THE WRITING ON THE WALL (March 18, 2012)

Daniel 5: 5-12, 1 John 5: 1-5, GPC, 3/18/12, D. Johnson

     Are you blessed with a family history of strange sayings? Many of us are. Parents or grandparents say things like, “It’s colder than a polar bear’s pajamas on the shady side of the iceberg.” Or here’s another: “It’s colder than a mother-in-law’s love.” Such sayings may be strange, but we understand polar bear pajamas and mothers-in-law. My family is one of those that has the really strange saying, “It’s colder than old Billy Ned.”

     I first began wondering who old Billy Ned was when I was a teenager and we had a big snowstorm. There for a couple of days it was “colder than old Billy Ned.” But my parents never volunteered an answer as to Billy Ned’s identity, and I never asked until I was an adult. By then they had forgotten if they ever knew.     

     So I’m about the identity of old Billy Ned much like Babylonian King Belshazzar is about the writing on the wall. “What on earth does this mean?” Our Daniel lesson tells us that a hand starts writing a message on King Belshazzar’s plaster. Maybe the hand belonged to old Billy Ned, God’s instrument, who knows, but it certainly gave the king the chills. What could it mean, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin?  What language was old Billy Ned writing in? The king consulted all the teachers at Berlitz Babylon and all the spooks at the BIA, the Babylonian Intelligence Agency, who spent their days decoding secret messages from the Middle East, but no one could read the message or interpret it.

      At that point the queen reminded the king that there was a Hebrew fellow in town who was the all-time champ on Jeopardy, Daniel, and that the king’s father had found him to be exceptionally wise. The king’s father, by the way, was the one who conquered Israel, tore down Jerusalem, including Solomon’s Temple, and brought all the capable Israelites, including Daniel, to Babylon as workers. Belshazzar’s father was named Nebuchadnezzar, which I find intriguing. You know how over the centuries the letters ‘b’, as in boy, and ‘d’, as in dog, tend to get mixed up? What if this king’s name was really Ned-uchadnezzar, first name William? If it was, then we’ve figured out who old Billy Ned is. He’s Billy Ned-uchadnezzar. And maybe the writing on the wall stems from the lesson about arrogance that God taught him in Chapter 4 of Daniel. Who knows?

       What we do know from the rest of Chapter 5 is that Daniel was brought before King Belshazzar. He read and interpreted the message, which said the king was arrogant. Because he did not humble himself before the Lord of heaven, God is going to take King Belshazzar’s empire away from him. Daniel says, “This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” And that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom.

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     The writing on the wall has to do with arrogance, which God opposes, but television promotes. Have you noticed how TV loves arrogant characters? TV Critic Heather Havrilesky wrote the following back in 2009 about the arrogant characters on TV programs then. “Arrogance is telegenic. Who knows why? Ask Don Draper or Tom Colicchio or Jack Donaghy or Tony Soprano. Ask Oprah or Al Swearengen or Ted Danson or Vic Mackey or Grace Hanadarko or Clay Morrow.” I don’t even know who 70% of these people are, do you? It has to be true that if you have no idea who the people are on the cover of a People Magazine, you’re getting old. 

       Our TV critic continues, “Smugness and swagger play well on TV. Eye-rolling know-it-alls, snorty laughter, brazen disregard for other people’s feelings, bullying, condescension, superiority complexes, overconfident banter…Whether it’s Sons of Anarchy or The Amazing Race, whether it’s The Mentalist or Project Runway,”  arrogance rules the air ways.

        And contributing to audience ratings are three characteristics of our culture. Commentators of all stripes agree that Americans are one, into instant gratification, hurry it up; two, we look out for number one, excessively so; and, three, we are impatient with imperfection – three characteristics, all of which involve arrogance.

      Think about our devotion to instant gratification. We have to have it all, and we have to have it ASAP. Even when we pray for patience we say, “Lord, give me patience… and give it to me now!” And it has been this way for some time, just getting worse. Ralph Waldo Emerson more than 150 years ago criticized “this shallow Americanism, with its passions for sudden success.” Since then our passion for instant gratification has resulted in such as fast food, which too often leaves out nutrients; sound bytes, which leave out the essence of the message; and fast breaking celebrity gossip instead of knowing one’s friends, neighbors, and family.

     Ed Begley makes a point about our propensity for instant gratification. Remember The Three Stooges, Moe, Larry, and Curly? Ed Begley says the key to their silliness was that no matter how hard anyone was bonked, slapped, or slugged, the pain immediately went way, and no one was ever really hurt by it. Not the case with instant gratification. Credit cards can result in a mountain of debt. Stretching oneself to handle a back-breaking mortgage, given unforeseen circumstances, can produce foreclosure. And a lifestyle of wining and dining produces all sorts of heartburn.  On and on it goes – pride before a fall.

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     The second arrogant characteristic of the world in which we live is ‘Looking out for Number One.’ Let me mention just one way this is out of control. Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller say in their book, The Secret – What Great Leaders Know- And Do, that the secret to becoming a great leader is servant leadership. All great leaders serve, and the primary mission of a servant is taking care of those they have the privilege to lead… service before self. That sounds like Jesus, doesn’t it? But it is so far from our experience with CEOs, politicians, and bureaucrats that we can hardly imagine it.

     The CEOs of our largest companies make hundreds of times what the average worker makes, not to mention having put hundreds of thousands of workers on the unemployment lines. Back in 1980, top CEOs made, on average, 42 times the pay of an average worker; in 2005, that went up to 242 times the pay of the average worker, and in 2010, even after the collapse of the economy, when it should have gone down, CEO pay went up to 343 times the pay of the average worker. Furthermore, bureaucrats often oppose innovation because they might lose their jobs, politicians often refuse doing what needs to be done for the common good lest they offend their base, and more so than ever in our nation, the money of the wealthy, be they individuals or corporations, runs the show. And still people think that being arrogant is okay so long as I can be one of them! It’s something to aspire to, throwing one’s weight around! Yet, the writing is still on the wall. The arrogant will fall.  

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     The third characteristic of our world is less known than instant gratification and “Looking out for Number One,” although it is no less arrogant. It is impatience with imperfection.  Those who study marriage know all about impatience with imperfection. Some people get married with an ideal of marriage in mind, and when one’s mate doesn’t live up to it, end the marriage. Those who worry about the stress placed on kids also know about this problem. For ex., some of you may remember the movie Miracle, the true story of America’s Olympic hockey victory over the Soviets in 1980. America never would have won had not our coach been impatient with imperfection. But there is a big difference between expecting perfection from an Olympic level team and expecting it from little kids on a soccer field or baseball diamond.

      There is a nice sounding slogan out there that goes, “Every Child a Wanted Child,” but what makes a child unwanted? So often, imperfection. Imperfect children are not always wanted, and now can be aborted as a result of prenatal screening.  Recently an Oregon jury awarded $2.9 million to Ariel and Deborah Levy who sued Legacy Health System after their daughter was born with Down Syndrome despite a prenatal test that revealed no abnormalities. The couple said the hospital should shoulder the lifetime burden for the care of their daughter since the Levys would have aborted her had they known her condition. Such lawsuits enrage parents like Leticia Velasquez, cofounder of a group that strives to reduce the nearly 90% abortion rate of infants diagnosed prenatally with Down Syndrome. Leticia loves her Down Syndrome child. 

     During our Tuesday night sessions recently we have seen the big difference between Jesus and the people who gave us the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Essenes. Whereas Jesus invited the blind,  deaf, and maimed to follow him; the Essenes forbid those with physical imperfection from being a part of their community.

