"The problem of Christmas”
Luke 2:1-20
Preached at Baldwin Presbyterian Church, December 24th 2010
A printable PDF file can be found here
In the face of an increasingly skeptical and disbelieving world Christmas becomes ever more poignant. Society is, at the same time, becoming both more religiously diverse and more secular. Peoples conceptions of what God may be like, or even if there actually is anything to the notion of there being gods at all are expressed in many ways, both in printed media, on screen and across the internet.
If we were able to time travel back to the days of Christ’s birth, I wonder if the environment we discovered would have been any less diverse or any less hostile to the notion that Jesus was born to be Savior of the World. The whole idea of Christmas would be seen by many to be intellectually incomprehensible and by others as dangerous and subversive, both in terms of politics and religion.
It was not just upon a whim that Herod became terrified at the thought of a new King for the Jews being born in Bethlehem. Herod had little trust in God, but trusted in the power of human alliances and power to maintain control of ones position.
It was no accident that the greatest opponents of Jesus turned out to be the religious establishment. The idea of God taking root in our midst, spirit being united with flesh, the holy taking on the earthly, was a scandal. God is ‘this’, we are ‘that’, and never the twain shall meet. The incarnation (the theological word for God coming to us in Jesus Christ) remains a heretical notion to believers of other faiths.
There is such an insignificance to the characters and places of the Nativity story. Bethlehem was not an important town. There is nothing more secular than the taking of a census and the paying of taxes. Carpenters with young wives had no great status. Shepherds were considered as being on the fringes of society and the object of ridicule. ‘Did you hear the one about the shepherd…’ That in the midst of such peoples and such places earth-shattering revelation should occur was highly unlikely.
Yet this is Christmas. This is what the gospel declares. That there came to the lives of unlikely people in insignificant places a revelation of God that has left the world a different place. What we do with this message is another matter.
Some will dismiss the whole thing as being incredulous, impossible and a rather dangerous kind of fairy tale. Some will look upon it as a beautiful mythical account, full of meaning and interest but ultimately only having the sentimental value of a Hallmark Card or Thomas Kinkade painting.
Yet some will accept what the gospel authors proclaim. That through these events something awesome, indescribable and unbelievable was coming to pass. God, in Christ, was breaking through into the circle of time and history in a redemptive way that can bring hope and joy and love to all those who allow themselves be transformed by His Holy Spirit.
Those who accept the gospel accounts as being more than just idle tales will not see Christmas as the whole story but interpret Christmas through the light of the life Jesus would lead, the deeds He would do, the teaching He would give, the death He would die, the claims that would be made about Him after His death, including those of resurrection and ascension and the power of His Holy Spirit that ignited the early Church.
Taken in isolation the Christmas story does offer much to celebrate. Light in the darkness, the giving of gifts, the lifting up of humble lives and insignificant places as being capable of being infused with great significance… all this is good stuff.
But look at it through the lens of the whole story that weaves in and through the 66 canonical books of Christian Scripture we call the Bible and it takes on an even greater meaning. Christmas becomes not an isolated event, but a significant Act within the great drama of revelation and salvation. Central to that whole drama is the life and love of Jesus Christ.
It is that whole story that gives significance to the communion service you are invited to be a part of this night. It has its roots in the Exodus experience of the Israelites and their great celebration of Passover. It recognizes the significance of Jesus Christ as one heralded by prophets and foreshadowed by events that shaped a nations life; the establishment of monarchy, the rescue of exiles, the proclamation of peace and justice, the hopes of a future defined by forgiveness and grace.
Communion declares the mystery of our faith. The mystery of what happened in Bethlehem. The unfolding revelation to His disciples of His unique nature. His call to be servants of one another, as He took a basin and washed His disciples feet. The sacrificial act of His crucifixion during which His body was broken and blood poured out as He prayed “Forgive them Father for they don’t know what they are doing”.
The proclamation of resurrection by His disciples. The coming of His Holy Spirit as they gathered in prayer at Pentecost. The ongoing life of His Church which has always found nurture and strength through participating in acts of worship around a table laid with bread and wine, declaring as Paul writes, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim His death until He come”
There always have been and will continue to be those who dismiss Christian faith as mumbo-jumbo and superstitious nonsense, particularly when we express our faith through rituals and acts that we ourselves describe as symbolic and mysterious. They will see the problem of Christmas as being symptomatic of the problem they have with belief in general.
I do not share their reservations. I cannot accept that everything in life can be explained by rational experiment and logical deduction. I do not accept the notion that mystery is unimportant and insignificant. I cannot believe that the very state of consciousness that causes us to wonder and reflect and seek for meaning is something that has ‘just happened’. I reject the idea that truth and beauty and love and hope are just part of our programming. I have experienced too many answered prayers to dismiss answers too prayer as always coincidence.
I dare to believe that the Christmas story is one of great significance. That rightly understood and related to the larger story we see in the Christmas events hope for all humankind.
It’s not a hope that anybody can be argued into. It’s something to be received. Something that seeps in rather than a blinding light of revelation. Something that can only be approached through music and silence, through taking and tasting, through wondering and questioning.
To our ‘so sure we can save ourselves world’ the proclamation of a Saviors birth may indeed be a problem. Yet … in the words of one of our Christmas carols… “O Little town of Bethlehem”…I suggest that ‘where meek souls receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.”
So I invite you to share in our communion celebration, not because you have life all sorted out and settled, but because you are open to being unsettled and changed. I invite you to participate in this celebration not because you believe without question, but because you have many questions that find no answers.
I invite you to be a participant in this sacred drama, not because you have your path in life all mapped out but because you are open to the direction and leading of a God whose call You seek to hear and whose Holy Spirit alone can give you strength for the journey.
The problem of Christmas is not a problem in any way to those who believe our world needs a Savior. It is the good news of our Saviors birth. In the name of Jesus Christ you are invited to seek for His love to be born afresh in your hearts and lives this night.
Amen.
Adrian J Pratt
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Advent 3 PRISONERS, PREACHERS AND PROPHETS
Readings: Psalm 146:5-10, Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11
Preached at Baldwin Presbyterian Church, December 12th 2010
A printable PDF file can be downloaded through this link.
Our reading today began with somebody on death row. Technically he is a political prisoner; the radical prophet whom we know as John the Baptist. He is sitting in darkness with his mind in overdrive. Throughout his life he had staked everything on the belief that Jesus, from Nazareth, was the promised liberator of his people. But now doubts are overwhelming. He sends a message to Jesus, asking a desperate question. "Are you the one?” Are you really the promised Messiah? Did I do the right thing placing all my hopes in you?
Jesus sends back messengers with these words; "Go and tell John what you hear and 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.”
Prisons are not just places made of stones, high walls and barbed wire. Many people though outwardly free are hemmed in by numerous things that keep them captive. Doubts. Fears. Addictions. Debts. Lifestyles. Shame. Grief. Regret. Sickness. People are still wondering, “Is Jesus really the One who can save us?”
John is told ‘The lame walk…’ ‘the lepers cleansed…’ The words are a quotation from the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 35. It’s part of a passage that is concerned with the restoration of Israel. It finishes with verse 10 “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
When John heard those words they resonated deep down inside of him He was being invited to look beyond his prison walls and see how God was working out God’s purposes through Jesus Christ. He was not forgotten. Jesus tells the crowds about John. “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.”
Jesus words to John blew away his doubts. They gave him strength. He knew that he had not been mistaken in telling people that God’s promised One had come and was at work in their midst. What can these words mean to us as we head towards Christmas?
They call us to recognize that Jesus Christ,
born in Bethlehem’s stable,
truly is the Promised One of God!
Today we swim in a sea of ‘isms!’
"Go and tell John what you hear and 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."
I’ve seen people who were blind, not physically, but blind to where their life is going. I’ve seen them be embraced by the grace of God and find a whole new way of seeing.
I’ve witnessed people, not whose way of walking was disabled, but who in almost the whole of their life had become lame and crippled. I’ve witnessed them be influenced by the gospel message in such a way as they now walk through their lives with a fixed purpose and a solid stride.
I’ve encountered people whose testimony is that they were complete outcasts, (‘lepers’ so to speak) to their families and friends, had been cut off, and despised, usually through their own actions, but then the light of Christ has broken through to them and it’s cleansed them of their shame and they are on track to being whole again.
I’ve watched people who have ignored the Bible all their life, thinking it was just a bunch of outdated prejudicial mumbo-jumbo go through a crisis or some challenge to their way of being and in that situation they have turned to its ancient writings and found that God is speaking right into their situation in a way that has dramitically melted their hard hearts.
I have observed people who were on a road to nowhere but the emptiness of a cold, dark grave, being embraced by the life that is Jesus Christ and become such different people that you just can not believe they were ever in such bad shape.
John sat in a prison cell and asked “Jesus, are you really the one who can save us?” It’s a question people are still asking. I’m here to declare that Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem’s stable, truly is the promised one of God. I’ve seen the way His love changes lives today!
I’m here to say whatever we are going through, wherever our lives are right now, whatever we may be facing, God can be there for us. I’m here to say that “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 I invite you to place your life into Gods hands. To come with all your doubts and misapprehensions and hear some good news. Jesus Christ is the Savior! His love can be born into the midst of your life circumstances. I’ve seen the way God’s love can change people’s lives. And I’ve known the power of God’s Holy Spirit t changing my own.
Believe it.
Listen to the songs of the angels.
Jesus Christ is the Savior.
Amen!
Preached at Baldwin Presbyterian Church, December 12th 2010
A printable PDF file can be downloaded through this link.
Our reading today began with somebody on death row. Technically he is a political prisoner; the radical prophet whom we know as John the Baptist. He is sitting in darkness with his mind in overdrive. Throughout his life he had staked everything on the belief that Jesus, from Nazareth, was the promised liberator of his people. But now doubts are overwhelming. He sends a message to Jesus, asking a desperate question. "Are you the one?” Are you really the promised Messiah? Did I do the right thing placing all my hopes in you?
Jesus sends back messengers with these words; "Go and tell John what you hear and 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.”
Prisons are not just places made of stones, high walls and barbed wire. Many people though outwardly free are hemmed in by numerous things that keep them captive. Doubts. Fears. Addictions. Debts. Lifestyles. Shame. Grief. Regret. Sickness. People are still wondering, “Is Jesus really the One who can save us?”
John is told ‘The lame walk…’ ‘the lepers cleansed…’ The words are a quotation from the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 35. It’s part of a passage that is concerned with the restoration of Israel. It finishes with verse 10 “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
When John heard those words they resonated deep down inside of him He was being invited to look beyond his prison walls and see how God was working out God’s purposes through Jesus Christ. He was not forgotten. Jesus tells the crowds about John. “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.”
Jesus words to John blew away his doubts. They gave him strength. He knew that he had not been mistaken in telling people that God’s promised One had come and was at work in their midst. What can these words mean to us as we head towards Christmas?
They call us to recognize that Jesus Christ,
born in Bethlehem’s stable,
truly is the Promised One of God!
Today we swim in a sea of ‘isms!’
- Rationalism, the belief that we can work it all out with our minds and through scientific deduction
- Skepticism, which doubts that is the case… indeed doubts anything is the case
- Pragmatism that suggests it doesn’t matter what we believe as long as it works for us.
- Materialism, “He who has the most toys wins”;
- Hedonism, “If it feels good do it”.
- Atheism, “There is no god”,
- Agnosticism; “We can’t know if there is a god”;
- Deism, “There is a God but don’t get excited because God has left the building”.
"Go and tell John what you hear and 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."
I’ve seen people who were blind, not physically, but blind to where their life is going. I’ve seen them be embraced by the grace of God and find a whole new way of seeing.
I’ve witnessed people, not whose way of walking was disabled, but who in almost the whole of their life had become lame and crippled. I’ve witnessed them be influenced by the gospel message in such a way as they now walk through their lives with a fixed purpose and a solid stride.
I’ve encountered people whose testimony is that they were complete outcasts, (‘lepers’ so to speak) to their families and friends, had been cut off, and despised, usually through their own actions, but then the light of Christ has broken through to them and it’s cleansed them of their shame and they are on track to being whole again.
I’ve watched people who have ignored the Bible all their life, thinking it was just a bunch of outdated prejudicial mumbo-jumbo go through a crisis or some challenge to their way of being and in that situation they have turned to its ancient writings and found that God is speaking right into their situation in a way that has dramitically melted their hard hearts.
I have observed people who were on a road to nowhere but the emptiness of a cold, dark grave, being embraced by the life that is Jesus Christ and become such different people that you just can not believe they were ever in such bad shape.
John sat in a prison cell and asked “Jesus, are you really the one who can save us?” It’s a question people are still asking. I’m here to declare that Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem’s stable, truly is the promised one of God. I’ve seen the way His love changes lives today!
I’m here to say whatever we are going through, wherever our lives are right now, whatever we may be facing, God can be there for us. I’m here to say that “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 I invite you to place your life into Gods hands. To come with all your doubts and misapprehensions and hear some good news. Jesus Christ is the Savior! His love can be born into the midst of your life circumstances. I’ve seen the way God’s love can change people’s lives. And I’ve known the power of God’s Holy Spirit t changing my own.
Believe it.
Listen to the songs of the angels.
Jesus Christ is the Savior.
Amen!
Monday, November 29, 2010
ADVENT 1 Feasting on Hope
Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13-11-14 and Matthew 24:36-44
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, November 28th 2010
A printable PDF file can be found by clicking this link
Having feasted on good food for Thanksgiving and looking forward to feasting again at Christmas time, I invite you this morning to feast on hope as we worship God together.
The particular hope that our lectionary readings point us to today is the hope of God’s Coming Kingdom. This includes the hope of Isaiah’s vision when God shall “judge among the nations: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The hopes of a world where the living Christ is given His rightful reign in people’s lives and darkness will be abolished by the light of His glorious presence.
Isaiah visualizes a Kingdom where the ways of God will be lifted high and justice be restored to all, in such a way as there will no longer be cause for war among the nations.
Paul calls his Roman readers to wake up and change their ways of living, because God's salvation was just around the corner.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that the day of the Lord will arrive unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, and cautions us to be ready for the kingdom to come.
Each reading has wonderful images of hope to feast upon
First of all feast on Isaiah’s vision.
Things Isaiah spoke of had a habit of coming to pass. Some of his visions had to do with the immediate future of the life of Israel. Others foretold of Christ. Other visions concerned the distant future of all the world..
He tells us that the day will come when God’s rule will tower above all other principalities and powers. The instruction of God will be the highest power of all. People from all around will want to know God’s direction in their lives. He tells us that justice and righteousness will be restored, that war will be at an end and that nationalism will be no longer a cause to fight about.
This fills me with hope. For at the present time God is dethroned from many people’s lives. At the present time many are not looking to God for direction. At the present time people are ready for war at the drop of a hat. At the present time our world is a place of injustice and unrest. It is good to know that these things will not always be so.
Armed with this hope every time I see someone opening up their lives a little more to the love of God, every time I hear of an initiative towards peace, every time some injustice is put right, we hear a whisper of greater things to come. “You ain’t seen nothing yet”.
Such is also a tremendous incentive for ourselves to be involved in intatives to create a fairer and more justice world in the present. To work towards the fullfillment of the glorious vision of peace and justice that Isaiah proclaims. To support all those efforts that feed the hungry, bring good news to the poor and bring light to those held captive in the darkness.
Such actions are not of this world, but carry the trademark of God’s Kingdom. Whenever we commit ourselves to change we are declaring ‘The Kingdom IS coming’. Maybe as Bob Dylan said in one of his songs, it is “A slow train coming”, but every now and again you can hear a distant rumbling on the tracks. The glorious hope in this passage from Isaiah is the knowledge that one day all will be well. That our efforts make a difference.
Secondly, Feast on Pauls wake up call
Not only shall all be well in the wider world, but there will also come a time when all will be well with our own lives. Those Paul wrote to in Rome were surrounded by all sorts of ungodliness and subject to all the problems that being sinful human beings places upon us.
Although they had converted to Christianity they still struggled to truly live a Christian life. They often found themselves paying more attention to bodily appetites than to their spiritual diet. From what Paul tells us they had a battle going on in the area of self-control. Some struggled with alcohol abuse. Some had no control of their sexual lives.
Some were argumentative and couldn’t control their words. Others were consumed with jealousy. Some just couldn’t resist a chance to party the night away. You’d think he was writing to guests on the Jerry Springer show, not the members of First Presbyterian Church in Rome!
Take heart from this passage. From the raw material of imperfect human lives God builds the church. Never despair of your self or of others. Be hopeful. If at times you feel your life is about as far from being holy as it could be, realize you have friends in high places and low places! If at times temptation wins, well, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last to lose a battle with temptation. Put your hope in God. Listen for His alarm bells and wake up calls and respond to them.
Thirdly, Feast on the unpredictability of it all
Many times the return of Christ is presented to us in terms of cold analysis and as though it were a doom laden fact. At various times across the Christian centuries there have been groups of folk convinced that their generation was the last and that Christ was coming especially for them, right then and right there to rescue them from the evil world around them.
Such certainty of instant redemtion obscures for us the really important element of Jesus teaching. The motif of surprise. There is a glorious sense of tension in Jesus words. On the one hand He tells us get ready, the son of Man is coming, like a thief in the night, one will be taken, one will be left behind. But on the other hand He tells us, “Well if you think you know when all this is going to be going on, you are completely and totally wrong”. “The Son of man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:44).
