A Guiding LightL: Sermon Luke 2:22-40

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

If I were to ask you what a lighthouse is, most of you would know. Although we do not live anywhere near a coastline we have either been to a coastline, or read about lighthouses in books, or saw lighthouses in movies or on TV. In any case, you would recognize one if you saw it. You know its purpose. Lighthouses were created as guiding lights to aide sailors as they navigated treacherous waters and there is many a sailor who owes his or her life to these guiding lights.

Today’s lesson is about a guiding light of another kind. We continue the Birth Narrative in Luke that began on Christmas Eve. In these verses from Luke the Christ Child is presented at the Temple as was all first-born Jewish male children and Mary made her purification offering at the Temple. Mary and Joseph were proper Jewish parents and so they fulfilled what the law required. As they were coming into the Temple they ran into two prophets, a man and woman who immediately recognized Jesus for who he was. Simeon was advanced in years, but he had a promise from God that he would see the one who would free Israel. Before he died he would see the Messiah. Now the Temple was a busy place and there must have been hundreds if not thousands of babies coming in and out of the Temple on any given day, but Simeon and Anna knew Jesus right then and there. Jesus did not look any different. He did not have a halo around his head or special markings that marked him as the Christ. How did Simeon and Anna know? Luke tells us that it was the Holy Spirit that gave them the insight to see who Jesus really was and today it is still the Holy Spirit that lets us know who Jesus is and that he is our guiding light.

You see a guiding light only works when you recognize what it represents. If you did not know what a lighthouse meant, some warn of dangerous reefs and rocks, some guide ships to safe harbors, then the lighthouse does you no good. You must recognize the purpose of the guiding light in order for it to guide you. Most people, even the most staunch secular humanist historian, agree that Jesus lived on earth. They agree he was born, that he lived and taught, that he had a following, and that he was crucified by the Roman government. There is enough empirical evidence for scholars to agree on this. They would not believe that he was born of a virgin, that he performed miracles of healing, that he fed a multitudes, they certainly do not believe that he rose from the dead.

Thomas Jefferson was one of those people. After he left the presidency he worked to remake the gospels. He took a Bible and literally cut out all the supernatural aspects of the gospels leaving only the teachings of Christ. He believed that Jesus was perhaps the greatest teacher who ever lived, but was not divine. He saw the guiding light, but didn’t recognize it. He saw the man, but not the Savior. He saw the teacher, but not the healer. He saw the dead man, but not the risen God. There are many like him. There are many who call themselves Christians who do not believe some of the supernatural aspects of the story of Christ. The see the guiding light, but they do not follow it.

Why do we recognize Jesus for who he really is? How is it that we came to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior? To answer these questions we must look back at our story from Luke. Simeon and Anna recognized Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guided Simeon to the Temple so he could see the Christ child and the Holy Spirit gave Simeon the vision to see which baby was Jesus. Every person who encounters Jesus and recognizes who he really is does so by the power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist recognized Jesus even while both were in the wombs of their mothers. He could not see Jesus, but it was the Holy Spirit that caused him to jump for joy. When Jesus called the disciples it was the Holy Spirit that let them know that this man was something different. When we said yes to Christ it was not only of our own accord, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Every person who sees Jesus and recognizes him as their guiding light as the Light of the World does so by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians twice once in 2:9-10. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” And again in 12:3 “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

We recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior. We recognize the guiding light of Christ through the Holy Spirit. This means that God’s grace was working in us before we even knew it and before we said yes to Christ. Wesley called this prevenient grace, the grace that comes before. Wesley said that humans are too selfish and sinful to make a right choice and so every good choice we make, including the choice to accept Christ is also done by God through his Holy Spirit. It is because of God’s prevenient grace that the Holy Spirit works through every person.

So why doesn’t every person believe in Jesus? Like with any guiding light you can ignore it or misinterpreted it. The Spirit might be nudging you and nudging you, but you keep pushing it farther and farther back. Like in the old hymn “Almost Persuaded” we can push the Spirit away until one day it might be too late. A ship’s captain can see a lighthouse and choose to ignore its warnings to his and his crews peril. We can see the guiding light of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and choose to ignore it. We don’t want to follow Christ, we want to go our own way. We follow our own maps, our own path until we crash ashore and run aground. We all run aground every now and then. The good news is that even through we have ignored him in the past he is still illuminating our path. As we end another year and begin a new one, let us renew our commitment to Christ and our commitment to follow his guiding light.

I want to close this morning with one of my favorite prayers. It is the Wesleyan Covenant prayer. Let us pray.

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
To thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

A World Turned Upside Down: Sermon Luke 1:46-55

Lord Jesus, help us to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly, to follow you more nearly day by day. Open our eyes, Lord, help us to see you. Amen.

When Alice tumbled down the rabbit-hole and into Wonderland she found herself in a world turned upside down. She thought she tumbled right through to the other side of the earth where the people would be upside down. Alice was a stranger in a strange land and nothing made sense. She could not get her bearings, she did not know which way was up or down, left or right. Alice’s story is, of course, a work of fiction, a fantasy dreamed up by Lewis Carroll. However, when we are struck by sudden, sometimes tragic news, we might fell a lot like Alice. We feel as though our world turned upside down. We might feel as though we have tumbled down the rabbit-hole wondering when we will hit rock bottom. We do not like thinking about these things and we are never prepared for them when they happen so what do we do?