      Pride precedes a fall. Our NT lesson was written to Christians who had been left behind in the sense that a significant number of their congregation’s members had walked out on them. Why? The persons who left their church bought into an arrogant, false version of the gospel. Why, they had no need for Jesus to teach them anything! They knew as much as he did. Nor was keeping the commandments mandatory. Do as you please.  They did, though, believe that others who were not as enlightened as themselves were a drag, and so they left that congregation holding their noses so high that had it been raining they would have drowned.

      John is dealing with arrogant followers of Jesus Christ on the one hand, those who think they’re superior, and he’s dealing with devastated followers of Jesus Christ on the other, those left behind. “What is wrong with us that our former brothers and sisters now think so little of us?” they asked. Nothing, says John in our NT lesson. You’re okay. Don’t let the arrogant get you down! Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God – you’re valued members of God’s family – and everyone who loves the parent loves the child, other Christians. You’re right to love those who have left – commandments are important - regardless of their not loving you. And they can come back! Remember old Billy Ned-uchadnezzar, Belshazzar’s father? He suffered greatly because of his arrogance. But then humbled himself and was restored as king. Arrogance is not a life-long sentence.

     And here’s the good news for all who tired of arrogance. The victory that conquers the world is our faith, not instant gratification or looking out for number one or impatience with imperfection.  When you think about it, there is no writing on the wall for the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, and who faithfully conforms his/ her behavior to Jesus’ humble example. Amen

Problems With the Truth (March 12, 2012)

Psalm 86: 11, John 20: 11-28, GPC, 3/11/12, D. Johnson

     Back when I began the third grade, very first week, we were studying the definition of hope. And while we were doing so, one of my classmates blurted out to the teacher that he had to go to the restroom. She said, “In my classroom, we don’t talk whenever we please. If you need to go to the restroom, your best hope is to raise your hand in the air.”    

     “Okay,” the boy said, “But, teacher, how’s that going to help?” Good question. How was that his best hope? A few weeks later the teacher said to the same little boy, “I hope I didn’t see you copying off Robert’s paper.” The boy said, “I hope you didn’t either.” A quick study, the boy had grasped the concept of hope. 

      Let’s think about “grasping the concept” as we look forward to Holy Week in three Sundays.  During Holy Week Jesus is dragged before Pontius Pilate, and the two have a brief conversation. Jesus says that he came into the world to bear witness to truth, to which Pilate responds, “And what is truth?” which is a good question. Whatever it is, we have problems with truth, and what we want to do today is look at a few.

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     The first problem is how do we define truth? My son, the one who now lives in Bloomington, Ill., taught gifted education for a number of years. One of the things that amused him was that he constantly had to test his students to see how creative they were, even though the educational system has no definition of creativity. “Test these kids for it, but we can’t tell you what creativity is.”   Jesus came to bear witness to truth, but do we know what it is? Do we have a definition? Noah Webster and Funky Wagnall say that truth is something factual, something that corresponds to fact or reality. And that is certainly the case in the natural world, but in the Bible the word truth has to do with God. What is the invisible God truly like? What’s accurate regarding what God does and doesn’t do?  When Jesus says, “I am the truth,” he’s telling us that through his character and deeds we come to know the truth about of God. So, yes, the word truth, as we so often use it, pertains to what is factual or real about life in the natural world; but most often in the Bible, the word truth refers to what God is like, what we can expect from God, and what God expects from us.

      And you may want to highlight this distinction when it comes to arguments about the role of the Bible in science curricula. There are big arguments out there over topics such as evolution and intelligent design. But when it comes to these arguments, is the Bible’s primary concern the details of the natural world? Or is its primary concern describing the truth of God, the one who created, sustains, and intervenes in our world? In Genesis 1 God tells us to have dominion over creation, which I understand, at least in part, as figuring out how the natural world works and helping it function as God intends. Which truth is the Bible primarily about? God, or the details of how God created our universe?

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      The second problem with truth has to do with how we find it. I mention this from time to time, but it bears repeating that Christianity is a revealed religion, which means  God has taken the initiative when it comes to our knowing the truth. We come to know about God through God’s revelation of himself rather than through our own discovery. It is not the case that, say, nature reveals God. A breath-taking panorama is certainly God’s handiwork, but in itself it doesn’t tell us much about God’s essence. God reveals his essence, and how God reveals himself most perfectly is in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christianity maintains that we cannot arrive at the truth of God on our own. God has to help us.

       And this is hard for some people to accept. A common question is this: why can’t I discover the truth of God on my own? Those who feel that they have discovered God on their own are called gnostics in the NT, and their point of view gained momentum a few years ago with the book and movie, The Da Vinci Code. Remember that?  The Da Vinci Code  promotes the Gospel of Thomas, which was written later than the four gospels in the NT. Actually, Thomas it isn’t even a gospel, it’s a collection of 114 alleged sayings of Jesus found in Egypt. And one of the sayings is, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you,” referring to some secret knowledge of the universe or some magical formula hidden deep inside one’s brain that will help him/her have divine power and understand of the things of God.

     And that is a very appealing notion for many who live in such a self-centered society as ours. Rather than go along with Christianity, in which it has always been understood that God reveals the things of God and we respond with faith; persons are enamored by, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.” So, which is it? Can we save ourselves from the mess we’re in with some secret knowledge that’s lodged inside our brains, if we can just get it out, or are we dependent upon God for ultimate salvation?  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as the rest of The Bible, insist that, apart from our Creator, all we can do is make messes we can’t get out of.

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       The third problem with truth is, what’s the point? What’s the purpose of truth? Is it just to know the answers should there be a quiz later on, or is there more? The author of the NT Letter of James raised a related question by asking, “What does it profit to say that you believe, but have no works?” So what if through Jesus you know about God in your mind, yet you do not act in your daily life based upon this truth? There’s a lot of this going around and there always has been.  People who claim to know at least some of the truth revealed in Jesus Christ, but who don’t want to live by it.

     So let me refer you to a prayer that may help in this regard. It’s our OT lesson, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.” That’s a great prayer. Teach me your way, O Lord, what you are like and what you are doing in this world and what you require of me. Why? So that I may walk in this truth, this knowledge of you. And give me an undivided heart to revere your name. An undivided heart, of course, is the same as integrity. A divided heart says, “I believe in Jesus Christ,” but then does as one pleases. An undivided heart says, “I believe in Jesus Christ, and I’m going to live by faith in him.”  “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.” We’re not interested in the truth of God just so we can give the right answers should we be on Jeopardy. No. We want the truth of God so we can live it.

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      The fourth problem with truth is that it is messy as opposed to clear-cut, which is problematic for those of us who want a simple operating manual for our life. To illustrate let’s use our NT lesson as an example of truth’s messiness.  Mary Magdalene, meaning a woman named Mary from the fishing town of Magdala goes to the tomb in which Jesus’ body had been laid on a stone slab. It was the custom that three days following a person’s death, family and friends went to the tomb, in part, to make sure the person was actually dead – and if not, to let him out - for every now and then a live person was entombed.  Remember, there was no medical examiner. People primarily went after three days to rub spices on the body to hasten decomposition. A corpse only had use of a tomb for one year. Another corpse would soon need it, life spans being short, and so the bones would be collected after one year and placed in an ossuary, a box for bones.

     Mary from the town of Magdala arrives at Jesus’ tomb  to find two angels. In other gospel accounts you will find that she and other women found two men. Why the difference? No difference really. In the Bible angels look like men, men can look like angels. There are no angels with wings in the Bible, which is why sometimes the Biblical characters aren’t sure who they are dealing with. Wings came later as Christian artists wanted a way to imply that angels were powerful. In fact, after the invention of eyeglasses by friars in Venice in the late 1200’s a.d., for a period of time angels were depicted with eyeglasses to indicate how powerful their eyesight was.  Over the centuries we have made a lot more of angels than the Bible does.

