Audacity

This sermon was heard at The Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday July 24, 2016, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

I love that over the past eight weeks we have had an opportunity to get to know one another better. Some of you I have gotten to know better than others. Over the next couple of months, I hope to rectify that further. Today I am going to share another bias with you, I am a fan of the New Revised Standard Version of the bible. There’s nothing wrong with the New International Version, but sometimes it loses some of the nuance the New Standard Revised keeps. Then again, there are times I prefer the NIV over the NRSV, and last week I showed used the New Living Translation, so I do tend to look around and see what’s faithful to the original text and what’s not. The reading from Hosea got a white-washing from the New International Version.

The NIV reads… “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” Yes, I called that white-washed.

In the NRSV that same half of Hosea 1:2 goes like this… “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

No good editor likes to use the same word three times in the same sentence, but who says the Lord needs an editor? I won’t say the NIV sounds appealing, what with promiscuous, adulterous, and unfaithfulness, but each of these words have different shades of “bad” in English as we read them. I mean it’s not good, but it could be worse, right?

The New Revised Standard gives us the “what’s worse,” whoredom, whoredom, and great whoredom. Perhaps the most concentrated use of the word “whoredom” in scripture. It’s a blue ribbon for Holy Writ! We have reached maximum whoredom.

Another translation I find useful is the New American Standard Version because it provides a very good word for word translation. The Hebrew here is translated as harlotry, harlotry, and flagrant harlotry. What’s flagrant harlotry? Is it like basketball where you get two shots from the line and the ball back when your team gets a flagrant harlotry foul? Whatever it is, Israel has done it. Mazel tov Israel, the Lord is done with you.

Gomer bore Hosea three children. The first is named Jezreel, named after a nation of people wiped off of the face of the earth. The second is named Lo-Ruhamah which means “no love” or “no pity.” Their third child is named “Lo-ammi.” The NIV says this means “not my people.” The NRSV doesn’t offer up the translation in parentheses, it goes straight to the explanation, “you are not my people and I am not your God.”

Over the past couple of weeks we have sung, “Seek Ye First.” The second verse goes like this:

Ask and it shall be given unto you,
seek and you shall find;
knock and the door shall be opened unto you -
Allelu, alleluia!

These words come loosely from today’s Luke reading. This is often used to tell people that if you only ask, God will provide. This has given way to something called “The Prosperity Gospel.” Prosperity proponents see faith as a contract, not a covenant between God and God’s own. If we have faith, God will deliver us not only in the heavenly realm but here on earth with security, health, and prosperity. If we act in faith, God will deliver. So if you give, God will give you wellness and wealth. I believe the scriptural term for this is “hogwash,” or at least it is in Arkansas, home of the Razorbacks.

But you know, these words are in scripture, so what do we do with them? First, we keep them with the words that precede them. This a parable about a man whose guest arrives late at night, so late that he didn’t have any bread to serve when he arrives. So he goes to see if his neighbor has three loaves. He knocks. He knocks loud. He knocks hard. He knocks often.

His neighbor is ticked off, and who wouldn’t be. It’s after midnight, and while the man wasn’t up watching Colbert (again, my preference) he had to get up early in the morning to work and work hard. The kids were in bed, with him. That was a cultural thing. Houses didn’t have rooms and beds for everybody. Getting up is a bother. Getting up would wake the kids. Then again, it’s not like the knocking and yelling is helping anybody sleep.

Now here’s an instance where I prefer the New International over the New Revised, the NRSV says the man with the guest will get bread because of his “persistence.” In the NIV the man gets what he needs because of his “shameless audacity.” Everything else being equal, give me the more expressive translation. Yeah, shameless audacity. Jesus tells his disciples to pray like this man asks his neighbor for bread, with shameless audacity.

I have a friend, Dr. Steve, who once preached on prayer and used this children’s sermon. This is the condensed version.

Once upon a time on the Barbary Coast, a bunch of school children and their teacher were going to go to the beach for a picnic. They hoped and prayed for good weather because there was only one day they could picnic and if there was bad weather there would be no picnic that Spring. Well, the big day came and it was pouring rain so the picnic was cancelled and they were all disappointed. They all wailed and cried. BUT what they didn’t know is that because of the weather Pirates couldn’t come ashore, pirates who surely would have taken them and their teacher and made them all slaves. The End.

Notice I didn’t say it was a good children’s sermon. His lesson was that we should just pray “God’s will be done” because what God wants is best for us. As far as it goes, I can’t disagree that what God wants is best for us and we must pray God’s will be done. We’ve just prayed “God’s will be done,” it would be foolish to preach against that. There’s nothing audacious here except for the nightmare ending, but there has to be more.

Did Hosea pray to God, “Golly Lord, thanks for telling me to wed this promiscuous woman, er, whore of whoredom, ah, I mean harlot?” No, I can’t imagine that was a good time at family dinner during the Shabbat either, “Mom, Dad, this is Gomer. Yes, I know her name means “complete” but the Lord is done with us as a nation, so it’s appropriate. Look I brought wine! (Gomer, Strong’s Concordance, 1584)” I can’t imagine that was a nice dinner at all.

This is the life of the prophet Hosea, with his harlot wife and children of harlotry named after the fate of Israel, flagrant harlotry; and how does our reading from this disaster end? Israel will be decimated, but… but the Lord prays, “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Now that’s a prayer you don’t expect after whoredom, adulterous, and flagrant harlotry. Even the Lord prays with shameless audacity. What can come from shameless audacity? This is a piece of a letter from a Texan living in Chicago named Chris Ladd:

Watching Ronald Reagan as a boy, I recall how bold it was for him to declare ‘morning again’ in America. In a country menaced by Communism and burdened by a struggling economy, the audacity of Reagan’s optimism inspired a generation. (https://goplifer.com/2016/07/22/resignation-letter/)

Say what you will, Reagan had some audacity. Like him or not, Regan had some audacity. Right or wrong, and history will be the judge, Reagan had some audacity.

Like him or not, like his policies or not, Reagan was largely responsible for ending the Cold War. Agree with how he did it or not, Reagan was responsible for making the United States the last standing super-power in a world of tiny little despots and frightened rulers. Like it or not, agree with him or not, say what you will, audacity was not lacking.

Yes, we need to seek God’s will in our lives. We need to come together in prayer. We need to come together. We need to see where God is leading us and his church. As I said last week we need to sit at his feet, we need to be close so when God moves we can move with God. Yes, it begins with prayer, then it goes further.

As Jesus teaches us “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We are called to pray for the greatest gift of all; not a car, nor a house, nor any other wealth which rots on this earth. We are called to pray to receive the greatest gift God can give us. His spirit. Come Holy Spirit. And through the Holy Spirit, we will be able to seek God’s will for our lives and the life of the Church which is his body. That is audacity at its most valiant.

Blinded by the Light

This sermon was heard at John Calvin Presbyterian Church in Shreveport, Louisiana on Sunday February 7, 2016, the Last Sunday in Epiphany, Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday. Sorry, no audio.

Exodus 34:29-35
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Twenty years ago next month, while I was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Lamar, Colorado, I was helping host a Presbyterian Revival called “Spirit Alive.” Yes, yes, a Presbyterian revival, sounds kind of funny. I joked that “Presbyterian revival” meant that nobody drank decaf all weekend. I was the Hospitality Chair which meant I put together the drinks and snacks for the visiting team that was doing the presentations.

The visiting pastor who led the revival was the Reverend Scott Luckey. On Saturday night, he preached a sermon on forgiveness. To make a long story short, at that moment in time I was handling the breakup with a girlfriend poorly. Even though the breakup had happened eight years earlier, I was still handling it poorly. I was so scarred that I couldn’t forgive. Not because I was unable to forgive, but because I couldn’t think of what I needed to forgive her for. Again, long story. But see, I had met someone; and those thoughts and feelings were beginning to reawaken. I knew if I couldn’t get beyond those old feelings I would mess up the best thing to happen to me in a long time.

In the Saturday night sermon, Pastor Luckey said only when you are able to forgive will you know what it is to be forgiven. Now, I don’t know about you. I don’t know where you were twenty years ago at about 8:30 PM Mountain Time, but a shaft of light entered that sanctuary and shined down on me. I don’t see how anybody within 750 miles could have missed it! It was glorious.

When he said that, things began to change. I say began because things weren’t always perfect. They never are. There was still healing to be done, but after eight long years I was finally off square one.

One of the most common images used in scripture is light. One of the first images in scripture is light, Genesis 1:3, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good.” Don’t forget, light is always good in scripture. As for me, sitting in that sanctuary on that dark Saturday night, the light of Christ’s forgiveness was good.

Light is often associated with the presence of God. John’s and Luke’s gospels call Jesus the Light of the World. In 2Corinthians Paul writes, “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the light. Knowledge of Christ is the light shining out of the darkness.

There are many more examples, if you have a concordance or the internet you can find more, but I think biblically we can say “Light—Good.”