So rather than speculate about dates and times, I suggest we interpret our passage from Matthew in this way. “Always leave room in your life for God’s surprises”. Never close your soul to the unpredictable nature of God’s love. Never let your Christian life become a humdrum routine affair that leaves God’s Spirit no room to move. Never think that God is through with you or that you have reached the end of the road in your spiritual journey or that there is not more you can do to bring about change in our world.
As our lives go through their different seasons there comes times when we can no longer serve as we would wish. This element of surprise is an incentive for us to seize the day. To do what we can with what we have while we still have the opportunity to do so.
As we move through Advent towards Christmas it is worth reflecting why Jesus was born and the nature of the mission He pursued. When invited to preach His first sermon in Nazareth he unrolled a scroll containing the words of Isaiah and proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Whenever we work towards such aims we are working with Christ, suprising the world with His presence and spreading His hope where it is desperatly needed. As we do so, we find our own lives are challenged and changed. We are called to not only believe in the coming of the Kingdom God, that great vision of Isaiah, but also to work towards making God’s Kingdom a present reality.
Today we can hope to have our broken lives renewed through God’s Holy Spirit.
Today hope can spring eternal and life be made new.
Today we can look forward in hope to the coming of God’s Promised Kingdom.
Today we look forward in Advent hope.
Today we can recommit our lives to being carriers of the hope of Jesus Christ.
Praise God!
Every worship service is truly an opportunity for feasting on hope.
Amen.
Adrian J Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, November 28th 2010
A printable PDF file can be found by clicking this link
Having feasted on good food for Thanksgiving and looking forward to feasting again at Christmas time, I invite you this morning to feast on hope as we worship God together.
The particular hope that our lectionary readings point us to today is the hope of God’s Coming Kingdom. This includes the hope of Isaiah’s vision when God shall “judge among the nations: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The hopes of a world where the living Christ is given His rightful reign in people’s lives and darkness will be abolished by the light of His glorious presence.
Isaiah visualizes a Kingdom where the ways of God will be lifted high and justice be restored to all, in such a way as there will no longer be cause for war among the nations.
Paul calls his Roman readers to wake up and change their ways of living, because God's salvation was just around the corner.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that the day of the Lord will arrive unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, and cautions us to be ready for the kingdom to come.
Each reading has wonderful images of hope to feast upon
First of all feast on Isaiah’s vision.
Things Isaiah spoke of had a habit of coming to pass. Some of his visions had to do with the immediate future of the life of Israel. Others foretold of Christ. Other visions concerned the distant future of all the world..
He tells us that the day will come when God’s rule will tower above all other principalities and powers. The instruction of God will be the highest power of all. People from all around will want to know God’s direction in their lives. He tells us that justice and righteousness will be restored, that war will be at an end and that nationalism will be no longer a cause to fight about.
This fills me with hope. For at the present time God is dethroned from many people’s lives. At the present time many are not looking to God for direction. At the present time people are ready for war at the drop of a hat. At the present time our world is a place of injustice and unrest. It is good to know that these things will not always be so.
Armed with this hope every time I see someone opening up their lives a little more to the love of God, every time I hear of an initiative towards peace, every time some injustice is put right, we hear a whisper of greater things to come. “You ain’t seen nothing yet”.
Such is also a tremendous incentive for ourselves to be involved in intatives to create a fairer and more justice world in the present. To work towards the fullfillment of the glorious vision of peace and justice that Isaiah proclaims. To support all those efforts that feed the hungry, bring good news to the poor and bring light to those held captive in the darkness.
Such actions are not of this world, but carry the trademark of God’s Kingdom. Whenever we commit ourselves to change we are declaring ‘The Kingdom IS coming’. Maybe as Bob Dylan said in one of his songs, it is “A slow train coming”, but every now and again you can hear a distant rumbling on the tracks. The glorious hope in this passage from Isaiah is the knowledge that one day all will be well. That our efforts make a difference.
Secondly, Feast on Pauls wake up call
Not only shall all be well in the wider world, but there will also come a time when all will be well with our own lives. Those Paul wrote to in Rome were surrounded by all sorts of ungodliness and subject to all the problems that being sinful human beings places upon us.
Although they had converted to Christianity they still struggled to truly live a Christian life. They often found themselves paying more attention to bodily appetites than to their spiritual diet. From what Paul tells us they had a battle going on in the area of self-control. Some struggled with alcohol abuse. Some had no control of their sexual lives.
Some were argumentative and couldn’t control their words. Others were consumed with jealousy. Some just couldn’t resist a chance to party the night away. You’d think he was writing to guests on the Jerry Springer show, not the members of First Presbyterian Church in Rome!
Take heart from this passage. From the raw material of imperfect human lives God builds the church. Never despair of your self or of others. Be hopeful. If at times you feel your life is about as far from being holy as it could be, realize you have friends in high places and low places! If at times temptation wins, well, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last to lose a battle with temptation. Put your hope in God. Listen for His alarm bells and wake up calls and respond to them.
Thirdly, Feast on the unpredictability of it all
Many times the return of Christ is presented to us in terms of cold analysis and as though it were a doom laden fact. At various times across the Christian centuries there have been groups of folk convinced that their generation was the last and that Christ was coming especially for them, right then and right there to rescue them from the evil world around them.
Such certainty of instant redemtion obscures for us the really important element of Jesus teaching. The motif of surprise. There is a glorious sense of tension in Jesus words. On the one hand He tells us get ready, the son of Man is coming, like a thief in the night, one will be taken, one will be left behind. But on the other hand He tells us, “Well if you think you know when all this is going to be going on, you are completely and totally wrong”. “The Son of man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:44).
So rather than speculate about dates and times, I suggest we interpret our passage from Matthew in this way. “Always leave room in your life for God’s surprises”. Never close your soul to the unpredictable nature of God’s love. Never let your Christian life become a humdrum routine affair that leaves God’s Spirit no room to move. Never think that God is through with you or that you have reached the end of the road in your spiritual journey or that there is not more you can do to bring about change in our world.
As our lives go through their different seasons there comes times when we can no longer serve as we would wish. This element of surprise is an incentive for us to seize the day. To do what we can with what we have while we still have the opportunity to do so.
As we move through Advent towards Christmas it is worth reflecting why Jesus was born and the nature of the mission He pursued. When invited to preach His first sermon in Nazareth he unrolled a scroll containing the words of Isaiah and proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Whenever we work towards such aims we are working with Christ, suprising the world with His presence and spreading His hope where it is desperatly needed. As we do so, we find our own lives are challenged and changed. We are called to not only believe in the coming of the Kingdom God, that great vision of Isaiah, but also to work towards making God’s Kingdom a present reality.
Today we can hope to have our broken lives renewed through God’s Holy Spirit.
Today hope can spring eternal and life be made new.
Today we can look forward in hope to the coming of God’s Promised Kingdom.
Today we look forward in Advent hope.
Today we can recommit our lives to being carriers of the hope of Jesus Christ.
Praise God!
Every worship service is truly an opportunity for feasting on hope.
Amen.
Adrian J Pratt
Monday, November 8, 2010
THE LIVING DIFFERENCE
Readings: Psalm 98, Exodus 3:1-6, 2 Thessalonians. 1-5,13-17, Luke 20:27-38
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, 7th November 2010
A printable PDF file of this sermon can be found here.
Some Mormons believe that if you are a faithful Mormon then after you die you are resurrected to the third or celestial heaven, where you are given a kingdom for yourself and your family. There you will rule, as a god like being whilst you populate a separate planet of your own.
One form of Islamic belief is that heaven is filled with earthly pleasures, a paradise of sensual delights. Other belief systems suggest that when you die you are sent back again to this earth, maybe as a human or maybe as an animal. Still others see life as circle that only reaches it’s end once the soul has achieved a sense of oneness with Creation.
For sure these questions of eternity and after-life have vexed many minds over many centuries. In Jesus day there were Pharisees and teachers of the Law and Essennes and Herodians and Greeks and Romans, all of who had very different ideas about what happened after death. And amongst them there were also the Sadducees. The Sadducees did not believe in Resurrection. As the joke goes… that’s why they were ‘Sad –You - See.’
They believed in the Scriptures, but only the books of Moses. They figured that once God had given the commandments, everything else was unnecessary. Just get back to the ‘true’ bible and things will change. One thing they were convinced that their bible didn’t teach was that there would be any kind of resurrection from the dead for those who believed.
The Sadducees saw Pharissees as over burdened with laws and far too sure that they alone knew the purpose of God. They saw the temple authorities as tied up with the politics and ceremony of the day. They saw the common people as… well…‘common’. And they didn’t like Jesus. His popularity was a threat to their respectful position and His teaching about God seemed dangerous.
So they come to Jesus with a trick question about marriage. According to the Levitical law in Deuteronomy 25:5 (one of the books they did believe in) if a man died childless, his brother must marry the widow and beget children to carry on the family line.
‘O.K Rabbi’, they say, ‘answer us this one’. This guy marries a girl, dies, so, as the law says, his brother marries her, then he dies and so and so on right through all the brothers.” “If there is a resurrection” they challenge, “Whose wife will she be in the after-life?”
Jesus, as He often did, turned the question around and left them with more questions than answers. In the first part of His answer Jesus cautions the Sadducees not to think of heavenly things from an earthly perspective. Constructing imaginary scenarios and trying to logically think of what heaven may be like, on the basis of the life they were experiencing on earth, was doomed to failure.
We too can construct heavens in our imaginations, heavens based on our likes and dislikes. Do we really want to sit on a fluffy white cloud, strumming a harp in the company of overfed cherubs and anaemic looking angels? There has to be more to it than that! So Jesus throws some powerful word pictures our way. He firstly, no doubt in response to their question, plays with the idea of marriage.
Marriage, He explains, is something that belongs to this life on this earth. Marriage, as Scripture elsewhere affirms, is a high and holy calling; relationships between husband and wife are a reflection of the relationship of Christ to the church. But only a reflection.
Relationships with people in heaven are to be more beautiful, more committed, with greater depth and intimacy than anything you may experience on earth. To make a comparison between that heavenly situation and the too-ings and fro-ings of earthly relationships was wrong.
Not only was marriage not going to be happening in heaven but neither was death. Verse 29 ‘for they cannot die anymore’. The same would apply to the bearing of children. Jesus scolds the Sadducees for their lack of appreciation that life on earth was not life in heaven and suggests that they were indeed foolish if they thought they could work the one out on the basis of the other. But He doesn’t leave it there. He also takes issue with them on their understanding of the Scripture.
He doesn’t take issue with the fact that they only thought the first five book of Moses were Scriptures worth taking note of, rather that they hadn’t grasped the significance of what was contained in those first five books. They claim that in those Scriptures there was no reference to any kind of resurrection.
Jesus takes them on a bible study in the Book of Exodus, the passage about Moses and the burning bush. In the passage, Jesus points out that Moses calls God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was impossible that God should be the God of the dead. Therefore Abraham and Isaac and Jacob must be the living. God was God of the living! So there was such a thing as the resurrection. Their own Scriptures said it was so. The Saduccess are silenced by this answer.
At the end of the day the Sadducees were left looking foolish because they thought they knew more about the Scriptures than Jesus did. They argued about the concept of resurrection with somebody who was about to exemplify for all time and all people the real thing.
For ourselves, who profess Jesus Christ as Savior, we do well to hear His perspective on the after-life. He assures us that if we put our faith and trust in Him, then something immeasurably worthwhile, indescribably wonderful, awesome, majestic, beyond anything earthly words, pictures or thoughts can adequately describe, is awaiting us on the other side.
Jesus uses an enigmatic phrase; ‘sons of the resurrection’ to describe those who seek to make their ultimate destination God’s Kingdom. I like that phrase. Let it sing through your mind a little. ‘Sons and daughters of the resurrection’ Imagine jumping out of bed in the morning with that attitude coloring your day.
“I am a resurrection person. The things I do today are not confined by the boundaries of death, decay and time. I am a resurrection person. The life which I will live today is part of a life that will never be diminished. The things I do today are making a mark, not only on the passing things of this life but in eternity.
I am a resurrection person. Though I may face defeats, God will turn them to victories, though I may face failures, God will use them to build my character, though I may face darkness, God will lead me with His light, though I may face suffering, God will heal all my infirmities in His good time. I am a resurrection person. Every moment in time that ticks by, bringing age and eventually death is but a glorious moment that is bringing me closer to my final destiny, my eternal home, my Fathers house; I am a resurrection person, I am an Easter person and Hallelujah is my song!
Belief in the resurrection makes a difference. A living difference to every moment you live on earth. Just occasionally the awareness of that glorious Kingdom does seep through to us. Don’t fight it. Embrace it. Listen to Jesus. Keep learning what His Words teach us. Trust in God, that in His hands, saved by grace, through faith, you’re safe.
And to God be the glory. Amen.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, 7th November 2010
A printable PDF file of this sermon can be found here.
Some Mormons believe that if you are a faithful Mormon then after you die you are resurrected to the third or celestial heaven, where you are given a kingdom for yourself and your family. There you will rule, as a god like being whilst you populate a separate planet of your own.
One form of Islamic belief is that heaven is filled with earthly pleasures, a paradise of sensual delights. Other belief systems suggest that when you die you are sent back again to this earth, maybe as a human or maybe as an animal. Still others see life as circle that only reaches it’s end once the soul has achieved a sense of oneness with Creation.
For sure these questions of eternity and after-life have vexed many minds over many centuries. In Jesus day there were Pharisees and teachers of the Law and Essennes and Herodians and Greeks and Romans, all of who had very different ideas about what happened after death. And amongst them there were also the Sadducees. The Sadducees did not believe in Resurrection. As the joke goes… that’s why they were ‘Sad –You - See.’
They believed in the Scriptures, but only the books of Moses. They figured that once God had given the commandments, everything else was unnecessary. Just get back to the ‘true’ bible and things will change. One thing they were convinced that their bible didn’t teach was that there would be any kind of resurrection from the dead for those who believed.
The Sadducees saw Pharissees as over burdened with laws and far too sure that they alone knew the purpose of God. They saw the temple authorities as tied up with the politics and ceremony of the day. They saw the common people as… well…‘common’. And they didn’t like Jesus. His popularity was a threat to their respectful position and His teaching about God seemed dangerous.
So they come to Jesus with a trick question about marriage. According to the Levitical law in Deuteronomy 25:5 (one of the books they did believe in) if a man died childless, his brother must marry the widow and beget children to carry on the family line.
‘O.K Rabbi’, they say, ‘answer us this one’. This guy marries a girl, dies, so, as the law says, his brother marries her, then he dies and so and so on right through all the brothers.” “If there is a resurrection” they challenge, “Whose wife will she be in the after-life?”
Jesus, as He often did, turned the question around and left them with more questions than answers. In the first part of His answer Jesus cautions the Sadducees not to think of heavenly things from an earthly perspective. Constructing imaginary scenarios and trying to logically think of what heaven may be like, on the basis of the life they were experiencing on earth, was doomed to failure.
We too can construct heavens in our imaginations, heavens based on our likes and dislikes. Do we really want to sit on a fluffy white cloud, strumming a harp in the company of overfed cherubs and anaemic looking angels? There has to be more to it than that! So Jesus throws some powerful word pictures our way. He firstly, no doubt in response to their question, plays with the idea of marriage.
Marriage, He explains, is something that belongs to this life on this earth. Marriage, as Scripture elsewhere affirms, is a high and holy calling; relationships between husband and wife are a reflection of the relationship of Christ to the church. But only a reflection.
Relationships with people in heaven are to be more beautiful, more committed, with greater depth and intimacy than anything you may experience on earth. To make a comparison between that heavenly situation and the too-ings and fro-ings of earthly relationships was wrong.
Not only was marriage not going to be happening in heaven but neither was death. Verse 29 ‘for they cannot die anymore’. The same would apply to the bearing of children. Jesus scolds the Sadducees for their lack of appreciation that life on earth was not life in heaven and suggests that they were indeed foolish if they thought they could work the one out on the basis of the other. But He doesn’t leave it there. He also takes issue with them on their understanding of the Scripture.
He doesn’t take issue with the fact that they only thought the first five book of Moses were Scriptures worth taking note of, rather that they hadn’t grasped the significance of what was contained in those first five books. They claim that in those Scriptures there was no reference to any kind of resurrection.
Jesus takes them on a bible study in the Book of Exodus, the passage about Moses and the burning bush. In the passage, Jesus points out that Moses calls God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was impossible that God should be the God of the dead. Therefore Abraham and Isaac and Jacob must be the living. God was God of the living! So there was such a thing as the resurrection. Their own Scriptures said it was so. The Saduccess are silenced by this answer.
At the end of the day the Sadducees were left looking foolish because they thought they knew more about the Scriptures than Jesus did. They argued about the concept of resurrection with somebody who was about to exemplify for all time and all people the real thing.
For ourselves, who profess Jesus Christ as Savior, we do well to hear His perspective on the after-life. He assures us that if we put our faith and trust in Him, then something immeasurably worthwhile, indescribably wonderful, awesome, majestic, beyond anything earthly words, pictures or thoughts can adequately describe, is awaiting us on the other side.
Jesus uses an enigmatic phrase; ‘sons of the resurrection’ to describe those who seek to make their ultimate destination God’s Kingdom. I like that phrase. Let it sing through your mind a little. ‘Sons and daughters of the resurrection’ Imagine jumping out of bed in the morning with that attitude coloring your day.
“I am a resurrection person. The things I do today are not confined by the boundaries of death, decay and time. I am a resurrection person. The life which I will live today is part of a life that will never be diminished. The things I do today are making a mark, not only on the passing things of this life but in eternity.
