Reading: Hosea 6:1-11, Psalm 133, I John 1:1-2:2, Mark 9:30-37
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on September 23rd 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I was reading the passage from Hosea. When I came to verse 6 “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices, I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me” I was reminded of a book by J.I. Packer titled ‘Knowing God' which had a great influence on my early Christian years.
Packer begins his book by asking us to imagine a house with a large balcony on its front, situated near a road. Along the road walk one group of people, whilst on the balcony sit another watching them go by. The two groups are described as ‘Balconeers’ and ‘Travelers’.
The Balconeers hear what the Travelers are saying and can even shout from the balcony and ask them questions. They sit together on the balcony and pass comments upon the way the travelers behave. They observe them from a distance. They remain on the balcony as onlookers and their problems are theoretical rather than practical.
The Travelers have to ask ‘Which way should we go?” and “How do we get there?” They face problems which call not just for understanding but for decision and action. The Balconeers and the Travelers may think over the same area, but their problems are different.
Along the road comes some person with evil on their mind. The Balconeers look on and wonder how such a person could be allowed on the road and how they should react. The Travelers have to encounter the evil face to face, master it and overcome it. Packer suggests that true Christian faith is the faith of the ‘Travelers’. As an example he considers the doctrine of the Trinity – the statement that we believe in ‘One God, Three persons.’
The Balconeer ponders; “Hmmm. How can one conceivably be three, and exactly what sorts of unity can three have and what precisely is the definition of personhood here being expressed?” The Traveler is asking, “Well if that’s the way God has revealed Godself, then how can I best live my life in a way that honors God?”
For one the problem is theoretical, for the other it is practical. One says “How can God be like that?’ the other asks, “If that is what God is like, how should I live?” As Christians we are called to be a pilgrim people, called to be Travelers not Balconeers. We need to not only know about God, but actually know God.
Which brings us again to Hosea’s words; “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices, I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me”.
It is possible to know a lot about a person without ever knowing them. Pick a name out of the telephone directory and you can find their address. If you know somebody who lives near them, they may know where they work or who their family is or what they do with their time.
You could go on the Internet and put their name into a search engine and maybe find out more than you need to know ‘about’ them. But to get to ‘know them’ you would have to encounter them, get to be friends, spend time with them and talk with them and so discover what they were really like.
It is no different with our relationship to God. It is a relationship which has to grow, it takes communication. It takes time to familiarize ourselves with the Word of God in Scripture. It takes commitment to communication through prayer and worship and service. There are no shortcuts. There is no quick fix. There exists no ‘Dummies Guide to God’, nor is ‘Everything You needed to know about God but were afraid to Ask’ available at Amazon.Com. Hosea declares:-
“I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices, I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me”
Two things I’d like to draw out of Hosea’s words at the start of chapter 6.
1. The danger of presumption
2. The need to put our relationship with God, before all other things.
The danger of presumption
Hosea Chapter 6 begins with the people coming before God with what seems like a sincere confession of faith. The words are all there… “Let us return to the LORD... He will heal us… He will raise us up on the third day…He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth."
Though it sounds good, the words are the confession of people who knew about God, but didn’t actually know God. Their prayer is uttered in a spirit of complete presumption. “Well, we’ve let God down before, but God has always come through for us, so let’s just go through the motions again, and God will come around to seeing things our way.”
These people had a form of faith but it had no reality to it. There is no real desire for God in their hearts. They are just looking out for number One. Things weren’t going well… so “Hey, let’s ask God for help”. There is with them no real commitment, no real experience of grace. They are ‘Balconeers’, looking on and offering a theory as to how things could be fixed, not ‘Travelers’ wrestling with their situation and seeking to have their relationship with God restored.
The response of God comes in verse 4. "What can I do with you? Your love is like morning mist, like a morning cloud that disappears.” Because their heart isn’t in it they do not experience the blessing of God, they receive the rebuke of God. “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices”.
Our opening hymn this morning contained the lines “As first light brings the sun's warm rays, Accept our sacrifice of praise”. Everything about our worship services is a sacrifice of praise, an offering to God...The Call to Worship, the Children’s Time, the Confession, the Hymns, the Anthem, the Offering, the Bible Readings, the Creeds, the Sermon… it’s all a part of a sacrifice of praise.
According to this bible verse, if we are offering up worship, and we are in any way being presumptuous regarding the love of God… if our hearts not in it… it’s not going to bring us God’s blessing. That if we presume we can just turn up on a Sunday and that somehow God is going to be impressed we better think again. If we think that it’s enough to know about God, without whole-heartedly seeking to truly know God, we better look again at what Scripture teaches.
If I think I can stand up here and preach a well-crafted grammatically correct sermon; but I haven’t sought for God’s anointing or blessing then God’s judgment is going to be “What do you expect me to do with that?”
If the choir is up here singing an anthem, and every note is in tune, and the organ part raises the rafters and the solo satisfies the senses, but they are just giving a nice performance then they would be better keeping quiet. If their offering is not an expression of genuine worship, it may impress people, but it is an offence to God. “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices.”