Earlier this week I saw an article from Forbes about dumb things bosses say. One of the important things it says is every boss, unless you are very, very lucky, will say something dumb from time to time. That’s just being human. It is when saying dumb things becomes a pattern that employees should worry. Enter Peter, stage right…

Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him up on the mountain to pray. While he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw Moses and Elijah talking to him. Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were swallowed by the brightness, the light shined such that Jesus’ robes became as white as white can be. The three apostles are blinded by the light.

They are overwhelmed by who and what they see! They see Moses who was last seen going into the mountains alone to watch the people enter the Promised Land. They see Elijah who was last seen by Elisha being swept away by the whirlwind into the heavens. These heroes of the faith are chatting with Jesus, apparently speaking of his departure.

So what does Peter do with this overload, he erupts! “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Dang. Peter takes a perfect moment, not a perfectly good moment but a perfect moment, and goes off the farm hoping to build “Mountainside Holy Land Village and Retreat Center,” three prophets, no waiting.

Our translation says, “not knowing what he said.” Another way to say that could be “he had no idea what he just said.”

We’ve all got that friend, don’t we? Open mouth, insert foot? That fine ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. It generally comes with a moderate amount of embarrassment. Scripture doesn’t record the look James and John gave him. Then again, maybe all Peter did was save James and John the indignity of being the first to say something dumb.

Before their critique could come, they were all covered in a cloud and heard a voice saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen (or ‘my beloved’ depending on the translation); listen to him!” Then, suddenly, it was a day like it was before the face of Jesus changed (and that’s all the word “transfiguration” means, change face).

Friends, we’ve all been blinded by something or other. Peter was blinded by the light. He was so flummoxed by what he had seen that he had no idea what to say. Peter’s problem was that he thought something needed to be said and then he said something. When we live our lives like an action movie, we tend to say all the wrong things at all the right times. This hardly makes Peter special, it only immortalizes him in scripture. Among my friends, I was the one who said the dumb things. I’m better now, but it made the ‘70’s and ‘80’s memorable.

So how do we avoid this? Here are some starters. The first is to pray. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where God is working in our lives. I’m not saying we will be able to discern the invisible hand of God at work. I believe when we “see” that, we put God’s name on what we want to call God’s work, what we hope is God’s work. So if we don’t look at the work where do we look? We need to look at the faces of those around us. As we become more aware of others we will begin to see the face of Christ around us.

When we see the face of Christ in those around us, we will treat each other differently. When we look for light instead of darkness we behave differently. When people do the same toward us we’ll notice that too. All too often, even in a city this size, people treat one another like obstacles or like nothing at all. If we seek the face of Christ in one another it is impossible to behave that way.

When the voice in the cloud said “listen to him,” this is what it meant. In the ancient languages, “listen” meant more than “hear,” it also meant “respond.” Pray and listen. See where God is working and go work with God and God’s people.

Then we need to stop and smell the roses. We need to spend time with God and with one another. In the church we call this koinonia, we call this fellowship. We act as a community. We come together and share a meal. We spend time with people for no other reason than it is good.

Look at it this way, God exists as distinct three persons; Father, Son, and Spirit. If community is good for God’s very existence, it must be absolutely necessary for us. Without a community, we are nothing. Only through others can we see the face of God in Christ.

And vice-versa, only through the face of God in Christ can we really see others.

Only when we are quiet, only when we pray, only when we become aware, only when we come together and only we respond to one another can we see the light, be in the light. Is this scary? Peter, James, and John were scared in the presence of the Lord so it would be foolish if we weren’t. We might be blinded by the light like Peter, we may even say something dumb. But as we pray, come together, and respond with and to one another; that will happen less and less. And the rewards of life abiding in Christ are glorious.

Oh, that woman I met twenty years ago, this July she and I will be married for nineteen years. Friends, let’s hear it for my wonderful, wonderful wife, my partner, my bringer of perspective, (in Hebrew) my ezer, my love and my heart, Marie. I thank God for her every day. I can see the light of Christ reflected through her like a prism shining many glorious colors. She helps me see the light of Christ. And I say fewer dumb things because of her. Praise God.

Halleluiah, Amen.

Expert Authority

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church on July 25, 2010, the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-15

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

It was about ten years ago when “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” hit American Television. Suddenly, Regis Philbin, “phone-a-friend,” and “is that your final answer” were all over primetime and the national conscience. That summer, one of my co-workers even told me that if she was ever on “Millionaire,” I was going to be her phone-a-friend. The reason was pretty obvious; I have this store of worthless knowledge that goes in a million directions.

In high school I was on our school district’s version of quiz-bowl, the number two player on my team two years in a row. In college I was a trivial pursuit champion. In the workplace, I was Google before Google was Google. With that, came certain authority. I was sought out as an expert on movies, music, science, sports, humor, darts, pipe tobacco, business law, finance, insurance, student development theory as it relates to liberal arts education, the Education Department General Administrative Regulations and geography of the United States and Canada. (Yeah, I didn’t date much.)

In ancient Judea, it was common for Rabbis to teach their disciples how to pray. Where the scribes and the Pharisees were in charge at the Temple in Jerusalem, the Rabbis were the leaders of small bands of disciples. It is sort of like a pastor-congregation relationship. I’m not saying to heck with the temple leadership in Little Rock and Louisville, but I am saying as a matter of fact, as standard operating procedure, that when basic questions arise, folks usually go to the Pastor or Elder or Deacon or Sunday School teacher before seeking a ruling from the Permanent Judicial Council.

Evidently John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray a certain way. He was their Rabbi, he was their teacher, he was their local expert and had the authority to teach them. From Luke’s gospel, at least one of Jesus’ disciples at least knew John had teachings on prayer. He must have heard about ir or read the brochure or something. So if John can teach his disciples to pray, surely Jesus could teach his disciples to pray too.

So Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He gives us five simple petitions:

“Hallowed be,” or “make holy” the name of the Father.

“May the Father’s Kingdom come.”

“Give us the bread we need for today”. Though this could also be translated “Give us the bread we need for tomorrow.”

“Forgive our sins, for we forgive all who are indebted to us.”

And “Do not bring us into sin’s temptation.” Another way to say this is “do not bring us to a time of trial or testing.”

That’s it, five little petitions. Depending on how you translate the petition for bread, one or two of them are for today and the rest are for the future. They are about how we are to live today and about the end times when God’s kingdom comes.

We pray God’s name will be sanctified throughout all creation. In a time when people of the earth prayed to a Parthenon of gods, we pray that the name of the Lord be made holy. In a time when people put so much before the praise and worship of the one true God; we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy and as pure as light. Whether it be the gods of the Greeks or Romans; or some other philosophy or empty deceit sprouting from human tradition that Paul warns us about in Colossians; we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy.

Bread was the most basic food of the ancient Israelites. Asking for daily bread harkens us back to the days of the Exodus when God provided manna as the daily bread for the nation. The people were told to gather as much as they needed, and no more, because they were to depend upon the Lord for their daily bread. Everything that’s old is new again when God provides daily bread for the people.

As for the future, in God’s kingdom is all of the bread we will need for tomorrow, in God’s coming kingdom we will never be hungry again. Still we must remember that the bread Jesus refers to is not some frilly loaf from a specialty baker. It’s more like a flatbread, pita or tortilla than a fancy foccacia. Our daily bread is no sundried tomato basil dill herb concoction, but with this simple bread we will never be hungry again.

Forgiveness is, in its own way, bread for the soul, without it we cannot live. What’s unusual about this petition is that we ask for forgiveness because “we forgive all being indebted to us.” In this prayer, we ask God to give us what we have already given others. This is possible if we could fully forgive another in the sinful world we live in, but we know this is impossible. This is only possible in God’s kingdom, where we share in God’s grace and receive God’s good gifts, including forgiveness. So today our duty is not just to forgive, it is to keep forgiving.

Finally we pray not to be lead into temptation. On the way to the kingdom, the ancient Jews faced many trials and temptations, many of them coming from the many gods (that with a lower case “g”) of the ancient world. Temptations on the road to the kingdom distract us from the true goal of holy lives devoted to God, and so we pray not to be distracted.

Thank God that Jesus answers this question directly. The world is used to the Rabbi answering questions with other questions like the Lawyer’s questions and answers with the story of the Good Samaritan. So when Jesus answers this question directly, we should rejoice, a straight answer to a straight question.

Of course, being the disciples of Jesus, we know that nothing is as simple as we would like it to be, we should be alert for the other shoe to drop. We need to be ready to consider the deeper implications of what Jesus has said.

When we force the gospel to become law, and when law is applied to the practice of prayer; our confession, our praise, our supplications, our intercessions become formulas we use to reach God. When we use formulas, we end up creating prayers that are “right” and prayers that are “wrong.” The words of Christ are more than a roadmap to God; they are the very words of God. The Lord’s Prayer is an important prayer, but there is more to it than that. These are very good words, but they are not magic words.