I am a resurrection person. Though I may face defeats, God will turn them to victories, though I may face failures, God will use them to build my character, though I may face darkness, God will lead me with His light, though I may face suffering, God will heal all my infirmities in His good time. I am a resurrection person. Every moment in time that ticks by, bringing age and eventually death is but a glorious moment that is bringing me closer to my final destiny, my eternal home, my Fathers house; I am a resurrection person, I am an Easter person and Hallelujah is my song!
Belief in the resurrection makes a difference. A living difference to every moment you live on earth. Just occasionally the awareness of that glorious Kingdom does seep through to us. Don’t fight it. Embrace it. Listen to Jesus. Keep learning what His Words teach us. Trust in God, that in His hands, saved by grace, through faith, you’re safe.
And to God be the glory. Amen.
Monday, November 1, 2010
GET OUT OF THAT TREE!
Reading: Psalm 119:137-144, Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4, 2 Thess. 1:1-4, 11-12, Luke 19:1-10
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on October 31st 2010
For a printable PDF copy click here
Something about being a kid makes you view trees as things that need to be climbed. I know I did. Even had a little den – a tree-house – in the old tree at the back of my parent’s house. It was a good place to be – particularly if there were jobs needed doing and you weren’t inclined to do them right then. You couldn’t stay up there forever. The inevitable would catch up and some one would be hollering, “Get out of that tree!”
Our Bible reading gave us the story of another little tree climber - a man named Zacchaeus. He’s described as having made a healthy income for himself, being short of stature and engaged in the profession of tax-collector.
There were all sorts of reasons why he could have been up the tree. Tax collectors weren’t the most popular people in Israelite society. Maybe he was up there trying to stay out of people’s way. He also had a bit of money, so maybe being up a tree kept him out of the way from pick-pockets and other petty thieves that crowds tend to attract.
Or maybe it was just because he was short and couldn’t see what was going on. Luke tells us that he had run on ahead of the crowds when he had seen that Jesus was coming to town in order to get a good view of all that was taking place. Luke doesn’t tell us why he wanted to see Jesus or what had so stirred Zaccheaus that he felt the need to be mingling with the folk on the streets. For sure though there was something about Jesus that had gained his attention. The last thing he had expected was to gain Jesus attention.
That’s what happens. Jesus comes by and shouts, “Get out of that tree!” Or rather He says, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." And Zaccheaus climbs down and is overjoyed to offer Jesus hospitality. The mere fact that Jesus has taken the time to recognize him and calls out his name is enough to bring about a radical change in the little man’s life. He’s a little man with a big heart.
"Look”, he tells Jesus “Half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Having encountered the love of Christ, life could not just carry on as it had done before. He was making some changes – changes for the better.
It’s not just kids who hide up trees. Zaccheaus wasn’t a kid. But he was hiding up a tree. It makes me ask, “What sort of trees are we hiding in? What trees do we need to come down from if we are going to be disciples of Jesus? What’s our tree?”
I know that we all have our own systems for coping with life. We all have our own views about what’s important and why we’re on this planet and what’s right and what’s wrong. And most of the time, these ideas about life – these ‘trees’ that we hide in are comfortable places to be.
Now I can’t tell you exactly what your tree is. But I can make some generalizations. It’s the place you go to ignore the genuine challenges of the world around you. It’s a place where you can shut out the voices of the crowd and do what seems right in your own eyes. It’s a place where you feel comfortable about yourself – even when there are things about your life that should make you uncomfortable.
Some trees are more obvious than others. Some have a well-stocked bar whose alcoholic content is the main thing that gets them through the day. Some have other forms of escape. Some trees are built out of harsh words and criticism towards those who are not the same or don’t share their ideas of right and wrong. Some of us are very selective about who we allow in our tree-houses.
Zaccheaus was doing all right. He had his circle of friends. He knew his place in the scheme of things and hoped others knew theirs. He kept his distance when he had to. It wasn’t his fault that the poor were poor. Yes, he cut a few moral corners now and then, but didn’t everybody? There were worse people than him about – why should he feel bad about himself?
Then Jesus comes along. He already knew that there was something different about Jesus. When people allowed Him to get to them strange things would happen. Healings. Miracles. Changed lives. He really didn’t seem to care what anybody else thought of Him. He wasn’t afraid to speak in harsh judgment to those who gave the impression of being righteous. He seemed to have unlimited time to share with the most insignificant of people. Then… there was Jesus, calling his name, saying… Zacchaeus “Get down out of that tree’.
It must have taken more than a bit of courage to come down. Why was Jesus calling him? Was he going to make an example of him before the crowds? Was it to humiliate him? Was it because he had money? Was it because he’d cheated people? No…. the look on Jesus face was not one of condemnation, but of acceptance.
It was a look Zacchaeus hadn’t seen for a long time. An look of acceptance. The people, even as he climbs down, are singing their usual tune. "He’s a sinner!" Jesus was crossing a barrier of ritual purity. A tax collector was considered unclean because he entered houses and inspected goods in a way unacceptable to Jewish law.
By entering Zacchaeus’s house, Jesus was acknowledging the chief tax collector’s dignity and worth. Jesus, who was being followed by the crowds, would have brought honor to whatever house He entered. He conferred a special honor on Zacchaeus by offering to receive hospitality from him.
Zaccheaus is delighted to receive Jesus. For sure it would mean some changes. If Jesus was prepared to take him just as he was, then it was only right that he should start living like he was somebody important to God.
Through this story Jesus is calling “Get out of that Tree”. As I say, I don’t know what sort of tree you are hiding out in, or exactly what it means for you to get out of that place and move on towards a better place. But I do know that all of us are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. That we all have defense mechanisms against whole hearted commitment to loving God - with all that we are - and loving others as much as we love ourselves. I know that doesn’t come easy – or without a price to pay.
But thank God – Jesus has paid the price. He calls us to come down, not in condemnation – but in acceptance. The Good News is not – “Clean up your life so that you may be acceptable to God” but, “Hey – God loves you and accepts you. Today God is calling your name. Today God is challenging you to move forward. Now is the hour of salvation!”
If you’re in one of those moods where you feel like “Well, nothing good ever comes my way”, or “Nothing amazing happens in my church” or “Why can’t this be this or that be that” – then get down out of that tree. That tree of self-pity – or that tree of disillusionment – or that tree of rebellion - or that tree of self-satisfaction – or that tree that’s covered in green leaves but is actually dieing on the inside – that tree of confusion or disbelief or self-condemnation or fear or anxiety.
Come down from that tree! Jesus wants to come to your house. He’s calling your name. He wants to share a feast with you. Today He wants to honor your life with His presence – today. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20).
Sure we can stay in our tree house. We can pretend not to hear. We can act like the name being called wasn’t ours but some other with the same name. But winter’s coming. Being stuck up in a tree when the rains start to fall can leave you pretty miserable. If the winds start to blow, your whole tree might come crashing down. There’s more to life than living in trees.
Our story concludes with Jesus saying, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." May salvation come to our lives and our homes today, because – today – we have heard Jesus calling our name and promising that as we open our lives to the influence of the Holy Spirit, it’s not going to be just more of the same, but new life in Jesus name.
As we are in our stewardship season, may our thankfulness overflow into generosity, and being generous not just with our treasures, but also with our time and talents in the service of God’s Kingdom. There is much we can do here in Baldwin through this churches ministry, but it takes our willingness and our commitment to ensure that it happens.
Let us move forward into the future aware of God’s desire to walk with us, to feast with us and share in all that it may bring. Let us allow God to work the changes in us that are a result of God’s acceptance of us. Let us seek to live as God’s people, simply because that’s who God calls us, by name, to be! “Get out of that tree” to the glory of God. AMEN!
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on October 31st 2010
For a printable PDF copy click here
Something about being a kid makes you view trees as things that need to be climbed. I know I did. Even had a little den – a tree-house – in the old tree at the back of my parent’s house. It was a good place to be – particularly if there were jobs needed doing and you weren’t inclined to do them right then. You couldn’t stay up there forever. The inevitable would catch up and some one would be hollering, “Get out of that tree!”
Our Bible reading gave us the story of another little tree climber - a man named Zacchaeus. He’s described as having made a healthy income for himself, being short of stature and engaged in the profession of tax-collector.
There were all sorts of reasons why he could have been up the tree. Tax collectors weren’t the most popular people in Israelite society. Maybe he was up there trying to stay out of people’s way. He also had a bit of money, so maybe being up a tree kept him out of the way from pick-pockets and other petty thieves that crowds tend to attract.
Or maybe it was just because he was short and couldn’t see what was going on. Luke tells us that he had run on ahead of the crowds when he had seen that Jesus was coming to town in order to get a good view of all that was taking place. Luke doesn’t tell us why he wanted to see Jesus or what had so stirred Zaccheaus that he felt the need to be mingling with the folk on the streets. For sure though there was something about Jesus that had gained his attention. The last thing he had expected was to gain Jesus attention.
That’s what happens. Jesus comes by and shouts, “Get out of that tree!” Or rather He says, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." And Zaccheaus climbs down and is overjoyed to offer Jesus hospitality. The mere fact that Jesus has taken the time to recognize him and calls out his name is enough to bring about a radical change in the little man’s life. He’s a little man with a big heart.
"Look”, he tells Jesus “Half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Having encountered the love of Christ, life could not just carry on as it had done before. He was making some changes – changes for the better.
It’s not just kids who hide up trees. Zaccheaus wasn’t a kid. But he was hiding up a tree. It makes me ask, “What sort of trees are we hiding in? What trees do we need to come down from if we are going to be disciples of Jesus? What’s our tree?”
I know that we all have our own systems for coping with life. We all have our own views about what’s important and why we’re on this planet and what’s right and what’s wrong. And most of the time, these ideas about life – these ‘trees’ that we hide in are comfortable places to be.
Now I can’t tell you exactly what your tree is. But I can make some generalizations. It’s the place you go to ignore the genuine challenges of the world around you. It’s a place where you can shut out the voices of the crowd and do what seems right in your own eyes. It’s a place where you feel comfortable about yourself – even when there are things about your life that should make you uncomfortable.
Some trees are more obvious than others. Some have a well-stocked bar whose alcoholic content is the main thing that gets them through the day. Some have other forms of escape. Some trees are built out of harsh words and criticism towards those who are not the same or don’t share their ideas of right and wrong. Some of us are very selective about who we allow in our tree-houses.
Zaccheaus was doing all right. He had his circle of friends. He knew his place in the scheme of things and hoped others knew theirs. He kept his distance when he had to. It wasn’t his fault that the poor were poor. Yes, he cut a few moral corners now and then, but didn’t everybody? There were worse people than him about – why should he feel bad about himself?
Then Jesus comes along. He already knew that there was something different about Jesus. When people allowed Him to get to them strange things would happen. Healings. Miracles. Changed lives. He really didn’t seem to care what anybody else thought of Him. He wasn’t afraid to speak in harsh judgment to those who gave the impression of being righteous. He seemed to have unlimited time to share with the most insignificant of people. Then… there was Jesus, calling his name, saying… Zacchaeus “Get down out of that tree’.
It must have taken more than a bit of courage to come down. Why was Jesus calling him? Was he going to make an example of him before the crowds? Was it to humiliate him? Was it because he had money? Was it because he’d cheated people? No…. the look on Jesus face was not one of condemnation, but of acceptance.
It was a look Zacchaeus hadn’t seen for a long time. An look of acceptance. The people, even as he climbs down, are singing their usual tune. "He’s a sinner!" Jesus was crossing a barrier of ritual purity. A tax collector was considered unclean because he entered houses and inspected goods in a way unacceptable to Jewish law.
By entering Zacchaeus’s house, Jesus was acknowledging the chief tax collector’s dignity and worth. Jesus, who was being followed by the crowds, would have brought honor to whatever house He entered. He conferred a special honor on Zacchaeus by offering to receive hospitality from him.
Zaccheaus is delighted to receive Jesus. For sure it would mean some changes. If Jesus was prepared to take him just as he was, then it was only right that he should start living like he was somebody important to God.
Through this story Jesus is calling “Get out of that Tree”. As I say, I don’t know what sort of tree you are hiding out in, or exactly what it means for you to get out of that place and move on towards a better place. But I do know that all of us are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. That we all have defense mechanisms against whole hearted commitment to loving God - with all that we are - and loving others as much as we love ourselves. I know that doesn’t come easy – or without a price to pay.
But thank God – Jesus has paid the price. He calls us to come down, not in condemnation – but in acceptance. The Good News is not – “Clean up your life so that you may be acceptable to God” but, “Hey – God loves you and accepts you. Today God is calling your name. Today God is challenging you to move forward. Now is the hour of salvation!”
If you’re in one of those moods where you feel like “Well, nothing good ever comes my way”, or “Nothing amazing happens in my church” or “Why can’t this be this or that be that” – then get down out of that tree. That tree of self-pity – or that tree of disillusionment – or that tree of rebellion - or that tree of self-satisfaction – or that tree that’s covered in green leaves but is actually dieing on the inside – that tree of confusion or disbelief or self-condemnation or fear or anxiety.
Come down from that tree! Jesus wants to come to your house. He’s calling your name. He wants to share a feast with you. Today He wants to honor your life with His presence – today. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20).
Sure we can stay in our tree house. We can pretend not to hear. We can act like the name being called wasn’t ours but some other with the same name. But winter’s coming. Being stuck up in a tree when the rains start to fall can leave you pretty miserable. If the winds start to blow, your whole tree might come crashing down. There’s more to life than living in trees.
Our story concludes with Jesus saying, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." May salvation come to our lives and our homes today, because – today – we have heard Jesus calling our name and promising that as we open our lives to the influence of the Holy Spirit, it’s not going to be just more of the same, but new life in Jesus name.
As we are in our stewardship season, may our thankfulness overflow into generosity, and being generous not just with our treasures, but also with our time and talents in the service of God’s Kingdom. There is much we can do here in Baldwin through this churches ministry, but it takes our willingness and our commitment to ensure that it happens.
Let us move forward into the future aware of God’s desire to walk with us, to feast with us and share in all that it may bring. Let us allow God to work the changes in us that are a result of God’s acceptance of us. Let us seek to live as God’s people, simply because that’s who God calls us, by name, to be! “Get out of that tree” to the glory of God. AMEN!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
“THIS IS MY STORY - THIS IS MY SONG” Part Three: "The Jonah Man”
Jonah 1:1-10
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, October 24th 2010
(A printable PDF file of this message can be found by clicking these words.)
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been answering questions such as ‘How did you come to faith?” and “What made you enter the ministry?” Today I’m going to try and relate how it was I felt a call to leave my homelands and home denomination for lands unknown. “What made you leave the United Kingdom of Great Britain and come to the United States of America?”
I was sharing with you last week that going into ministry in the established church was something I had kicked against doing. Even when as a twenty something I departed from my home near Liverpool to study at Aberystwyth Theological College (part of the University of Wales) I was still nursing a real hope that… well... God had only called me to be a candidate for the ministry, God hadn’t actually said I had to become a preacher.
But... darn it… by half way through my final year… there were a couple of churches out there expressing an interest in having me as their pastor. For Jonah it took sitting inside the belly of a stinky fish before He realized that, ‘Yes’, maybe doing what God asked could result in a favorable outcome for his life. In chapter 2 of Jonah he concludes a prayer about his plight with the phrase, “Deliverance belongs to the Lord”. Shortly afterward he is deposited on the shores of Nineveh in order to begin his task.
I’m glad that it didn’t take being thrown off a ship into the raging waves by a group of angry sailors, only to be swallowed up by a whale that convinced me to accept the preacher’s role. It was much nicer going to Wales to study, rather than being swallowed by one!
So I accepted ‘A Call’. A call to two wonderful churches in the beautiful Welsh Vale of Clwyd in North Wales, in two market towns called Denbigh and Ruthin. What I didn’t realize about the town of Denbigh was that it housed a large mental hospital and that “Going to Denbigh’ was a euphemism for being sent to the asylum.
Such did however explain why people would look at me rather strangely when they asked what I was going to do after seminary and I’d smile and say, “I’m going to Denbigh”. But after over thirty years of being part of this institution we call the church, I am of the opinion that being a little bit crazy is probably a help rather than a hindrance for pastoral ministry.
I could write a book about some of the experiences I have enjoyed (and endured) in the different churches I’ve served (but I may need a good lawyer first). After being in Denbigh and Ruthin, I moved on to inner city ministry in Liverpool, before accepting a call to minister in the churches of Menai Bridge and Caernarfon in North Wales. Caernarfon boasted the castle where the Prince of Wales was invested with his office, making it a Mecca for tourists from all over the world.
Now all of this is by way of a lengthy introduction to explaining how it was that I came to America. Did I hear a voice from the heavens saying; “Go to the USA?” Was it something that I had secretly been planning and hoping for all along. Did some scripture verse jump out of the bible to direct my path? Would be that it were that simple!
Over the years I’ve learned about the guidance of God. It can be most irregular. As Spock used to say to Captain Kirk, “Illogical, Captain”. As we place our trust in God and commit our way to doing the things God wants us to, wherever God wants us to do them, both God’s methods and the outcome can be wildly unpredictable.
This was a message that Jonah found hard to understand. When he reluctantly marched into Nineveh declaring God’s judgment on its God forsaken inhabitants the last thing he was expecting was that they would listen, respond and set about amending their lives so as to live the way God wanted them to.
Jonah’s waiting for the fireworks. He wants to see the Ninevites get blasted by the judgment of God. The story ends with Jonah in an angry sulk, sitting in the shade of a tree which has died, leaving him even hotter and stickier than ever. God suggests that Jonah is acting foolishly and that as God, He had every right to show mercy where ever mercy was needed. And it was certainly needed in Nineveh. So Jonah, “Get over yourself!”
