Monthly Archives: April 2019

Breathing the Spirit

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A Sermon for 28 April 2019 – Second Sunday of Easter

Here we are the second Sunday during the 50-day season of Easter. And the gospel reading for today takes us to the night on which the tomb first was found empty. Listen for God’s word to us in this reading of John 20:19-31.

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

This is the word of God for the people of God! Thanks be to God!

 

The Septuagint is the oldest translation of the Hebrew Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek. It’s believed to have been completed by 70 Jewish scholars about 300 or so years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It is of note, according to biblical exegete Gregory A. Robbins, that the Greek word emphysao occurs just two times in the Septuagint (Feasting on the Word, Yr. C, Vol. 2, p. 399). We can find emphysao, the verb to breathe in Genesis 2. That beautiful second account of the creation story, which tells that when God made the earth – but before the rain had fallen to cause plants to spring up from the ground. The LORD God formed from the mud of the earth the body of the first human. One destined to work the soil, till the ground for the earth to produce all we would need for life. God shaped the head. Crafted the torso. Was wise enough to form fingers and feet and every miraculous part of our complicated systems. But before this creature could do anything – be anything: the LORD God exhaled right into the nostrils of that body barely separated yet from the ground. According to Genesis 2:7, God emphysao – God breathed the spirit of life, the breath that animates us, and, at last, the creature was alive! A living being able to fulfill our purpose in God’s grand design (Genesis 2:3-9).

Remember the great vision of the prophet Ezekiel? The people are exiled from their land. Cut off from the great Temple. Convinced all hope is lost. That the LORD God had abandoned them due to their wayward ways. As brittle as fallen fall leaves months after winter begins, like bones lying waste for decades under the brutal desert sun; the hearts of God’s people had shriveled up completely. Those that are left feel as good as dead – as if they’ll never be fully alive at home in the land of Israel ever again. In the vision to the prophet, God says speak Ezekiel. Tell them: I am the LORD God. And I will re-create! I will cause bones to re-connect. Tendons to grow again. Flesh will re-generate. And, at last, I will emphysao. I will breathe into you again, Ezekiel 37 reads. And you shall live. You shall know that the great I AM is LORD! Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer of all! I will act! God declares to the prophet. With the Breath, I will bring you back to Life! (Ezekiel 37:1-14).

Then, on the first evening of Easter – the stone rolled from the tomb something like twelve hours earlier – a new collection of God’s people huddle. Hunkered down in a hid away room, they are locked together in fear. Just a few hours ago they enjoyed the sights and sounds of Easter: he is not here, he has risen! Look! The tomb is empty! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! How quickly the high of the good news fades and this new little ban of God’s people are frozen in their tracks. Afraid. For their own lives? For what a Risen Christ might command? The gospel isn’t entirely clear. We can only imagine what our own reactions to the first news of Easter might be. A silly tale. Some sort of trick – someone must have come to move away the life-less shell of Jesus’ body, we might think. Or maybe we’re more like Thomas, the Twin: ones who need the burden of our own proof. Sights, sounds, summons directly from the Risen Christ – not just stories someone else tells us to believe.

As many of us feel at the death of our loved ones – that mix of anguish for our loss – never to hold their hand in our own again. Yet so relieved their pain has come to an end – the difficulty of their last days turning to everlasting peace. Feeling just like that, maybe we too would have been locked away behind closed doors. Hearts wanting to hope, yet still wrung dry from the past three days of intense sorrow. When, at last, the Presence of the Risen Christ comes among us. The One we believe to be God-in-flesh. The First and Last. The Word exhaled like breath from the great Creator at the beginning of time – breathed into us again and again and again to bring us back to Life. The wounded, yet Risen One breaks right into the prisons in which we have locked ourselves away and speaks Peace! Peace be with you! He shows his wounds. As if to say that on our journey to become whole again, we’ve no need to hide our own either. For it is our wounds that are used most powerfully for God to work. Then, as our broken hearts begin to mend, emphysao! The Risen Christ breathes upon the devoted ones filling us up with the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of Life, the Breath that animates us. To become Living Beings able to fulfill our purpose in God’s grand design!

