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What Are Your Christmas Expectations?
The hottest holiday trend last year was to turn your Christmas tree upside down. As you visit Pittsburgh Mills this year you will notice a few Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling in store windows. Maybe we should do the same with Christmas itself! Or maybe your Christmas already feels upside down with all the things to be crammed in to the schedule of places to go, people to see and presents too buy, and family traditions that have changed this past few months.
One of the traditions of the season in many homes is putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Perhaps this is a tradition in your house. When I was growing up the tree magically appeared on Christmas morning and never before. We would go to bed with hope that Christmas would come even though we did not see any evidence that it would.
That’s the same place were the people in the time of Jesus were; waiting for Christmas to come in the midst of war and rebellion, poverty and homelessness, injustice and death. Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a time of waiting with great expectation, as we wait for the coming of Christ.
Some folks will scurry home after church this Sunday, prop up that evergreen, untangle the snarled and unblinking string of lights, haul out the various and ornaments that range from crystal bells to delicate bulbs to the popsicle stick and paste creation from a child’s kindergarten class. They will remind us of Christmas’s past, and of people, and smells and good times.
Whether you put it up on Christmas Eve or the day after Thanksgiving, the Christmas tree is the most simple and recognizable symbol of the season. It’s been the same for centuries, ever since the Christians adopted the symbol from Germanic paganism — the evergreen being seen as a symbol of eternal life because it’s always green even in the dead of winter. Wherever you go these days, you can expect to see that basic triangular shape, be it artificial or real — beautiful green boughs narrowing upward to the point where you put the star.
But wait a second. Before you anchor that tree in its stand and find a place on it for the those candy canes you’ve kept since the Nixon administration, consider checking out the hottest trend in Christmas tree chic — an idea that could flip the whole idea of the Christmas tree on its ear — literally. Consider tacking that tree upside-down.
In fact, retailers like Target are actually manufacturing trees just for this purpose — ranging in price from $300 to $600. Though, the concept isn’t exactly new. Upside-down Christmas trees date all the way back to 12th-century Europe, though they’ve been out of vogue for nearly a millennium.
But what is the point of sticking your tree on the ceiling? Well, other than just being different, the upside-down tree has several practical applications. For one thing, say the marketing experts, you can put more and larger presents under it, which makes it the perfect option for big spenders. If you live in a cramped apartment, a ceiling-mounted tree also takes up less floor space, making it attractive to some city-dwellers. And, from a stylistic standpoint, you can put your more prized ornaments at eye level instead of down near the ground where no one can see them except toddlers and nosy canines.
Of course there are drawbacks. For example, where do you put the star? And some will wax even more philosophical by wondering how you water a tree that’s anchored upside down.
Then there is the traditionalist argument: Why would you be so tacky as to nail a tree to the ceiling? After all, that’s not Christmas! Some might even argue that the shape of the tree points to heaven, which would make it a sin to turn it upside down.
There’s nothing like tweaking sacred tradition to tick people off. Most pastors have noticed over the years of doing the Christmas Eve marathon that Christmas is the ultimate holiday sacred cow. You just don’t mess with Christmas. For many people the biggest fear of this season is that Christmas won’t happen according to plan, that something will go wrong and ruin their Christmas thoroughly.
The truth is that, especially for us baby boomers, we’ve been trained to think this way. Remember all your childhood animated Christmas specials? The Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Charlie Brown — what’s the basis for those stories? Someone is out to ruin Christmas and to keep it from coming. All must be perfectly restored to order for the season to be valid.
A newly ordained pastor found this out immediately after his first Christmas Eve service. It was a packed sanctuary with many new visitors and a festive atmosphere. The pastor went to the door to greet people after the service, believing that all was right with the world, when one of the long-time church members came to the door but refused to shake the pastor’s hand. Scowling, he said, “Thanks for ruining my Christmas — we didn’t sing “The First Noel” as the second carol. We’ve always sung that carol second in the order of worship on Christmas Eve. Without that, it’s just not Christmas.”
It could have been its own animated special: “The Pastor Who Stole Christmas.”
People just seem to get wrapped around the axle about the smallest things this time of year. Indeed we all have our expectations, our hopes, our “perfect” scenarios, whether it be for a holiday or for any other aspect of our lives. For some reason, we don’t like any deviation — no upside-down-ness to our lives.
The Scriptures that we read on Christmas Eve, however, tell us that turning things upside down is exactly the agenda of the coming King.
