Based
on Heb. 11:24-12:2
First
delivered Aug. 18, 2019
Rev.
Dr. Kevin Orr
This weekend is the 50th
anniversary of Woodstock. I wish I could have been there. Born in the wrong
generation I guess. Not that I couldn’t have been there if my parents were
interested in going. There were babies there. So mom and dad could have carried
their not yet one year old son with them to Woodstock. But let’s just say going
to Woodstock was not on their agenda. At any rate, it would have been cool to
have been there just to say you were there. It was surely an epic moment in
human history.
I do know someone who went to
Woodstock. His name is Howard Harris. He was my youth leader for a couple
years. Howard was one of the coolest people I knew when I was a kid. He would
make these weird sounds that made everyone giggle. He had the amazing ability
to tickle people just by pointing at them. I can’t even explain how he did
that. He led these Bible studies at his apartment and did an amazing job of
explaining the Bible in ways we could understand and asking us questions that
led to great discussion. Howard drove the church van out to where me and some
other church friends lived to pick us up and bring us to youth group on Sunday
nights. When we got in the van he asked each of us to say where we had seen
Jesus that week. He introduced us to Jesus music like Larry Norman, Keith Green,
Phil Keaggy, 2nd Chapter of Acts, and Michael Card. He also
introduced me to Grand Funk Railroad, but that’s another story. Howard was so
authentic and relatable. He was a powerful influence on my life.
Then there was Dr. David Thomas. He
was the senior pastor when I was a youth. He was a kind man, always positive,
with a big grin. I don’t really remember his sermons. But I do remember that after
a powerful church retreat in which I first made a sincere commitment to be a
Christian that he said he saw something in me. He encouraged me to consider a
call to ministry. He mentored me toward that calling. I have to say that without
Dr. Thomas I don’t know who would have helped me answer the call to ordained
ministry.
My parents got suckered in to buying
a timeshare on Padre Island. What a scam those things can be. We were there one
summer. The TV at the condo had access to a premium movie service. I think it
was Starz. They were showing the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Franco Zeffirelli.
This was my introduction to St. Francis. I don’t know if any of you have seen
this movie. Let’s just say it was a movie of the times. St. Francis was
portrayed as a proto-hippie. The soundtrack was written and performed by
Donovan for heaven’s sake. But with my young, impressionable mind, this movie
was life altering. I was so inspired by how St. Francis was portrayed. A man
who gave up wealth and privilege in his pursuit of being faithful to the way of
Jesus, choosing to live the life of a beggar, being in community with the
lepers and the discarded in society, communing with nature, living with such simplicity
and humility. My young and idealistic self wanted to be like that. I obviously
didn’t choose that path. But St. Francis remains an inspiration to me as
someone who lived an authentic Christian life. The prayer of St. Francis is a
classic.
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy
peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is
darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I
may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to
understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to
eternal life.”
He is the one people have attributed
the saying that we are to preach the gospel at all times but only use words
when necessary. He is a faith hero.
Then, of course, there were my
parents who helped shape my faith. They were not overly religious. But they
were faithful worship attenders. We never missed church. When we sat down
together for dinner my dad would say grace. My dad sang in the choir. I wanted
to sing too. Even though our church had a youth choir, they let me sing in the
adult choir also so that I could be with my dad. Every fall the choir would go
to Camp Egan to start learning the music we would sing the next several months.
I will never forget sitting around the table playing UNO with those choir
members. The laughter and the gentle ribbing…it was so fun! As a kid being in a
safe environment with those adults who were faithful to Christ and the church,
who loved each other and loved me, it made such a positive influence on me.
Who are the ones that have
influenced your faith? Who are your ancestors in the faith? We are all here
this morning because someone influenced us to be here. Maybe it was our parents
who brought us. Or it was a friend who invited you. Or it was your husband or
wife. We come to faith in Jesus because of the witness of others, people who
have inspired us and loved us, mentored us, included us. Each of us could take
turns and call the roll of those who had a hand in bringing us to the life of
faith and who keeps us in this race.
Perhaps most of those who influenced
you to run this race of faith are now in the cheering section rooting you on to
persevere. They have finished their race. They are now looking down on us to
cheer us, to encourage us to remain faithful to the way of Jesus, no matter the
obstacle or the times of discouragement and frustration that we sometimes have
to make our way through. When we hit those walls of discouragement, of
hardship, even of doubt, we have our ancestors in the faith who are there to
remind us that we will make it. Our ancestors had struggles as well. They had
times of discouragement and frustration. They had times of doubt, of heartbreak
and worry. Yet, they stayed with Jesus through it all. And now they are our
biggest fans, assuring us that we can persevere just like they did. They didn’t
give up so we keep pushing forward.
The church I was ordained in was my
home church, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. The sanctuary
has a balcony. When I knelt down at the altar and Bishop Dan Solomon put his
hand on my head, I imagined a heavenly balcony just above the balcony in that
sanctuary where my mom and dad were sitting. And as they looked down on me that
moment, I imagined they were beaming with pride. I still think about my mom and
dad from time to time. Remembering them, and knowing that they are praying for
me, and are proud of me, it keeps me grounded. It reminds me of the commitments
I have made, the commitment to follow the way of Jesus as an ordained minister.
During times of discouragement, even when the temptation lies around the corner
to walk away, mom and dad show up to remind me that this is a race that takes a
lifetime. They are cheering me on to persevere, to finish the race. So, I keep
going. Who is in your cheering section? Who is it that shows up in your mind
when you go through times where you feel like calling it quits? Maybe for all
of us it is our mothers. Or maybe it’s your grandmother. It is someone who has
made a mark on your life, who you don’t want to let down, who reminds you of
who you are, who loves you and is proud of you and is rooting for you. It is
those ancestors that keep us going.
It is encouraging during times of
struggle and doubt to remember the mighty cloud of witnesses that cheer us on,
to encourage us not to give up even when times are tough and doubts stir
within. It is a reminder that we are all a part of something much bigger than
ourselves. We are part of a line of the faithful that stretches back from
generation to generation. We are not alone. We stand on the shoulders of those
who have gone before us. And knowing this gives us the encouragement we need to
keep running our race, to persevere in the faith, to keep being followers of
Jesus because we don’t want to let down the mighty cloud of witnesses all
around us.
This man had heard about this great
church located in this city he was visiting. It was an historic church, Russian
Orthodox, known for its beautiful liturgical worship. With anticipation he
entered the church one Sunday anticipating a moving worship experience. The
current state of the congregation did not reflect what he had heard about this
church. There were only a few widows scattered about the sanctuary. After
worship was over, he went up to visit with the priest. He expressed wonder how
the priest kept at it with so few people who come to worship. The priest looked
at him and shook his head, saying, “What do you mean only a few people? When we
gather for worship we are joined by the great cloud of witnesses, with angels
and archangels before the throne of grace. The church is full of saints!” Are
we not surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses?
The mighty cloud of witnesses, those
who persevered in their faith in the ups and downs of life, urge us on to
persevere. They encourage us to remain faithful to God as long as we have
breath. They inspire us to be an inspiration for others, our descendants in the
faith. This is our task, to be witnesses of Jesus to others, by our words and
deeds, just like our ancestors in the faith did. They have passed the baton on
to us and now we carry it until we pass the baton to others when we join the
mighty cloud of witnesses someday. We will then be in the cheering section
encouraging those who follow us.
So, let us keep running the race set
before us. We face all kinds of challenges, obstacles and setbacks. The race of
faith is not always easy. Just like it wasn’t always easy for our ancestors.
But they made it to the end of their race. To finish the race of faith like our
ancestors did is a victory in itself. Whether you are running, walking or
crawling, keep your faith, keep your commitments to God, keep on the way of
Jesus. He is with us all the way to the end.
Based
on Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
First
delivered Aug. 11, 2019
Rev.
Dr. Kevin Orr
This will be the one that will
finally get Congress to act. Where have we heard that one before? After every
major mass shooting the national conversation goes back to legislating gun
reforms. The shooting is so heinous and shocking. People cry out “enough is
enough” and “do something” and “save your thoughts and prayers.” It happened
after the Aurora shooting. It happened after Sandy Hook. It happened after
Parkland. It happened after Orlando. It happened after Las Vegas. It happened
after Charleston. It happened after Pittsburg. It is happening now after El
Paso and Dayton. Is this the one that will finally turn the tide? Will our leaders
at the federal level finally pass meaningful gun reforms in an attempt to
reduce the madness?