Same with our testimony and prayers and times of dedication. I can think back in my own experience of people who have stood up in church and given a marvelous account of how God has saved them, and how much they are going to do for God and so and so on. About some of them, I just have to ask (and I do so with real regret) “Where are they now? What happened to that faith they were bragging about?”
Let us not give voice to the greatness of our commitment if when the going gets get tough, we give up. Don’t say you are following Jesus Christ if when things don’t turn out as you had planned them in your play book, you throw in the towel. Because if we know God, we will know that’s not the way faith works.
This leads to the second thing I wanted to draw out of this passage from Hosea.
The need to put our relationship with God, before all other things.
But how do we do that… how do we move from knowing about God to knowing God?
We come to know God through Scripture Reading and Prayer. Rather than considering reading the bible for the knowledge that it may give or of prayer as a practice that benefits your personal health; think of them both as building a relationship. As Dr. Phil will tell you the important thing in a relationship is ‘Communication’. Reading the scriptures and times of prayer need to become a dialogue, not a monologue. “What is God saying to me? How am I going to act upon it?”
We come to know God through whole hearted worship offered in the presence of others. Worship throughout Scripture is a communal act. People tell me they can worship God just as easily on the golf course or taking a walk in the beauty of nature as they can by attending a service of worship. We forget so easily that worship isn’t about us… it’s about God and the Bible’s teaching is crystal clear that one of the key components of a healthy relationship with God is worshiping God in the presence of others.
We come to know God through service. We need to do something, to be involved with something that is nurturing the life of somebody else. We encounter the presence of God in the lives of others. ‘In as much as you did it for the least of one of my little ones,’ says Jesus, ‘you did it unto me’.
It’s about communication. Through prayer and Bible Reading we involve ourselves in a conversation. That conversation is enriched as we worship God in the presence of others. It is further enriched as we seek to reach out to others with the love of God.
It is not those who sit on the balcony and watch the world go by who find the way, the truth and the life that Jesus spoke of. It is those who are travelers, those who are committed to a journey that they will see through to the end, no matter what obstacles are in the way, or how much it costs.
Balconeers don’t follow, they watch. Only pilgrim people discover the joy, the peace, the hope, the healing, the resurrection and the light which Jesus promised to His followers. Such is a journey we are called to make together with His songs on our lips, His gospel in our hearts and His Holy Spirit as our strength.
So today I invite you not to become ‘Balconeers’, but ‘Travelers’, to be those who don’t just know about God, but know God. To put Christ first… and then let everything else follow on.
The path to knowing God? Hosea 6:6 “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices, I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me”.
Adrian Pratt
Monday, September 24, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Sermon for Instillation of Rev. Elise Renee Neal “Administrators of mystery!”
Reading: Ephesians 3:1-9
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Fairmont, WV, Sunday 16th September, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
These are anxious days for our churches. Within our society are many voices suggesting religion has had it's day. Within our religious institutions divisions run as deeply as those in the realm of politics. The game keeps changing. The goalposts keep moving. To survive we are called to embrace change. And if there is one thing that makes congregations anxious... it's 'change!'
But the teaching of Jesus is not a message that allows for complacency. Such notions as 'Taking up a Cross' and 'Being Born Again' and 'Losing ourselves in order to find ourselves' easily become railroaded by more pressing concerns such as the credentials required for ordination, figuring out how we are going to meet the budget and true burning issues such as 'what color the sanctuary carpet should be'.
The letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians was written from a prison cell. Paul knew a thing or two about change. He was changed from being the one who had it all together, who knew 'who was who' and 'what was what' into a blind man struggling to find his way. On the Damascus Road, in an instant, he went beyond 'We've never done it this way before' and 'We tried this and it didn't work' and 'It doesn't matter where you are from, believe me, this won't work here!” When Paul writes about change he writes in capital letters.
One of the things I love about the change that came over Paul's life was that it was a change that left him completely out of his depth. A change that left him completely reliant on God and in total awe of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul writes 'Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ”
In the transliteration given in Eugene Petersen’s 'The Message Bible' we read “When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ.” I adore the way Paul is pictured as saying 'Here I am Lord, preaching about things … way over my head... inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ'
So, Elise, as you take the wheel of the good ship Fairmont, if there are moments when you feel completely overwhelmed and out of your depth and feel as though you are in way over your head, rejoice ...you've got a friend …. in Paul. If the challenge of these days, of the changing landscape of church and society, of these anxious times of change, seems completely overwhelming and you wonder how on earth all that stuff you learnt in seminary and in your last positions actually applies here, then take comfort from Paul who tells us, again from 'The Message' 'I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.'
In these anxious days it is good to remember that our gospel is a mystery. Paul tells us that everything proceeds according to 'God's secret plan'. Though we may have some days when we question if God's plan really is the best one.... (actually I shouldn't say 'some days'... maybe it's more like 'most days' we question God's will...) it remains an essential tenant of our belief that we do actually believe that God is in control.