This week I’ve been meditating upon the beautiful blessings of the amazingly creative Rev. Jan Richardson in the book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. Her blessings for Holy Saturday and Easter morn’ remind how important is the Breath. How significant the truth that God breathes in us. Listen to this “Blessing for a Broken Vessel, for Holy Saturday.” And hear it two ways at once: as words for the wounded, waiting body of our Crucified Lord; and as words for the wounded places in us. The blessing goes: “Do not despair. You hold the memory of what it was to be whole. It lives deep in your bones. It abides in your heart that has been torn and mended a hundred times. It persists in your lungs that know the mystery of what it means to be full, to be empty, to be full again” – shew! Right there! In our lungs: the pattern of Christ’s Way. The fullness of living God’s purpose for us. The emptying that comes as we serve – as we exhale to give ourselves away like Christ. And the fullness that comes again – the rising that God causes after we empty ourselves like Christ! Richardson goes on to write: “I am not asking you to give up your grip on the shards you clasp so close to you, but to wonder what it would be like for those jagged edges to meet each other in some new pattern that you have never imagined, that you have never dared to dream.” (pp. 144-5).

Emphysao! The Holy Spirit of God breathed into us, as into those first frightened disciples. To re-create us into a new pattern we never have dared to dream! How amazing that in God’s infinite wisdom, our very own lungs remind of the Presence of the One wanting to work through us! The Spirit – the Wind, Jesus one time called it. The Advocate, he’s recorded as saying as well. The Breath of God that connects us all. That commands us all to Live! Truly Live. Speaking peace, like our Savior and Lord. Forgiving sins, like a merciful father. Going out into the world to be about the very same work as Jesus: healing hurts, restoring hope, setting free for abundant new life! We cannot do it on our own. The gifts we have. The talents. Our own sheer force of will. None of it ever will be enough to be about the work of the Risen Christ. Unless God breathes in us. Unless the Holy Spirit breathes through us, we cannot do anything. Cannot be anything. Without emphysao, we will not be Living Beings able to fulfill our purpose in God’s grand design. Remember that the very next time you inhale. Then exhale. Then inhale again. It is God breathing in us that empowers us to live Christ’s Way each day!

Glory be to the amazing life-giving Father, life-redeeming Son, and life-sustaining Spirit! Alleluia and Amen!

© Copyright JMN – 2019 (All rights reserved.)

Looking for the Risen Christ

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A Sermon for 21 April 2019 – Easter Sunday!

A reading from the gospel of Luke 24:1-12. Listen for God’s word to us in this reading about the first Easter morning. Listen.

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to (the apostles) an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.”

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God!

 

The gospel of Luke presents a curious telling of the first Easter morn. For in this gospel and this one alone, a question is posed to the dutiful women who go early to the tomb. They’re asked: “Why do you look for the Living among the dead?” On one level we know why they look. All of the gospels put the women who were disciples of Jesus at the foot of the cross. Though Peter and the others may or may not have been there, the women are. They see with their own eyes what had been done to Jesus. They watch and wail. They see him take his last breath – rendering his spirit into the hands of God. When Joseph of Arimathea comes to bury his body; the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke name the woman as there. Still watching. Still grieving. Still wanting to provide for the needs of the One who had become their teacher, mentor, friend. The One who had accepted them and gave them a special place in the circle of his disciples as the women too found the purpose of their lives transformed for the furtherance of their Lord’s mission. Why, according to the gospel of Luke, are Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them at the tomb at the break of light the first day of the week – after the Passover Sabbath had come to an end and it was time to go properly anoint the body of their crucified Lord? They’re there out of great love, of course. For that’s what we do when we lay our cherished ones to rest. After the final funeral casserole is gone and we’re left without all the bustle of sympathizers who have come to offer their support, we return to the grave to ensure the marker properly has been placed. We say our prayers, brush away the stray dirt. We return to the spot we last saw our beloved – wanting just to be in their presence again.

On another level the question to the women at the empty tomb is curious. Because if they’d been listening, wouldn’t they have expected to find the Living One among the dead? That’s where he’d always been. For wasn’t this the One who declared about himself at the beginning of his ministry – as recorded in the gospel of Luke – that “The Spirit of the LORD” was upon him? Because he had been anointed to bring good news to the poor. He had been sent to proclaim release to captives. He was here to recover the sight of those who were blind. To let the oppressed go free. To proclaim the time of God’s favor. Wasn’t this the One, the women knew, who had gone about his days cleansing lepers, who were as good as dead? Healing those who whose lives seemingly had become useless? Wasn’t this the One who taught a whole different Way than the death-tolling fend-for-yourself – use-force-if-you-must way that was being promoted in the culture all around them? Wasn’t this the One calling to his cause the most unlikely of folks? Fishermen far from the halls of Jerusalem’s great Temple. Despised tax collectors like Zacchaeus. Even women and other outsiders. Wasn’t this the One who spent his time among those good as dead bringing them back to Life with a touch of his powerful hand? A nod of welcome in his circle? A summons to follow in the Way of self-giving love? I realize that the messengers at the empty tomb wanted the women to know the Living One had been raised; he was no longer there. But where else really would the Risen Christ be than among those still needing Life?