So there I was, serving the denomination that had bought me to faith, in this beautiful area of Wales, enjoying the mountains and the beaches and the castles and blessed with two children who were blossoming at 10 and 12 years old, and my wife in this wonderful job working in the offices of the Oceanography department. “Settled” would be a wonderful word to describe how things were going.
One of the ministries that Castle Square Caernarfon Church operated was that on a Saturday morning they would open up the church to visitors and invite them in for a coffee and a chat. One Saturday morning, when I wasn’t there, a pastor and his son from the Chicago area walked in. The son was an organist and Alan Jones the organist at Castle Square was just finishing up his practice for Sunday. They got chatting and the son got to play the organ and a friendship was struck up.
A few months later we received a letter asking if we would be interested in doing an exchange trip to Chicago. So we thought about it and prayed about it and decided that a twelve week exchange trip to the U.S.A. might be kind of fun. We would live in each others houses, drive each others cars, minister through the summer in each others churches. It was all set in stone.
Then the phone rang. It was the pastor from Chicago. “Got bad news and good news” he said. “I’ve accepted a call to serve a United Reformed Church in Cornwall, England. I’m guessing you wouldn’t really be interested in doing an exchange trip to a part of England just over the border from Wales. However, there’s a guy from our church who is around about your age, who went into the ministry and is in a place called Red Wing, in Minnesota, I’ve spoken with him and he’s interested. What do you think?”
I thought, “Whatever. Red Wing, Minnesota, Chicago. I’m sure they are much the same” So in the summer of 1994 we exchanged pulpits and locations with Rev Gary Elg and family from Red Wing Presbyterian Church in Minnesota and had a great time. I went back to Wales with the thought that I could put the things I’d learnt to good use in my churches in Wales. That was the plan.
But then, out of the blue, when I got back, I started to receive invitations to consider moving to other positions in Wales and also in England. Some of them weren’t even to do with me being a traditional minister. Maybe that ‘Get out” clause from ministry that I’d expected to come along during my seminary days had finally come to pass. My ship to Tarshish was still in port!
I investigated some of them, but they just didn’t feel right. Sure I thought I could do the jobs, but y’know I was kind of settled and the kids being of an impressionable age and all of that, it would be easier to stay where I was. However, following my Minnesota experience, I had received a subscription to a PC(USA) magazine, the “Presbyterian Outlook” that contained descriptions of pastoral vacancies.
I should explain that the calling process in Wales is very different to that over here. Wales is a small place. As a pastor you didn’t call the church, they called you. So the notion of applying to a church for a position was completely alien to me. And I knew nothing of the Presbyterian USA’s process of filling in forms and matching candidates to churches and going through committees and presbyteries, and still less about the whole complicated process of obtaining Visas and permits and all the rest of it in order to live in the United States.
But, as felt like things were stirring, I entertained a thought. ‘I wonder what would happen if I wrote to one of those churches in he United States?’ So I did. A letter along the lines of, “Hello. My name is Adrian. I’m a pastor. Believe you might be looking for one. What do you think?” Given the PC (USA) calling system, (and those of you who have ever been near a pastor nominating committee will know exactly what I’m talking about) with its interim ministers, mission reports, PIF’s and CIF’s and COM’s, and computerized dating service… the miracle is that I received any replies at all.
A very gracious church in Monroe, Louisiana replied to what must of appeared to them as a very weird letter, explaining the calling process and how they’d need a little more information than “Hello, my name’s Adrian and I live in Wales”. After we corresponded they even agreed to fly me over for an interview. And I went, but I wasn’t the best match for that particular position. At the same time I was in correspondence with another church, but again, things weren’t quite hunky-dory and we never got as far as the come and see stage.
Then one evening, back in Wales, in the middle of dinner, the phone rings. A guy called Mike Smith from a place called Fayetteville, West Virginia, is on the line. He wants more information. I suggest calling the nominating Committee I’d met with in Louisiana and I had a video of me preaching in Minnesota that I could send them. I hung up the phone and went to look for an atlas. “Where on earth was Fayetteville? Come to think of it, where on earth was West Virginia?”
One thing led to another. It took a while for God to convince me that leaving the denomination that had nurtured my faith for a foreign land thousands of miles from my extended family was the right thing to do. I’d always believed that those bits in the Bible about “Going into all the world” to “preach the gospel” only applied to other people. My ‘Jonah syndrome’ was still intact.
But every step of the way doors opened, and things fell into place. Not always tidily, or even without some struggles and many questions to deal with. As it so often does, it became a matter of obedience. Was I going to follow or was I going to back out? If I believed that God was God then was I prepared to live my life according to that conviction, wherever it led? When I sang “Here I am, Lord?” did it mean anything?
“So what made you decide to come to America?” Well that’s about it. A desire to be faithful. A feeling of calling that was confirmed in many ways by many different people. A sense that this was where life was leading me. Time does not permit to tell you of the insight’s ministry in two churches in West Virginia have blessed my life with, or even talk of the process that led to my moving from West Virginia to Long Island. I could mention climbing in through Judges windows in Freeport and being surprised by a Baldwin piano in Texas… but now is not the time!
But… look…. here I am, and I am glad to be here. And I hope that as I’ve shared part of my personal spiritual journey, as I’ve answered some of the questions about my faith and receiving a call to ministry and how I ended up in the USA… that there have been things I have said that can help you in your own pilgrimage of faith.
If like me you are susceptible to ‘Jonah Syndrome’, I pray you will notice that God does not call us all in the same way, to the same tasks in the same places. But God is calling our name and God has a time and a place and a way that we are each called to serve our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if the love of God can guide somebody like myself to be here in your midst, in Baldwin, then just think what opportunities are open to your selves! To God’s name be the Glory! Amen.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, October 24th 2010
(A printable PDF file of this message can be found by clicking these words.)
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been answering questions such as ‘How did you come to faith?” and “What made you enter the ministry?” Today I’m going to try and relate how it was I felt a call to leave my homelands and home denomination for lands unknown. “What made you leave the United Kingdom of Great Britain and come to the United States of America?”
I was sharing with you last week that going into ministry in the established church was something I had kicked against doing. Even when as a twenty something I departed from my home near Liverpool to study at Aberystwyth Theological College (part of the University of Wales) I was still nursing a real hope that… well... God had only called me to be a candidate for the ministry, God hadn’t actually said I had to become a preacher.
But... darn it… by half way through my final year… there were a couple of churches out there expressing an interest in having me as their pastor. For Jonah it took sitting inside the belly of a stinky fish before He realized that, ‘Yes’, maybe doing what God asked could result in a favorable outcome for his life. In chapter 2 of Jonah he concludes a prayer about his plight with the phrase, “Deliverance belongs to the Lord”. Shortly afterward he is deposited on the shores of Nineveh in order to begin his task.
I’m glad that it didn’t take being thrown off a ship into the raging waves by a group of angry sailors, only to be swallowed up by a whale that convinced me to accept the preacher’s role. It was much nicer going to Wales to study, rather than being swallowed by one!
So I accepted ‘A Call’. A call to two wonderful churches in the beautiful Welsh Vale of Clwyd in North Wales, in two market towns called Denbigh and Ruthin. What I didn’t realize about the town of Denbigh was that it housed a large mental hospital and that “Going to Denbigh’ was a euphemism for being sent to the asylum.
Such did however explain why people would look at me rather strangely when they asked what I was going to do after seminary and I’d smile and say, “I’m going to Denbigh”. But after over thirty years of being part of this institution we call the church, I am of the opinion that being a little bit crazy is probably a help rather than a hindrance for pastoral ministry.
I could write a book about some of the experiences I have enjoyed (and endured) in the different churches I’ve served (but I may need a good lawyer first). After being in Denbigh and Ruthin, I moved on to inner city ministry in Liverpool, before accepting a call to minister in the churches of Menai Bridge and Caernarfon in North Wales. Caernarfon boasted the castle where the Prince of Wales was invested with his office, making it a Mecca for tourists from all over the world.
Now all of this is by way of a lengthy introduction to explaining how it was that I came to America. Did I hear a voice from the heavens saying; “Go to the USA?” Was it something that I had secretly been planning and hoping for all along. Did some scripture verse jump out of the bible to direct my path? Would be that it were that simple!
Over the years I’ve learned about the guidance of God. It can be most irregular. As Spock used to say to Captain Kirk, “Illogical, Captain”. As we place our trust in God and commit our way to doing the things God wants us to, wherever God wants us to do them, both God’s methods and the outcome can be wildly unpredictable.
This was a message that Jonah found hard to understand. When he reluctantly marched into Nineveh declaring God’s judgment on its God forsaken inhabitants the last thing he was expecting was that they would listen, respond and set about amending their lives so as to live the way God wanted them to.
Jonah’s waiting for the fireworks. He wants to see the Ninevites get blasted by the judgment of God. The story ends with Jonah in an angry sulk, sitting in the shade of a tree which has died, leaving him even hotter and stickier than ever. God suggests that Jonah is acting foolishly and that as God, He had every right to show mercy where ever mercy was needed. And it was certainly needed in Nineveh. So Jonah, “Get over yourself!”
So there I was, serving the denomination that had bought me to faith, in this beautiful area of Wales, enjoying the mountains and the beaches and the castles and blessed with two children who were blossoming at 10 and 12 years old, and my wife in this wonderful job working in the offices of the Oceanography department. “Settled” would be a wonderful word to describe how things were going.
One of the ministries that Castle Square Caernarfon Church operated was that on a Saturday morning they would open up the church to visitors and invite them in for a coffee and a chat. One Saturday morning, when I wasn’t there, a pastor and his son from the Chicago area walked in. The son was an organist and Alan Jones the organist at Castle Square was just finishing up his practice for Sunday. They got chatting and the son got to play the organ and a friendship was struck up.
A few months later we received a letter asking if we would be interested in doing an exchange trip to Chicago. So we thought about it and prayed about it and decided that a twelve week exchange trip to the U.S.A. might be kind of fun. We would live in each others houses, drive each others cars, minister through the summer in each others churches. It was all set in stone.
Then the phone rang. It was the pastor from Chicago. “Got bad news and good news” he said. “I’ve accepted a call to serve a United Reformed Church in Cornwall, England. I’m guessing you wouldn’t really be interested in doing an exchange trip to a part of England just over the border from Wales. However, there’s a guy from our church who is around about your age, who went into the ministry and is in a place called Red Wing, in Minnesota, I’ve spoken with him and he’s interested. What do you think?”
I thought, “Whatever. Red Wing, Minnesota, Chicago. I’m sure they are much the same” So in the summer of 1994 we exchanged pulpits and locations with Rev Gary Elg and family from Red Wing Presbyterian Church in Minnesota and had a great time. I went back to Wales with the thought that I could put the things I’d learnt to good use in my churches in Wales. That was the plan.
But then, out of the blue, when I got back, I started to receive invitations to consider moving to other positions in Wales and also in England. Some of them weren’t even to do with me being a traditional minister. Maybe that ‘Get out” clause from ministry that I’d expected to come along during my seminary days had finally come to pass. My ship to Tarshish was still in port!
I investigated some of them, but they just didn’t feel right. Sure I thought I could do the jobs, but y’know I was kind of settled and the kids being of an impressionable age and all of that, it would be easier to stay where I was. However, following my Minnesota experience, I had received a subscription to a PC(USA) magazine, the “Presbyterian Outlook” that contained descriptions of pastoral vacancies.
I should explain that the calling process in Wales is very different to that over here. Wales is a small place. As a pastor you didn’t call the church, they called you. So the notion of applying to a church for a position was completely alien to me. And I knew nothing of the Presbyterian USA’s process of filling in forms and matching candidates to churches and going through committees and presbyteries, and still less about the whole complicated process of obtaining Visas and permits and all the rest of it in order to live in the United States.
But, as felt like things were stirring, I entertained a thought. ‘I wonder what would happen if I wrote to one of those churches in he United States?’ So I did. A letter along the lines of, “Hello. My name is Adrian. I’m a pastor. Believe you might be looking for one. What do you think?” Given the PC (USA) calling system, (and those of you who have ever been near a pastor nominating committee will know exactly what I’m talking about) with its interim ministers, mission reports, PIF’s and CIF’s and COM’s, and computerized dating service… the miracle is that I received any replies at all.
A very gracious church in Monroe, Louisiana replied to what must of appeared to them as a very weird letter, explaining the calling process and how they’d need a little more information than “Hello, my name’s Adrian and I live in Wales”. After we corresponded they even agreed to fly me over for an interview. And I went, but I wasn’t the best match for that particular position. At the same time I was in correspondence with another church, but again, things weren’t quite hunky-dory and we never got as far as the come and see stage.
Then one evening, back in Wales, in the middle of dinner, the phone rings. A guy called Mike Smith from a place called Fayetteville, West Virginia, is on the line. He wants more information. I suggest calling the nominating Committee I’d met with in Louisiana and I had a video of me preaching in Minnesota that I could send them. I hung up the phone and went to look for an atlas. “Where on earth was Fayetteville? Come to think of it, where on earth was West Virginia?”
One thing led to another. It took a while for God to convince me that leaving the denomination that had nurtured my faith for a foreign land thousands of miles from my extended family was the right thing to do. I’d always believed that those bits in the Bible about “Going into all the world” to “preach the gospel” only applied to other people. My ‘Jonah syndrome’ was still intact.
But every step of the way doors opened, and things fell into place. Not always tidily, or even without some struggles and many questions to deal with. As it so often does, it became a matter of obedience. Was I going to follow or was I going to back out? If I believed that God was God then was I prepared to live my life according to that conviction, wherever it led? When I sang “Here I am, Lord?” did it mean anything?
“So what made you decide to come to America?” Well that’s about it. A desire to be faithful. A feeling of calling that was confirmed in many ways by many different people. A sense that this was where life was leading me. Time does not permit to tell you of the insight’s ministry in two churches in West Virginia have blessed my life with, or even talk of the process that led to my moving from West Virginia to Long Island. I could mention climbing in through Judges windows in Freeport and being surprised by a Baldwin piano in Texas… but now is not the time!
But… look…. here I am, and I am glad to be here. And I hope that as I’ve shared part of my personal spiritual journey, as I’ve answered some of the questions about my faith and receiving a call to ministry and how I ended up in the USA… that there have been things I have said that can help you in your own pilgrimage of faith.
If like me you are susceptible to ‘Jonah Syndrome’, I pray you will notice that God does not call us all in the same way, to the same tasks in the same places. But God is calling our name and God has a time and a place and a way that we are each called to serve our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if the love of God can guide somebody like myself to be here in your midst, in Baldwin, then just think what opportunities are open to your selves! To God’s name be the Glory! Amen.
Monday, October 18, 2010
“THIS IS MY STORY - THIS IS MY SONG” Part Two: “Now the Lord said to Abram “Go Forth”
Readings: Genesis 12:1-8, Exodus 3:1-6, Mark 1:16-20, 1 Timothy 3:1-7
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, October 17th 2010
For a printable PDF file click here
Last week I was explaining how there have been three questions that I have been asked a number of times since moving to Baldwin. Firstly, “How did you come to faith? Secondly, “What made you want to be a minister?” and thirdly, “What made you decide to come to America?” Last Sunday I was sharing how through an unlikely combination of Rock Music, Youth Retreats, chocolate bars and the unmerited grace of God I came to be embraced by the Christian Faith in my late teens. This week I’m approaching the question; “What made you want to be a minister?” My hope is that as I share how God called me, that you’ll consider where God may be leading you.
I’d like you to picture me as a 19 year old. After High School I landed in a dead end job stocking shelves in a supermarket. So I’ve been back to college to obtain some qualifications and I am now working on a Government funded job creation scheme. It isn’t the best job in the world, but it’s a job.
The work involves helping elderly and disabled people with their gardening alongside working out in the countryside maintaining footpaths. I’m working with a mixed bag of people, including some young offenders whom I have become friends with despite myself being ‘that weird kid who goes to a church’. What’s really good is that the hours are very flexible, so I’m able to give a lot of time to what was becoming my real passion, playing in a rock band.
I spoke last time about how coming from Liverpool I cherished a dream that, like one of the Beatles, whose music I grew up with, I could make it through life writing songs and playing music. Like Jake or Elwood from that film ‘The Blues Brothers’, I was “on a mission from God”, because my band was no ordinary band. I was playing in a gospel Rock Band and we didn’t want to just be famous throughout the world, we wanted to save the world.
Never mind that some of the church folk said we were playing the Devils music whilst some of the un-churched said, “We like your music, but why do you have to keep bringing Jesus into it?” God was opening doors. There is talk of record contracts, festival appearances, slots on prime-time T.V. Now bear in mind this is back in the Mid-1970’s, before the days when there even was a category known as ‘Contemporary Christian Rock Music”. I’m blazing a trail!
On top of it all ‘I am nineteen going on twenty’ and I’ve fallen in love. I’ll be honest. One of the reasons I was attracted to church was that some of the girls looked good. And at 19 I was engaged to one of them. (I have my wife’s permission to say that because it was her and after over 32 years of marriage I still think she’s lovely.)
So for a near 20 year old lad things couldn’t be much better. Great job, great band, great times, great fiance, great expectations. Yet throughout it all, when I stopped to listen … there was this little voice, somewhere deep inside that said, “You should go into the ministry”. And every time I became aware of it I would say “But Lord I have a ministry, my work, my music, my relationships. I’m doing fine.” Which brings me to my text for today…
Genesis 12:1 “Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth....”