Famed pastor and preacher William Sloane Coffin talks about advice he received from his preaching professor from seminary. One of this professor’s teachings that stuck with Coffin is “Does this preacher describe God or offer God?” Describing the ultimately mysterious absolutely different Lord our God is a vanity exercise. There is no way that we can truly answer the question “Who is God?” so it is up to the preacher to offer God’s presence, testifying to the truth in Jesus Christ.[1]

To explain “The Lord’s Prayer” like I have so far is to describe God, it may have a place, but in the end it is little more than mental gymnastics. I might have a point or two along the way that might be helpful for our walk with God, and in the end it comes up lacking. It’s all fact and no truth. It’s all godly formula without Godly presence. It’s what made me a trivia expert. It’s not what makes us good disciples.

We are called to pray in reverence and in love to God the Father who loves us first. We pray to the Lord who loves us more than we can love God, one another, and ourselves. This prayer reminds us of the faith and glory of the Lord our God. This prayer reminds us that our God is the loving father of us all.

This is especially true for those who did not have good fathers. The Lord that loves us more than we could ever hope or imagine is the good Father we have longed for all of our lives. The Lord is the Father we have needed all of our lives. This prayer introduces us to a new relationship with the Lord our God.

This prayer is an introduction to a loving relationship with our Holy Father. As Jesus reveals in the Lord’s Prayer, God is the father whose name alone is holy. God is the father whose kingdom is greater even than God’s own good creation. God is the father who feeds. God is the father who forgives. God is the father who encourages and empowers us forgive others. God is the father who helps us seek eternal life, not a life of temptation. This is the relationship with our God and with God’s good creation we are called to seek though prayer. It is only through a right relationship with God that we can seek a right relationship with others.

The story at the end of our reading helps us understand this. The neighbor didn’t respond to the friend in need out of the goodness of his heart. He responded to his neighbor’s shameless persistence and out of what he feared his other neighbors would think if he had denied hospitality to another. He acted out of obligation not grace. Through a right relationship with our Lord we can begin to imagine the God who acts out of perfect loving faithfulness.

We look to the future of God’s kingdom while we live in the world today. The Lord’s Prayer is for today and for tomorrow. It’s a prayer for now, and prayer for what is not yet; and it can be tough as nails to pray.

We are called to pray “Our Father in heaven,” but fail to embrace all people as God’s children.

We are called to pray, “Your kingdom come,” without working for the kingdom on earth.

We are called to pray for our daily bread but we see it as our due for our daily work, not recognizing it as God’s good gift to the world.

We are called to pray for forgiveness for ourselves, but we fail to offer pardon to others.

We plead not to be led by God into times of trial, but walk willingly into temptations we find on our own.

We tend to honor God with our lips, but fail to honor God with our lives.[2]

We pray as we are taught, but with this prayer we are called to a way of life we don’t often live up to. This kingdom of God, far from the conditions we live in on any kind of permanence, is one that we can live in for moments at a time.

When we pray for the kingdom to come, we pray with an eye to when Jesus comes again. In the meantime, we are called to act as if the kingdom has come. Doing this, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus in the way that he walked the earth. This is like a lightening strike. It doesn’t last long, it happens in the blink of an eye. But when it happens, it comes with a thunder that announces its arrival. And the place where the lightening strikes is never quite the same.

This question, how should we pray, is as old as humanity. From the moment we sensed, from the moment we knew there was a presence more powerful than us; prayer has been a part of life. Sometimes prayer has involved blood sacrifice and others a sacrifice of praise. Sometimes it has involved memorized words recited by rote, sometimes it’s spontaneously lifted in the spirit of the moment. Sometimes it is in the language of the priests, sometimes in the language of the people, and sometimes in the language of the angels. The question of how to pray is so good that it was asked by Jesus’ disciples.

More important than the words of prayer; Jesus teaches us how to be disciples. Jesus teaches us about developing the relationship he wants us to have with our Lord through prayer. Through prayer Jesus teaches us about the relationship he wants us to have with one another, and just as much, Jesus teaches us about the relationship he wants us to have with ourselves. Luke gives us this reassurance of God’s faithful nature, and there is no better expert on God the Father than God the Son.

[1] Coffin, William Sloane, “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years” Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. From Martin E. Marty’s introduction, pages xxvii-xxviii.
[2] This section is based on a Prayer of Confession found in Homiletics Magazine, online version, http://homileticsonline.com/subscribe.printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93000008 accessed June 11, 2007

The Shepherd Calls Us All

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on April 13, 2008, the 4th Sunday in Easter.

The image at right is a chalk drawing of Jesus the Good Shepherd in the chancel of the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas.


Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10



May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

In our gospel reading today, we heard the first half of what is known as the “Good Shepherd” discourse. There is no more endearing image of Jesus from scripture than the Good Shepherd. You need only look behind me for proof of this. The wonder of this image is not only that the shepherd cares for the sheep, but that the shepherd protects the sheep from predators and thieves.

Imagine if you will a large pen, a stockyard or a sale barn perhaps. In this yard are the sheep of many different shepherds. The gatekeeper recognizes the shepherd, so the gate is opened and the shepherd calls the sheep by name. Somehow, some way, the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. When the shepherd calls, the sheep come.

Saturday afternoon, I was sitting at the computer, looking over this sermon, and one of our cats came into the room. Now, cats are historically finicky. It is said you don’t own a cat, the cat owns you. But Cal is different; he knows his name and responds when called. When I call him he knows he will be petted, he will be loved. We even started a game while in seminary, while he is on the bed I can walk up to him, pat my chest, and he will come up, put his paws on my chest, and I pet him.

Now does that make him well trained or me?

I couldn’t tell you how the sheep know the shepherd’s voice, but scripture says they do. Perhaps it is something like me calling Cal by name. The shepherd develops such a loving and protecting relationship with each sheep that an intimacy develops. Or maybe it is the flock who knows their shepherd’s voice like Israel knows the voice of the Lord their God.[1]

In our Call to Worship we offered the words of the nation of Israel, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”[2] In this Psalm, the Lord is worshipped for the protection of the shepherd and how the shepherd provides for the flock.

We give thanks that we have a good shepherd in the Lord Jesus, a shepherd who protects the sheep from danger. That’s actually what I preached a year ago, the last time this gospel reading was used in worship.

But when I read all of the lectionary readings this time I became more interested in the sheep than the shepherd.

My usual sermon points to Jesus in the word and in the world. But recently I have been thinking not just about Christ but the body of Christ, the church. And while these readings from John and the Psalms wonderfully describe Jesus as the Good Shepherd, today I am drawn to who we are as the sheep and the flock.

As the sheep in the psalm, we shall fear no evil because of the work of the Good Shepherd. We are fed and watered in perfect rest and harmony, not in a terrified and anxious hurry. We have been anointed and set aside; we drink from the cup of many blessings, the cup which over flows with the goodness of the Lord.

We are so loved that we have been given a name, both as individuals and as a holy people. We are a people following the call of the good shepherd. The voices of other shepherds surround us; voices that call us away from the good shepherd and toward a life that is less; voices that tempt us to veer from a holy way of life.

The thief would come to steal and kill and destroy, but the good shepherd offers life, abundant life.

So often, this is where I would say give praise, halleluiah, glory to God. But today, as the church, as the holy people of God, as the flock of the shepherd, I want us to ask the question “what comes next?”

In Acts, we are offered the answer. The Acts of the Apostles is a unique book in the New Testament. It is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke and continues the narrative account of the early church, from the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, continuing with the spread of the gospel “to the ends of the earth.”[3] In this portrait of the church, the people devoted themselves to the Lord and the teachings of the Lord in the church.

The first of the four characteristics of the church in Acts is holding fast to the teaching of the apostles, as they teach the meaning of the kerygma, or gospel message.[4] Kerygma is one of those fancy words you can drop into conversation to impress or bore your friends, but there is a very important reason to use it. Kerygma by its very definition reminds us that the message is more important than the messenger.[5]

When I was working at the University of Arkansas, one day I was on my way to my boss’ office when I heard a campus preacher on a soapbox. This is nothing new at the UofA; in fact, there had been an article in the campus newspaper about this particular man. As I walked by, he was preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Two hours later, as I returned from my boss’ office and from lunch, he was still there in full voice. But he had gotten off of his soapbox and onto his high horse preaching hair length.

Yes, it is biblical. Paul’s discourse on hair in 1Corinthians 11 is there for a reason. But this young man had gone from the fullness of the Gospel to the narrowness of Paul Mitchell and Miss Clairol. He had gone from the message of sacrificial love and gone to cosmetology school to show what offended him and God. As the early church in Acts, we need to focus on the full teaching of the Gospel, not tiny pieces of it. We are called to focus on the one who is the message, not the one who gives it today.

The second of the four characteristics is koinonia, the fellowship which entails both spiritual communion and the sharing of possessions.[6] The people were called to be together in the community of believers.

There are many who say: “I feel just as close to God in the woods (or on the lake, or with my family, or in bed, or so on) than I ever could in church, and I was once one of them. There is something to be said for solitary time of meditation and reflection, but this alone is not how we are called to respond to the word of the Lord.