Let us look at the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She certainly felt as though her world turned upside down when the angel Gabriel visited her and told her the news that she would give birth to the Christ child. Imagine that for a moment. Mary, by tradition, was a teenager 14 or 15 years old. She was preparing for her marriage to Joseph. She was to leave her parents house and enter into her husband’s house. That was the way things were done in those days. She was to be pure for her husband, a virgin. Now she was going to have a baby, not just a baby, but God’s baby. Who would believe her? It is a crazy story. An angel appeared and said you will have God’s child. Yeah, right. Most people would think that she went off and got knocked up by some guy. This was more than an embarrassment, by law and tradition she could be stoned to death for adultery. This could cost her life or at the very least she would be shunned and exiled from her family and community. Her world was turned upside down. What could she do? What did she do? In spite of all that stacked against her, she trusted God. I am sure she did not know how it would all work out, but she had faith that it would work out. Not only does Mary accept her role in this story despite its potential hardships and dangers, but she praises God for the opportunity. Our lesson from Luke this morning is Mary’s song of praise called the Magnificat. She begins by saying that her soul magnifies the Lord because the Mighty One has done great things for her. She trusts that although she cannot see it now this event will be a great thing and that through her God’s glory will shine brighter. God’s glory will be shone through her obedience and trust. What would we do in a situation like this? I don’t think I would be near as trusting as Mary is in this story. I might be doing a lot more questioning and worrying. In reality, God is calling us to service everyday, it is not in the same way that he called Mary, but if we are faithful and trustworthy then we, like Mary, will glorify God through our actions.

Mary is part of a beautiful story, one that most of us know by heart. Just as Mary’s world would never be the same after her visit from Gabriel, the birth of her child would change the whole world forever. Through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of that child in her womb the world would be turned upside down.

Mary gives us a glimpse into the changes that will take place because of her son. She is so confident in those changes that she speaks of them in the past tense, as if they have already happened. We saw then, see now, and will see a reversal, literally a world turned upside down. Mary sings that the “[God] has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.” In that moment, she is the lowly that is raised up. God could have chosen a queen or a princess, a woman of status and power to bear his child, but instead he chooses a servant girl, a peasant, a nobody. This is the beginning of a reversal that Jesus continues to speak about in his ministry. He teaches the disciples that the greatest in the kingdom of God will be the servant of all. The greatest will be the least of all. Mary sings that God has filled the poor with good things and sent the rich away empty. She is the poor that is filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus feds the multitude of poor and the rich young ruler leaves because he does not want to part with his money. Jesus makes a clear distinction that a person cannot serve both God and money. There has to be a choice made. Mary sings about God remembering his mercy to his people, a promise that was made through the prophets. We read some of those promises last week. In Christ those promises are fulfilled not just in that moment 2,000 years ago, but in every moment for all eternity. Christ is the embodiment of God’s love and all of this begins when Mary said “Yes God, I trust you.” The world is turned upside down. The rich are now poor, the poor are rich, the powerful are brought low and the humble are exalted.

This change, these reversals should not be anything new to us, because everyone who is truly touched by Christ is never the same again. Mary is never the same. The disciples are never the same. The blind, the lame, the leper, the tax collector, the prostitute, the sinner is never the same. Pilate is never the same. The Roman soldier who nailed him to the cross is never the same. Paul is never the same. We are never the same again. In Christ our world is turned upside down. It is such a change that Paul calls those in Christ “new creations” with the old gone and new brought in. Our priorities change. We no longer search for riches that will rust and the thief can steal, but we search for treasures in the kingdom of God. We no longer seek for ourselves first, but we work to help others. We seek first the kingdom of God and all other things will be added to us.

Advent is a time for us to examine our hearts and our lives to see whether or not we have been truly changed by the Christ child. Has your life been touched by Christ? Is your world turned upside down? How much have we changed and how much more to we need to change? Remember that the change is not instantaneous. It takes time to change our ways and repent from our wrongdoings, but progress must be made. We have to show some progress in our lives. We must always be moving forward.

You see change is a funny things because as we change those around us change. As we change we can change the world. We do this by practicing the teachings of Jesus, by embodying the change that is going on the inside. We cannot keep our lights hidden. We have to shine upon the world. We do it by the power of God and for the glory of God just as Mary did.

There is a far better way of living in the world, and on this Fourth Sunday of Advent we stand at its threshold. The question, however, is: Are we willing to step forward? Or are we afraid to have our world turned upside down? Are we the poor who will hear the good news of reversal, or are we the ones responsible for their poverty? Are we the brokenhearted who will be healed, or have we broken their hearts? Are we the captives who will be freed, or are we the captors who have restrained them? On what side of the reversals do we find ourselves?
Advent is a time to search our hearts, to discover where, both individually and as a community, we need to change. It is a time of expectation, for we are told that there is one who has the power to heal our personal brokenness, to heal our fractured families, to heal our troubled church, to heal our bleeding world. Paul tells us that he is coming; John tells us that he is already in our midst. His presence among us should make us rejoice; the saving power that he brings should give us confidence. If we open our hearts to this saving power, we can indeed transform our society; we can renew our church, we can work toward peace in the world—we can turn our world upside down.
Let us pray…
Grant, O Lord,
that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,
and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Season of Hope: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Lord Jesus, help us to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly, to follow you more nearly day by day. Open our eyes, Lord, help us to see you. Amen.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.

