Reading: Psalm 23, Acts 4:5-12, John 10:11-18, 1 John 3:16-24
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin,NY, April 29th 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Yvonne and myself are extremely fortunate in that we both came from homes where we had two parents who let us know that we belonged, we were loved and we were valued. As children this was not something we appreciated as we should have done, until we were out of the family home and making a home of our own.
Both of our parents grew up in the lean times near the beginning of the last century, just after the First World War and on into the Depression. As young people their lives were torn apart by the Second World War. Yvonne’s late father was interned in a prison camp, an experience that left its scars.
My own late father was shipped from miserable destination to squalid encampment in the North African arena. Along the way he contracted malaria. He managed to collect a kit-bag of memorabilia, only to have it stolen when he returned to port in England. Even his good memories were taken away.
Our brothers and sisters, and eventually ourselves, were born in the 1950’s, a time in Great Britain when you still shopped with ration coupons and the best food you could eat was that which you could grow for yourself.
As children we didn’t realize the giving up and the sacrifices that our parents went through so that we could have the things they never dreamed of. There were times when our childish selfishness, must have driven them to the point of despair, but they carried on loving us just the same.
We’re continuing to look this morning at the first letter of John. For the first two chapters he has spoken of the need to ‘Walk in the Light’ and live up to the name of being ‘God’s Children’. He has spoken of the reality of evil in our own lives and in the world, and the corresponding reality of God’s salvation that can be known by placing our faith in Jesus.
In the middle of the third chapter he moves on to speak about love. John speaks of God as a parent, of the love of Jesus Christ and the nurturing of the Holy Spirit. Many of us have a point of reference, in the love we have experienced at the hand of our own families. However, John’s point of reference was not his own mom or dad, but the love he had experienced at the hand of Jesus and amongst the community of the disciples.
Some scholars believe John’s letter to be the authentic writings of John, ‘the disciple Jesus loved’. According to tradition, John ‘the elder’ was the only disciple whose life did not end in early martyrdom but he lived to a ripe old age and exercised leadership in the earliest church.
1 John speaks of the love of Jesus as though it were first hand experience. Jesus had washed his feet. He had heard Jesus teaching, “I am the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep”. He had stood at the cross with the mother of Jesus and heard Him pray, “Father Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing”. John was the one who, in His dieing moments, Jesus asked to take care of His mother and John took Mary, the mother of Jesus, to his home and cared for her. (John 19:26-27)
John knew what sort of love surrounded the life of Jesus. From out of that rich experience the author of John tells us, 1 John 3:16, “This is what love is, that Jesus laid down His life for us.”
When I hear those words I think of my own parents, who during the war years were literally prepared to lay down their lives, who went without so much that we may have an abundance, whose love was not often expressed through a gush of words, but was rather a reality we experienced through daily actions.
But hold on - ‘laying down His life’, that’s only half the verse. We who have been loved have an obligation laid upon us. We who have been touched and nurtured and raised by those who loved us, we whom Jesus Christ calls God’s children and who claim allegiance to the church of God have a responsibility. The verse continues “….and we ought to lay down our lives for each other”. Particular those with material and spiritual needs. As verse 17 lays out before us: “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
C.S. Lewis comments, “It is easier to be enthusiastic about Humanity with a capital ‘H’ than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular.”
“Love everybody, Love Life, Love the world”. It sounds good. Admirable even. 1 John insists that love is not expressed through verbalizing high-sounding ideals, but through actions that benefit people other than our selves. Again this is a lesson that many of us first learned in our home environments. Part of our capacity to love others comes from having first been loved ourselves.
Sadly, not everybody is as fortunate as many of us have been. Some grow up in homes where love is at a premium. Some have parents unable to care for them. Some suffer abuse and neglect. Some have parents unwilling to commit themselves to anything but self-interest. But we should never rule out the possibility of love. Which brings me to Brigadoon.
Brigadoon is a musical that for many years ran on Broadway. The story is about 2 men from New York, Tommy Allbright and Jeff Douglas, who are on a hunting trip in Scotland when they stumble across a village called Brigadoon in a valley that isn't even marked on the map.
It turns out that Brigadoon is a magical village that only appears every 100 years, and whose existence will be destroyed should any of the villagers ever leave it. There is much romance and talk of folk being married to other folk whilst all the time they are wishing they could be married to somebody else. And into this smushy mix comes Tommy Albright who is supposed to be marrying his fiance Jean in New York, but manages to fall in love with one of the Brigadoon lassies by the name of Fiona.
In the First Act of the musical, whilst all the romantic entanglements are still interweaving Tommy, looks at Fiona, and asks the wise local schoolteacher, Mr Lundie, if an outsider could be permitted to stay. Mr. Lundie replies, "A stranger can stay if he loves someone here - not jus' Brigadoon, mind ye, but someone in Brigadoon – loves them enough to want to give up everythin' an' stay with that one person. Which is how it should be. 'Cause after all, lad, if ye love someone deeply, anythin' is possible."
Anyway, to cut a long story short, they don't get married, the New Yorkers leave Brigadoon and that's the end of that. Or is it? Of course not! By the end of Act 2 Tommy and Jeff have returned to Scotland. But the village has gone. And won't be back for a hundred years.
Tommy laments, "Why do people have to lose things to find out what they really mean?" Just as he and Jeff turn to leave, they hear the music again ("Brigadoon"), and Mr. Lundie appears. Tommy walks across the bridge in a daze to him, as Mr. Lundie explains: "Oh it's you Tommy, lad. You woke me up. You must really love her," to which Tommy, still dazed, stammers "Wha- how....?" and Mr. Lundie replies "You shouldna be too surprised, laddie. I told ye when ye love someone deeply enough, anythin' is possible. Even miracles." Tommy waves goodbye to Jeff, and disappears with Mr. Lundie into the Highland mist to be reunited with Fiona and live happily ever after.
And there you go... I just went and ruined the ending for you!
But my point is that the whole musical is based upon the highly biblical proposition that with love all things are possible. As Mr Lundie explains: “I told ye when ye love someone deeply enough, anythin' is possible. Even miracles."
In this third chapter of the first letter of John he writes, verse 18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” In the real world miracles don't just happen. They are the result of loving actions. The miracle of the resurrection could not be without the commitment of the Cross. The miracle of hungry people in our community being fed only happens when we seek to meet their needs.
It is interesting to see how 1 John 3:16 complements John 3:16.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. '
1 John 3:16 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. “
We have received a great legacy of love from those who went before us. From our parents. From our mentors in the faith. From the examples of Church history and the saints of our traditions... whether they be Saint Patrick, St David, John Calvin or John Knox.
There remains only one way our families and communities can experience the love of God. That we allow it to transform our lives. That it begins in us and spreads to others. So on this Tartan Sunday, whomsoever our kith, kin or clan maybe, we are each invited to allow our lives to be changed by the love of God that we may draw others into the experience of the joy and love of God's Kingdom that can be found through Jesus Christ.
Through God's amazing Grace, may we seek to be those who are making a loving difference wherever this week may lead us. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Messages from the First letter of John - 2 "SINS REMEDY"
Readings: Psalm 4, Acts 3:12-19, Luke 24:36b-48, 1 John 3:1-10
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, April 22nd, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I was on my way to church as a pastor in Liverpool. I went down one road. It was blocked off. I tried a different route. No, that was closed as well. In the end I had to go miles out of my way and was late for the service. When I got to church I discovered the problem.
About 45 years (or so) earlier, in the Blitz of the Second World War, the Germans had been bombing Liverpool. As the bombs fell, those who couldn’t make it to the air raid shelters, hid in under-stairs cupboards, under the kitchen table, wherever might provide some shelter.
Sheltered under a kitchen table during a raid was a lady who still came to the church. She remembered during a raid, hearing a bomb coming down - then waiting for it to explode - and nothing happened. After the all clear was sounded she forgot all about it.
45 years later (or so) a council workman was cleaning out the sewers. His shovel hit something hard and metallic. He bent down to clear the muck off it. “Now wat does dat say -’ B -O - M - B’. “'Arry” he shouts to his workmate, “Duz B.O.M.B. spell wat I tink it does?” Harry responds, “Call de army!”
For 45 years there had been an active unexploded bomb lying in the sewer and it could have gone off at anytime – especially when Harry’s mate belted it with a shovel. The bomb disposal people evacuated the area, sealed it off , and carefully removed the potential disaster.
In his first letter John pictures sin as something dangerous and life threatening that lurks below the surface of our lives - something that has to be treated with the utmost seriousness. In his first chapters John speaks of turning the ship of our lives around and actively ‘Walking in the Light’. In the third chapter he outlines for us what it means to be a child of God. In particular how being a child of God should affect our attitude towards sin and salvation.
There were those in the church of John's day who taught a different gospel than that which he had received first hand from Jesus Christ. A particular group of people John is writing about were known as ‘Gnostics’.
Being a gnostic implied that you were in possession of special knowledge that made you a cut above your average believer. Some believed that this special knowledge, this ‘gnosis', made them spiritually perfect. As they were spiritually perfect, sin could not harm them. They regarded sin as so ineffectual (in comparison to their state of enlightenment), that they paid no attention to their moral lives.
As they were 'perfect'... if a thing felt good.... it was good... and they did it...and so it went on, until it became apparent to John, that some of the things they were doing, were the opposite of the things Jesus had taught him to do. He accuses the Gnostic's of making two terrible mistakes.
Firstly, they were denying the reality of sin and evil and it’s capacity to corrupt and destroy.
Secondly, they were failing to see the significance of Christ’s death - that He died for their sins and that unless they put their faith in Him, they would be lost..
John hits them with this argument; if they were truly born of the Spirit of God, if they were as perfect as they made themselves out to be, then fruits of the Spirit, such as love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, would be flowing out of them. Their lives would be models of moral magnificence.
Instead their lives were producing evil things. They were spiritually proud. They looked down on those who didn't share their enlightened views. They were inconsistent in their moral behavior. The seed that was producing these bad fruits wasn't the seed of God, but the work of the devil.
John counteracts their philosophy, with some down to earth, no nonsense talk. Verses 8-9; "The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin."
Such a passage warns us never to become so sophisticated in our thinking that we underestimate the real power of evil in our world. Right at the start of the passage, verse 2, he points out that, Children of God are ‘a work in progress'. “Beloved,” he writes, “We are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he (Jesus) is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is” (v2).
For the Gnostics this fell on deaf ears. They thought they had already arrived at perfection. As a result, they failed to see the depth and power of God’s love that was revealed to them in the Cross of Jesus Christ. After all, what good is a Savior who dies to forgive sins, if you are convinced that through your own sophistication you’ve already dealt with them?
