Blessed Are The Meek

Micah 6
Matthew 5

As you study the character traits described in the Beatitudes, you can't help but realize one thing; these qualities are by no means natural to the human spirit. They are very foreign. Poverty of spirit, true mourning over personal sins against God and meekness does not come to us naturally.

The greatest preacher of all time, Jesus Christ, proclaimed "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." The Greek word for "meek" means to be gentle; to be strong, very strong, yet be humble and tender. It is a person with all the emotions and ability to take and conquer, but he or she is able control themself in all ways. It is a state of being disciplined -- a person who is disciplined because they are God-controlled.

But many people tend to think of a meek person as being inherently weak. That is not true. Jesus Christ was a meek man, but he was not weak. His strength came from his trust in His Father in heaven and our strength also comes from God. Jesus was bold in his actions. He stood up for what he believed in. He stated the truth simply and powerfully and walked through angry mobs of people quite often. He deliberately allowed himself to be accused, beaten, and killed on the strength of his faith in God. These are not the actions of a weak man.

W. E. Vine writes: "Meekness is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercise of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing and resisting."

True meekness is a submissive and trusting attitude toward God. It is an attitude which considers all things that come our way as being for God's good purpose in our life. Meekness looks beyond circumstances, no matter how upsetting and hurtful, and humbly bows the knee to the Sovereign God.
Jesus is the perfect picture of someone who was filled with the Holy Spirit, and lived a life of true meekness. He had all the power needed to prevent His arrest and crucifixion, yet He surrendered to God's will. He fully understood the sovereignty of God and the results of the free will of humanity. If meakness truly meant weakness, then Jesus as a meek person would have not had the strength to endure the things he dealt with on a daily basis.

People were constantly following him, constantly badgering him, constantly belittling him and his disciples. Jesus rarely had a moment to rest and relax in his three years of ministry. He was bombarded day in and day out with needy people and cocky, unlearned disciples, and his own desires. We sometimes forget that Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine which means he had the same desires and temptations as the rest of us.

Do you think he didn't want to yell at people that were mean to him? Do you think he didn't want to make fun of the person that asked him their 100th ignorant question? Do you think he never wanted to play hooky from work or that he never wanted to lie to make his life a little easier? He did. We know that because Jesus is just like us. He was human in all ways and therefore he suffered with the very same temptations we suffer with. Jesus relied on the strength of his Father in heaven to get him through each and every moment of temptation.

There is only one moment in the bible where Jesus allows his anger to overrule him and that is when he overturns the tables in the Synagogue. He was outraged on God's behalf that these people would take something pure and holy, and pervert it so evilly. Once again, Jesus was not being weak, but in his humble faith in God, he allowed his righteous anger to remove the offensive people from God's house.

Humanity has the strength to ignore God's will or to take God's gifts, talents, and abilities and use them for our sake, or we may choose to use God's good blessings to glorify the Lord. Without meekness, we will squander what is given to us by God to gain earthly wealth, self-satisfaction and fame (little or great). That is what happened to the moneychangers in the temple when Jesus comes in and becomes angry. They had taken the blessings God had given to them and perverted them for their own well-being rather than to glorify God.

What we need to remember is that being meek means finding a strength that does not rely on our self, but on God's goodness and grace. It is having faith that God loves us so much that everything that happens to us both good and bad, are for a greater purpose than we can ever fully comprehend. When Abraham and Sarah began on their faithful journey with merely a promise from God that their descendants would be as numerous as the stars, they had no idea what their actions would bring about.

Sarah had so many doubts and so much pain as she got older and continued to be barren! Abraham allowed Sarah's doubts to turn him from God's path and he had a child with his servant. They suffered and they had doubts and they had a lot of torment as they followed God's path for them. But because they stayed true to God through it all, because they continued to have faith, Isaac was born and from Isaac came Jacob and from Jacob came the 12 tribes of Israel and Jacob's son Joseph saved the Hebrews by bringing them to Egypt during the famine and eventually Moses was born who led them from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel. Then came King David and from David's line was born Joseph, and Mary his wife gave birth to a son named Jesus Christ.

All because an old couple dared to believe an outrageous promise from the voice of God. What is God creating from your life that you could never imagine at this point, but years in the future will bear great fruit? Stay faithful, humble, and meek. Trust in the Lord. Believe God's promises. We are not weak for having faith. We are strong and powerful, but gentle and caring because our convictions bring us closer to God and therefore we become more like Jesus Christ.

The Beatitude of meekness epitomizes the results of kneeling in total submission to God's will. It comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit and from allowing God to produce Christ-like character in us. Meekness says, "not my will, but Yours be done."