The prophet Micah wrote about a coming reversal in fortune for the people of Israel. The nation faced God’s judgment because of their apostasy — a judgment carried out by enemies who would build a wall of siege against them and “strike the ruler of Israel upon the cheek” in an open display of disdain (Micah 5:1). The old patterns of idolatry and corruption that characterized the reign of many of their kings had made the nation almost Grinch like in its devotion to self-interest, material gain and oppression of the weak (Micah 2:1-2).
In the midst of this prophecy of judgment and tough times ahead, God still offered hope. A new king would arise who would break this old pattern and, in effect, turn things upside down. His origins from the lowly town of Bethlehem, “one of the little clans of Judah,” are a signal that God is interested in overturning the human expectations of power and prestige in favor of uplifting the weak (5:2).
This king will be a shepherd who will “feed his flock in the strength of the Lord” (5:4). Shepherding is a common metaphor for leadership throughout the Bible and this image calls to mind the choosing of David over Saul as the king of Israel back in I Samuel. It is the humble, compassionate servant whom God chooses over mighty warriors and handsome princes.
The word “Messiah” is not mentioned by Micah in this passage, but Christians have long read this as a messianic prophecy, naturally applying it to Jesus as the one who would secure his people and “be the one of peace” (5:4-5).
Jesus came amidst a swirl of expectations about a messiah who would save his people and do it according to a preconceived and religiously approved plan. He was expected to wield a sword instead of a shepherd’s crook and make peace by eliminating the enemies of Israel, particularly the Romans who occupied their land. The Messiah was to make a list, check it twice, determine who was naughty and nice and make sure that the ultimate holiday — the restoration of Israel — would come according to the script, complete with happy ending and roll the credits.
Instead, Jesus does nothing less than turn their expectations upside down and hang them from the spiritual ceiling as a way of making room for everyone. He preached love over and against vengeance for enemies. He spent time with the outcasts and proclaimed that they would be the new “in” crowd. He was a great teacher but performed as a lowly servant, even washing feet. For Jesus the categories of rich and poor, in and out, great and humble, even life and death were all reversed. It’s no wonder that traditionalists would argue that he was ruining everything and wanted him out of the picture.
What are some of your expectation of Christmas?
Jesus turns our expectations upside down:
• To the strong go the spoils. No they don’t. The meek shall inherit the earth. This is a baby in a manger.
• Self-actualization, self-assertiveness, sell your brand — all marks of a go-getter successful person. No, the people who leave searing impressions upon us are the humble, the servant-leaders among us, folks like Mother Theresa.
• Christmas is about being happy. No it isn’t. It’s about being obedient. About preparing for the presence of Jesus in the world.
• Christmas is about gift giving, wrapping paper and pretty bows. No it’s not. It’s about receiving a Gift — confronting the Incarnation.
Many people coming to our churches during Advent are seeking the perfect topper to a perfect Christmas and don’t want to deviate from the traditional script. What a great opportunity for us to proclaim that this baby in the manger does, indeed, cry out — despite what we sing in the carol “Away in a Manger.” He cries out for justice, for mercy, for compassion, and for a completely new order of life in God’s kingdom. This baby is the one who turns the whole world upside down.
Instead of celebrating sameness and traditional uniformity during the Christmas season, we should be celebrating the upside down and backward nature of the gospel that Jesus ushers into the world. A manger-born Messiah, a counterintuitive teacher, a religious rebel to the establishment, a crucified King and a resurrected Redeemer — nobody expected this at the time. It would’ve been too much, too off-the-map, making upside-down Christmas trees look normal by comparison.
So maybe stapling our trees to the ceiling isn’t such a bad idea after all if it causes us to think differently about the flip side of Christian faith. Perhaps we could all use a little upside-down Christmas this year — and see the world from the perspective of the manger and the cross.
An Attitude of Worship Psalm 92
What is true worship? Psalm 92 says, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night; to the music of the lute and the harp; to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord; have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.”
Psalm 100 says. “ Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”
What we get out of our worship has much to do with the way in which we enter into worship. Have we come here this morning and entered with praise on our lips for the God who is our salivation? Is our mind and heart focused upon God and his blessedness or upon something else? With what kind of an attitude have we entered into God’s presence? Have we come with grateful hearts desiring to speak of God’s power and God’s grace? Have we come with thankful hearts for the blessings we have received? Have we come to give the worship of God our full attention or are we distracted by other things? Is God the focus of our being here this morning and our constant focus throughout the coming week? Today is the day that God has given to us as a day to rest and to reflect upon him. It is a day that is to be unlike all the others. It is a day set aside to reverence God and to declare his worth in our life. It is the Lord’s Day.