      Why, though, doesn’t Mary recognize Jesus? Because he’s in a different body, the resurrection body, a new and improved body, although it still has evidence of the wounds received on the cross. Notice that the disciples, who are afraid of the authorities who crucified Jesus, are hiding in a house with the doors locked. Jesus comes and stands among them, which is new. He never went through doors or walls prior to that. He has a new body that can do new things, a resurrection body. But why does he tell Mary not to hold on to him, while he allows Thomas to place his hands on his wounds? Two different things are going on here. With Thomas, the one we have always dubbed “Doubting Thomas”; Jesus allows him to reach out and touch his wounds so he will be convinced that this is the same Jesus as was crucified. And Thomas is convinced.

     But with Mary, when Jesus says, “do not hold on to me”, Jesus is telling her that even more change is on the way. Don’t hold on to his resurrection body, because he’s not going to be with the disciples that much longer. He’s going to ascend to God and they’re going to have to learn how to follow him in spirit.  Don’t hold on to the way things have been or are presently. And if that isn’t messy, what is? The disciples weren’t sure who Jesus was during his ministry, but now that he’s been raised from the grave they’re sure that he is the Messiah. They’re ready to follow him; yet, he tells them that he’s going away, at least in body, and they’re going to have to learn how to follow in spirit. One of the realities about God’s truth is that you can’t fold it up and put it in your pocket as though that’s all there is to it. There’s always more that doesn’t fit so easily in your pocket.

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     The fifth problem regarding God’s truth is that at times it is difficult as opposed to easy to respond to. Remember the scene in the movie A Few Good Men in which Tom Cruise questions Jack Nicholson on the witness stand. He demands that Nicholson tell him the truth, to which Nicholson replies, “You can’t handle the truth.” Good answer. Can we handle the truth of God? Can we respond in faith, which involves God’s way as opposed to ours, messiness as opposed to tidiness, and doing rather than just believing? The good news is that not only does God reveal the truth to us, but God helps us live the truth.  Remember how Jesus’ disciples were once puzzled about the difficulty of faith and asked, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”  Amen

THE ROLE OF PRAYER IN CHANGE (March 4, 2012)

Jeremiah 31: 31-34, John 15: 7-10, GPC, 3/4/12 D. Johnson

      We know that prayer is talking with God, but what if we take it one more step and think of prayer as working with  God who is trying to change us for the better?

     The other day a man received a phone call from his doctor. The tests were back and the doctor said, “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that you’re going to die within a few months. The good news is that if you drastically change your lifestyle, you’ll live a long and happy life.”  We would imagine that the man would change his lifestyle wouldn’t we? He’d avoid stress, get regular exercise, and not eat Twinkies in public. But there’s even more bad news. Nine out of ten persons in this man’s situation don’t change. Multiple studies have been done of persons having heart bypass surgery. And within just two years after such major surgery, ninety percent of these patients have not significantly altered their behavior. Change is just too tough.

      And not just with health issues. Maybe the boy in the cartoon on the back of our bulletin would like to expand his paper route; but he won’t change from riding his stationary bicycle, just like so many other businesses and even churches.  Homiletics Magazine says, “And it’s not that we’re uninformed. In a culture where we have more than we can process about good choices… and about a bazillion reasons to do so, the fact is that, more often than not, we simply can’t change – even if it means that our bodies, businesses, and churches are going to die.”

      Indeed, have you ever felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Remember that movie? Every morning the Bill Murray character wakes up and it’s the same old day. No matter how he responds to whatever the day brings forth, the next day is still Feb. 2^nd, Groundhog Day. He can’t get to Feb. 3^rd, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do about it. Or is there?

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    In our OT lesson, God must have been wondering what he could do to help change his people. For after freeing them from slavery in Egypt, God had made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai. He would be their God and they would be his people. God would change them from slaves into a people who demonstrate quality of life to all other peoples. And how they were do this was by keeping his law, of which the Ten Commandments, carved on tablets of stone, was central. But as the centuries had passed, the people hadn’t done a very good job.

    No sooner did God save them from Egyptian slavery than they rebelled and wanted to go back to what was familiar. Wondering where their next meal was coming from in the wilderness, they complained to Moses and his brother Aaron, “It would have been better had we died in Egypt. At least there we had enough to eat. You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to kill us with hunger.”  Change was hard, yet they plodded on. And then when they reached the Promised Land, they didn’t change into people who worshiped only the Lord. They worshiped the gods of neighboring tribes in addition to the Lord, which was forbidden.  “You shall have no other gods before me.” And then six-hundred years later it was so bad that Jeremiah delivered the following prophecies on God’s behalf against the people of Jerusalem.

    “Beware of your neighbors and put no trust in any of your kin; for… no one speaks the truth”… “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. See if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth – so that I may pardon Jerusalem.” The people of Jerusalem refused to change their ways to God’s ways, and so the people were not pardoned. And so that the people be motivated to return to His ways, God allowed them to be conquered by Babylon and taken into exile to serve their captors. God had not given up on them. God would try again to help them change, but before we get to God’s new approach, let’s remember what we now know about change.

     Part of why change is hard is that we view it as no more than a habit or activity that needs to be added to or subtracted from our lives, as opposed to an inner overhaul. We too often approach change, be it health or personal improvement or institutional transformation, with facts, charts, and to-do lists, i.e., with the left-brain. We dispassionately think about changing something in ourselves or our group, whereas thinking is only part of the process. John Kotter, of the Harvard Business School, says that change also has to involve the right brain. “Behavior change happens mostly by appealing to people’s feelings…Influence emotions, not just thought.”

      To change we need to involve our emotions, need to want it, know that it’s worth struggling for, which is what God is going to help happen according to our OT lesson. Homiletics Magazine says, “In Jeremiah 31 we read that God is going to now call for real change. The old covenant, the one at Sinai written on tablets of stone, was a left-brained approach to change - facts, information, commandments. That covenant was repeatedly broken because the people couldn’t adapt themselves to it fully.”  So God turns to another approach.  God says, “I will put my law within them, I will write it on their hearts, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God’s program for change no longer will be carved in stone, but internalized. It  “will be installed in their ‘hearts’, meaning their emotions, feelings, hopes, and dreams…No longer would they simply know about God as an external agent who calls for their obedience, but they would know God with their emotions, their hearts and their very lives.”

    And who would embody this covenant? Jesus, who is much easier to relate to than a stone tablet. “While the Pharisees and others around him continually pressed for the rules, Jesus was constantly calling people to engage God through a relationship…. He said , ‘To know me is to know God – to follow me is to follow a new path, be in God’s presence, experience God’s grace - this is the way to real change. He painted a picture of a future filled with joy for those who would be transformed in this way.”

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       God so much wants to help us change into the people he created us to be but aren’t that he sent Jesus, a flesh-and-blood alternative to stone tablets. And if that’s what God is willing to do for us, what might we be willing to do in response? How about pray? Pray daily with the goal of change in mind. For even though prayer is often defined as speech with God, it can be taken to a higher level. We can take it to the level of working with the God  who is trying to change us. In fact, Jesus, who abides in God, says in our NT lesson, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

      And please note the unique language here. Abiding in Jesus is the process by which God’s will for our lives becomes our intent also. When we abide in Jesus we seek the same things as God wants for us, and when we pray for what God wants for us, Jesus says, “It will be done for you.” Maybe not immediately, but eventually. So, step one in prayer for change is to be sure that we’re actually attempting the change God wants us to undertake. And I like the way John Tauler put it. He said that in prayer, “We should learn and perceive who we are, how and what our life is, what God is and is doing in us, what he will have from us, and to what ends he will or will not use us.” 

