The King of the First and the Last
Matthew 19:27- 20:16
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 18, 2011
"That's not fair!" While 'mama' may be the first word many children say, 'That's not fair!" may be their first full sentence out of their mouths. It seems we have a deep sense of justice built into the fibre of our being. That's not quite as true when it comes to mercy. Children have to be taught gratitude and mercy; they have to be instructed to say "Thank you", and "I'm sorry", or "I forgive you". But if a child senses that another child is being given favorable treatment, especially if that's perceived to be slighting himself, that child is sure to sulk and finally cry foul.
Thankfully we all grow out of this tendency as adults and its no longer a problem for us. Right? Not so much.
* Peter's voice and our hearts: he is our spokesman - confessing, resisting, questioning, denying, and proclaiming.
I. The Kingdom of Self
A. What's in it for me?
* The 'evil eye': envy and pride as source of broken fellowship
* My brother and unexploded bombs – back in 93, 13 people were killed in France by WW2 bombs that were embedded and in the ground and then detonated through erosion. Unless we deal with the old ordinance of our past wars we are in danger.
B. The Rich, Young Ruler
C. The Truth of Rewards
II. The Kingdom of God
A. Serving, not from fear of hell or hope of heaven but from love for Christ
* Calvin on motive for service
B. Serving, because the Fields are full of harvest
* Where miracles happen
* Doug Nichols of OM in India: “All I did was take a trip to the bathroom.”
C. Serving, where we are in the Day
III. The King of Firsts and Lasts
* "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last..."
A. Revolutionaries hate and reject the 'firsts'
B. Status Seekers hate and reject the 'lasts'
C. The King and the Kingdom love and embrace both in a new society rooted in the cross.
* Equally deserving of eternal demolition; equally objects of mercy and grace
* Perfectly Just and Perfectly Extravagant: Just what you agreed and manifestly more than you could imagine.
God is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. His covenant citizens receive exactly what was agreed, and also, by grace, incredibly more than we deserve.
This is how it will be at the end of history. Those who demand their just reward shall receive it – but the wages of sin is death! Those who know they have been given the privilege of mercy will sing with thankfulness the grace of their Master’s generosity.
This is possible because the One who is first made himself last so that we who were last and lost might be found and first. His Kingdom has come and continues to expand with his citizens learning every day to be like the King of Firsts and Lasts.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Friday, September 09, 2011
Sermon Notes for September 11
First Responders
Matthew 28:16-20
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 11, 2011
For many of us, even writing the date ‘September 11’ is very, very difficult. We are reminded on this date of incredible human suffering, terrible evil, our shock and anger, and fear, along with the inspiring courage so many showed that day as well, on the ground and in the air. Yet the frightening scenes of terror from that day that replay themselves over and over again in our minds, the memory of loved ones and friends lost in the conflicts overseas spawned by that terrible day, and the continuing suffering of those who feel most deeply the loss of loved ones from those awful hours, compels us to pause with our fellow citizens today in a united fellowship of suffering. We gather to worship, but also in our worship to comfort and encourage one another and pray for all who still suffer most deeply the scars of 9/11. Most supremely we come to confess our greatest need – to hear and believe afresh the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the only hope for peace in and among the peoples of the world.
We can add to this the sorrow and pain and fear so many in our own community have felt this week as a result of the fires which have plagued us. Many are weeping; many are wondering and fearful; many are mourning; many are weeping. Who will comfort them? How will they find hope?
Perhaps like me you have paused this week to pray and give thanks for the first responders – the firefighters who risk so much to enter the hell of the blaze and rescue so many. Seeing them work this week also took me back to the scenes of ten years ago when we watched in astonishment as medical personnel, chaplains, firemen, law enforcement officials, and aid workers rushed into areas which we have been trained to run away from. They are rightly called our heroes – our first responders. Let us honor them and give thanks for them. As we do so, we may also learn from them how we too might come to lead heroic and courageous lives of faith. We can do so by seeing the world as it really is, by trusting God’s mercy to be greater than that reality, and offering ourselves as agents of reconciliation.