Worship is not about us; it is all about God. Our worship does not end the moment the benediction is pronounced. Worship is a way of being, a way of acting and responding to life and the life we have been given.
Scott Hoezee, a Christian writer, write in his book “The Beauty of God”, “You can no more command someone to worship God than you could command someone to appreciate other pieces of beauty. Can you imagine saying to a grandmother, “Now listen: In just a moment I’m going to take you into the nursery to show you your new grandson for the first time. When you see him, I want you to get tears in your eyes, draw a sharp breath, and then say, ‘Oh my, he’s beautiful!’ Okay? You ready?” No, no, life doesn’t work that way, and neither, therefore, does the worship of God. A person needs to see and understand God and God’s works first — worship is the response that naturally follows.”
Worship is a natural response to what God has done and is doing in our lives, but in order to worship God fully in spirit and in truth we must first see, touch and feel God’s presence in our lives. We must enter into his presence with joy and with praise or all that we do here is artificial and of no value. We must know him as God of our life. Knowing God as the God of our life is the key to all worship. Only those who are his can worship him. Only when we see the works of his hands and know deep within ourselves that we are truly his and that he has made us and that he has redeemed us back to himself, can we enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Aside from that knowledge which is heart knowledge we cannot worship God fully and will leave this place of worship empty; and longing for more.
The heart of all worship is surrender. Now I know that surrender is not a word we like to hear or think about, any more than we like the word submission. These words seem to evoke images of admitting defeat, forfeiting a game, yielding to an opponent. We view these words as negative.
In today’s competitive culture we are taught not to give up and never to give in. Winning is everything. But surrendering to God is the only way we are fully able to worship God. As long as we hold on to even one small piece of ourselves we cannot be fully his. The rich young ruler came to Jesus and stood before him in his own righteousness, but he knew there was more that was needed. There still was an emptiness deep down inside. Something was missing and more was desired, and yet when made aware of what was missing in his life he was not willing to surrender that which he had been worshipping to God. He was not willing to give in, to surrender, to give up his present life so that he could have abundant life. He was not willing to turn over to God his earthly treasure; that which was keeping him separated from God. Is there something that this morning you have never surrendered up to God? Is there something that is keeping you from fully worshipping God? David’s sin with Bathsheba separated him from his relationship with God. It kept him from worshipping in the way he once had, but David confessed his sin and entered into thanksgiving and into God’s presences with praise.
The heart of worship is surrender. We come before God not out of fear or sense of duty, but out of love and a need for him in our lives. We realize that we are the clay and that he is the potter. It is God who shapes us into worshipping vessels that overflow with his grace.
True worship, not artificial worship brings God pleasure. Do you know that you were created for God’s own pleasure. Do you know that God delights in you and all that you do. Every time you enter into his presence his face lights up like a grandmother or grandfather seeing their grandchildren after a long time. You bring a smile to his face and joy to his heart.
But there are three barriers that block our total surrender to God and true worship: fear, pride and confession.
Can I trust God? Trust is an essential ingredient to surrender. We will not totally surrender to God unless we trust him completely, but we cannot trust him until we get to know him. The more we know him the more we trust him and the more we trust him the greater the chance that we will surrender to him. The more we realize how much God loves us the easier it is to surrender our lives to him. Getting to know who Jesus is and what part Jesus plays in our life pushes out the fear that we have and replaces the fear with trust in this loving and forgiving God. Peter stepped out onto the water, but first he had to be sure who it was that was calling him to come. Recognizing the voice of Jesus he felt secure. He knew how much Jesus loved him. He knew that if he were to begin to sink that Jesus would reach out and take hold of him. He knew Jesus was capable of walking on the walk because he had carefully watched him do it.
If we want to know how much you matter to God just glance at Jesus’ arms stretched out upon the cross. He would rather die for you than to have you separated from him.
God is not a cruel slave driver or bully who uses force to coerce us into submission. He does not try to break our will, but woos us to himself so that we offer ourselves freely to his care. He is our liberator and our lover. When we surrender to him we receive freedom, not bondage.
The second barrier to total surrender is our pride. We don’t want to admit that we are just creatures and not in charge of everything. A.W. Tozer, one of the great Christian writers write, “The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us.” We haven’t learned that we are human, not God. When faced with our own limitation, we react with irritation, anger, and resentment. We want to be taller or shorter, smarter, stronger, more talented, more beautiful, and wealthier. We want to do it all and have it all, and we get very upset when it just does not happen. We look around and we begin to envy others who have what we desire. We become jealous and filled with self-pity.
