Where are you going?

Readings: Psalm 40:1-11, Isaiah 49:1—7, John 1:29-42, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 23rd 2011

A PDF printable file can be found here

If someone asks you to follow them it’s reasonable to ask, “Where are you going?” As Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee He saw Simon and Andrew and asked them to follow. They didn’t ask questions. Neither, a little while later did James or John when He called them.

It’s a strange thing. When people hear the call of Jesus Christ to follow, they don’t ask “Where are you going?” When we encounter Jesus, that question is turned around. We are the ones challenged to ask ourselves where our lives will be heading if we refuse to respond to His invitation.

It’s a fair question isn’t it? ‘Where are we going?’ What paths are we following? Right now, on January 23rd 2011, as we sit here in the company of each other and in the presence of God, what are we about? The last couple of weeks our bible stories have addressed questions such as “Why are we here?” and “What do we want?” This text asks “Where are we going?”

Maybe someone here is looking forward to something happening this afternoon, or meeting someone tonight, or anticipating some event later in the week. Once church is over with, and this is over with and that is over with, then we’ll go bowling!

There are people who spend their whole lives so concerned about getting to the next thing that they really never stop long enough to hear the call of Jesus to follow. It is possible to be so task orientated that you never discover the joy of savoring the moment. Life is just a series of appointments and the spaces in between are times traveling between appointments. Modern life positively encourages that way of being. Instant answers, Fast Food, Drive through everything’s.

You know how the church is here, with roads on three sides? Maybe we could introduce a drive through service. We could mount a loudspeaker and intercom at the corner, and you could stop the car and confess your sins as you drive by. A little mechanical voice could say "Do you want to supersize that! For your assurance of pardon please drop off your tithes and offerings at the next window." Drop in your offering then move on to the next window, pick up a copy of the sermon and "Vroom" your away; Church, over and done with in two minutes.

Forget this having to fellowship with people, or sing, or find a place to sit and standing up and reading prayers and all the rest of it. None of this having to consider where you’re going, because you're on the way. You haven't got time for wasteful contemplation.

The frightening thing about the concept of a drive through church, is that some people genuinely think it would be a great idea. They don't seem to pick up on the message of Jesus that we are to love each other as He loved us, and we can only do that in community.

Observers note that America, the richest of all nations, has bred a form of consumer Christianity that disciples of the early church would have a hard time identifying with. The growth of Mega-Churches and Television has created worship experiences where the attendee is more of a spectator than a participant. Religion has become entertainment, a commodity to be consumed. How does that have anything to do with the Kingdom way of life of which the Scriptures talk?

The question to ask about the church is not; "What can this church do for me?" The disciples question should be; "How can I serve Christ in this church?” Are these the people God is calling me to have a special love for? Are these the ones in whose tears and laughter I will discover God’s presence?

When Jesus wanted to teach the disciples what discipleship was, He didn’t suggest a drive-thru! He took a bowl and washed their dirty feet. He shared with them in a fellowship meal and broke bread and drank wine. He told them to love each other as much as He loved them. He laid down His life for them.

He laid down His life for us, and that is why when we hear this invitation "Follow Me" it should raise deep questions in our hearts about where our lives may be going. In as much as we follow after other things, then we are not following Christ.

Do you have a phone with “Call Waiting?” Do you put people on hold to talk with someone else? With Jesus there is no “Call Waiting”, you don’t put following Him on hold. You are either following Him or going your own way. And if you go your own way, where is it leading? Your own personal Paradise? Some imaginary safe place where the concerns of life won’t weigh you down? Or maybe, as rock band AC/DC once screamed, we’re on a ‘highway to hell’?

We don’t know exactly what it was that produced an immediate response in those first fishermen disciples. We do know that there was something about the presence of Jesus that assured them that following Him was doing the right thing. That what they were being called to, was something far greater than anything they were being called to leave behind.