We are called to come together to hear the word of God. We are called to come together to be the community of God and it is impossible to be a community of one. I have spoken of Jewish theologian Martin Buber who said, “I cannot be an I without a thou.” In the Lord, if we do not have a relationship with others, we do not have a relationship with the people of God, nor do we have a relationship with God. We don’t even have a right relationship with ourselves. To be God’s people, we must be with God’s people as God’s people serving God’s people.


This point is also elaborated on later in this reading. The author of Acts reminds us that the people would sell their possessions and distribute the proceeds to those in need. Scripture does not say “other members of the community as they had need,” it says “distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Yes, God is alive in the church, but only when the church is alive in the world meeting the needs of all God’s creation.


The sharing of meals and celebration of the Lord’s Supper is the third element of the church’s devotion shared in Acts.[7] Today we will celebrate both beginning with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We are called to joyfully come together and share the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ. We celebrate this meal that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose for us. [8]

Today we also celebrate Fellowship Sunday. We come together and break bread and drink from the cup of what is in the refrigerator. We will sit around the table and share stories, we will laugh, and we will share concerns with one another. We are called to share the word of God, and we are called to joyfully share the bounty of the Lord’s Table and the kitchen table together.


The last of the four characteristics of the early church is prayer, both in their homes and in the Temple.[9] We are called to share our joys and concerns for the church, the world, and one another. We are called to pray not just for those we love, but for those who would do us harm. We are called to pray not just for the weak, but also for the strong. I am called to pray for you and you for me.

Brian Kolodiejchuk, a member of the Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Charity, collected and edited the letters of Mother Teresa in a book called “Come Be My Light.”[10] In her letters, there is one thing that stood out to me as she wrote of the Sisters of Loreto, the Missionaries of Charity, and the people of India; she ended nearly every letter begging the recipient, “Please pray for me.” The Saint of Calcutta knew the prayers she needed from the people and from the church. In this, we should remember that if Mother Teresa needed prayer, all of us need prayer.

Let me say to you, in the words of Mother Teresa, “Please pray for me.”

We talk about the Good Shepherd, but we also need to talk about our role as the flock; the body of Christ bringing in the Kingdom of God; the kingdom begun before the creation, marked by the crucifixion and resurrection, continuing today. The shepherd calls us all, all of the sheep in the pen. The shepherd calls us to be the flock and follow him, Jesus the Christ, into the assembly and into the world.

We are called together to share the good gifts of God with one another and with the world. We are called to do this as joyful response to the gift of salvation given freely by the grace of God.

We are called to be like the church of Acts spending much time together; breaking bread and eating with glad and generous hearts praising God; having the goodwill of all the people; through kerygma, koinonia, breaking bread and prayer. And by these things, through God’s grace and peace, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

We are called to be the church, the body of Christ in the world today as the church was called to be two thousand years ago.

[1] New Interpreter’s Bible, volume IX, page 667.
[2] This rendering of the 23rd Psalm comes from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship. As this Psalm was from today’s lectionary, we used it as our Call to Worship.
[3] Introduction to “The Acts of the Apostles” from the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, electronic edition
[4] Ibid, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[5] “Kerygma”, BDAB Lexicon, Electronic Edition
[6] Ibid, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid, Presbyterian Book of Common Worship, Communion Setting E
[9] Ibid, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[10] “Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta”, Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC, editor. New York: Doubleday, 2007.

Absurd Requests

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday December 23, 2007, the 4th Sunday in Advent.

Isaiah 7:10-16
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

The Reverend Doctor Kathryn Roberts is an Old Testament scholar and an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. One of her sermons is called “Uh oh, It’s an Angel.”[1] She contends that whenever someone sees an angel in the Old Testament it’s to announce a pregnancy. See an angel, uh oh, someone’s pregnant. I won’t argue with her either.

In Genesis 16, Hagar leaves her mistress Sarai who has been abusing her because she is carrying the child of her husband Abram. Mind you, Sarai gave Hagar to her husband so she could bear him a son, but that didn’t prevent the green monster of jealousy from raising its ugly head. Hagar is abused for doing as her as her mistress commanded. Yeah, that’s gratitude.

While Hagar is making her sojourn into the wilderness, she receives a visit from the angel of the Lord while she is resting at a spring on the road to Shur. The angel says to Hagar, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” The messenger of the Lord tells Hagar to return to the woman who is abusing her. Now tell me, what would you say to the angel?

Sure, the angel promises her son will be the father of a great multitude, but the angel also promises he will be a wild ass of a man with his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him. This still doesn’t sound like a good deal to me. I sure wouldn’t want my sisters to be involved in this sort of a situation.

Hagar returns to her mistress and bears her husband a son, Ishmael. Ishmael means God hears.[2]

Hagar receives a horrible request, and complies naming her son after the act of mercy she receives in the wilderness, God hears.

About twelve years later, Abram, since renamed Abraham, receives three visitors from the wilderness.[3] He welcomes them to his camp and invites them to stay for a meal. When the three men agreed to stay, Abraham directed his people to set a feast before them. Curds and milk were laid out along with bread made from his finest flour. A choice calf was slaughtered and prepared and put before them, all the while, Abraham waited off to the side tending to the needs of the men.

When they finished this fine meal of veal they were pleased with the hospitality and courtesy Abraham showed. So in his honor, one of the men said that he would return in about a year and Sarai, now called Sarah, will bear Abraham a son. She was in the tent, but she heard the prophecy. She was on the near side of 90 years old and she was going to bear her 100 year old husband a son. This messenger’s word made her laugh out loud.

But she carried a child and she bore a son. She named him Isaac which means “He laughs.”[4] A 90 year old woman bears a son, I’d be laughing too, but I would be laughing because of how outrageous this is, not because of how funny it is.

There are other examples in the Old Testament, birth announcements coming from messengers and travelers from the Lord, these others include the birth of Samson.[5]

Samson is promised by an angel of the Lord to a woman known in scripture as the barren wife of Manoah. (How’s that for a name to be known by for all eternity?) An angel of the Lord appears to her and promises a son who is to be kept holy and prepared to serve the Lord as a Nazirite. Of course Manoah doesn’t believe a word that his wife tells him about this most unlikely birth, not without hearing from the angel of the Lord himself. So the angel appears to Manoah and confirms the prophecy. She too bears a son and names him Samson. Samson means Sun or the Sun’s Man.[6]

Samuel’s mother Hannah receives the announcement of his birth from Eli, an old man of a priest in the temple, and he thought she was drunk. But as soon as she showed she was praying in earnest and not bombed out of her skull Eli bid her to go in peace. You’re drunk! Oh, no you’re not, you’re going to have a baby, now get out of here and have a nice day. What kind of an absurd conversation is this? Thank you for your kind words O prophet. As I said, she named her son Samuel, which means “name of God.”[7]

But the Old Testament isn’t alone with these odd birth announcements. Luke gives us the astounding annunciation of Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son.[8] Zechariah was a priest and a righteous man, and his wife, Elizabeth was unable to bear children. One season, Zechariah was chosen to take the incense into the Holy of the Holies, and while there he was greeted by the angel of the Lord who told him “do not be afraid for your prayer had been heard.” He was told his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son.

Now, as had been the case for Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah was old and according to scripture, Elizabeth was “advanced in years.” When told of his wife’s pregnancy, he asked the angel “How shall I know this?” Zachariah is told “I am Gabriel, who stands before God.” And because Zechariah would not believe Gabriel, the angel took Zechariah’s ability to say anything. He was mute until his son was born and named John. John means “God is gracious.”[9] This is the man who will become John the Baptist.

So by the time we get to today’s narrative from Luke, we’ve pretty much established that Dr. Robert’s presumption has merit, not just in the Old Testament, but in the gospels too. See an angel, uh oh, somebody’s pregnant. Oh, and by the way, it’s going to be an unusual pregnancy. Just who do these angels, these messengers, think they are? They take the lives of ordinary people and place on them extraordinary demands. These are some outrageous commands.

Imagine being a ninety year old woman and being asked to bear the child of the promise into this world, or her hand maid getting abused while bearing the son who was the presumed child of the promise. Imagine telling the Lord in prayer that if you bear a son you will dedicate him to the temple as Samuel’s mother did, or being told by the angel of the Lord that you will bear a son and you will dedicate him to the temple as Samson’s mother did.

In my humble opinion, the most absurd of these requests comes in today’s gospel reading. Joseph has just learned that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant. Now, they hadn’t known one another so he couldn’t have been the father, so who was? I’m not sure it really mattered to him, whoever on earth was the father could be the father. He was ready to be done with her.

Then just as he had resolved to do this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Now, I may be a little too much of a twenty-first century man, but if I had heard that, I would have been looking for the speaker and the camera. My fiancé is carrying the child of the Holy Spirit? Yeah, right sure. Where’s Candid Camera? Am I getting Punk’d?

What kind of absurd notion is this?