I know I know I am no Perry Como or Johnny Mathis, but it is looking a lot like Christmas everywhere we go. Of course if you went to Wal-Mart it looked like Christmas back in September, but gradually our community is getting into the Christmas spirit. The Advent/Christmas season is filled with lots of things. There are lights on our houses and on our Christmas trees. There is Christmas music filling the stores, our homes and cars, and Sunday church services. There are parties to go to, presents to wrap and open, friends and family to visit with and lots and lots of food to eat. Then there is the whole Jesus being born in Bethlehem thing that, unfortunately, gets put on the backburner. Taking all that stuff aside Advent and Christmas is season of hope.
The word hope is a funny word because it can mean so many different things to different people. I am a lucky person. I live in a great country and in a great community. I have a job and a great family who supports me. My hopes might seem something like this; I hope I get that new gadget for Christmas. I hope that the Titans make it to the Super Bowl. I think a lot of you are in the same boat as me. We hope for things that most of the world think are frivolous. You see there are some in our country and some in our own community that hope they will have enough food to put on their table. They hope they can give their kids a warm coat and maybe one toy this Christmas. They hope they can pay all the bills and have some left over. They hope they still have a job. Then again there are some in the world who simply hope to live to see another day. They hope that bandits won’t come today to take their sons and rape their daughters. They hope the water they drink to quench their burning thirst won’t give them a deadly disease. You see hope differs greatly depending where and who you are in the world.
Our words from the prophet Isaiah this morning are words of hope to a people decimated by war and exile. These words are a promise from God for a complete and total restoration and redemption of the people and their land. But it will not be the same as before. The prophet proclaims that the poor, the captive, and the prisoner will be freed and they are the ones who will rebuild the destroyed kingdom. In verse 4 the pronoun “they” is used, “they” refers to the captives, poor, and prisoners mentioned in verse 1. If some hope that things will be exactly as they were before they will be disappointed because this new era God will usher in is a season of justice, righteousness, and freedom to all people not just to some.
This hope from Isaiah like most hope found in Scripture is twofold in nature. There are two kinds of hope found here. One is a cosmic kind of hope. It is a universal hope that death is not the end but that it is conquered by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The theologically this term is eschatological in nature, which means that it is a hope based on the second coming of Christ and the redemption of the world as promises in Revelation 21 and 22. It is an Easter hope because without the death and resurrection of Christ we would not have this hope. We hope that just as Christ is risen we will also rise with him. This hope is the foundation of our faith. There are some branches of Christianity that do not rely upon the belief in the resurrection of Christ but in my opinion that without the resurrection believing in and proclaiming the gospel of Christ is pointless. No resurrection, no Christianity. We all are familiar with this kind of hope although its exact mechanics and nature are difficult to ascertain. This is a hope that we must wait for. It is a hope that will come in God’s own time. Jesus was asked about it and said that not even he knew the day nor the hour no one but God knew. That is one key element of Advent is a waiting, an anticipation of the fulfillment of our hope. We must wait for this kind of hope. But there is another hope that is scripturally based and is found in our lesson from Isaiah.
This hope is not based on future events, but it is in the here and now or at least it can be because this hope is in us. It is the hope that provides liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners, and good news to the poor. It is the year of the Lord’s favor and it is a time of rebuilding not only cities and buildings but rebuilding people. It is a time that is based on our actions and our fulfillment of God’s commandments. God is telling us in this Scripture the key to fulfilling this hope and we do not have to wait for it because it is within our grasp. God is telling us that if we fulfill his commandments, his teachings of love for all people then we can be the hope that we want to see in the world. We can be the ones to release people held captive by poverty and injustice. We can be the ones to free those imprisoned unjustly and unfairly. We can be the oaks of righteousness standing tall for the world to see. We can be that hope that people long for.
I know what you might be thinking. Here he goes again, preaching social justice. I wish he would talk about something else. Why do we need to talk about this over and over again? Well this is what Jesus preached. Jesus preached social justice. In fact, Jesus begins his ministry in Nazareth by reading from these verses in Isaiah. He said that the Scriptures are fulfilled in him. The people of Nazareth flipped out and ran him out of town. What does Jesus mean? He is the catalyst for both kinds of hope. Through him we have the Easter hope and through his teachings we have the means to be the present hope to other people. In Jesus we have the example of how to be the hope for other people. Jesus never rejected anyone. Jesus loved everyone no matter who they were or what they did. Jesus touched the leper, gave sight to the blind, and fed the multitudes. Jesus welcomed the sinner, the outcast, and the stranger. In these acts Jesus gave hope to those without and we can do the same.
When we give a toy to a child like the Marines do every year with Toys 4 Tots then we give hope. When we give food and clothing to the Help Center and the Clothing Center then we give people hope who are down on their luck. When a person can put food on the table for their children then we give them hope that people do care. We need to remember that Advent and Christmas are not just season for hoping but they are also season for being hope for someone else. We are the instruments of God’s hope in the world. Paul called us the hands and the feet of the Body of Christ and if we don’t do something then who will. When we give someone hope then they believe that tomorrow will be a better day, and the next day will be better, and the day after that better still.
I want to close this morning with a warning. Isaiah makes a small statement that has big implications. In verse 2 Isaiah proclaims a day of God’s vengeance. Who will God take vengeance upon? If we look at verse 1 we have the answer. God’s vengeance is for those who captured and imprisoned the people unjustly, it is for those who promote injustice or do nothing to change it. It is for the ones who ignore the poor, the widow, the orphan. It is for the ones who afflict the immigrant, the stranger in our land. When that day comes, where do you want to be? Do you want to be on the side of God or on the side of God’s vengeance? Let us work together to be on God’s side. To give a little hope to those without and let us not just do it at Christmas time, but all year long. We are the ones who hear the message from God through the prophet. We are the ones who hear the message from God through our Lord and Savior. Let us not ignore this important call from God. Let us be the hope for those who are longing for it.