I. Let Us See the Disaster in All of Its Horror
The Need for the Great Commission: Terror and Tears
“You shall surely die…”
Not an execution carried out but an unavoidable consequence of dancing with the serpent.
The first two towers that fell
The centuries of enmity because of the rage of the one who hates the image of God.
The Object of the Great Commission: Enraged and the Broken
“Nations” – ethnos; the uproar and the One who is ‘Peace’
Psalm 2 and Micah 5
Rachel weeping; Jesus wept; he shall wipe away every tear from their eye.
II. Let Us Trust God’s Mercy in All Its Splendor
Jesus at Lazarus’ Tomb – his anger is directed where?
Rev Tim Keller on 9/16/2001
Demonize? No. Love and Evangelize
Who is the Enemy? Romans 5:6-10
weak, ungodly, sinners, and enemies
The Forgiveness of December 7, 1941.
We have not yet lived long enough to see what God will yet do with the sorrows of 9/11.
Genesis 50:15-21
III. Let Us Offer Ourselves as Ministers of Reconciliation
It is thus that we can enter into the flames of human need and suffering and tribulation, in the Name of Jesus and with his peace.
He is looking for his ‘first responders’
The One Whom We Teach and Proclaim
The One Who is with Us
The One who suffered in and with our sufferings
The One Who Will Make All Things New
“Is everything sad going to come untrue?” – JRR Tolkien
Through Christ, the answer is an eternal ‘yes and amen’. We cannot ignore the world to which we’ve been sent with the excuse that our worship of the sending God is all that he requires. No. There are towers still falling, people still dying and mourning, children still hungry and thirsty, neighbors today who are homeless and fearful. Let us see the fall, let us trust the Gospel, and let us offer ourselves to Christ for his mission in the world he loves and for which he suffered. Amen.
Matthew 28:16-20
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 11, 2011
For many of us, even writing the date ‘September 11’ is very, very difficult. We are reminded on this date of incredible human suffering, terrible evil, our shock and anger, and fear, along with the inspiring courage so many showed that day as well, on the ground and in the air. Yet the frightening scenes of terror from that day that replay themselves over and over again in our minds, the memory of loved ones and friends lost in the conflicts overseas spawned by that terrible day, and the continuing suffering of those who feel most deeply the loss of loved ones from those awful hours, compels us to pause with our fellow citizens today in a united fellowship of suffering. We gather to worship, but also in our worship to comfort and encourage one another and pray for all who still suffer most deeply the scars of 9/11. Most supremely we come to confess our greatest need – to hear and believe afresh the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the only hope for peace in and among the peoples of the world.
We can add to this the sorrow and pain and fear so many in our own community have felt this week as a result of the fires which have plagued us. Many are weeping; many are wondering and fearful; many are mourning; many are weeping. Who will comfort them? How will they find hope?
Perhaps like me you have paused this week to pray and give thanks for the first responders – the firefighters who risk so much to enter the hell of the blaze and rescue so many. Seeing them work this week also took me back to the scenes of ten years ago when we watched in astonishment as medical personnel, chaplains, firemen, law enforcement officials, and aid workers rushed into areas which we have been trained to run away from. They are rightly called our heroes – our first responders. Let us honor them and give thanks for them. As we do so, we may also learn from them how we too might come to lead heroic and courageous lives of faith. We can do so by seeing the world as it really is, by trusting God’s mercy to be greater than that reality, and offering ourselves as agents of reconciliation.
I. Let Us See the Disaster in All of Its Horror
The Need for the Great Commission: Terror and Tears
“You shall surely die…”
Not an execution carried out but an unavoidable consequence of dancing with the serpent.
The first two towers that fell
The centuries of enmity because of the rage of the one who hates the image of God.
The Object of the Great Commission: Enraged and the Broken
“Nations” – ethnos; the uproar and the One who is ‘Peace’
Psalm 2 and Micah 5
Rachel weeping; Jesus wept; he shall wipe away every tear from their eye.
II. Let Us Trust God’s Mercy in All Its Splendor
Jesus at Lazarus’ Tomb – his anger is directed where?