An old friend and West Virginian Baptist pastor in Fayetteville, Rev. Harry Fuller, used to regularly have his congregation participate in an affirmation of faith that was short, sharp and to the point. So please repeat after me;
'There is a God.' 'There is a God.'
'And it isn't me' 'And it isn't me'
If we can try in our ministries to remember that simple thing, it will prevent us from running into a whole lot of trouble. Our vision can be so limited. Though not physically confined like Paul, we can be imprisoned by all sorts of things. Our calling practically guarantees it. We are constantly bombarded with peoples needs, our church buildings needs, our denominations struggles, our emotional needs, our financial needs, our families needs, our spouses needs, not to mention our own struggle for time for sabbath and self.
God does not have these limitations. God's secret plan is superior to our plans. God's plan is not limited to us, to our congregations, to our denomination, to our town or even our nation. God's plan is already at work. We may not recognize it or perceive it or sense it. That's the thing about secrets! They are .. well... secretive. It takes a while to realize what's going on. It took Paul a while to get in on the secret.. Why should it be any different for us?
According to verse 6 the secret is something is like this. 'The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.'
This verse makes ministry a little easier to do. It reminds us that we don't have to bring God to anyone or introduce Jesus to anybody. The Spirit is already working with them. Our task is to get them to realize it. I say all, but “All' is of course the tricky bit. Tricky, but not impossible. With God nothing is impossible. God has a secret plan! Always has. We just don't always see it.
I never saw it when many many moons ago when I went to my first youth retreats at Cedar Lakes and Bluestone. This Presbytery still has a wonderful thing called 'youth council'. When I first experienced youth council there was this crazy red-haired teenager trying to teach a whole bunch of us these odd things called energizers. 'Star-Trekkin across the universe' 'Jump up liking your whipping a horse” “There's Klingons on the starboard bow” 'Make like you're shakin' off a Klingon.' Say what? You do realize I'm British don't you! That crazy red head was a younger (but maybe only slightly less crazy) version of Elise. And God had a secret plan.
Didn't see that plan when she went off to Marshall. Was excited to visit PROWL and reconnect with some of the kids I'd met at Youth Council. A few years later, beyond possibility I am invited on a retreat with Marshall students at Myrtle Beach . Who has left college by then, but is working down there and comes to visit? Elise. And so it goes. On a number of other occasions our lives have crossed paths. That's how it seems to be when you swim in the Presbyterian sea! People cross your path. You lose touch. You get back in touch. God's secret plan.
And now...look at this! Elise being installed as pastor here at this wonderful welcoming church of Fairmont, WV. With a wonderful partner in Ryan and three delightful children Kaylen Rose, Knox Levin and Terryn Alexander. Who knows? Here's hoping they may grow up and be as wonderfully gifted and crazy as she is! God's secret plan. Best sometimes just to stand back and say “Allright!”
'This is my life work' writes Paul in Ephesians 3:6: 'Helping people understand and respond to the Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details.' Best to let God handle all the details. Best to let God work it out. For sure ask questions and take time to wonder and ponder and even try to think it all through. But never lose sight of the mystery of God's love for us. The love that's always been there, but which we took a time to wake up to!
There are ways that we get to participate in the mystery. There are ways that the secret plan becomes clearer to us. We have our church communities. God works through community. Pastors can only take their congregations as far as their congregations will go with them. And, again, these are anxious days that call for change. Change can cause us to want to stick in the mud or recreate the past or a thousand other avoidance strategies, rather than launch into unknown waters.
We participate in the mystery through applying ourselves to the understanding of the Scriptures. This is something we do best in community, be it our local church, a study group, or even these days some kind of internet forum. We have our Confessions as a guide. We have have each other to bounce our thoughts off.
We participate in the mystery through prayer. Elise's life has been surrounded by prayer. She was baptized by her grandfather Rev. Robert C. Steele in the Philippi Presbyterian Church. She has a family that have prayed for her. When, as pastors, we look back over the years, we realize our whole lives have been lived against the backdrop of peoples prayers for us. Such is a humbling thought that moves us to faithfulness.
So I encourage you as a congregation to pray for your new pastor. You can support your church financially, that's always good! You can support your church with your presence. That too is very important. But you participate in the mystery, you appreciate God's secret plan, only when you give yourself in prayerful support of your pastor, your church and your churches ministries.
With your prayerful support Elise can apply herself to the task that Paul claimed was God's calling. 'My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along.' (Ephesians 3:9) . Or as it reads in the NIV “To make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”
In these days of change and uncertainty the model of being 'Administrators of Mystery' may indeed be a wonderful one to describe the teaching elders task. We do not know what the future church will be like. But we trust that God knows and is working it out. God's Secret Plan.
Elise, I wish you every blessing for the future and thank you for this opportunity to be a part of this special day, in the life of this historically faithful congregation, in this wild and wonderful corner of God's creation.