After the Sandy Hook massacre, when
all those children were killed in school, when a poll indicated that 90% of
Americans supported the legislation being considered in Congress, and yet the
legislation was not passed…many people, myself included, thought that the
debate was over. If legislation could not be passed after Sandy Hook, then no
legislation will ever be passed. At least not for a generation. We are
horrified by the mass shootings, although not as horrified as we used to be.
Regularity leads to normalcy. Becoming numb to the pain and horror is a
survival mechanism for our psyches. Apparently mass shootings are part of
America, a unique experience that is a manifestation of who we are. We don’t
like it but there’s nothing we can do about it. That’s what I thought when
after Sandy Hook nothing changed. It wasn’t the last one. And there will be
more. Many more.
It’s not just mass shootings. Homicides
continue to plague our streets. A few days ago, I was walking up Hague between
Mound and Sullivant and saw two memorials of young people whose lives were
taken by gunfire. Too often we hear of some kid playing around with a gun and
it accidently goes off and kills their friend. I recently heard of a family who
were responsible gun owners. The gun was in one place. The magazine was in
another and the ammunition in a third location. It was all locked up.
Nevertheless, their child broke the locks of all three locations and ended
their life. There are more guns than people in our nation and every year
thousands of people lose their lives at the hand of a gun, either by their own
hand or someone else’s. This has been going on for decades. It seems hopeless
that it can change.
Still, when these shootings happen
people call out for action. A week ago, when Gov. DeWine was at the vigil for
the victims of the Dayton shooting, he was drowned out with people in the crowd
chanting, “Do something!” Two days later, the governor held a press conference
where he outlined a series of things that he wants to do with the support of
the legislature, including universal background checks and the passing of a red
flag law. Our president came out vocally in support of background checks and
said that majority leader McConnel was on board and that the NRA will come
along. Public outcry surely had an impact on getting these political leaders to
at least say what they want to do rather than what can’t be done.
But will the talk become action?
Will we ever get to a time where mass shootings are a thing of the past, when
it will only be read about in the history books? I wonder if we can get to the minimum
standard of universal background checks.
So far, the evidence suggests that
things won’t change. That in the end our political leaders will buckle to the
pressure of the gun lobby and a vocal minority of their constituents and not
pass any meaningful legislation. That is what we have seen time and time again.
If nothing changed after Sandy Hook, why will this time be different?
Politicians talk, but there is no
action. People gather to protest and hold vigils, but nothing changes. So, if
it’s the same lack of results time and time again, why should anyone push for
change in our gun laws? What’s the point of speaking up and applying public
pressure if it appears nothing can be done to stop these mass shootings? The
evidence suggests it is wasted effort. It appears the prudent thing to do is
adjust to the new normal, be vigilant, be prepared to run, hide or fight. The
evidence suggests that change is hopeless.
Why keep pressing for change? If we
rely only on past experience, then there is no reason to keep pushing. We
aren’t going to find any inspiration for bringing about gun reforms in our
society if we rely on past experience. So where will the inspiration come? What
will keep us from falling into despair over the reality of gun violence in our
communities? We keep pushing for change because we believe that things
don’t have to be this way. We believe that mass shootings are not the new
normal, not something to get adjusted to, not something we just have to accept.
It is belief that things can change, in spite of the evidence, that gives us
the strength to keep pushing for change in our society.
And this is where hope and faith
come in to play. We hear in the scripture this morning that faith is assurance
of things we hope for and certainty of things we do not see. If we don’t see a
society in which mass shootings no longer happen and we don’t see any action to
reduce gun violence, that is where we have to draw on our faith, to believe
that the way things are is not permanent, that things can be different, that mass
shootings can be a thing of the past. Faith is the capacity to have vision for
what will be. Faith is what allows us to envision a future where gun violence is
a thing of the past. Faith and hope are what gives us the strength and
inspiration to keep pushing for change, to not settle for the status quo or
give up in despair that nothing will ever be different. I’m talking a lot about
gun violence because that is at the front of all of our minds. But this is not
only about gun violence. It is our faith and hope in God, the belief that God
is making all things new, that God is about the work of redemption, of
restoration, of reconciliation, of healing…that’s what God is about. And that’s
what we are about as children of God. This is our task as Christians, to
be about God’s work of mending society as we follow Jesus and live out the way
of Jesus. We are God’s workers, we are the hands and feet of Christ, we are the
ones through whom God is working to bring to pass the kind of world God
desires. The beloved community that God envisions for the world does not come
to be by magic. It doesn’t suddenly appear. It is a process of becoming through
human actions guided by the Spirit of God. It is our faith and hope in God that
keeps us engaged in this redemptive work that we are all called to participate
in.
All that said, Heb. 11:13 resonates
in a big way. Our ancestors in the faith “did not receive the things God had
promised.” In their lifetime their hopes did not become reality. They lived and
died without God’s promises being fulfilled. The promise of God is that one day
justice shall roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing
stream, when nation shall not take up the sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war anymore. And the promises of God remain unfulfilled.
But what does it say? Our ancestors
who died in faith were not bitter or resentful, so the author of Hebrews
writes. They saw the promises of God fulfilled from a long way off and they
welcomed the fulfillment of the promises. They had visions of what God’s
fulfilled promises would look like. They did not let their current circumstance
limit their vision of what God will accomplish. As the old saying goes, our
ancestors kept their eyes on the prize. Verses 15 and 16, “they did not keep
thinking about the country they had left…instead, it was for a better country
they longed for, the heavenly country.”
Our ancestors trusted in God, the
one who made visible what was invisible by speaking it into existence. If God
can create the heavens and the earth, surely God can and will bring to pass the
new heaven and the new earth. Our ancestors were confident that God will
fulfill what God has promised. It wasn’t in their lifetime. But they saw it as
a future reality that one day their descendants will enjoy. God will keep God’s
promises. That is the faith that sustained our ancestors. It is this faith that
can sustain us in these trying times when it seems this earth is far from
heavenly.
Will we see the end to mass
shootings and gun violence in our lifetime? It is possible. Thirty years ago, when
the Berlin Wall was torn down, I remember my dad say he never thought he would
live to see that day. Twenty years ago, few believed that they would see a
black man as president of the United States in their lifetime. Ten years ago,
few believed that gay marriage would be legal in this country in their lifetime.
Who is to say that five years from now mass shootings are no longer something
we experience as a society? If enough people act, it could happen. Or not. But
the time will come. Of that we can be sure. Why? Because we have the promises
of God who loves the world so much that God sent his only son so that everyone
who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent the son
into the world, not to condemn the world but to save it. And that salvation is
not only about going to heaven and avoiding hell. Salvation is about overcoming
sin and death with righteousness and life. It is about being made right with
God. It is about experiencing new life, forgiveness, new possibilities, peace,
wholeness, and joy in this life. Salvation is not just a future
experience but a present reality. God is in the business of salvation, of
redemption, of restoration, of making all things new. And what God has set out
to do will be completed. The new heaven and the new earth will one day be
manifest. Heaven and earth will be one. On these promises we must stand, firm
in our faith, our hope placed on God. Not looking back. Not frozen in place.
But, as Abraham of old, moving forward on the journey toward the land that God
will show us, a vision of what God will do, a commitment to be the instruments
of God’s unfolding vision. Now, more than ever, we must cling to this faith.
Brothers and sisters, we live in a
time where God needs us to be instruments of peace, to speak words of truth and
comfort, to proclaim good news, to incarnate Jesus in the world. We live in a
time where we need to open ourselves to the Spirit of God to give us dreams and
visions of God’s beloved community and then to live into those visions. Now is
the time for all of us to keep the faith, to be a people of hope who worship
the God of hope, and keep moving forward, following Jesus, who is the author
and perfecter of our faith. May it be so.
Based
on Luke 12:13-32
First
delivered Aug. 4, 2019
Rev.
Dr. Kevin Orr
Who wouldn’t want to win the
lottery? When the Powerball gets to be
in the tens of millions of dollars, I confess, we go buy a ticket. What’s two
bucks, right? To win the lottery would definitely be a life-changer.
A few weeks ago, our family went to
Door County, Wisconsin. It is a peninsula that juts out into Lake Michigan to
the south of Green Bay. It is absolutely gorgeous. It is not overdeveloped.
