this for Zacchaeus, he came down and kneeled before Jesus and when the crowds began to mutter angrily, he stood up and said loudly for all to hear that he was going to make amends. He would give away half of all he owned and make reparations for all he had cheated not once, but four times as much as he had taken he would give! As Jesus looked on, Zacchaeus repented of his sins and turned back to God, and with a smile Jesus gave Zacchaeus the most precious gift of all, the gift of eternal salvation.

When Jesus calls us, we need to respond the way Zacchaeus did. Zacchaeus saw in Jesus a beauty that went beyond what a human could possess. In Jesus' eyes he saw his own hope of a better life; one where he was no longer hated and feared and disrespected, but instead he was accepted, wanted, and loved. In Jesus' eyes, Zacchaeus was no longer an awful sinner, but a perfect human being. This is what God sees when he looks at each of us because he looks through the eyes of Christ; the one who died to save us all.

When we fully grasp the love Christ has for us, it is hard not to respond in kind. When people love us unconditionally, it is hard to be mean to them or to turn away from them or to not listen when they speak to us. Zacchaeus found pure love in Jesus and he responds with pure love toward him and toward the crowd of people he had hurt for a long time. We never hear what happens to Zacchaeus and if he is ever accepted back into the town as one of them Perhaps because it doesn't need to be said since once we welcome Jesus into our heart, his acceptance is all that matters to us. The focus is instead on the fact that Jesus has come to save the lost no matter their station in life and no matter how evil their crimes against humanity.

But this passage is a reminder to us that no matter where we are at in our life, it is never too late to respond to Jesus' love for us. We don't always do as God demands; we do not always listen to the Holy Spirit's voice. We turn away from Jesus to do what is convenient and easy. Today, we are shown that Jesus does not let our sins stop him from calling out to us.

"Come down from your sinful perch," he calls to us, "because today I want to spend time with you." Jesus is calling you by name. May you respond the way Zacchaeus did and may your life be forever changed because of it!

Amen. 

Back to Basics

Jeremiah 31: 27-34
2 Timothy 3: 14-4:5

Wisdom. It comes from many sources and we sometimes follow people and listen to what they say because we assume they are knowledgeable. However, later we find out that they didn't know as much as we thought or as much as they proclaimed to know, and we end up in trouble. The passage in 2 Timothy is a reminder to a young man just starting out that the one place we can always go for truth is in the scriptures.

We are never too old to go back to the source of all knowledge, understanding, and truth. In fact, if we want to be wise and knowledgeable the only place to go is to the Bible. There, we find God's word and a place where people who were just like us somehow made it work. You're probably wondering how I could say they were just like us when some of the people have not lived for over 4,000 years, therefore, I will explain.

Humanity has always had the same basic needs and desires throughout our existence. We also have the same reactions and sins as a result. And so, in the Bible we see people who are scared and worried and stressed out. We see people who have taken on too much and we see others who are too lazy to take on anything. We see true believers in God  and we see the doubters. We see true evil and we see exceptional goodness. Just like today. Ronald Reagan once said, " Within the covers of one single book, the Bible, are all the answers to all the problems that face us today--if only we would read and believe."

And so we need to turn to the Bible, to the words that we can read over and over again, and they are still relevant. Every day that we are alive, we wake up a different person. Don't believe me? Think about what happened to you yesterday after you woke up. For some of you, perhaps you heard of someone you loved who is ill or died. For others, perhaps you found out your child just got a scholarship and will now be moving a thousand miles away to go to school. For some of you, you had a fight with your spouse and although you're here together today you're still not speaking to each other. Everything that happens to us throughout the day changes who we are even if it is only by the tiniest bit. It is like water against rocks, the way the changes so slowly appear.

However, just like water has the ability to carve a passage through solid stone such as the Grand Canyon, each day creates a new person and some days the changes are more noticeable than others. And that means each time we pick up the Bible, we pick it up as a new person that will read it just a little bit differently and from a slightly different perspective. It will continue to speak to who we are, as we are now. That's the Holy Spirit. That's the God-breathed words that were put into the Bible. That is why it is so important to keep reading the Bible.

