Sunday Sermon - "Links in the Chain"

A stewardship sermon from Hebrews 11:39--12:2 - Hebrews seems written to a congregation that is feeling inadequate and needs encouragement. And its author insists that we are connected to all the faith heroes of the past, that our struggles "perfect" or "complete" theirs. So too in our individual congregations, when we do our part, when we persevere, we perfect of complete the faith and work of those who went before us.

Sermon - Oct. 11.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today is the funeral of a beloved member of Boulevard Presbyterian. And as in many other funerals, we will remember her, give thanks for her life, recall funny stories, and proclaim the hope of resurrection. And rather appropriately, today's gospel reading features Jesus raising to life a young girl who has died.

Now the theological purists out there may want to point out that this event is quite distinct from resurrection. It is instead a resuscitation of some sort. And that is true. But regardless, I still find the story most appropriate for this day. First, the story insists that Jesus/God cares about our human relationships. Jesus here restores a family to wholeness, brings a lost daughter back into her family, to love and to be loved. And second, death proves to be no barrier for God's desire to restore and make whole.

And so while resurrection may be something quite distinct from what happens in this story, resurrection is cut from the same cloth. God cares not just for our "souls" but for our lives, our very human lives with their relationships and the capacity to love and be loved. And whatever resurrection looks like, it will be more than some wispy immortality of our souls. It will be nothing less than the redeeming and making new of our very humanity. Thanks be to God!

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul has scolded the people for the divisions in their congregation, for failing to put the needs of fellow members ahead of their own. One particular problem that has come to Paul's attention: when they celebrate the Lord's Supper, members who get there early and have plenty of food and wine go ahead and celebrate without waiting, leaving poorer members with nothing when they finally arrive.

As he seeks to correct this behavior, Paul pens the words many churches still use with the Lord's Supper. "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread..." Paul then goes on to remind those who eat the meal "in an unworthy manner" that they will be judged, saying, "For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves."

I have always been surprised, given how focused Paul is on divisions in the church and how he next commands the Corinthians to "wait for one another" at the Supper, that people so often understand Paul to be speaking about some mystical presence in the bread and cup. But "the body" that we are called to discern is the Church, that one body with many members. Paul is saying that any gathering for the Lord's Supper that is only concerned about self, that fails to discern the community of faith, does more harm than good.

Such words are particularly challenging for American Christians, with our individualistic focus. When I was growing up in the Presbyterian Church, I experienced the Lord's Supper more as private devotional moment than gathered community event. Even though we passed trays of bread and juice to our neighbors, we never looked them in the eye or spoke to them. We seemed to be together in a crowded space, but nonetheless still alone. It felt a bit like going to a movie theater. Lots of people might be there watching the movie at the same time, but there was no connection between us.

"For all who eat and drink without discerning the body..." How might I, how might you, do a better job of discerning the body of Christ that is the Church the next time we gather to break the bread and share the cup?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I just saw the September financial report for our congregation. It was quite disheartening. After going much of the year without seeing much negative impact from the economy, we now look to be running a significant deficit. Not what a pastor wants to see just as we head into this year's stewardship campaign.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God." (from Psalm 42)

I think that one of the hardest faith pieces for me to keep in balance is striving to do my very best while, at the same time, relying on God's grace and providence. In my case, I tend to trust too much in my and other folks efforts. If things are going well it is because we are doing a good job. If they are not, it's because we aren't working hard enough or smart enough or something enough. If only we did a better job, if only we said the right things and had the right programs, people would flock here and all the members would be sacrificial in giving of their time and talents and resources. If only... and all the onlys seem to be about us.

Hope in God. That would seem to be the most natural thing for a Christian, and certainly for a Christian pastor. Yet too often, I seem to put it all on what I and others can or can't do. So where does God fit in all that? Perhaps today's tough times are calling me to trust less in self and more in God? If only I was a little better at it.

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Sunday Sermon - "Concrete Faith"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

From today's epistle reading: "Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other." Could there be a more counter-cultural statement? After all, I want to sell my stock when it is high, which means I hope to get someone else to buy it just before it goes down. I want to buy a new suit or TV or just about anything else when it's at a rock bottom price, or when someone else is losing money on it. I want excellent government services, but I would like someone else paying the taxes to fund them.

The other day a politician was speaking against requiring companies to provide maternity leave and stated that one reason for his opposition was that he didn't need it. He was male, or course.

I wonder what Christianity - and the world - would look like if we actually took the Christian message to heart, if we really worried more about others than ourselves. What if we worried as much or more about our enemies, our political opponents, our neighbors, the age group different from our own, and so on? What sort of community and world might we build? And might we just discover that we were all a lot happier, a lot more content, and a lot richer, even if our wealth was not about money? I wonder.

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Sermon for October 4: "Concrete Faith"

A sermon from Luke 24:36-48, "Concrete Faith," kicks off this year's stewardship season. A lot of people think of faith and religion as disconnected from earthy, mundane, daily life. But Jesus comes "with skin on." Following him is about living out faith in the concrete messiness of everyday life.

