The Divine Crash

My audio hasn’t recorded for the last few weeks, I think I need a new recorder but here is my most current sermon on the awakening series. Enjoy the text and I hope to get my podcasts back up soon.

Psalm 130

Let’s start at the beginning. This is not a happy Psalm. This is not a Psalm to sing on good days, or days when everything is going right.

The other day we were grocery shopping at Giant Eagle and the one stock boy spilled a bag of popcorn kernels all over the floor, then we saw him in another part of the store where he dropped a can of Ragu and cut his hand on the glass and while cleaning it up he was explaining to the manager his bad day where he also dropped a case of soda on the floor and tripped over the power cord to a cash register knocking out power to the guy trying to ring up people’s groceries. This guy was having a bad day and this Psalm is for him.

This is a Psalm for sad people.

This is a Psalm for people who have hit rock bottom

This is a Psalm for people who have gone to the bottom of the bottle and found nothing.

This is a Psalm for People who regularly have a dark day that feel like those storm clouds are always overhead and their parades are always getting rained on.

This is a Psalm for people who feel lost and without passion in their lives.

This is a Psalm for people who just want God to do something!

This is a Psalm for people who call out to God and scream “What am I supposed to do now?”

This psalm is for parents who can’t get the house clean for more than five minutes before it looks like a hurricane went through.

This Psalm is for parents who can’t get the budget to include tee-ball, soccer, and food.

This Psalm is is for parents whose kids are a constant source of disappointment.

This Psalm is for the kids who are constantly reminded they are a constant source of disappointment.

This is a Psalm for people who know that it is impossible to keep track of all their mistakes.

This is a Psalm for people who ache in deepest part of their being.

But the author of this Psalm knows that the key to moving beyond the hurt, getting past the mistakes, and going forward in life is found only in God. And so they hope.

They hope like the night watchman waits for morning or kids on Christmas eve hope for  morning. Or a nervous bride waits the night before her wedding. Or a teenage boy about to call a girl for the first time.

It is that nervous, sweaty palms, stuttering, jittery, laughing, hiccups kind of nervousness that comes only from a hope that things might actually be able to be better than they are now but they will only be better if the other side responds!

I think the best way to understand this scripture is to understand the way a marriage proposal works.  When I proposed to Amanda I was so nervous, we were both volunteer youth leaders and she and the youth director had taken the youth on a mission trip to New York City and I couldn’t go because I had to work so I stayed back and I planned youth group for the night they got back.  I spent that whole week planning just what it would look like and that night I was so nervous, I was jittery, stuttering, and just a wreck. As youth group went on I became more nervous.

I wasn’t nervous because of what I was doing but because the consequences of that question would change everything. I remember as I hit one knee in front of all our youth group kids my hands were shaking and in that split second the whole world faded away as I waited for her answer.

It is those moments between the way things used to be and the new way where there is that intense feeling that everything is about to change. Sometimes they are split seconds and sometimes they are nights or days just waiting.

It is that moment between when your child is born and you hear that first cry. When everything is about to change, one way or another you know everything is about to change, and you don’t know how but you are sort of this hyper-vigilant what’s about to happen and how is it going to change us.

Now imagine if you will that it isn’t just you but it is a whole group, nation, tribe. It is everyone around you who is also hoping that God will show up and redeem us from our sins.

Those feelings you have waiting for redemption to come, for change to happen, and new life to begin. They suddenly aren’t just your feelings they are the feelings of you and everyone around you.  That is what this Psalm is screaming out.

I just watched this movie Argo about the Iranian Hostage situation in 1979-1980 and imagine a group of people huddled together wondering, waiting, and hoping that rescue will come. I imagine that feeling is close to what we get in Psalm 130.

Now, imagine that feeling and the waiting and the expectation and then nothing…. nothing happens. You are praying for healing, resurrection, reconciliation, and you are just waiting for God to answer.

That hyper-vigilance waiting for that change and then nothing..

Verse 8 ends and we don’t get a resolution. There is no confirmation that God showed up. That God rescued and redeemed them. There is no happy ending. Only an entire nation waiting for God to show up and then it fades to black, movie over, good night.

I mean this is a Christian story of hope, shouldn’t there be a happy ending where everyone gets married, the kids are happy, the football team wins, and the coach gets a new pick-up truck and everything works out for good?

Instead, we are left with this divine silence where we are hoping for God, screaming out for God to rescue us from the bottom and expecting God to save a whole nation and there is nothing coming back from the other side.

The side with the power to save us appears to be withholding.  It appears as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel and we will be stuck in the depths of our despair for an eternity.

So what do we do with this divine silence? That time where we feel like no answer is coming, where we have bet the farm on God and God hasn’t shown up yet.

How are we supposed to live in a time like this?

I think if we are honest with ourselves. Some of us are living in a time like this right now. Where we are waiting for God to just show up and do something because we have arrived at the end of ourselves.  We have extended ourselves on behalf of God waiting for God to do something and nothing is happening and it is really frustrating.

St. John of the Cross calls this time the “Dark Night of the Soul” A time when God just seems so distant. Where it feels as if we are waiting on God to just show up and do something and God isn’t.

I think of an event in Jesus’ life in John 11 where a friend of Jesus named Lazarus was sick and dying and his sisters, Mary and Martha, went to get help from Jesus and Jesus didn’t show up. Imagine their feelings, they know Jesus can heal him in verse 21 Martha yells at Jesus and says “If you had been here he wouldn’t have died.” These sisters were waiting and hoping for Jesus to heal their brother. Their family. And he didn’t show up. Jesus didn’t do what they were expecting and they were hurt. Angry. Upset.

They were disappointed in the savior of the universe.

I don’t know your story, the events of your life, or the path you have walked but maybe you know exactly how these sisters felt. If God has the power to end all wrongs, dry every tear, and overcome every evil why didn’t he!?! If God can cure every illness why am I still battling cancer? Why can’t God just fix my addiction? Why is that all-powerful God of the universe not helping me find a new job?

In verse 20 the sisters heard Jesus was coming and Martha went out to see him but Mary stayed inside. She wanted nothing to do with the guy who had the power to save her brother and didn’t use it.

How many people do we know that followed Jesus and when tragedy happened they abandon Church and faith completely, maybe they are like Mary, they don’t want to be smacked in the face with this loving God who didn’t save their brother.

but look at what Martha does. She grabs on to the truth she knows that sometimes she will see her brother again. That at some point in the future she will meet up with her brother again. She knows that right now it hurts but someday there will be a resurrection for her and her brother and they will be together again.

I think that is what we do. We grab on the truths we do know. Sometimes it is hard to believe in God. It is hard to trust that God is up to something but we grab on to the truths we do know.