I knew an elder who loved acronyms and he told the congregation once that he believes the bible to be Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth -BIBLE. If these are instructions, and with life as complicated as it is, then it pays to keep reading those instructions as our life changes!

When a couple's son left for his freshman year at Duke University, his parents gave him a Bible, assuring him it would be a great help. Later, as he began sending them letters asking for money, they would write back telling him to read his Bible, citing chapter and verse. He would reply that he was reading the Bible--but he still needed money. When he came home for a semester break, his parents told him they knew he had not been reading his Bible. How? They had tucked $10 and $20 bills by the verses they had cited in their letters. 

We are not good at reading the Bible. We give a  lot of reasons. We have a ton of excuses. The truth is that we have become lazy in our faith and although that is hard to hear, it doesn't make it less true. For all of us. We could easily be the couple's son because there are many times when we should be reading our bible and instead we're complaining about our life. In the Bible we are given instructions, guidance, and we not only learn more about the Lord, but we learn more about who we are as one of God's children. It comes from those "ah hah!" moments that we get at times as we read scripture like it was the first time.

In those moments we receive an epiphany, a true moment of understanding of who God is and who we are in relation to God. It's beautiful. It's amazing. We enjoy and want those experiences and yet, we often neglect the very thing that would give us those moments. For a whole year, I did not have Bible study because no matter what day I offered it on or what time I asked, not many stepped forward to come and toward the end of the second year I had only one faithful person coming. Did you know, no one complained when I didn't offer it last year? No one even mentioned it to me. During my evaluation this year, I thought for sure one of the complaints about me would be about no bible study.

That was not brought up once. In the Bible is salvation. There is forgiveness. There is mercy and love of untold measure being offered to us inside its pages.

This year I am offering Bible Study again. Not because  anyone asked, but because I know as your pastor that this is where life is; this is where the hope of the church rests. If we begin reading our bibles again, perhaps we will stop complaining about the petty things in our lives and in this church and start concentrating on what is important - making sure every single person we know also knows Jesus Christ.

Do you want your life to change? Do you want your children's lives to be better? Do you want your grandchildren's lives to be good? Pick up that bible and begin to read it. Read it silently. Read it out loud to them. Shout it from the rooftops if that's what you're into, but read it. No more excuses. No more saying you don't understand or it's too long or you're just not a reader. They have it as an audio cd now. Listen to it in the car instead of music. Read a chapter in the bible at night instead of that gossip magazine or crime novel. Then pray about it.

Do you know why I pray before every sermon and ask the Holy Spirit to be with us? Because I'm human. You're human. We make mistakes and we screw up and we need God here with us if this sermon is going to reach everyone. I'm not going to have an interesting sermon every week. I'm not going to always say things in the right way - but if I ask the Holy Spirit to be here, I know that my weak illustrations and poor writing skills won't matter nearly as much because the Holy Spirit will help each of you to hear what you need to for this week.

And as we read the Bible and as we pray about it, we can discover that the Holy Spirit will show us what the truth is - we will begin to understand more about God, more about who we are and more about those around us. We will become better. We will become more like Jesus and Jesus never sinned. The author of today's letter to Timothy knew that he wasn't going to have an easy life at this new church. He knew Timothy was bound to make a lot of mistakes as many young pastors do.

But he gave him and us sound advice. Turn to the Bible. Pray to God. Love with intensity those that would hurt you. And by doing this you will become better. You will reach others. You will make a difference in this world. These words are written not just to Timothy, but to each of us here today. 

Read your Bible and pray to God. In there you will find forgiveness for all your sins, you will receive mercy for your mistakes, and you will find love beyond anything you could imagine without the Bible. It will teach you that if you want to be a Christian, then what is offered in the Bible are the very same things you need to be offering each other. Forgiveness, mercy, and love because there is redemption there.

The more we treat others like Jesus treated us, the more we become the children of God. The way to know Jesus is to know the Bible. The only way to know the Bible is to read it. So.. get reading!