There remains lots of farmland growing hay and fruit orchards. The small towns
are quaint. You will find no Kroger or McDonalds. I’m not sure how wonderful it
is up there in the winter. We giggled over the snowmobile hazard signs
everywhere along the roads. But in the summer…you can’t beat it.
So, Kim and I were fantasizing about
buying a house up there to live in during the warmer months when we retire. Of
course, to purchase a lot would be $1 million even before you consider the
price of the home. For this fantasy of buying a vacation home in Door County,
Wisconsin to happen, we knew we would first have to win the lottery.
The lottery is sort of like
receiving an inheritance, except getting an inheritance is much more likely
than winning the lottery. Sure, the inheritance you receive will most likely
not be as big a windfall as winning the lottery. But there’s a good chance that
the inheritance you receive will give you a nice financial boost. You may be
able to pay off some debts, have a nice amount to invest or save, it could be a
fresh start for you.
And that’s what the man wanted when
he came to Jesus to ask him to tell his brother to give him his portion of the
inheritance. Apparently, his brother was holding out on him. It was simple
fairness for him to get what was his due.
But Jesus not only refuses to
arbitrate this matter, he also launches into a teaching about greed. Why? How
was this man being greedy? All he wanted was what was due to him to receive. Or
maybe Jesus was thinking about his brother who wasn’t giving over the
inheritance. I guess you could say he was being greedy. But why did Jesus not
want to get involved in the matter? Maybe he didn’t want to deal with the
drama! Or he didn’t believe it was the best use of his time, that it was a
distraction from his mission. It’s not clear what about this situation
triggered Jesus to teach on greed but that’s what Jesus does. He uses the
occasion of a man wanting his inheritance to talk about greed.
What is so great about receiving an
inheritance or winning the lottery is the financial freedom that comes with it.
With all that money you have more freedom to do what you want, or not want to
do. Don’t want to work for a living? Quit. Want to take that trip, buy that
house, get a place along Lake Michigan? Go for it. Want to pay for your kid’s
college education? Awesome. You want to start a foundation so you can support
non-profits addressing issues you care about? God bless you. To have that
windfall makes possible the ability to be self-supporting, to be independent,
to not have to rely on anyone else. It is to have freedom. What’s wrong with
that?
Jesus tells a story about a man who
was blessed with huge crops one growing season. He looks at all the grain that
has been harvested. Whether he harvested it or he had workers that did it, we
do not know. Whether he even planted the crops or it was done by sharecroppers,
we don’t know. For all we know he may have just been the landowner and others
did all the work. At any rate, he looks at the big mounds of grain and then
looks at his barns and decides to tear down those barns and build bigger ones.
I wonder if he is the one who will be building those barns or if others will do
the work? He decides to store all the excess crops and live off it for the next
several years. He has nothing to worry about. The next few years could be
terrible growing seasons but what does he care? He is self-supporting now. He
has the freedom to kick back, relax, and enjoy all this excess…for himself.
What about the people who we assume work for him? It appears he is only
thinking about himself. He doesn’t even offer up a word of thanks to God for
providing such good weather and fertile soil. It is as if this man is in his
own little world.
What was it about this man that made
him a fool? Doing the hard work of planting and reaping so that there can be a
big crop is not foolish, assuming he was actually doing this work. Arranging
for the crops to be stored rather than to go to waste is not foolish. Think of
the time when Joseph instructed Pharaoh to store up the grain for seven
consecutive years when the yield was plentiful so that when the seven years of
drought came the nation would have enough surplus to survive. It’s not foolish
to store up surplus for the lean years that are bound to come, especially when
farming is concerned.
I think Jesus points to the man’s
foolishness with the question he places in God’s mouth. “This very night your
life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will
they be?” The man was foolish in that he presumed he would be alive for many
years when we can’t presume that we will live past today. Each day is a gift.
But he was also foolish because he claimed all those crops as his own. He never
thought that others may have a claim on those crops. The abundance wasn’t meant
only for him.
Jesus goes on to say that we ought
to be rich toward God. What does that mean? I wonder if it has something to do
with where we put our energies. Do we focus on getting rich with material
wealth or do we focus on having a rich relationship with God?
Jesus gets at that by talking about
how God provides for us so that we have no need to be anxious about what we
will eat or wear. Ravens don’t plant or reap, they don’t have barns, but God
feeds them. Lilies don’t toil or spin, yet God clothes them. If God provides
for birds and flowers, how much more will God provide for us? Of course, this
doesn’t mean our food and clothes drop from the sky or magically appear. We
obviously have to work and earn money so we can buy our food and clothes. But,
if all else fails and you are in need, you get your food at the food pantry at
Parkview and your clothes from the free store at Westgate. Our needs will be
provided for, one way or another. God will make sure of it. Because people who
have more than they need share their food and clothing for those who lack.
That’s how God makes sure that we all have what we need, through the generous
sharing of abundance.
So, we are not to pursue these
things, what we will eat or what we will wear. This will all be provided for.
Instead, let’s pursue the kingdom of God. Let that be our focus. Let’s spend
our energies on this pursuit. But the good news is that it is God’s pleasure to
give us the kingdom. We are pursuing something that God is happy to give us.
What does this mean? How does God give us the kingdom?
In the book of Acts, we read of how
the believers pooled all their resources into a common fund that everyone had
access to if they had any need. There was enough for everyone. This is a
manifestation of the kingdom of God.
In the story of the prodigal son,
when the older son is complaining to his father that he never gave him even a
young goat so that he could celebrate with his friends, his father said, “Son,
all I have is yours.” He could have helped himself to a goat any time he wanted
to. There was enough. This is a manifestation of the kingdom of God.
How are these two examples a
manifestation of the kingdom of God? Because when resources are shared, what is
created is an interdependent community. People depend on each other to have the
needs of all met. It is not a collection of individuals struggling to meet
their own individual needs on their own. By working together and sharing
resources, depending on each other, then there is more than enough. Working
together and sharing reflects the character of God. The kingdom of God is a
community that reflects the character of God.
God is love. God is creative. God is
relational. So, wherever there is created a community of loving relationships,
the character of God is being manifest, and thus the reign of God is being
manifest. When a community uses their combined resources for the benefit of the
whole, this manifests a community of interdependent relationships. The sharing
of resources manifests the reign of God that we are to pursue and to receive.
This past week was band camp for
many high schools across central Ohio. My youngest son participates in the
Westerville North marching band. From 9 am to 9 pm every day this past week, he
and his mates were at the school learning the music and the drill. For band
camp to work, it required a lot of parent volunteers to be around and take care
of things. It required the donations of food. Every evening there were group
building activities that required the donation of various items. Band camp was
a great success because so many people gave of their resources. A community of
interdependent relationships was formed. On Friday the kids demonstrated to us
all they had accomplished so far as a group. It was beautiful. This is a
manifestation of the reign of God.
Think about the way Westgate and
Parkview share resources for the good of the whole. Tithes and offerings are
given so that bills can be paid. The two churches together provide my salary
and benefits. Both buildings are open and used by the community for all kinds
of meetings and ministries. In fact, the very presence of our buildings is a
visible reminder that God is present in this community. In all the ways that we
share the resources we have we are creating a community of interdependent
relationships. And that is a manifestation of the reign of God.
This is what God has given us. God
has given us our community as brothers and sisters in Christ. We have each
other. We are committed to each other. There is a bond of love for each other.
We are not a collection of individuals. We are the body of Christ, bound
together by the Holy Spirit. Our life together is the kingdom that God
has given us.
We can be rich toward God then by
nurturing our relationship with God, with each other, and with the wider
community. As we live into our interdependent relationships, our lives are
enriched, our community is enriched, our relationship with God is enriched. And
this is something worth striving for, not food and clothes that are provided
for us one way or another. They seem so trivial in comparison to the pursuit of
a life enriched by God, one another, and the community that we find ourselves
in.
Here is the good news: if we are
mindful of the resources available in our community, there is more than enough
to meet our needs. Not one person can meet the needs of all of us. But if we
make our resources available, and not just our resources, don’t forget the
resources of others who live in this community…there is an abundance.
So, let’s not be anxious about how
we will pay the bills. You may have to remind me sometimes that I just said
that! As we experience a fresh start with me coming alongside you for a while,
hopefully a long while, let us all recommit ourselves to pursue the reign of
God by pursuing the creative building up of community. With creativity, with
love for God and for one another, let us all enrich our lives together as
beloved children of God. And all these things will be given to us as well.