Finally; Love God, love people and never stop applying yourself to the discovery of God's secret plan.
May you truly be an 'Administrator of Mystery'.
Amen!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Fairmont, WV, Sunday 16th September, 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
These are anxious days for our churches. Within our society are many voices suggesting religion has had it's day. Within our religious institutions divisions run as deeply as those in the realm of politics. The game keeps changing. The goalposts keep moving. To survive we are called to embrace change. And if there is one thing that makes congregations anxious... it's 'change!'
But the teaching of Jesus is not a message that allows for complacency. Such notions as 'Taking up a Cross' and 'Being Born Again' and 'Losing ourselves in order to find ourselves' easily become railroaded by more pressing concerns such as the credentials required for ordination, figuring out how we are going to meet the budget and true burning issues such as 'what color the sanctuary carpet should be'.
The letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians was written from a prison cell. Paul knew a thing or two about change. He was changed from being the one who had it all together, who knew 'who was who' and 'what was what' into a blind man struggling to find his way. On the Damascus Road, in an instant, he went beyond 'We've never done it this way before' and 'We tried this and it didn't work' and 'It doesn't matter where you are from, believe me, this won't work here!” When Paul writes about change he writes in capital letters.
One of the things I love about the change that came over Paul's life was that it was a change that left him completely out of his depth. A change that left him completely reliant on God and in total awe of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul writes 'Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ”
In the transliteration given in Eugene Petersen’s 'The Message Bible' we read “When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ.” I adore the way Paul is pictured as saying 'Here I am Lord, preaching about things … way over my head... inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ'
So, Elise, as you take the wheel of the good ship Fairmont, if there are moments when you feel completely overwhelmed and out of your depth and feel as though you are in way over your head, rejoice ...you've got a friend …. in Paul. If the challenge of these days, of the changing landscape of church and society, of these anxious times of change, seems completely overwhelming and you wonder how on earth all that stuff you learnt in seminary and in your last positions actually applies here, then take comfort from Paul who tells us, again from 'The Message' 'I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.'
In these anxious days it is good to remember that our gospel is a mystery. Paul tells us that everything proceeds according to 'God's secret plan'. Though we may have some days when we question if God's plan really is the best one.... (actually I shouldn't say 'some days'... maybe it's more like 'most days' we question God's will...) it remains an essential tenant of our belief that we do actually believe that God is in control.
An old friend and West Virginian Baptist pastor in Fayetteville, Rev. Harry Fuller, used to regularly have his congregation participate in an affirmation of faith that was short, sharp and to the point. So please repeat after me;
'There is a God.' 'There is a God.'
'And it isn't me' 'And it isn't me'
If we can try in our ministries to remember that simple thing, it will prevent us from running into a whole lot of trouble. Our vision can be so limited. Though not physically confined like Paul, we can be imprisoned by all sorts of things. Our calling practically guarantees it. We are constantly bombarded with peoples needs, our church buildings needs, our denominations struggles, our emotional needs, our financial needs, our families needs, our spouses needs, not to mention our own struggle for time for sabbath and self.
God does not have these limitations. God's secret plan is superior to our plans. God's plan is not limited to us, to our congregations, to our denomination, to our town or even our nation. God's plan is already at work. We may not recognize it or perceive it or sense it. That's the thing about secrets! They are .. well... secretive. It takes a while to realize what's going on. It took Paul a while to get in on the secret.. Why should it be any different for us?
According to verse 6 the secret is something is like this. 'The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.'
This verse makes ministry a little easier to do. It reminds us that we don't have to bring God to anyone or introduce Jesus to anybody. The Spirit is already working with them. Our task is to get them to realize it. I say all, but “All' is of course the tricky bit. Tricky, but not impossible. With God nothing is impossible. God has a secret plan! Always has. We just don't always see it.
I never saw it when many many moons ago when I went to my first youth retreats at Cedar Lakes and Bluestone. This Presbytery still has a wonderful thing called 'youth council'. When I first experienced youth council there was this crazy red-haired teenager trying to teach a whole bunch of us these odd things called energizers. 'Star-Trekkin across the universe' 'Jump up liking your whipping a horse” “There's Klingons on the starboard bow” 'Make like you're shakin' off a Klingon.' Say what? You do realize I'm British don't you! That crazy red head was a younger (but maybe only slightly less crazy) version of Elise. And God had a secret plan.
Didn't see that plan when she went off to Marshall. Was excited to visit PROWL and reconnect with some of the kids I'd met at Youth Council. A few years later, beyond possibility I am invited on a retreat with Marshall students at Myrtle Beach . Who has left college by then, but is working down there and comes to visit? Elise. And so it goes. On a number of other occasions our lives have crossed paths. That's how it seems to be when you swim in the Presbyterian sea! People cross your path. You lose touch. You get back in touch. God's secret plan.