We can kick and scream or fight and cry out for God or we can simply grab on to what we know about God and continue to hold tight until a time comes when God does show up and redeem us.

We know our past mistakes are great, we know our need is great, and we know our only chance at survival is from God and we sort of live in this time of waiting. Waiting for God to show up. That time in-between the way it was and the way it will be.

It is there, that time in between where we grab on to what we know. That little nugget of truth that we find locked in our brain somewhere and we squeeze and hold on to it so tightly that without it there is nothing.

What do we know about Jesus? What can we hold on to when it feels like God is far away?

- Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble.

- Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.”

- Revelation 22:20 “I am coming soon.”

Those are just three examples but the point is that when God feels far away we need to grab on to the truths we do know.

It is there, in the midst of feeling like God is far away that we grab on to the truths we do know and in that we find that Jesus is right there in those truths. That Jesus is right next to us, walking with us, holding us up, keeping us safe, and reminding us that no matter what Jesus is right there with us and that we will eventually come out on the other side.

It is important to remember the other side. There will come a time where we will emerge from the loneliness we feel and the abandonment we feel.  It may be a very long time and it may not even be until the other side of eternity but it will come. Just as Lazarus’ healing didn’t come when his sister’s thought it should it still happened. And it is only when we get to the other side can we look back on that dark time and say “God was with me even then. I didn’t feel it, but God was right there with me.”

Along this journey God has given us reminders that we are never alone.

The laughter of a child, Christmas morning, that feeling on payday, those happy moments that give us the strength to go on just a little longer.

Communion is one of those ways where we can gather together and be reminded that God has joined with us as Jesus and is walking along this journey with us. As we take communion may you be reminded that no matter where you are on this journey, whether you feel alone or you feel close to God this is one of the ways God reminds us we are never alone.

Communion also reminds us that other people who are ragamuffin sinners struggling just like us are on this same journey are here to lift us up and encourage us on this journey.

There are other people with us and God is with us in a real presence here at this table.

So then, when you find yourself in a dark night where it feels like God is far away, may you awaken to a hope that it will end. God will come and redeem you and you will be able to look back and see that God was always with you, even when you couldn’t feel God’s presence.

We, as United Methodists, believe that communion is open to everyone, no matter where you are on this journey of life this table is open for you. We believe God does something here that unites us a family and reminds us of God’s grace in our lives that walks with us even through the darkest times. So we will pray and have communion by intinction and I will invite you to come and to receive the bread and dip it in the cup. You are welcome to kneel at the altar and pray or return to your seat. If you are unable to come forward please let the person next you know and we will bring you communion if you wish.

Close with Prayer. 

Psalm 19

The sky screams out the handiwork of God.

The Sun proceeds across the sky because God wants it to.

The day and night sing of the beauty and majesty of God.

Yet there is no sound from them, so how do we know any of it?

We know it because God has given us a way to know it.

Through the Bible we can know about God and learn about God.

It’s like this, my son is into legos right now. He loves legos. It started last year on vacation in Florida we all went to Legoland and now Samuel loves his legos. But legos these days aren’t like legos when I was a kid. These things take some serious time and have huge amounts of directions with them. I mean look at this, and these weird pieces now. Back in my day we had 4 bricks and you put them together and it was an airplane, a car, or a boat. That was it. Now they have ambulances and transformers and X-men legos and these are so complicated to put together.

I mean they have Lego sets of “Fallingwater” Who needs to build this? Frank Lloyd Wright already did so why do it again? I don’t get it. They even have legos that connect to a computer and can be fully animated. Seriously? Back in my day if I wanted my Lego car to drive I had to push it. I don’t get it.

Here’s the thing about Lego’s though, you can build anything you want. You can do anything yo want with legos. but if you want to build what is on the picture you need the directions. and those directions are like 80+ pages and not always written in a language I can read. but if we want the legos to look like the picture we need the directions.

And that is the key for us today. If you want your life to look like the picture God has designed we need to read the directions, the Bible.

Look at our scripture about it.

Vs. 7 God has given us a perfect instruction that revives our very being.

- For example: James 3:5 Even though the tongue is a small part of the body it boasts wildly.

- In other words we need to watch what we speak. It can do more damage then we realize.

- This instruction given by God will help our very being.

Vs. 8 The Lord’s regulations gladden the heart

- For example: Proverbs 27:14 “Greeting a neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning will be viewed as a curse.”

- Some people are morning people. When they show up all bubbly and excited early in the morning it makes those of us who are not morning people very angry and occasionally ends in cursing them.

- When we follow the regulations of God it makes our heart happy and makes us well-respected with our neighbors.

Vs. 9 Honoring the Lord is correct and lasts forever.

- Example: In Matthew 25 Jesus says that what we do for the least of these is what we do for Jesus and that our eternity will be judged based on how we helped the least of these.

- If we say we follow God then we also have to live that out and when we live out our belief we find that we have gained eternity.

The author in verse 10 says that the word of God is more desirable than gold. Even tons of pure gold! They are even sweeter than pure honey off the honeycomb!

The author goes on in verse 11 and says that there is a great reward in keeping the law of God.

Then there is a stark shift from 11 to 12 where the author begins to doubt himself. That it is quite possible that He has broken a law without knowing it, that somehow he has messed up and doesn’t know it.

I think if we go back to our lego example and we say that the Lego pieces are our lives then we have to acknowledge that we have these extra pieces and the directions don’t say what to do with them.

there are these lego pieces that aren’t in the picture and aren’t in the directions so what do we do with them?

I think that is an important feature of this Psalm. Sometimes there are extra things in our lives that we have to deal with and the reality is that the Bible doesn’t cover every topic and maybe there is something that we thought was okay and the Bible doesn’t mention and it turns out it was wrong. I mean the Bible doesn’t mention anything about downloading music from the internet, or the appropriate side of the road to walk on, or even what kind of translation of Bible to use, or big topics like stem cell research and how to raise kids after a divorce. Or even the terms to put in a DNR order for the doctor.

I mean these things are important and if the Bible is silent on them what happens if I get them wrong? What happens if I put the pieces in the wrong spot?

The question in verse 12 is a question of monumental importance. “What do I do with the pieces of my life that don’t fit neatly within the boundaries of scripture?”

And I think that is the question before us today. What do we do with those extra pieces in life?

I think if we are honest we deal with this topic a lot. When people go wrong, when life doesn’t turn out the way we want or we get a raw deal in a relationship or any number of things we don’t think should be part of our life. So what do we do with them?

The key to what we do is found right in Verses 13 and 14. We figure it out as best as we can with other scriptures and we pray for forgiveness from the unknown and the known sins.