Based
on 2 Kings 5:1-15 and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
First
delivered July 7, 2019
Rev.
Dr. Kevin Orr
The stories we heard read this
morning are fairly familiar. The first one is about Naaman who was a mighty
general, well known of his military victories. Victories that God was given
credit to help him achieve in fact. He served the army of Aram, which is currently
called Syria. Even though he was well known and well respected, he had a
vulnerability. He endured an embarrassing skin disease. Whatever he had tried
to get it cured didn’t work. No ointments or salves could clear up the rash.
But the slave girl who worked for his wife told her that there was a healer in
Israel who could cure her husband of his leprosy. She tells him about it and
then he goes to tell his king, who sends him off with a letter to explain to
the king of Israel that Naaman is worthy of being cured of his leprosy. But the
king of Israel interprets the king of Syria’s letter as suggesting he is
to heal Naaman. He cries out in dismay over this impossible request. Elisha
hears about it and sends word to the king to send Naaman to him. He’ll take
care of it. So Naaman, with all this treasure and ten sets of clothes for some
reason, makes his way to Elisha for what he anticipates will be a very public
and sensational healing experience. But without accepting payment or even
greeting him, Elisha sends an aide to the famous general with a message to go
wash in the Jordan. How humiliating! But as the general stomps off two of his
servants talk some sense in to him. So he goes to the river and washes himself
and is cleansed of his leprosy.
The second story is the one where
Jesus sends out an advance team of seventy or seventy-two people, depending on
which ancient manuscript you go with. They are to go out in teams of two to all
the towns and places Jesus intends to visit. Their job is to get to the
community, cure people, and announce that the kingdom of God is near. He gives
them specific directions about what not to take and what not to do in the
country when they are walking to the towns, specifically, to travel light and
don’t talk to anyone. They are on an urgent mission and there is no time to
waste. He tells them what to do when they get to their assigned town. They are
to come to a random house and knock on the door. When the door opens they are
to greet the person with a word of peace. If peace is returned to them then
they are to go on in and receive whatever hospitality is offered them. No
bouncing from house to house. After enjoying the hospitality of their hosts
they are to then work the community curing people and proclaiming the coming
reign of God. And if no one wants them, then they are to shake the dust off
their sandals, proclaim the coming reign anyway, with a warning that this town
will be wiped out by God, and then move on. The apostles go off and do what
Jesus tells them. Everything works out great and they return filled with joy to
tell Jesus all the wonderful things they were able to do, how they were able to
defeat the power of evil. And Jesus tells them it’s fine to celebrate that but
they should mostly be excited that their names are written in the book of life.
There is a lot that we could look at
in these two stories. For the healing of Naaman we could look at the power
dynamics. The general and the two kings seem to be full of themselves, a bit
out of touch and reactive. But the young Jewish slave girl and the two servants
of the general are voices of reason. The power relations are all turned upside
down. Or with the story of Jesus sending out the seventy we could reflect on
how the apostles were just the messengers, and not to take all the credit when
things turn out great and don’t take it personally if things go wrong. People
aren’t rejecting them, they are rejecting the one who sent them. They are just
the messengers.
But as I reflected on these two
stories one thing that struck me is how the issue of trust is woven throughout
both stories. Trust is the grease that makes these stories move. If there had
been a lack of trust then nothing would have happened. Naaman wouldn’t have
made his way to Israel and the disciples would not have allowed themselves to
be sent out as sheep among a pack of wolves. If you think about it, trust is a
necessary ingredient in all of our lives. Without trust, none of us would
probably be able to make it out of the house every morning. Trust, having faith
that things will work, that people will do their jobs, that your car will start
and the grocery store will be open, this is what makes life flow. Without a
basic trust, life becomes incredibly difficult to deal with. And if you have
lost trust in humanity…that’s a tough spot to be in.
Let’s look at how trust is present
in these stories. First, the story of the healing of Naaman. The Jewish slave
girl tells the wife of Naaman that there is a prophet who can heal her husband.
Amazingly, Naaman’s wife trusts the girl enough to tell her husband that he
should give it a try. And he trusts her enough to follow through. I see trust
showing up again when Elisha tells Naaman what to do to get healed. Elisha
trusts that God will make the healing happen. We also see how Naaman trusts his
servants when they reason with him to do the easy thing of dipping himself
seven times into the river. In this story, the Jewish slave girl, the wife of
Naaman and the two servants were trusted. And God was trusted by Elisha.
In the story of the sending of the
seventy, there is a lot of trust. Jesus is sending them out like sheep among a
pack of wolves. That definitely takes a great deal of trust. But not only that.
They were to travel without a bag, without any extra stuff. And they had to
trust that the community in which they entered would offer them hospitality.
They had to trust the family they lived with. At least they weren’t travelling
alone. They were in pairs and surely they had each other’s backs. They could trust
each other. And they had to trust that the authority Jesus had given them to
cure the sick would work. That would be embarrassing if they tried to heal
people and failed. So all through this story we see trust at work.
In fact, without trust, nothing
would have happened. If Naaman’s wife had not trusted her slave she would never
have told Naaman to go to Israel. And if Naaman had not trusted his wife he
wouldn’t have gone. If Elisha had not trusted God then he would have never made
the bold move of having Naaman come to his house. And if Naaman had not trusted
his servants he would have not gone into the Jordan river. If the disciples had
not trusted Jesus they would have never gone out. Jesus probably would have
never sent them if he didn’t already know they had trust in him. If they were
not willing to trust the hospitality of others the disciples would not have put
themselves in the vulnerable position Jesus put them in. If they had not
trusted the authority Jesus had given them they would never have attempted to
heal anyone. So trust is the necessary ingredient for everything to happen. The
healing of Naaman, the sending of the disciples and the faithful work they
accomplished all required trust.
When I first came among you, one of
the first things that I needed to do as your pastor was to build trust. Whether
we would decide to move ahead with becoming a second location of King Avenue or
decide another path, I knew that if I was going to be able to lead you through
the process you all would need to have some trust in me. And trust has to be
earned. It is built up over time. Trust is developed by being consistent, by
doing what you say you will do, by being faithful. Trust is developed by being
vulnerable, by sharing, by nurturing relationships. Trust is established by
doing life together.
This is part of what is going on in
the story of the seventy apostles. Jesus told them that when each pair got to
their assigned town they are to go to any random house, knock, greet the person
who opens the door and, if welcomed, to come inside and break bread together.
They are to be gracious guests, receiving whatever hospitality is offered them.
It was only after they have been welcomed and have settled in, have built some
relationships, have developed some trust, that they are to then cure the sick
and proclaim the coming of the reign of God. The ministry activity occurs after
trust has been established.
When Pastor Steven comes among you
in a few weeks, building trust should be at the top of everyone’s list. You
see, it goes both ways. It will take time for you to come to trust Pastor
Steven. But it will also take time for Pastor Steven to trust you. I think this
will be especially important for St. Luke’s going forward. There continues to
be great potential here. We are situated in a dynamic community. And we live in
a time when risk taking is going to be necessary, to try new things, build new
partnerships, seize opportunities. For the risk taking required for ministry in
our society, trust is absolutely critical. So you all are going to have to get
to a place where you can trust Pastor Steven. And likewise Pastor Steven is
going to have to get to a place where he can trust you.
My encouragement for you is to do
your part to initiate a relationship with Pastor Steven. Don’t wait for him to
call on you. Reach out to him and invite him for coffee or for dinner. Share
with him your hopes and dreams. Get to know each other. Share your stories.
Make yourself vulnerable. But most importantly, trust God to continue to lead
this church into the future. For St. Luke’s to be faithful and to thrive in the
years to come, what will be required is trust: trust in your pastor, trust in
each other, and especially trust in God. If you all can develop and maintain
trust, then there is no telling what God will be able to accomplish through
you.
Based
on 1 Kings 19:1-15a and Luke 8:26-39
First
delivered June 23, 2019
Rev.