And now...look at this! Elise being installed as pastor here at this wonderful welcoming church of Fairmont, WV. With a wonderful partner in Ryan and three delightful children Kaylen Rose, Knox Levin and Terryn Alexander. Who knows? Here's hoping they may grow up and be as wonderfully gifted and crazy as she is! God's secret plan. Best sometimes just to stand back and say “Allright!”
'This is my life work' writes Paul in Ephesians 3:6: 'Helping people understand and respond to the Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details.' Best to let God handle all the details. Best to let God work it out. For sure ask questions and take time to wonder and ponder and even try to think it all through. But never lose sight of the mystery of God's love for us. The love that's always been there, but which we took a time to wake up to!
There are ways that we get to participate in the mystery. There are ways that the secret plan becomes clearer to us. We have our church communities. God works through community. Pastors can only take their congregations as far as their congregations will go with them. And, again, these are anxious days that call for change. Change can cause us to want to stick in the mud or recreate the past or a thousand other avoidance strategies, rather than launch into unknown waters.
We participate in the mystery through applying ourselves to the understanding of the Scriptures. This is something we do best in community, be it our local church, a study group, or even these days some kind of internet forum. We have our Confessions as a guide. We have have each other to bounce our thoughts off.
We participate in the mystery through prayer. Elise's life has been surrounded by prayer. She was baptized by her grandfather Rev. Robert C. Steele in the Philippi Presbyterian Church. She has a family that have prayed for her. When, as pastors, we look back over the years, we realize our whole lives have been lived against the backdrop of peoples prayers for us. Such is a humbling thought that moves us to faithfulness.
So I encourage you as a congregation to pray for your new pastor. You can support your church financially, that's always good! You can support your church with your presence. That too is very important. But you participate in the mystery, you appreciate God's secret plan, only when you give yourself in prayerful support of your pastor, your church and your churches ministries.
With your prayerful support Elise can apply herself to the task that Paul claimed was God's calling. 'My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along.' (Ephesians 3:9) . Or as it reads in the NIV “To make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”
In these days of change and uncertainty the model of being 'Administrators of Mystery' may indeed be a wonderful one to describe the teaching elders task. We do not know what the future church will be like. But we trust that God knows and is working it out. God's Secret Plan.
Elise, I wish you every blessing for the future and thank you for this opportunity to be a part of this special day, in the life of this historically faithful congregation, in this wild and wonderful corner of God's creation.
Finally; Love God, love people and never stop applying yourself to the discovery of God's secret plan.
May you truly be an 'Administrator of Mystery'.
Amen!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
God's Secret (Summer) Plan
Readings: Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9, Song of Solomon 2:8-13, Ephesians 3:1-9, Luke 4:1-13
Preached at Baldwin Presbyterian Church on September 2nd 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I don't know what sort of summer you have had. I hope it's been a good one. I want to share with you this morning that whilst in many ways for myself it has been an unusual summer of highs and lows, it has also been one in which I have been very conscious of the presence of God and the support of God's people. As we come to the table this morning I want to share some of my own summer stories and focus on a verse found in the third chapter of Ephesians 'The mystery is... that through the gospel... we are sharers together in the promise...” (excerpt from Ephesians 3:6)
One of the lessons I have had reinforced for me over the summer is that there are our plans... and then there are God's plans. The two do not necessarily coincide. In fact sometimes God takes us through circumstances that are not at all what we expected or even wish to welcome. When that happens, the mystery of God's grace often surprises us in unexpected and surprising ways. I've said before that to me the miracle in events is not so much that they happen, but the synchronicity that is present in the where, when and how things happen. So I'm borrowing a phrase from our scripture passage and calling this sermon “God's Secret Plan”.
One of the first things I was involved in this summer was leading a youth camp at Bluestone Conference Center, which is a beautiful place, high up on a mountain, in my previous Presbytery of West Virgina. The plan was that I was to lead a High School group in conversations about worship. As the date grew closer registration was down, but the normal camp program was taking place so Mark Miller the director said 'Come along anyway'.
Instead of focusing on worship, the theme was changed to a curriculum prepared some years before that focussed on our denomination's Brief Affirmation of Faith. It had been prepared by a wonderful Christian Educator from Charleston, WV, called Lynn Wood, who sadly lost her battle with cancer this past December. Her husband Rev. Bob Wood, was a good friend of mine and I hadn't had a chance to see him since he lost his wife. I knew he was at the camp the week before me, so I kind of hoped to reconnect with him. We missed each other by six hours. Oh well. Things don't always go according to plan!
I was familiar with the curriculum as I'd used it before when I'd been leading a creative arts group and we had set much of the text of the Affirmation of Faith to music. I wasn't sure I'd have a chance to share any of the songs we'd done years before. But when I arrived at camp I discovered that the folk who had been leading the music at worship and song time weren't going to be there, so I found myself in the role of song leader! Naturally I taught them a couple of the songs we'd used some years before. One of them had the words, “In life and death we belong to God'. Another began 'We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life.'