Then he gets his next absurd request from the Spirit: “She will bear a son, and you will call him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Jesus means God is salvation.[10] Then the Spirit continues, but the people will call him Emmanuel.” Emmanuel means God is with us.

How absurd is this? Joseph’s girlfriend is pregnant, she’s carrying the child of the Holy Spirit, he’s going to call him Jesus (the first century equivalent of Bob) and they (whoever they are) will call him God with us.

Forgive me if I find this a little absurd.

We have heard this story so many times. We know how it ends, both on Christmas morning and again on Easter morning. We have heard this story so many times that it is easy to lose the wonder of the day and the time and the events, and lose just how utterly absurd these requests are. This morning, it is that outrageousness I want us to recapture.

What Hagar, and Abraham and Sarah, and Manoah and his wife, and Hannah, and Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Joseph hear from the Lord’s messengers is so wild that there is no way on earth this could be happening, but it has. The lunacy of these events is beyond our ability to imagine, and each is more absurd than the last, but we are to keep believing. And that’s the message: In the world of the Lord our God, what we are asked to do for the advancement of the Kingdom can be pretty darned absurd.

Whether it’s raising children who will become a great nation, like Ishmael and Isaac, or children set apart for service to the temple, like Samson and Samuel, or the herald of the Prince of Peace or the Prince himself, John and Jesus; the Lord, directly and through messengers, makes demands upon us that are wild and outrageous and absurd. And we can’t allow ourselves to gloss over this absurdity because we have heard the stories so many times in the past. The Lord has always made absurd requests of the people and this will not end any time soon.

A couple of weeks ago, two members of the Presbytery of Arkansas’ Committee on Ministry came to the Session meeting for the Presbytery’s triennial evaluation. They come to check on the church, but for more than any other reason, they come to help us focus our mission as the church in the community and in the world. They asked three questions, questions to help us focus who we are and what we do as the Body of Christ:

What are we living for?
What are we willing to die for?
What excites you?

When seeking the prayerful answer to these questions, don’t be surprised if the answers seem absurd. The God of this world is able to do infinitely more than we can ever hope or imagine, and this same God comes upon us as the Holy Spirit to anoint us to participate in these wild, outrageous, and absurd activities.

Yet, we must also be discerning about the answers we hear. I will not advocate someone entering into much less returning to an abusive situation. And I have difficulty finding the wisdom and the glory of women with so much love to give not being able to bear children. So with a discerning ear, we have to ask God through prayer—individually and in groups—for the answers to these questions. And we have to listen to hear the answers when they come. And we have to remember, the answers may look nothing like we expect them to look.

Today, through the power of the Spirit who dwells within us and feeds our faith, we testify that the Lord of Lords comes to earth in a manger as a little baby. A baby born of a virgin comes to save us, Jesus saves. We will call him Emmanuel, God with us.

So now, let us follow the example of Joseph, the man who heard one of the most absurd requests and wonderful prophecies imaginable, let us do as the messengers of the Lord command us.

[1] The actual title is “Oh Shit, It’s an Angel,” but I’m not going to say that in worship.
[2] Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, entry for Ishmael, entry #10117
[3] Genesis 18
[4] BDB Lexicon, Isaac, entry #8121
[5] Judges 13
[6] Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Samson entry.
[7] BDB Lexicon, Samuel, entry #10049
[8] Luke 1:5-25
[9] http://www.babynames.com/name/JOHN accessed December 23, 2007
[10] A Boy Named Jesus, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93040353, accessed November 19, 2007.

He Asked

If not for ice on the roads south of Springfield, Missouri, this sermon would have been delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on December 16, 2007, the Third Sunday in Advent.

Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:5-10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Once I mentioned how much I like the John Cusack movie “Say Anything.”[1] It’s the story of Lloyd Dobler, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who asks out Diane Court, the prettiest, smartest girl in the school. At the big High School graduation party, this most unlikely combination caused a classmate to ask Lloyd, “I don’t know you very well, you know, but I wanted to ask you—how’d you get Diane Court to go out with you? Lloyd answered, “I called her up.”

How’s that? How did Lloyd Dobler get Diane Court to go out with him? He called her up and he asked. Nothing drastic, nothing earth shattering in the question. So the conversation continues, the classmate asks Lloyd, “But how come it worked? I mean, like, what are you?” The answer: “I’m Lloyd Dobler.” No bragging, just a simple matter of fact. He’s Lloyd Dobler.

I’ll say this for the writer and the actors, the simple elegance of this scene betrays the tension, fear, and anticipation that Lloyd felt in the first place when he asked Diane out on the date.

So John and his disciples want to know, they need to know, so they are sent with a question: “Are you the one who is to come? Or are we to wait for another?” It’s almost the classmate’s second question all over again, “I mean, like, what are you?” This is surely the question, “Oh, Jesus of Nazareth, who are you? Are you the one?”

As we read a couple of weeks ago, John had promised everyone who had come to the Jordan that while he was there to baptize with water, one who is more powerful is coming after who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. In the verse that immediately follows, we read, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.” John knew who Jesus was. Matthew’s gospel tells us that John would have prevented Jesus from being baptized by him saying, “I need to be baptized by you.”

John knew who Jesus was. The story of the Baptism of Jesus ends with a voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” John knew who Jesus was, but Jesus wasn’t doing the things he had expected the Christ to do. Jesus wasn’t doing the Messianic stuff, the Holy Spirit and fire he had expected wasn’t coming. Where’s the brimstone when you need it?

Of course, John’s expectations of a Messiah who would come with fire weren’t his own creation. There was a long history of prophets who had prophesied the coming of the Messiah with fire. Our reading from Isaiah promised God will come with vengeance and with terrible recompense. Isaiah promised divine retribution coming to destroy the enemies of God. We’re talking about fire and the Holy Spirit here.

The conventional wisdom of the day was that the Messiah would come to free the nation from its oppression by conquerors. Freedom from Rome, freedom from Babylon, freedom from Egypt, the Jews expected a military and political leader who would free them from the traditional shackles of the world and restore the Kingdom of God on earth.

But with everything John knew, knowing Jesus is the Christ, what Jesus was doing didn’t meet his expectations for the acts of the Messiah. He knew Jesus was the answer, but where’s the fire? Where’s the vengeance? Where’s the terrible recompense? Where’s the divine retribution? Where is the destruction of the enemies? John’s in prison. He isn’t long for this world, and I am guessing he is feeling the pressure of prophecy and the weight of the cosmos upon him, so he sends his disciples to ask. “Are you the one who is to come? Or are we to wait for another?”

Jesus answers John’s disciples. “Go and tell John what you see and hear.” He tells them don’t ask me, see for yourself and tell your master, your Rabbi, John what you see. “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

In a simple sentence, Jesus reminds John’s disciples of the miracles he has performed in the name of Holy God, to give glory to God. Jesus reminds John’s disciples of the blessings he spoke to the crowd in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus even reminds them of what Isaiah said later in the passage we read today, “The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!”

Jesus tells them exactly who he is. And if he isn’t what they expected, that wasn’t his concern. Maybe they should take another look at their expectations.

Jesus is exactly who he is, he is exactly who he says he is, and he isn’t Lord of creation to meet others expectations or desires. We all have an idea of who God is, but that may not be who God is at all. So how do we find out who God is? We do just what John did, he asked, so we ask.

But we must beware of asking. To get good answers we need to seek good questions. In “The Grifters,”[2] John Cusack plays a man named Roy Dillon who wants to become a grifter, a con man. So Roy went to an old con man, a legend in the field, to learn from him. When the man decided to accept him as a student, Roy asked for a lesson. The legendary grifter asked for twenty dollars and Roy gave it to him. The legend pocketed the bill and said, come back tomorrow and I’ll teach you some more.

The con man taught this lesson, ask, and people will give. You can take advantage of people just by asking them. As much as this is a lesson of life, it’s not a righteous lesson. So as we ask, we have to seek—we have to discern the righteous lessons from those that will lead to terrible recompense and divine retribution.

Yet we are fortunate, one of the joys of our questioning is that we have the source of the answers. Scripture is the word of God. Its authority is in the fact that the Bible is the authoritative historical witness to Christ. It is the testimony of those who actually saw and witnessed to the saving acts of God in history.[3] The Bible is worthy to be called Holy Scripture because it conveys, mirrors, or reflects what is authentic and valid about God and God’s works.[4]

Of course we have to beware, there are lessons that are easy to take that are incomplete, or not really there at all.

Godly American men, people of God used scripture in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries to justify slavery of Africans to oil the economic machinery. Since time immemorial godly men have used scripture to deny godly women a place in church leadership. As Presbyterians we have only in the last 100 years elected women Deacons and only in the last 50 women Ministers of Word and Sacrament. We must pray, we must seek, we must ask, but we must also discern.

Last week two members of the Presbytery of Arkansas’ Committee on Ministry came to the Session meeting for the Presbytery’s triennial evaluation. They come to check on us, but for more than any other reason, they come to help us focus our mission as the church in the community and in the world. They asked three questions, questions to help us focus who we are and what we do as the Body of Christ:

What are we living for?
What are we willing to die for?
What excites you?

