Readings: Psalm 8, Genesis 1:1-4, Matthew 28:16-20, 2 Corinthians 13:9-13
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 19th 2011
A PDF printable file can be downloaded here
I recently acquired some new glasses through which I now view the world. Not only can I better read the small print but these spectacles have lenses that respond to the sunlight. When the sun shines on them they magically become tinted so as to save me from squinting. Automatic sunglasses. ‘Cool’ I thought. Until one lady said, “Yes, a lot of old people enjoy them”. There’s always somebody who has to burst your bubble! Never mind. I am now looking at life through transitional lenses!
Our Scripture reading came from Paul’s closing words of the second letter to the Church in Corinth. The Church in Corinth were a people whose lives were changing and had become a church in transition. In an attempt to sum up all he had said to them Paul offers these words (and I share from the Message Bible) “That’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure” (2 Corinthians:13:11)
As a church here in Baldwin we are in a time of transition. A particular challenge we face is our Sunday School program. As a congregation we are committed to raising our children in the faith of the gospel. Some folk have been faithfully teaching over many years but can no longer continue. Others are moving away. Others are over-stretched and can’t commit for the coming year. As a result we need new people to step up to the plate in order to have a strong Sunday School program for the Fall.
I would encourage you to consider how God may be calling you to respond to this need we have. I’m not sure how it’s all going to work out, as right now we don’t have a plan. But I am sure God has a way for us to proceed and that as we commit to following God’s way then things will fall into place. I believe God is faithful. I worry about some of God’s people from time to time, but then so did Paul, which is why he kept writing letters and visiting them and encouraging them.
The Church in Corinth was, as I said, going through a time of transition. What did Paul offer them? Firstly he encouraged them to be cheerful. Let’s be honest, whatever lens you look at life through things can look bleak. And there is no shortage of folk to tell you that it’s only going to get worse. Some people always have room for doom and gloom. That’s true about life in the world. It also applies to the life of the church.
The thing is that the voice we are called to listen to is not that of the unfaithful gloom merchants, but the quiet, renewing voice of God’s Holy Spirit. The action of God’s Spirit is the one that brings joy to bear even in the midst of complex problems with uncertain outcomes. “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” wrote Paul to a struggling church in Phillipi. (Philippians 4:4)
So friends, I invite you to be of good cheer. Not because everything is right with the world, but because you are a child of God, much loved, much privileged, full of potential and destined for glory. Don’t allow anything to drain the joy out of you! Be cheerful.
Secondly, Paul encouraged the Corinthians to “Keep things in good repair and keep your spirits up” (or as our Bible reading from the NIV had it “aim for perfection”). We are blessed in this church with a great heritage. Folk from this church have taught the faith to others, impacted the community with good works and gifted us with a wonderful facility in which we continue to proclaim the blessings of God.
Let us set our standards high. Let us not only build on what we have received, but take it up a notch so that generations to come may also receive a godly heritage. Those who aim at nothing always achieve it. God invites us to aim high! ‘Keep your spirits up!” Again there are voices around us, like the lady who informed me transitional lens were a sign of my age, who pour cold water on our dreams and make light of our vision. But, again, we choose in what we invest our time and how to use our talents and treasures in the service of God. Let us make the right choices.
Thirdly, Paul encourages the Corinthians to “Think in harmony”. The Greek word used here is “Phroneo” which is a difficult word to translate into English as it has a variety of meanings. It can mean, “Be of one mind”. But it can also mean, “Do not let your opinion of yourself exceed the bounds of modesty”. Putting those together Paul is saying that in order to travel through times of transition everybody has to pull together. No one person can do it all. Every person’s contribution has significance.
It’s always a problem in church life to figure out where you fit in. The best way to work that out is just be yourself, and offer your life to God to serve in whatever way God thinks is best … and then let God take care of it. The Holy Spirit has a wonderful way of fitting things together in the most unique ways. I wish I could explain that in a precise way, but all I can do is encourage you to be sensitive to the gentle prodding of God and launch out in faith when you feel there is a need you can respond to!