You know that you are surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda onto other, and control the situation.
Genuine surrender says, “Father, if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another’s, please don’t take it way.” That was the way Jesus prayed in the garden before he was taken before his captives. This level of maturity does not come easy.
Everyone eventually surrenders to something or someone. You were designed by God to worship. If you or I fail to worship him, we will create other things to worship (idols) to give our life to. E. Stanley Jones says, “ If you don’t surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos.” A surrendered life is not the best way to live, but the only way to truly live. Nothing else works. All other approaches lead to frustration, disappointment, and self-destruction.
The best thing that we can do is to move over and put Jesus in the driver’s seat and turn over the keys, and take our hands off the steering wheel. Only then are we be able to worship him, truly worship him.
Faith-based. Love-laced and Hope-faced Ephesians 2:1-10
Some people are born "fixer-uppers." They love to buy old houses with peeling paint, leaky plumbing, tiny kitchens, too few bedrooms and no closets. They don't see any of these qualities as deterrents--only the promise of some future project that needs to be tackled. They love the challenge. They have great imaginations. They are creative thinkers. They is see the value in what we might see as junk to be thrown away. They enjoy the thrill of working to make something better.
Fixer-uppers are never happier than when their living rooms are full of sawdust and their bathrooms are full of holes. They love to wake up to the sound of protective roof tarps flapping in the wind. For these folks there is nothing more fun than eternally being "under construction." Many of them are called Methodists, always going on to perfection. They fix up one house and then turn around and sell it. They are always looking for a future project and a new possibility. What we might see as a real dump, they see as a place where with a little love and hard work a palace.
Do you know anyone like that, who can turn trash into treasure?
Jesus is a member of this group. He takes that which is broken and restores it. He takes the heart that has forgotten how to sing and sings to it until that heart joins in.
Do you know anyone like that?
But not all of us enjoy the challenge of remodeling. We don’t like messes. Not all of us are visionaries. We are not all “fixer-uppers”, by nature, but God does desire to place within each of us the heart of the “fixer-upper.”
In Jesus time there were those who confronted Jesus in the temple and ridiculed his intention to reconstruct the destroyed temple in three days. They suffered from what church consultant Robert Dale calls "Intention Deficit Disorder." Of course, their doubt or "disorder" was based on a more well-established track record than many of our doubts and disorders--the current temple had been "under construction" for the past 46 years! Now there is a construction project to make the dedicated fixer-upper rejoice and the rest of us weep. I have lived in an old house that has been passed down from one generation to the next generation and I know that there is always something more that needs to be done. So it is with our life. God is constantly working out his will and way in those who belong to him. He knocks out the wall of prejudice and opens up more room for opportunity. He fills the empty heart waiting to be filled with beauty and kindness. He creates a staircase that leads to unheard of possibilities.
The truth is that, like the temple, all of us are continually "under construction." In the final verse of this week's epistle text, the writer insists that as men and women saved by grace, we are now called to incarnate good works. Because we are "in Christ Jesus," we can do more than build "good works." We can become a good work. We can be a good work. Turning our life into a "good work" is the ultimate fixer-upper project, the real lifelong construction project. Becoming a "good work" means reconstructing our lives into a living Jesus.
Thankfully, God is a determined and ceaseless "fixer-upper." As the epistle writer notes, God is "rich in mercy" and continues to pour out the gift of divine grace to us throughout our lives. Only this constant infusion of grace makes it possible for the construction project to continue. What is the blueprint God would have us follow? The finished project God has in mind as the goal of all our "good works"? It is the creation of the most "grace-full" structure ever conceived--the spirit-filled body of Christ, a community of disciples we call the church. God is in the business of making us over into a people who are faith-based, love-laced and hope-faced. People just like Jesus.
The design for this most grace-full place called the church is built around three main structural supports. In order to stand strong and unwavering, the church must be a community where the trace of grace is threefold. The church as a household of faith in Jesus Christ is a place where (1) faith is based, (2) love is laced, and (3) hope is faced.
How's that for a mission statement? Only when these three foundational pillars have been erected can any safe and secure construction go forward.
So let’s ask the hard questions: Can we find the trace of grace at work in our spiritual lives and in our community of faith?
When the doors are fully opened for the entrance of God's grace, the spirit revels in the richness of God's gift. Ever notice that those blocking the flow of grace in their lives are described with terms that denote poverty?
Those who find no joy are called "mean"-spirited. Those who allow physical weakness to define their being are in "poor" spirits. Those content to just get by have a "meager" spirit.