He asked. And these questions are a starting point for us to see who we are and what we are willing to do as the body of Christ in the community and in God’s good creation. As for the answers, well, we have to ask the questions. With a discerning ear, we have to ask God through prayer—individually and in groups—for the answers to these questions. And we have to listen to hear the answers when they come. And we have to remember, the answers may look nothing like we expect them to look.

John asked if Jesus was the one. Jesus, in a way only Jesus does, said “Yes I am, just look around and see the Kingdom of God blossoming around you. It may not be what you expected to see, but it is what my Father expects me to do.” John’s disciples left to spread the Good News of Jesus. We need to ask: Who are you, O Lord? What are we living for? What are we willing to die for? What excites you? What excites us?

Advent is upon us. Jesus is coming. As for me, I am excited. Now, let us spread the Good News of our God who reigns now and for all generations.

[1] Crowe, Cameron, “Say Anything.” Gracie Films, 1989.
[2] Westlake, Donald E., based on the novel by Thompson, Jim, “The Grifters.” Cineplex—Odeon Films, 1990.
[3] Authority of Scripture, Richardson, Alan, “Interpreters’ Dictionary of the Bible.” 21st Printing 1992. Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1962
[4] Authority of Scripture, Barr, J. “Interpreters’ Dictionary of the Bible—Supplemental Volume.” 13th Printing 1996. Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1976.

Spiritual Disciplines-Praying

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on October 28, 2007, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Something I haven’t mentioned about Luke’s gospel in a long time is that it was the gospel for the city people of God. Mark’s gospel was first and written for the Palestinian masses. Matthew’s gospel was written second and was intended to be read and studied by Christ worshiping Jews. Luke’s gospel, the third of the gospels written, was intended for a more sophisticated, more educated audience. Luke’s gospel was for the Greeks and the Romans, the learned cultured city people. Where the first two were written in the Greek of the small town, Luke’s was written in a more formal language. Not quite the formal Greek of Socrates or Plato, but more formal than the other gospels. We might see it as the difference between the “Good News” or the “New Living” translations of the bible compared to the King James version. Luke’s is the hoidy toidy gospel.

The first time praying is mentioned in Luke’s gospel is when Zacharias was told by the messenger that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son, the man who would be known as John the Baptist. There are seven more times when Luke talks specifically about Jesus praying. Jesus prays when he is baptized. He prays on the mountainside. He prays for himself. He prays for his disciples. He prays for the church. He prays for you and me. He prays in seclusion. He prays with others. He prays in the garden. And as he prays in the garden sweat drops from his brow like great drops of blood.

Our reading today is one of the five times that Jesus teaches about praying. Other times include the Lord’s Prayer, the story of the Widow and the Unjust Judge, Jesus denouncing the way the Scribes pray, Jesus telling the masses to pray for those who abuse them, and today’s lesson, Jesus describing the praying of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

So given these bits of the history of the canon and this lexicon of Lukan praying scripture, I want you to know something special about Luke’s gospel. There are more stories about praying in Luke’s gospel than in all of the other gospels combined.[1] Even John’s gospel, the most ethereal, the most spiritual of the gospels; doesn’t mention prayer or praying even once. But the city Gospel, the Gospel written by the good physician, Luke has thirteen different praying stories. So it seems to me, that the writers and editors and translators of Luke’s gospel thought praying is of great importance for the people receiving this message of the Good News.

Let me say that again, in my opinion, the writers and editors and translators of Luke’s gospel thought praying is of great importance for the people receiving this message of the Good News. Ordinarily you might expect me to say that Jesus though praying was important. And of course, this is true. You might also have expected me to say that Luke thought prayer was important. And I believe this is true too. But what I said, what I meant is that praying, prayer, is important for the people of God. Praying is so important that Luke included thirteen stories about prayers being offered or when praying is discussed.

And when you would look at the gospels and their intended audiences, compared to the other gospels, Luke’s Gospel would be the one directed toward Americans in general, and I believe Presbyterians in particular.

Prayer is important to the body of Christ called Presbyterians too. The Book of Order, the second part of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) contains some form of the word “pray” over 200 times.[2]

“Prayer is at the heart of worship. In prayer, through the Holy Spirit, people seek after and are found by the one true God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. They listen and wait upon God, call God by name, remember God’s gracious acts, and offer themselves to God. Prayer may be spoken, sung, offered in silence, or enacted. Prayer grows out of the center of a person’s life in response to the Spirit. Prayer is shaped by the Word of God in Scripture and by the life of the community of faith. Prayer issues in commitment to join God’s work in the world.”[3]

“In prayer we respond to God in many ways. In adoration we praise God for who God is. In thanksgiving we express gratitude for what God has done. In confession we acknowledge repentance for what we as individuals and as a people have done or left undone. In supplication we plead for ourselves and the gathered community. In intercession we plead for others, on behalf of others, and for the whole world. In self-dedication we offer ourselves to the purpose and glory of God.”[4]

There is even a liturgy for a service of daily prayer. In this service, “Prayers may be spoken, sung, enacted, and offered in silence. Daily prayer affords a unique opportunity for silence and meditation in community. Prayer in all its dimensions should be offered with special attention to the public and personal concerns of the community.” [5]

All of this comes out of the Book of Order. I think we’re on to something here.

Here, Luke gives us a picture of prayer. In this reading, praying is done in public, aloud, as a part of the service of worship. The usual manner of prayer in the temple was standing, with arms outstretched and palms raised and eyes uplifted.[6] Many prayers were offered as call-and-response, like we do with our Call to Worship. And as we do with our Call to Worship, these prayers were often taken from the Psalms.

But the two men praying in this parable are outside of the ordinary in the temple. One, the Pharisee, is all too glad to thank God that he was not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like the tax collector. He then tells God, and all who are there to hear him, that he meets the temple requirements for fasting and tithing.

I bet it was a joy to share a pew with him.

The first unusual piece of this reading is that the man is standing by himself. This is odd because separating himself from the assembly; he separates himself from the people of God. Then again, that seems to be the idea of his prayer, he is separate from the heathen masses who have come to the temple. He is different; he should separate himself from the masses.

But this isn’t the only unusual thing about his prayer. Other translations say “he stood up and prayed about himself” where our translation said “standing by himself, he was praying.”[7] This is one of those hinky little translation things that I say pop up in the Greek from time to time. Translating the passage this way, he does not separate himself from the masses. On the contrary, he stands right in the middle of the people and he prays out loud “God, I thank you that I am not like these clowns. I do as you command.”

Then the Tax Collector prays in an unusual way. He’s standing far away from the assembly. He isn’t looking up. His hands are wrapped around him, even beating his chest. And he prays a prayer of humble sincerity. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Jesus then reminds the world that the first will be last and the last will be first. All who exalt themselves, lift themselves up, will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted. If we want our rewards while on earth that’s one choice; but that’s it. Like the rich man and Lazarus from a couple of weeks ago, those who seek life through themselves will get the good life, but those who humble themselves before the Lord God will receive the gift of eternal life.

In the end though, we must be warned against something very seductive in reading this passage. It is tempting to say that we’re glad that we are nothing like this Pharisee. We know our limitations. We know that we must be humble before the Lord. We have to take our needs to the mercy seat of God. But it’s tempting to say, “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee. Thank God I’m not like that clown. I do as you command.” But beware; when we do that, we use the same words that the Pharisee uses to condemn himself.

Instead, we need to use the words the Tax Collector might have used that very day. The words of Psalm 65, the words we used in our Call to Worship:

To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come,
because of their transgressions.
Our sins are stronger than we are,
but you will blot them out.

We are called to pray. We are called to pray alone. We are called to pray in groups. We are called to pray in the assembly. We are called to pray at home. We are called to pray in silence, in spoken word, and in song. We are called to pray in quiet meditation. We are called to pray in action. We are called to pray without ceasing; our life is to be lived as a constant prayer. We pray for your mercy, O Lord. We pray for your strength and your protection. We pray for your grace. And above all, we pray with arms out stretched and palms up lifted, our eyes toward heaven and we give thanks for your Son Jesus Christ, through whom this has all ready been accomplished.

[1] Using BibleWorks to search the gospels for verb forms of “I pray,” I found six stories in Matthew’s and in Mark’s gospels and none in John’s. Luke’s gospel has thirteen praying stories.
[2] Adobe search of the word “pray” allowing for partial word hits in the PDF form of The Book of Order, Part II of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 2007-2009 Edition. The Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Louisville, Kentucky, 2007.
[3] Ibid. W-2.1001
[4] Ibid. W-2.1002
[5] Ibid. W-3.4003
[6] “My Bad,” Homiletics Online, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93040341 accessed August 20, 2007.
[7] Among other translations, the New International Version renders this verse “prayed about himself” and the New American Standard Bible renders this verse “he was praying this to himself.”