Amen.

Double the Outcast, Double the Healing

2Kings 5:1-3, 7-15

Luke 17: 11-19

Last week we talked about how faith is not something we create on our own, but is given to us by God. Faith is affected by our belief in the kind of God we have and who we consider ourselves to be as disciples of Christ. If we believe that God does not care about what happens to us in our lives, then we will not see the blessings we have as gifts from God. If we believe that everything we have is given to us according to God's love and grace for us then we begin to see the world with different eyes. We see that life is not hopeless and that there are things we can do to help others to know there is mercy and love waiting for them too.

Many things in our life are affected by our faith and beliefs. In this passage we read today, ten men's lives are changed because of their beliefs, and one man's soul is changed because of his faith. Let's explore what is different about the one compared to the other nine.

Jesus is walking through an area not many Jews would travel because it puts them close to the Samarian border and therefore close to Samarians. Jews and Samarians were not each other's favorite people. Considering our government's state the last few weeks it would be like a democrat walking down the republicans' hallway in the Senate - barely will a civil word be spoken and they will try to avoid each other like they have the plague!

But there goes Jesus, skirting convention and deciding to do what no one else would consider doing. As he comes to a village, there are ten men afflicted with various skin diseases and they approach him timidly, making sure to keep their distance because they know no one wants to be around them and possibly contract what they have. It doesn't stop them from making themselves known to him, however. They keep their distance, but call out to him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!".

These people were lepers, outcasts from society because of their diseases and considered unclean and unfit for society. They are being incredibly daring to even come that close to the man called Jesus that has become known as a great prophet in the area. But then, they do not call him teacher like so many do - they call him Master. These outcasts, these men that are unfit for society see something in Jesus that those that have been following him and studying his every move have not noticed. Jesus is more than a prophet. He's more than a teacher. They believe in Jesus and his power to heal and they call him their Master. They also appeal to Jesus' kind nature and beg him to have mercy on them.

It seems like the one sure way to get God's attention is to ask for mercy. They receive Jesus' attention and immediately he calls to them, "go and show yourselves to the priests." Now, this is an odd remark to make because they are not healed yet. The only ones that can pronounce a person fit for society are the priests, but how can they proclaim these ten men clean when they have not been healed of their diseases yet? But again, the ten men understand Jesus' power and command, and they obey him.

They begin to walk to the priests and as they walked, their skin conditions were healed. Remember how last week I mentioned that faith is belief plus action and confidence? As these ten men walked toward the priests without any assurance of being called fit for society, their belief and bold actions proclaim their faith in Jesus' power to heal, and they are cleansed of their diseases.

This by itself is a remarkable story of Jesus' kindness and generosity, and of the kind of faith that acts upon its belief. Then something else happens! As the ten men walk along, one of them notices he has been healed, and immediately turns around! He stops walking to the priest and toward societal acceptance, and instead he walks back to Jesus looking for Godly acceptance instead.

This one man, he turns back to Jesus and he begins to thank him profusely while shouting praise God with a loud voice so everyone can hear. And who was the lone man that came back to say thank you? He was a Samaritan. He was a foreigner. He was one of those people that Jews considered beneath them. Jesus looks at this man praising God loudly, who has not sought out the priests so that he can go back to his family, but instead he has found Jesus to give him thanks and he remarks, "Were not ten made clean? Where are the other nine? Is no one else going to praise God except this foreigner?"

What was Jesus' tone as he spoke this to the man at his feet? Was he sad? Was he angry? Was he disheartened or surprised? Surely he had to be disappointed that only one person saw the need to thank God for what had been given to him. Only one person saw the need to turn back, the one that was a double outcast in society was the one that saw how right it is to give God thanks and praise.

And therefore, Jesus turns to the man and tells him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Now, what could Jesus mean by that since the man had already been healed of his leprosy? Could Jesus possibly be talking about being healed in a way far more important than a physical ailment? Yes.