Camp was fun. Until the last evening. It was the Friday night that the storm hit that knocked power out of much of Virginia and West Virginia. One moment we were sitting in a field enjoying the kids acting out there skits. Then we heard the wind coming. Sounded like a freight train. We shouted at the kids to run towards the chapel building. By the time we were half way across the field the dust was blowing in our eyes, trees were cracking and limbs falling and the wind blowing so strong that it was knocking some of the younger kids down. Some of the little ones (and not so little) were terrified as we herded them into the building and told them to sit in the middle away from the windows.
It was then a little group of them began quietly singing 'In life and death we belong to God' and 'We trust in God the Holy Spirit', the songs I'd been able to teach them. The words took on a new significance as these kids thought they really were in a life or death situation and the only one they felt they could trust in was God! As they sang, and as we told stories and said prayers, the storm quickly passed, and although it had taken the power out, an hour or so later we were enjoying a fireworks display that marked the close of camp. An interesting end to the week! Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
But I kept to my plan and left around 3:30 in the morning. With us having lost communication with the outside world I had no idea of the extent of the storm. I wound down a narrow road where, thankfully, somebody had gone before me and cut a way through the fallen trees and debris. At one point I hit some fog and what I think were downed power lines scraped the top of my little Hyundia. I dread to think what could have happened if I were driving a larger vehicle like the Honda Element I usually took to camp! So I get to Hinton, the first town. Complete darkness. No power. I travel along the interstate to Lewisberg. Same story. Only then do I catch the news on the radio that most of the Eastern Seaboard up to Washington DC is out of power. My gas guage showed I had about 45 miles left of fuel. The nearest large town, which may or not have had power was about 50 miles away. 'Lord' I pray silently 'What now?'
I see a sign for gas and decide to take it. The gas station looks deserted but there is a white van parked next to the pump and a guy scratching his head looking at it. I pull up and shout over, 'Anything working?' He says he thinks so but his credit card was taking forever to clear. I give it a try. Sure enough it takes the card but then the screen goes blue. I notice the guy in the white van is now pumping gas and smiling. A moment later my card also clears and I'm able to fill up. Although the gas station is deserted apart from the two of us, there's a generator humming somewhere in the back... so I whisper a little thankyou and breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I can get home!
A little while later I stumble across a McDonalds with a generator. Bear in mind I've been on the road since 3:30 in the morning. I need some coffee. It was crazy busy and as I chatted with people in line it became clear that this was a huge storm affecting a huge area and that I'd stumbled across one of the few places that actually was still working. Again, I said a prayer of thanks as I headed safely home.
The next week's camp had to be cancelled as it was a whole week before they got the power back on. For some folks it took even longer. Many folks that day were stranded, unable to get gas. I count it as something of a miracle of time and place that I made it back to Long Island not only with gas in my tank, but having had a good breakfast. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
My next engagement over the summer was being music leader at Trinity Youth Conference in Pennsylvania. For different reasons, this too turned out to be quite a trip. TYC, as its known, is for older High School and college age youth. I was delighted that one of our own youth, Brian Achille was able to attend. It is a humbling thing to listen to some of these young adults share their stories and their struggles. The pressure that a lot of our kids are under, from broken homes, unrealistic family expectations, pressure of finance and work, desire to be acceptable to their peers... can almost break your heart. I never grew up with that sort of pressure. Hold our young folk in your prayers.
TYC is a place where they find themselves, they find each other and in many cases find God is with them in the midst of their struggles. I would share some of their stories, but we make a covenant at TYC; 'What happens at TYC stays at TYC'. It's a safe place where they can be who they are, say what they want and ask questions without it getting back home or with fear of being judged. I can tell you this though. At TYC God works to restore what life has broken. And it is a beautiful and wonderful thing to observe. It's a place where God's secret plans connect with God's children.
On August 1st I'm sitting at the breakfast table. It is half way through the week, and I need coffee. So I head for the kitchen for a fresh brew. What I don't know is that back home my brother Steven has just called my wife Yvonne to pass on the sad news that my mum had just passed away. Knowing that at this camp cell-phones are not allowed and that I could be anywhere on the 150 acre site, Yvonne calls the camp, simply to see if they can find me. Her call goes straight through to the kitchen as I'm walking in to get my coffee wearing a label with my name on it. 'Could you find Adrian Pratt for me?' Yvonne asks this guy, whom I don't know from Adam. As he answers the phone, there I am, standing right in front of him. He looks at my name tag. 'It's for you' he says. Of course this is sad news for me to hear, but the amazing thing is, I'm right there to take that call. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
The week is over. Funeral plans are being made. But we had scheduled vacation time and set appointments to pursue the very wonderful task of Yvonne, daughter Helen and the bridesmaids shopping for a wedding dress in Virginia whilst I spent some time with my future son-in-law. What now Lord? It turns out that over in my homelands, various cousins and family are also having scheduling problems. So the funeral is delayed for a few days and we have time to go to be with my daughter, and get back in time for us to have time to travel back to England for the funeral.