Telling God What To Do, Part II

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15
Luke 11:1-15

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

There’s an old saying: there’s no such thing as a stupid question. But did you know that this question has a corollary: there’s no such thing as a stupid question, but there are plenty of stupid answers. Last week I ended with a simple question, how should we pray? I have heard some pretty stupid answers to this question. And if pressed, I am sure that I have given my share of pretty stupid answers to it too.

This question, how should we pray, is as old as humanity. From the moment we sensed, from the moment we knew there was a presence more powerful than us prayer of one form or another has been a part of life. Sometimes the answer has involved blood sacrifice—both animal and human, sometimes a sacrifice of praise. Sometimes it has involved memorized prayer recited by rote, sometimes spontaneous prayer lifted in the moment. Sometimes it is in the language of the priests, sometimes in the language of the people, and sometimes in the language of the angels. This is such a good question, it was asked by Jesus’ disciples.

In ancient Judea, it was common for Rabbis to teach their disciples how to pray. Based on what the unnamed disciple requested, John must have taught his disciples to pray a certain way. So if John can teach his disciples to pray, surely Jesus could teach his disciples to pray too. Teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus gives us five simple petitions:

“Hallowed be,” or “make holy the name of the Father.”

“The Father’s Kingdom come.”

“Give us the bread we need for today”. Though this could also be translated “Give us the bread we need for tomorrow.”

“Forgive our sins, for we forgive all who are indebted to us.”

And “Do not bring us into sin’s temptation.” Another way to say this is “do not bring us to a time of trial or testing.”

That’s it, five little petitions. Two or three of them (depending on how you translate the petition for bread) deal with the future, the end times when God’s kingdom comes.

In this time God’s name will be sanctified throughout the cosmos. In a time when people of the earth prayed to a Parthenon of gods, we pray that the name of the Lord alone be made holy. In a time when people put so much before the praise and worship of the one true God, whether it be nationalism, or economics, or some other thing, we are called to pray for a time when God’s name alone stands before us holy and as pure as light.

We pray the Father’s kingdom come. This part is a little tough, not everyone has good fathers, shadowing the view of a heavenly Father. When appearing before the Presbytery of Arkansas’ Committee on Preparation for Ministry I called the first person of the Trinity “Father” much to the chagrin of some of the members. They asked me if I thought it was appropriate to use paternal images in a world where not all fathers are present, much less good.

I know people who do not have good fathers, so imagining God as a good father is difficult for some. This leaves two choices; one is to find another name for “God the Father.” Any of you who followed last year’s General Assembly in Birmingham know the donnybrook that followed the introduction and reception of the report on this very issue. The report wasn’t even accepted, it was just received, and the fallout hasn’t ended yet. So while other images of the first person of the Trinity have value and validity, it is dangerous ground to tread, the Presbyterian equivalent of theological quicksand.

The other choice, and to me a more productive choice, is to rehabilitate the image of fatherhood through God’s fatherly presence. We have to learn that in prayer “we must ask for a response and expect that God will respond in a way above and beyond our human experiences with one another.”[1] We have to learn that God is a father who is better than our fathers have been and could ever be. In this turn we are called to be the children of God, children who follow our heavenly father in ways we could never follow our earthly fathers.

In one part of Jesus’ explanation he notes that if we were parents of a child asking for a gift, we would give good gifts. We would never give a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion instead of an egg. Even though we are evil, we know better than that. This whole “evil” word takes a beating, we are bound to hope and pray something like “yeah, we have a sinful nature, but do you have to say evil?” There is some conjecture that Jesus was exaggerating to make a point—evil is a harsh word and he intended to make a sharp comparison. Then again, compared to the Good Father, our Father in Heaven, we cannot be “good.”

We should note that the neighbor did not respond to the friend in need out of the goodness of his heart, he responded to his neighbor’s shameless persistence and out of what he feared his other neighbors would think of him if he had denied hospitality to another. He acted out of obligation, not goodness, so imagine the action of the Lord our God who acts out of perfect loving goodness.

In God’s kingdom is all of the bread we will need for tomorrow, in God’s coming kingdom we will never be hungry again. Still we must remember that the bread Jesus refers to is not some frilly loaf from a specialty baker. It’s more like a flatbread pita or tortilla than a fancy foccacia. No sundried tomato basil dill herb concoction. But with this simple bread, we will never be hungry again.

The other three petitions (again, depending on how you translate the petition for bread) deal with our most basic daily needs, bread, forgiveness, and (in a word) protection.

Bread was the most basic food made by the ancient Israelites. Asking for daily bread harkens us back to the days of the exodus when God provided the daily bread of manna for the nation. Every day, the people were told to gather as much as they needed, and no more, because they were to depend upon the Lord for their daily bread. The only exception to this was the day before the Sabbath when they were to gather two days worth, bread both for today and for tomorrow, since no work was to be done on the Sabbath. Everything that’s old is new again when God again provides daily bread for the people.

Forgiveness is, in its own way, bread for the soul, without it we cannot live. What’s unusual about this petition is that we ask for forgiveness “for we forgive all being indebted to us.” This looks like we ask God to give us what we have all ready given others. This would be true if we assumed we could fully forgive another in the sinful world we live in, but we know this is impossible. This is only possible in God’s kingdom, where we share in God’s good grace and receive God’s good gifts, including forgiveness.

Finally we pray not to be lead into temptation. On the way to the kingdom, the ancient Jews faced many trials and temptations, many of them coming from the many gods (that with a lower case “g”) of the ancient world. Temptations on the road to the kingdom distract us from the true goal of our lives in the Lord, and so we pray not to be distracted.

We look to the future of God’s kingdom while we live in the world today. Really there is nothing terribly complicated about this prayer. It’s a prayer for today and a prayer for tomorrow. A prayer for now, and prayer for what is not yet.

This can be a difficult prayer though.

We are called to pray “Our Father in heaven,” but fail to embrace all people as his children.

We are called to pray, “Your kingdom come,” without working for the kingdom on earth.

We are called to pray for our daily bread but do not recognize it as God’s good gift to the world.

We are called to pray for forgiveness for ourselves, but we fail to offer pardon to others.

We plead not to be led by God into times of trial, but walk willingly into temptations we find on our own.

We tend to honor God with our lips, but fail to honor God with our lives.[2]

We pray as we are taught, but with this prayer we are called to a way of life we often do not live up to. This kingdom of heaven, far from the condition we live in on any kind of permanence, is one still that we can live in for moments at a time.

I was talking on the phone with Rev. Lieu Smith[3] on Thursday and he was taking about working at the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank the previous day. He told me that on Wednesday, a fifty-one families came into the food bank seeking assistance. Fifty-one families, somewhere in the neighborhood of two-hundred to two-hundred-and-fifty people were served that day. Lieu estimated they distributed 2,000 pounds of canned food and another 4,000 pounds of commodities. Three tons of food left the food bank that day.

Lieu also told me that about 100 backpacks, almost 30% of the inventory left the food bank in the hands of children that day. The head of the food bank told Lieu she wished “the Presbyterians had been on hand to see the smiles on the faces of the children as they received their backpacks and school supplies.”

When we pray for the kingdom to come, we pray with an eye to when Jesus comes again. In the meantime, we are called to act in a way as if the kingdom has come. Doing this, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus in the way that he walked the earth. This is like lightening striking. It doesn’t last long, it happens in the blink of an eye. But when it happens, it comes with a thunder that announces its arrival. And the place where the lightening strikes is never quite the same.

When through the grace and bounty of the Lord we supply three-hundred-and-forty back packs of school supplies, we participate in the coming of the kingdom. We donated over a quarter-ton of goods to the inbreaking of the kingdom of heaven. Every smile on every child’s face, every bit of learning helped along by this effort, every dollar left in the pocket of an impoverished parent not spent on school supplies is a bolt of lightening striking from the kingdom of God for the kingdom of God. And the rumble of its thunder will be heard here in Berryville and in the kingdom for ages to come.

In the end, Luke gives us reassurance of God’s faithful nature. We are told to ask and it will be given; we are told to seek and we will find; we are told to knock and it will be opened, but the prayer makes it clear that we must ask and seek and knock in obedience to the five petitions. This is what Jesus tells us to pray.

So here we are again, we are telling God what to do. Being faithful servants of the one true Lord requires we pray. We are to pray in reverence and in love to a Father who loves us first. We are called to pray for our daily needs and for the coming of the kingdom. So when we pray, when we pray in accord with the Lord’s Prayer are we really telling God what to do? In a way we are, but when we are in accord with the Lord, we are praying in obedience to what the Lord wants for us for today and forever. Let God tell us what to do, and let us pray that God may do it through us.

There are no stupid questions. And I pray, by the grace of God, this isn’t a stupid answer.