When we open our hymnbook we see a piece of music in front of us. We see the words, but they need the melody. We see the melody, but then there are those other parts that fill it all out. And then there’s the accompaniment. And to have accompaniment we need the instrument. And somewhere along the way of course there had to be a poet who came up with the words and a composer who came up with the tune, not to mention a publisher who printed the hymnbook. Takes a lot of different people to sing a hymn in church. Likewise to run a Sunday School, or seek the best in any area of church life, we have to as Paul says, “Think in harmony”
Finally, Paul encourages the Corinthians to “Be agreeable”. Friends, although I’ve only been here a short while I know there are things we agree on. We agree that we want to see this church flourish and grow. We agree that we want to see our children nurtured in the faith of the gospel. There are other areas we need to agree on.
That what we do here on a Sunday and throughout the week has great significance and is more important than we dare imagine. That the world needs a Savior and that Jesus Christ is still calling people to be disciples. That the love of God is the ultimate framework in which we can live and move and have our being. That all is not right with the world, but in Jesus Christ hope can be reborn and real change can take place.
I encourage you today to look at life through the transitional lens of God’s love. To be cheerful, and not allow the doom and gloom merchants to steal away your joy. To “Keep things in good repair and keep your spirits up”, in other words to invest your time, talents and treasures in things that matter so your life has purpose and meaning. To think in harmony, that is see that everybody has a role to play in creating a church community that is faithful and able to do all the things that God calls them to. To be agreeable, to agree that what we are doing here at 717 St Luke’s Place is no little thing, but a great endeavor that invites our greatest passion, commitment and service.
If we do so … then we can also claim Paul’s final words in verse 13 as our own. “Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure”
For sure! Did you catch that last little nuance? For sure! Be of good cheer. Aim for perfection. Be of one mind. Be at peace. In such ways we discover the love of God truly is amazing! Again I encourage us to see all things through the transitional lens of God’s love. “And the God of love and peace will be with you.”
To God’s name be the glory. Amen.
Rev Adrian J Pratt
Monday, June 20, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Y’ALL
Readings: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, John 7:37-39, Acts 2:1-17
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 12th 2011
A printable PDF file can be found here
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy birthday. "But it's not my birthday today!" Maybe not, but today is the birthday of the Church and you are the Church, the people of God, called to be God's servants and witnesses to the whole wide world.
The day of Pentecost, Whit Sunday, is the day that many traditions look back to the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in Jerusalem, an event foretold by the prophets, promised by Jesus and that filled the disciples with a new sense of power and boldness to accomplish the things that God was calling them to do.
There are three great celebrations in the Christian Year. Christmas, well we know about that. Easter, we have just celebrated; yet in an increasingly secular society, the message of the cross and resurrection is often lost in the midst of Easter bunnies and Spring Break. However Pentecost is the churches almost forgotten festival.
Pentecost means "The Fiftieth", so called because it fell on the fiftieth day, a week of weeks, after the Passover (or for the church a week of weeks after Easter). For the Jews it was a dual celebration. It had a historical significance for it commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinia. It had a religious significance in that it was the day that thanksgiving offerings were offered to God for the blessings of the Harvest.
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples gave the celebration a deeper meaning for Christianity. As the Hebrews celebrated the completion of the law giving and the start of the old covenant of law, so Christians celebrate the completion of Christ's earthly ministry and the beginning of the New Covenant of Grace. As the Hebrews celebrated the Harvest, so the Church celebrates the spiritual harvest that the Holy Spirit brings to people’s lives.
Before the Jerusalem Pentecost, Christianity consisted of a very small group of disciples who had personally witnessed the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. They had soaked up His teaching and been transformed by His works and words, but they didn't know what they were supposed to do with all that experiences, except their Master had told them to wait and pray in Jerusalem.