We don’t willingly go out and sin, we don’t want to sin and we should not be saying to ourselves “I am going to go do whatever I want because God will still forgive me.” That is shady theology at best and down right wrong at worst. but there are times we sin and we don’t know it. and so yet there is forgiveness for those events.

But the question still exists, how do I figure out what to do? How do I know where the best place to put that piece of my life that doesn’t make sense.

Well, it’s like this. There are really 4 things to look at. As Methodists we call this the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, but really it is just a method for making decisions.

First, scripture. That is our primary example and our primary way to make decisions. but we already looked at ways in which sometimes scripture doesn’t have an answer so now what?

Second, tradition. What have we done in the past? Did it work? Did it fail? How can we use our history to tell us what our future should be?

Third, reason. What can we figure out using logic? God gave us a brain, maybe we should use it? So what can we figure out?

Last, what has our own experience been? What have we been a part of and how has that worked out?

After all of that we can usually figure out a pretty good decision that we then give the consequences up to God and try to go from there.

and that prayer is verse 14. that essentially is saying “God, I hope I am not messing this up may what I am doing be pleasing to you.”

And that’s what we need to do with the extra pieces, we struggle with them, pray over them, and offer them up to God and pray we are making the right decision.

Sometimes we will make the wrong decision, and God will show us that and so we ask forgiveness and try again.

So then, scripture is our primary way of relating to God and figuring out how to live our life and without the Bible and a working knowledge of the Bible you miss out on the most important lessons of life.  But when there are topics scripture misses we can still figure out what God wants from us and what to do with our lives and we offer them up to God and ask that God be pleased with what we are doing.

I guess the question left is where do I start? How do I start the process of making decisions that are pleasing to God? The first thing to do is to start reading the Bible.

If I have never read the Bible what do I do? Well, first, get a Bible. We have some in the back go get one. Find one that you like and start reading. You can read it cover to cover but that is very hard to do because there are some boring parts.  I would suggest getting a Bible reading plan, we have those in the back and in the plan there are readings for every day. Start with today and read it every day. That is a good place to start getting in to the word of God.

but let’s say you are a gadget nerd and why carry around one more book and paper? Why not save some trees? You can get an app for your smart phone that has the Bible and reading plans tailored for specific topics right on your phone for free. It’s called “YouVersion” and it has Bible plans for students, parents, doctors, retirees, and all kinds of plans.

For me, I don’t really use the bible plans, what I do is everyday I read whatever scripture I am preaching on the following Sunday. So for me, as of today I have read this scripture seven times.

Other people they read straight through books of the Bible and others will read a few chapters a day.  What matters is not how you read it but that we are reading the Bible on a regular basis.

After that, start praying before you make decisions, think of the scripture you read and ask God to help you with your decisions.

You may not get an audible voice, although that happens. What happens more often is one decision is a little bit more clear or desirable or easier than the other.

It’s not always easy to make decisions. Some things are really hard to do. What job to take, what school to go to, there are some immensely painful decisions. but knowing what the Bible says will make those decisions at least a little easier.

So then, may you grow closer to God through scripture. May you use scripture to put the pieces of your life together the way God pictures it. and when you struggle with the unknown pieces may you ask God to forgive you and help you figure out what to do with them.

Prayer:

Psalm 147:1-20

Praise the LORD! Because it is good to sing praise to our God! Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise! The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles.God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. God counts the stars by number, giving each one a name. Our Lord is great and so strong!

God’s knowledge can’t be grasped! The LORD helps the poor,

but throws the wicked down on the dirt! Sing to the LORD with thanks;

sing praises to our God with a lyre! God covers the skies with clouds;God makes rain for the earth; God makes the mountains sprout green grass. God gives food to the animals—even to the baby ravens when they cry out. God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse;God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner.No. The LORD treasures the people who honor him,the people who wait for his faithful love.

Worship the LORD , Jerusalem!

Praise your God, Zion!Because God secures the bars on your gates,

God blesses the children you have there. God establishes your borders peacefully.God fills you full with the very best wheat.

God issues his command to the earth—God’s word speeds off fast! God spreads snow like it was wool;God scatters frost like it was ashes;

 God throws his hail down like crumbs—who can endure God’s freezing cold? Then God issues his word and melts it all away! God makes his winds blow;the water flows again.

God proclaims his word to Jacob;his statutes and rules to Israel. God hasn’t done that with any other nation;those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules.

Praise the LORD !

We are starting a new series called “Awakening” and each week we hope to awaken our soul to the mysteries of God. Today we awaken to a worship filled with thanksgiving and we celebrate the goodness of God.

Here in this text we are invited to worship. We are invited to sing out our praise to God at the top of our lungs and scream out praise to God. We are invited to pretend we are in our car with the windows rolled up going down the highway jamming out like no one is watching.

Today it is good? this day? Right now?

There is war in the world.

there is poverty in our town

There is heartache in our very own home

And you want me to sing praise?

How could I possibly sing praise to God in a day like this?

- My kids are sick

- Work is long

- The bills need paid

- The house needs fixed

- The doctor keeps telling me bad news

- There are bombs in Boston

- There are riots in London

- There is Ricin in the mail

- The stocks are bad

- My boss is nagging me

- There was a typo on the screen

- The song isn’t in a good key

- I don’t like the people near me

- The list goes on and on and on.

How are we supposed to sing in a moment like this?

We sing because of the difference between awareness and analysis.

Analysis is the logic that pulls apart all the different cracks and looks for flaws. We can’t sing because we have to undergo another chemo treatment.  We can’t sing because our friend died. We can’t sing because we are still so hungry. We can’t sing because we don’t like the style. We can’t sing because the time change, or whatever else we can find wrong.

Sometimes it is as if people just analyze things to death and will never be done finding all the reasons why we can’t sing.

Analysis is all well and good but if we get stuck in it we find ourselves stepping back with arms crossed declaring that there is no room for happiness and singing until the evil is gone.

Analysis is the easiest thing in the world to do. It doesn’t require us to dig deep or look at a bigger picture It only requires us to poke at the inadequacies of our life and to live our life full of cynicism and a glass is half empty view of the whole world.

Analysis lives in a world where there is always time for more analysis and tweaking and making better because there will always be another day to analyze.

But we are not called to live only in analysis.

We are invited to sing because of an awareness.

An awareness that doesn’t ignore the realities of this world and doesn’t gloss over and pretend that everything is fine but instead it is an acute awareness that this moment is a gift from God that we can embrace and enjoy every moment we have been given. Awareness is an embrace of this moment because there may not be another one. We love this moment right now because we aren’t guaranteed another moment.

We are invited to sing because an awareness of God who is so big and so huge that he numbered the stars  and gave them each a name and yet still bends down to help the poor.