     And Tauler is right. God doesn’t want us to change in just any old fashion.  Now, sure, there are universal changes we should all attempt. For example, 1 Colossian 3 says, “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” God helps all of us change so that we’re more kind, more compassionate, more humble, more meek, and more patient. But each of us is different also. Tauler addresses the difference when he says, “We should learn what God will have from us, and to what ends he will or will not use us.” I.e.,  God wants some of us to go there, while others of us stay put. Wants some of us to do this, others of us to do that. We have different gifts and interests and we’re not at all in the same situation. So, step one in prayer is, “We should learn and perceive what God will have from us, and to what ends he will or will not use us.” Such prayer teaches us what changes we actually need to make as opposed to those we don’t.

     And then when we know in what ways God would have us change, we take this knowledge to God in prayer daily. Day after day we pray about this change, not just occasionally. “Pray without ceasing,” says Paul.  And not to the end that we’re telling God something he doesn’t know, for God knows; and not in the sense that we’re begging for God’s help, because God is already at work to change us. We pray day after day so that we become cooperative, so that we become more receptive to change, so that we come to abide in the Divine power and the Divine power abides in us.

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     Change is hard. Every year we celebrate how hard change on Super Bowl Sunday, which marks the annual giving up on our New Year’s resolutions. Still, Bill Murray in Groundhog Day finally made it to Feb. 3^rd  by making the appropriate use of Feb. 2^nd, which involved a sincere desire to change, his wanting to do more than just think about being a better person; his using his heart and emotions to become a better person. 

     Change for the good is hard, but God not only has given us Jesus to make such a change possible; but through Jesus we have forgiveness, the opportunity to try again and again. Through Jesus we have hope for success, knowing that change can occur if we will just let go of our wishy-washiness and let God’s will become our intent also. Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Amen  

GodSpeed (Feb. 26, 2012)

Isaiah 43: 1-7, 1 Peter 1: 17-21, GPC, 2/26/12, D. Johnson

     Have you ever assumed that you knew what a person was saying, only to find out that he/she didn’t mean what you thought? There’s a saying for such as this, isn’t there? It goes, "I know you think you understood what I meant to say, but I don't think you realize that what I said is not what I meant." Or have you ever assumed that you understood what a word or term meant, only to find out that you have it wrong? I used to think that the term immaculate conception applied to Jesus in some way. Shows you how much I know about Roman Catholicism.  It has to do with Mary. Immaculate conception maintains that Mary was kept free of original sin from the moment of her conception and filled with sanctifying grace.  But don’t ask me to explain such doctrine because it’s way above my pay grade.

          Or do you ever hear the first part of a question and just assume that you know the rest of the question? For ex., if you heard the question, “Name three ships that sailed to America…” What would we say? Maybe, “The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria. Columbus’ ships.”  But what if the entire question went, “Name three ships that sailed to America, arriving in 1607 to colonize Jamestown, VA?” Could you give me the names of the three ships commissioned by King James of England for that voyage?  The Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed, all three of which have gone on to fame in our society.  Susan Constant seems to have had an opinion about everything. That’s why they named a tea after her, Constant Comment. TV executives named a channel after the Discovery. And Godspeed functions as one of those words that people think they know what it means, but don’t.  Our concern today: what meaning does Godspeed have for us?

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     The good ship Godspeed that brought the settlers to Jamestown four-hundred five years ago this spring, had a top speed of about four-miles/hour. It raced across the Atlantic averaging maybe 2.76 mph. Remember that because the word Godspeed has nothing to do with velocity, which is what many of us think. We think that if we wish someone “Godspeed,” we wish them the speed of God, which is 3.1416 or pi times the speed of light. But not really. The first part of this word, God, in English means God. How’s that for a surprise? But the second part comes from the Middle English word S-P-E-D-E, which means “to prosper.” What we’re urging when we wish someone Godspeed is that they trust God, indeed rely on God, to give them success and good fortune. But  S-P-E-D-E is not just any sort of prosperity when attached to God. God is rather picky when it comes to success.

      For example, in our OT lesson what would we be wishing an Israeli exile in Babylon if we wished him or her Godspeed? Not that he/she become a wealthy merchant. No. We’d be wishing that he or she continue to hope in God, rely on God for a return trip to Jerusalem, home again to rebuild life as God’s people. That is God’s success, Godspeed, for the exiles in Babylon. And to get from Babylon back to Jerusalem an Israelite would have to pass through at least two rivers, the Euphrates and the Jordan. So Isaiah says in our OT lesson about this trip, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;” as was the case centuries earlier when Moses and then Joshua led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea and eventually through the Jordan River into Canaan.

     Isaiah also says, “When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” A good bet as to what he means here has to do with the Persians eventually defeating the Babylonians and Babylon going up in fire, which had to occur before the Israelites could begin going home to Jerusalem in 538b.c. The Persians who lived in what is now Iran did not have the same philosophy of ruling conquered people as did the Babylonians, who lived in what is now Iraq. The Babylonians took the most capable of the people they had defeated away from their homes and sent them elsewhere to work for the Babylonian empire. But the Persians let conquered people stay in their homes or return to their homes, where they were governed in units called satraps.  But Babylon first had to go up in flames before Persia could let the Israelite exiles go home.     

    Godspeed, then, is an exhortation to trust in God through the flames of battle and the raging of rivers. It’s not the same sort of success and good fortune that the world often labels as prosperity. Upon return to Jerusalem, life was hard-scrabble for a long time. We might say that success and good fortune, as God gives it, is simply the blessing of being where we can serve God’s purpose.  And I am reminded that Godspeed doesn’t mean worldly prosperity  by such observations as Israel being the only sliver of land in the Middle East that has no oil. Did you know that?  There is no oil under Israel; yet, God wanted his people to re-gather in Jerusalem, as opposed to Saudi Arabia, and rebuild life there. “Do not fear, for I am with you,” says God. “I will gather you from the ends of the earth.”

      And why should we care about such a thing as God re-gathering his people?  In recent decades a number of churches, especially non-denominational mega-churches, have made their appeal first and foremost to people who have never been in church before. They have wanted to reach people with no prior history in the Christian faith; and, in my opinion, haven’t been that interested in people who at one time belonged to a congregation but quit. So at a panel of churches that I was on, one convened by a Lilly Foundation grant, I said about the church I served that, sure, we were interested people with no prior history in the Christian faith. We just didn’t have that many coming our way. Our strength was facilitating the re-entry into congregational life of those who once were in church but then, for some reason, quit. And maybe Grace is much the same way. God has especially equipped us for a re-gathering ministry, which is no less important than God re-gathering his people from exile in our OT lesson. “It’s time to come home,” which, by the way, is the message the Roman Catholic church is putting out rather effectively right now in TV ads.

      What I most often have meant over the years, should I have said “Godspeed” to a person, is that he or she rely on God to be led into a re-involvement in congregational life. I have encountered more people in this situation by far. But for sure, like you, I am thrilled when someone with no experience in Christianity comes through the door.  Indeed, it is our hope here at Grace that our neighbors will increasingly end their self-imposed exile from the church, and come to or return to congregational life as the foundation of their personal life, family life, school life, work life, and public life; knowing that such a return is possible because Jesus is our Redeemer, and he has paid our freight home.