The Bible says, "...the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The meek will rule and reign with Christ upon this earth someday.

True meekness is not a natural character trait. It can only be obtained by knowing Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. We need to invite Christ into our life today to discover the joyful surrender of true meekness.

Finally, the last thing I will leave you with is something I found on the internet titled the "Devil's Beatitudes" which is what happens to us when we forget to trust in God's promises and we go our own way, perverting our blessings by ignoring Jesus' voice for our own gain.

THE DEVIL'S BEATITUDES
1. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend even an hour once a week with their fellow Christians – they are my best workers.
2. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked -- I can use them.
3. Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church –for they are my missionaries.
4. Blessed are the trouble makers – for they shall be called my children.
5. Blessed are the complainers –for their complaints are music to my ears.
6. Blessed are those who keep a list of the preachers mistakes -- for they get nothing out of his sermons.
7. Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church – for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.
8. Blessed are those who gossip -- for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.
9. Blessed are those who are easily offended -- for they will soon get angry and quit.
10. Blessed are those who do not give an offering to carry on God’s work — for they are my helpers.
11.  Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister — for he shall be with me forever!
12.  Blessed are you who, when you read this think it is about other people and not yourself — I’ve got you too!

Amen.

Faithful Works

Isaiah 9: 1-4
Matthew 4: 12-23

Throughout our lives, we are tested many times. Our lives are living testaments to our character. Part of who we are is directly influenced by outside sources like the people we surround ourselves with and the other part is directly influenced by the personality we were given upon our birth. However, all of our heart and mind should be influenced by Jesus Christ when we call ourselves Christians. Which means that when we give our lives to Christ, we accept that it no longer matters as much what others think of us and what our own doubts and insecurities are because we have given up control to Jesus.

We believe that God holds us steady through the storms of life. We hold onto Jesus as our anchor. It doesn't always work out that way though. Sometimes, we forget. Sometimes, we get so caught up with the problems in our life that we stop turning to God and instead we turn to those around us or our own ingenuity. Then, when things start to fall even further apart, we get just desperate enough to turn to God.
Yes, sometimes it is desperation and a last ditch effort to save ourselves that makes us see Jesus more clearly. Sometimes it is other people's last ditch efforts on our behalf that help us see that Jesus is the foundation on which we should build our lives.

One of the earliest and the most outstanding intellectuals, leaders and defenders of the Christian faith was Augustine, the fourth century writer of the “Confessions of Saint Augustine,” one of the most famous tell-all autobiographies written. Young Augustine was a hedonist, a philosopher, an agnostic, and a rebel, but his mother Monica was a godly, persistent, and resourceful woman.

Augustine often laughed at his mother’s pious ways, mocked her faith, and deliberately defied her continual pleading for him to repent of his pagan lifestyle, to convert to Christ, and to live an exemplary life. When Augustine wanted to leave the shores of Carthage, North Africa, for the bright lights of Rome, his mother feared the worst for her son, dreaded the outcome of his leaving, and often fled to the church for solace, prayer, and advice.

In her despair, she would often weep uncontrollably for her son. One day a minister noticed her painful cries, and asked her why she was so bitter. She told him of her wayward son, but the bishop reassured her with these words: “Go in peace; as you live, it cannot be that the son of these tears should perish.” Augustine avoided his mother as much as possible and ignored her warnings time and again, but he could not escape her continuous prayers. Monica painstakingly prayed, wept, and looked for her son for 30 years until Augustine surrendered his life to Christ.

Monica did not give up on her son and she did not give up her faith in Jesus. She knew that God has the power to save even those that do not know they need to be saved. All we can do is trust in Jesus to be the one that will lead our loved ones as well as us back into the arms of the Lord.

It takes faith. Faith is not a complicated thing. Faith is as simple as a man walking up to two fishermen and when he says, "Follow me." they put down their nets and follow him. They saw something about this man they had never seen before and they were instantly drawn to him. They knew that this man was going to stand by his word and that they would indeed do great things in their lives from that day forward if they followed him. They had faith in him.

While faith is not a complicated concept, it is not easy to do either. It's not easy to constantly have faith especially when things aren't going our way. It's not easy to believe there is something better coming our way when everytime we fight our way through one battle; another, bigger one looms on the horizon. Faith is simple, but it's not simple to live out in our daily lives.

The only way way to live out our faith is through doing things that remind us daily we are faithful disciples of Christ. Jesus didn't just tell those two men to follow him where he walked, he wanted them to follow his actions as well. He sent his disciples out to pray over people, to cast out demons, to heal the sick and to comfort the berieved. He believed that following meant doing and the same is true for us!