But for those open to God's grace, continually allowing God’s grace to perfect in them a Christ-centered spirituality that is always under construction, there are "immeasurable riches" which have become and are becoming part of the standard interior design of their lives. Those who know they have received Grace, from them grace continuously flows.
The trace of grace in every community of faith can be followed by examining how much progress is being made in putting together a truly faith-based, love-laced, and hope-faced spiritual home. How tall is each one of these pillars standing in our church?
1. Are we Faith-based? Are we willingly seeking out God’s will in our lives and for his church? Are we willing to step out in faith even when we may never see the end results. Are we willing as Abraham was to leave behind our security and comfort for the sake of Christ and that which God promises is better? Without the basic pillar of faith, there can be no confidence in whatever else the community may undertake to construct. Without faith, doubt and fear can creep in like termites, nibbling away at our spiritual foundations. A genuinely faith-based spirituality is sustain even when the ground may seem to be sinking right out from underneath everything.
Faith in the power of Christ's sacrifice and in the ultimate and eternal victory Christ won for our sake keeps all other conflicts and difficulties in perspective. Even if the roof falls in, the neighborhood changes, church attendance drops, facilities rot away, preachers disappoint or choirs squawk, faith endures. Faith is what keeps us moving. Faith is what builds us up and holds us together. It is the pillar of support in times of trouble.
2. Are we Love-laced? If faith is the essential pillar that holds our spiritual community up, then love is the cross-beam that reaches between and offers support by bracing one against another. Love must be "laced" throughout a Jesus spirituality, for love was the motivating force behind all Jesus did and said. Jesus offered his love to each of us because he saw in each of us a dire need for grace and mercy. Love is a lure that attracts our starving spirits to the richness of God's grace and love is what attracts others to the church of Jesus Christ and into a relationship with God.
Consider Jesus' loving response to the woman taken in adultery and the crowd poised to stone her. Instead of judging her, Jesus responds with love and compassion. He chose to love her, not condemn her.
Jesus' first instinct is to be compassionate. His heart reaches out to the woman. She is the one facing the death threats. The crowd wants Jesus to come over to their side. They want his endorsement so they can apply the letter of the law. But Jesus says "no" to legalism. His compassion compels him to stand with the woman. He is more concerned about giving the woman a fresh start and God's grace than he is about staining his own reputation by associating with her. In Jesus' mind, no one in the temple is innocent. Everyone in the story is in need of grace and mercy, and so it is with us in the church. Not one of us is so righteous that we do not need God’s grace.
Are we extending a hand slap or a handshake to others in need? Are we responding to others in love and compassion or in judgment and condescension? Are we always looking for ways to inject Christ's love for others into our community? Unlike with secular corporations, the church's "bottom line" is spiritual, not material. The church's "bottom line" can never be determined by budgetary concerns or feasibility studies. In the end, the church's "bottom line" is this trace of grace. Are we a community building a Jesus spirituality for the world? Do we ask ourselves: Is this a loving response to the pain and need we face? A love-laced church takes Christ's own sacrificial love as its template to action.
3. Are we hope-faced? Hope is the kind of pillar that would hold up one of those grand "flying buttresses" that protrude from ancient cathedrals. Hope supports, but it also propels us forward. Without hope, a Jesus spirituality has no future--and the promise of a glorified future is integral to the gift of grace God offers. The future is something we must always be preparing for, not just waiting for.
In his extensive research on "low-hope" vs. "high-hope" people, partly funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, University of Kansas psychotherapist C. R. Snyder isolates the unique "Hope to Cope" mind/body/spirit skills of high-hopers. He discovered that high-hopers:
1) Minimize the negative. The glass is always half-filled not half-empty. They have a sense that "This too shall pass" or "It came to pass."
2) High-hopers establish an outward, problem-solving focus. What low-hopers see as a problem they see as an opportunity. If they try one thing and it does not work they continue to try. They may discover 10,000 ways that something does not work before they discover what does, but they do not see their work as a failure.
3) High-hopers call on friends more readily; they reach out for help and they establish intimacy and friendships. They know that no man is an island unto himself. They realize that God has made us social beings.
4) High-hopers laugh--we all need a good sense of humor!
5) They pray--"Prayer and prayerlike mental activities provide a day-by-day renewal that is important when people return to the rigors of coping. In many ways this is equivalent to the need we have for sleep as a time to replenish ourselves after periods of wakeful exertion" .
6) Exercise is a part of their daily life.
7) They practice healthful behaviors.
8) They age gracefully.