Over 2000 years later our sophisticated culture makes the same mistake. We are not comfortable with the concept of sin. We tend to justify our behavior in other ways. How many times have you heard these?
Sin is not just inappropriate behavior. It’s an enemy crouching at the door. It separates from God’s love, it cheapens life. At the end of the day it’s only pay out is death. John pulls no punches. ‘Sin’, he says, ‘is the Devil’s work.’ Always was. Right from the beginning.
1 John 3:8 “He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
God’s remedy for sin is salvation. Jesus came to die upon the cross so that the power of sin may hold no sway over our lives. God calls us to put our faith in Jesus Christ, to ask God’s Holy Spirit to take up residence in our lives that we may be spiritually reborn from above. God calls us to work with the Holy Spirit in developing Christ like lives.
This is the basic gospel message. “That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That “Christ died for our sins”. As 1 John 3:5 puts it, “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.”
Sin is the unexploded bomb beneath the surface of our lives that is waiting to go off. Maybe, like the lady in Liverpool who heard that bomb fall during the Blitz, we forget that it is there. It lays in the dark sewer of our souls, only to be recognized when somebody starts to dig deep down and name it for what it is.
So hear John, as he explains that to be child of God, means accepting some fundamental truths.
Accepting that we are sinners.
Accepting that Christ alone can be our Savior.
Accepting that to walk in the light involves actively taking steps,
to deepen our relationship with God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sophisticated? No it’s not.
It’s the simple gospel that has been proclaimed throughout the world.
We are sinners who need a Savior.
And Sins remedy is the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Eventually an unexploded bomb causes disruption. It carries within itself all the power of destruction it has had since day one. We can excuse our sin, cover up our sin and even deny our sin. But until we confess our sin and bring it to the Cross of Jesus Christ it remains a force that can explode and destroy and wreck our spiritual walk.
Every worship service is an opportunity to renew our lives before God. To see ourselves, warts and all, in God's light. To claim for ourselves the forgiving and renewing power of the Holy Spirit. To seek for Jesus Christ to renew us and remake us so that we can be better servants and bearers of His good fruit.
As one morning I sought to drive to church in Liverpool an unexploded bomb prevented me from reaching my destination. The army bomb squad came and the bomb was diffused. The bomb had to be dealt with before normal life could carry on. Likewise we need daily to accept the love and life changing power of God to rise above our natural tendency towards sinful behavior that we may live every day in the light of Jesus love and peace. Amen.
Rev Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, April 22nd, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I was on my way to church as a pastor in Liverpool. I went down one road. It was blocked off. I tried a different route. No, that was closed as well. In the end I had to go miles out of my way and was late for the service. When I got to church I discovered the problem.
About 45 years (or so) earlier, in the Blitz of the Second World War, the Germans had been bombing Liverpool. As the bombs fell, those who couldn’t make it to the air raid shelters, hid in under-stairs cupboards, under the kitchen table, wherever might provide some shelter.
Sheltered under a kitchen table during a raid was a lady who still came to the church. She remembered during a raid, hearing a bomb coming down - then waiting for it to explode - and nothing happened. After the all clear was sounded she forgot all about it.
45 years later (or so) a council workman was cleaning out the sewers. His shovel hit something hard and metallic. He bent down to clear the muck off it. “Now wat does dat say -’ B -O - M - B’. “'Arry” he shouts to his workmate, “Duz B.O.M.B. spell wat I tink it does?” Harry responds, “Call de army!”
For 45 years there had been an active unexploded bomb lying in the sewer and it could have gone off at anytime – especially when Harry’s mate belted it with a shovel. The bomb disposal people evacuated the area, sealed it off , and carefully removed the potential disaster.
In his first letter John pictures sin as something dangerous and life threatening that lurks below the surface of our lives - something that has to be treated with the utmost seriousness. In his first chapters John speaks of turning the ship of our lives around and actively ‘Walking in the Light’. In the third chapter he outlines for us what it means to be a child of God. In particular how being a child of God should affect our attitude towards sin and salvation.
There were those in the church of John's day who taught a different gospel than that which he had received first hand from Jesus Christ. A particular group of people John is writing about were known as ‘Gnostics’.
Being a gnostic implied that you were in possession of special knowledge that made you a cut above your average believer. Some believed that this special knowledge, this ‘gnosis', made them spiritually perfect. As they were spiritually perfect, sin could not harm them. They regarded sin as so ineffectual (in comparison to their state of enlightenment), that they paid no attention to their moral lives.
As they were 'perfect'... if a thing felt good.... it was good... and they did it...and so it went on, until it became apparent to John, that some of the things they were doing, were the opposite of the things Jesus had taught him to do. He accuses the Gnostic's of making two terrible mistakes.
Firstly, they were denying the reality of sin and evil and it’s capacity to corrupt and destroy.
Secondly, they were failing to see the significance of Christ’s death - that He died for their sins and that unless they put their faith in Him, they would be lost..
John hits them with this argument; if they were truly born of the Spirit of God, if they were as perfect as they made themselves out to be, then fruits of the Spirit, such as love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, would be flowing out of them. Their lives would be models of moral magnificence.
Instead their lives were producing evil things. They were spiritually proud. They looked down on those who didn't share their enlightened views. They were inconsistent in their moral behavior. The seed that was producing these bad fruits wasn't the seed of God, but the work of the devil.
John counteracts their philosophy, with some down to earth, no nonsense talk. Verses 8-9; "The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin."
Such a passage warns us never to become so sophisticated in our thinking that we underestimate the real power of evil in our world. Right at the start of the passage, verse 2, he points out that, Children of God are ‘a work in progress'. “Beloved,” he writes, “We are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he (Jesus) is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is” (v2).
For the Gnostics this fell on deaf ears. They thought they had already arrived at perfection. As a result, they failed to see the depth and power of God’s love that was revealed to them in the Cross of Jesus Christ. After all, what good is a Savior who dies to forgive sins, if you are convinced that through your own sophistication you’ve already dealt with them?
Over 2000 years later our sophisticated culture makes the same mistake. We are not comfortable with the concept of sin. We tend to justify our behavior in other ways. How many times have you heard these?
‘I just couldn’t help myself’
‘She made me do it’
‘He deserved it’
‘It’s just the way I am’
‘It’s not a problem’
‘It’s just a bad habit’
‘Everybody does it’
‘Don’t judge me’
‘I’m not hurting anybody’,
‘It felt so right’
‘Nobody’s perfect’
‘I’m no angel’
I’m sure you can think of others!
So sophisticated have we become
that it’s almost considered a sin
to describe ‘sin’ as sin!
‘She made me do it’
‘He deserved it’
‘It’s just the way I am’
‘It’s not a problem’
‘It’s just a bad habit’
‘Everybody does it’
‘Don’t judge me’
‘I’m not hurting anybody’,
‘It felt so right’
‘Nobody’s perfect’
‘I’m no angel’
I’m sure you can think of others!
So sophisticated have we become
that it’s almost considered a sin
to describe ‘sin’ as sin!
Sin is not just inappropriate behavior. It’s an enemy crouching at the door. It separates from God’s love, it cheapens life. At the end of the day it’s only pay out is death. John pulls no punches. ‘Sin’, he says, ‘is the Devil’s work.’ Always was. Right from the beginning.
1 John 3:8 “He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
God’s remedy for sin is salvation. Jesus came to die upon the cross so that the power of sin may hold no sway over our lives. God calls us to put our faith in Jesus Christ, to ask God’s Holy Spirit to take up residence in our lives that we may be spiritually reborn from above. God calls us to work with the Holy Spirit in developing Christ like lives.
This is the basic gospel message. “That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That “Christ died for our sins”. As 1 John 3:5 puts it, “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.”
Sin is the unexploded bomb beneath the surface of our lives that is waiting to go off. Maybe, like the lady in Liverpool who heard that bomb fall during the Blitz, we forget that it is there. It lays in the dark sewer of our souls, only to be recognized when somebody starts to dig deep down and name it for what it is.
So hear John, as he explains that to be child of God, means accepting some fundamental truths.
Accepting that we are sinners.
Accepting that Christ alone can be our Savior.
Accepting that to walk in the light involves actively taking steps,
to deepen our relationship with God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sophisticated? No it’s not.
It’s the simple gospel that has been proclaimed throughout the world.
We are sinners who need a Savior.
And Sins remedy is the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Eventually an unexploded bomb causes disruption. It carries within itself all the power of destruction it has had since day one. We can excuse our sin, cover up our sin and even deny our sin. But until we confess our sin and bring it to the Cross of Jesus Christ it remains a force that can explode and destroy and wreck our spiritual walk.
Every worship service is an opportunity to renew our lives before God. To see ourselves, warts and all, in God's light. To claim for ourselves the forgiving and renewing power of the Holy Spirit. To seek for Jesus Christ to renew us and remake us so that we can be better servants and bearers of His good fruit.
As one morning I sought to drive to church in Liverpool an unexploded bomb prevented me from reaching my destination. The army bomb squad came and the bomb was diffused. The bomb had to be dealt with before normal life could carry on. Likewise we need daily to accept the love and life changing power of God to rise above our natural tendency towards sinful behavior that we may live every day in the light of Jesus love and peace. Amen.
Rev Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Messages from the First letter of John - 1."WALK IN THE LIGHT"
Readings: Psalm 133, Acts 4:32-35, John 20:19-31, 1 John 1:1 - 2:2
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, April 15th, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I must have been about thirteen years old. There was great excitement in the house. I grew up near Liverpool, England, a place which was once a bustling, active port. Sadly, by the time I came on the scene the city was a dismal shadow of it’s former self. But that day there was a big ship coming in, sailing up the River Mersey taking crude oil to one of the Oil Refineries further down stream.
This wasn’t just a big ship, it was a super tanker, a mega tanker, a monster tanker! The sort of boat that you could have five full size football pitches on deck, all with games going on and still have enough room to land a Jumbo Jet. Well, maybe not quite that big, but it was the biggest thing that had sailed down the River Mersey ... ever.
So my dad drove me and my friend down to New Brighton, where you could get a good view of the river. Of course it was raining and gray and visibility was poor. Then along it came. A huge, ugly, bulk of a thing, being towed by a whole fleet of struggling tug boats, it slowly transported it’s oily cargo up stream.
I remember reading in the newspaper about how hard it was to turn this monstrous mega machine around out at sea. We’re talking a required area of many, many square miles. If you’ve ever been out on the water in just a little boat, and been going full belt, and then want to turn around and go the other way - you know how hard it is. Multiply that situation by many miles and many tons - and you get the picture. And if the boat was going with the flow and had to turn and head back against the tide, then the distances grew even greater.