First day we are spending with my daughter in Herndon, Virginia, I wake up with the words of an English folk song that reminds me of mum singing in my head. The words, particularly appropriate to my life situation, say “It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me, but my darling when I think of thee”. Obviously, I'm from Liverpool, I'm grieving and I'm missing my darling mum. Ever heard the song? On the radio maybe? No? Well I've never heard it, anywhere since moving to the USA many years ago.
'Where are we going to eat?' We decide on the local Irish pub. I'm sitting next to the little stage as a guitar and banjo duo are setting up. By now you can guess what's coming! What is the first song that they sing, that I've never heard this side of the big pond but was buzzing though my head that morning? You guessed! 'It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me, but my darling when I think of thee!” Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
We travel to my homelands for mum's funeral. At one point I'm standing in the Moreton Methodist Church, the church my mum helped found and where she bought me to be baptized, my first Sunday School teacher is standing one side of me, my Presbyterian minster and mentor Rev. Barrie Redmore is standing the other side of me, and I'm thinking how strange it is to have all these spritual strands that have weaved their way though my life suddenly coming together at one time, in one place, through the normal everyday actions of drinking tea and sharing in conversation. I'm sharing with cousins I hadn't seen for years, rebuilding family connections and I'm just thinking, you can't plan this stuff, you can't make it up. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
After our trip to England for the funeral we return to Baldwin. It's dark and we're tired. But when we get up next morning we go outside and Building and Grounds have been at work in the flower beds at the manse. It looks great! That was so kind of you! We have a mail box later in the day filled with wonderful cards and expressions of sympathy. When I'm writing this sermon, I'm in North Carolina and James Taylor comes on the radio singing 'When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand...You got a friend” So now here I am wanting to express to you, this congregation who have reached out to me friendship and concern and love, thank you for being a friend. Coincidence or God-incidence?
Finally. Last week I'm on study leave at Montreat Conference Center. I am not expecting to be meeting with anybody I know. At the first meal, who comes across to sit with me. Of course. Rev. Bob Wood. Whose late wife Lynn Wood prepared the curriculum I used up at Bluestone Conference Center, Bob, whom I missed seeing up there by a few hours. On Wednesday afternoon we get a chance to reconnect and renew a friendship... and even to grieve a little over the losses we've experienced. We spend more time together than we would have had a chance to had we been passing ships up at camp. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
Now let me say I have no desire to explain or suggest anything from all these connections other than that it seems to me that there is more going on in and around our lives than we are often prepared to acknowledge. It all proves nothing. But you see, that's what these elements of bread and wine on the table are all about. We are invited to share in the mystery of the fact that our lives can be blessed and nurtured and nourished and changed and are accompanied by the living influence of Jesus Christ, though the power of God's Spirit.
It has for me and mine been quite a summer. I'm thinking, 'Where did it go? What just happened?' But I'm also grateful to God. Grateful to God for a wonderful church family who have been there for me in a time of need. Grateful to God for the love and grace and joy I find through Jesus Christ. Grateful to God for getting me through. It's nothing I can earn. It's nothing I deserve. It truly is a mystery.
And, I'm thinking maybe there's been things that I've shared this morning that have resonated with things you have been going through. Maybe over the summer in your own life there have been things that made connections or caused more questions than answers. And maybe all of that is connected with our walk with God.
So in conclusion I share again the text from Ephesians 3:6 with which I began 'The mystery is... that through the gospel... we are sharers together in the promise...” And I ask you to ponder with St.Paul and myself as we come to the table together: Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan. God's secret plan! Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at Baldwin Presbyterian Church on September 2nd 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
I don't know what sort of summer you have had. I hope it's been a good one. I want to share with you this morning that whilst in many ways for myself it has been an unusual summer of highs and lows, it has also been one in which I have been very conscious of the presence of God and the support of God's people. As we come to the table this morning I want to share some of my own summer stories and focus on a verse found in the third chapter of Ephesians 'The mystery is... that through the gospel... we are sharers together in the promise...” (excerpt from Ephesians 3:6)
One of the lessons I have had reinforced for me over the summer is that there are our plans... and then there are God's plans. The two do not necessarily coincide. In fact sometimes God takes us through circumstances that are not at all what we expected or even wish to welcome. When that happens, the mystery of God's grace often surprises us in unexpected and surprising ways. I've said before that to me the miracle in events is not so much that they happen, but the synchronicity that is present in the where, when and how things happen. So I'm borrowing a phrase from our scripture passage and calling this sermon “God's Secret Plan”.
One of the first things I was involved in this summer was leading a youth camp at Bluestone Conference Center, which is a beautiful place, high up on a mountain, in my previous Presbytery of West Virgina. The plan was that I was to lead a High School group in conversations about worship. As the date grew closer registration was down, but the normal camp program was taking place so Mark Miller the director said 'Come along anyway'.