Can we trace God's grace coursing through our lives? Can we feel God's grace continuing its work within and through us the entire course of our lives--expanding, remodeling, modernizing, pushing out walls, opening up skylights?
Will this church be a household of faith that is . . . Faith-based, love-laced, hope-faced! Without these three pillars the church cannot stand the test of time.
Scripture: Luke 5:1-11 Sermon: “Rethinking Church” The Principle of Multiplication
Sometimes the church seems institutionally heavy. Have we forgotten our tradition of pilgrimage and mobility? Not if we are members of an inflatable church! For $35,000, you can have a luxury sedan. Or a lovely Gothic church.
Take your pick.
It’s hard to believe, but for the price of a well-equipped Infiniti G35 luxury car, you can now buy yourself a fully loaded, 47-foot-high place of worship. It’s got Gothic arches, an organ, a pulpit, an altar, space for 60 and even some stained-glass-style windows.
All for $35,000, which sounds like a deal, or even a steal.
The problem is, this building is a balloon.
The world’s first inflatable church made its debut last May in England, and its creator hopes that it will “breathe new life into Christianity.” Featured on CNN and other media outlets, the church is designed to fit in the back of a truck so that it can be hauled to village squares or open fields and set up for impromptu services.
Time was when churches were the centers of community life, but “sadly, that’s not the case anymore,” laments the innovator behind the inflatable church. “This is one way to reverse that trend, make the church more accessible and put it back where it belongs.”
Walk through the gray Gothic archway, and you find yourself in a worship space that looks like a cross between a monastery and a moon-bounce. There are brown polyvinyl pews, an inflatable organ, a pop-up pulpit and an air-filled altar. Once you get adjusted to the puffy plastic walls, you can easily imagine taking part in a service of worship there. The stained-glass windows are really quite attractive, and the inflatable pews seem to be much more comfortable than seats made from hard, polished wood.
Just be sure to leave your sharp objects at home.
Jesus was of the same mind-set when he launched his ministry beside the lake of Gennesaret. He wasn’t interested in stacking stones to build a Catholic cathedral, or laying brick to erect a Baptist church, or nailing planks to assemble a Congregational meetinghouse. Instead, he looked for ways to take his message into the very heart of where people were living and playing and working, and he spoke from whatever platform he could find.
Would he have preached from the roof of a Hummer? Sure, if there happened to be a car dealer in Capernaum. As it turned out, Jesus saw two boats at the shore of the lake, and so he hopped into Simon’s and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat (Luke 5:1-3).
Jesus created a sanctuary at sea. A worship center on the water. He placed a pulpit in the center of the people so that the word could be heard.
So why are we stuck with a sedentary sanctuary today?
No mystery, really. We all have a natural human hunger for stability in our lives, so it makes sense that our church has a solid foundation and a set of sturdy walls, plus an unchanging number in the phone book and an address that hasn’t shifted since the cornerstone was first put in place.
The church needs to recover its tradition, however, of pilgrimage and journey. From the tabernacle in the wilderness, to the great Wesleyan revivals of the 18th century when preachers went into pit and pub with the good news, and Whitefield thundered in open-air fields, and later Billy Graham set up a tent in Los Angeles and so on. The church thrives when it is on the move.
Should we be operating out of the back of a Hummer? Or off the deck of a fishing boat? Or from a flatbed truck hauling an inflatable church? The Rev. Michael Elfred, a minister in the Church of England, reminds us that in the Old Testament, God’s people worshiped in a tent. “God is on the move,” he insists, “and tells us not to be sidetracked by our buildings.”
The Lord is on the move … always on the move. That’s the story of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. But here we sit, too often thinking of ministry as something that happens within these four walls. Are we going to find ourselves Left Behind?
Our mission is to go out, not get them to come in. We’re to meet people where they live and work and play. Jesus invites us to “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch” (v. 4). Do we have the heuvos to walk with God into an uncertain future, knowing that God is always ahead of us, and that God is always on the move.
Now we don’t actually have to worship each week in a big balloon in order to pass the inflatability test. After all, polyvinyl pews can pop, air-filled arches can sag, and space for 60 is not going to fill the bill for many services of worship. But there is still tremendous value in thinking about being a church that is apostolic and on the move with God, a church that refuses to be stuck in one location and sidetracked by worries about the condition of its bricks and mortar.
Our focus should be on inflatability, not stability. Multiplication, not addition. On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit rested upon all who had gathered and they went out to tell what they had seen, heard and witnessed, and to their number 3000 were added. That is really multiplication.
In the book of Genesis God called every living creature that he made to be fruitful and multiply. In the New Testament Jesus’ parting words were to go and make disciples. The word that should stand out here to every Christian is the word “Go.”