Rev Tim Keller on 9/16/2001
Demonize? No. Love and Evangelize
Who is the Enemy? Romans 5:6-10
weak, ungodly, sinners, and enemies
The Forgiveness of December 7, 1941.
We have not yet lived long enough to see what God will yet do with the sorrows of 9/11.
Genesis 50:15-21
III. Let Us Offer Ourselves as Ministers of Reconciliation
It is thus that we can enter into the flames of human need and suffering and tribulation, in the Name of Jesus and with his peace.
He is looking for his ‘first responders’
The One Whom We Teach and Proclaim
The One Who is with Us
The One who suffered in and with our sufferings
The One Who Will Make All Things New
“Is everything sad going to come untrue?” – JRR Tolkien
Through Christ, the answer is an eternal ‘yes and amen’. We cannot ignore the world to which we’ve been sent with the excuse that our worship of the sending God is all that he requires. No. There are towers still falling, people still dying and mourning, children still hungry and thirsty, neighbors today who are homeless and fearful. Let us see the fall, let us trust the Gospel, and let us offer ourselves to Christ for his mission in the world he loves and for which he suffered. Amen.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Sermon Notes for Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
From Banished to Bride: Faith in the Mercy of God
Matthew 15:21-28
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
August 14, 2011
* The power of a truly excellent insult – and a wise retort!
I. Great Distress: The Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve
A. This Woman is all of us - "O Woman..." and Genesis 2:23
B. Her Daughter is all of us
* Banished and exiled, yet Aslan is marching to Tyre and Sidon
* She moves south from Lebanon and he moves north from Galilee
- This is the divine collision of grace
- Her cry ascends to heaven because her need is rooted in hell.
II. Great Faith in Great Mercy: Confessing our Sin and the Savior
* Faith and hearing - Mark 7:25: She had heard of him!
A. Screaming for Mercy
* The Savior's Silence
* The Disciples Plea: Lord, make her go away. "Great" faith: large (Centurion, Matthew 8); Intense (the Woman, Matthew 15)
B. Agreeing with the Verdict
* The first offense of the Gospel is the humiliating assessment of our true condition.
* Only by confessing that we are 'dogs' can we become the objects of mercy
- "The torrents of grace do not flow upward to the heights of pride. He who is himself the fount of life...made himself small. Therefore prepare your riverbeds, level out the mounds of your haughty thoughts, for the Fount of Grace does not ascend into the heart of earthly man, but rather flows downward into a humble, low-lying heart." - Bernard of Clairvaux
C. Great" faith: large (Centurion, Matthew 8); Intense (the Woman, Matthew 15)
III. Great Commission: Walking into Gentile Territory
A. The Purpose of Blessing: Psalm 67 (Acts 1:5, 8)
* The Mission begins IN the Church but it does not end there. Rather it proceeds via the Church into the world and FOR the world to the glory of God.
* From Matthew 10 to Matthew 28 ("Don't go...Go!")
B. Where is our Tyre and Sidon? Where are our Gentiles?
- Romans 11; 15:8-9
* Arrogance is our constant temptation; but since we are the objects of mercy let us becomes the 'vessels of mercy' in the village center.
* The distant distressed woman became the worshipper. This Gospel story is repeated over and over again. Let it be told here too.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Saying So Long
Its time to wrap this blog up and put it away. Its been especially helpful to people as they tracked Toni's illness and recovery - hard to count how many people have said to me they read this space throughout that ordeal and offered their prayers. We remain deeply thankful for such love. Thanks to all those who have been regular readers or who just stopped by. With readers in places as far away as Russia, China, Egypt, Israel, and several European countries as well, I can only thank God for the opportunity to have written something that was an encouragement to others in such diverse settings. May God continue to bless you all. I may do something like a "Pastor's Page" on the Church website, or maybe a cooking blog (!), but for now some silence seems the only appropriate action on my part. All for love...
"Pondus meum amor meus; eo feror quocumque feror" -
"My weight is my love, and this it is that bears me in whatever direction I am borne."
St Augustine, Confessions XIII, 9, 10.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
I Saw Eternity the Other Night - Henry Vaughn
I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright;
And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years,
Driv'n by the spheres
Like a vast shadow mov'd; in which the world
And all her train were hurl'd.