The first letter of John is addressed to a church that John felt was headed at speed in the wrong direction. He knows that the inertia involved in the process was going to be hard to deal with; that turning things around was going to be a laborious process. He sets about reminding them of some of the basics of their faith.
In the first chapter (and on into the second), he recalls a fundamental Christian teaching. Humankind by nature prefers the darkness to the light. That there is in our make up, a driving force, a spirit of rebellion, a twisted desire towards unrighteousness, a bias towards what is bad rather than what is good. He calls it by a three letter word slept S-I-N.
Sin. For John sin is not unlike the crude oil that fills the belly of the mega tankers. If ever you have been on a beach that has suffered the catastrophe of a large oil spill then you will be aware of crude oil's capability to cling and spoil and destroy. It’s a heart breaking sight to observe sea birds trying to get the oil off themselves, trying to prune themselves and in the process covering their beaks, just becoming more and more overwhelmed by the oil, coating their wings so they can’t fly, in their eyes, in their mouths and into their bodies, slowly they die. Their only hope is for some animal rescue organization to take them to a safe place, and over a period of time clean the oil off with detergents and chemicals, until, stained, but capable of survival, they can be set free.
John use two words to describe sin. He firstly uses Greek word ‘skotos’ which means 'darkness'. He recognized such darkness within himself. He felt he had lived much of his life in the dark when it came to the things of God. He felt it was a universal human failing that we turn a blind eye to the needs of others and focus just on ourselves.
Secondly John uses the Greek word ‘harmatia’. 'Harmatia' meant 'going beyond the boundary line' or 'trespassing'. In many traditions when they say the Lord's prayer they say, forgive us our 'trespasses'. Forgive us when we overstep the mark, forgive us those times when we deliberately and purposefully choose to act in ways we know aren't right. He tells us that we are driven by sins that we commit because we can’t seem to help ourselves (we are in the dark) and we are driven by our desire to do the wrong thing (we trespass).
Because of sin, because of the darkness in our lives, we don’t walk in the light. We cherish the shadows. We are content with our masks, and our excuses, and our false reasoning, and our blind spots. We are ships headed in the wrong direction and it takes more than high ideals to turn us around.
John really hates what sin does to our world. He saw how sin destroyed and polluted all creation. He saw how it was such a powerful thing that many people didn't even recognize it in themselves. He tells us “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1Jo 1:8). We have this tendency when talking about 'sinners' that we mean somebody else other than ourselves. We like to shift the blame. Here's John saying, “Don't play that game, take the blame!”
You may have seen the Harry Potter books or movies. The death eaters are the dark spirits dispatched by Lord Voldermort to create havoc at Hogwarts. In Harry Potter terms sin is like your own personal death eater. Sin is a dark disturbing and destructive power.
Most of all John hates sin because it is a joy killer. His whole reason for writing his letter is stated in verse 4. “These things we write to you that your joy may be full.” (1Jo 1:4 NKJ). God's people were meant to be joyful. And when they walked in the darkness rather than in the light, then the joy quickly evaporated from their lives and the life of their churches.
John’s remedy is that there was no way of turning around, no remedy for the condition of sin - other than the forgiveness and grace found at the Cross of Jesus Christ. That there's nothing we can do to help ourselves. That we are like those seabirds coated with oil, we need an external agent to cleanse us and free us. That just as the only way crude oil becomes useful is when it becomes refined, so the only way our lives become the sort of lives God wants us to have, is when we are refined by the Grace of God we discover in Jesus Christ.
In the King James Bible Verse 2 of 1 John Chapter 2 reads, “Jesus Himself is the propitiation for our sins”. Propitiation. Not a word you hear very often! “Jesus is my Propitiation”. It’s not the sort of slogan you find emblazoned on Christian T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers or put on church noticeboards. Propitiation. 'Jesus is the propitiation' What does it mean? Propitiation means "getting something out of an impossible situation".
When John speaks of Jesus ‘being the propitiation for our sins’, John is telling us that 'Only Jesus is the One who can get us out of the impossible situation that sin creates'. Jesus Christ, and He alone, is the One who can turn the big, ugly, ship of our lives around. Jesus is the only one who can cleanse our lives from sins pollution. That the answer to our darkness and our trespass is found at the Cross.
Other translations use the phrase 'reconciliation' or 'atoning sacrifice'. Again the meaning is that Jesus has done for us at the Cross what we could never do for ourselves. His death reconciles us to God. His death means we can be in fellowship with God. We have through Jesus 'At-One-Ment'.
How do we make the forgiveness offered at the cross our own? Again John offers the solution. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Another way to think of confession is to see it as admitting to something. Sometimes you will hear people involved in a confrontation and one will challenge the other, 'Come on, just admit that you messed up, then we can start putting things right!”
That's what it takes to allow the grace of God to impact our lives. That we admit to ourselves, to each other and to God that we are messed up and need all the love and hope and healing and forgiveness that God offers to us at the Cross of Jesus Christ. To admit that it was because of sins like ours that Jesus was crucified. To get down off our high horse and admit that unless God helps us through we are lost.
When we take that step, God shines light on our path. How? God offers us the presence of His Holy Spirit as a comfort and a helper and a Guide. We read God's Word in scripture and it starts to come alive and make sense. We find that worship in church is not a matter of dull repetition or duty but a living inspiring encounter with Jesus whom we know as our Lord and our Savior.
We see people in need not as a nuisance but an opportunity to serve our Lord. We find that issues become not a matter of who is right or wrong but we dream of how peace or reconciliation can be found. In moments of tragedy we do not despair but recall how death became a place for resurrection and a cross became an empty tomb.
And we find mixed up in all this... moments of indescribable joy... because we know that God is our God and we are God's children and that somehow all of this is related to the death of Jesus on the Cross, the reconciliation, the atonement, the 'propitiation' that God in love created there.
It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. It takes consistency. Like that monstrous mega super oil tanker I saw heading up the River Mersey a long time ago, we are a tough vessel to turn around. But in the hands of the right captain, it’s amazing what can be done.
John invites us 'Walk in the light'.
Rejoice that through Jesus we can live free and forgiven.
But don't take it for granted.
Show you are truly thankful by working with God
to be all that you can be,
to the glory of God's name.
Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, April 15th, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I must have been about thirteen years old. There was great excitement in the house. I grew up near Liverpool, England, a place which was once a bustling, active port. Sadly, by the time I came on the scene the city was a dismal shadow of it’s former self. But that day there was a big ship coming in, sailing up the River Mersey taking crude oil to one of the Oil Refineries further down stream.
This wasn’t just a big ship, it was a super tanker, a mega tanker, a monster tanker! The sort of boat that you could have five full size football pitches on deck, all with games going on and still have enough room to land a Jumbo Jet. Well, maybe not quite that big, but it was the biggest thing that had sailed down the River Mersey ... ever.
So my dad drove me and my friend down to New Brighton, where you could get a good view of the river. Of course it was raining and gray and visibility was poor. Then along it came. A huge, ugly, bulk of a thing, being towed by a whole fleet of struggling tug boats, it slowly transported it’s oily cargo up stream.
I remember reading in the newspaper about how hard it was to turn this monstrous mega machine around out at sea. We’re talking a required area of many, many square miles. If you’ve ever been out on the water in just a little boat, and been going full belt, and then want to turn around and go the other way - you know how hard it is. Multiply that situation by many miles and many tons - and you get the picture. And if the boat was going with the flow and had to turn and head back against the tide, then the distances grew even greater.
The first letter of John is addressed to a church that John felt was headed at speed in the wrong direction. He knows that the inertia involved in the process was going to be hard to deal with; that turning things around was going to be a laborious process. He sets about reminding them of some of the basics of their faith.
In the first chapter (and on into the second), he recalls a fundamental Christian teaching. Humankind by nature prefers the darkness to the light. That there is in our make up, a driving force, a spirit of rebellion, a twisted desire towards unrighteousness, a bias towards what is bad rather than what is good. He calls it by a three letter word slept S-I-N.
Sin. For John sin is not unlike the crude oil that fills the belly of the mega tankers. If ever you have been on a beach that has suffered the catastrophe of a large oil spill then you will be aware of crude oil's capability to cling and spoil and destroy. It’s a heart breaking sight to observe sea birds trying to get the oil off themselves, trying to prune themselves and in the process covering their beaks, just becoming more and more overwhelmed by the oil, coating their wings so they can’t fly, in their eyes, in their mouths and into their bodies, slowly they die. Their only hope is for some animal rescue organization to take them to a safe place, and over a period of time clean the oil off with detergents and chemicals, until, stained, but capable of survival, they can be set free.
John use two words to describe sin. He firstly uses Greek word ‘skotos’ which means 'darkness'. He recognized such darkness within himself. He felt he had lived much of his life in the dark when it came to the things of God. He felt it was a universal human failing that we turn a blind eye to the needs of others and focus just on ourselves.
Secondly John uses the Greek word ‘harmatia’. 'Harmatia' meant 'going beyond the boundary line' or 'trespassing'. In many traditions when they say the Lord's prayer they say, forgive us our 'trespasses'. Forgive us when we overstep the mark, forgive us those times when we deliberately and purposefully choose to act in ways we know aren't right. He tells us that we are driven by sins that we commit because we can’t seem to help ourselves (we are in the dark) and we are driven by our desire to do the wrong thing (we trespass).
Because of sin, because of the darkness in our lives, we don’t walk in the light. We cherish the shadows. We are content with our masks, and our excuses, and our false reasoning, and our blind spots. We are ships headed in the wrong direction and it takes more than high ideals to turn us around.
John really hates what sin does to our world. He saw how sin destroyed and polluted all creation. He saw how it was such a powerful thing that many people didn't even recognize it in themselves. He tells us “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1Jo 1:8). We have this tendency when talking about 'sinners' that we mean somebody else other than ourselves. We like to shift the blame. Here's John saying, “Don't play that game, take the blame!”
You may have seen the Harry Potter books or movies. The death eaters are the dark spirits dispatched by Lord Voldermort to create havoc at Hogwarts. In Harry Potter terms sin is like your own personal death eater. Sin is a dark disturbing and destructive power.
Most of all John hates sin because it is a joy killer. His whole reason for writing his letter is stated in verse 4. “These things we write to you that your joy may be full.” (1Jo 1:4 NKJ). God's people were meant to be joyful. And when they walked in the darkness rather than in the light, then the joy quickly evaporated from their lives and the life of their churches.
The dilemma is 'How do we turn this ship around?
How do we get out of the darkness and ‘Walk in the Light’?'
How do we get out of the darkness and ‘Walk in the Light’?'