Dr. Kevin Orr
Elijah had just been a hero. If we
looked back to 1 Kings 18, we would have heard the story of how Elijah mocked
the god Baal and his prophets. He concocted a showdown between God and Baal. He
told the prophets to build an altar, put wood on it, and then call on Baal to
send down fire to light up the wood. They prayed, cried out, cut themselves,
and just carried on while Elijah trash talked. “Maybe Baal is busy! Maybe he is
asleep!” Finally, all the prophets gave up. It was Elijah’s turn. He built the
altar, piled wood on it, and dug a trench around the altar. Then he had the
prophets of Baal pour water on the wood and keep pouring until the trench was
overflowing with water. Then, with one simple prayer, he asked God to send down
fire and instantly flames fell down from heaven, turning the soaked wood into a
raging inferno. Having mocked Baal and his prophets, Elijah then had executed all
450 prophets of Baal. A grisly scene to be sure. And a humiliating spectacle
for worshippers of Baal. Elijah surely stood tall and proud.
The word, of course, got back to
Queen Jezebel. She did not receive the news well. Instead, she made it clear
that she wanted Elijah hunted down, seized, and treated just like he had the
prophets of Baal. He was a wanted man set for execution.
All of a sudden, Elijah the brave
became Elijah the fearful. In a panic, he fled from the land of the Queen,
getting himself as far away from her as possible. He feared for his life. But
not just that, he fears for God. What I mean is, Elijah had it in his head that
he was the last of the prophets of God. And if he was killed, there would no
longer be any prophet God could work through. God’s purposes would be
permanently frustrated. God, in a way, would be powerless. Elijah thought he
was indispensable. So he ran, not only for his own sake, but for God’s sake.
Before we break down what was in
Elijah’s head, let us consider this: if Elijah had known in advance what the
consequences would be for his brave actions against Baal, would he have done
it? Surely Elijah would have known that not everyone would have been happy
about what he did or suddenly given up on Baal and converted to worshiping God.
But perhaps it didn’t cross his mind that his brave deed would give him a death
sentence. If he had known what he was risking beforehand, I am not sure if he
would have done what he did. I don’t think Elijah meant to put his life on the
line and, as he sees it, put the fulfillment of God’s purposes on the line. He
thought he was too indispensable to take such a risk. What he experienced was
unintended consequences of his actions.
We all know what it is like to
experience unintended consequences. This common experience has even been turned
into a proverb: no good deed goes unpunished. You thought you were helping
someone out and then find out you have gotten way over your head. The person
you are helping has needs way beyond what you can manage. The sacrifice is too
great. Your intentions were good but then in the process of helping out you get
in trouble or someone chastises you. You choose to do the right thing, to take
a stand for justice, and lose friends because they don’t understand or they
disagree with your position. And you didn’t see that coming. How many times
have we asked ourselves, “If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done
that, even though my intentions were good.” Sometimes people have been burned
so bad by unintended consequences that they become hesitant to ever get
involved in helping others or really doing anything until they are convinced
they know how things will turn out before starting. They don’t want any
surprises. They want to know exactly how everything is going to go, a
guaranteed result, fool proof. And if there is no guarantee that everything
will go according to plan then they will not even try. Unintended consequences
can really set us back. It’s much harder to be brave and daring when you have
been burned in the past. Playing it safe becomes much more appealing.
In his fear, Elijah runs away. But,
of course, he can’t run away from God. Look at how God is there for him in his
running. God sends an angel to provide food for Elijah to sustain him in his flight.
God even tells him where he can go to hide out. Elijah is told to go to Mount
Horeb, which is where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and to hide in a
cave there. No matter what God may think about Elijah’s perceived
indispensability, God knows the state that Elijah is in. God acknowledges his
fear, even his panic. So God’s grace kicks in, providing Elijah what he needs
while he is in his panicked state.
How great is God’s grace. I suspect
all of us have gone through times of running. Maybe we are running from doing
something we know we should do, or making a decision we know we need to make.
We find ourselves running from responsibilities. Sometimes we have even been
running from God. Whenever this happens in our lives, the good news is that in fact
we can’t run from God. And that is a good thing. God is always at work in our
lives, doing everything God can to provide for our well-being. Of course, that
doesn’t mean bad things don’t happen to us. But God does provide the means to
keep us going. God responds to whatever state we are in. God responds in a
number of ways. Maybe God puts certain people in our lives that can support us
in our struggle and fears. Or God gives us inner prompts to remind us that we
are still loved, that no matter what happens things will be ok. Maybe God will
lead us to a place where we do check out for a while, to go on retreat or to
talk to a therapist, whatever we need to overcome our fears and do what we know
we need to do. Whatever is going on in our lives, God is still present and at
work to provide for us what we need. God’s grace is sufficient.
Once Elijah arrives at his hideout,
his place of retreat, God asks him an excellent question. “What are you doing
here?” Mind you, this is the place where God instructed him to go. But I don’t
think the question is about geography. The question God is asking Elijah has to
do with why Elijah was running in the first place. It is sort of like the
question that any of us who have seen a counselor have had to answer: “What
brings you here to see me?”. God wants Elijah to name the state of his mind,
what has motivated him to run away.
This is a great question to sit with
whenever you have an opportunity to go to your hideout, to a place of retreat.
You can call it retreat, or vacation, or taking a mental health day, whatever
you want to call it. We all need times where we can step away from our daily
lives, to go on retreat, so we can breathe, so we can be still for a minute, so
we can reflect on our lives. And to start that time of reflection God has given
us a great prompt: “What are you doing here?” Once again, God provides Elijah
and us just what we need. God’s grace is sufficient.
Elijah’s answer reveals the state of
his mind. He talks of how he fears for his life, that he is the only prophet
left, and if he is killed, it’s all over. There is no hope. He identifies
himself as indispensable. Without him, God’s project will all fall apart. We
may laugh at Elijah’s sense of self importance, that everything depends on him.
But let’s not be too hard on him. Haven’t we all been there? I know I have. I
have worried that if I’m not around, if I’m not in charge, then it’s all going
to fall apart. I have sometimes felt indispensable. Have you? I think all of us
have been in Elijah’s state of mind from time to time. I humbly suggest that
when we have felt indispensable it reveals a lack of trust in the power of God.
Elijah had slipped into thinking that God could not accomplish God’s purposes
without him. He lacked trust in God’s ability to make adjustments and find
other people to get the job done. I think that in most situations when we are
tempted to feel like we are indispensable, it reveals a lack of trust, trust in
the capacity of others and even a lack of trust in God to see things through.
At the same time, let’s be honest.
Elijah is a big deal. He is an amazing prophet. We saw what God could do
through him when he alone faced down 450 prophets of Baal. He worked miracles.
God even used him to bring a young boy back to life. I mean Elijah is one of
the greatest prophets of all time. The loss of his life really would be a big
deal. Yes, how he responds to God’s question does seem a bit overblown, the
notion that everything depends on him. Still, Elijah’s loss would leave a huge
hole to fill. So it is certainly reasonable for Elijah to fear for his life and
not be cavalier about that. It is reasonable for him to recognize the risk that
he is under and how that would affect God’s purposes from being fulfilled.
That said, and how it appears Elijah
has some doubts about God’s power, God doesn’t let Elijah stay on retreat for
long. He gives Elijah an assignment. In spite of his fears and uncertainties,
Elijah still has work to do. He still has responsibilities. He is still God’s
prophet. He can’t stay in his hideout forever. He must go to the wilderness of
Damascus to anoint someone to be a king. Duty calls.
And so, Elijah goes. And as he heads
out to the wilderness of Damascus, let me first note that this task continues
to keep him far away from Jezebel. So it’s not like God is sending Elijah back
to where he came from. He has work to do but he will remain in a safe location.
God knows the risks to Elijah’s life as well! But also, Elijah does not yet
know what else God has planned. He does not know how God will arrange for
Jezebel to die before she can get to Elijah. And he doesn’t know how God will
set it up for Elijah to literally pass his mantle to Elisha who will continue
the prophetic work. Without knowing how God is going to make everything work
out, Elijah goes forth, leaving his place of retreat, to continue the work.
Even though we find ourselves in
fearful times, and are sometimes uncertain of God’s power, God still has an
assignment for us. I am not just thinking about this time of transition for us
as a church with me leaving and another pastor coming. And I certainly don’t
see myself as indispensable! Under the new pastor’s leadership, and with God’s
help, this church will be fine. But I know there is some anxiety. And it’s not just
St. Luke’s but we fret about the future of the United Methodist Church. And we
fret about the United States, especially now that we are moving into election
season. There are plenty of things to fret and worry about. Still, God has an
assignment for each of us. We all still have good work to do, people to help,
encouraging words to share, love and support to demonstrate. We don’t know how
God is going to make everything work out, just like Elijah didn’t know when he
left his cave. But we can trust that somehow God’s purposes will be achieved:
God’s purposes for St. Luke’s, God’s purposes for the United Methodist Church,
God’s purposes for the United States, God’s purposes for anything. My mom used
to say, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Sorry to all you cat lovers.