I often wonder how many times the Lord told Abram to ‘go forth’ before he went? Over the next two years my comfortable world fell apart. The band, my dream, my mission from God, broke up. It seems my musical skills were far more impressive to myself than to anybody else! Two of the band members I was playing with came and told me they had received a better offer. ‘Ouch’ that hurt my ego.
Yvonne and I had set our wedding date and obtained a loan on this lovely corner house in a nice area of town near the sea front. The week before we were due to be married the bank informed us the loan was no longer available.
The day before we were due to be married the works manager called me into the office. ‘Got a problem’ he said. ‘According to the governmental guidelines, we have to pay you a higher wage as a married person, and we don’t have that extra cash in the budget. Bottom line is…”If you get married, we can’t pay you, ad you are out of a job”.
Yvonne and I went ahead and were married. That scripture about Abram and Sarai leaving their Fathers house and going out not knowing where they were heading took on a special significance. I had lost my job, I’d lost my place to live, and my musical ministry dreams were shattered. The frightening thing was that I’d been trying so hard to do the right thing, to do what I thought God was calling me to do, except of course for that little voice about ‘the’ ministry.
I learnt however that when God is on your case, things work out. Against all the odds a place became available at a ludicrously cheap rent just a few doors down from where we’d first tried to purchase a home. Yvonne still had her work and after a while I managed to land a position in the Civil Service. A few months after I was dismissed from the Government scheme that wouldn’t pay me if I was married, the whole project collapsed. If we’d have had a loan to pay back on that corner house we could have ended up in serious debt. It is amazing how different things can turn out in retrospect!
And my musical dreams of saving the world with Christian rock music? Well, sometimes there is a very thin dividing line between “Doing the will of God” and “Doing what I’d like the will of God to be for me”. And anyway God was saying to me the words He spoke to Abram…“go forth”.
There were reasons why I didn’t want to ‘go forth’ and be a minister. In Great Britain most of the clergy I knew were a lot older than I was, seemed to have a strange attraction to wearing dark suits that smelt of mothballs, and they didn’t seem at all interested in the things that excited me.
Whilst it was one thing going to a church, becoming an official part of that authoritarian, established and frankly sometimes incredibly boring institution was a different matter. As Groucho Marx once said, I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to be part of any club that would have me as a member.
After we were married Yvonne and I started attending a church that had been the Welsh Presbyterian Church, but had become an Elim Pentecostal Church. We became pretty active and they even allowed me be their volunteer youth leader for a while. One night they had a youth mission rally. It was great. They even let me play my guitar.
During the prayer time, I was sitting in the pew, head down, eyes closed, not really seeking God for anything in particular, and there started to come over me an overwhelming sense that I should offer myself as a candidate for the ministry of the Welsh Presbyterian Church. There was no audible voice, no blinding light or messages from the pulpit or sky, just an incredibly intense feeling that this was something that I had to act upon, then and there, and until I did there would be no peace in my life.
After the service I went to see the preacher. I told him, “I think I’ve had a call to the ministry”. “PRAISE THE LORD!” he said. I added “Of the Welsh Presbyterian Church”. Now the Welsh Presbyterians and the Elim Pentecostals hadn’t exactly had a positive history of good relationships. The pastor said “I think we better talk about this.”
After what seemed like an endless evening as he explained to me the errors of Welsh Presbyterianism I gained the impression that, in his opinion, Presbyterians were slightly to the left of Satan. The strange thing was, the more he talked, the louder the voice inside of me seemed to be telling me to offer myself as a candidate for the Welsh Presbyterian ministry.
I thought I better tell Yvonne. “Yvonne” I said (Using that voice husbands use when they tell their wives something that they are not sure how they will react to), “Yvonne, I think I’ve had a call to be a Presbyterian Minister”. Yvonne replied, “Well God hasn’t said anything to me about it!” She was even less enthused at the prospect of being a minister’s wife than I was about being a minister.
We arranged to see Rev Barrie Redmore, the Presbyterian minister who had married us. He listened carefully and then told us to and come back in a year’s time if I still felt a sense of calling. A year later the feeling was stronger than ever. The process of becoming a candidate for the Presbyterian ministry was set in motion. At the age of 23, after taking nearly five years to come to terms with the notion that God may be calling me to the ministry, I finally went forth to Aberystwyth, on the coast of Mid-Wales, where I attended theological college.
So to answer the question, “What made you want to be a minister?” the fact is that I never wanted to be a minister but it became a question of obedience to what God was showing me. These days as I look back at nearly thirty years of ministry on two continents, I am forced to swallow my pride and begrudgingly acknowledge that God knows best!
As I said at the start of this brief series my aim in sharing these things is not to put myself on a pedestal, but simply to share with you how God has worked in the life of one of God’s reluctant disciples. And if God can work in my life, then I am confident God also has great plans for yours! To God be the Glory. Amen.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, October 17th 2010
For a printable PDF file click here
Last week I was explaining how there have been three questions that I have been asked a number of times since moving to Baldwin. Firstly, “How did you come to faith? Secondly, “What made you want to be a minister?” and thirdly, “What made you decide to come to America?” Last Sunday I was sharing how through an unlikely combination of Rock Music, Youth Retreats, chocolate bars and the unmerited grace of God I came to be embraced by the Christian Faith in my late teens. This week I’m approaching the question; “What made you want to be a minister?” My hope is that as I share how God called me, that you’ll consider where God may be leading you.
I’d like you to picture me as a 19 year old. After High School I landed in a dead end job stocking shelves in a supermarket. So I’ve been back to college to obtain some qualifications and I am now working on a Government funded job creation scheme. It isn’t the best job in the world, but it’s a job.
The work involves helping elderly and disabled people with their gardening alongside working out in the countryside maintaining footpaths. I’m working with a mixed bag of people, including some young offenders whom I have become friends with despite myself being ‘that weird kid who goes to a church’. What’s really good is that the hours are very flexible, so I’m able to give a lot of time to what was becoming my real passion, playing in a rock band.
I spoke last time about how coming from Liverpool I cherished a dream that, like one of the Beatles, whose music I grew up with, I could make it through life writing songs and playing music. Like Jake or Elwood from that film ‘The Blues Brothers’, I was “on a mission from God”, because my band was no ordinary band. I was playing in a gospel Rock Band and we didn’t want to just be famous throughout the world, we wanted to save the world.
Never mind that some of the church folk said we were playing the Devils music whilst some of the un-churched said, “We like your music, but why do you have to keep bringing Jesus into it?” God was opening doors. There is talk of record contracts, festival appearances, slots on prime-time T.V. Now bear in mind this is back in the Mid-1970’s, before the days when there even was a category known as ‘Contemporary Christian Rock Music”. I’m blazing a trail!
On top of it all ‘I am nineteen going on twenty’ and I’ve fallen in love. I’ll be honest. One of the reasons I was attracted to church was that some of the girls looked good. And at 19 I was engaged to one of them. (I have my wife’s permission to say that because it was her and after over 32 years of marriage I still think she’s lovely.)
So for a near 20 year old lad things couldn’t be much better. Great job, great band, great times, great fiance, great expectations. Yet throughout it all, when I stopped to listen … there was this little voice, somewhere deep inside that said, “You should go into the ministry”. And every time I became aware of it I would say “But Lord I have a ministry, my work, my music, my relationships. I’m doing fine.” Which brings me to my text for today…
Genesis 12:1 “Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth....”
I often wonder how many times the Lord told Abram to ‘go forth’ before he went? Over the next two years my comfortable world fell apart. The band, my dream, my mission from God, broke up. It seems my musical skills were far more impressive to myself than to anybody else! Two of the band members I was playing with came and told me they had received a better offer. ‘Ouch’ that hurt my ego.
Yvonne and I had set our wedding date and obtained a loan on this lovely corner house in a nice area of town near the sea front. The week before we were due to be married the bank informed us the loan was no longer available.
The day before we were due to be married the works manager called me into the office. ‘Got a problem’ he said. ‘According to the governmental guidelines, we have to pay you a higher wage as a married person, and we don’t have that extra cash in the budget. Bottom line is…”If you get married, we can’t pay you, ad you are out of a job”.
Yvonne and I went ahead and were married. That scripture about Abram and Sarai leaving their Fathers house and going out not knowing where they were heading took on a special significance. I had lost my job, I’d lost my place to live, and my musical ministry dreams were shattered. The frightening thing was that I’d been trying so hard to do the right thing, to do what I thought God was calling me to do, except of course for that little voice about ‘the’ ministry.
I learnt however that when God is on your case, things work out. Against all the odds a place became available at a ludicrously cheap rent just a few doors down from where we’d first tried to purchase a home. Yvonne still had her work and after a while I managed to land a position in the Civil Service. A few months after I was dismissed from the Government scheme that wouldn’t pay me if I was married, the whole project collapsed. If we’d have had a loan to pay back on that corner house we could have ended up in serious debt. It is amazing how different things can turn out in retrospect!
And my musical dreams of saving the world with Christian rock music? Well, sometimes there is a very thin dividing line between “Doing the will of God” and “Doing what I’d like the will of God to be for me”. And anyway God was saying to me the words He spoke to Abram…“go forth”.
There were reasons why I didn’t want to ‘go forth’ and be a minister. In Great Britain most of the clergy I knew were a lot older than I was, seemed to have a strange attraction to wearing dark suits that smelt of mothballs, and they didn’t seem at all interested in the things that excited me.
Whilst it was one thing going to a church, becoming an official part of that authoritarian, established and frankly sometimes incredibly boring institution was a different matter. As Groucho Marx once said, I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to be part of any club that would have me as a member.
After we were married Yvonne and I started attending a church that had been the Welsh Presbyterian Church, but had become an Elim Pentecostal Church. We became pretty active and they even allowed me be their volunteer youth leader for a while. One night they had a youth mission rally. It was great. They even let me play my guitar.
During the prayer time, I was sitting in the pew, head down, eyes closed, not really seeking God for anything in particular, and there started to come over me an overwhelming sense that I should offer myself as a candidate for the ministry of the Welsh Presbyterian Church. There was no audible voice, no blinding light or messages from the pulpit or sky, just an incredibly intense feeling that this was something that I had to act upon, then and there, and until I did there would be no peace in my life.
After the service I went to see the preacher. I told him, “I think I’ve had a call to the ministry”. “PRAISE THE LORD!” he said. I added “Of the Welsh Presbyterian Church”. Now the Welsh Presbyterians and the Elim Pentecostals hadn’t exactly had a positive history of good relationships. The pastor said “I think we better talk about this.”
After what seemed like an endless evening as he explained to me the errors of Welsh Presbyterianism I gained the impression that, in his opinion, Presbyterians were slightly to the left of Satan. The strange thing was, the more he talked, the louder the voice inside of me seemed to be telling me to offer myself as a candidate for the Welsh Presbyterian ministry.
I thought I better tell Yvonne. “Yvonne” I said (Using that voice husbands use when they tell their wives something that they are not sure how they will react to), “Yvonne, I think I’ve had a call to be a Presbyterian Minister”. Yvonne replied, “Well God hasn’t said anything to me about it!” She was even less enthused at the prospect of being a minister’s wife than I was about being a minister.
We arranged to see Rev Barrie Redmore, the Presbyterian minister who had married us. He listened carefully and then told us to and come back in a year’s time if I still felt a sense of calling. A year later the feeling was stronger than ever. The process of becoming a candidate for the Presbyterian ministry was set in motion. At the age of 23, after taking nearly five years to come to terms with the notion that God may be calling me to the ministry, I finally went forth to Aberystwyth, on the coast of Mid-Wales, where I attended theological college.
So to answer the question, “What made you want to be a minister?” the fact is that I never wanted to be a minister but it became a question of obedience to what God was showing me. These days as I look back at nearly thirty years of ministry on two continents, I am forced to swallow my pride and begrudgingly acknowledge that God knows best!
As I said at the start of this brief series my aim in sharing these things is not to put myself on a pedestal, but simply to share with you how God has worked in the life of one of God’s reluctant disciples. And if God can work in my life, then I am confident God also has great plans for yours! To God be the Glory. Amen.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
“THIS IS MY STORY- THIS IS MY SONG” Part One “Called To Be Free”
Readings: 1 Samuel 20: 12-17, Luke 1:39-45, Mark 1:6-11, Romans 5:6-10
Preached at First Presbyterian Baldwin, NY, October 10th 2010
There have been three questions that I have been asked on more than one occasion since beginning ministry in Baldwin. Firstly, “Adrian, How did you come to faith?” Secondly, “What made you want to be a minister?” and thirdly, “What made you decide to come to America?”
Seeing as some of you have asked, I’m going to take three weeks to answer each of those questions. My aim is not to put myself on a pedestal or make out that I’m something special. My hope is that as I share some things about my own spiritual journey, you will be encouraged that if God can work in the life of someone like me He can also do awesome things for you.
This morning I’d like to share with you how I came to faith in Jesus Christ and some thoughts around Galatians 5:13; “You were call to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather serve one another in love.”
Freedom was something I searched for from my earliest days. I grew up in a town called Moreton, near Liverpool, England. My school days were a fine example of the abuse of freedom. I started attending High School at a time when great changes were taking place within the Educational System. They introduced a system of “Fully Comprehensive Education”, which meant that the High School you went to didn’t depend on any grades you achieved but on parental choice.
I was sent to a school which until the year I attended had proudly been known as “Wallasey Technical Grammar School” a school with a history of academic and sporting achieve-ments. A school, which until then had screened very carefully the kind of students they would admit. The school had now been renamed “Mosslands Senior Comprehensive” and they had to take any child whose parents wished them to go there.
On my first day, the principal (who was not far from retirement) did his usual welcome speech, about how fortunate we all were to have been ‘chosen’ and ‘allowed’ to be part of his wonderful school. Most of us knew, well enough, there was no question of being chosen or fortunate. He had to take the whole lot of us including those who in previous years he’d have wanted nothing to do with. So my first day at High School, I’m sitting there thinking, ‘This guy is an idiot. The government’s changed the rules, but he hasn’t changed his speech. And he’s the Principal!’
So, like a typical teenager, I rebelled. I developed a great distrust and dislike of authority. I found being- told to work at things I really didn’t think were important by people in whom I had little confidence in, infringed on my idea of freedom. I wanted to learn about life, -not how many hours it took Mr. X to get from A to B if he was carrying a load of ‘Y’ amount. Anyway, if ‘Y’ was so heavy, and it was going to take that long, why didn’t he take a taxi? I wasted so much time in school, because I thought freedom meant doing whatever I wanted to do.
I didn’t come from a religious family. My mum was a good Methodist but for the rest of the family; church wasn’t even on the agenda. Because most of my family never went to church; Sunday morning was an excuse for staying in bed. Why couldn’t I stay at home like my father, and my elder brother and sister? Why did I have to go and sit on those uncomfortable chairs, in that musty old room with the out of tune piano and listen to those people going on and on? Having to go to Sunday School was an abuse of my freedom.
So early on in life, I dropped out of church. I objected to being told to go to this place that seemed to bear no relevance to the rest of my life. I couldn’t say that I believed or not believed in God. I had other things on my mind.
Just over the river from my home was Liverpool, home of “The Beatles”. They were a glimmer of hope. It wasn’t just the music, it was the fact that here were these four working class lads; not particularly academically brilliant, living in a city that was on the way down yet through their music and characters, they could rise above it and change the world.
Just about the first record (and I’m not talking C.D.’s—I mean vinyl 33 1/3 records) we had in our house was “Please, Please Me” by the Beatles. I was about 7 years old. By the time I was in my late teens other groups had come along. Music had become for some people, not just something you listened to, but a reason for being, an end in itself. I used to line up all day long to see concerts by bands like “Deep Purple” and “Black Sabbath”, dinosaurs of rock that were then spring chickens.
As a teenager disillusioned with school, doubtful that if in the disintegrating economic climate of Northern England there would even be a job for me at the end of the road I found that loud, rebellious, rock music was something I could really identify with.
The image of success and instant achievement satisfied an urge. I liked the message. “Be free to be whatever you want”. A lot of the songs spoke about the hypocrisy of the establishment. “How can they tell us how to live our lives when they are making such a mess of the world? The politicians are liars, the religious people are hypocrites, the men of war want to destroy us, who are they to tell us what to do?”
It was through rock music I eventually returned to the church. I’d grown up with the Beatles. Maybe if I could play the guitar.. bang some drums... write a song, just maybe my life would amount to something. I could be in one of those mega groups and tour the world and party on for evermore. So I taught myself to play guitar and spent a lot of time dreaming.
I had some friends, who not only played guitar far better than me, but also went to a youth club in the Presbyterian Church at the top of the road where I lived. Occasionally they would have a local band playing at the church hall. Other times you could just go along and hang out. I started to be a hanger out.
One of the youth leaders explained that as well as Friday nights, if I went along to the Youth Fellowship meetings on Sunday mornings I would qualify for half-price entrance on the nights when they had a band playing. Sunday youth meeting wasn’t actually going to church, but a discussion group talking about God stuff.
As I went along I discovered they talked about big problems like truth and honesty and peace, questions I was asking myself. An invitation was given to go on a course at a Youth college in a little Welsh town called Bala.
When I arrived at the youth college the theme of the weekend was ‘Freedom’. Boy, I was going to tell all those narrow minded, hypocritical, bigoted religious people what freedom was all about. I was expecting, because it was a church college, some very strict organization. I was surprised after arriving late nobody was hassling us to get to bed. I was getting tired when someone said, “Hey… let’s go to worship”. Worship at some other time than Sunday morning?