In understanding that faith is also about giving thanks, the Samaritan man is given something he had never asked for or expected - Jesus gave him salvation. Jesus made this man whole and complete in body, soul, and spirit. He now belongs to God and will forever. All because he saw the importance of giving praise to God for the blessings he'd been given. He turned away from what society expected and demanded (that he go to the priests to immediately rejoin the community) and he turned back to Jesus who is the only one that can rejoin us to God who will give us eternal life and acceptance. Do you see how powerful and amazing this story is?!

Jesus is once again telling us not to worry about the quantity of our faith to make our prayers and lives work out the way we want them to. Faith is not a matter of cause and effect. Jesus is telling us the nature of faith is in how we live it - living a faithful life is about giving thanks. Faithful living is a life of gratitude and the Samarian man's grateful faith in Jesus made him well in ways the other nine did not experience that day.

How many of us when we receive something good remember to give thanks for it? Did you say thank you to your mother for waking you up on time this week or for making sure your clothes were cleaned? Did you say thank you to your spouse for picking up the trash or for cooking dinner this week or for taking the car to the garage to get fixed? Did you say thank you to your boss for making sure that there is work for you to do which means a steady paycheck in your mailbox every two weeks? Do we say thank you to those that serve us when we go out to eat or stop to get coffee? Have we remembered to be grateful for those that provide us with electricity, and those that pick up our trash every week? It's very easy to take for granted all the things we have in our lives and what we have been given. It's very easy to never acknowledge the time and detail that goes into so much of our lives.

Like in church, the time it takes the Sunday School teachers to prepare their lessons and to gather the materials and to make sure each lesson is informative, fun, and a full hour long. Or how many hours Carole spends playing the hymns and picking out anthems and practicing with the choir. How many hours Beverly works to create the bulletin, the newsletters, and the annual reports every week. How much time our Consistory gives to this church and the worries they deal with every month that they take home with them. How the same core group of people are the ones that volunteer to help with functions and committees. These are all things we must give thanks to God for and thanks to the people that perform the tasks. We are lucky to have such dedicated, hard-working people and without them we would not have a church to call home.

Prayers of thanks are part of the soul's healing and deliverance. No matter what we face in our own lives, being consistently grateful; giving active, faithful praise for God is what saves us from whatever we are struggling with. Practicing gratitude intentionally changes our lives. It will change our congregation. When we practice gratitude, we come to worship not just to get something, but to give thanks and praise to God.

That means things like stewardship are transformed from fundraising to the glad gratitude of joyful givers; the mission of our church changes from ethical duty to the work of grateful hands and hearts. Prayer includes not only our intercessions and supplications, but also our thanksgiving.

"Go on your way; your faith has made you well" is what we wait to hear from Jesus each week. It is a reminder that we have blessed lives, that our church is blessed and as we go on our way, we rejoice and give thanks; for in giving thanks in all things, we find that God is indeed in all things!

Praise be to God: Father, Son, and Spirit! 

When Belief and Faith Connect

Hab1: 1-4, 2:1-4
Luke 17: 5-10

The disciples in this passage of Luke were asking for more faith. They heard all the things Jesus wanted them to do as his disciples and became scared they did not have what it takes, and so they asked for more faith to accomplish these tasks. The disciples had it right in asking Jesus for faith, but wrong in thinking they didn't have enough of it already.

Faith is given to us by God. Faith is a gift given to us through Jesus Christ who's faith strengthens our own. It is my belief that each of us is given a kernel of faith upon being created, when the breath of "life" (God-breathed) was put inside of us we were also given the ability to believe in God and have faith in God's promises. All the faith we need is given to us in that one moment. Every person is given faith. Every person has received all that they need to create a faithful relationship with Jesus.

This passage left me with two big questions. The first was: Why then do we sometimes (often?) feel like we have no faith or not enough? After all, even the disciples begged Jesus for their faith to be increased after they hear everything that is expected of them as his disciple.