God has more than one way to achieve God’s purposes, of that we can be sure.
And we still have something to contribute to the fulfilment of those purposes,
in spite of our anxiety and uncertainty.
And it can be messy. We all know we have
to keep on keeping on in our discipleship. We still have to help people, act
out of love, do what we can for the well-being of others even as we pray and
read our Bibles and come to worship. But just because we keep focused on living
a Christian life doesn’t mean everything is going to be just fine. A great
example is what we heard in the gospel reading this morning. What Jesus did was
a great thing. He cast a legion of demons out of that man. But there was
collateral damage. Those swineherds lost all their hogs. And that was their
livelihood. What are they going to do now? This man’s healing from demon
possession also caused real hardship for those swineherds. The good news of
this man’s healing wasn’t good news for everyone. It was messy.
Not only can things get messy when
we do good work, we also don’t always get what we want. It is interesting in
this story of the healing of this man. When Jesus comes up to him, the demons
already know who Jesus is. They beg Jesus to send them into the herd of pigs instead
of sending them to the abyss. Amazingly, Jesus grants their request. On the
other hand, the man who was healed asked to continue on with Jesus as he went
on his journey, but Jesus turned him down. The demons got what they wanted but
not the man who was healed. That doesn’t seem fair.
I wonder why the man wanted to
follow Jesus. Maybe he wanted to be his disciple, to learn from Jesus. Or maybe
he wanted to stay by Jesus in case the demons came back. It would be comforting
to know that if the demon possession happened again that his savior would be by
his side to cast them out again. At any rate, the man had his reasons for
following Jesus. It doesn’t seem much to ask. Surely Jesus wouldn’t have a
problem having him come along.
But if he had followed Jesus, the
people in the town would not have had to deal with him and come to terms with
the fact that this man was healed. Everyone in the town came out to see for
themselves what the swineherds had told them about what Jesus had done. It was
right there before their eyes. And they got scared. There is a lot of fear in
the stories we have heard today, isn’t there. Their response is to tell Jesus
to move on. He has caused enough ruckus, in spite of the fact that this man who
had lived naked in the tombs as a raving lunatic was now clothed and in his
right mind. They probably would have been fine if the man went with Jesus too
so they could just move on as a community and forget that any of this happened.
Easier to return to status quo that way. But with the man staying in their
community, a continuous reminder that he had been healed by Jesus, well they
couldn’t go back to the way things were. They would be regularly reminded of
what Jesus had done for him. They would remember all those pigs that died in the
process and the hardship that created for the community. They would be reminded
of the messy situation that was this man’s healing. And they would have to come
to terms with it, to come to realize this man was no longer who he had been. He
deserved his rightful place in the community. As long as this man lived among
them their community would be unsettled until they made peace with what had
happened and incorporated him fully into their life together. Only then would
the community be made whole. The man needed to stay in the town for their own
good. Even though he wanted to leave that town behind and go with Jesus, he
needed to stay for their sake.
Elijah was told to go. The man was
told to stay. Both had to contend with their own fears and find their ways
through messy situations. Elijah feared for his life and lived as a wanted man
as a consequence of facing off against 450 prophets of Baal. The man was afraid
the demons might come back and instead had to remain in a town that partially
blamed him for the loss of a herd of pigs as a consequence of his healing. They
were messy situations. But they understood what their task was before them. And
they faithfully followed through with their assignments. The same can be true
for us in our own messy situations, contending with unforeseen consequences as
a result of doing ministry, with our own fears and uncertainties. We all still
have tasks to complete, good works to perform, ministry to be done, stories of
God’s healing and grace to be shared.
So this is our challenge as we
continue forward in the weeks, months and years ahead. Our challenge is to
trust God, to trust that there is more than one way for God to achieve God’s
purposes, to trust that what God directs us to do is part of the achieving of
God’s purposes, to trust that somehow God’s going to make sure that things work
out even though we may not get what we want. Our challenge is to remain
attentive to God, to be open to what God is directing us to do, the tasks that
God places before us. And as we become clear on what our task is, we do the
work of following through in spite of our fears and uncertainties. Elijah was
brave when he faced down those 450 prophets. Perhaps he was even more brave to
leave the cave and go on with the work in spite of his fears and uncertainties.
It is in our faithfulness to the work that God places before us in spite of our
fears and uncertainties that is the bravest thing any of us can do.
Based
on Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 and John 16:12-15
First
delivered June 16, 2019
Rev.
Dr. Kevin Orr
Today in the Christian calendar is
Trinity Sunday. It has been a long standing practice in the church to dedicate
the first Sunday after Pentecost to the doctrine of the Trinity. A lot can be
said about the Trinity. Indeed, thousands and thousands of books have been
written on the subject. It is a doctrine that pushes the extremes of logic. How
does 1+1+1=1? How can we say that we worship one god instead of three? Trying
to explain this conundrum has been attempted in a number of ways. St. Patrick
famously pointed to a three leaf clover. Another old image is that of fire: the
fire itself is the Father, the light of the fire is the Son and the heat that
emits from the fire is the Holy Spirit. This Christian comedian I used to
listen to as a kid, Mike Warnke, used to explain the Trinity by pointing to a
cherry pie. Take the pie and cut it into three pieces. You have the three
separate pieces but the cherry filling can’t be divided up. In the same way the
Trinity is three Persons but one Substance.
Today I want to focus our attention
on how our understanding of God as Three in One captures a key aspect of who
God is, which is that God is relational. Whatever it means to say that the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three separate Persons, these Persons
are so totally interrelated that all three work together. None of them work
independently of the other. They are totally interdependent, a harmonious
community of three. This total interdependence reflects the relational nature
of God. God is a relational God. That’s our focus.
First, let’s look at this amazing
portrayal of Wisdom we find in Proverbs. In this poetic passage, Wisdom, or
Sophia in Greek, is personified. She is portrayed as having been born from God
as the first created being. She is by God’s side through the whole creation
process. And she continually rejoices in God, delighting in the world that God
made and in the human race.
In all these ways, Wisdom is related
to the Creator God. From the beginning, before anything else was created, God
gave birth to Wisdom to be in relation with all throughout the creation
process. God did not want to be alone. We have come to understand this
portrayal of Wisdom as referring to the Holy Spirit. Like we read in Gen. 1:2,
the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. That Spirit, according to
Proverbs 8, was Sophia, Wisdom.
Now let’s look at what Jesus says
about the Spirit. Jesus identifies this as the Spirit of truth. Jesus says that
the Spirit declares what he hears from the Father. He does not speak on his
own. In the same way Jesus has told his disciples that he does not speak on his
own but only what he hears from the Father. So what Jesus is saying is that the
Spirit who will come after he returns to the Father will continue doing what
Jesus has been doing with them, which is teaching them what the Father wants
taught. Jesus also says that the Spirit will lead the disciples into all truth.
What does this mean? Does this mean that there is more revelation from God than
what Jesus was able to tell the disciples? Perhaps it does mean that. But it
could also mean that what the Spirit will do is to help the disciples more
fully understand who Jesus is and what Jesus taught. When the disciples faced
new situations, the Spirit would reveal to them new insights into Jesus’
teachings. The stories he taught would take on deeper meanings. The Spirit
would help the disciples answer the clichéd question that was very popular
several years ago: “what would Jesus do?”. So this was the role of the Holy
Spirit, to continue the teaching ministry of Jesus after he left the disciples
and returned to the Father. It is the Spirit that keeps the disciples connected
with the Father and the Son. The Spirit makes relationship with God possible.
So let me try to bring all this back
down to earth, past the theological musings, and ground all this in our life
together as a community. What can the Trinity reveal to us about God and our
relationship with God?
If the Trinity means anything, it
means that God is inherently relational. God is not a single entity in a far
distant heaven. No, God is three Persons working together in a perfect,
interdependent relationship. In God’s essence there is interdependent
relationship. The Father reveals truth through the Son by the Holy Spirit. None
of them go rogue. All three work together in every situation. They are a team
to the maximum level.