But what really got to me was the basement coffee bar. I should explain that whilst I was heavily into rock music, I am grateful to God that I never got involved with drugs. I’d seen what they could do to people and I wasn’t impressed. Be young, be free, get a little crazy, but when people started taking pills or sticking needles in their arms, that never struck me as clever.
Anyway, I had a secret craving. Mars Bars. Mars Bars in Great Britain are a bit like Milky Ways here, but thicker and yummier. If I was at a party and something illegal was being passed around I could always pull out my Mars Bar and say, “No thanks man, I’ve got my M.B.”
But back to the basement coffee bar. When you went down there, nobody served you. You just went and helped yourself to whatever you wanted and there was a box, to put money in and help yourself to the change. I should explain that I came from an area where the church had put barbed wire on the roof to stop the kids stealing the lead from around the roofing tiles! I thought to myself, “Are these people crazy? What is to stop you coming down here and helping yourself to the goodies and taking all the money as well?”
I went down there all alone and there was a whole stack of glistening Mars Bars on the counter. It sounds stupid now, but for the first time in my life I was conscious of having to make a decision to do right or wrong. “Do I just take a Mars Bar, or do I pay for it? No-one is going to know. It’s up to me... Surely these crazy people don’t actually trust you?”
Getting back to that text from Galatians 5:13:- “You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather serve one another in love.” It would have been so easy just to pig out on illicit Mars Bars, but so unfair to those people who had given me the freedom to make a simple moral choice.
One thing we had to do at this weekend was prepare an item for a Sunday morning worship service. I’d decided I was going to keep my mouth shut and play guitar. But someone found out I’d written some songs and suggested that I could write something about freedom, to use in the worship time. This really bothered me. Particularly after the experience all alone in the coffee bar. I liked these people. I didn’t want to let them down. Saturday night, and a little group of us are talking.
We talked about freedom. How we often abused it. I was so full, of questions. God must have been with us that night, because every question I threw at them, they seemed to find a bible passage that gave the answer in a way that I could relate to.
It slowly started to dawn on me that there was a whole realm of freedom that I had never explored; the sort of freedom that was in the life and work and words of Jesus Christ. Here was this one man, who died horribly, yet praying that the abuses and mistakes we make with our freedom (mistakes He was paying the price for!) might be forgiven. After His death, His followers are saying that He is alive and that His love could be a living force in our lives — through the Holy Spirit.
I was hearing all this from some people who had a dimension to their lives I knew I lacked in my own. It was all a bit mind boggling. One of them prayed a prayer that night, asking Jesus Christ to become a personal reality in my life and for His love to set me free. I was worn out. In a way very uncharacteristic of a youth weekend I slept.
Sunday morning I woke up and all I can tell you is that I knew life would not be the same again. It’s hard to put into words. I knew that God was my Father. I knew the reality of Jesus Christ. I knew that the Holy Spirit was doing something inside of me that had not happened before.
But I didn’t know where that journey was taking me, or how it would affect my life. I had no idea it would lead to a call to ministry, emigrating to the USA and by 2010 I’d be living in a town called Baldwin! I had come to faith. All I knew back then was that the freedom that had eluded me had now found me.
I pray that you also have tasted something of the freedom Christ can bring and will no more of it in days to come! Such is my story, such is my song. But there’s more to tell and time has gone.
But for those who asked ‘How I came to faith’, hopefully that answers the question.
And next time I’ll try and answer; “What made you want to be a minister?
Rev Adrian J Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Baldwin, NY, October 10th 2010
There have been three questions that I have been asked on more than one occasion since beginning ministry in Baldwin. Firstly, “Adrian, How did you come to faith?” Secondly, “What made you want to be a minister?” and thirdly, “What made you decide to come to America?”
Seeing as some of you have asked, I’m going to take three weeks to answer each of those questions. My aim is not to put myself on a pedestal or make out that I’m something special. My hope is that as I share some things about my own spiritual journey, you will be encouraged that if God can work in the life of someone like me He can also do awesome things for you.
This morning I’d like to share with you how I came to faith in Jesus Christ and some thoughts around Galatians 5:13; “You were call to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather serve one another in love.”
Freedom was something I searched for from my earliest days. I grew up in a town called Moreton, near Liverpool, England. My school days were a fine example of the abuse of freedom. I started attending High School at a time when great changes were taking place within the Educational System. They introduced a system of “Fully Comprehensive Education”, which meant that the High School you went to didn’t depend on any grades you achieved but on parental choice.
I was sent to a school which until the year I attended had proudly been known as “Wallasey Technical Grammar School” a school with a history of academic and sporting achieve-ments. A school, which until then had screened very carefully the kind of students they would admit. The school had now been renamed “Mosslands Senior Comprehensive” and they had to take any child whose parents wished them to go there.
On my first day, the principal (who was not far from retirement) did his usual welcome speech, about how fortunate we all were to have been ‘chosen’ and ‘allowed’ to be part of his wonderful school. Most of us knew, well enough, there was no question of being chosen or fortunate. He had to take the whole lot of us including those who in previous years he’d have wanted nothing to do with. So my first day at High School, I’m sitting there thinking, ‘This guy is an idiot. The government’s changed the rules, but he hasn’t changed his speech. And he’s the Principal!’
So, like a typical teenager, I rebelled. I developed a great distrust and dislike of authority. I found being- told to work at things I really didn’t think were important by people in whom I had little confidence in, infringed on my idea of freedom. I wanted to learn about life, -not how many hours it took Mr. X to get from A to B if he was carrying a load of ‘Y’ amount. Anyway, if ‘Y’ was so heavy, and it was going to take that long, why didn’t he take a taxi? I wasted so much time in school, because I thought freedom meant doing whatever I wanted to do.
I didn’t come from a religious family. My mum was a good Methodist but for the rest of the family; church wasn’t even on the agenda. Because most of my family never went to church; Sunday morning was an excuse for staying in bed. Why couldn’t I stay at home like my father, and my elder brother and sister? Why did I have to go and sit on those uncomfortable chairs, in that musty old room with the out of tune piano and listen to those people going on and on? Having to go to Sunday School was an abuse of my freedom.
So early on in life, I dropped out of church. I objected to being told to go to this place that seemed to bear no relevance to the rest of my life. I couldn’t say that I believed or not believed in God. I had other things on my mind.
Just over the river from my home was Liverpool, home of “The Beatles”. They were a glimmer of hope. It wasn’t just the music, it was the fact that here were these four working class lads; not particularly academically brilliant, living in a city that was on the way down yet through their music and characters, they could rise above it and change the world.
Just about the first record (and I’m not talking C.D.’s—I mean vinyl 33 1/3 records) we had in our house was “Please, Please Me” by the Beatles. I was about 7 years old. By the time I was in my late teens other groups had come along. Music had become for some people, not just something you listened to, but a reason for being, an end in itself. I used to line up all day long to see concerts by bands like “Deep Purple” and “Black Sabbath”, dinosaurs of rock that were then spring chickens.
As a teenager disillusioned with school, doubtful that if in the disintegrating economic climate of Northern England there would even be a job for me at the end of the road I found that loud, rebellious, rock music was something I could really identify with.
The image of success and instant achievement satisfied an urge. I liked the message. “Be free to be whatever you want”. A lot of the songs spoke about the hypocrisy of the establishment. “How can they tell us how to live our lives when they are making such a mess of the world? The politicians are liars, the religious people are hypocrites, the men of war want to destroy us, who are they to tell us what to do?”
It was through rock music I eventually returned to the church. I’d grown up with the Beatles. Maybe if I could play the guitar.. bang some drums... write a song, just maybe my life would amount to something. I could be in one of those mega groups and tour the world and party on for evermore. So I taught myself to play guitar and spent a lot of time dreaming.
I had some friends, who not only played guitar far better than me, but also went to a youth club in the Presbyterian Church at the top of the road where I lived. Occasionally they would have a local band playing at the church hall. Other times you could just go along and hang out. I started to be a hanger out.
One of the youth leaders explained that as well as Friday nights, if I went along to the Youth Fellowship meetings on Sunday mornings I would qualify for half-price entrance on the nights when they had a band playing. Sunday youth meeting wasn’t actually going to church, but a discussion group talking about God stuff.
As I went along I discovered they talked about big problems like truth and honesty and peace, questions I was asking myself. An invitation was given to go on a course at a Youth college in a little Welsh town called Bala.
When I arrived at the youth college the theme of the weekend was ‘Freedom’. Boy, I was going to tell all those narrow minded, hypocritical, bigoted religious people what freedom was all about. I was expecting, because it was a church college, some very strict organization. I was surprised after arriving late nobody was hassling us to get to bed. I was getting tired when someone said, “Hey… let’s go to worship”. Worship at some other time than Sunday morning?
But what really got to me was the basement coffee bar. I should explain that whilst I was heavily into rock music, I am grateful to God that I never got involved with drugs. I’d seen what they could do to people and I wasn’t impressed. Be young, be free, get a little crazy, but when people started taking pills or sticking needles in their arms, that never struck me as clever.
Anyway, I had a secret craving. Mars Bars. Mars Bars in Great Britain are a bit like Milky Ways here, but thicker and yummier. If I was at a party and something illegal was being passed around I could always pull out my Mars Bar and say, “No thanks man, I’ve got my M.B.”
But back to the basement coffee bar. When you went down there, nobody served you. You just went and helped yourself to whatever you wanted and there was a box, to put money in and help yourself to the change. I should explain that I came from an area where the church had put barbed wire on the roof to stop the kids stealing the lead from around the roofing tiles! I thought to myself, “Are these people crazy? What is to stop you coming down here and helping yourself to the goodies and taking all the money as well?”
I went down there all alone and there was a whole stack of glistening Mars Bars on the counter. It sounds stupid now, but for the first time in my life I was conscious of having to make a decision to do right or wrong. “Do I just take a Mars Bar, or do I pay for it? No-one is going to know. It’s up to me... Surely these crazy people don’t actually trust you?”
Getting back to that text from Galatians 5:13:- “You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather serve one another in love.” It would have been so easy just to pig out on illicit Mars Bars, but so unfair to those people who had given me the freedom to make a simple moral choice.
One thing we had to do at this weekend was prepare an item for a Sunday morning worship service. I’d decided I was going to keep my mouth shut and play guitar. But someone found out I’d written some songs and suggested that I could write something about freedom, to use in the worship time. This really bothered me. Particularly after the experience all alone in the coffee bar. I liked these people. I didn’t want to let them down. Saturday night, and a little group of us are talking.
We talked about freedom. How we often abused it. I was so full, of questions. God must have been with us that night, because every question I threw at them, they seemed to find a bible passage that gave the answer in a way that I could relate to.
It slowly started to dawn on me that there was a whole realm of freedom that I had never explored; the sort of freedom that was in the life and work and words of Jesus Christ. Here was this one man, who died horribly, yet praying that the abuses and mistakes we make with our freedom (mistakes He was paying the price for!) might be forgiven. After His death, His followers are saying that He is alive and that His love could be a living force in our lives — through the Holy Spirit.
I was hearing all this from some people who had a dimension to their lives I knew I lacked in my own. It was all a bit mind boggling. One of them prayed a prayer that night, asking Jesus Christ to become a personal reality in my life and for His love to set me free. I was worn out. In a way very uncharacteristic of a youth weekend I slept.
Sunday morning I woke up and all I can tell you is that I knew life would not be the same again. It’s hard to put into words. I knew that God was my Father. I knew the reality of Jesus Christ. I knew that the Holy Spirit was doing something inside of me that had not happened before.
But I didn’t know where that journey was taking me, or how it would affect my life. I had no idea it would lead to a call to ministry, emigrating to the USA and by 2010 I’d be living in a town called Baldwin! I had come to faith. All I knew back then was that the freedom that had eluded me had now found me.
I pray that you also have tasted something of the freedom Christ can bring and will no more of it in days to come! Such is my story, such is my song. But there’s more to tell and time has gone.
But for those who asked ‘How I came to faith’, hopefully that answers the question.
And next time I’ll try and answer; “What made you want to be a minister?
Rev Adrian J Pratt
Sunday, October 3, 2010
W. W. T.
Reading: Psalm 137, Luke 17:5-10, Lamentations 1:1-6, 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on October 3rd 2010
Every time I surf the cable TV channels it seems there’s always at least one that is showing wrestling. Usually more. The different organizations go by abbreviations – The W.W.F - the W.C.W. This morning I don’t want to talk to you about the A.P.W, N.W.A, E.C.W, or even the W.O.W; but the W.W.T – the World Wide Table.
Today is World Communion Sunday and all around the planet people will be gathering around tables laid with bread and wine to recall in a vivid way, that God sent Jesus Christ to be our Savior, that His broken body hung on the Cross of Calvary to free us from sin and that His love was poured out to the world in order that we may live today in the power of His resurrection Spirit.
Our readings this morning gave us two pictures of people who were wrestling, not in a stadium for entertainment, but wrestling with the situations that life had bought their way. Our first reading dealt with the struggle of a nation that had lost its way and was in captivity in Babylon. Our second reading spoke of Paul’s young friend Timothy who was losing courage because Paul was in prison.
The book of Lamentations is a lament that seeks to hold up a mirror to the soul of the people who had become enslaved in Babylon. In the original language it’s an acrostic poem, each line begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The poet is weeping over the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. The people are far from home and feel greatly distanced from the love of God.
Second Timothy is a letter of encouragement to one who had the potential to be a great leader in the emerging church. Paul writes at a time when he suspected his days on earth were numbered. He is greatly concerned that his protégé, Timothy, will lose faith or not press forward with his spiritual journey because of what he was going through.
The verses we read are full of exhortations to ‘rekindle his faith’, to move on in “A spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline”, to not be ashamed of what had happened to Paul because of his faith in Christ, but Timothy is told “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” It’s fighting talk!
Where are you in your spiritual journey this day? Are you experiencing a pumped up, ready for anything, take the world by the scruff of the neck and get things sorted kind of faith? Is this just a pit stop, a rest break, a quick service to get the tires changed and get back out on the track?
That’s how the people of Israel were back in David’s day. When King David was in charge, the sky was the limit. Then Solomon comes along and they build a temple like nothing the world had ever seen. But that was all a long time in the past. Since then they had gone from bad to worse and had now hit an all time low, the city in ruins and the people in captivity.
Timothy had started out his Christian journey in great style. Bold. Confident. A born leader. No problem. But then the doubts had started to come. The criticism. The reality that service could be tough. The lonliness of always going against the flow of things. And now his mentor and guide Paul was in jail and his own future looked bleak.
Maybe in your spiritual journey this day you are not at the high point, but the low point. Maybe you started out well but have been on a slow decline ever since. Maybe the road has been rough and you feel defeated and are struggling to carry on. Could be things have got a hold on you and they won’t let go. You’re not in the place you want to be – not in the place of freedom, but that of or dependence.
Could be you are faltering like Timothy. You just need a word, a little push to get that confidence going. Things haven’t turned out how you expected. Events of recent days have left you flat and cold. You’re worried. You can’t put your finger on what’s wrong but it sure is getting you down.
Faith can often be a wrestling match. Sometimes we believe in a God who is big enough to knock down giants yet still fail to trust that He can handle our lives. It’s not always easy. We all have doubts. We all have things that come along and cause our faith to waver. Sometimes it’s our own fault, we should have listened to that voice, we should have trusted that word, we shouldn’t have done this or done that.
Friends, we’ve come to the right place. We’re here around the W.W.T. – The World Wide Table. We are here in the company of hundreds, thousands, millions around the world. We are here to ‘make memorial’ of Jesus Christ, here to remember God’s powerful love in such a way that the love comes alive to us as we break bread and drink wine together.
We are not alone. We have a God who knows how it goes. A God who when Jeremiah cried, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” made it quite clear that He stood with the people in their tears. A God whom through Jesus Christ was willing to come and bear all the pain this world could inflict, receiving the full force of hatred and prejudice and hard heartedness in His person when Christ was nailed to the cruel Cross of Calvary’s hill.
We who are sometimes broken are now to break bread. We who sometimes feel that our life is being poured out for no apparent reason are to share in poured out wine that speaks of the life of God and the covenant God enters into with God’s people.
God’s covenant is a covenant of hope that brims over with possibility. Around this world wide table is a chance to invest our lives in the thing that really counts for something, the eternal love of God.
Here and now is a chance to place our lives into the hands of One who is prepared to bless, to come to a Saviour who invites us to share in His Risen life, to seek a Holy Spirit who will dwell in our hearts, renew our lives and rekindle the embers of faith.
I remember in Wales attending a lengthy Synod meeting, (Association that is for any Welsh readers!), during a particularly trying year. There had been troubles in one of my churches, disputes in Presbytery and the General Assembly had been a dismal affair. The day was dour. The atmosphere was decidedly grey and gloomy in outlook.
The final afternoon was started with a communion service that I really struggled to attend. I’d just about had enough of pews and sitting in them listening to endless debates arising mostly from out of our inability to get along with each other. Items of procedure, amendments, points of Order, that stuff can drag you right down when you’re already feeling low.
The Scripture reading was from Isaiah 42 and words from verse 3 jumped out at me. "A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish”. The thing about a wrestling match is that you do receive bruises. And the opponent does try to put your lights out. As I came to the table that day I simply remembered that it was O.K to be bruised, that it was a sign of still being in the game when others tried to extinguish your light.
As I watched the pastor break the bread I remembered how Jesus was broken for our brokenness. As he poured out the wine of the New Covenant I recalled that the fight wasn’t over. That God was still in the business of helping God’s people through the darkest valleys. “A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish”. “There is a balm in Gilead that makes the Spirit whole”.