John’s remedy is that there was no way of turning around, no remedy for the condition of sin - other than the forgiveness and grace found at the Cross of Jesus Christ. That there's nothing we can do to help ourselves. That we are like those seabirds coated with oil, we need an external agent to cleanse us and free us. That just as the only way crude oil becomes useful is when it becomes refined, so the only way our lives become the sort of lives God wants us to have, is when we are refined by the Grace of God we discover in Jesus Christ.
In the King James Bible Verse 2 of 1 John Chapter 2 reads, “Jesus Himself is the propitiation for our sins”. Propitiation. Not a word you hear very often! “Jesus is my Propitiation”. It’s not the sort of slogan you find emblazoned on Christian T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers or put on church noticeboards. Propitiation. 'Jesus is the propitiation' What does it mean? Propitiation means "getting something out of an impossible situation".
When John speaks of Jesus ‘being the propitiation for our sins’, John is telling us that 'Only Jesus is the One who can get us out of the impossible situation that sin creates'. Jesus Christ, and He alone, is the One who can turn the big, ugly, ship of our lives around. Jesus is the only one who can cleanse our lives from sins pollution. That the answer to our darkness and our trespass is found at the Cross.
Other translations use the phrase 'reconciliation' or 'atoning sacrifice'. Again the meaning is that Jesus has done for us at the Cross what we could never do for ourselves. His death reconciles us to God. His death means we can be in fellowship with God. We have through Jesus 'At-One-Ment'.
How do we make the forgiveness offered at the cross our own? Again John offers the solution. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Another way to think of confession is to see it as admitting to something. Sometimes you will hear people involved in a confrontation and one will challenge the other, 'Come on, just admit that you messed up, then we can start putting things right!”
That's what it takes to allow the grace of God to impact our lives. That we admit to ourselves, to each other and to God that we are messed up and need all the love and hope and healing and forgiveness that God offers to us at the Cross of Jesus Christ. To admit that it was because of sins like ours that Jesus was crucified. To get down off our high horse and admit that unless God helps us through we are lost.
When we take that step, God shines light on our path. How? God offers us the presence of His Holy Spirit as a comfort and a helper and a Guide. We read God's Word in scripture and it starts to come alive and make sense. We find that worship in church is not a matter of dull repetition or duty but a living inspiring encounter with Jesus whom we know as our Lord and our Savior.
We see people in need not as a nuisance but an opportunity to serve our Lord. We find that issues become not a matter of who is right or wrong but we dream of how peace or reconciliation can be found. In moments of tragedy we do not despair but recall how death became a place for resurrection and a cross became an empty tomb.
And we find mixed up in all this... moments of indescribable joy... because we know that God is our God and we are God's children and that somehow all of this is related to the death of Jesus on the Cross, the reconciliation, the atonement, the 'propitiation' that God in love created there.
It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. It takes consistency. Like that monstrous mega super oil tanker I saw heading up the River Mersey a long time ago, we are a tough vessel to turn around. But in the hands of the right captain, it’s amazing what can be done.
John invites us 'Walk in the light'.
Rejoice that through Jesus we can live free and forgiven.
But don't take it for granted.
Show you are truly thankful by working with God
to be all that you can be,
to the glory of God's name.
Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt
Monday, April 9, 2012
BANG, WOOSH, KAPPOW
EASTER DAY
Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9 , Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 , I Corinthians 15:1-11, Mark 16:1-8
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, April 8th, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; BATMAN!
Bang. Woosh. Kappow!
"Holy Empty Tombs, Batman, What's Going on here?"
"It's called Easter, Robin, An annual Celebration of the Resurrection"
"Quick, To the BatMobile!"
Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; BATMAN!
Bang. Woosh. Kappow!
I used to think Batman was so cool. Not the more recent Batman Movies, where he's all broody and serious and twisted, but the old television Batman and Robin series, where the lines were corny, the fight scenes punctuated with 'Bangs, Wooshes and Kappows' and where the Baddies, like the Penguin, the Riddler, and the Joker, had even cheesier lines to say than the Caped Crusader and the Boy Blunder.
As a kid it didn't take much to play Batman. You're imaginary friend could be Robin. Mums dressing gown could be the cape. A brown paper bag with a couple of eye holes cut in it made a great mask. Put on your sisters high heel boots and your underwear over your pants - and, “Bang. Woosh. Kappow”, you were off to save the inhabitants of Gotham city from certain doom. Who needs games consoles and 3DTV when you've got a brown paper bag, a few old clothes and a vivid imagination?
Easter Sunday. The Resurrection. Was it all just the disciples vivid imaginations? Did Jesus become their imaginary friend on a mission to save the world? Is what we are doing here simply a childish response to our unfulfilled dreams? Where is the reality in all of this?
To help us answer that I'd like us to think about the documents that witness to the Resurrection, the gospels and writings of the New Testament. The Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, tell the story of Jesus from four different perspectives.
Matthew is keen to relate the links between the Old Testament and the Coming of Jesus and appears to have a Jewish audience in mind. Luke explains a great deal more and gives us a second volume in the Book of Acts that describes the growth of the early church. Mark is like the Readers Digest - the Condensed version. John gives the expanded version with all it's cosmic implications.
Picture this if you can. The Four Gospels as four sides to a mountain. On the top of the mountain is the Cross of Christ. They start out from different viewpoints. A lot of the time they share a common view, but sometimes from their differing perspective they tell us things the others have missed.
But as they reach the top of the mountain, as they approach the Cross, their viewpoints become extremely similar... each of them relating the crucifixion account with less variations. One tells us what the criminals say, but the other seems to have missed it. One picks up on some of Jesus' last words, another focuses on what the crowd are saying. It's what you would expect from the perspective of four reporters standing around the cross.
But after they speak of the Cross and the Burial - something happens. It's almost as if this mountain they have built has turned out to be a Volcano. On Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day, the whole thing erupts. “Bang. Woosh. Kappow!” The blinding light of unexpected revelation.
This eruption sends such bright sparks of light, that not only the gospel writers had trouble seeing clearly, but sprinkles fragments and recollections of the awesome event throughout the rest of the New Testament.
In each of the Gospels the accounts of the Resurrection read like the memories of those who struggled to comprehend the awesome reality of what they witnessed, people blinded by the light. One says, "Remember it was Mary, went down to the tomb"; the other, "No... I remember there was some other women, there!"; One says, "They met a young man". Another corrects.. "It wasn't just man... he was an angel!"
One has Mary being confronted by Jesus, another of Peter being the first to see the folded grave clothes. And it is as though they are saying... the details aren't important... just believe us. This really happened. We were there. But it's hard to explain. And it was so unbelievable that all we can truly tell is that it was awesome!
As the Bible unfolds more recollections are given. One remembers a meal of fish down by the sea. Another an encounter with two men on the Emmaus Road. One speaks of a time when there were 500 of them on a mountain and Jesus came and taught them.
This was no comic book hero. This "Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" of Resurrection was beyond their imagination. The message that unites them is that the Jesus whom they had seen tortured, crucified, dead and buried, was alive. They ate with Him. They talked with Him. They touched Him and He touched them. And now, the reality of His resurrection love inspired them to live and die for Him. Eternity had invaded their lives and nothing could ever be the same again.
The latest of all the apostles, Paul writes "If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is in vain” (1Corinthians 15:14). " If the Resurrection holds no more validity than a Super Hero in a Comic Book then we better leave right now, shut the doors behind us, and never return. But the message that he proclaims, the message that is being proclaimed from thousands of pulpits and being embraced by millions of people throughout the world at this very moment, proclaimed as it has been in confidence and power for over 2000 years, the "Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" message, is this, "Christ is Risen... He is Risen Indeed!"
One thing I love about the resurrection stories in Scripture is that they are not all the same. Every person experiences the living love of Jesus in a different way. The women in Mark have one sort of experience, Peter has another. The disciples down by the beach in John's gospel experience it one way. Paul, at a much later date, on the road to Damascus, experiences the resurrected Jesus in yet another way.
It's not a one off, one-way, isolated experience. Everybody understands it differently. And there's room for all those different stories and understandings and people. In today's church it is no different. From the most liberal to the most conservative of theologians and preachers everybody has a theory as to what happened on that first Easter morning. And there is room for them all.
What seems to be the unifying factor is the idea that whatever happened 'back then' can be a powerful force that can impact the way we live our lives today. That somehow whatever and whoever God maybe, what happened to Jesus in that tomb on the first Easter morning changes everything.
Truly it is a 'Bang, Woosh, Kappow” moment. The challenge the scripture lays before us is plain. Have we allowed the "Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" message of the Resurrection to erupt within our own hearts? The Resurrection is not simply a doctrine in a book or a belief we give assent to with our minds, but a living experience.... or to turn those words around... an experience that can live in us and change the way we see the whole of our lives.
On Easter Day we have the opportunity to ask God to “Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" us in the Holy Spirit. Easter Day is a day to invite Jesus to come afresh into our life and live in our heart. To ask God to make resurrection a part of our life today.
This is the day of Salvation.
This is the day of resurrection.
This is the day that the Lord has made
And we shall rejoice and be glad it.
Ask God to make Resurrection love,
a living part of every day you have left to live on this planet.
Ask God to fill your life with the Holy Spirit.
Surrender your will to God’s will.
There's a moment in an old Batman episode where the caped crusader is seeking to save the day by shooting down the enemy. His young accomplice Robin turns to him and says, 'That's an impossible shot, Batman”. And Batman responds, “That's a negative attitude, Robin”.
Today is not a day for negativity but a day to embrace the positive joy proclaimed by the message of resurrection. Today is a day for believing. Today is a day to allow the living love of Jesus Christ, the love that defies death and blazes forth from an empty tomb, to transform our lives in such a way as nothing remains the same.
And Scripture pictures Jesus as inviting us to experience His love with words like these:-
“Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find.”
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
To God’s name be the Glory.
"Bang. Woosh. Kappow!"
AMEN
Rev. Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9 , Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 , I Corinthians 15:1-11, Mark 16:1-8
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, April 8th, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; BATMAN!
Bang. Woosh. Kappow!
"Holy Empty Tombs, Batman, What's Going on here?"
"It's called Easter, Robin, An annual Celebration of the Resurrection"
"Quick, To the BatMobile!"
Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da,Da-Da; BATMAN!
Bang. Woosh. Kappow!
I used to think Batman was so cool. Not the more recent Batman Movies, where he's all broody and serious and twisted, but the old television Batman and Robin series, where the lines were corny, the fight scenes punctuated with 'Bangs, Wooshes and Kappows' and where the Baddies, like the Penguin, the Riddler, and the Joker, had even cheesier lines to say than the Caped Crusader and the Boy Blunder.