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Three Simple Rules: Do Good Sermon Romans 12:9-21

Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept you Word. Silence in us any voices but your own, so that we may hear your Word and also do it; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Have you ever seen the movie Pay It Forward? It is a movie based on a book and it is about a boy, named Trevor, who is given an assignment by his teacher to come up with an idea to change the world. Trevor’s idea is called pay it forward. Instead of paying a favor back to the one who gave it, you pay it forward to someone else and then that person pays it forward and so on.

We are a generous country when the need is great. After 9/11 our country came together to help those who had lost loved ones. Strangers went to ground zero to help other strangers out of the rubble to the detriment of their own health. After the tsunamis in Southeast Asia in 2004 many Americans gave food, money, and time to help those people in need. I know several medical students who took their vacation time to travel to those countries to help the people in recovery. In 2005, three years ago this week, we joined together again to help the people of New Orleans and the Gulf coast after Hurricane Katrina. Many church groups are still there helping in the very slow rebuilding process.

We do well when times are hard, when tragedies of natural or man-made origin occur; we ban together and help out our neighbors, even perfect strangers. What about the rest of the time? What about when there is not a national tragedy? What happens then? We don’t do as well with the doing good, do we? Why does it take a national tragedy for humans to treat each other as God intended? Why can’t we do good all the time?

That is our second rule. Do we remember the first simple rule? Do no harm. The second rule is like the first and is as easy to remember it is do good. That does sound simple doesn’t it? Do good. But what does it really mean? It is easy to remember, but it is much more challenging to put it into practice. Paul spoke about is in Romans 12. He said “love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor” and “Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” Paul knew because he learned from the example of Jesus, who spent his entire ministry doing good for all the people he encountered. Jesus teaches us to love everyone even our enemies and to do good even to those who persecute you.
You might be saying, well I already do good. I make a monthly donation to the Help Center. I give toys for the Toys for Tots program, I support the fish-fries that help the local clubs, and I help out my neighbors when they need help. Those are all good things and they are worthy of recognition and honor, but there is always more to be done. Because this rule like the one before it is not just something we do on occasion. It is not something we do hoping to get a checkmark or a gold start by our name on the heavenly rolls. It is a way of life. It is a way of living that permeates everything we do and everything we are. The rule of do no harm and do good should govern all the actions of our lives. It should become like second nature to us, as easy and as natural as breathing. It is like a litmus test. Every action we take, everything we do or say should be run passed these rules and if they do no harm and do good only then should we speak or act. It is not enough that our actions do no harm; they must also do good in the world.

This lifestyle is not just reactive, but proactive. In other words, it does not depend on what others do to us first. This rule is not I’ll be good to you if you are good to me first. Paul says in Romans 12 that in all cases we should do good in the world. Even when evil is done upon us, he says Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. He goes on to say, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Our goodness does not depend on the actions of others. We should do good to all even the ones we might not like. We have a tendency to do good only to those who we like, to those who look, act, and think like us. However do good is a universal command which means that it is not based on whom we might deem worthy. We do not get to pick and choose who we do goodness to. Instead we are to do good to everyone, even to those who might do harm to us first.

Our goodness should not be limited to those who will be appreciative to that goodness. Our goodness might be rejected, ridiculed, and misused. One of the biggest reasons why people refuse to give money to the homeless is because they think that the homeless person will take the money and buy booze or drugs with it. But this rule does not take it into account. Our goodness is still good in God’s eyes even if it is misused by those who receive our goodness. We know that our goodness is a sacrifice to God that is pleasing even if it is misused or rejected.
Our desire to do good should not be limited to the thoughts and actions of others. Our goodness is not a response to the world, but a response to the grace of God that we have received. God has done and continues to do such great things for us. We cannot hope to count the blessings we receive because there are has numerous as the stars. We respond to God’s love and blessings by loving and blessing others.
Now we come to the nuts and bolts of this second rule. How do we live out this rule? First remember that it is not just about money. Although the church and other benevolent organizations need our donations of money, doing good is not limited to our financial resources. These are just a few ways of doing good that are free or only cost a little bit. One is smile. We have lost the art of smiling. We aren’t friendly to the people we meet on the street. We aren’t as friendly to the people who wait on us in restaurants or in stores. I don’t know if we are in too much of a hurry or what. You would be amazed at how people react to you when we offer them a smile and a kind word first.