That presence of Christ, that makes “No” feel like the wrong thing to say to His invitation, is available to us all. As we worship together; as we hear and apply His Word to our lives; as we rethink our values in relation to the values of His Kingdom; something can change in us.

It’s a matter of grace, it’s a matter of allowing God’s Holy Spirit time and room to move. It’s a matter of getting off the treadmill and asking where, if anywhere, the things you follow are leading you.

Someone asked me, “When you moved to the USA was it hard for you to leave your home and family behind and come to another country?” You bet it was! Anybody who has made that kind of move will tell you the same. Some days it is still hard to be thousands of miles away from those loved ones who nurtured your life and whom you call family and friends.

But I have no regrets about the decision. It was a decision made in the Presence of Jesus. It was His call to follow that I listened to. It was another step in a journey that has so far led me to all kinds of places and experiences and joys and challenges that life would have otherwise not held for me. No regrets. Lots of blessings.

That means that right now, on January 23rd 2011, as we sit here in the company of each other and the presence of God, I am in a position where I can say to you with full assurance of faith; ‘Listen for the call of Jesus that says “Follow me” and do what ever it takes to be obedient to that call.’ Whatever Jesus calls you to leave behind is dull and empty in comparison to where He wants to take you. Your right! It is a matter of faith and of trust. But the fact that you are here this morning shows you know enough about trusting God, to trust Him a little bit more.

So get excited.
Get with the program.
Get into the Word so that the Word gets into you.
Get on your knees in prayer.
Hear Christ calling to you,
“Follow me.. Help me catch others up in the Kingdom”
And do whatever it takes to make it happen!
To the glory of God.
AMEN.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Readings: Psalm 40:1-11, Isaiah 49:1—7, John 1:29-42, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 16th 2011

A printable PDF can be found here

I came out of the bathroom, walked down the corridor, and arrived in the kitchen. There I stood, with a quizzical look on my face.
“What are you looking for?” asked Yvonne.
“You know” I said, “I haven’t got a clue. I’ll just have to retrace my steps and maybe it will come to me!”

Has that ever happened to you? You’re looking for something, but you forget what it is? So you have to back up a little to try and reignite your memory. Well, if it doesn’t happen to you, watch out, it probably will!

Last week our passage of Scripture gave us the question “What are you doing here?” This week the question Jesus asks is, “What do you seek? What are you looking for?”

The circumstances surrounding the question are these. Two of John the Baptist’s disciples (one of them being Andrew) have been observing everything that’s been going on. John had been saying some impressive things about Jesus.

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” (v29)
“This is the One about whom I said, ’After me comes a man of higher rank.” (v30)
“This is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit!” (v33)
“This is the Son of God” (v34)

They are obviously curious, because as Jesus walks by them, they start to follow after Him. They haven’t quite got the nerve to go up and ask Him “What’s all this stuff John’s saying about you?” They just seem to want to watch and see what happens.

In an almost comical moment, Jesus suddenly turns around, looks straight at them, and asks them, “What are you looking for?” It seems they don’t really have an answer. They just blurt out the first thing that came to mind, “Erm.. Rabbi ...ehm Teacher...we were just wondering, where in town are you staying?”

“Why don’t you come and see?” invites Jesus. And they go with Him and spend time talking with Him and as they open their lives to His teaching become convinced that He is the Messiah, the ‘Christ,’ John had been telling them to get ready for. So convicted is Andrew that he runs home to get his brother Simon and brings him along to meet Jesus.

By becoming disciples of John and then trailing after Jesus, it seems clear that the disciples were looking for something. At the same time, you get the impression they didn’t quite know what they were looking for. But, whatever it was, in Jesus, they had an idea they could find it.

When you start to dig deep into your own hopes and dreams and ambitions, it can be a confusing experience. Of course, because we’re here in church we could smugly smile and say, “Well, all I want to do is live the life God wants me to.” Yet, I have an impression that we would be fooling nobody but ourselves.