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     In Biblical times whenever a person was captured during warfare, there was a way out. A person called a redeemer could go to the tribe that had captured the person, pay a ransom of however much, and the person would be released. Another situation involving redeemer and ransom occurred whenever a person incurred a debt that he/she could not pay off. In Biblical times, not being able to pay off a debt resulted in the debtor becoming a slave to the person owed the money. The debtor would be obligated to work off this debt over time, although a redeemer, most likely a family member, could come forward, pay a ransom equal to the person’s debt, and the debtor would be released.

     We even had the potential for redeemer and ransom in America back in the 17^th through 19^th centuries. Indentured servants came to America on ships like the Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed. These were people who contracted to work for an employer for a number of years in exchange for passage to North America. But once here, if a redeemer paid an appropriate ransom, this indentured servant could be released from his/her contract.

     A redeemer frees a person who is in some sort of bondage or under some sort of obligation by the payment of a ransom.  Our OT lesson tells us that God freeing the Israelites was like a redeemer paying a ransom. And God did so because he had created them and named them, i.e., bestowed on them a special identity that matched God’s purpose. And so should these captives in Babylonia say, “Why would you free us, God? We didn’t follow your laws. We sinned and brought this captivity on us;” God could say, “Well, I’m faithful even though you aren’t.”

    And should the people say, “But what sort of ransom could possibly cover so great an offense as ours?” God can say, “Okay, I’ll play your silly game. I’ll give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia, or Seba.” But at this point, it seems to me that God is simply saying, “Whatever it takes, I’ll pay it to free you.” And then in our NT lesson, we find out what it ultimately cost God. Peter says, “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.” Jesus, our Redeemer, paid the price so that we can return to God whenever we find ourselves far away.

     The relevance of today’s scripture lessons is that just as the Israelites blew it and wound up in Babylonian captivity, we blow it also. We choose or fall into ways of thinking and behaving that entrap us in futility. We wake up and find ourselves where we don’t want to be, doing that which counts for little. And just as God called the Israelites home, God calls us to or back to Jesus’ church, where we can live a productive life on Christ’s behalf. The ransom paid by Jesus, our Redeemer is always greater than our offense, implying that in God’s opinion we have more promise than we sometimes think. Amen

A BEFORE AND BEFORE PICTURE (Feb. 19, 2012) Sermon given at First Presbyterian Church in Festus

A BEFORE AND BEFORE PICTURE

Psalm 23:5,6,  Luke 14: 15-24, GPC, 2/19/12 (At FPC Festus), D. Johnson

(There is NO audio with this sermon)

     We have all of us seen before-and-after pictures, haven’t we? Pictures of a person before and after losing 60 pounds. Pictures of an adolescent boy before and after the Charles Atlas Course. Pictures of a house before and after the tornado in Joplin.  Among the scariest pictures I’ve seen are those of a person before and after getting hooked on meth. That’s frightening. And one of the most fun before-and-afters I’ve seen involved my son, Curran.  Several years ago Curran was in charge of demolishing a building in downtown Washington, DC. It was so close to other buildings that they couldn’t dynamite it. They had to tear it down bit by bit. The building was as many stories high as is allowed in Washington, no taller than the Washington Monument, and to record the progress he had a camera mounted atop a building diagonally across the intersection. The camera took a picture every 15-minutes, then fed to a webpage on which you could watch the building collapse over the course of several months. 

       A before-and-after picture, though, is not our concern today. We want to look at a before-and-before picture, and what I mean is this. Among the times you have been discouraged, didn’t know how you were going to make it, did you ever suddenly have the feeling that God was present, watching over you, helping you go on. You could feel it, sense it. God was with you in your struggles. And if you have had that experience, might one way of describing it be like Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (all the things that would do me harm); you anoint my head with oil (which was as good in ancient times as a few minutes in a hot tub today); my cup overflows. I’m bouncing back!” Not only was God with you, but just as a lavish banquet table provides physical strength, God’s presence gave your courage, spiritual strength.  Thus, the term before-and-before picture.  God’s gracious banquet table set before us gives us the strength to deal with whatever difficulty lies before us.   

         Psalm 23 is not just one statement of God’s presence with us, but two. The first part, vss. 1-4, has to do with God’s relationship to us being like that of a shepherd to his flock, and that’s the one we most often associate with Psalm 23, isn’t it? “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” And what a great statement that is. Some of us have relied on that good news often through the years. But there’s even more good news in Psalm 23. Vss. 5, 6 begin, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…”

     What we have here is reference to a not uncommon situation in the biblical era, a person on the run. This is a guy being pursued by enemies who will harm him, maybe even kill him should they catch him. Perhaps he accidentally injured one of these people’s relatives. Or maybe he got into a fight defending himself and gouged out their relative’s eye. They’re seeking an “eye for an eye.” He can run, but knows that he will eventually run out of steam on his own, which is a fact that people try to ignore nowadays.

       We see this in so many action movies, but to take one series, for ex., have you read any of the Jason Bourne books, or watched any of the movies made from these books, like The Bourne Supremacy, or The Bourne Ultimatum? I wish I was as resilient as ex-CIA agent Jason Bourne played by Matt Damon. He makes the Energizer Bunny look like a slacker. All these people chasing him, trying to kill him, and he just keeps going. There’s no technology he can’t figure out in an effort to escape his pursuers, no gunshot wound he can’t clean and sew up as he runs by a first-aid kit, no fiery car wreck he can’t crawl out and walk away from. I watch a Jason Bourne movie, and ten minutes into it I need the American Red Cross and a hot tub just to keep watching. It’s exhausting. This guy gets beaten up around the clock!

       But Jason Bourne is fictional. A real person will soon enough need refuge, a place of safety where he/she can rest and recuperate for what lies ahead. And such refuge does exist. In ancient times if a person on-the-run in the desert could make it to another person’s tent, and just touch the tent flaps, a time-out would be called while the owner made a decision. The decision would be to either grant the person refuge, or turn him over to his enemies. And if the tent owner grants him refuge, the guys chasing him can’t lay a hand on their quarry for the time being. They have to back off and respect the decision of the tent owner. Such was the custom.

     Likewise, the author of Psalm 23 has found in God refuge from everyone and everything that might harm him, and not just safety. He’s found the sort of hospitality that soon gets him back on his way. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; I’m bouncing back!” The Lord is taking care of the Psalmist, bringing him back to life, just as God takes care of us when we’re under siege. In God we can rest and recuperate as we partake of a banquet consisting of what? How about prayer, worship, Bible study, singing God’s praise, and the concern of others who love us on Christ’s behalf. And we need to bounce back. Psalm 23 says, “You prepare a table before me… in the presence of my enemies.” This person’s pursuers may have backed off for the time being; still, they are standing the prescribed distance from the entrance to the tent, glaring and waiting to give chase again, as are so many of the things that dog us.

        Finding refuge in God doesn’t make any of it necessarily go away. Finding refuge in God makes it manageable. Before us is God’s hospitality, a grace-filled banquet table that strengthens us to handle whatever lies before us. A before and before picture.

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      In addition to meaning “in front of,” the word “before” also means “ahead of,” as in someone who goes on before us. Jesus says in the 14^th chapter of John, “In my father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Jesus has gone on before to prepare a place for us in the kingdom of God, the arrival of which is celebrated in our Luke lesson with yet another banquet. There are two banquets in our scriptures today. One, a hospitable refuge against all that dogs our heels now, the other a celebration of the arrival of God’s rule in its fullness. The psalmist says, “You prepare a table before me,” and God says, “Come, the banquet is ready!” Given that this is the case, can we not think of life as one banquet after the next, one instance of hospitality after another that makes daily life manageable?