Another way to do good is to offer a random act of kindness. You can do something nice for someone you don’t know. Do it everyday. Send a card to some random name in the phone book telling that person you are praying for them and that no matter what God loves them. I heard an idea a few months ago about a lady who was in line at the drive thru at McDonald’s and she paid for the two people behind her. She didn’t want praise or a thank you; she did it to be good to someone else. When someone asks you how they can repay you for your kindness tell them to pay it forward and do something for someone else.

Another way we can live the do good lifestyle is to offer forgiveness to those who do us wrong. We should not hold on to grudges or hold past sins over the heads of others. This only widens divisions between people. You might have been hurt by someone and it might take time but we should always offer forgiveness after time. Only then can we truly heal our wounds. Vengeance is not our reward, but it is God’s justice. That means that God does not get even with people, but God does exact divine justice with grace. We should not repay evil with evil that only throws gas on the fire. Instead offer goodness to those who do evil to us and then maybe those people would change and see God’s love and mercy in you. These are just a few examples of how we can live the do good lifestyle.

Now we come to the so what question. Why is living this lifestyle important? In addition to the reasons we talked about last week, the fact that it is world changing and that it brings us to a closer walk with God, living out these rules gives us a deeper understanding of God and Christ. Our faith deepens when we think and act more like Christ. When we offer sacrifice and forgiveness and goodness then we begin to understand what God did for us on the cross and what God continues to do for us everyday.

Another reason is that when we exude positivity then positive things happen to us and the same is true when we act negatively. Some of you might have heard of the Hindu/Buddhist concept of karma. A very basic understanding of karma is what goes around comes around. What we do comes back to us. I don’t know how true that is, but I do know that the world is much easier to live in when we are positive people doing good things.

These rules change not only how we live, but also why we live. When we follow these rules we begin to live for God instead of ourselves. We respond to God’s love with love of our own. Like the first rule, we might not complete the journey in this lifetime, but it does not mean that we should not start the journey. Let us start that journey together today. Let us not just do no harm, but let us do good in the world.

Let us pray…
Grant, O Lord,
that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,
and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Three Simple Rules: Do No Harm Sermon Romans 12:1-8

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Let’s play a fill in the blank game this morning. Like a good neighbor…is there. I wish I was an… Bring out the … and bring out the best. A…is forever. Have a … and a smile. Please don’t squeeze the … Plop, plop, fizz, fizz oh… These slogans are engrained deep in our minds and companies pay millions of dollars to advertising agencies to come up with these catchy slogans so that you will remember to buy their product. Some of these slogans become so popular that they become pop culture icons. But why? They are short, pithy, and easy to remember.

Sometimes we need those pithy slogans in other parts of our lives to help us to remember to do the things we need to do. When Methodism was in its infancy the people asked John Wesley to give them some rules to live by and work toward. Wesley looked at Scripture and he looked at what he was preaching to the people and he developed the General Rules of the United Societies. He developed three rules that are short, pithy, and easy to remember. They are do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. These were the standards that the people called Methodists were held to and worked toward. These three rules were the exemplary ideals of the Christian life. If a person held to these rules perfectly then that person would reach Christian perfection, of course that never happened and no one has ever reached perfection in this life. However, this does not mean that we should not try to work toward that goal. These rules are not only life changing they are world changing. If we all worked to adhere to these rules together, think of how the world could change.

Bishop Ruben Job, a retired bishop from the Iowa Episcopal area, wrote a new book, called Three Simple Rules that remind us not only of our Methodist heritage, but also of these three rules that are meant not only for Methodists, but for all Christians. For the next three weeks I am going to be looking at these rules one by one to see how we can implement them in our own lives, how these rules can change our lives, and why we should be doing it in the first place.

Today’s simple rule is “do no harm”. It seems odd that Wesley would begin with a negatively based rule, by telling us what not to do. However, if we look at the Ten Commandments then we see that most of those rules are do not and shall not. Perhaps John Wesley understood as God understands that we need to be taught what NOT to do first. Do no harm, it seems like a simple thing to do. We don’t do anyone any harm. We don’t beat up on people, we don’t have someone locked in the trunk of our cars. This seems like an easy rule to follow, but is it?

This rule is not just some rule we follow, it is a way of living. It is a way of interacting with people we meet and with people a world away that we will never meet. Doing no harm means, as we talked about last week, seeing each and every person as a child of God worthy of our love and respect. When we do this and when we approach people with the understanding that we will do them no harm then it changes us. It makes us look at others in a different way. Instead of seeing people in a negative light, we see them as a child of God.

You might be thinking, well I already to that. I don’t go around beating up on people or crashing my car into people. I am doing no one any harm. Doing no harm does not just mean physical harm. It means that I will not undermine anyone to get what I want. I will not cheat you, swindle you, or talk you into something I know will lead to harm. I will not gossip behind your back, I will not spread rumors about you. I will not call you stupid or ignorant because of how you dress, or act, or believe. I will not think you are stupid because you do things or believe differently. I will not tear you down in order to build myself up. I will not mutter under my breath with you cut me off. I will not smile to your face and then stick a knife in your back. The list goes on and on and new items are added everyday. So maybe this rule isn’t as easy as we first thought. But imagine the possibilities. Imagine for instance a presidential election where the two candidates followed this rule. There wouldn’t many of those TV commercials, would there?