Sermon for Oct. 4.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading concludes the Sermon on the Mount. But for the life of me I can't figure out why those who set the verses for the Daily Lectionary started todays reading where they did. These words, "On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers,' " make a lot more sense when you add the verse that comes before. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

As Jesus concludes his sermon he insists on the necessity of living according to God's will. No amount of pious behavior or religious grandiosity will make any difference if it is not in service to what God wants. Or as Jesus says in the verse that follows, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock."

I'm sure I've recalled this in some previous blog, but I can't help thinking about that old saying that was popular in the 60s. "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" And based on what Jesus says today, such evidence would be found in whether we followed his teachings from the Sermon on the Mount. Those teachings include not being angry with fellow believers, not retaliating when injured or hurt, loving your enemies, realizing that you cannot serve God and wealth, not worrying about what tomorrow will bring, not judging others, and doing to others what you would like done to yourself. And Jesus concludes all these teachings by saying, "Calling me your Lord and Savior doesn't amount to a hill of beans if you don't do what I told you to do."

As a pastor, I have job that allows me to be busy with religious stuff all the time. I spend my days living out a call to follow Jesus. But am I doing God's will? Or am I just going around saying, "Lord, Lord" all the time? I suppose those are questions Jesus thinks we should all ask ourselves.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"O sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day."

It is easy for me to get caught up in trying to do faith and live the Christian life in a manner that gets things just right. I want to make sure I understand what this passage of Scripture or that one really means. I want to figure out just what it asks me to do. I want to examine my life and see where I'm getting it right and where I need to change. Certainly there is a place for this, but sometimes I need simply to cut loose and worship.

I was watching the Ken Burns film on our National Parks last night as they showed footage of the Grand Canyon. And there was one quote about how when the Creator made it, God created no sufficient word to describe it. One is simply left awed and can only marvel, and perhaps worship.

I don't necessarily mean "going to church" on Sunday. I include that, but I am talking about simply being overwhelmed by the wonder, majesty, and goodness of God to the point that all I can do is praise, sing, and say "Thank you, thank you!"

I come from generations of Presbyterians, and sometimes we worship mostly with our heads. It is good sometimes to remember the heart, to do worship that is like responding to seeing the Grand Canyon.

Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading contains some seemingly unrelated sayings of Jesus as the "Sermon on the Mount" nears its end. These instructions end with Jesus saying, "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." This line doesn't garner the attention lavished on Jesus' later statement about the "greatest commandment:" loving God with your whole being and loving neighbor as self. But the same summary about this being the essence of "the law and the prophets" is found both places.

For Jews, including the Jew named Jesus, "the law and the prophets" included the bulk of scripture and encompassed the whole of righteous living. And while Christians sometimes want to reduce faith to what someone believes, Jesus insists that he does not invalidate the law, but rather fulfills it. Jesus seems to presume that his followers will continue to embrace the law, even if it is reinterpreted through his life and teaching.

And so Jesus tells his followers, not once but twice, that treating others as we would like to be treated is a reliable guide to living as God's law demands. How wonderfully simple, and how terribly difficult. Not only do my needs often override Jesus' instruction -- if I'm in a big hurry I may not stop to help a stranded motorist even though I would want someone to stop for me -- but I also tend to cut myself a lot more slack than I do others.

As a pastor I find it easy to get frustrated with church members who don't volunteer for the wonderful projects or activities that the leadership has planned. But of course I don't do that much volunteering of my own. "I'm too busy at the church," I say. As though the busyness of my job is more important than the busy lives others lead. And it is easy to presume that the people I disagree with are motivated by greed or selfishness while my beliefs and opinions come, of course, from only the purist of motives.

I wonder if the best way to pursue the righteousness Jesus recommends might not be to focus on enemies, strangers, and those I disagree with. Maybe if I could treat them as I want to be treated, then I might come close to living as Jesus calls me to live.

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Sunday Sermon

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's psalm begins, "For God alone my soul waits in silence." And the gospel reading opens with Jesus saying, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" Focused on God alone with no worries; now that sounds like bliss.

One of the prominent schools of thought in church leadership encourages pastors to practice something called "non-anxious presence." This means that you are to be fully present or engaged in the issues that your congregation or committee or board is dealing with, but you are not supposed to let the anxieties surrounding these issues affect how you respond. In theory it is wonderful, but in practice it can be terribly difficult. I can be non-anxious fairly easily if I remain detached and unengaged. But when I begin to give myself fully to the situation, I often have a hard time keeping those anxieties at bay.

I may have gotten a tiny bit better at non-anxious presence after years of trying, but for me, this is less a proficiency issue and more a faith one. Too often I am tempted to think that "success" or "failure" as a church leader is primarily about my competency. But if it's all about my competency, or lack thereof, then what room do I allow for the Spirit to move in the congregation? If it's all about my proficiency, what is faith about?

In a success and results oriented culture, pastors, just like many others, can view their self worth as a matter or what they have accomplished rather than how faithful they are. We are called to live out our faith, and so what we do matters. But we are also called to trust in God's providence. Integrating and balancing faith and human effort may just be one of the most difficult practices of Christian living.

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