       I don’t know what all dogs you today, but I sincerely believe that God equips you to deal with it. Refuge after refuge, God’s banquet table before us strengthens us to handle whatever difficulty lies before us. The question isn’t whether or not God will take care of us. The question is whether or not we will accept God’s grace. For note that the lord says in our NT lesson, “Come, everything is ready.” But we say, “Sorry, can’t. I have bought a piece of land, and I must go see it… Or, I have bought five yoke of oxen. Gotta try them out…” I’m too busy. We have access to God’s life-giving hospitality, yet we too rarely take advantage of it. We continue going about our daily tasks as though we have the strength of a Jason Bourne. “I can do this, I can do that, from the time I get out of bed in the morning to when I go to bed of an evening, day after day, month after month without stopping to partake of  prayer, worship, and the companionship of others who care for us on God’s behalf.” As a result, life gradually wears us down to the point where we’re not living, we’re just existing.  

           What might be another word , a more radical word, for the kind of refuge we read about in Psalm 23? How about hospital?  There’s not a table before us. We’re on the table or gurney. People on the run go into emergency rooms, sometimes chased by gangs. We read of bullets flying in the emergency room as doctors and nurses try to save the life of a person on the table. Of if we’re in pain or feeling worn out and sick, we ourselves may check in to a hospital in the hope that we get needed medical attention before our maladies get us. So let me tell you a story that may or may not be true, but if it’s not true, it ought to be. One time a pastor was called to the hospital to visit an elderly woman in the church. When he gets there he finds that she’s so weak she can’t move from her bed, hasn’t eaten anything for days. The family says that the doctors don’t hold out much hope. At her bedside, the pastor can see that even a bit of small talk would tire her out, and so he simply asks if she would like him to say a prayer. She whispers, "Yes."  He then asks, "And what exactly would you like me to pray for?"

       She whispers, “I want you to pray that God will heal me." He’s a bit surprised by that, given that everyone thinks she is on her deathbed, but he prays for God to heal her, even though he doesn’t think that can happen given what he has been told about her condition. After the prayer the pastor squeezes the woman’s hand, turns, and walks toward the door to leave. But before he gets out of the room the woman says in a stronger voice, "You know, I think it worked! I think your praying for me helped me drop whatever defenses I have put up against God’s healing. I'm healed!" She then gets out of bed, walking slowly at first, then a little faster, eventually running up and down the hallway of the hospital, shouting, "Praise God! I'm healed!” as the pastor, the woman’s family, the doctors and nurses stand there dumfounded.

         The pastor then makes his way out to the parking lot to his car, where he’s still shaking as he looks heavenward and says “God, please don't ever do that to me again!" And why? Because God’s power can shake us up. We, all of us, tend to play the odds.  We think to ourselves, “People in that worn-out lady’s condition die,” and aren’t prepared to see her bounce back. Death has caught up with her. Still, the good news today is that taking refuge in God helps us bounce back. It’s like a before- and-before picture. God sets a table before us. On that table are the means of God’s grace – prayer, holy communion, Bible study, the concern of others on Christ’s behalf - and partaking of this banquet helps us keep going.

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          So let me say this to those of you who worship regularly here at First Presbyterian in Festus. Those of us of at Grace, in Crystal City, are sympathetic. This has to be a painful time for you. We recognize the important role you have played here for 140 years on behalf of Jesus Christ. Thus, we celebrate your achievements and want to help perpetuate them. The session at Grace has secured presbytery’s permission to submit a mission plan to keep this building open, at least for the near future. We will seek your input with this, indeed will be thinking about this plan as we tour the facility after the service today. “In what ways might this building continue to be used on Christ’s behalf?” And certainly we would be most honored to have you join with us at Grace as together we continue Christ’s ministry in the Twin City area.

       It’s a tough time for the church everywhere right now, this for many reasons. One is that many don’t think church is relevant to their lives anymore. Like Jason Bourne, it’s possible to just keep going apart from God’s refuge. But we believe we need God’s hospitality. We believe that Jesus has gone before us, graciously setting table after table, all the way to the great celebration in the kingdom of God. Stopping to partake of such hospitality keeps us going. Amen

HOW TO READ AND WATCH THE NEWS (Feb. 12, 2012 Sermon Text)

Psalm 12, Mark 13: 1-8, GPC, 2/12/12, D. Johnson

     One of the things I sometimes do at the beginning of a funeral or memorial service is set the deceased’s life in the context of the generation to which he or she belonged. To do this, through the years I have relied on two authors, Strauss & Howe, for my understanding of generational differences. They have written a number of books having to do with their research. Namely, they went back to the beginning of our country and listed every generation from then until now, each of which has its own personality. And although a particular person may not always fit the mold, today as we consider how we read and watch the news – hopefully or not - let’s take a look at what characterizes the five plus generations that make up Grace Presbyterian Church.

         The G.I. Generation or the Builders were born between 1901 and 1924. And even though this generation fought WWII and endured the Great Depression, theirs has been an incredibly optimistic generation. There has been no problem too big for them to try and solve. As they helped rebuild America after the Great Depression and WWII, they built a big world – big bands, big Hollywood movies, big skyscrapers, and big highway projects. Their positive energy has been symbolized through the years by their most enduring comic strip character, Superman. They had the Supermannish strength to rise to the challenge. Many of this generation have passed away, which is our loss, for we need their hope and optimism.

         The Silent Generation is what we call those born between 1925 and 1942. It was historian William Manchester who gave this generation its name when he wrote, “Never had American youth been so…silent.” Why silent? One reason was that they grew up back when teenagers were to be seen and not heard. Back when the worst school discipline problems were cutting in line and chewing gum in class. And for sure, if the GIs manned the booming guns of WWII, there weren’t quite the same sorts of challenges for the younger Silent Generation. Yet, they have had a sturdy social conscience, have believed they could help form a more equitable society. For ex., it is said that every major figure in the modern civil rights movement came from the Silent Generation, which has also been hopeful about the future. Their approach has been let’s work together and build a better world.

      The Baby Boomers are those born from 1943-1960, and if you have heard different years attached to this generations, so have I. I often read that the Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964.  Depending on the source, different people use different years, but they don’t differ by much. In any event, whereas the generations before them were outwardly focused, Baby Boomers are inwardly focused. Boomers have wanted an ideal world, “but by almost any standard of social pathology, boomers have been a generation of worsening trends.” Throughout their teenage years alone, death rates for every form of accidental death rose sharply. Rates of drunk driving, suicide, illegitimate births, and teen unemployment all doubled or tripled. Crime rates skyrocketed. The world changed with the Boomers and in non-hopeful ways.

          The next generation of Americans, born from 1961-81, is called the Baby Busters, so named because there are relatively few of them in comparison to the Boomers. And here’s the problem. If by almost any standard the generation prior to the Busters was one of worsening trends, just how hopeful are the Busters going to be? Not very. “Far more than other generations, the Baby Busters feel that the world is gearing up to punish them down the road.” The Busters, in reality, were the children of the 60s and 70s. The world that the Baby Boomers thought was so great, was for those born between 1961 and 1981, “a nightmare of self-immersed parents, disintegrating homes, schools with conflicting missions, confused leaders, movie ratings changing from G to R, if not X, and new public-health dangers.” As children, the Baby Busters were the first to be known as latchkeys, throwaways, boomerangs, terms implying that adults would just as soon have them disappear.