The second question was: Why do some people not believe in God if every person is given life/faith by God? Both questions can be answered by understanding the relationship between belief and faith. We often use the words interchangeably, but faith and belief are two different things. They are related which is why so many people treat the words like they mean the same, but they are not. In this passage today, Jesus tells the disciples that faith as small as a mustard seed is all that is needed to do miraculous things, and that was given to them upon their creation. However, the disciples do not believe they have enough faith. Belief is being fully persuaded by a judgment or opinion.

When a person is fully persuaded into believing something, faith can either be a help or a hindrance to that belief. When we look around the world we see enough bad things happening that we can understand why some would choose not to believe in God. It's hard to hear of the horrors of life and what people do to each other, and think that there is such a thing as a kind God who cares about what happens to us.

Belief is different from faith, however. Faith is inside each of us whether we want to acknowledge it or not. Faith is given by God and is not increased or decreased by anything we do or say. However, what we believe affects how we use our faith. If belief is being thoroughly convinced of an idea; then faith can be defined as belief plus action and confidence. James 2:17 tells us "Faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless." If faith does not move you to do something, then it is not real faith, it is merely a belief.

When we believe the truth with enough confidence to take action we exercise our faith. And it doesn't take much faith to see huge things happen, even miraculous things. And you can see where unbelief, that is believing things that aren't true - believing lies - completely clogs up the working of our faith. Unbelief prevents us from ever seeing the miraculous in our lives and that is why some people do not believe in God. They have allowed the negativity in the world to create their unbelief, and that has put a stopper on their faith in God.  

Too often we spend time and energy trying to increase our faith when Jesus said that's not really our problem. We pray and plead with God, begging him to give us more faith as the disciples asked Jesus in this passage.

Jesus responds by saying they have enough faith already, and then tells them a story about a master and his servant. In the story he tells them that a servant has a job to do, a specific task which is to help the master with his chores. The master's job is to provide shelter, food, and clothes for his servant. Just as the servant does not thank the master for the things he gives because he is supposed to give them; the master does not thank the servant for the chores he does because that is what he was supposed to do. Jesus then looks at them and the same goes for all of us. Do not expect to be patted on the back and thanked profusely for doing what is your duty.

Why would these two passages be put together in the lectionary? How can a parable about faith and then this parable about the master and servant work together? Jesus is explaining in his own way that faith and belief are two separate things. We believe we do not have enough faith to carry out the works that Jesus has given to us, and so we beg God to give us more faith. If we just had MORE - then obviously we could DO more. Right? The only reason we do not help the homeless, the only reason we do not tithe 10% of our income, the only reason we are not kinder to our enemies, the only reason we do not start taking on a more decisive role in our church and community is because we are waiting on God to give us MORE FAITH.

This is all God's fault. Not ours! Once we get more faith, we will do all these discipleship things that Jesus is always talking about. And Jesus responds that this belief in needing more faith is a bunch of malarkey. You have faith enough, Jesus tell us, to do great things now. There is no need to wait for more because the smallest bit of faith can do miraculous things, but if you do not believe in God and in yourself then nothing will happen. Faith without works is dead and useless faith. It's not real if it does not compel you to act upon it.

And once we accept we have faith enough to do all the things Jesus would have us do as Christian disciples, we must not expect abundant praise and thanksgiving from God. Jesus tells us that faith is what causes these good works. If we have faith, then we will act and do it with confidence and without expecting more from anyone. God gives you what you need and we are to give others what they need just as the master and servant have done in the parable. This is the nature of our relationship to God and how faith works.

But we get into trouble expecting more all the time. More faith. More thanks. More things. We get tied up in this idea that more is better when sometimes less is truly more.

We are tied down and repressed by these mis-beliefs. We are enough as we are. We have enough faith to cause miracles and good things to happen now. When we accept this we are freed to enjoy our faith more fully and act upon it with confidence. When we stop expecting praise for every good deed we do, we are also freed from being hurt when people do not thank and praise us enough to satisfy our egos. For we are merely doing what we should have been doing all along as Christians.