Fact is that we’re not always sure exactly what we’re looking for. We are here this morning because there is something in us that keeps telling us, “Well, whatever it is you’re after, somehow it’s tied up with the Gospel Message and the Will of God and the life of Christ.”

Sometimes we are driven more by curiosity than by certainty, more by coercion than by conviction, more by compulsion rather than by compassion. We are, even in our best moments, as much driven by wants, as we are by needs, and at times find the distinction between the two is blurred.

As people we need to be loved, but sometimes we do things simply for affirmation to make ourselves lovable. As people we need to have a sense of purpose, but sometimes we purposefully pursue things that are a hindrance rather than a help. As Christian people we realize there is a God shaped hole in our life, but so often fill that space with other things.

Now I say none of this in order that we should wring our hands and complain about what terrible people we are. I’m not taking us on any kind of guilt trip so that we hang our heads in shame with much weeping and gnashing of teeth. I am simply acknowledging that human nature is a mixed bag of conflicting ideals, emotions and conflicts.

Whilst in Christ we can know ourselves to be saved and forgiven and redeemed and all the other religious terminology that preachers like myself are so fond of confusing people with; we also know that we are, as Scripture says, still ‘working out our salvation’, are still, as Scripture says, people over whom Jesus prays, “Father, Forgive them , for they don’t know what they are doing”, people who, as Scripture teaches, are in a process of becoming... Paul writes “This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phillipians 3:13)

I was at home the other day, rummaging through some papers. Again my good lady caught me in my confusion.
“What are you looking for?”
“I don’t know” I said, “ but I’ll tell you when I find it!”

Everybody’s journey of faith has some wrong turnings within it. We are people, so we make mistakes. Maybe we feel some days that we have made more wrong turnings than right ones, but occasionally we stumble upon something that seems to be the genuine article.

Could be it was a little like that for those first disciples? They couldn’t really define what it was that drew them towards Christ, but once He’d found them, they knew that He was what they were searching for. There is that tension in the story that whilst they were looking for Jesus, He was also looking for them.

Many times religion is pictured as peoples search for God. Yet the image that comes through the New Testament is that God , in Christ, is looking for us. It’s a two sided picture, like any relationship where love can grow has to be.

We are given parables like that of the woman looking for the lost coin and being so happy when she finds it. We are told to seek that we may find. We are also given parables like that of the Good Shepherd who leaves ninety nine behind in order to go in search of one lost sheep. Jesus is pictured as the one who comes to seek and save the lost.

We look for God.
God searches for us.
Yet still the question hangs hauntingly in the air;
“What are you looking for?”

When two people are looking for each other, we call it searching for a relationship. Many newspapers have a personal ad section, dating agencies flourish, people search in CyberSpace for that special someone to make their dreams come true.

Some theologians have described that need for a relationship as an indication of our thirst for God. They suggest that all search for intimacy, all longing of the heart, all striving after another is a reaching towards God. Taking it one step further they also suggest that no relationship is ever truly fulfilled until its center is found in Christ.

To put it another way, no relationship we ever have, will be all that it could be unless our relationship with God is secure. If we are to have great relationships with each other here on earth then our relationship with God must be one that is constantly deepening and growing. For God’s love is the ground of all true love, God’s life is what gives all life true meaning.

Jesus had a recipe for contentment. He recommends trust in God, being happy with what you have, in the knowledge that God can take care of things; the release of anxiety and the acceptance of peace, the looking to God for all things, in all things and through all things.

What are we looking for in life? And what is God looking for in us? We may not be able give neat tidy answers to these questions. But John’s two disciples made the right choice when they decided to become disciples of Jesus. They still had a lot to learn and a lot to find. Yet in Christ they found the way, the truth and the life.

When you’re searching for something but don’t quite know what is, retrace your steps. Let them lead you back to God who gave you life. For God knows exactly what we are looking for. Even when we’re not so sure!