        The Millenial generation are those born from 1982 through the end of the 90s or early 2000s. And whereas the generation before often suffered neglect, the early 1980s saw a remarkable outpouring of concern for children, an effort to re-establish a more wholesome environment for kids to grow up in. Notable to Millenials is the Cosby Show, which in the late 80s shifted focus. “Mom and dad Huxtable became less pally and more in charge – making punishments stick, and telling little Rudy, ‘you’re too young’ to do this or know about that. It is said that not since the Teddy Roosevelt era have adults made such serious efforts to take danger out of children’s daily life.” The question is, though, just how much danger can one remove in the post 9/11 era?

        The newest generation, born in the early 2000s, is called Generation Z or the Digital Natives. How about that for a name, the Digital Natives?  They are at home with modern technology; they’ve never known anything else. Not much is said about them yet. They’re not much more than ten years old.

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       The reason I bring all this to your attention is to emphasize that it just naturally makes a difference when you were born as to how you respond the news. Some of us were there when victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat and ever since have been rather hopeful about what can be done in the future. Others of us have rarely seen the odds beaten in a significant way, and tend to be pessimistic. Some of us grew up the center of attention. Others of us suffered neglect. We have different experiences, but whatever our generation, as Christians, our news comes to us through the filter of Jesus.     

       As followers of Jesus, no matter what our age, we have been given the ability to process the news differently from just anyone. We believe that there is more to be hopeful about than what we see and hear. Whatever the breaking story, it’s not the whole story. “Beware says Jesus,” in our NT lesson, “that no one leads you astray.”  Read the paper or watch the news with the Bible at hand, for the Biblical story  helps us put the news in a more hopeful context, that of a God whose love will endure all challenges and triumph in God’s time. Our era is not different from the biblical story. It is the continuation of the biblical story.

        If there was ever a person who wrote a portion of the Bible after reading or listening to the morning news, I suspect it was whoever wrote Psalm 12. I can just see the author sitting there at the breakfast table, reading the paper, sipping coffee, and saying, “Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind.” I feel that way at times when I listen to the news. I bet you do too. It seems like there’s just one gruesome murder, robbery, elaborate fraud,  ripoff, or armed conflict after another. The Psalmist continues, “They utter lies to each other; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.” Sounds like he knows we’re going into the 2012 political campaign, doesn’t he?  “Beware that no one leads you astray,” says Jesus. But Lord, we respond, who isn’t trying to lead us astray? They all tell lies. The Psalmist gets really upset and says, “May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, ‘With our tongues we will prevail; our lips are our own – who is our master?’”  

       And that’s the issue, “Who is our master?” which in our OT lesson is like saying, “There is no God or Master,” or if there is, “God can’t do anything about it.”  Is it not the case that so many of the people who make the news that causes us to despair behave as if God can’t stop their lies? God seems to be totally ignored by so many of the people making headlines. Yet, the psalmist knows that God can and will do something about it. “Because the poor are despoiled,” and in the Bible those who are poor do not have the power that the movers and shakers do, “I will now rise up,” says the Lord. “I will place them in the safety for which they long.”  I will now rise, God says. And how does a reporter or journalist cover the invisible God doing such a thing? One can’t, and so we don’t ever get the whole story listening to, watching, or reading the news. We’re most often missing the beginning of God’s response.

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     In our NT lesson, Jesus also deals with the stuff of the news, namely, how humankind’s story is going to turn out. . The question raised by Peter, James, John, and Andrew has to do with God’s work of transforming  life into what God has had in mind all along, what Jesus calls the kingdom of God. And interestingly enough, the one question that the disciples ask and Jesus does not answer is, “When will this be? When will God rise up and fully rule the world rather than just partially?”

        There is no shortage of authors in Christian bookstores claiming that the time is near, yet, Jesus gives us no timetable. He does make it plain that those who say they know the time of the end don’t know what they’re talking about. “Beware that no one leads you astray.” Do you remember a book from some time ago called, “The Late, Great Planet Earth.” Hal Lindsey, its author, grabbed the attention of millions of people by telling us how he knew that the end of the world was near. But then what did we read in the newspapers? He invested the money he made off his book in long-term real estate. And how does that work?  “The world’s going to end next week. Buy my book so I can invest in long-term real estate!”

        What Jesus does say about the arrival of God’s kingdom in its fullness is, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.” And what he means by that is maybe there’s no way God can bring about the new world coming apart from rocking the boat.  The work of Jesus Christ is ultimately so earthshaking that there’s no way we can get from here to wherever he’s taking us on smooth seas. There will be opposition from all who oppose God’s will. And Jesus tells us this because whether we’re a member of the GI, the Silent, the Boomer, the Buster, or the Millenial generation, when we hear of tumultuous change, it can shake our hope in God. Don’t let that happen, Jesus says. There’s more going on than you know. Sometime upheaval is proof of God at work.

     In the movie “Nobody’s Fool,” Paul Newman plays a fellow about 60 years old, who grows up in a town much like Festus or Crystal City. He’s divorced, works in the construction business when he can find work, has gone through periods in which he drinks too much, and wasn’t a good dad, even though he’s trying to be a better grandfather. He lives in a room in the home of his 8^th grade teacher, played by Jessica Tandy. She looks to be in her eighties, and one day has a stroke, not a big one, just a little one. The Paul Newman character comes to take her home from the hospital and tells her that she’s going to have to let her son know about her stroke so the son can take care of her. The Jessica Tandy character doesn’t agree with her son on much anything, and so she says, “No. I don’t need him to take care of me. He’ll just put me in a home, which will kill me. I already have someone to look after me. You.”

        At that, the Paul Newman character says, “No. You don’t want to have to rely on me.” To which she says, “Do you still bet on that  horse race of yours?”… He says, “You mean the trifecta. Yeah, the odds are such that one of these days it has to come through.”… She says, “Well, I still feel the same about you. Let’s go home.”  

       In spite of some rather disheartening days, she hadn’t given up on him yet. How much more, then, should we not give up on God? “Beware that no one leads you astray.” God is in charge and promises, “I will place you in the safety for which you belong.” Amen         

RELATIONSHIPS THAT MATTER (Feb. 5, 2012)

2 Kings 5: 8-14, James 5: 19, 20, GPC, 2/5/12, D. Johnson

      Do you remember the movie, “Simon Birch?” It is a story about childhood told by an adult as a flashback. In the opening scene, Joe, who was Simon’s best friend, comes back to town as a grownup and stops at the cemetery. He examines a headstone that says, “Simon Birch, 1952-1964”, and says to those of us watching the movie, “I am doomed to remember a boy. Not because he was the shortest person I have ever known, or because he hit the baseball that killed my mother; but because he is the reason I believe in God. Whatever faith I have, I owe to Simon.”

        What a wonderful thing to say about a person, but that’s the difference Jesus can make in our relationships. On Christ’s behalf, on occasion we bring God into our relationships with others, maybe so they can believe also. And there’s need for this. A couple of weeks ago the Pastor’s Column had to do with Dana Tierney, who describes herself as an atheist, but not the sort who is proud of it. She wishes she could believe, she just hasn’t been able to do so. And Dana just assumed that her atheism had rubbed off on her 4-year old son, Luke. For sure she hadn’t done anything herself to bring God into Luke’s life.

       But then Dana’s husband was sent to Iraq – this during the time when American casualties were the greatest. While he was gone, one night she and Luke were listening to a news program about the dangers of Iraq. And she just happened to notice out the corner of her eye that Luke was sitting there, eyes closed, head bowed, and fingers steepled. She asked him what he was doing. He said that he was saying a prayer for his dad. She asked him when he first began to believe in God. He said, “I don’t know. I’ve always known he exists,” which sounds like something Simon Birch might have said.