We are invited to sing because of an awareness of God who is so huge that he can make the mountains sprout grass and make the rain fall and feed the baby ravens and yet God still reaches down and puts a bandage on the wounds of those who are hurting.

We are invited to sing because of an awareness that God doesn’t prize the best of the best or the richest of the rich, or the fastest of the fastest.  Instead God prizes those who give honor to God. Those who love God more than anything else.

Psalm 51:17 says that God loves those who are broken-hearted. We sing not because our heart is in perfect order but because our heart is broken and God loves it anyway

We sing because of an awareness that God has shown us favor. God did not program us to mindlessly follow but has poured out unending love for us at the cross and calls us to be in a relationship with the savior of the world. Not through anything we could ever do, earn, or create but simply through because God loves us more than life itself.

And the only response is to sing praise to the Lord. To sing so loud and with such recklessness that no one can ignore the greatness of God. One musician puts it this way: “The only response to God unending love for us is not to make pretty music but to make a shout of thankfulness that comes from the depths of our being and proclaims a joy that cannot be explained in words.”

Walter Bruggerman an says those who can sing to God have rejected the complacency of this world and embraced the divine hope that comes from God.

So then, we can analyze the world all day long. We can point out all the reasons we should not sing and all the things wrong with this place.

or 

We can be radically aware that the God of the universe has invited us to sing in spite of all the things wrong with the world.

It’s like this, over the past week I was in England and one of the places we went was called Coventry. It is a little city in England that during WWII was destroyed by the Germans. They bombed it to the ground. We went to the ruins of a church. This church had been completely destroyed and only a few remnants were left of this building. After the bombing stopped the people gathered for church and they had two options. Scream for revenge and demand bloodshed or to forgive and worship God anyway.  And that is what they did. Where the altar table was they had engraved in the broken stones “Father Forgive” and they decided to worship God anyway.  They didn’t sing because everything was good, many of them lost homes, family members, and everything they owned.  No, they sang because they were aware that even in the midst of tragedy God was with them.

God wants us to sing. God has invited us to sing. Not because the world is whole but because God has reached down and bandaged our wounds, lifted us up, and has joined us in a relationship.

I did some crowd sourcing for this sermon and I asked a few friends of mine who enjoy singing and this is what one friend said: “Singing is a way of re-orienting ourselves back to God and when we don’t sing it is almost as if we have denied who God has made us to be.”

God isn’t looking for pretty voices or good voices or voices that have been trained in the proper way of singing. God is looking for loud voices singing a praise from the depths of our soul. David Crowder puts it this way “God wants less of your pretty voice and more of your loud voices”

I went to a few friends of mine who love to sing, some professional. Some only sing in churches and I asked them this question: How can you sing when everything else is going wrong. and one answer I got was “I don’t sing because life is perfect, I sing because singing means I still have this voice God has given me.”

I asked another friend of mine the same question about singing and she said that singing is what helps to build momentum and start getting things to go right again. That when we start singing the world starts to look manageable again.

SO THEN MAY YOU SING! May you step back from analysis and be aware of the goodness of God that has invited us to sing at the top of our lungs. Don’t worry about Pretty or Nice, just belt it out from the depth of your soul because God has invited you to sing!

Prayer.

This is my sermon from Easter. Enjoy!

John 20:1-18

Today we finish our discover series and we are going to discover a brand new start.

Prayer: God, show us that restarts are possible and that new beginnings really do exist.

Ronald Wayne sold his share of the company for 800 dollars in April 1976. He decided that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were to young and immature to run a successful business and he wasn’t willing to risk losing everything on a couple of young kids. September 2012 Apple was worth 626 Billion dollars. Ronald Wayne now lives in a trailer park in Nevada, He never married, lives alone, and sells rare coins and stamps to make ends meet.

I think if he had it to do over again he would have done it differently he could have used a brand new start.

In 1975 Kodak cameras invented the ability to capture photos digitally without the use of film. They put the technology on a shelf because they never thought anyone would want to do that. In May of 2012 Kodak closed its doors.

I bet if they had it to do over again they would do it differently, they could use a brand new start.

Ever miss those great opportunities?

Ever regret the opportunities you didn’t take?

Ever messed up so bad you would have given anything for a fresh new start?

Ever looked at something and wondered what the future holds because this moment is so painful there is no way anything good came come from it?

Ever looked back at an opportunity and wish you hadn’t taken it or maybe the opposite is true, maybe you wish you had taken it because it means the whole world would be different?

Ever just longed for a new start or a new beginning? or just a chance to do it all over again?

Through the cross on Friday those mistakes are forgiven, those missed opportunities, those places where we have stumbled and fallen over and over again.

On Friday the whole earth shook, the curtains were torn, and God died for our sins. God died for those mistakes and we were forgiven.

Psalm 103 says that God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west.

All those times you down right messed up. Shot yourself in the foot and just did stupid stuff. They were paid for on Friday. When Jesus died on the cross it was to pay for all those times you tripped up, stumbled, and fell down in the pile of your own sin.

At the cross Jesus declared your forgiveness.

Easter Video. Sunday is coming!

Sunday isn’t just coming. Sunday is here, today, and it means a few things for us.

Through the resurrection we get another shot at this thing called life.

When Jesus walked out of the tomb it was a giant declaration to each and every one of us that our past does not get the final word.

When Jesus folded up the cloths from his head he made a statement to the powers of this world that they do not get to control the eternal destinies of anyone.

Only God can do that and God has declared the past null and void.

When Jesus looked at Mary and said he is going to heaven and to get his disciples it was a declaration that there is still work to be done and your past does not disqualify you from what God needs you to do.

If you have ever wanted a second chance or longed for a new beginning then it comes here. It comes through the resurrection and it starts now.

It’s like this, one day a young hedge fund manager got a good tip and put 10 million dollars of the company’s money on his tip. The plan fell through. His company lost every penny of 10 million dollars. He was devastated. He walked into his boss’s office the next morning to hand in his resignation.  The boss looked at him, leaned back in his seat and said “I just spent 10 million dollars to teach you a lesson, I can’t afford to let you go.”

Through the cross God paid the highest price ever.

Through the resurrection God declares that we are too valuable to let our mistakes define us. We are too loved to be kicked to the curb.

In the course of 3 days God forgave all our sins, defeated death, and gave us a second chance.

That kind of second chance didn’t come easy or free. It was costly and it was given to us regardless of our response.

but it does demand a response.

The second chance given to us through the resurrection of Jesus requires that we respond to it.

It’s like this: Hold up 20 dollar bill

Who would like this bill? It is free and you can have it if you want it.

There are 3 responses to this.

1.  I don’t want it, I am not even going to move. I don’t need it and it isn’t worth my time

2. I want it, I’ll put my hand up, but there is probably some trick. It is too good to be true and it is just one more way in which I will get hurt.