Easter asks us to look – to keep our eyes open for the presence of the Risen Christ. And to remember where best to find the Living One. In the places where we are broken. Among the people still needing release. We’ll find the Risen Christ where bread is broken and the fruit of the earth poured out – especially for those who are hungry to eat. We’ll find the Risen Christ where bodies are healed and spirits are calmed. We’ll find the Risen Christ still where outsiders are welcomed. And those blinded by the ways of this world finally, at last, see. We’ll find the Risen Christ where all hope seems gone – after devastating loss when we come to one another to offer an empathetic ear, a helping hand, a sense that no one will have to walk alone. Everywhere any still are as good as dead, the Risen Christ will be. Working through us, working in us, sometimes even working in spite of us to bring new Life for all.

This is the mission. We’re invited to come follow. Until, at last, Life is all that’s left. Risen Life alongside the Living One!

Alleluia! And Amen!

In the name of the life-giving father, the life-redeeming Son, and the life-sustaining Spirit, Amen.

© Copyright JMN – 2019 (All rights reserved.)

Revealed in Prayer

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A Sermon for 31 March 2019

The gospel reading for today takes us to the night of Maundy Thursday. We hear of the last recorded time when Jesus sought the solace of prayer – out in the garden of Gethsemane. The fate-filled night one of his own would lead the authorities out to arrest him. Listen for God’s word to us in a reading of Luke 22:39-46.

“Jesus came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” 41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” [43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. 44 In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.] 45 When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

 

Picture this: it’s 1955 in a village in Kenya when a 6-year-old boy is abandoned by his family. Left to join the daily grind of thousands of other children, this boy named Charles becomes a street child. Fortunate enough to beg his way through primary education, once this little boy grew to be 16, he became a Christian; then set out to walk nearly fifty miles to the city of Nairobi – something that too him 3 ½ days. This one obviously had smarts. A big heart filled with dreams. And enough determination to turn his life upside down. Finding a job in the city, he saved up enough money to buy his first car. Then another. And another until he eventually had become a wealthy business man owning an entire transportation fleet. His rags to riches story is absolutely inspiring. But no one in the world ever would have heard of him if it hadn’t been for an encounter he had in 1986. Parking his car on a street in Nairobi that day, several teenage street boys stopped him to beg for money. Whether too proud to remember his own roots, or too stubborn to give away any of his hard-earned cash; the boys quickly surrounded what looked to them a shiny, successful, rich man. Charles quickly walked away; but when he returned, his fancy car was gone. Charles was filled with rage. The faces of those boys were burned in his anger. He reports being in emotional turmoil for several years – his life embroiled in a mix of anger, sympathy, and guilt. Until the morning of November 17, 1989. Driving in another fancy Mercedes; he pulled to the side of the road somewhere and spent the next several hours wracked with anguish. He claims there no longer was any peace in his life. The faces of those boys still prominent in his mind, Charles cried out: “God, what is it you want me to do?” According to Charles, it was in the fourth hour that he finally heard a response. He heard: “I gave you everything. I raised you from nowhere and I gave you all of this.” By then, Charles’ fortune was in the millions. The voice said: “Now, I want to take everything that you have and give it to the poor.” Charles reports he didn’t leave that car until at last he said: “Yes LORD. I will do it!” Filled with immense joy, Charles drove home to tell his wife and eight children that he had good news for them. He told them: “I will not work anymore for money. I want to give everything for the poor.” He was determined to become, in the words of the Psalms, the father to the fatherless. The very next day, he liquidated all he had; then went to the streets to find the first three abandoned children he would rescue. Thirty years later, Charles and Esther Mulli have built 6 orphanages in Kenya and Tanzania, they have been father and mother to over 10,000 street children – raising about 1,000 at a time in their own home when the first started. They have rescued 10 failing schools and built many other centers across their nation. Today Mully Children’s Family has been saving children’s lives in their self-sustaining work to transform the lives of children who once had no hope. Wanna learn more about what can be revealed in prayer? Go to mullychildrensfamily.org to watch Mully, the Movie. Be sure to have tissues nearby as your own heart is certain to overflow with the joy of seeing such inspirational Christian service! (Sources:https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FluMzrgBDAS8&data=02%7C01%7C%7C79a50e3ffc7441acec5708d6b3b69176%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636893994029006157&sdata=HuEECyHIHvi2uC7Iv8SxOrxiYYZkhWmGWOf7tw647Xw%3D&reserved=0 ; The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, “Visions of God,” Season 3, episode 3. First aired 19 March 2019; and www.mullychildrensfamily.org).