To be inflatable is to be incarnational — it is to be the living, breathing, walking, talking, the fully enfleshed body of Christ in the world today. To be inflatable is to be filled with the Spirit — after all, in the Hebrew Bible, there is only one single word for the concepts of wind and breath and Spirit. To be inflatable is to be easily transportable, and able to move quickly and efficiently to wherever God wants us to be. When the Lord is on the move, we don’t want to be left behind.
Inflatability is seen most clearly in our actions when we leave this building and go out into the world. After all, we’ve come to this place feeling deflated by the frustrations of the week, and maybe even punctured by sharp words and destructive, damaging actions.
As we worship God together, we find ourselves being repaired and reinflated, filled once again with the powerful and inspiring wind-breath-Spirit of God. Like the first apostles, we may toil all night by ourselves and catch nothing, but when we open our hearts to Jesus we find that our nets are filled so full that they are in danger of breaking (vv. 4-7).
The other piece of this is to remember the character of our story as the story of a pilgrim, a sojourner, one who is traveling toward an eternal destination and therefore is careful not to become entangled in complicated affairs along the way.
It’s too easy to think that this life is all there is. To forget that “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through.”
When Jesus called, the future disciples “left everything and followed him” (v.11 NIV). They abandoned their rootedness in the world, and began instead a journey that would lead to their ultimate eternal destination.
So here we go, floating out into the world as a sign of God’s love for all people. “Do not be afraid,” said Jesus to his very first inflatable followers; “from now on you will be catching people” (v. 10). The best way to attract people to God is to be light and flexible and full of the Spirit, and the most effective way to draw people to Jesus is to do your best to love them as profoundly as Jesus loves them.
There was a woman in a mental hospital in Washington who was just sick and tired of hearing her chaplain tell her how much God loved her. She heard him say this again and again, and it just didn’t ring true; she didn’t believe it. Finally, she said to the chaplain, “Please, stop telling me how much God loves me. First, you love me. Then I’ll know that God loves me.”
That’s the approach of a disciple who is determined to live in the world, meet people where they live and work and play and show them the irresistible love of God.
That’s the technique of a Christ-follower who values inflatability over solidity, and flexibility over stability. It is time to risk and as John Ostberg says in our new Bible study, “Get out of the boat,” to step out of the comfortable and onto the water and walk toward Jesus as we answer his call to come. It is time to rethink church, people. It is time to grow.
Shame on You 16th Sunday after Pentecost 1 Timothy 1:12-17
How many of you own a dog or have ever owned a dog? Most of us at one time or another have. Dogs are very intelligent and I suspect that a few may be even more intelligent than some of us. We know that they are loyal, especially to the hand that feeds them. We know that they are far more accepting of others than we many times maybe. One other thing I have noticed about dogs is when they have done something wrong they cannot hide it. I had a little Boston Terrier. He was the cutest little thing. He had only one bad habit. He like garbage cans. If I missed one he would find it and when he did he would help me out and empty it all over the room. But, unlike us, he was not very good at concealing what he had done. Every night as I came home from work he would greet me at the top of the cellar steps, except on the days when he had done the unthinkingly wrong thing that day. On that day I would find him in the kitchen in his bed. There were those sad eyes looking up at me and then looking away, a shameful glance. I had not even found what he had been up to while I was gone, but he knew what he had done and he was punishing himself for his mistake. He was not trying to hide from his responsibility. He had done wrong. He knew I would be disappointed in him, and he wanted to be back on good terms with me and this was his way of trying to right the wrong he had done. Putting himself in bed was his way of confessing his wrong doing and hoping I would forgive his mistake and accept him back. It was his means of repentance.
Unilke Adam and Eve he did not try to hide from what he had done. He did not try passing-the-buck onto someone else. He owned up to the fact he had done something that would disappoint me.
When God showed up in the Garden of Eden, as he did every night and did not find Adam and Eve coming to greet him, that was a sure give-away that they knew they had done something that was unacceptable and would have been disappointing to God. They, however, never really did own up to the fact that they had sinned against God, instead as we read the story they play the blame game. We find them hiding out in the bushes trying to make a covering out of leaves for themselves.
God says to Adam, “What have you been up to, what have you done? Did you eat from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?”
Was there a shameful look on Adam’s face? Were his eyes downcast?
Adam replies, “The woman who you gave to be with me, gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” “It’s not my fault, after all God you are the one who gave me this woman. It’s your fault.”