As a kid it didn't take much to play Batman. You're imaginary friend could be Robin. Mums dressing gown could be the cape. A brown paper bag with a couple of eye holes cut in it made a great mask. Put on your sisters high heel boots and your underwear over your pants - and, “Bang. Woosh. Kappow”, you were off to save the inhabitants of Gotham city from certain doom. Who needs games consoles and 3DTV when you've got a brown paper bag, a few old clothes and a vivid imagination?
Easter Sunday. The Resurrection. Was it all just the disciples vivid imaginations? Did Jesus become their imaginary friend on a mission to save the world? Is what we are doing here simply a childish response to our unfulfilled dreams? Where is the reality in all of this?
To help us answer that I'd like us to think about the documents that witness to the Resurrection, the gospels and writings of the New Testament. The Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, tell the story of Jesus from four different perspectives.
Matthew is keen to relate the links between the Old Testament and the Coming of Jesus and appears to have a Jewish audience in mind. Luke explains a great deal more and gives us a second volume in the Book of Acts that describes the growth of the early church. Mark is like the Readers Digest - the Condensed version. John gives the expanded version with all it's cosmic implications.
Picture this if you can. The Four Gospels as four sides to a mountain. On the top of the mountain is the Cross of Christ. They start out from different viewpoints. A lot of the time they share a common view, but sometimes from their differing perspective they tell us things the others have missed.
But as they reach the top of the mountain, as they approach the Cross, their viewpoints become extremely similar... each of them relating the crucifixion account with less variations. One tells us what the criminals say, but the other seems to have missed it. One picks up on some of Jesus' last words, another focuses on what the crowd are saying. It's what you would expect from the perspective of four reporters standing around the cross.
But after they speak of the Cross and the Burial - something happens. It's almost as if this mountain they have built has turned out to be a Volcano. On Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day, the whole thing erupts. “Bang. Woosh. Kappow!” The blinding light of unexpected revelation.
This eruption sends such bright sparks of light, that not only the gospel writers had trouble seeing clearly, but sprinkles fragments and recollections of the awesome event throughout the rest of the New Testament.
In each of the Gospels the accounts of the Resurrection read like the memories of those who struggled to comprehend the awesome reality of what they witnessed, people blinded by the light. One says, "Remember it was Mary, went down to the tomb"; the other, "No... I remember there was some other women, there!"; One says, "They met a young man". Another corrects.. "It wasn't just man... he was an angel!"
One has Mary being confronted by Jesus, another of Peter being the first to see the folded grave clothes. And it is as though they are saying... the details aren't important... just believe us. This really happened. We were there. But it's hard to explain. And it was so unbelievable that all we can truly tell is that it was awesome!
As the Bible unfolds more recollections are given. One remembers a meal of fish down by the sea. Another an encounter with two men on the Emmaus Road. One speaks of a time when there were 500 of them on a mountain and Jesus came and taught them.
This was no comic book hero. This "Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" of Resurrection was beyond their imagination. The message that unites them is that the Jesus whom they had seen tortured, crucified, dead and buried, was alive. They ate with Him. They talked with Him. They touched Him and He touched them. And now, the reality of His resurrection love inspired them to live and die for Him. Eternity had invaded their lives and nothing could ever be the same again.
The latest of all the apostles, Paul writes "If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is in vain” (1Corinthians 15:14). " If the Resurrection holds no more validity than a Super Hero in a Comic Book then we better leave right now, shut the doors behind us, and never return. But the message that he proclaims, the message that is being proclaimed from thousands of pulpits and being embraced by millions of people throughout the world at this very moment, proclaimed as it has been in confidence and power for over 2000 years, the "Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" message, is this, "Christ is Risen... He is Risen Indeed!"
One thing I love about the resurrection stories in Scripture is that they are not all the same. Every person experiences the living love of Jesus in a different way. The women in Mark have one sort of experience, Peter has another. The disciples down by the beach in John's gospel experience it one way. Paul, at a much later date, on the road to Damascus, experiences the resurrected Jesus in yet another way.
It's not a one off, one-way, isolated experience. Everybody understands it differently. And there's room for all those different stories and understandings and people. In today's church it is no different. From the most liberal to the most conservative of theologians and preachers everybody has a theory as to what happened on that first Easter morning. And there is room for them all.
What seems to be the unifying factor is the idea that whatever happened 'back then' can be a powerful force that can impact the way we live our lives today. That somehow whatever and whoever God maybe, what happened to Jesus in that tomb on the first Easter morning changes everything.
Truly it is a 'Bang, Woosh, Kappow” moment. The challenge the scripture lays before us is plain. Have we allowed the "Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" message of the Resurrection to erupt within our own hearts? The Resurrection is not simply a doctrine in a book or a belief we give assent to with our minds, but a living experience.... or to turn those words around... an experience that can live in us and change the way we see the whole of our lives.
On Easter Day we have the opportunity to ask God to “Bang. Woosh. Kappow!" us in the Holy Spirit. Easter Day is a day to invite Jesus to come afresh into our life and live in our heart. To ask God to make resurrection a part of our life today.
This is the day of Salvation.
This is the day of resurrection.
This is the day that the Lord has made
And we shall rejoice and be glad it.
Ask God to make Resurrection love,
a living part of every day you have left to live on this planet.
Ask God to fill your life with the Holy Spirit.
Surrender your will to God’s will.
There's a moment in an old Batman episode where the caped crusader is seeking to save the day by shooting down the enemy. His young accomplice Robin turns to him and says, 'That's an impossible shot, Batman”. And Batman responds, “That's a negative attitude, Robin”.
Today is not a day for negativity but a day to embrace the positive joy proclaimed by the message of resurrection. Today is a day for believing. Today is a day to allow the living love of Jesus Christ, the love that defies death and blazes forth from an empty tomb, to transform our lives in such a way as nothing remains the same.
And Scripture pictures Jesus as inviting us to experience His love with words like these:-
“Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find.”
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
To God’s name be the Glory.
"Bang. Woosh. Kappow!"
AMEN
Rev. Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Sunday People in a Friday world
Easter Sunrise Service, April 8 2012, Jones Beach, NY.
Reading: Mark 16:1-8
A printable PDF file can be found here
We are Sunday people in a Friday world. What do I mean by that?
We live in a world that declares “Thank God it's Friday”. A whole restaurant chain defines itself with such words. We live in a world where people live for the weekend. And the weekend is for family and driving children to events and watching sports and washing cars and reading newspapers. We live in a world where most of our time is spent doing things we have to do in order to find the room to do a few things we would like to do and the remainder of it is spent sleeping and dreaming. We live in a world where our identity and status is tied in with our job description, where for many their past is defined by whose they were and their future will be defined by who they come to know.
It's a Friday world. We are born. We get by. We die. So eat, drink and be merry. Find love. Find meaning. Buy a lottery ticket now and again. Because despite the odds, somebodies got to win. After all, immense riches are the only way to escape the Friday world in which we live and move and have our being.
But we are Sunday people in a Friday world. We claim to be governed by a different set of priorities. Our statement of faith speaks of a kingdom whose citizens shout 'hosanna' and claim that only 'Jesus is Lord'. We belong to a community of people who believed that what had happened in an empty tomb 2000 years ago was of such significance that they changed their day of worship from being the traditional Saturday, the seventh day, to an eighth day (that was actually the first day) that we call Sunday. We are an Easter people and Hallelujah is our song.
Here in this place, at this time, we share in something ancient and authentic. Meeting around the rising sun, on Sun-day, to sing the praise of one we believe to be God's son, Jesus Christ, and seeking that the light of God's Holy Spirit may illuminate our day, just as the sun will spread it's rays upon our path. We know we are not a majority. We know there are many who will think us a little crazy to be out on a beach at this time in the morning. And who can blame them? After all, what has all of this to do with the life and aims and ideals of a Friday world? We are Sunday people in a Friday world.
Our reading came from the gospel of Mark. In the earliest manuscripts that have yet been discovered the Gospel of Mark ends where we ended our reading. Later traditions gave us alternate endings. These days Hollywood does the same thing. You buy the DVD of many a popular film and often are given an alternate ending that does little to change the story but does leave us with different questions swirling around our minds.
I like the way the earliest manuscripts of Mark yet discovered conclude. We are left breathless for a sequel. We wonder who that young man in a white robe sitting in the tomb might have been. We wonder what will become of those who run from the tomb in fear and who will believe the message that has been entrusted to their care.
They were Sunday people in a Friday world. Not just any Friday... but the darkest Friday of them all. The day the sky tuned black and the chosen one of God cried out to His Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” That Friday. The one that retrospectively we call Good Friday but at the time nobody could perceive anything good coming out of it.
I'd like us to stay with Marks story and I'll offer to you some of the things that it speaks to me, as it relates to being 21st century Sunday people in a Friday world. Staying true to my Presbyterian tradition I'll pull out three headings Mark offers us. 1. This story speaks to our disappointment. 2. It challenges our disbelief and 3. it sends us out into the world with our doubts intact. As such it offers a framework for being Sunday people in a Friday world.
1. This story speaks to our disappointment.
Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
If you belong to a mainline denomination that is in decline, such as my own Presbyterian denomination, then I'm guessing you can identify with disappointment. After all at the dawn of the previous century we were going to save the world. We saw mission as something global, we built churches that had room to grow, and despite two world wars, even into the nineteen fifties, into the nineteen sixties and for some even into the nineteen seventies, our congregations, if not growing, at least maintained an active life. But for many, many congregations today the whole ball game has changed.
Our mission has gone from saving the world to keeping the doors open and paying the bills. The certainties that we took for granted are no more. We can identify with these women in Mark who are doing what they believe is right, but, boy, it's hard. The glory days are over. There's this huge stone that they expect will make their job even harder to do. And it's scary when they arrive to find the stone has been messed with. They travel to anoint a body that they might not be able to reach and discover that it might not even be there. I think disappointment pretty much defines their experience.
But... on the positive side... they are Sunday people in a Friday world. They are not, like the so called disciples, hiding out because of their fear. They are not allowing their disappointment to paralyze them from taking any action. They may be disappointed but they are not destroyed. There is a tenacity to their actions that surely can speak to our current situation. There is an impudence, that says, 'Look I know the odds are against us, I know you think what we are doing is futile, I know you think it's all over, but we are going to to honor our Lord and our Savior'. That to me sounds like the actions of Sunday people in a Friday world. Despite disappointment, Sunday people carry on. And look what happens.
2. Disbelief is challenged.
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"
They didn't see that one coming! A dude dressed in white telling them “Don't worry. Be happy. Every things going to be all right.” Say what? The sharply dressed young man speaks right to the center of their dilemma. 'I know what you're up to. You're looking for Jesus. You saw Him crucified. He's not here. He's risen! Look. No Jesus. Here's where they placed His body. So go and tell Peter and the rest.. get to Galilee because Jesus is going to to meet you there! And... by the way... if you remember... Jesus told you this already.”