A simple prayer. God, what is it you want me to do? A willing heart. A world changed one life at a time.

Jesus goes from an upper room one night into a beautiful garden. We’ve a tendency to read the gospels as if Jesus knew all along the way exactly what was going to happen to him. Maybe he did. Certainly, he was wise enough to see that if you’re going to live faithful in the struggle against injustice and oppression, there will be struggle. There will be suffering. Sacrifices will come. Because we know the possible consequences for standing against what kills, Jesus in the garden reminds us to seek God’s strength in prayer. To keep ourselves open to faithfulness. To be reminded: God is with us always inviting us deeper into the dance of Life. I love the conclusion of one commenting on the story of Jesus at prayer in Gethsemane. The commentator writes: “God wills that injustice and oppression be opposed . . . The reality is, then and now, that to stand steadfastly against injustice and oppression is to invite the opposition of powerful forces. . . . (Thus) Jesus prays for the strength and courage to witness to the justice, righteousness, and peace that God wills. If this means facing deadly opposition, so be it” (Feasting on the Gospels, Luke Vol. 2; J. Clinton McCann Jr., p. 293). In prayer, it is revealed to him to go forward in peace. Centered in the strength of God despite what comes. In essence, Jesus is praying in that garden: “God, what do you want to do through me today?” The gospel accounts all agree that initially Jesus was asking for something else to happen. “Remove this cup, if you are willing,” the gospel of Luke reports Jesus prays (paraphrase of Luke 22:42). In anguish. Until at last he cries out: “not my will, but Thine. God, what do you want to do through me today?”

We’ve all be invited during this season of Lent to be praying this daily prayer: “God, what do you want to do through me today?” It’s the prayer of our Grateful for the Past; Renewing for the Future campaign and as we can see, it’s the prayer to be prayed each day by a faithful follower of Christ. “God, what do you want to do through me today?” . . . The other day two of us visited Martha and Olivia. By the way, they said we could tell this story – we even caught it on video for everyone to see. A member of our Prayer Team had taken Martha and Olivia a prayer rock – which they absolutely love. Olivia said that when Martha first got it; she held it in her hands, read the prayer aloud: “God, what do you want to do through me today?” And said: God wants me to smile! If you know Martha, you know that she’s such a delight with a warmth that welcomes the whole neighborhood! The other day when we were there; she held the rock, read the prayer aloud: “God, what do you want to do through me today?” And instantly replied: Behave! We all got a great laugh at that! ‘Cuz even in her advancing years, Martha’s still got that spit fire in her that needs a little reminder now and again to behave!

I’ve enjoyed reading what some of the rest of you have noticed so far as you already have been praying: “God, what do you want to do through me today?” One of you has noticed something specific about your ministry here. How what had been really difficult news about a building repair became way more encouraging when a trusted company provided an additional quote. That’s a huge relief for us all as we seek to take good care of this facility for ministry to continue to take place from this building. Another who has been praying “God, what do you want to do through me today?” has been reminded that even with 100 children and staff downstairs in Playcare every day, and weekly Yoga and Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional families meeting upstairs; this building could be bustling with some other daily neighborhood ministry. Won’t it be interesting to hear how that prayer continues to unfold? Another who has been praying daily “God, what do you want to do through me today?” has noticed a new boldness to stand up against injustice. They’ve noticed – as has someone else praying the prayer – being moved to be more forgiving and loving. They’ve even noticed being moved to be a more faithful follower as they consider ways to deepen their giving to this church. Someone praying “God, what do you want to do through me today?” reports that as they have prayed this prayer, suddenly – abruptly – new ways to serve others have happened! Another has noticed shifts in their monthly financial responsibilities that have created new room in their budget to support the capital campaign. One praying daily “God, what do you want to do through me today?” is finding that the prayer is making them more mindful of God in their life. It is absolutely beautiful to see what is revealed when God’s people enter into prayer together.

Maybe none of us will end up hearing that we are to become father to the fatherless. Maybe none of us will experience the wrath of powerful forces unleashed upon us as we seek to stand up for God’s justice, righteousness, and peace. Maybe we won’t hear much – the timing in our lives not quite right. Or the silence exactly what we need to experience in the midst of overly busy days. We are invited to pray. Just pray. “God, what do you want to do through me today?” Then, every few days, check in. Review what’s happening in our lives and in the lives of those around us so that we can notice what is taking place.

Revealed in our prayers through our willing hearts. It’s so exciting to see how a world is being changed one life at a time!

In the name of the life-giving Father, the life-redeeming Son, and the life-sustaining Spirit, Amen.

© Copyright JMN – 2019 (All rights reserved.)