3. I want it, I will do whatever it takes to get it and I will run up there and grab it.

The same is true with the resurrection.

We see it, experience it and now we are left with a choice.

1. Deny it, walk away and decide we don’t need it.

2. Decide we want it, need it, and yet we feel like we don’t deserve it or that it is some trick to get our hopes up and knock us down again. We have been tricked and hurt so many times that we dare not risk it this time. That it is just too good to be true and so I am going to pass on it.

3. then there are those of us who hope so much! We want so badly for a second chance that we will do anything to get what we want so much! If that means we have to elbow people out-of-the-way, climb a tree, or cut a whole in the roof, then so be it because we want that second chance so badly we will do whatever it takes to get it.

And here is the thing, when Jesus walked out of that tomb he made it that easy for us to have a second chance. He made it that easy for us to get a restart at life. All we have to do is reach out and take hold of it. Jesus says that through the empty tomb there is a new life. No tricks, no games, just life. A brand new life.

And that Brand new life doesn’t have to wait for three days, or even another minute.

That brand new life doesn’t require you rush forward or follow a specific prayer or make a specific sacrifice.

To get that second chance is only about grabbing on to the new life Jesus has provided and made possible for you. It becomes about a decision that because we have been given a second chance that we devote that second chance to following Jesus.

Look at this story of a fresh start.

At the end of Jesus’ life one of his disciple’s named Peter promised to be faithful and when crunch time came Peter fled and denied Jesus. He screamed at small children “I don’t know who that man is.”  Peter Pretended he didn’t even know who Jesus was. He turned his back on his best friend and fled with the crowd.

Then, in John 21, after the resurrection Peter went fishing naked, like one does, on that fishing trip he sees Jesus so he puts his clothes on, jumps in the water and swims to Jesus. It is here he finds the second chance he was looking for. It was here on the other side of the resurrection that Peter found his calling and a way to live out this second chance at life.

 

So then, may you take hold of your second chance that Jesus bought for you on the cross.

May you discover that through the resurrection Jesus offers a brand new start at life to you freely and without any tricks, games, or guilt involved.

Let us pray.

This is my sermon from Palm Sunday as we continue in our Discover Series. Feel free to listen to the audio at the bottom and download the podcast on iTunes.

Palm Sunday Matthew 21:1-10

Prayer: God, Too often we have formed Jesus into our own image. Jesus has become dull and boring. We beg of you now, show us the unexpected, unsafe, dangerous, illegal, unsavory, dirty, and unknown Jesus.

 

So a careful reading of our text today says this is what Jesus did.

Verse 7 says this is exactly what Jesus did.

Apparently this is how a person draws a crowd in 1st century Jerusalem because it was with this that people started showing up. Because it is when Jesus is sitting on two donkeys at the same time that people started a parade and they started shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” I guess anyone who can pull this stunt off is the son of David and is blessed by God.

You may think I am being flippant or disrespectful to Jesus but this is what Matthew writes is actually happening.  If you don’t believe that Jesus came in to town riding on a colt and a donkey at the same time you disagree with what the Bible says. You can take it up with the author.

But wait, Mark 11 says it was only 1 colt. Luke 19 says it is only 1 colt. John 12 says it was a young Donkey.  What we have here is a contradiction and an issue. Anyone who tells you there are no errors in the Bible has clearly never read this section because I just showed you one. How can anyone ride two animals at the same time. Either Matthew got it wrong or the other 3 authors got it wrong. They can’t all be right. Was it 1 or was it 2? There is no way they can both be right.

So, who was right? Why would Matthew make it very clear that Jesus was riding 2 animals when everyone else says it was 1. Why would be a colt and a donkey for Matthew and only a colt for the others? Mark and Luke even go so far to say that no one has ever ridden the colt prior to this event. What does that mean?

This is an outright and blatant contradiction in the Bible any one who tells you there are no contradictions in the Bible either can’t count or has never read the Bible.

Now don’t misunderstand, the gospel was written by men and inspired by God and so this contradiction has a purpose but the question becomes, what do we do with it? All scripture is God breathed and useful for all things. So what do we do with it?

The question becomes: so what do we do with it? Do we ignore it? Do we pretend it isn’t there? I mean it would sure make God easier to understand if there were no contradictions in the Bible.  I would suggest we do this a lot because we have heard the stories so many times we kind of tune out the actual words for the memories of what we think we have heard so many times. I would suggest that too often we just ignore the parts of scripture that are hard to understand and we get angry when people begin to question scripture and it isn’t because they shouldn’t be questioning it but it is because we don’t have answers and nothing destroys honest and good questions faster than anger.

Should we disregard all of Christianity because of a Contradiction? I mean wouldn’t it make religion better if it was all nice and pretty and everything made perfect sense? I think we do this a lot when we hear Jesus’ words about cutting off our hands or selling everything we own. Instead of trying to figure them out we just disregard it because it doesn’t make sense and it is hard to understand.

Incidentally any man who has both eyes and tells you they take the Bible literally is lying.

Or is there something else? Maybe there is a reason behind the contradiction? Maybe we have to understand why Matthew would be different from the other 3 gospels? Maybe there is something new to discover here that even after years and years of hearing this story there is something we missed.

Jesus probably only rode on one colt that has never been ridden before. Matthew says it is 2 animals because Matthew is trying to make a point that no one will miss and that point is from Zechariah 9:9 that says : “Your king comes to you triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. this is traditional Hebrew poetry that repeats itself to get its point across. Matthew is quoting this verse and using this verse to make sure no one who reads his gospel misses the point. That Jesus is the king who is mentioned in Zechariah 9:9-17 who will end wars, bring peace, set prisoners free, restore hope, and save people as if they were precious jewels.

So yes, there is a blatant contradiction in the Bible. You can’t deny it. The contradiction was put there on purpose, by Matthew, and it was made so obvious that it is supposed to make people say “why is that there…” and then we start looking and we see what Matthew is trying to show us.

And if we do that, if we start looking we see that Jesus probably only rode on one donkey but there was a purpose behind it.

First, Jesus shows us his courage. The crowds may have been singing the praises of Jesus but the authority wanted him dead. The city leaders were hostile and they were going to kill him.  Anyone with common sense would have stayed home or at least come in during the night.  But Jesus threw down a gauntlet and said “I am the king mentioned in Zechariah 9:9″ This act was an act of defiance against the authority and establishment that hated him. by riding on a donkey Jesus looked at the authority and dared them to do their worst. It was a giant “Come At me Bro”

Second, the point Matthew is trying to drive home is not just the courage of Jesus but also the claim of Jesus, that by referring us back to Zechariah Matthew is showing us that Jesus is the anointed one of God, the Messiah. Through this act Jesus is asserting himself as the king of all Israel and by default is claiming that the current rulers are not the leaders of Israel. Jesus is making a claim that it is only through him that Israel is ruled and it is only because of the kingship of Jesus that Israel exists in the first place.