So I invite you to now take your place around the W.W.T – The World Wide Table. No matter if you are rejoicing or struggling, if you are ready for the fight or still stinging from the bruises of the last battle, no matter – there is a place here for You. Jesus invites you to think of Him in this fashion, to come break bread and drink wine and do so in such a way as you realize He is sharing in this feast with you, just as He desires to share in your life, it’s joys, it’s struggles it’s future and it’s past.
The Feast of God for the People of God.
Taste and See that the Lord is Good.
God is good- all the time
All the time – God is good.
Adrian Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on October 3rd 2010
Every time I surf the cable TV channels it seems there’s always at least one that is showing wrestling. Usually more. The different organizations go by abbreviations – The W.W.F - the W.C.W. This morning I don’t want to talk to you about the A.P.W, N.W.A, E.C.W, or even the W.O.W; but the W.W.T – the World Wide Table.
Today is World Communion Sunday and all around the planet people will be gathering around tables laid with bread and wine to recall in a vivid way, that God sent Jesus Christ to be our Savior, that His broken body hung on the Cross of Calvary to free us from sin and that His love was poured out to the world in order that we may live today in the power of His resurrection Spirit.
Our readings this morning gave us two pictures of people who were wrestling, not in a stadium for entertainment, but wrestling with the situations that life had bought their way. Our first reading dealt with the struggle of a nation that had lost its way and was in captivity in Babylon. Our second reading spoke of Paul’s young friend Timothy who was losing courage because Paul was in prison.
The book of Lamentations is a lament that seeks to hold up a mirror to the soul of the people who had become enslaved in Babylon. In the original language it’s an acrostic poem, each line begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The poet is weeping over the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. The people are far from home and feel greatly distanced from the love of God.
Second Timothy is a letter of encouragement to one who had the potential to be a great leader in the emerging church. Paul writes at a time when he suspected his days on earth were numbered. He is greatly concerned that his protégé, Timothy, will lose faith or not press forward with his spiritual journey because of what he was going through.
The verses we read are full of exhortations to ‘rekindle his faith’, to move on in “A spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline”, to not be ashamed of what had happened to Paul because of his faith in Christ, but Timothy is told “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” It’s fighting talk!
Where are you in your spiritual journey this day? Are you experiencing a pumped up, ready for anything, take the world by the scruff of the neck and get things sorted kind of faith? Is this just a pit stop, a rest break, a quick service to get the tires changed and get back out on the track?
That’s how the people of Israel were back in David’s day. When King David was in charge, the sky was the limit. Then Solomon comes along and they build a temple like nothing the world had ever seen. But that was all a long time in the past. Since then they had gone from bad to worse and had now hit an all time low, the city in ruins and the people in captivity.
Timothy had started out his Christian journey in great style. Bold. Confident. A born leader. No problem. But then the doubts had started to come. The criticism. The reality that service could be tough. The lonliness of always going against the flow of things. And now his mentor and guide Paul was in jail and his own future looked bleak.
Maybe in your spiritual journey this day you are not at the high point, but the low point. Maybe you started out well but have been on a slow decline ever since. Maybe the road has been rough and you feel defeated and are struggling to carry on. Could be things have got a hold on you and they won’t let go. You’re not in the place you want to be – not in the place of freedom, but that of or dependence.
Could be you are faltering like Timothy. You just need a word, a little push to get that confidence going. Things haven’t turned out how you expected. Events of recent days have left you flat and cold. You’re worried. You can’t put your finger on what’s wrong but it sure is getting you down.
Faith can often be a wrestling match. Sometimes we believe in a God who is big enough to knock down giants yet still fail to trust that He can handle our lives. It’s not always easy. We all have doubts. We all have things that come along and cause our faith to waver. Sometimes it’s our own fault, we should have listened to that voice, we should have trusted that word, we shouldn’t have done this or done that.
Friends, we’ve come to the right place. We’re here around the W.W.T. – The World Wide Table. We are here in the company of hundreds, thousands, millions around the world. We are here to ‘make memorial’ of Jesus Christ, here to remember God’s powerful love in such a way that the love comes alive to us as we break bread and drink wine together.
We are not alone. We have a God who knows how it goes. A God who when Jeremiah cried, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” made it quite clear that He stood with the people in their tears. A God whom through Jesus Christ was willing to come and bear all the pain this world could inflict, receiving the full force of hatred and prejudice and hard heartedness in His person when Christ was nailed to the cruel Cross of Calvary’s hill.
We who are sometimes broken are now to break bread. We who sometimes feel that our life is being poured out for no apparent reason are to share in poured out wine that speaks of the life of God and the covenant God enters into with God’s people.
God’s covenant is a covenant of hope that brims over with possibility. Around this world wide table is a chance to invest our lives in the thing that really counts for something, the eternal love of God.
Here and now is a chance to place our lives into the hands of One who is prepared to bless, to come to a Saviour who invites us to share in His Risen life, to seek a Holy Spirit who will dwell in our hearts, renew our lives and rekindle the embers of faith.
I remember in Wales attending a lengthy Synod meeting, (Association that is for any Welsh readers!), during a particularly trying year. There had been troubles in one of my churches, disputes in Presbytery and the General Assembly had been a dismal affair. The day was dour. The atmosphere was decidedly grey and gloomy in outlook.
The final afternoon was started with a communion service that I really struggled to attend. I’d just about had enough of pews and sitting in them listening to endless debates arising mostly from out of our inability to get along with each other. Items of procedure, amendments, points of Order, that stuff can drag you right down when you’re already feeling low.
The Scripture reading was from Isaiah 42 and words from verse 3 jumped out at me. "A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish”. The thing about a wrestling match is that you do receive bruises. And the opponent does try to put your lights out. As I came to the table that day I simply remembered that it was O.K to be bruised, that it was a sign of still being in the game when others tried to extinguish your light.
As I watched the pastor break the bread I remembered how Jesus was broken for our brokenness. As he poured out the wine of the New Covenant I recalled that the fight wasn’t over. That God was still in the business of helping God’s people through the darkest valleys. “A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish”. “There is a balm in Gilead that makes the Spirit whole”.
So I invite you to now take your place around the W.W.T – The World Wide Table. No matter if you are rejoicing or struggling, if you are ready for the fight or still stinging from the bruises of the last battle, no matter – there is a place here for You. Jesus invites you to think of Him in this fashion, to come break bread and drink wine and do so in such a way as you realize He is sharing in this feast with you, just as He desires to share in your life, it’s joys, it’s struggles it’s future and it’s past.
The Feast of God for the People of God.
Taste and See that the Lord is Good.
God is good- all the time
All the time – God is good.
Adrian Pratt
Monday, September 27, 2010
LESSONS FROM LAZARUS
Readings: Psalm 91:1-6,14-16, Jeremiah 32:1-15,1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on September 26th 2010
"Lazarus and the Rich man" is a drama of three acts. In act one the Rich man feasts whilst Lazarus festers. In act two the Rich man fries whilst Lazarus feasts. In act three the Rich man pleads for mercy whilst Lazarus enjoys Paradise.
Act One: The Rich man feasts whilst Lazarus festers
Picture the scene. "A rich man habitually living in splendor". A man who thinks he has it all. Dresses like royalty. Fine Linen and purple. Attire reserved for the cream of society, Emperors, Governors, Princes and Ceasers. Rolex watch. Ferrari in the garage, parked next to the Rolls Royce. Thick pile carpets. Chandeliers. Paintings by Rembrandt and Cezanne hanging on the wall. Gold medallion the size of a saucer hanging round his neck. Silverware on the table that shone like... well... silver.
He clicks his fingers. The string quartet playing Mozart in the corner bring their immaculate performance to a close. In comes the butler and the attendant maids with dinner. "Would sir like the Veal or the Beef?" He points at one and it is served onto his plate whilst the maid pours an ample quantity of sparkling wine into the sparkling crystal glass. "Give the other to the dogs" he says.
He rises from his table and strolls across to the window where he stifles a yawn as he surveys his ornamental garden, the fountain he had specially imported from Italy, the rare Japanese trees lining the mosaic path that led to the summerhouse. His yawn dissolves into a smile. "Ahh" he sighs contentedly "It's all soo perfect". He sits at the table. With a click of his fingers, the Mozart resumes and dinner is consumed.
Outside, beyond the security fence, beyond the barbed wire and video surveillance cameras, beyond the high, broken glass rimmed wall that kept the views and smells of the squalor of the city from invading the rich mans castle, lies the poor man, Lazarus, at the gate.
Those gates. So impressive. So impassable. What went on behind those walls was anybody's guess. But Lazarus was beyond guessing. He had been laid at the gate by some well meaning passer by in the hope that somebody might take pity on him. His filthy clothes barely concealed the rotting sores that covered his body. Bent over in pain, it is difficult to say if that is a human being or a pile of rags. His face contorted by pain. He drifts in and out of consciousness. His lips bloated and blistered. His eyes glazed. He can't remember when he last had food. Times were good when he worked up at the rich mans house. Times long gone by. "Sleep, sleep, let me rest for their is no pain in my dreams".
A passing dog sniffs at the wreckage of this once proud man. It idly paws at him, but seeing no reaction moves along the alley to investigate the more profitable trash cans.
Act Two: The Rich man fries whilst Lazarus feasts
As he bites into the succulent beef steak, the rich man is aware of a numbness in his left arm, that rapidly spread up his arm, across his chest and felt uncomfortably like a severe attack of indigestion. He tried to catch his breath, but the pain became stronger, more intense, like an elephant sitting on his chest.
Then the pain was gone and he found himself in an unfamiliar environment. It was dark and cold. At the same time he was burning up. A place of dark shadows and deep sighs. A place of longing and loneliness; desperate loneliness characterized by a total absence of light or love.
He was aware of others around him, wrapping their darkness around themselves like fearful animals caught in a trap. There was weeping. There was pain. And there were haunting memories of tasks left unfinished, words of love that were never spoken, constant compromise and failure, never forgiven, never atoned for. Now it was too late.
He remembered this place from his nightmares. When you sleep in life you wake to a new day. In this sleep of death he felt he would never escape his most fearful dreams. Sheol. The waiting room for Judgment. Hell. Hades. The place of the dead.
For a moment the darkness cleared. He glimpsed, through what looked like the perimeter wall of his estate, there, on the other side, through the impassable gates; green fields, clear cool springs and flowing water, warmth, light and... who was that? Father Abraham! Laughing, talking, with someone at table. Who was that close by his side? It looked like that servant ... What was his name, "I remember, Lazarus, that was him, Lazarus. Oh things will be all right now. Lazarus will be sent to help me"
Act Three: The Rich man pleads for mercy whilst Lazarus enjoys Paradise
The Rich man called out "Father Abraham... Send Lazarus over here with some of that clear cool spring water. I'm burning up here. Send Lazarus.". He heard a voice in the darkness, "Your wasting your time. Lazarus ain't gonna run no more of your errands rich man".
Then Abraham spoke. "Child, you had your share of good things. Lazarus had nothing. Now he has his reward and you have yours. Remember that wall you built around yourself? Your security, your protection from having to care or share. Death has closed the gate. You can no more share in this table than Lazarus could share at yours. Those things you welcomed in past days have determined your welcome in eternity. Your actions have fixed a great chasm between us, "
A great sadness descended on the Rich Man. He hung his head and choked back tears. He thought of his family. "Abraham... one thing... just send Lazarus to my Fathers house, I have five brothers, warn them, tell them of this dreadful place".
Again a voice from the darkness; "You are not listening... Lazarus ain't gonna run no more of your errands rich man". Abraham said, "Why send Lazarus, God's already sent them the message of Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. They have a synagogue to learn in, teachers to help them, scriptures to reveal God's way, God has provided for them the Word they need to hear, they're hardly likely to listen to Lazarus".
The rich man pleaded. "Don't you see! If you send Lazarus, a man who was dead, but has come back to life, it will work. They'll turn their lives around, they'll start living right." Again a voice from the darkness. " Lazarus ain't gonna run no more of your errands rich man ". Sadly Abraham replied, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead"
Lessons from Lazarus
In Scripture the measure of how welcome eternity will be to us appears to be measured by the neighborliness we show to each other on earth. Those who in their pretensions enthrone themselves as Kings and see others as mere pawns to be used for their personal face a harsh awakening.
God has sent to us the words of Moses and the prophets. We furthermore have the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, a grace event that was only emerging as Jesus told this tale.
That grace was powerfully revealed to the disciples when they witnessed another man, this time not the Lazarus of this parable, but Lazarus, a brother of Mary and Martha, a great friend of Jesus, brought back to life from the tomb. (John 11)
The Sting in the Tale
Yet the sting in the tale is the very last verse. People hear the parable and think, "Now who do I identify with, the rich man or with Lazarus?" But at the end of the parable, we are called to identify with the ones who had been sent the message of Scripture, the ones to whom the testimony of Christ died and Risen would be told:- the Father and five brothers of the Rich man. (Verse 31) "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead".
The conclusion of the parable is to point us to personal repentance and to embrace the message of the Living Christ for ourselves. It is more than just a story about humanitarian aid or a picture of judgment on the self centered. It suggests that the hope of the world lies in me and you accepting the gospel message of the Good News of the risen Christ. Accepting it in a way in that causes us to embrace in love those who stand at the gates of our lives in need of help and prayer.
God has done everything God can do to persuade us to accept His love. God has given us the Word of Truth in the Scriptures. He raised His Son, Jesus Christ from the dead. God sends the Holy Spirit to be our Helper and Guide. It is for us to respond; through loving actions towards our fellow human beings, through faithful stewardship and worship, through living our lives in a way that brings glory to the name of Jesus Christ.
There are indeed many lessons we can learn from Lazarus.
Rev Adrian J. Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on September 26th 2010
"Lazarus and the Rich man" is a drama of three acts. In act one the Rich man feasts whilst Lazarus festers. In act two the Rich man fries whilst Lazarus feasts. In act three the Rich man pleads for mercy whilst Lazarus enjoys Paradise.
Act One: The Rich man feasts whilst Lazarus festers
Picture the scene. "A rich man habitually living in splendor". A man who thinks he has it all. Dresses like royalty. Fine Linen and purple. Attire reserved for the cream of society, Emperors, Governors, Princes and Ceasers. Rolex watch. Ferrari in the garage, parked next to the Rolls Royce. Thick pile carpets. Chandeliers. Paintings by Rembrandt and Cezanne hanging on the wall. Gold medallion the size of a saucer hanging round his neck. Silverware on the table that shone like... well... silver.
He clicks his fingers. The string quartet playing Mozart in the corner bring their immaculate performance to a close. In comes the butler and the attendant maids with dinner. "Would sir like the Veal or the Beef?" He points at one and it is served onto his plate whilst the maid pours an ample quantity of sparkling wine into the sparkling crystal glass. "Give the other to the dogs" he says.
He rises from his table and strolls across to the window where he stifles a yawn as he surveys his ornamental garden, the fountain he had specially imported from Italy, the rare Japanese trees lining the mosaic path that led to the summerhouse. His yawn dissolves into a smile. "Ahh" he sighs contentedly "It's all soo perfect". He sits at the table. With a click of his fingers, the Mozart resumes and dinner is consumed.
Outside, beyond the security fence, beyond the barbed wire and video surveillance cameras, beyond the high, broken glass rimmed wall that kept the views and smells of the squalor of the city from invading the rich mans castle, lies the poor man, Lazarus, at the gate.
Those gates. So impressive. So impassable. What went on behind those walls was anybody's guess. But Lazarus was beyond guessing. He had been laid at the gate by some well meaning passer by in the hope that somebody might take pity on him. His filthy clothes barely concealed the rotting sores that covered his body. Bent over in pain, it is difficult to say if that is a human being or a pile of rags. His face contorted by pain. He drifts in and out of consciousness. His lips bloated and blistered. His eyes glazed. He can't remember when he last had food. Times were good when he worked up at the rich mans house. Times long gone by. "Sleep, sleep, let me rest for their is no pain in my dreams".
A passing dog sniffs at the wreckage of this once proud man. It idly paws at him, but seeing no reaction moves along the alley to investigate the more profitable trash cans.
Act Two: The Rich man fries whilst Lazarus feasts
As he bites into the succulent beef steak, the rich man is aware of a numbness in his left arm, that rapidly spread up his arm, across his chest and felt uncomfortably like a severe attack of indigestion. He tried to catch his breath, but the pain became stronger, more intense, like an elephant sitting on his chest.
Then the pain was gone and he found himself in an unfamiliar environment. It was dark and cold. At the same time he was burning up. A place of dark shadows and deep sighs. A place of longing and loneliness; desperate loneliness characterized by a total absence of light or love.
He was aware of others around him, wrapping their darkness around themselves like fearful animals caught in a trap. There was weeping. There was pain. And there were haunting memories of tasks left unfinished, words of love that were never spoken, constant compromise and failure, never forgiven, never atoned for. Now it was too late.
He remembered this place from his nightmares. When you sleep in life you wake to a new day. In this sleep of death he felt he would never escape his most fearful dreams. Sheol. The waiting room for Judgment. Hell. Hades. The place of the dead.
For a moment the darkness cleared. He glimpsed, through what looked like the perimeter wall of his estate, there, on the other side, through the impassable gates; green fields, clear cool springs and flowing water, warmth, light and... who was that? Father Abraham! Laughing, talking, with someone at table. Who was that close by his side? It looked like that servant ... What was his name, "I remember, Lazarus, that was him, Lazarus. Oh things will be all right now. Lazarus will be sent to help me"
Act Three: The Rich man pleads for mercy whilst Lazarus enjoys Paradise
The Rich man called out "Father Abraham... Send Lazarus over here with some of that clear cool spring water. I'm burning up here. Send Lazarus.". He heard a voice in the darkness, "Your wasting your time. Lazarus ain't gonna run no more of your errands rich man".