We, who have been made in the image
of God, are made to be in relationship. We are relational creatures. We all
need to belong somewhere. We need a family, whether blood relation or not. We
need a group to run around with. We need friends. We need to be a part of
something bigger than ourselves. We need community. As an aside, this is why
solitary confinement is so punishing and, in fact, can cause deep mental and
emotional trauma. Studies have shown how children who are isolated from human
touch have profound effects on their emotional development. To thrive as human
beings we need community.
So when it comes to understanding
the things of God and the way of Jesus, the Spirit teaches us these things in
community. It is true that you can read the Bible for yourself and interpret it
on your own. But let’s face it, there is a lot of the Bible that is really hard
to understand. Most of us need some help from others who have dedicated their
lives to interpreting the Bible to share their insights. Trust me, I don’t come
up with these sermons all by myself. I read a number of Bible interpreters,
letting their insights guide my own thinking as I craft these sermons. I have
found it much more fruitful to study the Bible with others. The study of
Galatians we had a few weeks back was wonderful because we were provided
excellent discussion questions and had great conversations. We all got much
more out of Galatians than if we had just read it on our own or answered the
reflection questions by ourselves. The Bible has always been meant to be read and
studied in community.
Also, understanding where God is
working in our lives is discovered in conversation. My family lived about
twelve miles away from church. When it was time for youth group on Sunday
evening, the youth pastor would drive a van out to Edmond where me and a few
other kids in the youth group lived. When we got in the van he would ask each
of us, “Where have you seen Jesus this week?” That was our conversation for the
15-20 minute drive to church. Sure, I could have sat there in the silence of my
own space and contemplated where I had recently seen Jesus. But in the
conversation, as people told their stories, it prompted my own observations. Or
maybe I had something to share first which got others talking. It was easier to
name where we saw God working in our lives when we had a conversation about it.
And certainly when it comes to discerning what your purpose in life is, what
your vocation is, that takes a lot of conversation with a lot of people. I know
some people have a dream or have some powerful spiritual experience that makes
them believe they have been called into the ministry. I had one of those
powerful experiences myself. But just claiming that experience isn’t going to
get you a preachers license. There is a long discernment process done in
community to confirm that call. And that’s true for any vocation, not just
being a preacher. Whatever God has called you to do with your life, you
discover it and are affirmed in that call by others. It is in community that we
get clear how God is working in our lives.
Whenever a church is trying to
discover what their next faithful step will be, the Spirit is the one who will
reveal the possibilities. But this is not done with just the pastor or a couple
of people. The whole church has to discern the next faithful step together. It
is prayerful conversations of the church, not just one or two people, that
guide a church into the future faithfully. We saw that here at St. Luke’s when
we came together to discern whether or not our next faithful step should have
been to become a second location of King Avenue. It seemed clear to us that now
was not the time. As the United Methodist Church looks into a murky future, in
which division is likely, our faithful future will not be decided by a couple of
folks. It will take many conversations from a huge swath of people to discern
what our next faithful step will be. In fact, there are a couple of
conversations being planned right now in which you can come and be a part. One
will be held in late July at Worthington UMC by a group called UMC Next.
Another one being organized by some of us in the Reconciling Ministries Network
is being organized for later this year to talk through how we will respond when
the new Book of Discipline goes into effect in January. Look for detailed
information about how you can be a part of those conversations. It takes these
ongoing conversations for the Spirit to guide us a church and denomination
faithfully into the future.
The last thing I want to say about
the Trinity is to express gratitude for the Spirit. As you know, last week we
celebrated Pentecost, when the Spirit fell down on the disciples, propelling
them outside the four walls of their safe house and on to the streets to
proclaim the mighty acts of God. That same Spirit continues to be poured on us
day by day. It is the Holy Spirit that connects us with God, so that God is not
remote and distant but as near as our breath. Being the temples of the Holy
Spirit that we are, in some mysterious way God is present within each of us,
which is one reason why every single one of us is precious. It is the Spirit
that makes that connection real. But the Spirit doesn’t only connect us with
God. The Spirit connects us with each other. Each of us share in this same
Spirit. If the Spirit was the internet we would all be online, linked to each
other. The Spirit is like wi-fi that connects us all together. And just as you
can Facetime with someone right now who is living in Japan, geography does not
matter in our Spirit connection with each other. No matter where you and I are
at any given moment we are connected as many parts of one body, the body of
Christ. And not only is geography not a limit to our connection but neither is
time. When our loved ones die, we are still connected to them. And we have the
promise that one day we will be with them again. It is the Spirit that connects
us with our ancestors. And it is the Spirit that will connect us with those who
will come after us, even to the thousandth generation, if you can even imagine
that. The Spirit of God connects us beyond space and time. The community that
you and I belong to, made possible by the Spirit, truly is incomprehensibly
huge. We all belong in a way that none of us fully comprehend or appreciate.
The web of relationships made possible by the Spirit is unfathomable. At the
bare minimum I can tell you that although in a few weeks I will no longer be
your pastor we will remain connected in a spiritual sense. And this cord will
not be broken. So I give gratitude to the Spirit who makes possible our
relationship with God and with each other, a relationship that by God’s grace
will never be lost.
Based
on Acts 2:1-21
First
preached Pentecost 2019
Rev.
Dr. Kevin Orr
This morning’s scripture reading is,
of course, the story of what happened the first Pentecost after Jesus’
resurrection and ascension. Pentecost marks the 50th day after
Passover, a festival called Shavuot, which celebrated the wheat harvest and
also the time when Moses received the Ten Commandments. Jews from all across
the world would go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for this festival. This sets the
table nicely for the gospel to be proclaimed to all the nations of the world
from the beginning, when you have Jews that represent every nation present in
Jerusalem for the festival.
The first thing that stuck out for
me as I reflected on this passage is that the disciples were all together in
one place. The disciples were not scattered about in their own homes. And by
disciples we aren’t just talking about the twelve disciples. There were 120
disciples gathered in this house. Before Jesus ascended to heaven he told the
disciples to go to Jerusalem and to wait for the Holy Spirit to come down upon
them, so that they would have power from on high. And so, here they were,
talking, praying and waiting for the coming of the promised Holy Spirit.
Now just because they were all
together in one place doesn’t mean that they were all of one mind. We shouldn’t
be surprised if there were some personality conflicts. After all, with 120
people in one place there was bound to be some people that didn’t really like
each other. Some people probably got on other people’s nerves. We know in the
gospels that the disciples didn’t always get along. Aside from that, everyone
is just kind of waiting around to see what the next faithful step will be for
them. They are waiting for the Spirit. But when the Spirit does come, what
then? Maybe there was some strategizing already taking place about what the
next move would be once the Spirit arrived to give them the power they needed.
Or maybe some cautioned that they shouldn’t be making any decisions until the
Spirit arrived. Then maybe the Spirit would reveal to all of them what they
should do. The bottom line, you had in this house 120 people who were waiting
around, not sure what the next move would be, and maybe not all on the same
page.
As I thought about what it must have
been in that house, it reminded me a little of Annual Conference. Clergy and
lay people from all across West Ohio are gathered together in one place. It’s
not a house, it’s Hoover Auditorium. And there are over 2000 of us. And we are
certainly not all of one mind. Not everyone there gets along. There is talk
about where we are as a church and what the next faithful step ought to be.
There is some tension. A little uncertainty. A longing for the Holy Spirit to
come down and fill us, empower us and guide us. We aren’t all on the same page.
But at least we are all together in one place, and that’s something.
And of course we are all here
together this morning and that’s a good thing. We aren’t all of the same mind
on everything. I wouldn’t say we have the same level of anxiety and tension
that I felt at Annual Conference this week. But we are waiting for the Spirit
to lead us into the next step as a congregation, as I prepare to leave you and
the next pastor comes in to travel with you the next leg of this journey of St.
Luke’s. It’s good that we are here together as we wait on the Spirit to guide
us forward.
The second thing that struck me is
how the Holy Spirit fell on every person present. The Spirit didn’t just come
down on Peter and the other eleven disciples. No, the Spirit came down on
everyone gathered together in the house. It was an inclusive outpouring of the
Spirit. No one was left out. Each person had what appeared to be a flame of
fire appear over their heads. Each person was moved to proclaim the mighty
works of God. Each person participated in the move of the Spirit in their
midst. No one sat by or got passed over.