Last, Matthew is driving home the appeal of Jesus. Through riding on a donkey Jesus wasn’t trying to take a political kingship in Jerusalem as a forceful leader. Instead Jesus is appealing to the kingship of the heart. Jesus coming in on a donkey is not a symbol of war it is a symbol of peace.  Jesus is not trying to appeal to political parties but Jesus is making an appeal to the heart as the king of peace who did not come to destroy but to love, not to condemn but to help, not in the might of arms but in the strength of love.

Matthew is making a blatant contradiction on purpose to show us that through this one-act we see the courage of Christ, the claim of Christ and the appeal of Christ.

So what does this mean for us nearly 2000 years later? What can we discover in this text that will help us in 2013 in Western Pa? What is so important in this scripture that it has more meaning than just taking home a palm branch? What do we do?

William Barclay writes it this way “The entrance of Jesus was a last invitation to men and women to open not their palaces but their hearts to him.” And that’s where the rubber meets the road today. Jesus doesn’t want to set up a throne in your mind, your house, or any other place. Jesus didn’t come by force to make you kneel to him. Jesus showed up on a donkey so that he may be the king of your heart. Jesus simply wants your heart.

Jesus’ hope for us is not that we would make some silly prayer of acceptance or feel guilty for what we have done but that we would give Jesus our heart. That Jesus would be the king of our heart and would be able to live and reign in and through us starting with our heart.

We can wave our palms and sing our songs and go on mission trips and be on committees and do all sorts of wonderful things that show Jesus is the king of our life but if Jesus is not the Lord of our hearts then we have not given Jesus the one thing that Jesus desperately wants.

Jesus doesn’t care how messed up, scared, broken or shattered it is. Jesus wants us to give it to Him.

Jesus wants the rosé story from Steven Furtick.

In fact the more broken, bruised, messed up, and dirty your heart is the more Jesus wants it.  In Isaiah 61 is a proclamation that the Messiah will bind up the brokenhearted and then in Luke 4 Jesus quotes this and says “this text is about me.” Your heart can be a mess, your traditions can be a disaster, your life a wreck, but if Jesus is in your heart then everything else will eventually fall into place.

So then, may you discover the unexpected Jesus that has issued an invitation to you and to the whole world that he would like to set up residency in your heart. Not your head, or a bookshelf, or an artist’s picture, but in your heart and that it doesn’t matter how broken your heart is. Jesus wants it.

It’s like this: (pick up sam) Samuel is my son and I love him and I desire a relationship with him, but I don’t want just a once in a while only when he needs something, cash cow, kind of relationship. I want to be more than his father. I wanna be his daddy. I want to hold him tight and remind him that no matter what I love him.  Jesus desires this from us. That we grab him around the neck and stay so close that it is as if Jesus is inside of us and that silly things like riding two donkey’s at the same time is only a drive to bring us closer to the heart of Jesus who sets our lives at peace. The triumphal entry of Jesus is about defiance to the establishment who hates him but it is also an invitation from Jesus that he wants to set up a throne in your heart.

So then, to often we aren’t in this kind of relationship and we aren’t there with Jesus. We have put Jesus up on a shelf or on a throne where we don’t interact or touch or do anything other than mentally affirm our belief as if that is enough. Well it isn’t and we must discover a Jesus who wants to be the king of our heart and wants nothing more than for us to give him our heart. It is only then, through this unexpected Jesus, that we can find the true peace we have been looking for.

Let us Pray:

Sermon Audio

 

We are going to finish the “Discover” Series on Easter and until then we spent this sermon on 3/17/13 discovering our purpose in life. Feel free to listen, comment, and subscribe to my podcast on iTunes.

 

Ever wondered what your purpose was? What you are here for?

Genesis 1:11 and 26-31

Prayer: God make us more like you.

God created all things with the ability to keep creating more things, and better things.

Hebrew word in verse 11 is Dasha, to make more, new, better, more organized.

- Trees to created more, new, and better organized trees

- God didn’t make every single tree. God only made one of each kind and they each make new trees

- Dogs to create more, new and better organized dogs.

- Cats to um…no not cats. God didn’t create cats. They serve no purpose. They were not created by God. That is why their ears look like horns and they have pointy tales. Who else has a pointy tale?

God rules over everything.

God created us to rule over or have dominion over all things

Kabash – Rule in verse 28. “Take Charge” “Master” “have dominion over”

Not like put the kabash on something but instead A more literal meaning of Kabash is to Co-create.

Our job is to help creation be better, more organized.

This is why some of you love to build things, because you are connecting with the very reason you were created.

Those of you who are crazy organized are connected with why you were created.

Those of you who love to create art, music, dance, drama, building, you are connecting to God who paints the skies in brilliant colors and uses poetry to tell about his wonders of the world. When you do it, even on a small-scale you connect with the God in Genesis created you to do those things.

Words like make, organize, order, build, manage, they all come from right here in Genesis and you know when you have found that thing that connects you with God because it is that thing that when you do it you lose all track of time.

Do you like to talk…so does God…his words build new worlds…what do you build with your words?

When you do these things you make the world a better place, not just for you but for your neighbors and for the whole world.

- Give examples of muslim neighbor, Atheist, and pollution, and starving in Africa, and for chickens and goats

When we don’t do these we deny what God has called us to do and that is called sin.

Sin is saying we know better than God.

Sin is saying we can do our plan without God

Sin is stepping out of our created order and trying to become like God or stepping down and worship the created.

That sort of plan leads to corruption, violence, destruction, disorder, chaos, addictions, all the things opposite of the good that God created.

You can choose to do either one, no one will stop you. but one makes the world better and the other makes the world worse because of your actions.

So then, the purpose to discover is that your entire purpose that God has created for you is to make this world better. To help it along and help to usher in the kingdom of God.

The question becomes how do you do that? How do you, one person out of 8 Billion people make the entire world better?

What is that one thing you do when you lose all track of time…that is what you do to make the whole world better.

You love to garden? You love to get your hands dirty and make something grow? Use that to help feed hungry people and BOOM! You’ve just made the world better.

You love art? You love to draw and design? What if you designed a green building that lowered pollution? You just made the world better by simply doing what you love.

Think of that one thing you love doing more than anything else. Working with kids? Helping others? Art? Music?

Now, in your Bible is Psalm 34:7 I love it the way the NRSV words it “Take delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

That thing you do that connects you to God and makes this whole world better. If you take delight in God you can do it.