On the day of the Jerusalem Pentecost, the disciples became witnesses. Peter became a preacher. Many people believed the disciples message and the Church was born. So… happy birthday y’all. It all started in that place of waiting and prayer during the Jewish festival of Pentecost. It all started when the Holy Spirit of God came upon the disciples in a new and vibrant way, with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and the sign of tongues of fire and they were filled with spiritual energy and power.
On this birthday morning I'd like to reflect on the sort of people the disciples were who gave birth to the church. My hope in so doing is that the Holy Spirit can weave into our lives the grace necessary for us to be faithful.
Firstly, the disciples were ... A people of promise
From before He even called the disciples Jesus had recognized that they were people of great potential. What the world saw was a rag-tailed gang of fishermen, laborers, clerks and hangers on who were so insecure in themselves that they left everything to follow a local carpenter with delusions of being the savior of the world.
What the world sees is not how God sees things. By the grace of God those disciples were transformed. By the grace of God the deluded carpenter turned out to be the bearer of light, truth and all that God had promised since before the foundation of the world; the Word of life in whom all creation could find meaning.
We all have a choice. To see things as the world sees them or as God sees them. We can look at our own lives the way the world does or we can see them the way God does. People will tell us all sorts of things about ourselves. They will enclose us behind all sorts of barriers.
"You can't do that. You could never manage that. You aren't capable. You’re not that sort of person. We tried that and it didn't work. We don't do things that way around here. You don't understand. You’re not listening. Stay where you belong. Do as you are told. Don't think that you are anybody ".
They were the sort of things that people said about Jesus. They are the sort of things people say about the church today. "Happy Birthday, ya bunch of losers". That's the way the world looks at the church. Are we going to listen to that? Or do we hear the voice of a God who sees in us so much more than we dare dream?
What kept the disciples from being people of unrealized potential was that they became people of promise. We are all people of potential and as we listen to God we become inheritors of promise.
In John 7, during a previous Pentecost celebration, Jesus said, “He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water”. John explains, “This He spoke about the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given.”
The Spirits coming was the fulfillment of a promise. There are many promises in Scripture, The promises are there to unlock our faith. They are things to believe upon, to act upon. They are things to help us realize our potential.
They are gifts of grace for our life. Miss out on them and we miss out on things God has for us. How sad it would be to have birthday presents you never get around to opening because you were to busy with other things.
The disciples were also... A people of prayer
In the Pentecost room the disciples weren’t just hanging out with no particular place to go. It wasn’t the dentists waiting room. They weren’t idly perusing back copies of the Readers Digest looking for some inspirational morsel that would take their mind off their coming examination.
These people were pumped up, excited, and expectant. Jesus had promised that if they waited in Jerusalem something good would happen. They had seen Him crucified then risen again. He had been coming and going, spending time with them, teaching them things that their minds could never have grasped before the resurrection. They had witnessed His Ascension and must have been wondering, well, what next? How much more awesome can things become?
Imagine the difference it would make to our services if every time we entered this sanctuary we were pumped up ready to meet with God? I’m reminded of those weightlifter characters from Saturday Night Live. “We are here to pump you up”
“We have been praying this morning and God has said He will meet with us in our service of Worship. We will hear God’s Words in the Scriptures and the Musik, God will speak to us through the preacher and through the prayers. And when we leave we will be ready to take on what ever the devil throws at us.”
The disciples weren’t weight lifters. They were wrestlers. They wrestled with God in prayer and by grace became empowered, not with muscle power, but Holy Ghost power. We need to be a people of prayer, to claim the promises of God and realize the potential God sees within us. In doing so we will discover another characteristic of the disciples.
The disciples were..... A people of praise.
What drew the people to marvel at the disciples on the day of the Jerusalem Pentecost was the way they were praising God. It didn’t matter where all the onlookers came from, when the Spirit fell, they all heard the good news in their own languages, they all heard those disciples praising God for what was happening to them.