It's not enough for us to just proclaim ourselves Christians. We must ACT like Christians. We must do good works in Jesus Christ's name and we must speak of our faith without fear. The only way to stay consistent in our faith is by the things we do in our lives. Otherwise, we end up going around in a circle where we have faith for awhile and we feel good about ourselves, and then slowly we stop having faith when things get tough before we get desperate enough to once gain turn to Jesus. And around and around we go.

An old Scotsman operated a little rowboat for transporting passengers. One day a passenger noticed that the good old man had carved on one oar the word "Faith" and on the other oar the word "Works." Curiosity led him to ask the meaning of these oars. The old man, being a well-balanced Christian and glad for the opportunity to testify said, "I will show you."

Then he dropped one oar and plied the other called Works, and they just went around in circles. Then he dropped that oar and began to ply the oar called Faith, and the little boat just went around in circles again - this time the other way around, but still in a circle.

After this demonstration the old man picked up Faith and Works, and plying both oars together, sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his inquiring passenger. "You see, that is the way it is in the Christian life. Dead works without faith are useless, and faith without works is dead also, getting you nowhere. But faith and works pulling together make for safety, progress, and blessing."

So you see, sometimes we have faith but we do not act on our faith therefore what good is there in having it? It helps no one, not even ourselves. But sometimes we are so busy trying to do good works that we forget to have faith in Jesus and then what good is it to do good things without a firm foundation in Christ? We accomplish our goals when we work faithfully to fulfill Jesus Christ's dreams instead of our own.

This church is filled with many wonderful, talented people. A lot of hard workers. But what are we working toward? Are we working to fulfill Jesus' dream for this church or our own dreams? Are we carrying out God's plans or our own? Remember that just as we must not act out of fear of our future, we cannot act without faith! Either one will hurt our church and it will be because we did not remember to work faithfully with full trust in Jesus.

Jesus Christ has issued a command to us today. Follow him. When we follow Jesus we become like him, filled with faith in God's love for us and through that faith and love, our hearts overflow with the desire to do good things for others. That is our goal as Christians. We are here to make our Lord proud as we show our love through fulfilling Christ's mission for the world.

Amen.

Who's Your Savior?

Isaiah 49 January 18, 2014

This week, I wrote a pretty good sermon on the 1 Corinthians passage we read today. I labored over it. I struggled over the words and the exactly right illustrations to use. Finally, after quite a few hours, it was written and saved to my computer, and as I sometimes do, I asked a fellow minister to read it over to see what she thought. She asked me to send it to her, and when I went to open my computer up, it didn't turn on.

I didn't get worried too quickly however, because I just figured if I hit the power button, the computer will load up quickly enough. But nothing happened when I did that. So I pressed the button harder. I held it in for a good, long minute. Nothing. I plugged the computer in, even though I knew that the battery was fully charged, but I was getting desperate now. Still, nothing turned that computer on.

I sat there, stunned and angry because this computer is barely 6 months old and how dare this happen to me when I had no way to access that wonderful sermon I had written? By now, in my head, my sermon has become this epic writing that will inspire every one of us to do great things in the name of Jesus Christ. (Leave me to my illusions, please)

I was angry and upset, but not completely disheartened. I have friends that are technologically savvy. I turned to them. They couldn't help me. Then I remembered the man who has a computer business that has worked on the church computer. I gave him a call and he cheerfully agreed to look at it and he said that he'd at the least be able to get me my sermon off the hard drive. I breathed a deep sigh of relief! I was saved! This man was going to be my salvation!

I really should know better, shouldn't I? I am a pastor after all, I should know there is only one savior and it is not the very nice man at ACT. I dropped off my computer on Saturday morning and immediately, I heard him say, "Oh. This has a sealed hard drive. Hmm.." and I looked at him, alarmed, "Should.. should I write another sermon, just in case?"

"It might be wise," the man told me, but I didn't want to believe that he couldn't fix it; that this man couldn't save me the toil of writing two sermons in a week. I went and worked out, I took a leisurely shower, I called my grandmother. I went to Barnes and Noble and had a coffee, playing on the internet and considering writing a sermon, but holding off. I did everything but write a sermon because I had faith in the this man's computer saving skills.

As I write this, the man has had my computer for over eight hours and will not answer the phone when I call. I think he's afraid of delivering the blow that my sermon will be forever lost to me. That's when I decided to reread Isaiah 49 and a couple lines really jumped out at me.