The doting lover in his quaintest strain
Did there complain;
Near him, his lute, his fancy, and his flights,
Wit's sour delights,
With gloves, and knots, the silly snares of pleasure,
Yet his dear treasure
All scatter'd lay, while he his eyes did pour
Upon a flow'r.
The darksome statesman hung with weights and woe,
Like a thick midnight-fog mov'd there so slow,
He did not stay, nor go;
Condemning thoughts (like sad eclipses) scowl
Upon his soul,
And clouds of crying witnesses without
Pursued him with one shout.
Yet digg'd the mole, and lest his ways be found,
Work'd under ground,
Where he did clutch his prey; but one did see
That policy;
Churches and altars fed him; perjuries
Were gnats and flies;
It rain'd about him blood and tears, but he
Drank them as free.
The fearful miser on a heap of rust
Sate pining all his life there, did scarce trust
His own hands with the dust,
Yet would not place one piece above, but lives
In fear of thieves;
Thousands there were as frantic as himself,
And hugg'd each one his pelf;
The downright epicure plac'd heav'n in sense,
And scorn'd pretence,
While others, slipp'd into a wide excess,
Said little less;
The weaker sort slight, trivial wares enslave,
Who think them brave;
And poor despised Truth sate counting by
Their victory.
Yet some, who all this while did weep and sing,
And sing, and weep, soar'd up into the ring;
But most would use no wing.
O fools (said I) thus to prefer dark night
Before true light,
To live in grots and caves, and hate the day
Because it shews the way,
The way, which from this dead and dark abode
Leads up to God,
A way where you might tread the sun, and be
More bright than he.
But as I did their madness so discuss
One whisper'd thus,
"This ring the Bridegroom did for none provide,
But for his bride."
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright;
And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years,
Driv'n by the spheres
Like a vast shadow mov'd; in which the world
And all her train were hurl'd.
The doting lover in his quaintest strain
Did there complain;
Near him, his lute, his fancy, and his flights,
Wit's sour delights,
With gloves, and knots, the silly snares of pleasure,
Yet his dear treasure
All scatter'd lay, while he his eyes did pour
Upon a flow'r.
The darksome statesman hung with weights and woe,
Like a thick midnight-fog mov'd there so slow,
He did not stay, nor go;
Condemning thoughts (like sad eclipses) scowl
Upon his soul,
And clouds of crying witnesses without
Pursued him with one shout.
Yet digg'd the mole, and lest his ways be found,
Work'd under ground,
Where he did clutch his prey; but one did see
That policy;
Churches and altars fed him; perjuries
Were gnats and flies;
It rain'd about him blood and tears, but he
Drank them as free.
The fearful miser on a heap of rust
Sate pining all his life there, did scarce trust
His own hands with the dust,
Yet would not place one piece above, but lives
In fear of thieves;
Thousands there were as frantic as himself,
And hugg'd each one his pelf;
The downright epicure plac'd heav'n in sense,
And scorn'd pretence,
While others, slipp'd into a wide excess,
Said little less;
The weaker sort slight, trivial wares enslave,
Who think them brave;
And poor despised Truth sate counting by
Their victory.
Yet some, who all this while did weep and sing,
And sing, and weep, soar'd up into the ring;
But most would use no wing.
O fools (said I) thus to prefer dark night
Before true light,
To live in grots and caves, and hate the day
Because it shews the way,
The way, which from this dead and dark abode
Leads up to God,
A way where you might tread the sun, and be
More bright than he.
But as I did their madness so discuss
One whisper'd thus,
"This ring the Bridegroom did for none provide,
But for his bride."
Saturday, August 06, 2011
Quotable: My Weight is My Love
"Pondus meum amor meus; eo feror quocumque feror" -
"My weight is my love, and this it is that bears me in whatever direction I am borne."
St Augustine, Confessions XIII, 9, 10.
"My weight is my love, and this it is that bears me in whatever direction I am borne."
St Augustine, Confessions XIII, 9, 10.