It would be easy to get bogged down in theological debate, about speaking in tongues, and the significance of wind and fire and living water and a whole lot of other things in the second Chapter of Acts. Do that and we miss the point that praise in a universal language.
If your heart is lifted up to God.
If you believe on His promises...
If you build your life on His Word..
If you prayerfully live out your days..
then praise just bubbles out.
An exuberant British evangelist by the name of Ishmael had a little chorus that said:
“It’s amazing what Praisin’ can do,
It’s amazing what Praisin’ can do,
If you should doubt it
You should learn to shout
It’s amazing what Praisin’ can do”
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to turn dead end lives that can be self focused and full of ungodly troubles into eternity bound, Jesus focused, Spirit filled, God honoring, Grace empowered, experiences of the awesome love of a Creator God.
In a nutshell that’s what Pentecost is all about. The power of the Holy Spirit to take prayerful lives and turn them into something powerful for God. Good News in a world full of bad news. Seems to me that is something worth celebrating.
So “Happy Birthday y’all.”
As disciples of Christ may we seek to be filled,
with the power of the Holy Spirit,
that God’s church may continue to grow!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 12th 2011
A printable PDF file can be found here
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy birthday. "But it's not my birthday today!" Maybe not, but today is the birthday of the Church and you are the Church, the people of God, called to be God's servants and witnesses to the whole wide world.
The day of Pentecost, Whit Sunday, is the day that many traditions look back to the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in Jerusalem, an event foretold by the prophets, promised by Jesus and that filled the disciples with a new sense of power and boldness to accomplish the things that God was calling them to do.
There are three great celebrations in the Christian Year. Christmas, well we know about that. Easter, we have just celebrated; yet in an increasingly secular society, the message of the cross and resurrection is often lost in the midst of Easter bunnies and Spring Break. However Pentecost is the churches almost forgotten festival.
Pentecost means "The Fiftieth", so called because it fell on the fiftieth day, a week of weeks, after the Passover (or for the church a week of weeks after Easter). For the Jews it was a dual celebration. It had a historical significance for it commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinia. It had a religious significance in that it was the day that thanksgiving offerings were offered to God for the blessings of the Harvest.
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples gave the celebration a deeper meaning for Christianity. As the Hebrews celebrated the completion of the law giving and the start of the old covenant of law, so Christians celebrate the completion of Christ's earthly ministry and the beginning of the New Covenant of Grace. As the Hebrews celebrated the Harvest, so the Church celebrates the spiritual harvest that the Holy Spirit brings to people’s lives.
Before the Jerusalem Pentecost, Christianity consisted of a very small group of disciples who had personally witnessed the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. They had soaked up His teaching and been transformed by His works and words, but they didn't know what they were supposed to do with all that experiences, except their Master had told them to wait and pray in Jerusalem.
On the day of the Jerusalem Pentecost, the disciples became witnesses. Peter became a preacher. Many people believed the disciples message and the Church was born. So… happy birthday y’all. It all started in that place of waiting and prayer during the Jewish festival of Pentecost. It all started when the Holy Spirit of God came upon the disciples in a new and vibrant way, with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and the sign of tongues of fire and they were filled with spiritual energy and power.
On this birthday morning I'd like to reflect on the sort of people the disciples were who gave birth to the church. My hope in so doing is that the Holy Spirit can weave into our lives the grace necessary for us to be faithful.
Firstly, the disciples were ... A people of promise
From before He even called the disciples Jesus had recognized that they were people of great potential. What the world saw was a rag-tailed gang of fishermen, laborers, clerks and hangers on who were so insecure in themselves that they left everything to follow a local carpenter with delusions of being the savior of the world.
What the world sees is not how God sees things. By the grace of God those disciples were transformed. By the grace of God the deluded carpenter turned out to be the bearer of light, truth and all that God had promised since before the foundation of the world; the Word of life in whom all creation could find meaning.