How do we implement this rule in our lives? First we have to inventory our lives. We have to look at our routines and ask the question, does this harm another person directly or indirectly. Do the choices I make negatively affect other people? Each decision we make should be prefaced with the question, will this cause anyone any harm?

This leads us to the second phase of implementing this rule in our lives. We have to educate ourselves on how our actions, the actions of the companies we support with our money, and the actions of our government cause harm to people around the world. We need to know if the shoes or clothes we wear were made by people in sweat shops for pennies a day. We need to know if the food we eat was grown by people making pennies a day. We need to know if the companies that get our money are harming their employees, the environment, or anyone else. Once we know that our actions cause harm we must change. We must find alternatives and new ways of living that are in harmony with our neighbors worldwide.

We cannot avoid the topic. If we do nothing we only perpetuate the harm that is done in the world. We cannot remain silent or apathetic because silence and apathy causes harm. We must speak for those who have no voice. We must cry out against the wrongs we see done at home, at work, in our cities, in our state, in our nation, and in the world. We can be the change we want to see in the world.

As Paul says in our lesson from Romans “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” When we follow this rule we reject the conformity of this world. We become different, we become lights in the midst of darkness. We have seen, over and over again, how the kingdom walk, the gospel walk, is different than the worldly walk. The values of God are not the world’s values. It will take time to change. In fact, in all likelihood it will take a lifetime and even then we will not perfectly follow this rule, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

So the question before us is this, so what? Why should we adhere to this rule? Why should we go into our lives and examine the harm we are causing? What difference can one person make? First, when we change our lives we begin to change the world. We become examples to live by; we become ambassadors of God’s love and forgiveness. We become living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. We become the hope we read about in Scripture and we become the change we want to see in the world.

We also become closer to Christ. We do what God has called us to do, to be what God has called us to be. Jesus lived his life on earth following fully the rule of do no harm. He lived with malice toward no one and no harm to anyone even to those who nailed him to the cross. Imagine that, he forgave those people even as they nailed him to the cross. He offered no revenge, no hatred, and no harm to those who sent him to his death. When we follow this rule we walk closer to Jesus. We become more Christlike and that is the point of the Christian life. We should strive each day to be more and more like Christ.

This simple rule is not meant to confine us but to renew us into a Christlike life. It is meant to help us live with our brothers and sisters in the world in the way that God wanted. God loves us so much and gives us so much that following this rule is a worshipful response to that love and grace. As the body of Christ we can make a difference, if we all make the decision to change our lifestyles and approach everyone with knowledge that we mean them no harm then we can make a big change in the world. It is not easy and it takes a lifetime to master, but in Christ all things are possible.

Let us pray…
Grant, O Lord,
that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,
and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lighten Up!: Sermon Matthew 11:25-30