Sermon Notes for Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
O Love that Will Not Let Me Go
Matthew 14:22-33
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
August 7, 2011
* It was a Dark and Stormy Night
* There is a movement from apparent abandonment to communion, from terror to trust, from overwhelming fear to worship in spirit and truth
I. The Saints in the Storm - Matthew 14:22-26
A. Christ Ascended: King and Priest
B. The Navum of the Lord - our ship tossed amid fearful opposition
* Beaten by the waves: 'tortured', 'harassed', 'terrible distress' (Matthew 8:6)
* This is often our inheritance and it is God's gift to us, his hard mercies, which bring us to the place of deepening faith in Him.
- All is fear and terror: the great dragon of the sea (Yam, from Yammu, Ugaritic name of the Sea Dragon ruling the depths), the apparition on the waters.
- We all have terrible storms, great tempests in which we feel ourselves abandoned: "Where is God my Savior?"
- Like Job, we wish to put God 'in the dock' and question his actions and wisdom; like Job, we discover that God does not answer our questions except with a few of his own! Job 38:4-18
II. The Savior in the Storm - Matthew 14:24-27
A. Christ comes to us in the storm
* Fourth Watch (3-6 am, meaning they'd been in the storm for many, many hours already and were exhausted). Christ seems 'Delayed' (John 11), yet always at just the right time and in just the right way he comes to his own, walking on the waters that rage (Job 9:8)
* The storm rages despite his presence; he does not cause the storm to cease, but is rather fully present in it.
B. He is Immanuel, God with us: "I AM. Fear Not."
* This is the Gospel and it is this word of life that brings faith to birth, faith that saves (Romans 10; Isaiah 43:15-16)
* John Wesley on his way to America
III. The Saint in the Savior - Matthew 14:28-33
A. "Come!" - The Call of the Savior
B. Can we be Saved? Can a Rock 'Float'? - Peter (petros) on the waves
* The gravity of fear, the buoyancy of faith; there is no change in the storm, but only in the heart of Peter.
* Pondus Amoris (Augustine): 'My weight is my love, and this it is that bears me in whatever direction I am borne." (Confessions)
- "My love is the true gravity of my person: if my love looks downward, is attached to earthly things, it will sink by its own weight like a rock in water; but if my love yearns for God, it will rise...like a flame seeking the heights." Erasmo Leiva Merikakis
- And our hearts are divided, loving this world and so tethered that we sink and ALWAYS NEED THE SAVIOR
- Christ is not Savior because we say he is, but because he has saved, is saving, and shall yet save us - he will not let us go.
* The Cry of Faith (though always mixed with fear): "Lord, save me!"
C. "Jesus took hold of him" - this is our true rest, our true peace
* Still the storm rages
* Do not forget your baptism - he saved us in the waters for himself.
In the end, the wind 'grows weary' and the ship of fear and exhaustion is turned into a sanctuary of worship. The very place of our terror is transformed by grace through Christ's presence.
* Alexander Ogorodnikov: “I was placed in solitary - not alone in a cell, but alone in an entire building. My only companions were hunger and cold. The hunger was so great, that I wanted slit my wrists to drink my own blood in order to survive. And the cold? It was northern Siberia. The guards would smash the windows to let the freezing wind come in. You could not flee the cold. The cell is a tomb, with only a weak light present. In my cold, I would pray - so I ‘prayed without ceasing’. I had no experience of the Jesus prayer before this, but this I prayed constantly. This prayer helped me breathe and calmed my heart. I said, ‘Surely God you have not forgotten me’, and as I prayed I would become warm. I can only compare this warmth to the breath of a mother upon her cold child. I cannot communicate this beauty to you. I began to weep and a quiet joy - quiet but uncontainable - began to rise within me. Then I did not notice the passage of time or the cold. In the morning the guards would come with a doctor expecting to find me dead. But I was warm and well instead. The Lord showed me I was preserved, not by my merit but by the prayers of thousands of people, thousands of miles away - those prayers rose to heaven, got over the wires, passed the dogs, and came to embrace me. A voice came to me and said, “You are not alone.” And I wasn’t."
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