Being Sunday people in a Friday world is not a burden. It is a challenge. Mark reminds us that to be Sunday people means that along the road we get to see stuff and hear things the Friday world never experiences. The challenge is how to put those experiences across in ways that make sense to a Friday world, especially when some of our fellow Sunday travelers, like Peter's and Thomas's and John's, may not get it. Here is Mark challenging, not only our disappointment, but also our disbelief.
And then this.
3. Mark sends us out into the world with all our doubts intact.
Talk about a cliffhanger. The women leave the empty tomb with a whole lot of different questions then when they arrived. There's a different perspective but still a great deal unresolved. They still have their disappointments. They still have their disbelief. The wonderful thing is, that with all their doubts intact, they get on with the job. They do, in fear and trembling, tell Peter and the others to get over to Galilee to meet the Risen Jesus. They do begin to remember. They do, still trembling and afraid, start to believe that Christ is Risen.
When the Israelite people were in exile in Babylon the Psalmist wrote “How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land?” We may wonder “How can we be Sunday people in a Friday world?” And all that this ancient ending of Mark offers offers us is to say that you just get on with it.
You remember what Jesus said and did and you do it. You reach out with love. You feed the hungry. You lift up the poor. You seek justice for those who are denied it. You bind up the broken hearted. You proclaim that this is the day of the Lord's favor. You help the blind to see and the deaf to ear. You give yourselves to being Sunday people in a Friday world. And as you do, you discover that He is Risen and that His love is with you and that God still turns deserts into places of living water, and inspires people to seek peace and motivates people to hope and things really can change and the love of God, in Jesus Christ, is discovered through the gentle yet powerful activity of God's Holy Spirit.
Early in the morning they went to the tomb and found the stone rolled away. And they came away from the tomb not really knowing how all this was going to work out. They just got on with doing the next thing.
That's all it takes to be Sunday people in a Friday World. Just do the next thing we know God is asking of us. We don't see the whole picture. We are not guaranteed anything other than that His living, loving, presence will be there for us. We are Sunday people in a Friday world. We are Easter people and Hallelujah is our song. And today is our special day to proclaim to the world, that even though we face disappointments, that even though we sometimes struggle to believe, that even though we sometimes have our doubts, nevertheless we are going to live and work and act out of an attitude for gratitude. For God so loved the world that He gave His son that we may live in His love.
We are Sunday people in a Friday world.
Amen.
Rev Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Reading: Mark 16:1-8
A printable PDF file can be found here
We are Sunday people in a Friday world. What do I mean by that?
We live in a world that declares “Thank God it's Friday”. A whole restaurant chain defines itself with such words. We live in a world where people live for the weekend. And the weekend is for family and driving children to events and watching sports and washing cars and reading newspapers. We live in a world where most of our time is spent doing things we have to do in order to find the room to do a few things we would like to do and the remainder of it is spent sleeping and dreaming. We live in a world where our identity and status is tied in with our job description, where for many their past is defined by whose they were and their future will be defined by who they come to know.
It's a Friday world. We are born. We get by. We die. So eat, drink and be merry. Find love. Find meaning. Buy a lottery ticket now and again. Because despite the odds, somebodies got to win. After all, immense riches are the only way to escape the Friday world in which we live and move and have our being.
But we are Sunday people in a Friday world. We claim to be governed by a different set of priorities. Our statement of faith speaks of a kingdom whose citizens shout 'hosanna' and claim that only 'Jesus is Lord'. We belong to a community of people who believed that what had happened in an empty tomb 2000 years ago was of such significance that they changed their day of worship from being the traditional Saturday, the seventh day, to an eighth day (that was actually the first day) that we call Sunday. We are an Easter people and Hallelujah is our song.
Here in this place, at this time, we share in something ancient and authentic. Meeting around the rising sun, on Sun-day, to sing the praise of one we believe to be God's son, Jesus Christ, and seeking that the light of God's Holy Spirit may illuminate our day, just as the sun will spread it's rays upon our path. We know we are not a majority. We know there are many who will think us a little crazy to be out on a beach at this time in the morning. And who can blame them? After all, what has all of this to do with the life and aims and ideals of a Friday world? We are Sunday people in a Friday world.
Our reading came from the gospel of Mark. In the earliest manuscripts that have yet been discovered the Gospel of Mark ends where we ended our reading. Later traditions gave us alternate endings. These days Hollywood does the same thing. You buy the DVD of many a popular film and often are given an alternate ending that does little to change the story but does leave us with different questions swirling around our minds.
I like the way the earliest manuscripts of Mark yet discovered conclude. We are left breathless for a sequel. We wonder who that young man in a white robe sitting in the tomb might have been. We wonder what will become of those who run from the tomb in fear and who will believe the message that has been entrusted to their care.
They were Sunday people in a Friday world. Not just any Friday... but the darkest Friday of them all. The day the sky tuned black and the chosen one of God cried out to His Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” That Friday. The one that retrospectively we call Good Friday but at the time nobody could perceive anything good coming out of it.
I'd like us to stay with Marks story and I'll offer to you some of the things that it speaks to me, as it relates to being 21st century Sunday people in a Friday world. Staying true to my Presbyterian tradition I'll pull out three headings Mark offers us. 1. This story speaks to our disappointment. 2. It challenges our disbelief and 3. it sends us out into the world with our doubts intact. As such it offers a framework for being Sunday people in a Friday world.
1. This story speaks to our disappointment.
Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
If you belong to a mainline denomination that is in decline, such as my own Presbyterian denomination, then I'm guessing you can identify with disappointment. After all at the dawn of the previous century we were going to save the world. We saw mission as something global, we built churches that had room to grow, and despite two world wars, even into the nineteen fifties, into the nineteen sixties and for some even into the nineteen seventies, our congregations, if not growing, at least maintained an active life. But for many, many congregations today the whole ball game has changed.
Our mission has gone from saving the world to keeping the doors open and paying the bills. The certainties that we took for granted are no more. We can identify with these women in Mark who are doing what they believe is right, but, boy, it's hard. The glory days are over. There's this huge stone that they expect will make their job even harder to do. And it's scary when they arrive to find the stone has been messed with. They travel to anoint a body that they might not be able to reach and discover that it might not even be there. I think disappointment pretty much defines their experience.
But... on the positive side... they are Sunday people in a Friday world. They are not, like the so called disciples, hiding out because of their fear. They are not allowing their disappointment to paralyze them from taking any action. They may be disappointed but they are not destroyed. There is a tenacity to their actions that surely can speak to our current situation. There is an impudence, that says, 'Look I know the odds are against us, I know you think what we are doing is futile, I know you think it's all over, but we are going to to honor our Lord and our Savior'. That to me sounds like the actions of Sunday people in a Friday world. Despite disappointment, Sunday people carry on. And look what happens.
2. Disbelief is challenged.
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"
They didn't see that one coming! A dude dressed in white telling them “Don't worry. Be happy. Every things going to be all right.” Say what? The sharply dressed young man speaks right to the center of their dilemma. 'I know what you're up to. You're looking for Jesus. You saw Him crucified. He's not here. He's risen! Look. No Jesus. Here's where they placed His body. So go and tell Peter and the rest.. get to Galilee because Jesus is going to to meet you there! And... by the way... if you remember... Jesus told you this already.”
Being Sunday people in a Friday world is not a burden. It is a challenge. Mark reminds us that to be Sunday people means that along the road we get to see stuff and hear things the Friday world never experiences. The challenge is how to put those experiences across in ways that make sense to a Friday world, especially when some of our fellow Sunday travelers, like Peter's and Thomas's and John's, may not get it. Here is Mark challenging, not only our disappointment, but also our disbelief.
And then this.
3. Mark sends us out into the world with all our doubts intact.
Talk about a cliffhanger. The women leave the empty tomb with a whole lot of different questions then when they arrived. There's a different perspective but still a great deal unresolved. They still have their disappointments. They still have their disbelief. The wonderful thing is, that with all their doubts intact, they get on with the job. They do, in fear and trembling, tell Peter and the others to get over to Galilee to meet the Risen Jesus. They do begin to remember. They do, still trembling and afraid, start to believe that Christ is Risen.
When the Israelite people were in exile in Babylon the Psalmist wrote “How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land?” We may wonder “How can we be Sunday people in a Friday world?” And all that this ancient ending of Mark offers offers us is to say that you just get on with it.
You remember what Jesus said and did and you do it. You reach out with love. You feed the hungry. You lift up the poor. You seek justice for those who are denied it. You bind up the broken hearted. You proclaim that this is the day of the Lord's favor. You help the blind to see and the deaf to ear. You give yourselves to being Sunday people in a Friday world. And as you do, you discover that He is Risen and that His love is with you and that God still turns deserts into places of living water, and inspires people to seek peace and motivates people to hope and things really can change and the love of God, in Jesus Christ, is discovered through the gentle yet powerful activity of God's Holy Spirit.
Early in the morning they went to the tomb and found the stone rolled away. And they came away from the tomb not really knowing how all this was going to work out. They just got on with doing the next thing.
That's all it takes to be Sunday people in a Friday World. Just do the next thing we know God is asking of us. We don't see the whole picture. We are not guaranteed anything other than that His living, loving, presence will be there for us. We are Sunday people in a Friday world. We are Easter people and Hallelujah is our song. And today is our special day to proclaim to the world, that even though we face disappointments, that even though we sometimes struggle to believe, that even though we sometimes have our doubts, nevertheless we are going to live and work and act out of an attitude for gratitude. For God so loved the world that He gave His son that we may live in His love.
We are Sunday people in a Friday world.
Amen.
Rev Adrian J Pratt B.D.
REDEMPTION, REMEMBERANCE and REDEDICATION
Readings: Exodus 12:21-27, 1 Corinthian 11:23-29, John 13:1-15
Maundy Thursday Communion Service
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY April 5th 2012.
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our three scripture readings tonight focused upon three great events of religious history, ‘The Passover Celebration’, ‘The Communion meal instituted by Christ’ and ‘The Foot washing”. Each of the three show us many different things, but I want us to think upon just three themes; Redemption, Remembrance and Rededication.
Redemption
Our first reading from Exodus gave the instructions for the celebration of the Passover, to be kept as a remembrance – a pilgrim feast – a festival of the Lord – as a rule for all time. Passover was a celebration of the people’s redemption, of the day the angel of death 'passed over' them' and God set them free from their oppressors. The celebration contained many themes, which prefigured the coming of Christ and the redemption He came to bring to the whole world.
An offering of a lamb without blemish
The shedding of blood as atonement for sins
The protection of those under the blood of the lamb by God
So Christ lived a sinless life, the Lamb of God without blemish. He offered Himself for the sins of all people and for the salvation of the world. Those who knew the power of His blood could also know his protection and know themselves as the objects of God’s love and Grace.