Hear, as did those first disciples, the invitation of Jesus. “Come and see”. Through prayer and time spent with God’s Word, through worship and service we open up all that we are to God’s Holy Spirit. We may not find every answer we are looking for, but the promise to us is this; God will give us everything we really need to be God’s people.

Rev Adrian J Pratt

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

Readings: Psalm 29, Isaiah 42:1—9, Matthew 3:13—17, Acts 10:34—43
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 9th 2011

A printable PDF file can be found here

In 1984 I was ordained as a minister within the Welsh Presbyterian Church in a little town called Pembroke, which was about as far away from my home Presbytery and home town as anything in Wales could be. So traveling across the country went a representative from my home Presbytery, David Evans from Clubmoor Church in Liverpool, England, and some of my family, including my late father, who throughout his life rarely set foot inside a church.

David Evans worked in local government. My Dad worked voluntarily as a Trade Union representative. Sometimes they had met on opposite sides of the negotiating table. They were both very surprised to walk into that church far from home and find a face they knew in the congregation.

"What are you doing here?" asked my Dad. David explained, "Adrian's one of our Presbyteries candidates for the ministry; What are you doing here?" Dad explained, “Well, Adrian's my son!". Although they had met on numerous occasions in a different setting, neither expected to meet the other in a church the other side of nowhere.

I'm sure you can think of situations when you went somewhere and met somebody you hadn't expected to see and were tempted to ask, "What are you doing here?" When Jesus went down to the shores of the Jordan to be baptized by his cousin John, such was John's first reaction.

John's baptism was a radical thing to ask the Jews to partake in. Baptism was usually seen as an initiation ceremony for converts to Judaism, but now there he was telling them to repent and prepare for the Messiah and the coming of the Kingdom, and as a sign of readiness be baptized. From what John knew of Jesus, Jesus had nothing to repent of and whilst he didn't at that point recognize Him as the Messiah, John knew that if any one was ready for the Kingdom to come, it was Jesus.

In the church calendar this Sunday is the one designated as recalling the Baptism of Jesus. When I first started thinking about it, I couldn't help but ask, "What on earth has the fact that Jesus went to be baptized by John around two thousand years ago got to do with anything that may be happening in my life right now?” One thought kept buzzing in my mind. A question, "Well, What are you doing here?"

Whilst theologians differ about how is the correct way and when is the correct time in a person’s spiritual journey that they should receive baptism, one thing they are united on; be they Catholic or Episcopalian or Presbyterian or Pentecostal or Baptist or whatever. That is this. Baptism is an external sign that we are people who belong to God. On that aspect of baptism there is common agreement amongst all the denominations.

If God is our God and we are God’s people, one thing is for sure. God is going to keep showing up, whether invited or uninvited, whether expected or unexpected. If we are God's people, then God is on our case. We may not be expecting God to show up. We may not recognize God when He does. God keeps showing up, despite our insensitivity to God’s Presence.

It doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing, Christ's promise remains, "I will be with you always, even unto the end of the age".

In the classroom.
In the Workplace.
In the Kitchen.
Shopping in Big and Cheap.
In your decisions.
In your dreams.
In your laughter and your tears.

God keeps showing up.

That's how it is in Scripture. God keeps showing up in the most unexpected places. Walking with the lepers. Spending time with a Samaritan Woman by a well. On a road to Emmaus. Down by the beach. At a tax collectors house. In a stable in a little town called Bethlehem. In the High Priest's Court. On a road leading to Damascus along which Saul walked on his way to cause some grief to some faithful believers. And down by the River Jordan to be baptized by John.

Again and again the question is put to Jesus, "What are you doing here?” Even at times when we should expect God's presence to be there for us we are surprised that His love shows up. Let me share three examples I heard of this past week.