We all have a choice. To see things as the world sees them or as God sees them. We can look at our own lives the way the world does or we can see them the way God does. People will tell us all sorts of things about ourselves. They will enclose us behind all sorts of barriers.
"You can't do that. You could never manage that. You aren't capable. You’re not that sort of person. We tried that and it didn't work. We don't do things that way around here. You don't understand. You’re not listening. Stay where you belong. Do as you are told. Don't think that you are anybody ".
They were the sort of things that people said about Jesus. They are the sort of things people say about the church today. "Happy Birthday, ya bunch of losers". That's the way the world looks at the church. Are we going to listen to that? Or do we hear the voice of a God who sees in us so much more than we dare dream?
What kept the disciples from being people of unrealized potential was that they became people of promise. We are all people of potential and as we listen to God we become inheritors of promise.
In John 7, during a previous Pentecost celebration, Jesus said, “He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water”. John explains, “This He spoke about the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given.”
The Spirits coming was the fulfillment of a promise. There are many promises in Scripture, The promises are there to unlock our faith. They are things to believe upon, to act upon. They are things to help us realize our potential.
They are gifts of grace for our life. Miss out on them and we miss out on things God has for us. How sad it would be to have birthday presents you never get around to opening because you were to busy with other things.
The disciples were also... A people of prayer
In the Pentecost room the disciples weren’t just hanging out with no particular place to go. It wasn’t the dentists waiting room. They weren’t idly perusing back copies of the Readers Digest looking for some inspirational morsel that would take their mind off their coming examination.
These people were pumped up, excited, and expectant. Jesus had promised that if they waited in Jerusalem something good would happen. They had seen Him crucified then risen again. He had been coming and going, spending time with them, teaching them things that their minds could never have grasped before the resurrection. They had witnessed His Ascension and must have been wondering, well, what next? How much more awesome can things become?
Imagine the difference it would make to our services if every time we entered this sanctuary we were pumped up ready to meet with God? I’m reminded of those weightlifter characters from Saturday Night Live. “We are here to pump you up”
“We have been praying this morning and God has said He will meet with us in our service of Worship. We will hear God’s Words in the Scriptures and the Musik, God will speak to us through the preacher and through the prayers. And when we leave we will be ready to take on what ever the devil throws at us.”
The disciples weren’t weight lifters. They were wrestlers. They wrestled with God in prayer and by grace became empowered, not with muscle power, but Holy Ghost power. We need to be a people of prayer, to claim the promises of God and realize the potential God sees within us. In doing so we will discover another characteristic of the disciples.
The disciples were..... A people of praise.
What drew the people to marvel at the disciples on the day of the Jerusalem Pentecost was the way they were praising God. It didn’t matter where all the onlookers came from, when the Spirit fell, they all heard the good news in their own languages, they all heard those disciples praising God for what was happening to them.
It would be easy to get bogged down in theological debate, about speaking in tongues, and the significance of wind and fire and living water and a whole lot of other things in the second Chapter of Acts. Do that and we miss the point that praise in a universal language.
If your heart is lifted up to God.
If you believe on His promises...
If you build your life on His Word..
If you prayerfully live out your days..
then praise just bubbles out.
An exuberant British evangelist by the name of Ishmael had a little chorus that said:
“It’s amazing what Praisin’ can do,
It’s amazing what Praisin’ can do,
If you should doubt it
You should learn to shout
It’s amazing what Praisin’ can do”
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to turn dead end lives that can be self focused and full of ungodly troubles into eternity bound, Jesus focused, Spirit filled, God honoring, Grace empowered, experiences of the awesome love of a Creator God.
In a nutshell that’s what Pentecost is all about. The power of the Holy Spirit to take prayerful lives and turn them into something powerful for God. Good News in a world full of bad news. Seems to me that is something worth celebrating.
So “Happy Birthday y’all.”
As disciples of Christ may we seek to be filled,
with the power of the Holy Spirit,
that God’s church may continue to grow!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
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