You may feel like you have missed your call and you were supposed to do it all those years ago and now it is too late.  It is never to late. You can always do what God has called you to do. You will find once you start doing what God has called you to do you will be happier than you have ever been. You might be broke and misunderstood but you will be happier than if you ignore God and your calling.

So then, the purpose to discover is that hidden thing you love doing but don’t tell anyone else about is exactly the thing you were created to do and to do anything else is to act outside of the way God created you to be.

But pastor, but pastor…I can’t make any money doing what I want to do. Or It won’t make me famous. Or Rich, or my parents don’t want me to or it is silly or all sorts of excuses.

And all of them are valid and also incredibly useless.

The goal of life is not to be rich, famous, or successful.  The goal of this life is to follow God and live out the purpose God has given you and that makes this whole world better.

There once was a man who was the son of a very wealthy father.  One day this son got it in his head that God had called him to make this world better. The Son left the side of his Father and went to try to make this broken world better. This Son gave up his riches, power, and authority that came with being the oldest son in a very wealthy family. He walked away from it all because of this silly notion he wanted to make this world better. This son ended up walking around dirt covered cities hanging out with poor people and not even having a place of his own to call home, his few friends tell stories about him and never once do they mention that he bathed.

Some people thought he was crazy, others ignored him, at one time they tried to throw him off a cliff. Finally the establishment had enough. And they arrested him on false charges. His friends abandoned him and he died trying to make the world better. Alone, Naked, and betrayed, Jesus died trying to make this world better.

Jesus knew his purpose was to change the world. As followers of Jesus our purpose is to continue to make this world better because of what Jesus did. We are not called to change the world, only to make the world better than it is now, how we do that looks a little different depending on who we are but it always involves an element of connecting ourselves back to the God who made us, redeemed us, and called us by name to live out that purpose.

and let me tell you, there is nothing more beautiful and amazing than knowing that what you are doing is living into the purpose God has called you to live in to and knowing that it is making the world better.  Your family may think you are crazy, your parents don’t understand and your bank account is empty but it is this beautiful thing because you are connecting to the God who made you and the God who called you to make this whole world better.

So then, may you discover that thing that connects you to God and makes you lose all track of time and may you know that is your purpose and that you are called to use that purpose to make this whole world better.

 

Sermon Audio

 

I am finally getting caught up on posting my sermons and this one is about giving of our whole lives, including our wallets. Take a listen at the bottom or on iTunes.

Romans 12:1-2

Prayer: Don’t let this be another one of “those”sermons.  May God speak through and bring us closer to Jesus in all aspects of our life.

I did not start going to church until I was in high school and I noticed something, I don’t know if you have ever noticed this but organized religion has a long history of reducing huge mysteries of God to club rules& membership…and I think one of the big ways we do that is with our offering.

We pass this plate and it creates this idea of membership dues and those who put in are in and those who don’t are out but the problem is with God there are no outsiders only followers and those who aren’t followers yet. Too often we use this plate as a way to prove we love God, or as a way to show we are better than the people next to us. and the reality is we don’t have a clue why we give. We don’t have clue one why we pass this plate and we don’t have clue one why we ask for a tithe.

Every week we pass an offering plate around for you to give your offering to the church, ever wonder why? Here is a video

chuck knows church video (3:22)

That was your brief history of why we pass an offering plate.  How many of you would be okay with buying your pews? the more money you pay the better your seat and if you pay nothing you can sit in a balcony? You know, if you pay a certain amount you could be by the window or under a fan?

Or maybe we just charge a tax right out of your paycheck? How many of you would like that?

We do not practice those ways, instead we pass the offering plate and we ask each person to put in at least 10% of their wages into it.

The question now becomes why our money? Why can’t I offer my time? or my talents?

To understand why we do something we have to understand a little bit about God.

- First, God gave to us, in John 3:16 we see God loves us so much that God gave all he had.

- God is constantly giving us everything we need from oxygen to jobs to friends and family.

- God is a constantly giving God. God is in the business of giving and business is good.

- Next, we are made in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says God made us in the image of God.  God made us to be just like God, only on a smaller scale. For today we can understand this to mean we are designed to be giving.

- We give because God gives and has designed us to give.

- We don’t give because we have to or because of guilt or to receive forgiveness. You should never give because someone stands up here and tells you that if you don’t give you go to hell.

- We give because God designed us to be giving

- We give because when we give we are acting out-of-the-way we were designed and in a manner that fits with people who follow The God who gives us everything.

The question then is how much should we put in?

- There are a few ideas found in scripture.

- In Genesis 14:20 Abraham gives 10% of what he got to the work of God.

- In Leviticus it was about bringing the first of the harvest/animals/grain

- In 2 Corinthians it is about giving what we made up in our minds to give

- In Romans it is about giving our entire lives.

- So how much?

- I would suggest the answer is all of them.

- As followers of God our whole lives should be given up to God as a sacrifice saying “Do what you want with this”

- As a symbol of our whole life sacrifice we should be giving of our financial resources to the church and a good starting place is 10% to the church. Not to compassion, or world vision or the building fund or camp sunday or any other line item giving 10% to the church. Anything else should be above the 10% and is extra mile giving. Which means if you only give to specific funds every week then you aren’t giving your 10% to the church.

- What if you can’t. Some people won’t. Some people are lazy and refuse to give 10% but there are some who can’t. There are some people who genuinely cannot give 10% or even 1% to the church. I would suggest that we give something to the church, that if this is the church you love and attend that you should still be giving something on a regular basis. Whether that’s once a month or once a week that something should still be given.

- Our offering to the church is a declaration that we trust God with every part of our lives, including our wallet. However, situations have come up, bills have surprised us, and our credit cards have gotten out of hand and that keeps us from giving what we would like and what we know we should. So get on a budget plan and get on a schedule and get those things taken care of so that you can give what you know you should be making. In the fall we are going to offer a finance class to help you learn the steps to get your money under control

The next question is what happens to our money?

what happens to it video (3:55)

When you give to the church you enable us to do the work of sharing the gospel with the people around us and around the world. And that is what it is all about. We don’t care how much you give or if you give at all. What matters is being able to send missionaries to New Jersey, the Dominican Republic, to put on a quality VBS, websites, outreach all of those things are dependent on our giving to church as a symbol of our faithfulness to God. And if you are not willing to use your financial gifts as a symbol of your whole life sacrifice to God then we can’t do that.

So then, if you are already giving 10% or above Great! Thank you for partnering with us in ministry. We couldn’t do it without you!

If you are already giving but not at 10% thank you! We couldn’t do it without you, but I ask that you prayerfully consider stepping up to the ministry and striving for that 10%.