I read this past week of Robert Scott, who lost his life in his search for the South Pole, a deeply religious man. His final entry in his diary records how the presence of Jesus showed up for him when he reached the end of life’s road. He wrote: "As we sit here in this barren waste, we think of home and our loved ones. We are very lonely in these last hours. Yet we are cheered, for it seems there are three of us here, not just two. It is Jesus and His presence that comforts us. All along He seems to have journeyed with us. He faced death alone and unafraid. He is with us now." The unexpected Presence of God when all was lost.

I spoke with a lady recently who had attended a Bible Conference somewhere down South. "For me, it was all very uneventful" she explained, "Until the last evening service". "During that service the power of God fell on the meeting, like out of nowhere, unexpected, like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Amazing!” We can worship with thousands of others, and still be surprised when God shows up.

Even here. During last weeks service as we celebrated communion. One person told me later "You know, I really felt the Presence of God during communion". What? God showing up unexpectedly at First Presbyterian Church of Baldwin? Believe it.

‘This is the Day” we are called to meet with Him. We, who are the baptized people of God, can know the assurance that wherever God leads us, God promises to be with us. Sometimes that realization unexpectedly breaks through and takes us by surprise. Treasure such times.

Don't be afraid to seek such moments and realize that the more time you spend applying God's Word to your life, sharing with God in prayer and worshipping God in the company of God's people, then the more prepared you will be to encounter God’s love.

My late Father and an elder from a church I once served traveled half way across Great Britain to discover that they had a connection to each other that they never realized existed. They looked at each other and declared, “What are you doing here?”

Every service of worship is a time to encounter the God who may well be asking us an obvious question, “What are you doing here?”

What are we doing here?

Please join me in this ...Affirmation of Faith

What are we doing here?

We are baptized brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
He has called us to sit around God's family table.
We are called to remember who we are and whose we are.
We are unique creations of an awesome God.
We belong to Jesus Christ.

We call to mind the price Christ paid
That we may be called His own.
His death on the Cross.
The unexpected glory of His resurrection.
The promise of the Holy Spirit's Presence
Within and around our lives.
The hope of His coming Kingdom.

Thank You Lord for making us Your own.
Help us to discover Your love,
Every time we gather together in worship,
And wherever life’s journey may lead.

AMEN.

WISHING YOU A GRACE FILLED YEAR

Readings: Psalm 147:12—20, Jeremiah 31:7-14, Ephesians 1:3-18, John1:1-18
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 2nd 2011

A printable PDF file can be found here

In the beginning was the Word. This first Sunday of the New Year we gather together to hear the Word of God. In the year that lies ahead may words spoken in this pulpit carry the Living Word, Jesus Christ, to our hearts and lives that we may carry His love to others. The whole process is dependent upon grace, the unmerited and undeserved favor of God towards those He calls daughters and sons.

I wish you a grace filled New Year and take as a text for this sermon words from Ephesians 1:18, “ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling.” If we are to have a grace filled year, notice first of all,

It’s a heart thing.

Whilst religion involves the mind and the emotions, more than anything it is an affair of the heart. I don’t mean that efficient muscle that keeps our blood pumping but the purpose, the central reason for living, that lies at the center of our being; the reason we get out of bed in the morning; the hopes and ideals that give our lives a sense of purpose and meaning.

Jesus spoke of the heart as being the place from which everything else in a person’s life flowed. All evil and all goodness come from deep within our selves. Sometimes too deep for words or understanding. I don’t always understand why I react to certain things the way I do. Sometimes things touch us in a way or for a reason we don’t understand. A look in somebody's eyes. A gentle act of kindness. An unexpected compliment or criticism. And it touches your heart.

We use the phrase “Their hearts not in it” to describe those who have lost their center and their purpose. Such a thing can all too easily happen to us in our Christian life. There was a time when all things seemed new and full of possibility but that radical edge has been stripped away by the passing of time. We no longer have the enthusiasm, the vigor, the feeling we once had for the things of God. How well that emotion is captured in William Cowper's hymn, “O for a closer walk with God”;

“Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
of Jesus and his Word?”