We are not going out of our way, we are doing what is expected and what is necessary to make life better. There is freedom in understanding these things and that is why these two passages are put together, and why Jesus tells us first that we have faith enough and then tells us not to expect excessive gratitude for doing our Christian duty. Jesus wants us to be free and happy, and that freedom and happiness will only be experienced when we let go of our misguided beliefs. This idea that we do not have enough faith, and that when we do something good we should expect gratitude and praise.

It's not about being enough or having enough. Let go of the idea that you need more and freedom will be yours. In this passage we are told that we are perfect as we are in our faith. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in God the Father. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We are convinced fully and now it's time to prove that we also have faith in the Father, Son, and Spirit by acting with confidence. It's time we become the disciples that Jesus sees inside of us. It's time to let go of our fears and our doubts and the idea that we need to get something back when we do something good. Once we let go of all of that, we're ready to receive the confidence and conviction that comes when belief and faith act in one accord.

Jesus showed us how. He believed in His Father's promises and went to the cross, giving everything up for all of us. He emptied himself of everything he had so that we could be filled with faith and the promise of eternal life. We follow his example. Let go of whatever it is that holds you back and free yourself.

Amen. 

The Secret of Idolatry

Amos 6: 1a, 4-7
1Tim 6:6-19

The passage we read in 1Timothy 6 talks about not loving riches more than God and how to be a person of God. It's some really good advice.

It reminds us how easy it is to be idolaters, in fact, much of our society has become about worshiping things rather than God. If we begin with tv shows, we'll skip past American Idol that has idol in its name and think instead of reality tv stars like the Kardashians or the Hiltons. We follow them and enjoy seeing pictures and hearing about their lives and their children and the clothes they wear and we enjoy them so much that tv producers have created shows to help us indulge in our fascination with these people.

Now let's talk about tv shows that aren't reality tv. The Vampire Diaries and Breaking Bad and all these other shows that we simply MUST WATCH AS SOON AS THEY COME BACK ON! And how teenagers post pictures in tumblr and adults write posts on Facebook and everyone talks about it at the water cooler at work. We learn that we can escape our life and we begin to crave that escape to such a point that it becomes more important than doing things with our family or praying to God.

Let's talk about music. This one in particular I'm guilty of because I do not go anywhere without music handy. ANYWHERE. Every single time I'm in the car, the radio goes on or Pandora gets plugged in. EVERY TIME no matter if I'm going ten feet or ten thousand. Many of us go to concerts and we follow the bands on Facebook and twitter. I spend more time listening to music than I do anything else. Music has become such a huge part of what makes me who I am that I'm not sure what I'd do without it. (That is a scary statement to make about something so trivial as music... shouldn't I be able to say the same thing about God and MEAN IT like I do about music? Shouldn't we all?)

What is your vice? What is your idol? Some of us have more than one.

Food has become a major topic lately in the health world because people are talking about how there are teenagers and adults who eat too much or do not eat enough. If we were to talk to these people we would hear things like they spend all day long thinking about food and thinking about the calories in food and how much exercise it takes to get rid of a chocolate bar. There are others who will admit that when they are stressed or upset they find themselves reaching for food to make them feel better. They have idolized food and made it their way of coping with life.

Food and music and tv shows should not be the things we think about all day long. But there's more idols than just those such as body image. There's nothing wrong with worrying about taking care of your body - God did call it a temple after all. But we obsess. How many calories are in that pie? How many minutes of exercise so I can eat it without guilt? What can I wear to hide my huge thighs and cover my fat rolls? What makeup can I wear to hide those lines on my face and what clothes can I wear to look more professional? I think I'm getting white hair, I need to dye my hair. What color should I dye my hair? Does any of this sound familiar? Have any of you obsessed about your body and face and the image you present to the world?

Then there's Social Media, and the many moments we spend thinking about it. Wanting to check Facebook and see what our friends are up to and if anyone has liked our posts. Our inability to go a moment without posting or tweeting about what is happening in our lives. Our constant desire to see what others are doing and so we get online to check out what they are doing tonight. And if we happen to get bored we do not read a book or sit quietly, instead we reach for our cell phones and begin texting people until someone responds so we don't have to spend a moment alone or bored.