No responsibility, no shame here for his actions. He knew where the fruit came from. Eve did not twist Adam's arm and make him eat it. Adam had a will of his own and he made the wrong choice, and like most of us he was not willing to own up to what he had done. It is always easier to point our finger at another than admit we have done the unthinkable.
Now look at Eve. She is no better. When God questions her with what she has done, Eve turns on the serpent which God also created and lays the blame upon him. Their failure to acknowledge their sin, their unrepentant hearts, their lack of shame leads to their expulsion from the garden in which God walked, the place where God came to meet them. Banished from God they live a separated life and a life of hardship and despair. But consider the real outcome of their unrepented sin. Every generation from that time on is created in their image. Every generation would face death. Their son Cain murders his brother Able. The unrepented sin multiplies.
Look at the life of David, God’s chosen one. He had it all but he longed for more, just like Adam and Eve. He was not satisfied with all that God had given him. One night he rose from his bed unable to sleep and looked out over the city noticing a beautiful young woman taking a bath on the roof top below. Did he look away? No! He watched for a while and then he did the unthinkable thing. He sent one of his servants to bring the young woman to him and he slept with her that night. He thought he could get away with his sin, but he could not. The young woman became pregnant and she sent word to David. Like Adam and Eve David ties to cover himself. Was there any shame in David? Any sign of his acknowledging he had done wrong?
He sends for the woman’s husband who is out in the field serving in his army. Uriah returns home but he does not go home to his wife as David believed he would, instead he spends the night at the palace. Uriah is an honorable man. He does the right thing, unlike David.
What was David to do? Again David made a wrong choice. He sends word to his commander of his troops telling him to put Uriah up in the front line and then withdraw the troops so that Uriah would be killed. Then David does what appears to be an honorable thing and he takes Uriah’s wife into his own home. He thinks he now has taken care of the problem. He think no one will ever know what he has done, but he was wrong. God knew and God could not overlook David’s shameful actions. The nation would suffer greater loss if God did, so God sends his prophet Nathan to David with a story about a man who stole his neighbors lamb and killed it. David is outraged that such a thing should happen, but when Nathan says to David you are that man, David’s heart sank. His sin came rushing back before him. He was that man. He had coveted his neighbor’s wife, he had raped her and then tried to cover his own sin by murdering her husband. What a fool he had been. Filled with sorrow for what he had done David falls to his knees and confesses his sin. He longs for his relation with God to be restored.
Unrepented sin has consequences not only for the one who committed the sin but for others.
The Israelites crossed over the Jordan and took possession of Jericho as the walls fell to the ground, but a short time after that a much smaller part of Joshua’s army marched into Ai a small town and were defeated because one man chose to disobey and took for himself that which he was told he was not to take. Many men lost their lives and the man, his family and all that he had were wiped from the face of the earth.
In today’s lesson found in 1 Timothy 1, we hear Paul’s confession. Paul had been very zealous in his seeking out and capturing the early Christians. He stood and watched as Stephen was stoned to death. But one day his life was changed when he encountered Jesus while on his way to destroy more of Jesus’ followers. The blinders he had been wearing came off and Paul could clearly see that what he had been doing was wrong. He of all people should have been able to see who Jesus was, after all he was a Pharisee above all Pharisees. He knew the scriptures. He knew the prophesies.
As we read Paul’s letter we cannot help but notices how thankful Paul is and how utterly amazed Paul is that God would forgive his sin and that God would choose to use him in the way that God has.
Paul’s shame in this week’s text is his angish over the hurt he has caused others and his own violence and injustice. But Paul found a sense of motivation in that “godly grief,” as shame and guilt is sometimes called. From the day of his conversion Paul became the busiest, most zealous advocate for Jesus Christ in the struggling new church. Paul outspokenly acknowledged his sin, his sense of shame was genuine, and his numerous confessions suggest that a certain sense of “godly grief” seemed to stay with him throughout his life. But Paul was not overcome by this guilt. He was not paralyzed by his shame, perhaps because he was able to speak freely about all he had done and was a shamed of. He used his guilt as a means to move forward. He used his guilt to remind him of what he needed to make up for. And he used his own lowliness as a means to help him elevate Christ before others.
If God could forgive and use him, the chief of sinners, then God would surely forgive and use anyone who comes to him seeking forgiveness and desiring to live a changed, new life.
Is there some unconfessed sin that is standing in the way of your relationship with God and with others? Is there something that just continually draws you down? Is it interfering with your relationship with those you love and who love you?
From the cross Jesus offered us forgiveness and way that would lead to abundant living. Confession free us up to be used by God.
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