It was no accident of fate that His crucifixion took place during the celebration of the Passover festival. He declared that His mission was not to do away with the law and the prophets but rather to fulfill their words and so shed new light upon them, bringing a greater revelation of God’s glory and power to redeem God’s people.
Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthian church, some of whom were converts from the Jewish faith, spoke of Jesus as “The Passover Lamb’ who had been sacrificed. Jesus, our savior and our redeemer. A feature of Passover given new emphasis in our epistle scripture is our second heading:
Remembrance
The familiar words that we refer to as “The Institution of the Lord’s Supper” call to mind that Jesus told us to remember Him through breaking bread and drinking poured out wine. At the Passover feast the Jews were to remember their deliverance in such a way as God’s care became a reality to them in their present.
So we are to remember – not in the way that one might remember somebody at a funeral service – but in such a way that Christ’s living presence is known, here today, in our midst. We are called to allow the Spirit of God to enliven our minds and consciences, so that it becomes to us as though we were there on that first Maundy Thursday sharing around the table with Jesus Christ.
We are to remember the events in such a way that they become alive to where we are now. These elements point us to Jesus who is our Redeemer. As we remember the price He paid to free us from sin, as we recall the way He worked in people’s lives, bringing hope, forgiveness, healing and love, so there should be a desire for Him to work in our lives.
Of course there is another side to remembering His glory, and that is that it calls to mind our own lack of sanctification. It reminds us of the sort of people we are. So Paul writes, “A person must examine themselves first before eating their share of the bread and drinking from the cup.”
Around that first table were a group of followers who were as different as chalk and cheese. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, their peculiarities and problems. Jesus loved them all just the same. In the light of His love we need to examine ourselves. For sure we are all individuals, but around this table God calls us to be a pilgrim people who travel together.
If therefore there are things that hinder our progress, hindrances to the journey, forgiveness that needs expressing to another, sin that requires repentance, hurts that need a healing a touch, then around the table is a time to remember that the Lord God is the Lord our God and that through His Spirit He can supply all we need for our lives to be their best.
Jesus bid us to take the planks from our own eye before seeking to remove specks of dust from the eyes of others. All of which moves us to our third theme;
Rededication
John’s gospel is the most sacramental of the four gospels. It is filled with the rich spiritual imagery of light, living water, bread of life, water turned to wine and more. Yet it is the only gospel that does not give us an account of the Lord’s Supper. Instead we are given the account of Jesus washing the disciples feet. In the most sacramental of all the gospels we are reminded that unless our worship empowers us for service then it has all been in vain.
Unless our remembrance of God’s redemptive acts moves us to rededicating ourselves to the work of God’s kingdom then somewhere we have missed the whole point. We are tonight to eat and drink in the presence of the Lord, not simply because it is a personally rewarding experience, but so that we can be empowered to take the good news of the gospel to a needy and hurting world.
So tonight I invite you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to share in this celebration.
I invite you to focus on the theme of Redemption. To see how our communion celebration points us to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was crucified for our sins. The one redeemer who through His blood offers us protection and hope for the future. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Let us then celebrate the Passover.
I invite you tonight also to Remembrance. To remember Christ’s living presence. That the same lord Jesus Christ who came to save, to heal and give of His love is here desiring to meet with us. Remember also what kind of person you are. To the extent that you know you are not what you could be or should be, then such is an indication of the extent to which you need the love of God as a redeeming force in your life.
I invite you to make this a moment of Rededication. We do not know what lies ahead, around the next bend in our pilgrimage in Christ. After the first Maundy Thursday their lay ahead the agony of crucifixion and the glory of resurrection. For sure it was a time of rededication, a message that Jesus visually reinforced when He washed His disciples feet, and left them with the words ringing in their ears:
“If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet,
You also ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have left you an example.
You are to do as I have done for you.”
As we meet in Christ’s name may this be a time to rededicate ourselves to the mission of being His servants bringing the love of God to those with whom we share our lives. To God’s name be the Glory. Amen.
Maundy Thursday Communion Service
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY April 5th 2012.
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our three scripture readings tonight focused upon three great events of religious history, ‘The Passover Celebration’, ‘The Communion meal instituted by Christ’ and ‘The Foot washing”. Each of the three show us many different things, but I want us to think upon just three themes; Redemption, Remembrance and Rededication.
Redemption
Our first reading from Exodus gave the instructions for the celebration of the Passover, to be kept as a remembrance – a pilgrim feast – a festival of the Lord – as a rule for all time. Passover was a celebration of the people’s redemption, of the day the angel of death 'passed over' them' and God set them free from their oppressors. The celebration contained many themes, which prefigured the coming of Christ and the redemption He came to bring to the whole world.
An offering of a lamb without blemish
The shedding of blood as atonement for sins
The protection of those under the blood of the lamb by God
So Christ lived a sinless life, the Lamb of God without blemish. He offered Himself for the sins of all people and for the salvation of the world. Those who knew the power of His blood could also know his protection and know themselves as the objects of God’s love and Grace.
It was no accident of fate that His crucifixion took place during the celebration of the Passover festival. He declared that His mission was not to do away with the law and the prophets but rather to fulfill their words and so shed new light upon them, bringing a greater revelation of God’s glory and power to redeem God’s people.
Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthian church, some of whom were converts from the Jewish faith, spoke of Jesus as “The Passover Lamb’ who had been sacrificed. Jesus, our savior and our redeemer. A feature of Passover given new emphasis in our epistle scripture is our second heading:
Remembrance
The familiar words that we refer to as “The Institution of the Lord’s Supper” call to mind that Jesus told us to remember Him through breaking bread and drinking poured out wine. At the Passover feast the Jews were to remember their deliverance in such a way as God’s care became a reality to them in their present.
So we are to remember – not in the way that one might remember somebody at a funeral service – but in such a way that Christ’s living presence is known, here today, in our midst. We are called to allow the Spirit of God to enliven our minds and consciences, so that it becomes to us as though we were there on that first Maundy Thursday sharing around the table with Jesus Christ.
We are to remember the events in such a way that they become alive to where we are now. These elements point us to Jesus who is our Redeemer. As we remember the price He paid to free us from sin, as we recall the way He worked in people’s lives, bringing hope, forgiveness, healing and love, so there should be a desire for Him to work in our lives.
Of course there is another side to remembering His glory, and that is that it calls to mind our own lack of sanctification. It reminds us of the sort of people we are. So Paul writes, “A person must examine themselves first before eating their share of the bread and drinking from the cup.”
Around that first table were a group of followers who were as different as chalk and cheese. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, their peculiarities and problems. Jesus loved them all just the same. In the light of His love we need to examine ourselves. For sure we are all individuals, but around this table God calls us to be a pilgrim people who travel together.
If therefore there are things that hinder our progress, hindrances to the journey, forgiveness that needs expressing to another, sin that requires repentance, hurts that need a healing a touch, then around the table is a time to remember that the Lord God is the Lord our God and that through His Spirit He can supply all we need for our lives to be their best.
Jesus bid us to take the planks from our own eye before seeking to remove specks of dust from the eyes of others. All of which moves us to our third theme;
Rededication
John’s gospel is the most sacramental of the four gospels. It is filled with the rich spiritual imagery of light, living water, bread of life, water turned to wine and more. Yet it is the only gospel that does not give us an account of the Lord’s Supper. Instead we are given the account of Jesus washing the disciples feet. In the most sacramental of all the gospels we are reminded that unless our worship empowers us for service then it has all been in vain.
Unless our remembrance of God’s redemptive acts moves us to rededicating ourselves to the work of God’s kingdom then somewhere we have missed the whole point. We are tonight to eat and drink in the presence of the Lord, not simply because it is a personally rewarding experience, but so that we can be empowered to take the good news of the gospel to a needy and hurting world.
So tonight I invite you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to share in this celebration.
I invite you to focus on the theme of Redemption. To see how our communion celebration points us to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was crucified for our sins. The one redeemer who through His blood offers us protection and hope for the future. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Let us then celebrate the Passover.
I invite you tonight also to Remembrance. To remember Christ’s living presence. That the same lord Jesus Christ who came to save, to heal and give of His love is here desiring to meet with us. Remember also what kind of person you are. To the extent that you know you are not what you could be or should be, then such is an indication of the extent to which you need the love of God as a redeeming force in your life.
I invite you to make this a moment of Rededication. We do not know what lies ahead, around the next bend in our pilgrimage in Christ. After the first Maundy Thursday their lay ahead the agony of crucifixion and the glory of resurrection. For sure it was a time of rededication, a message that Jesus visually reinforced when He washed His disciples feet, and left them with the words ringing in their ears:
“If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet,
You also ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have left you an example.
You are to do as I have done for you.”
As we meet in Christ’s name may this be a time to rededicate ourselves to the mission of being His servants bringing the love of God to those with whom we share our lives. To God’s name be the Glory. Amen.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Palm/Passion Sunday “APRIL FOOLISHNESS”
Readings: Psalm 118:19-29, Isaiah 50:4-10, Mark 11:7-10, 15-18, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on April 1st 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Can somebody answer me a question. Why is there a man in a gorilla costume sitting with his legs hanging over the edge of the balcony? APRIL FOOL! Of course today is 'April's Fools Day'. April is a significant month for remembrances.
April 3rd is 'Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day '
April 7th is ' No Housework Day'
April 9th is 'Winston Churchill Day' (and don't you ever, ever, ever forget it!)
April 11th is 'Eight-Track Tape Day'
April 24th is 'National Pigs In A Blanket Day'
April 30th is 'National Honesty Day '(Honestly... you can't make this stuff up)
But more significantly, for ourselves, here and now, April 1st 2012 is also the Sunday in the liturgical calendar we know as Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday. Already in our service we have sung about and heard about how Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
What kind of April foolishness was that? You see kings didn't ride donkeys. Kings rode war horses that snorted at the crowds and held their heads up high. They didn't ride little donkeys that had to be persuaded to move with a stick and who responded to the crowds by saying 'Hee-Haw'. Donkeys are creatures of comedy, not steeds of royalty.
But here comes Jesus. And the crowds are yelling and cheering. “Hosanna. Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. They are crazily waving palm branches around. Dad is saying 'Be careful with that son, you'll have someones eye out'. They are throwing down coats to make a carpet. Mum is saying; “Oh no. not the new coat! What are people going to say when you go to school tomorrow and there are donkey hoof marks all over your clothes?”
But they don't care. Everybody is in on it. Everybody has got a touch of April Foolishness as they welcome Jesus into town. Everybody... except maybe the important people standing in the shadows on the sidelines. Except for the soldiers who are making sneering remarks to one another about ignorant peasants. Except for the religious leaders who are already planning to do away with Jesus.