"[God] said to me, “You are my servant,  Israel, in whom I will display my splendor. But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”

I labored in vain all week long to write a sermon that would connect with each of you in the pews this week. It was in vain because I am unable to share it with you in it's exact, glorious form. However, the true lesson this week was a reminder to us all that when we do not remember God that we labor in vain. I wanted that man to save me. He's not my savior. Jesus Christ is my savior. Jesus Christ has control of my destiny. Not the ACT man.

And that's where the message I had written for you this week intersects with the one I had to relearn. Our destiny as a church should begin with Jesus Christ. The foundation of our every rule, the rock on which we stand begins and ends not with our own ideas and feelings, but with what Jesus would have us do as HIS church. You see, we allow ourselves to get caught up in the world and the world's ideas of what is right and wrong. We allow ourselves to worry and the anxiety rips apart the peace that comes from being beloved children of God.

The world has a distorted view of truth. Jesus tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through Jesus Christ. Then why is it, when something bad happens in the world, that we tighten our ropes and batten down the hatches and act like the world has control over what we do here? The world's rules and problems, while they can influence how we minister to the needs of others, should not and cannot affect who we are as a church. We cannot let fear and doubt be our motivators in what we do.

The fear and anxiety we experience every time we hear about something bad is not coming from Jesus. It comes from the devil. When we make decisions to not help others because our budget wasn't made last year; when we huddle in groups to gossip about others because it's easier than facing the problems of the church; when we turn to making more committees and rules and bylaws because it makes us feel safer; we are not following Jesus Christ.

Jesus never played it safe. Jesus never allowed an angry mob to prevent him from speaking the truth. Jesus  never spoke something about a person that he wasn't willing to say to their face and he didn't use others to say those things he was thinking about them. Jesus didn't think the answer to a problem was to make a bunch of rules. The way Jesus faced problems was through prayer, meditation, reading the scriptures, and trusting in the unshakable foundation of his relationship with God. The same relationship that we have been adopted into upon our baptism.

As a church, we need to stop fearing the future. We need to let go of our anxieties as individuals. We need to leave the burdens of the world at the door and embrace the Holy Spirit's claim upon us. We are children of God. We are promised that when we trust in Jesus Christ, that he will guide us where we need to go. Jesus doesn't promise that it will be an easy journey, but he promises to be our shepherd.

When we don't think and act like Jesus, we labor in vain. When we make the mistake of thinking another person or another bunch of rules can save us; we labor in vain. We dig a huge hole for ourselves and wonder why suddenly we can no longer see the light. LOOK UP. Let go of your fears. Let go of your doubts. Trust that God has placed you exactly where you're supposed to be, that the people that are in your life are there for a reason, and trust in Jesus.

Stop trusting the world. Stop trusting the world's reactions to what goes on. Stop trusting yourself and all your thoughts that aren't inspired by the love and peace of Jesus Christ. Stop trusting in committees and rules and this crazy idea that the more you worry about something that you can prevent it from happening! We drive ourselves mad with all of these thoughts, worries, and fears. We get so lost and caught up in them that we forget why we're here.

WHY ARE YOU HERE?! If it's not to worship God, to share in the love of Jesus Christ, to experience the connection of a community bound in the Holy Spirit then you're here for the wrong reasons. If you're here to hear a good sermon or to be entertained by the music then you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you like me or because you hate me; if you're here because you've always come here; if you're here because you had nothing better to do this morning then you're here for the wrong reason.

Church is community. Worship services are about giving thanks to God for the blessings of our life and sharing in each other's sorrows. It's about connecting with others who believe the things that you believe. It's about loving that slightly strange person that walks in five minutes late every service. It's about feeling a sense of belonging to something so much bigger and grander than anything else in the world. It's about learning to accept differences and be more tolerant and forgiving. This is not a social club. This is not something to do on a Sunday morning. This is not the place to judge others.

When church becomes anything other than a connection of a community that is in love with Jesus Christ, it is doomed to fail. Harsh words, but true. We're not here because of you or me. We're here because of Jesus. We're not here to show off our jewelry or clothes. We're here to be clothed in the glory of Christ. We're not here to be petty and mean in our thoughts about the people we don't like that attend here. We're here to learn more about what it means to love a person that annoys us to death because Jesus loved those that killed him.

Fear and anxiety remove us from the light. Fear and anxiety will keep us wandering in the desert for a lot longer than the 40 years the Israelites spent in it. How long will we wander from God's path? How long will we ignore the Holy Spirit's urgings? How long will we pretend to be our own savior instead of acknowledging Christ as our only Savior?

That.. is up to you.

Amen.

Let it Go

Isaiah 42: 1-9
Matthew 3: 13-17

There is nothing more precious than a child. There is something inside most adults that feels the need to nurture and protect little ones when we see them. We instinctively know that our future lies with these children and if we do not raise them properly, then everything that we have built will be for nothing. When God created the world, God created human beings. We are God's children. God considers us precious beyond words.