Now we carry on this understanding
that no one gets passed over because we believe that when a person is baptized
they receive the Holy Spirit as a part of that sacramental act. After I baptize
someone I pray that the Holy Spirit come upon the person to empower them to
become a faithful disciple. With holy oil I mark that person with the sign of
the cross on their foreheads as an act of sealing them with the Holy Spirit.
For us as United Methodists, people who are baptized don’t wait until some
later time when the Spirit falls on them. Some churches do believe that later
in a believer’s life they receive Spirit baptism which is accompanied by signs,
often speaking in tongues. But for us and many other churches the Spirit fills
us at the moment of our baptism. It is part of one sacramental act. Whether you
are baptized as a baby or well along in life, when the baptism happens you
receive the Holy Spirit. No one is passed over. And the Spirit doesn’t come and
go. The Spirit abides within us. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. We have
received what we need to be empowered to live the life of discipleship we have
been baptized in to. All there is for us to do is to be open to the leading and
empowerment of the Spirit, to tap into the Spirit rather than block it off.
Here’s the third thing that struck
me about this story from Acts: when the disciples were filled with the Holy
Spirit they rushed out of the house and into the streets to proclaim the mighty
acts of God. They didn’t just stay inside and bask in the presence of the
Spirit. No, they were compelled to get out of the house so that they could tell
others how awesome God is and what are the awesome things God has done. It
seems that no one stayed behind in the house. Everyone went out together into
the streets so that those outside the four walls of the house could find out
what God is doing.
Have you ever experienced something
in which every part of your being cried out for you to tell somebody? Maybe you
learned you were pregnant. Or you got the promotion you have been waiting for.
Or some other great thing just happened in your life. Maybe you rushed to post
your good news on Facebook. Or you called a friend. Or you find a way to steer
the conversation toward your good news. However you do it, the news is so hot,
so exciting, you just have to get it out. You have to tell someone your good
news. This seems to be what it was like for those disciples when the Spirit
promised by Jesus came down upon them. They had to get out there and tell
others, even complete strangers, their good news.
From time to time we have had good
news to tell. But when was the last time you felt compelled to proclaim the
mighty acts of God? When was the last time you had an experience with God that
was so powerful, so exciting and uplifting, that you just had to share that
experience with others? I would hope that for all of us this would be a regular
occurrence. But I can honestly tell you that it has been awhile since I have
felt compelled to share my experience of God with others. It’s not that I have
something against it. If someone was to ask me I would surely tell them about
how I have experienced God in my life. But it’s not something I lead with. It’s
not something I am so excited about that I am compelled to steer conversations
toward talking about how I have experienced God in my life. Hopefully I am the
only one here for whom this is the case. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I am
the only one. I think it’s pretty common that, over time, our relationship with
God becomes so much a part of our life that it loses its wonder and excitement.
God becomes so familiar. Our experience of God is as common as breathing. It
doesn’t have the same excitement as when we first experienced God in a deep
way. Our experience of God has become so common and normal that it doesn’t feel
like we have much of anything to share. I’m not saying this is good or bad.
It’s just the way it is. In any relationship, after a while, the excitement
levels off. We are simply doing life together, in our human relationships as
well as our relationship with God. And let’s be honest, our lives often are not
very exciting.
Still, every now and then, something
might happen. We might experience God in a different way, in a way that
genuinely moves us. And we feel compelled to testify. It’s just that this
doesn’t happen on a daily basis for most of us. Maybe that is something we all
could work on, to try to be more aware day by day where God is working in our
lives. Maybe we can work on being more attentive, to be more aware of our
experience of God in our daily lives. If we did, maybe we would feel like we
have more to share. But that takes intentionality. And we all go through dry
periods where we don’t sense God’s presence. It is those times that our faith
is tested. We know God is with us but we don’t always sense it. So we have to
trust that God is still with us and have hope that the spiritual dry spell will
give way to a more vital spirituality some time in the future. And when that
happens it is much easier for us to tell our story to others.
The disciples, of course,
experienced God in an extremely powerful way. They were compelled by the
awesomeness of the experience to go out into the streets to tell their
experience. But the miracle in this story is how every person could understand
what the disciples were saying in their own native language. Any communication
barrier was removed. The people in the street didn’t have to translate the
Aramaic they heard from the Galileans. They heard of the mighty works of God in
the language they understood best. This really is amazing. We aren’t told
exactly how this worked. Did the disciple know what language to use when they
were talking to someone? Or were they all speaking in Aramaic and the Spirit
interceded by filtering the language through some kind of divine translator so
that the other person heard it in their own language? However it worked, the
miracle is that barriers to understanding what the disciples were saying was
removed. The crowds may not have understood what the disciples were saying
meant. But they didn’t have to translate their words. What they said could be
understood even if what they were hearing needed further explanation, which is
what Peter does when he gives his first sermon.
Like I said, we all find it
challenging often to witness to our experiences of God with others. We don’t
feel compelled to talk about our experiences. There is no burning need to
express ourselves about our experiences. Maybe when we first came to believe in
Jesus, but unless something extraordinary has happened recently we just don’t
feel like we have anything interesting to say. But maybe even more challenging
is to share our witness in ways people can understand.
The longer you have been in the
church the more you become accustomed to “Christianeze.” We talk about
salvation, grace, and maybe even throw around words like justification and
sanctification. Any word that has five syllables may not be a familiar word to
everyone. We just pick up church language. And people who don’t know anything
about Jesus or think anything about salvation may not know what we are talking
about. Or maybe they have picked up little bits of information here and there
and don’t share the same understanding about what salvation means, or grace, or
sin, or any other God language we use. The challenge is: how do we share our
experiences of God without using religious jargon? How do we tell others about
salvation without using the word saved or salvation?
This past week at Annual Conference
the theme was, “Be Not Afraid…Hope.” To accentuate this theme, we had people
who gave brief witnesses to how they experienced hope in their lives. A few of
those witnesses were particularly powerful. I remember this one man who had
lived a life of addiction to drugs that had taken him to a low place in his
life. But through a friend he got connected to a pastor who invested in him. He
came into the church and over time decided to be baptized. He said that when he
came out of the water it felt like all the dirt, the slime, and the filth that
had clung to him because of the stuff he had done was washed off and sunk to
the bottom of the water. He didn’t talk about being saved but he did talk about
feeling like he had been given a fresh start. And I remember this woman whose
addiction to alcohol had left her homeless and penniless on the streets of
Detroit. She had burned a lot of bridges. And in one last desperate attempt,
she reached out on Facebook posting about the situation she was in, asking if
anyone could help her, and that she was scared. Well, one of her friends read
that post and contacted their pastor. That night, they drove from Toledo to
Detroit to pick her up. As they drove back to Toledo she kept saying over and
over how grateful she was, and the pastor and her friend kept saying over and
over, “This is what we do.” She was welcomed into the church community without
judgment. She was loved on, even when she didn’t act very loving. They didn’t
give up on her. As she told us her story she emphasized over and over how she
was loved and included, that she had a new family. She didn’t talk about
salvation or sin, grace or atonement. She talked about being included. She
talked about being loved. She talked about having a new family. Both of these
people spoke from their heart and simply told their story and how their
relationship with Christians made a difference in their lives, giving them
hope. They were stories that inspired all of us. And I am confident that if
they had shared their story with someone who was not a Christian there would be
a good chance that they would have been moved and maybe even wishing that they
could be a part of that kind of community as well.
The Holy Spirit is with us. We carry
the Spirit in our bodies. And we all have stories to share of our own
experiences of God. Likely those experiences manifested themselves through the
presence and loving actions of others. I wouldn’t be surprised that for some of
you looking around in this room you see people who you have experienced God
through. They were there for you when you needed support. They loved on you
when you weren’t always very lovable. They included you when you didn’t feel
like you fit in. All of our stories are different, they are personal, they are
uniquely ours to tell. And with the Spirit in us we have all we need to tell
our stories. So I challenge all of us to be ready to share our story with
others. I’m not saying let’s all rush out and walk up and down Fifth Avenue
telling random people our experience of the mighty works of God. But we can be
ready, when the time is right, to share our experiences, not with religious
language but in ways that people can relate to. We can talk about how with God
and with God’s people we have experienced love, belonging, and hope. And I
believe that when those opportunities come, as the Spirit prompts us, and we
share from the heart, that those who hear our stories will be moved to ask the
question, “Can I experience this love too?” And then we will have the joy by
our words and actions to respond with a firm “Yes.”
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