      Indeed, doesn’t it seem to you that some people, like Simon and Luke, come to a belief in God easier and more so on their own, whereas the rest of us need help? Help something like Naaman got in our OT lesson. Naaman was the commander of the Syrian Army at a time when Syria was much stronger than Israel. We are told that he had leprosy, although probably not true leprosy, Hansen’s disease. The word “leprosy” in the Bible refers to a variety of skin disease, some less itchy and blotchy than others. But whichever disease Naaman had, it wouldn’t clear up. It persisted week after week. It bothered him so much that he lay awake at night tossing and turning. One morning, then, when Naaman’s wife woke up wishing her husband snored instead of scratched, a young servant girl came to her. The girl was an Israelite who had been taken as a slave during a border raid by Syria. She said, “If only Naaman was with the prophet who is in Samaria (an area of Israel)! He would cure him.”

       Naaman is so desperate at this point that his wife doesn’t have to nag for long until he goes to his king, the King of Syria, and gets a letter of introduction. The King of Syria assumes that Elisha, the prophet, is on the King of Israel’s payroll, but he’s not. The King of Israel doesn’t even seem to know about Elisha’s healing power. So when he reads the letter, he has a panic attack. It says, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” The King of Israel has no Cabinet Secretary of Skin Diseases to rely on. He thinks that this is the Syrian king setting him up for war. Down the road he’s going to say, “You insulted Naaman and me by not curing him, and so now we’re going to invade your country.”

        The King of Israel is so upset about the jam he thinks he’s in that he tears his clothing, which was how one indicated distress in those days. How on earth is he going to avoid war with Syria? Elisha the prophet hears about the king’s dilemma, chuckles, and sends a message saying, “Remember the Superbowl several years ago? Why have you pulled a Janet Jackson type wardrobe malfunction? Let Naaman come to me, that he might learn there’s a prophet in Israel.” And that’s different, isn’t it? Elisha doesn’t say, “Let him come to me so that I might cure his leprosy.” He says, “Let him come so he might learn that there is a prophet in Israel,” a prophet being a person who introduces God into the mix, and who puts people right with God.

        Naaman, then, after getting upset with Elisha’s methods, was healed as directed by Elisha in the Jordan River, healed quicker than the duration of a Kim Kardashian marriage, which is pretty quick. Then he worshiped the Lord, saying, “No longer will I offer burnt offerings or sacrifice to any god except the Lord.” What a difference the slave girl speaking to Naaman’s wife made! She helped Naaman come to know the true God.

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     Simon Birch’s relationship with Joe also got off to a rocky start regarding God. Simon was an elementary school kid playing Little League baseball, so tiny that the coach only put him in the game so the opposing pitcher would walk him. Pitchers couldn’t throw to someone that short. But wanting to swing rather than walk, Simon disobeys the coach one game and hits the ball. It becomes a long foul ball, going such a distance that it strikes his best friend Joe’s mom in the head and kills her as she is walking by.

     Later, as the two friends get back together, Simon says that he’s sorry for killing Joe’s mom, but it was out of his hands. He’s simply God’s instrument, which is a discussion the two have had before. Simon believes that God has put him on earth in such a small form for a special reason, to be a hero. But he can’t figure out how, and he’s running out of time. His little heart hurts, he’s getting sicker and sicker. Won’t live much longer. He wants to know what God wants him to do. In fact, Simon believes that God has a plan for everyone, which is a belief Joe won’t have any of. Joe doesn’t believe in God. He believes his mom died simply because she was hit in the head with a foul ball, and believes Simon is small simply because he was born a sick baby. And so they have an argument, but one that stays with Joe through the years.

       Several of us have had similar discussions about God, haven’t we? Let me give you three reasons why we should continue doing so even though these discussions so often seem to be for naught. Number one, Jesus commands us to have such discussions. In Mt. 28 he says go out and make disciples, help others believe. Jesus is concerned about people who do not have faith in God, and one reason is simply this: think how important faith is to you. What would your life be like apart from faith? The knowledge that God seeks nothing less than our wellbeing and that of planet earth? The knowledge that we are loved, that we live in a user-friendly world, that the future belongs to God, no one else?  Nothing less than quality of life is at stake in our faith, our enjoying all that God does and makes possible.

        Think about the difference that faith made in Simon Birch’s life. Here we have an apparently sickly, undersized, freak of nature. His parents are so offended by his appearance that they have little to do with him. Joe’s grandmother calls him “that creature.” Yet, he knows he is beloved by God, not some unloved freak. He’s God’s instrument, going to be a hero. Simon’s faith in God makes a big difference. Or, again, think about the difference that just enough faith made in Naaman’s life – he was cured of his disease, came to know the true God as opposed to  false gods.

     The second reason we should be willing to talk to skeptics about God is that we don’t know how it’s eventually going to turn out. Now, it would be good if, like Elisha’s conversation with Naaman, the people in our lives did a quick turnaround, if like Naaman they’d soon give God a chance. But they don’t always, and so we can get discouraged when those we care about don’t buy in to our belief in God and more fully experience of the benefits of Jesus. But such discussions may have to accrue with other evidence over a longer period of time before others are persuaded. And we might be placing too much weight on what we say, as opposed to what we do.

       In the movie Simon Birch, a busload of church children, Simon included, goes off the road into the frigid, winter waters of a fast-flowing river. True to what he believes about God and himself, Simon gets the panicky kids off the bus to safety, but in the process loses his life. So, when Joe, his best friend, says many years later as an adult, “Simon Birch is the reason I believe in God,” we have to wonder if Simon’s arguments for God’s existence by themselves would have been enough. Or did it take living out his beliefs to convince Joe?

     The third reason we should bring God into our relationships with others is that sometimes we’re not so different from the naysayers. We backslide. We go through periods in which our faith is not as strong as at other times. This is the reality of our NT lesson, “If anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” Think about it. At a given point in time we may find ourselves arguing that God exists and that this loved one of ours needs the benefits of Jesus in his or her life. But then a short while later we ourselves have wandered away from the truth of God. We’re mad at God or forget God in the allure of the world or ignore God because we want to do it our way. In neither case is the person in question fully enjoying the benefits of Jesus Christ – in one instance because he or she doesn’t believe, and in the other because we ourselves aren’t right with God. We’ve wandered away.

        James means by “a multitude of sins” two. Two sins is the multitude. One is the sin that a Christian has wandered into, and the second is the sin that will result if another Christian doesn’t attempt to bring him or her back. For followers of Jesus it is a sin not to attempt to bring back to God followers who have fallen away from the faith.

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        We live in a most skeptical age. And, sure, there are those who wear their atheism on their chests as though it is a medal and the rest of us are dummies. But there are also those like Dana Tierney who wishes she had the faith of her 4-year old son Luke, who are open to some help. Why? Because faith makes an incredibly good difference. She herself has noticed the difference and says, “Over the years I’ve come to feel I’m missing out. My friends and relatives who rely on God have an expansiveness of spirit. When they walk along a stream, they don’t just see water falling over rocks; the sight fills them with ecstasy. They see a realm of hope beyond this world. I just see a babbling brook. I don’t get the message.”

          Faith makes a difference. Naaman was healed and discovered the true God. Simon Birch apart from faith might have accepted the world’s verdict that he was no more than a freak and become a sad, self-pitying little kid. Instead, because of his faith, he believed that God had created him for a purpose, saved a busload of kids from drowning, and became the reason that his best friend Joe believes in God. Amen