Then what does Jesus do! He goes into the temple and almost starts a riot. Overturning tables. Letting sacrificial animals go free. Telling everybody; 'My Father's House is a house of prayer for all people! You've turned it into a den of thieves!” It's like He's suggesting the priests were the mafia, the temple assistants were con-men and the whole thing was just some kind of profiteering racket. And maybe, as nobody seems to try to stop Him, that's exactly what was going on! But, again, what kind of April Foolishness was that? That kind of nonsense could get you in trouble.
If you followed the story through in Marks gospel you would find out that's exactly what happens. He debates with the important people. Tells some stories that make them look bad. They gang up on Him and have Him arrested. He's put on trial and even though innocent loses the case. His friends betray Him. The authorities let a criminal go free and give Jesus a death sentence. They parade Him out of the city. Soldiers mock Him and insult Him and torture Him, dressing Him up in a robe and sticking a crown of thorns into His scalp. They crucify Him amongst thieves on a Cross in a place called Golgotha. April Foolishness turns dark and nasty and nobodies laughing anymore. It's bleak and cold and scary. Even Jesus shouts out; “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me?”
But wait a moment. There's something going on here that everybody was missing. Paul talks about it when, a few years later, he's writing a letter to a church in a place called Corinth.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25 NIB)
Here is a different kind of April foolishness. Here is Paul telling us 'The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God!”. Here is Paul telling us that this whole thing, from the donkey ride into town, to the uproar in the temple, to the betrayal and trial and trouble, all through to Jesus death on the Cross was not an act of madness but all part of God's plan for bringing salvation to the world.
And it is kind of crazy. How can what Jesus did all those years ago matter to us here in the 21st Century? How can one innocent man's tragic death help anybody to know the love of God? How can the life of Jesus have anything to do with my life in the here and now? What kind of April Foolery is going on here?
Look friends! A table laid with bread and wine. A table in the midst of our church sanctuary, in the shadow of a Cross. A table with the words “remember me” carved into it. An invitation will be given to break bread and to drink wine and remember the life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ.
I've been foolish enough to miss out the craziest part of the story as Mark tells it. It doesn't end on the cross but on Easter morning. Our story ends with His followers, women and men finding an empty tomb, encountering Jesus risen presence and declaring to the world, “It's not over. It's just beginning!” It ends with the Risen Jesus telling His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mar 16:15). Marks final words are these. “The disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it.” (Mar 16:20 NIB)
So today I'm inviting you to be a fool for Christ. To think about His life. What do you make of someone who hangs around with people with contagious diseases? Or consorted with known outcasts? Or spent time with the mentally ill? Or spoke with strange women in the byways? Or insulted the rich? Or irritated His own family and villagers with His claims? Or made heroes of children and workers and the poor and down-trodden? Or invited people to take up their own crosses and follow Him?
I invite you to think about the disciples. How were those who betrayed Him transformed into being those who proclaimed Him? How did those who saw Him die become people willing to die for their faith that He was alive? How did a small band of fishermen, tax-collectors, freedom fighters, doubters and betrayers become world-changers? What happened to that guy Saul, who had no time for Christians at all, that he become a guy named Paul, who claimed to have a life changing message for us all?
What is this April Foolishness we are gathered here together to celebrate around a table with little bits of bread and tiny cups of juice? Dare we be those who are crazy enough to put our faith in God that through God's power, through the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit, God can take the smoldering embers of our faith and ignite them with the fire of Jesus love? Again as Paul writes to the Corinthian church 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. '
So here we are. April Fools Day. Invited to place all our hope and trust in God, through Jesus Christ and seek for the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus to life, to live in and through us and enrich the lives of others. Here we are on April Fools day, invited to commit ourselves to the foolish (and in the eyes of many in our world, unimportant tasks) of feeding the hungry and praying for peace and seeking freedom for those denied justice.
Here we are invited to stand with the crazy palm waving, coat throwing crowd that shout “Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Here we are invited to say that this place is our Father's house, that this time is a time for prayer, that this is the Lord's day and we are the Lord's children.
A favorite quote of mine says; "Any Christian is a jester in the court of a king, a dissident in a society of rules, someone who makes mischief and laughter and flirts with danger… and in doing so flirts with a higher authority than the one which physically confronts him."
So I invite you to come to this table as an act of April foolishness, to flirt for a moment with a higher authority than all the earthly voices that seek to tell us what really matters and who really counts. To make this time a moment of re-commitment to the love of God that confounds the ways of the world.
To God’s name be the glory!
Rev Adrian J Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on April 1st 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Can somebody answer me a question. Why is there a man in a gorilla costume sitting with his legs hanging over the edge of the balcony? APRIL FOOL! Of course today is 'April's Fools Day'. April is a significant month for remembrances.
April 3rd is 'Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day '
April 7th is ' No Housework Day'
April 9th is 'Winston Churchill Day' (and don't you ever, ever, ever forget it!)
April 11th is 'Eight-Track Tape Day'
April 24th is 'National Pigs In A Blanket Day'
April 30th is 'National Honesty Day '(Honestly... you can't make this stuff up)
But more significantly, for ourselves, here and now, April 1st 2012 is also the Sunday in the liturgical calendar we know as Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday. Already in our service we have sung about and heard about how Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
What kind of April foolishness was that? You see kings didn't ride donkeys. Kings rode war horses that snorted at the crowds and held their heads up high. They didn't ride little donkeys that had to be persuaded to move with a stick and who responded to the crowds by saying 'Hee-Haw'. Donkeys are creatures of comedy, not steeds of royalty.
But here comes Jesus. And the crowds are yelling and cheering. “Hosanna. Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. They are crazily waving palm branches around. Dad is saying 'Be careful with that son, you'll have someones eye out'. They are throwing down coats to make a carpet. Mum is saying; “Oh no. not the new coat! What are people going to say when you go to school tomorrow and there are donkey hoof marks all over your clothes?”
But they don't care. Everybody is in on it. Everybody has got a touch of April Foolishness as they welcome Jesus into town. Everybody... except maybe the important people standing in the shadows on the sidelines. Except for the soldiers who are making sneering remarks to one another about ignorant peasants. Except for the religious leaders who are already planning to do away with Jesus.
Then what does Jesus do! He goes into the temple and almost starts a riot. Overturning tables. Letting sacrificial animals go free. Telling everybody; 'My Father's House is a house of prayer for all people! You've turned it into a den of thieves!” It's like He's suggesting the priests were the mafia, the temple assistants were con-men and the whole thing was just some kind of profiteering racket. And maybe, as nobody seems to try to stop Him, that's exactly what was going on! But, again, what kind of April Foolishness was that? That kind of nonsense could get you in trouble.
If you followed the story through in Marks gospel you would find out that's exactly what happens. He debates with the important people. Tells some stories that make them look bad. They gang up on Him and have Him arrested. He's put on trial and even though innocent loses the case. His friends betray Him. The authorities let a criminal go free and give Jesus a death sentence. They parade Him out of the city. Soldiers mock Him and insult Him and torture Him, dressing Him up in a robe and sticking a crown of thorns into His scalp. They crucify Him amongst thieves on a Cross in a place called Golgotha. April Foolishness turns dark and nasty and nobodies laughing anymore. It's bleak and cold and scary. Even Jesus shouts out; “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me?”
But wait a moment. There's something going on here that everybody was missing. Paul talks about it when, a few years later, he's writing a letter to a church in a place called Corinth.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25 NIB)
Here is a different kind of April foolishness. Here is Paul telling us 'The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God!”. Here is Paul telling us that this whole thing, from the donkey ride into town, to the uproar in the temple, to the betrayal and trial and trouble, all through to Jesus death on the Cross was not an act of madness but all part of God's plan for bringing salvation to the world.
And it is kind of crazy. How can what Jesus did all those years ago matter to us here in the 21st Century? How can one innocent man's tragic death help anybody to know the love of God? How can the life of Jesus have anything to do with my life in the here and now? What kind of April Foolery is going on here?
Look friends! A table laid with bread and wine. A table in the midst of our church sanctuary, in the shadow of a Cross. A table with the words “remember me” carved into it. An invitation will be given to break bread and to drink wine and remember the life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ.
I've been foolish enough to miss out the craziest part of the story as Mark tells it. It doesn't end on the cross but on Easter morning. Our story ends with His followers, women and men finding an empty tomb, encountering Jesus risen presence and declaring to the world, “It's not over. It's just beginning!” It ends with the Risen Jesus telling His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mar 16:15). Marks final words are these. “The disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it.” (Mar 16:20 NIB)
So today I'm inviting you to be a fool for Christ. To think about His life. What do you make of someone who hangs around with people with contagious diseases? Or consorted with known outcasts? Or spent time with the mentally ill? Or spoke with strange women in the byways? Or insulted the rich? Or irritated His own family and villagers with His claims? Or made heroes of children and workers and the poor and down-trodden? Or invited people to take up their own crosses and follow Him?
I invite you to think about the disciples. How were those who betrayed Him transformed into being those who proclaimed Him? How did those who saw Him die become people willing to die for their faith that He was alive? How did a small band of fishermen, tax-collectors, freedom fighters, doubters and betrayers become world-changers? What happened to that guy Saul, who had no time for Christians at all, that he become a guy named Paul, who claimed to have a life changing message for us all?
What is this April Foolishness we are gathered here together to celebrate around a table with little bits of bread and tiny cups of juice? Dare we be those who are crazy enough to put our faith in God that through God's power, through the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit, God can take the smoldering embers of our faith and ignite them with the fire of Jesus love? Again as Paul writes to the Corinthian church 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. '
So here we are. April Fools Day. Invited to place all our hope and trust in God, through Jesus Christ and seek for the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus to life, to live in and through us and enrich the lives of others. Here we are on April Fools day, invited to commit ourselves to the foolish (and in the eyes of many in our world, unimportant tasks) of feeding the hungry and praying for peace and seeking freedom for those denied justice.
Here we are invited to stand with the crazy palm waving, coat throwing crowd that shout “Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Here we are invited to say that this place is our Father's house, that this time is a time for prayer, that this is the Lord's day and we are the Lord's children.
A favorite quote of mine says; "Any Christian is a jester in the court of a king, a dissident in a society of rules, someone who makes mischief and laughter and flirts with danger… and in doing so flirts with a higher authority than the one which physically confronts him."
So I invite you to come to this table as an act of April foolishness, to flirt for a moment with a higher authority than all the earthly voices that seek to tell us what really matters and who really counts. To make this time a moment of re-commitment to the love of God that confounds the ways of the world.
To God’s name be the glory!
Rev Adrian J Pratt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)