If you do not give or you give to specific line items I would encourage you pray about stepping up and start partnering in ministry with HUMC by showing yourselves as a living sacrifice and your faithfulness to God by giving your financial gifts to the church.

The truth to discover is that when we sacrificially give we connect to the God who sacrificially gave so that we could have eternal life and we become partners with the church in the ministry of making disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the whole world and without that partnership the church is unable to do the ministry that God has called us to.

Sermon Audio

 

As we continue in our “Discover” series this sermon from 3/3/13 is about Discovering the community that we are as followers of Jesus. Feel free to listen at the bottom, or download on iTunes.

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17 and Matthew 26:26-30

Think about Church. What words come to mind?

- Call out your answers, what comes to mind?

Sometimes we think of great words like: Home, Fun, Uplifting.

Often times new people come into church, any church, and discover a community of Grace, Love, Care, and hope.

Unfortunately others think of:  Mean, Spiteful, contradiction.

To often new people have come into church, any church, and discovered a community of negativity, unwelcome, back biting, and hate.

But the reality is that church is more than that.  It is supposed to be better than home and much better than a contradiction. Far too often in churches all across the country people experience much less than what church is supposed to be.

Not just Harrisville but all Churches we are called to be more than home, more than a comfortable place, more than entertainment, more than hypocrisy.  We are called to be a Sacramental community.

First, the church is a community.

It is not a building, doctrine, belief set, or an individual person.  Church is a community of believers who come together and worship Jesus. You sitting at home by yourself is not church. You trying to be a Christian all by yourself is not church.

Church is a group of people who come together to worship Jesus as a community. We’ve all got different opinions, ages, genders socioeconomic standards and here we are, united as simply a group of people who want to be a little closer to Jesus.

With different pasts, backgrounds, and stories we have gathered here to experience something of this mystery of God.

Yet, Church goes beyond just getting together once a week, we gather as a Sacramental Community.

When we say the church is a sacramental community we are literally saying it is a community that celebrates the sacraments but also makes their way of life like that of the sacraments.

So then, what does a sacrament mean.

a sacrament is something that was done by Jesus and involved the whole of the trinity, and shows God’s grace on us.

We believe in two sacraments: Baptism and Communion. Other traditions have more than two. but we only have 2.

Baptism:  Scripture:

Matthew 3:13-17

When Jesus did this in Matthew 3 it was the first thing he did, before any miracle, sermon, or anything else.  In Matthew the baptism happened before Jesus was ever recorded speaking.

Baptism tells us more about God than anything else.

Baptism is a Grace thing:

- Tells us that God reaches down to those He loves and calls them his own before we can ever earn it.

Baptism is a Community thing:

- Tells us that we are part of God’s family not because we claim it but because God has claimed us.

- It proves that God is on our side no matter what.

- This is why as Methodists we baptize infants because we are saying that before anything else happens in their lives God loves them.  Before they can choose to follow God, God has already said we are his and that God is well pleased in us.  Before we can declare our independence, God says “I will never leave you, I am on your side.”

- Before we can earn God’s grace, God has freely given it to the helpless infant.

- This is also why we believe in only doing baptism once because if you are already a part of God’s family why do it a second time? Why would we need to be put back into God’s family? God didn’t get it wrong the first time and so your choice or not you don’t need it a second time. There is a place for rededication but that is not baptism and does not have the same meaning.

Baptism gives us new life, it gives us a purpose for life.  To live like Jesus and live in his family.

Sometimes we forget all of that.  We forget that we are part of God’s family and we start acting like we have no family.  We start looking out for our own best interests instead of for God’s interests.

When we forget our Baptism we forget we are a family of God and we start to go down all sorts of dark paths. This is when we begin to care more about ourselves and getting our way than doing what is best for the family.

If we are a sacramental community we live out this baptism, we live in the family of God and we remember that it is no longer about us trying to be  good enough.  In our baptism God has declared we are good enough and now we will be made better, because we are part of God’s family.

That knowledge should be a part of everything we do. The fact that we are a child of God should influence all our decisions, from money to dieting. If God already thinks we are pretty why do we do those crazy crash diets?  It should influence the shows we watch and people we hang out with.

Communion: Matthew 26:26-30

- Jesus took some ordinary bread and ordinary wine and made something real and mystical happen.

- These are basic elements of life but they take work to make.

- We have to make the bread and the juice and be willing to give up what we worked hard for, before Jesus can do whatever mystical thing he does for communion.

- Communion is a grace thing.  It reminds us that we are loved by a God who became flesh for us, who died for us, and who is alive for us and our hope.

- Communion is a community thing.  It is when all people who love God come together at the same table and eat the same thing.

- In the early church every time they met there was communion.  To remind them that they are one big family and that they will each give up what they have and need to make sure everyone has enough.

- Communion changes us from a group of unruly ragamuffins into a group of people who have different ideas, political beliefs, ethnicities, or social standing, into a group of people who come together and try to be a little more like Jesus.

The community to discover then is that when the church, big C, says we are a sacramental community we are saying that everything we do is just like that.

That everything we do is as if Jesus is in the mix of it.  All of our interactions, our givings, and our coming together is as if God is in the mix.  We celebrate that God gives grace, not just through water or bread and juice but that God’s grace is flowing through all of life, everything we see and do points to God’s grace.

So then, as we take communion today the question quickly becomes, is God in the mix of your life?  Do you live a life that shows God is involved?  When you attend committee meetings can you see God? When you look at your checkbook can you see God? When you look at the way you discipline your children is God involved?  What about the way you work?  Your marriage? Your eating habits? Your internet habits? What about the way you file your taxes? Your interactions with your spouse?

If you can’t answer yes to all of this then this is part of why we have communion, to admit to God where we fall short and to accept God’s forgiveness and grace in your life. And that communion can only be found in the Church.

It’s like this. In October, we went to Florida for vacation. While there we went to Harry Potter world at Universal studios. In that area of the park is something called ButterBeer, it is a frozen drink based off of what Harry Potter drinks in the books and movies. I think that drink is disgusting, it tastes like liquid weather’s originals.

That drink is only available in two places in the whole world. Universal Studios in Florida and the Harry Potter studio in England. If you want that drink you have to go there to get it.  The same goes here for communion.  You want something to bring us together as a family and remind us that God loves us then you come here. To this table and you eat this bread and you drink this cup. There is no where else in the world to go to experience the grace and community that brings us together today than in the Church.

Bill Hybels writes that the local church is the hope for the world. We are only the hope because of the sacraments that remind of us God’s grace and unites us as a family.

And so we eat, we eat as broken and hurting people who desperately need grace to infiltrate every part of our lives. After that we rejoice because God’s Grace has literally come into us through this bread and juice.  That we are being changed to be more like the Jesus who loved us more than life itself.

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