There is a way out from that dilemma. It is captured in the words "Take Heart". New Testament religion is a heart thing. Hear the author of Hebrews, speaking about the "New Plan" as Eugene Peterson's translation of the New Testament, "The Message', calls it.

"This new plan
isn't going to be written on paper,
isn't going to be chiseled in stone;
This time I'm writing out the plan in them,
carving it on the lining of their hearts.
I'll be their God,
they'll be my people."
(Hebrews 8)

At the start of a New Year make sure your heart relationship with God is sorted out. Make sure your Christian life is a heart thing. Talk with God. Open up to God. Ask Him to change you and renew you, to give you that fire inside that John the Baptist spoke of. He offered the external sign of baptism but spoke of "kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out."

It's a heart thing. But also, to have a grace filled life..,

It's a hope thing.

Ephesians 1:18, “ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling…”

What is the "hope of His calling"? When our inner life is nourished by God then we see things from a different perspective. There is a lot of hopelessness around. There are many who will tell us all is gloom and doom. There are always those to put us down or put us straight. And last year sometimes we spent too much time listening to them and not enough time listening to God's Living Word.

Paul talks about "knowing the hope" that those called by God are to inherit. It is a hope based not on how the world is or how we perceive things, but on who God is and the ways of God's Kingdom with the world

This hope tells us that life is not aimless or pointless but that every moment is one to be treasured and shared with God.

This hope tells us that the problems that come our way are not things to defeat us and destroy us, but things to work through, opportunities for us to learn of God how the Grace of Jesus Christ can carry us through.

This hope tells us that past mistakes are not things that we have to carry with us for the rest of our lives, but that, through Christ's death on the Cross for us, mistakes are things we need to accept forgiveness for, things we need to learn from, things we need to get over and walk free from.

This hope tells us that it is not our past that will determine our future, but the present action of God's Holy Spirit within our hearts and lives that will carry us forward.

This hope is based on Christ, the Jesus who was there at the Creation, the Word of God who still speaks loud and clear, the light that shines in the darkness and which the darkness can never and will never extinguish; Christ who walked through all the darkest experiences that life and death can bring our way, yet remained the overcomer, the victor, the champion of love.

This hope is based on the view that in God's eyes, problems are things to be solved, injustices are things to be put right, hurts are something to be healed, sin is something to be forgiven, evil is something to be conquered.

This hope is something God wants our lives to be filled with, something He wants to be bubbling inside of us, some thing that changes the way we look at ourselves, at our situation, a lens through which we see our world and the world of other people.

"Oh", we are warned, "Don't go building peoples hopes up, they'll only blame you when things come crashing down". That's not God's word. God's Word, as we enter a New Year, is "STOP PUTTING FENCES AROUND YOUR HOPES". Stop thinking God can't do this for us, or for me, or for that person, or that situation. Put your faith in God. As the Psalmist says, "Why so downcast O my soul, Put your HOPE in God".

I know and you know that there will be times in this next year, just as there were times last year, when we won't understand, when we will cry out, "Why, God, Why?" The answer may not come straight away, maybe not even in this life. But if we, even in the midst of struggle, can find that little spark of hope that says, "All will one day be well", then that small flickering light will be our guide, just as it was a small flickering light in the sky that guided the Wise Men to Jesus.

And all that brings me full circle to where we started. True religion is a matter of the heart. As we open our hearts to Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit can build hope into our life, hope that goes beyond the way of the world and sees life, not from the limited perspective of our own experience, but from the Eternal view of God's love. Hope that is based on acceptance of Christ as our Savior, God as our Father and the Holy Spirit as our Counselor and Guide.

It's a heart thing, It's a hope thing, It's a love thing,
God can give the hope your needing,
If only you will believe Him.

May you find your life touched by Grace as we together share bread and wine.

AMEN