These are all idols because they are things that are more important in the course of our day than anything else and maybe we would deny that they're more important, but the amount of time we spend thinking and worrying about them tells us the truth. It should alarm us how our connection to people and to God have become sublimated by things. Our possessions are way more important to us. Humanity has always been this way to some extent which is why a 2000 year old text can still be relevant today.

It's not that money is evil, the having or even the wanting to have it. It's what we DO with the money when we get it. It's what we have DONE to obtain the money or what we TRY to do to get money. Because we want money so we can possess things. And there is nothing wrong in owning a nice car or flat screen television. However, do we help others? Do we care about what happens to the world and if we care, do we act? Do we offer ourselves for a weekend to Habitat for Humanity? Do we give our canned goods to the food pantry? Do we help out at the homeless shelter and do we make time for our friends and family who need real relationships with us and not just the occasional text?

Idols slowly take over our lives without us even being aware. It's insidious and once it has us it's even harder to let go because we make them all seem so innocent. "I just watch Breaking Bad, I am not a tv junkie like some people!" "I just listen to music because it's too quiet for a 2 hour drive." "Everyone has to eat, so what that I like to eat pie instead of broccoli? I exercise!"

None of these things are bad in moderation. It's when they become all we think or care about that we have gone wrong. When we can't wait to get home so we can eat that pie or watch that show. When we can't sit in silence because we might start thinking about things we don't want to think about and so we flip on music to silence our inner reflections.

Whether we are Christians or atheists, when things become more important than people and our connections to them - that's a problem. Easy idols are things like drugs and alcohol and sex - everyone knows there are people with THOSE kind of problems and some of us have sympathy and some of us think we're better than that. But we're not. None of us are. We all have something we depend on to get us through life and more often than not it isn't our family, friends, and God. Whatever it is - that would be your idol. And idols will destroy your life even while they pretend to make them better.

What is truly important are the people who love you and who you love. What is truly important is God. Not that we treat them like they're the most important thing in our life because if we're honest, we don't. But maybe the first step in fixing that is being aware of the things we dwell on most in our minds and making sure they do not take up more space in our hearts and minds than they should.

And as a church, we need to start looking around and thinking about the things we have considered more important than God and what God wants us to do. For example, we do not have adequate handicap access into the sanctuary. I have been told by multiple sources the reason for that is because it was expensive to do and because it might mess up how pretty our church looks outside.

In the last month we have had four funerals and two of them have been here at the church. There were several people in wheelchairs that needed to get into the sanctuary. The chair we use to get them down the stairs is awkward to work the first time and the person in the wheelchair sits and looks at it and us helplessly and with no little embarrassment as we try to figure it out. Then, we have to make them get up out of their wheelchair to this tiny chair that will lower them down or take them up. We need to move their wheelchair and make sure to not hit them in the process since they are suspended in that chair, waiting for access to it. It's slow and it's not big enough for a heavy person and it will not work if the person cannot get out of the wheelchair on their own.

Because we do not want to spend the money and/or do not want to make our church less pretty, we have basically told anyone in a wheelchair that they are not TRULY welcome here. We do not consider their safety and comfort more important than money or aesthetics. This is our idol as a church and after I saw the embarrassment on that woman's face as we tried to get the lift to work, I realized we need to address this.

We need to start talking about it. We need to remember what God has called us to do; to NOT put riches and idols above our Christian duty. I have been told by others who are getting older that going up and down even those couple steps is becoming more and more painful, and they will never use that lift.

And it's not just older people that are in wheelchairs or find stairs difficult to navigate. There are all ages. We are called to welcome people, all people who are different from us. It is very important that we relook at this and think again about how we are the only church that is not fully handicap accessible and what we are saying to those outside this church by not working on it. Whether we meant to be hurtful or not, we are causing others pain.

As your pastor and as a Christian, I think this is something we have neglected to look at properly. My hope is that we can revisit this and that we will educate ourselves about what it would take to make everyone feel welcomed, comfortable, and accepted inside our church.

Amen.