Then Abraham spoke. "Child, you had your share of good things. Lazarus had nothing. Now he has his reward and you have yours. Remember that wall you built around yourself? Your security, your protection from having to care or share. Death has closed the gate. You can no more share in this table than Lazarus could share at yours. Those things you welcomed in past days have determined your welcome in eternity. Your actions have fixed a great chasm between us, "
A great sadness descended on the Rich Man. He hung his head and choked back tears. He thought of his family. "Abraham... one thing... just send Lazarus to my Fathers house, I have five brothers, warn them, tell them of this dreadful place".
Again a voice from the darkness; "You are not listening... Lazarus ain't gonna run no more of your errands rich man". Abraham said, "Why send Lazarus, God's already sent them the message of Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. They have a synagogue to learn in, teachers to help them, scriptures to reveal God's way, God has provided for them the Word they need to hear, they're hardly likely to listen to Lazarus".
The rich man pleaded. "Don't you see! If you send Lazarus, a man who was dead, but has come back to life, it will work. They'll turn their lives around, they'll start living right." Again a voice from the darkness. " Lazarus ain't gonna run no more of your errands rich man ". Sadly Abraham replied, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead"
Lessons from Lazarus
In Scripture the measure of how welcome eternity will be to us appears to be measured by the neighborliness we show to each other on earth. Those who in their pretensions enthrone themselves as Kings and see others as mere pawns to be used for their personal face a harsh awakening.
God has sent to us the words of Moses and the prophets. We furthermore have the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, a grace event that was only emerging as Jesus told this tale.
That grace was powerfully revealed to the disciples when they witnessed another man, this time not the Lazarus of this parable, but Lazarus, a brother of Mary and Martha, a great friend of Jesus, brought back to life from the tomb. (John 11)
The Sting in the Tale
Yet the sting in the tale is the very last verse. People hear the parable and think, "Now who do I identify with, the rich man or with Lazarus?" But at the end of the parable, we are called to identify with the ones who had been sent the message of Scripture, the ones to whom the testimony of Christ died and Risen would be told:- the Father and five brothers of the Rich man. (Verse 31) "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead".
The conclusion of the parable is to point us to personal repentance and to embrace the message of the Living Christ for ourselves. It is more than just a story about humanitarian aid or a picture of judgment on the self centered. It suggests that the hope of the world lies in me and you accepting the gospel message of the Good News of the risen Christ. Accepting it in a way in that causes us to embrace in love those who stand at the gates of our lives in need of help and prayer.
God has done everything God can do to persuade us to accept His love. God has given us the Word of Truth in the Scriptures. He raised His Son, Jesus Christ from the dead. God sends the Holy Spirit to be our Helper and Guide. It is for us to respond; through loving actions towards our fellow human beings, through faithful stewardship and worship, through living our lives in a way that brings glory to the name of Jesus Christ.
There are indeed many lessons we can learn from Lazarus.
Rev Adrian J. Pratt
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tony Malonely
Readings: Psalm 7:1-9, Jeremiah 8:18:9:1, 1 Timothy 2:1-7, Luke 16:1-13
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on September 19th 2010
Tony Malonely enjoyed the high life. Classy suits. Expensive wines. Fine cigars. As Associatte manger of a mid-size commercial trading outlet he was doing pretty well. In fact he had just got back from a trip to Vegas. And the best thing about it was that it hadn’t cost him a dime. With his talent for creative accounting and his abilty to be more than a little economic with the truth the company had covered the bill for the whole trip, and as everybody knows “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” But not always.
There he was. Sitting in his air-conditioned office, leaning back in the leather office chair with his feet up on the oak desktop when the telephone rang. It was the bosses line. He leant over and preseed the button for speakerphone. A distorted voice that was indicative of anger barked out “My office. Now!”
Tony quickly made his way to the only office that was bigger and brassier than his own. One of the two enormous doors was already half open and Tina the secretary, who as usual had one hand raised drying her nail polish, waved him straight past her desk… without the usual inane smile on her face. “Shut the door Tony” boomed the boss “We need to talk”.
Tony made his way across the expanse of office to the desk and sat down. The boss threw some photographs across the desk to him. “Explain these” he said. Tony looked in horror. There he was at a blackjack table. There he was coming out of a show that certainly wasn’t family entertainment. And that was him dissapearing into a limo with the redhead.
The boss snarled sarcastically and sneered… “So… how was the convention in Ohio, Mr Malonely?” “I… ermm.. that is..” For once Tony Malonely had ran out of baloney . “Tony” said the Boss, “Do you want to know something?” ‘Sure boss’ said Tony gulping hard. “You’re fired. You got a couple of hours to clear out your desk… and Tony? Don’t ever ask any one even remotely associatted with this company for a reference!”
Tony realized it was useless to plead his case. He made his way back across the thick carpet, out of the door, past Tina (who was still drying her nails, smiling inanely, and didn’t even look up), back to his own office, back to his own desk, shut the door, leant back in his chair and his mind started to process. What should he do now? Stay calm. Think it through. What are the options?
He could try a different company or start over at something else. No… he was to old. And who’s going to take me on after this! He could get out there and beg for forgiveness and hope that mindless compassion might sprinkle good fortune down upon him. That wasn’t going to work. What he needed were some friends! And he only had two hours to find them.
“Now wait a minute”. He pulled up the main accounting window on the computer screen and began to analyze who owed the company the most money right now. In the current economic climate there were a number of creditors that were really having a hard time meeting their payments. And the boss wasn’t one to let such things go.
“There” he said. “The Olive Oil contract.” Payment was well overdue on a shipment of a hundred barrels of olive oil. And he knew the company well enough to know they couldn’t pay. He calls them up. ‘Hey, Joe… it’s Tony… over at Traders… yeah that’s why I’m calling… you owe us for a hundred barrells… right. What if I said that if you can get it by the end of the week we’ll let you pay for fifty and we’ll call it quits! You like that! Hey anytime. Just trying to do the right thing. You have a good one too, my friend!”
He looked again at the screen. What about the wheat shipment? Gives them a call. “Mr Kellog… yeah that’s right Tony Malonely… yeah I know you are having trouble paying… that’s why I’m calling… look…you owe for a hundred… how about I charge you for eighty and we forget about the other twenty? Yeah? You like that. That’s me… Tony Malonely, anything to help an old friend.” And so the calls continued. One by one he called every debtor and gave them the sort of breaks that they only dreamed of!
Maenwhile back in the Bosses office, in the last hour he had received a number of unexpected calls. The first, from Joe, manager of the the Olive Oil company had taken him by surprise. Joe had been gushing with thankfulness. “Thankyou so much… for giving us this break. We’re never going to work through anybody else. Customer loyalty, man you just redefined it! That Tony Malonely… good guy you got there!” Of course the Boss couldn’t lose face by telling Joe at the Olive Oil company that he didn’t know what he was talking about. And so the hour went on… call after call, promising loyalty and praising Tony!
After the twentieth call the Boss couldn’t help reflect that, despicable, dishonest, total crook though he may be, Tony Malonely was one shrewd dude who didn’t know the meaning of the word loser! Always ready to find a new angle, always on the look out for a way to turn somebodies misfortune to his personal advantage, you had to hand it to him, Tony Malonely was the man!
And I’m hoping you noticed that Tony Malonely was very similar to the man that Jesus told a story about in our reading from the Gospel of Luke today. After telling the story, Jesus added that if the Tony’s of this world were able to look after there self-interested lives by their own street-smart ways, then shouldn’t the people of God be able to harness their creative energies, not for doing wrong, but for doing good? I love the way that Eugene Petersens ‘The Message Bible’, transliterates verses 8 and 9 of Luke 16.
"Now here's a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."
There are some phrases in there that could really revolutionize the way we live our lives both as individuals and as churches. “Use every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival”. That’s deep! That’s what God did through the cross of Jesus Christ. There cannot be a more adverse set of conditions than a death by crucifixion. Yet it was followed by the miracle of resurrection.
In our lives we reach those dead ends where we feel like its ‘Game Over’. We just want to roll over and die. But Jesus in our story from Luke is saying that there’s people out there in the world who have a better atitude to survival than those of us who are seeking to follow Him! That we could benefit from some street-smart, surviving by our wits alone, rock bottom experiences.
Again, from ‘The Message’; “Concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior." I fear that as churches and good decent people we play that game of ‘trying just to get by on good behaviour’ day after day, year after year, rather than truly exercising our hearts and minds in the risky business of faith without a safety net.
‘Concentrating our attention on the bare essentials’ means redefining what is necessary and what we could let go. That doesn’t mean that we have to let everything non-essential go, just that we come to understand the difference between what is important and vital and life giving, and the rest of the stuff that we fill our lives with.
How do we do that? We begin with the small things. Everything begins with the little actions, the consistent practices, the everyday virtues. A crook begins his crooked ways one crooked act at a time. Likewise with faith. A faithful person is one who is consitently faithful! It starts with the small things. Fred Craddok in his ‘Interpretation’ commentary on Luke writes,
“Most if us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation or be burned at the stake. More likely this week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commisioner, teach a Sunday School class, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to choir practice, or feed the neighbours cat. Luke 16:10 ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much’.”
We also need to be clear about who and what we are being faithful to. The closing line of our passage couldn’t put it much clearer. “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13)
We are either building a Kingdom on this earth, (a Kingdom which will be ultimatly be taken away from us) or we are building our lives with the Kingdom of God in mind. ‘Wealth’ it has been said, “Is a great servant, but a terrible master”. It is not about how much we have, but what we do with what have, that defines who we are serving!
There are many Tony Malonely’s in this world who are quite clear on whom they are serving. They are out for number one and will do everything they can to keep it that way. But there are lessons we can learn, even from them. If they can give their all for aims that ultimatly will leave them lonely, how much more should we be committed to values that can change our world for the better. And it is the little things that make the big difference in the long run.
Let us pray that we can go into this next week committed to doing what we can with what we have in order to bring glory to God. When the problems come, as they may, let us not wallow in them but be as street smart as Tony Malonley and use the ‘situation of adversity to stimulate us towards creative survival’.
Above all let us seek to be servants of God, faithful stewards of the Kingdom who seek to solve the problems of our world by not becoming one of them. May we be people of God with the ability to harness their creative energies to doing the right thing! And to God’s name the glory. Amen.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on September 19th 2010
Tony Malonely enjoyed the high life. Classy suits. Expensive wines. Fine cigars. As Associatte manger of a mid-size commercial trading outlet he was doing pretty well. In fact he had just got back from a trip to Vegas. And the best thing about it was that it hadn’t cost him a dime. With his talent for creative accounting and his abilty to be more than a little economic with the truth the company had covered the bill for the whole trip, and as everybody knows “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” But not always.
There he was. Sitting in his air-conditioned office, leaning back in the leather office chair with his feet up on the oak desktop when the telephone rang. It was the bosses line. He leant over and preseed the button for speakerphone. A distorted voice that was indicative of anger barked out “My office. Now!”
Tony quickly made his way to the only office that was bigger and brassier than his own. One of the two enormous doors was already half open and Tina the secretary, who as usual had one hand raised drying her nail polish, waved him straight past her desk… without the usual inane smile on her face. “Shut the door Tony” boomed the boss “We need to talk”.
Tony made his way across the expanse of office to the desk and sat down. The boss threw some photographs across the desk to him. “Explain these” he said. Tony looked in horror. There he was at a blackjack table. There he was coming out of a show that certainly wasn’t family entertainment. And that was him dissapearing into a limo with the redhead.
The boss snarled sarcastically and sneered… “So… how was the convention in Ohio, Mr Malonely?” “I… ermm.. that is..” For once Tony Malonely had ran out of baloney . “Tony” said the Boss, “Do you want to know something?” ‘Sure boss’ said Tony gulping hard. “You’re fired. You got a couple of hours to clear out your desk… and Tony? Don’t ever ask any one even remotely associatted with this company for a reference!”
Tony realized it was useless to plead his case. He made his way back across the thick carpet, out of the door, past Tina (who was still drying her nails, smiling inanely, and didn’t even look up), back to his own office, back to his own desk, shut the door, leant back in his chair and his mind started to process. What should he do now? Stay calm. Think it through. What are the options?
He could try a different company or start over at something else. No… he was to old. And who’s going to take me on after this! He could get out there and beg for forgiveness and hope that mindless compassion might sprinkle good fortune down upon him. That wasn’t going to work. What he needed were some friends! And he only had two hours to find them.
“Now wait a minute”. He pulled up the main accounting window on the computer screen and began to analyze who owed the company the most money right now. In the current economic climate there were a number of creditors that were really having a hard time meeting their payments. And the boss wasn’t one to let such things go.
“There” he said. “The Olive Oil contract.” Payment was well overdue on a shipment of a hundred barrels of olive oil. And he knew the company well enough to know they couldn’t pay. He calls them up. ‘Hey, Joe… it’s Tony… over at Traders… yeah that’s why I’m calling… you owe us for a hundred barrells… right. What if I said that if you can get it by the end of the week we’ll let you pay for fifty and we’ll call it quits! You like that! Hey anytime. Just trying to do the right thing. You have a good one too, my friend!”
He looked again at the screen. What about the wheat shipment? Gives them a call. “Mr Kellog… yeah that’s right Tony Malonely… yeah I know you are having trouble paying… that’s why I’m calling… look…you owe for a hundred… how about I charge you for eighty and we forget about the other twenty? Yeah? You like that. That’s me… Tony Malonely, anything to help an old friend.” And so the calls continued. One by one he called every debtor and gave them the sort of breaks that they only dreamed of!
Maenwhile back in the Bosses office, in the last hour he had received a number of unexpected calls. The first, from Joe, manager of the the Olive Oil company had taken him by surprise. Joe had been gushing with thankfulness. “Thankyou so much… for giving us this break. We’re never going to work through anybody else. Customer loyalty, man you just redefined it! That Tony Malonely… good guy you got there!” Of course the Boss couldn’t lose face by telling Joe at the Olive Oil company that he didn’t know what he was talking about. And so the hour went on… call after call, promising loyalty and praising Tony!
After the twentieth call the Boss couldn’t help reflect that, despicable, dishonest, total crook though he may be, Tony Malonely was one shrewd dude who didn’t know the meaning of the word loser! Always ready to find a new angle, always on the look out for a way to turn somebodies misfortune to his personal advantage, you had to hand it to him, Tony Malonely was the man!
And I’m hoping you noticed that Tony Malonely was very similar to the man that Jesus told a story about in our reading from the Gospel of Luke today. After telling the story, Jesus added that if the Tony’s of this world were able to look after there self-interested lives by their own street-smart ways, then shouldn’t the people of God be able to harness their creative energies, not for doing wrong, but for doing good? I love the way that Eugene Petersens ‘The Message Bible’, transliterates verses 8 and 9 of Luke 16.
"Now here's a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."
There are some phrases in there that could really revolutionize the way we live our lives both as individuals and as churches. “Use every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival”. That’s deep! That’s what God did through the cross of Jesus Christ. There cannot be a more adverse set of conditions than a death by crucifixion. Yet it was followed by the miracle of resurrection.
In our lives we reach those dead ends where we feel like its ‘Game Over’. We just want to roll over and die. But Jesus in our story from Luke is saying that there’s people out there in the world who have a better atitude to survival than those of us who are seeking to follow Him! That we could benefit from some street-smart, surviving by our wits alone, rock bottom experiences.
Again, from ‘The Message’; “Concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior." I fear that as churches and good decent people we play that game of ‘trying just to get by on good behaviour’ day after day, year after year, rather than truly exercising our hearts and minds in the risky business of faith without a safety net.
‘Concentrating our attention on the bare essentials’ means redefining what is necessary and what we could let go. That doesn’t mean that we have to let everything non-essential go, just that we come to understand the difference between what is important and vital and life giving, and the rest of the stuff that we fill our lives with.
How do we do that? We begin with the small things. Everything begins with the little actions, the consistent practices, the everyday virtues. A crook begins his crooked ways one crooked act at a time. Likewise with faith. A faithful person is one who is consitently faithful! It starts with the small things. Fred Craddok in his ‘Interpretation’ commentary on Luke writes,
“Most if us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation or be burned at the stake. More likely this week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commisioner, teach a Sunday School class, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to choir practice, or feed the neighbours cat. Luke 16:10 ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much’.”
We also need to be clear about who and what we are being faithful to. The closing line of our passage couldn’t put it much clearer. “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13)
We are either building a Kingdom on this earth, (a Kingdom which will be ultimatly be taken away from us) or we are building our lives with the Kingdom of God in mind. ‘Wealth’ it has been said, “Is a great servant, but a terrible master”. It is not about how much we have, but what we do with what have, that defines who we are serving!
There are many Tony Malonely’s in this world who are quite clear on whom they are serving. They are out for number one and will do everything they can to keep it that way. But there are lessons we can learn, even from them. If they can give their all for aims that ultimatly will leave them lonely, how much more should we be committed to values that can change our world for the better. And it is the little things that make the big difference in the long run.
Let us pray that we can go into this next week committed to doing what we can with what we have in order to bring glory to God. When the problems come, as they may, let us not wallow in them but be as street smart as Tony Malonley and use the ‘situation of adversity to stimulate us towards creative survival’.
Above all let us seek to be servants of God, faithful stewards of the Kingdom who seek to solve the problems of our world by not becoming one of them. May we be people of God with the ability to harness their creative energies to doing the right thing! And to God’s name the glory. Amen.
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