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen
Are you stretched too thin? Do you have too many irons in the fire? Is your candle burning at both ends? Americans are a stressed out, frazzled, frizzled, wigged out, and burned out society. We are a society of workaholics. We work from sun up until way past sundown. Maybe it was our Puritan ancestors who gave us this overworking mentality. Some of us don’t feel productive until we are juggling 20 things at once. Our hard working ways have served us well in the past century. It helped our nation out of a Great Depression and win World War II, but with the 1950s new technology was supposed to give us a life of ease and comfort. If you watch cartoons from those days you will find an imaginative world filled with time and work saving gadgets and gizmos. Dinner would be prepared with a push of a button. Cars would drive themselves and computers would be the wave of the future. Time magazine noted that back in the 60’s, expert testimony was given to a Senate sub-committee on time management. They predicted that advances in technology would radically change how many hours a week people worked. They forecasted that the average American would be working 22 hours a week within 20 years. “The great challenge,” the experts said, “would be figuring out what to do with all the excess time.” Over 40 years later, after major advances in technology – how many of us are wondering what to do with all the excess time on our hands?
Technology was supposed to make our lives easier and simpler, but they have only made them more complex and busier. Because of cell phones, PDAs, laptops, and Blackberries (not the kind you made jam out of) people can’t escape from work even when they are at home and the sad thing is that a lot of us like it. We want to be connected 24/7/365. We have the mentality that busyness is a good thing, it means that we are pulling our weight and we are a productive member of society. Rest and relaxation is considered weakness and laziness. If you sit around a do nothing then you are worthless. We are a nation without Sabbath, without rest. We work, work, work until the day we die. Even those of you who are retired have told me that you work more now than you did when you where in the workforce.
Although this workaholic attitude has its benefits, mostly for the big wigs in the corporate office it leads to a lot of serious problems. These include heart disease, stroke, poor eating habits, headaches, body aches and other personal health problems. It also causes broken relationships with spouses and children. Do you remember the song Cats in the Cradle? The song is about a father working and working with no time for his son and at the end when the father finally had time he realized that his son had become just like him with no time for anything but work. This song is a reality for a lot of people. People work so hard to take care of their families only to lose the family they were trying to support in the first place. We weigh ourselves down with a heavy burden and sometimes it is heavy enough to break us. If you find yourself in that kind of position this morning, Jesus has an invitation for you. “‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’”
The yoke of today is different than the one in first century Judea. In those days the yoke was an oppressive interpretation of the law. The religious leaders place the law in every aspect of the people’s lives and it was so complex and difficult to adhere to that almost no one could possibly follow it. The leaders themselves did not follow it; they did not practice what they preached. The people became so burdened by the laws of their religion that worshiping God became a requirement instead of a joy. Jesus invited the people to take of the oppressive teachings of the religious leaders and to take on his yoke which is much lighter and easier. It is a yoke of love and peace. It is a teaching that leads to new life and improvement not just of self, but also of community. Jesus’ focus was on the love and grace of God not to a strict adherence to the law. Jesus believed in the spirit of the law which was to love God and neighbor. Just as he invited the people then to a better life so he invites us as well. Come and leave your burdens here and take on my yoke which is easier.
We must understand that this is not a removal of burdens. We do not drop our burdens and go home empty handed because Jesus knows that in time we will pick up a whole new set of burdens and end up right where we started. Instead Jesus calls for a burdens exchange, drop what you have and take on my yoke which is easier and lighter. Drop your load of worry, overwork, selfishness, greed, anger, and despair and take on the light load of peace, hope, and love. Following Jesus is not a piece of cake there are requirements and there must be changes made. However, the load that Jesus asks us to carry leads to much better things, a life of love, family, community, selflessness, and rest. Jesus is inviting us to come and exchange our heavy load for one that is far easier and yet leads to greater rewards in this life and in the next.
What does this exchange look like? What kind of trades must we make? For one we trade a like of workaholicism for Sabbath. If there is one of the Ten Commandments that we break constantly it is number 4, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. This is not just another day it is a day set aside specifically for rest and remembrance. God knew that we would have to work in order to survive and God knew that we would, if left to our own devices, work out selves to death, literally. So God rested on the 7th day not because he had to but as an example to the rest of us. It is a day to recuperate and to remember all the good things that God has done for us. It is a day to honor God from whom all blessings flow. It is a day to stop and smell the roses and to appreciate the beauty and majesty of God’s creation. In the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off a young man in high school decides to play hooky from school and at the beginning and the end of the movie he says. “Life goes by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Jesus invites us to take some time away from ourselves and focused on God and God’s amazing creation. Jesus invites us to rest from our hectic schedules and to take a Sabbath.
Jesus also invites us to exchange our guilt for forgiveness. Guilt is a burdensome weight on our lives and on our spirits and it is a burden that too many people carry. Too many of us have done things in the past or are doing something right now that they are ashamed of and they wear that guilt like a stone around their necks. You can almost see the weight around their necks their heads are down, their walk is labored. If you have that weight of guilt around your neck this morning come and exchange it for forgiveness. Let go of your guilt and experience the freedom of forgiveness. Ask for it and you will receive it and if God forgives you to the point that your sins are erased as if they never existed then why can’t you forgive yourself. God has forgiven you and so you must forgive yourself. There is also a flip side to that coin, as we are forgiven so we must forgive others. We must help others to free themselves of the burden of guilt by offering forgiveness even before it is asked. We must forgive others as we are forgiven that is part of the deal.
Jesus also invites us to trade anger, vengeance, and hatred for peace and love. I will be the first to admit that I have a hot temper sometimes and sometimes it gets the best of me, but it is something that I am working on. I find that if I take the time to count to 10 or 20 or 100 then I can calm down enough to make rational decisions and statements and avoid doing or saying something that I will have to apologize for. I think that one way to accomplish this is to give others the benefit of the doubt. We have to realize that the guy who cut us off probably didn’t do it on purpose, he or she might not have seen us. Bishop Wills talked about a dinner that he had with a fellow clergy person in Memphis. He said that the waitress was rude, hateful, and slow. All in all it was the worst service he had in a restaurant. As they got up to leave the person Bishop Wills was eating with left a $20 tip. Bishop Wills said that he was crazy, how could he leave such a generous tip for such poor and rude service. The guy told me, it is people like that who need the most help. She might have had a lot on her mind, she might have a sick child at home, or a stack of bills that need to be paid. You never know what is going on behind the scenes. The world would be a better place if we could just learn to give each other the benefit of the doubt and the benefit of love and grace.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” That is the invitation that we have from Jesus this morning. Exchange your burdens and your yoke for one that is lighter and easier and for one that reaps a truly bountiful reward. The invitation is made will you answer it?
Let us pray…
Grant, O Lord,
that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,
and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Wanted: Dead and Alive, Sermon Romans 6:1-11

*This sermon comes, in part, from a sermon delivered by Dr. Brad Braxton entitled Dead and Alive. Thank you Dr. Braxton for you inspiration and guidance.

O Lord, your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Give us grace to receive your truth in faith and love, and strength to follow on the path you set before us; through Jesus Christ, Amen.

One of my favorite movie genres is the western. I love John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and all the other guys who have made this kind of movies in their careers. I think one reason why I like these movies so well is that the plot line is usually pretty simple and dependable. There are good guys who are usually handsome, clean-shaven, wear a white hat, and ride a white horse. The good guys are usually sheriffs, marshals, or Texas Rangers, with law and order and a badge on their side. The good guy always has a love interest and more times than not gets the girl in the end. Then there are the bad guys who are usually ugly, scruffy and dirty, they wear a black hat, and ride a black horse. They care nothing for law and order and they don’t need no stinkin’ badges. Both the good guys and the bad guys are good with a six gun. The plot usually runs like this, the bad guys run into town causing all kinds of terror and mayhem, they threaten the stability of the town or they rob a train, or try to rustle some cattle. The sheriff is forced to gather a group of lawmen together and fight the bad guys in the desert or down Main Street at high noon.