God loves us so much that we were given the greatest gift; that of God's Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the one who came to save the world and make us the heirs to the Kingdom of God. Jesus was born without sin, and yet the first thing he does before beginning his ministry is to go up to John the Baptist and asked to be baptized. There are several reasons we baptize our children and adults. We are baptizing them to bless them with the Holy Spirit, and upon being blessed they are accepted as God's child. We also baptize them because Jesus Christ asked to be baptized, the one that had no sin believed it was very important to become part of the body of God through the cleansing ritual given by water and Holy Spirit.

And because Jesus did it, we consider it important in the United Church of Christ. It's the reason we also celebrate Communion. Jesus did it, and therefore so do we. There are many things that Jesus did that we should consider important. Jesus' deep love for the sinners of the world and his intense compassion for those whose lives were marred with mistakes are two things we all need to get better at in our efforts to be Christ's disciples.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a convicted murderer and cannibal who cooked and ate his victims. You don’t really get much more heinous than that. He was awarded 16 life sentences. While in prison, Dahmer met with Roy Ratcliff, a minister with the Church of Christ in Madison, Wisconsin, and turned his life over to Jesus Christ. He was baptized in prison, knowing that he would never leave prison alive. He had nothing to gain in this life, but everything to gain in the next. 
We may scoff at jailhouse conversions, but within months of Dahmer’s baptism, people noticed a Christian spirit in him. His father and pen pals noticed the difference, and his father, who had left the church, has since been restored as a faithful member. Dahmer’s younger brother also had a conversion experience of his own. 

Dahmer was killed in prison by a fellow inmate a few months after his baptism. At his memorial service, along with his own family and several Christians, two sisters of one of his victims attended, having grown close to Dahmer’s family after their brother’s death. 

That may have been Dahmer’s last chance for repentance, and he took it. But many of us think he shouldn’t have been given another chance. He didn’t deserve it. And that’s true. He didn’t deserve another chance. But neither do we.

Baptism is a beautiful sacrament that reminds us that despite our sinfulness; despite the constant warring of our flesh and spirit; despite the constant barrage of petty thoughts in our minds that we are still loved by God. As Jesus comes up out of the water, the Spirit alights upon him in the form of a dove and the voice of God is heard to say, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Every time we baptize a child or adult, the Holy Spirit comes to rest upon them. Every time we baptize a child or adult, God tells that person they are now part of God's family and they are loved.

This is a miracle. That some blessed water and a few words by the pastor can bring a person into the Promised Land. What we waited thousands of years for; what God had promised from the beginning with Adam and Eve and then with Abraham and Sarah and then with Moses and Aaron is that they will be delivered into the Promised Land and that nothing shall ever harm them as they have become God's chosen ones. Baptism proclaims the same exact thing! We are God's chosen ones! WE ARE GOD'S CHOSEN CHILDREN!

The second part of the miracle is up to us. Does this matter to you? Do you care that you are now part of something glorious and amazing and miraculous? Then we need to change. We need to see where we have grown lazy in our lives and in the church and make the changes God would have us make. Every person has something in their life that keeps them from committing fully to God and God's plan for them. We allow fear and the unknown to cause us to worry and stress and so we put up blocks inside of our hearts.

Today, as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus Christ, let us let go of those stumbling blocks. Close your eyes and think for a moment of what holds you back from being more loving. What keeps you from attending those church functions? What prevents you from talking more about Jesus to strangers? What has God been calling you to do that you have been persistently ignoring? Remove the fear from your heart. Remove the worry from your eyes. Remove the pain of the past and accept your future. A future free and clear of all that worry and fear and pain.

Jesus' baptism, our baptism gives us that freedom. We were accepted as God's child. We are clean and whole and perfect in God's eyes. We just need to see ourselves with the same light of love that God has for us. When you see what God sees inside of you, your confidence and your ability to love and forgive will increase exponentially.

We need to know how to love others better. We need to know how to forgive the people that drive us crazy. We need to accept the things we can change and then change them, but we also need to let go of what is unchangeable and move forward. Getting stuck in the past and getting caught up in worry, fear, and pain prevents you from being the baptized and beloved child of God that you are. Let it go. Let.it.go.

And may God's love shine out of you and become a beacon to the ones that are lost and stumbling in the dark. May you find renewed joy in being the baptized and beloved child of God, and through your joy my hope for you is that you can bring others to God's arms. That is what Jesus did for us when he came up out of the water. He brought us into God's arms. May we bless another the way we have been blessed!

Amen. 

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.