[1] Douglas Strome, Joy, “Living by the Word, Prayer power,” Christian Century. vol 124, no 14, July 10,2007, page 19.
[2] This section is based on a Prayer of Confession found in Homiletics Magazine, online version, http://homileticsonline.com/subscribe.printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=93000008 accessed June 11, 2007
[3] Lieu is the Pastor of the Community of Christ church in Berryville, Arkansas and very active in the Berryville Ministerial Alliance and the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank of the Ozarks. This information was relayed in a phone conversation on Thursday July 26, 2007.

Telling God What To Do

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 22, 2007.

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Years ago, at the Mount Comfort Presbyterian Church, an elder[1] was filling the pulpit for the regular pastor when he was on vacation. This was the children’s sermon:

He told a story of a group of children who lived by the sea in times long ago. They were finishing school for the year and if the weather was good, they were promised by their teacher that they would go to the beach at the cove for a picnic. All of the children had hoped and prayed for good weather so that they might have their picnic, but the weather that day was most foul; the rain fell in sheets, lightning lit up the cloud darkened skies, and thunder rumbled across the county. It was hardly a day for a picnic. All of the children were disappointed. Several threw tantrums that God and teacher were not able to give them their picnic.

But unbeknownst to anyone…a ship of pirates was off of the coast and had planned to come ashore and pillage the town that very day, but the severity of the storms forced them to change their plans and they never returned to that cove. And because the children’s prayers were not answered, they were able to live happily ever after.

You notice I never said it was a good children’s sermon.

As the story was told, its moral is that when we pray, we should not pray for specific things because God knows what is best. We should just pray God’s will be done and go on with the kingdom way.

I bring this up because the lesson of this children’s sermon, “while sometimes we tell God what to do—God knows what is better,” does pertain to our reading from Luke.

Jesus comes to a village where a woman named Martha opens her home to Jesus, and presumably his apostles since they traveled together. That’s right; suddenly there are thirteen fresh faces for dinner. Old TV shows and first marriages are filled with horror stories of inviting the boss home for dinner. This horror really must have been amplified when you invite the Lord and his twelve apostles home. Especially if it’s just you and your sister doing the cooking, cleaning, serving, and so on, and so on.

Martha was driven to distraction by all of the tasks required to prepare such a large dinner. Imagine the bread to be baked, the meat to be prepared—from slaughter to serving at that. Is there enough wine and cheese and fruit for such a large group of men, men who are hungry from their long travels.

So where’s her sister Mary? She is sitting at the feet of the Lord, listening, entranced by the word and wisdom that flows from his lips like the sweetest clover honey.

This is when Martha snaps “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?” She’s asking the honored guest if he cares whether or not Mary leaves her in a lurch, shirking her responsibilities as a hostess. Never mind the scandal that any woman would be sitting at the feet of a man, much less her sister, the co-hostess. Mary has taken the place of a man and a disciple instead of taking care of her real duties.

Martha has had it up to here and exclaims, “Lord, tell her then to help me.”

Lord, I pray tell her to help me.

Lord, I pray you make the weather right for our picnic.

Is this so different from how we pray?

Lord, we pray for rain in drought stricken places.

Lord, we pray for dryness in the floods.

Lord we pray for good crops.

Lord we pray for high prices to sell the crops.

Lord we pray for reasonable prices to feed the children.

Lord we pray for the Razorbacks.

Lord, we pray for health.

Lord, we pray for long life.

Lord, we pray for wealth.

Lord we pray so—and—so gets what’s coming to him.

Lord, we pray for comfort.

Like in the children’s sermon, often when we pray, we’re telling God what to do and how to do it. But in this case it’s a little different. Martha is upset and in a fit she asks the Lord if he cares and then tells God what to do, in his native tongue. Now that takes chutzpah. I imagine Martha is fit to be tied, with steam coming out of her ears and a rising tide of red to her face as rage boils within her. She and her family’s hospitality are on the line, there are many tasks to be done, while Mary is basking in the glow of their guest instead of doing what she’s supposed to be doing. “Lord, Tell my lousy, lazy sister to get up off of her tail and come and help me.”

The Lord hears and sees what is going on and he tells her, “Martha, Martha,” yes, Jesus doubles this up for emphasis, “you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part which will not be taken away from her.” Jesus isn’t especially saying, “don’t worry, by happy,” but he is telling her to lighten up, for just a moment. He is not telling her that what she is doing is bad, or unimportant, or wrong but he is saying that what Mary is doing is better and it will never be taken from her. And he does this with the most gentle of reproaches, “you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.”

In chemistry there’s a term, entropy. One way to explain entropy is to say that “nature leans toward disorder.”[2] My high school chemistry teacher described entropy with this illustration: If you take a jigsaw puzzle, one that has been put together, and sweep it off the table, it’s going to fall apart. Disorder. Likewise, if you take a puzzle box, and shake it up, when you open it you won’t get a picture of a bunny in the snow. Again, disorder.

Nature leans toward disorder. It is said that the vast majority of household dust is little pieces of skin cells that slough off of the inhabitants, both human and animal.[3] Disorder. The other major component is environmental, coming from soil and pollution. More disorder. When you look at a compost heap, you will see how grass clippings, leaves, and other organic things can break down and reform into something wonderful that supports life. Without this disorder, fertilizer for gardens and flower beds would have to come from more unnatural sources. Life springing from disorder.

Martha is cleaning and preparing and putting things in order for the Lord and his companions. There is so much to do that she is flustered. She is so flustered that she becomes frustrated that her sister is just sitting there. But Martha’s preparations will inevitably pass. The house will get dirty again. Martha’s work, as wonderful and glorious as it is in the kingdom of God, will pass. It will fade. It will have to be done again, and again, and again. The entropy of life will overtake the preparations for the meal. In this way, her work will be lost in the sands of time.

Mary on the other hand rests at the feet of the Lord. There she hears his teachings and gains wisdom, she rests in the love of the outstretched arms of the everlasting God, and these things will never be taken from her.

When we pray for picnics and rain and sun and crops and wealth and health and long life and comfort we pray for good things. But these things pass. These pass as dust passes on to more dust. We pray for things that will leave us, if for no other reason than by the ravages of time.

Mary on the other hand has chosen a better way, the way of discipleship, the way of the Word and the presence of God, the way of wisdom, the way of discernment. Mary learns these lessons at the feet of the anointed one, Jesus the Christ. Martha is worked up about the trappings of the world, while Mary is enthralled by the word of the Lord.

The consequences of the dishonor of her actions in polite society be cast aside, Mary seeks something that is broader and deeper than dinner; she is fed by the Lord.

The reason I mention this, while Martha is telling Jesus what to do, Mary rests in his presence, Mary is listening. She is finding out from Jesus what he wants us to do.

Four weeks ago, we heard the story of Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee to the Gentile side where he met the Gerasene Demoniac. At the end of this story, the man, no longer demon infested, asked to follow Jesus, but Jesus told him to go home and declare how much God has done for him.[4]

The following week, we read of three would-be followers of our Lord. The first says he will follow, but Jesus warns if he does he will have no place to rest his head.[5] The next is beckoned by Jesus to follow, but first this man wishes to bury his father. He is told that the dead should bury the dead.[6] The last says he will follow Jesus, but first he wants to bid his family farewell. Jesus tells him to look forward, not back.[7] Scripture does not tell us whether any of these three joined the Lord or not, but in Vegas, I would have bet against them.

Two weeks ago was the tale of the sending of the seventy. They went ahead of Jesus to where he will visit and laid the ground work for the kingdom by words and signs. Then they returned to report the joy and the glory. There Jesus reminds them “do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”[8] They did as the Lord asked, and then were given the good news of where their joy and their salvation lie.

Last week was the story of Jesus and the lawyer. When the lawyer tells Jesus that the good neighbor is one who shows mercy he is told to “Go and do likewise.”[9] As for whether he does or not we will never know.

Over these past five weeks we have been shown different models of discipleship, different ways of confessing the faith and showing present witness to God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Some are examples of great encouragement, like the former Gerasene Demoniac and the Seventy. Others leave us to wonder, like the three men or the lawyer. In Martha and Mary we are shown two examples of good disciples, but one whose discipleship is better than the other’s.

But here’s the trick, here’s the sticky wicket. Martha was behaving like a real “Type A” personality. She is the kind of person who wants to get things done, and in this case do them for the Lord. But she hadn’t paused to find out if what she was doing was what the Lord wanted her to do.

We may think we know what is best for us, but only in sitting at the feet of Jesus will we ever be able to learn what is truly important.

Lord we pray for wisdom.

Lord we pray for discernment.

Lord we pray for your gifts.

Lord, we pray for peace.

Lord, we pray for mercy.

Lord, we pray for grace.

Through these things we learn what God wants from us.

So, how should we pray?

That will have to wait until next week…

[1] Dr. Steve Wilson, may he rest in peace.
[2] I learned this in high school chemistry nearly thirty years ago. Dang that makes me feel older.
[3] Dust, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust, accessed July 21, 2007.
[4] Luke 8:39
[5] Luke 9:57-58
[6] Luke 9:59-60
[7] Luke 9:61-62
[8] Luke 10:1-27
[9] Luke 10:37