Sometimes the bad guys were so bad that the merited a special poster and reward for their capture. Sometimes they were wanted dead or alive. We have all seen these posters on the wall of the town post office or sheriff’s office. There is a drawing of the suspect and above his face we read the words in big, bold, black letters Wanted: Dead or Alive. In other words they did not care how this person was brought down as long as they got their man. If he was alive he would be tried, most likely convicted and hanged, and if he was brought in dead, well that would save them all the trouble. There are a few real life criminals who have been wanted dead or alive. Billy the Kid, Jesse and Frank James, and Poncho Villa are just a few who have had their faces on these posters.

The Apostle Paul tells the Romans in his letter that they too are wanted people. They are wanted not by the authorities, but by God and they are not wanted dead or alive, but dead AND alive. There is a poster in the heavenly realms with our picture on it with the words Wanted: Dead and Alive. This seems like a strange thing, this is odd. Death is the total and complete opposite of life. How can one be both dead and alive? Paul explains that we are to be dead to sin AND alive to God in Christ. We must die to sin in order to become alive in Christ. How do we do this? How can we die and yet become alive? Paul tells us that we accomplish this through baptism. Through baptism we are untied with Christ in his death on the cross. As Christ died and was buried so we die and are buried with him through baptism. It is a spiritual link with Christ. In our baptism we leave all the Sin and guilt at the foot of the cross and in the tomb. This is not the end. Paul continues saying that just as we die in Christ we also share in his resurrection. We are raised with Christ as new creatures so that we might walk with a newness of life.

There are some important distinctions that need to be clarified. Paul is not talking about sin as individual events. He does not mean sin as a specific lie, theft, or adulterous moment. Instead Paul refers to Sin with a big “S”. In this case Sin is a cosmic force that invades and pervades every aspect of our lives. Sin is the force that leads us to negativity, selfishness, cruelty, anger, vengeance, lust, and all the painful things that we do to ourselves and each other. Sin is the voice in our heads that says “It’s ok. Don’t worry about it, what is a little lie going to hurt? What your spouse, children, boss, friends, family don’t know won’t hurt them.” The only one who can break us out of this cosmic force is Christ. Only through the love of God in Christ can we break out of the darkness and into the light of life.

Later on in Chapter 6 Paul tells the Church in Rome that the “wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Sin that goes unchecked will led us to death. This is not a physical death, all must go through that transition, but Paul is talking about a spiritual death, a death that means separation from God. God does not wish it, but we choose it for ourselves. C.S. Lewis said that “the gates of hell are locked on the inside”. This means that those in hell choose to be separated from God. They chose the selfishness of Sin and reject the freedom of grace. God, out of his live, creates a more excellent way for us through the death and resurrection of Christ. We are buried with Christ and Sin is with us, but we also rise again with Christ and the power of Sin is broken. God does this because he loves us despite our sin. We deserve death but God give us life and that is called grace. Grace is that which is given, but is not deserved. John Wesley called this justifying grace; the moment that we are made right in the eyes of God. There are many theological theories that would explain how this justification works, but however it works; we die to Sin through the death of Christ.

There were and still are some who say that Sin is not that big of a deal. In fact the more we sin the more God’s grace is demonstrated. On the surface this makes sense, it is certainly more appealing on the surface. We get to do whatever we want and the slate is wiped clean. Paul rejects this notion outright. We have to make a choice we can either keep going the same way down the same path of destruction, or by the grace and love of God make a change into a new life with Christ. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians that “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Once we are dead to Sin and alive in Christ there is no turning back, there is no return. Jesus called for repentance. The word repent means to turn away, it means to make a 180º turn, an about-face away from the path we were on. There is no greater way to demonstrate this, there is no other metaphor to explain what repentance is than to say we die to sin and are alive in Christ. It means we completely stop on life and begin another. God knows that Sin does not bring true happiness, just empty, passing moments of temporary pleasure. God knows that a healthy, complete life is in Christ. A life of love, joy, freedom, positivity, and righteousness is waiting in Christ. Paul calls it a more excellent way.

This is a process. It does not happen overnight, in fact it is a lifetime of commitment, setbacks, learning, and trying again. John Wesley called this process Sanctification and it is a process that will not be completed until Christ’s return, until all creation is redeemed and made new in Christ and until God’s reign is on Earth as it is in Heaven. Theologian George Hunsinger said that we are in tension between the cross and the resurrection. We are between the justification and the perfection, between the death of the old and the fullness of glory in the new. Let us look toward the newness of life, let us come out of the darkness and into the light of Christ.

The question for all of us today is, what do we need to bury? What bad feelings, negativity, and darkness do you need to bury today? Maybe you have been gossiping behind someone’s back and saying hurtful things. Maybe you have a bad attitude that brings everyone around you down. Maybe you have shame and guilt from some passed transgression that is eating you up inside. Maybe you have doubts of God’s goodness and mercy for you. We have all failed to love each other and love God as he wants us to love. Today is the day, if Sin is clinging to you bury it with Christ. Bring it to the altar and leave it there. Let the Sin die there and return alive in Christ.

In the name of the Father who creates us, the Son who redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us. Amen