Instead of focusing on worship, the theme was changed to a curriculum prepared some years before that focussed on our denomination's Brief Affirmation of Faith. It had been prepared by a wonderful Christian Educator from Charleston, WV, called Lynn Wood, who sadly lost her battle with cancer this past December. Her husband Rev. Bob Wood, was a good friend of mine and I hadn't had a chance to see him since he lost his wife. I knew he was at the camp the week before me, so I kind of hoped to reconnect with him. We missed each other by six hours. Oh well. Things don't always go according to plan!
I was familiar with the curriculum as I'd used it before when I'd been leading a creative arts group and we had set much of the text of the Affirmation of Faith to music. I wasn't sure I'd have a chance to share any of the songs we'd done years before. But when I arrived at camp I discovered that the folk who had been leading the music at worship and song time weren't going to be there, so I found myself in the role of song leader! Naturally I taught them a couple of the songs we'd used some years before. One of them had the words, “In life and death we belong to God'. Another began 'We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life.'
Camp was fun. Until the last evening. It was the Friday night that the storm hit that knocked power out of much of Virginia and West Virginia. One moment we were sitting in a field enjoying the kids acting out there skits. Then we heard the wind coming. Sounded like a freight train. We shouted at the kids to run towards the chapel building. By the time we were half way across the field the dust was blowing in our eyes, trees were cracking and limbs falling and the wind blowing so strong that it was knocking some of the younger kids down. Some of the little ones (and not so little) were terrified as we herded them into the building and told them to sit in the middle away from the windows.
It was then a little group of them began quietly singing 'In life and death we belong to God' and 'We trust in God the Holy Spirit', the songs I'd been able to teach them. The words took on a new significance as these kids thought they really were in a life or death situation and the only one they felt they could trust in was God! As they sang, and as we told stories and said prayers, the storm quickly passed, and although it had taken the power out, an hour or so later we were enjoying a fireworks display that marked the close of camp. An interesting end to the week! Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
But I kept to my plan and left around 3:30 in the morning. With us having lost communication with the outside world I had no idea of the extent of the storm. I wound down a narrow road where, thankfully, somebody had gone before me and cut a way through the fallen trees and debris. At one point I hit some fog and what I think were downed power lines scraped the top of my little Hyundia. I dread to think what could have happened if I were driving a larger vehicle like the Honda Element I usually took to camp! So I get to Hinton, the first town. Complete darkness. No power. I travel along the interstate to Lewisberg. Same story. Only then do I catch the news on the radio that most of the Eastern Seaboard up to Washington DC is out of power. My gas guage showed I had about 45 miles left of fuel. The nearest large town, which may or not have had power was about 50 miles away. 'Lord' I pray silently 'What now?'
I see a sign for gas and decide to take it. The gas station looks deserted but there is a white van parked next to the pump and a guy scratching his head looking at it. I pull up and shout over, 'Anything working?' He says he thinks so but his credit card was taking forever to clear. I give it a try. Sure enough it takes the card but then the screen goes blue. I notice the guy in the white van is now pumping gas and smiling. A moment later my card also clears and I'm able to fill up. Although the gas station is deserted apart from the two of us, there's a generator humming somewhere in the back... so I whisper a little thankyou and breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I can get home!
A little while later I stumble across a McDonalds with a generator. Bear in mind I've been on the road since 3:30 in the morning. I need some coffee. It was crazy busy and as I chatted with people in line it became clear that this was a huge storm affecting a huge area and that I'd stumbled across one of the few places that actually was still working. Again, I said a prayer of thanks as I headed safely home.
The next week's camp had to be cancelled as it was a whole week before they got the power back on. For some folks it took even longer. Many folks that day were stranded, unable to get gas. I count it as something of a miracle of time and place that I made it back to Long Island not only with gas in my tank, but having had a good breakfast. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
My next engagement over the summer was being music leader at Trinity Youth Conference in Pennsylvania. For different reasons, this too turned out to be quite a trip. TYC, as its known, is for older High School and college age youth. I was delighted that one of our own youth, Brian Achille was able to attend. It is a humbling thing to listen to some of these young adults share their stories and their struggles. The pressure that a lot of our kids are under, from broken homes, unrealistic family expectations, pressure of finance and work, desire to be acceptable to their peers... can almost break your heart. I never grew up with that sort of pressure. Hold our young folk in your prayers.
TYC is a place where they find themselves, they find each other and in many cases find God is with them in the midst of their struggles. I would share some of their stories, but we make a covenant at TYC; 'What happens at TYC stays at TYC'. It's a safe place where they can be who they are, say what they want and ask questions without it getting back home or with fear of being judged. I can tell you this though. At TYC God works to restore what life has broken. And it is a beautiful and wonderful thing to observe. It's a place where God's secret plans connect with God's children.
On August 1st I'm sitting at the breakfast table. It is half way through the week, and I need coffee. So I head for the kitchen for a fresh brew. What I don't know is that back home my brother Steven has just called my wife Yvonne to pass on the sad news that my mum had just passed away. Knowing that at this camp cell-phones are not allowed and that I could be anywhere on the 150 acre site, Yvonne calls the camp, simply to see if they can find me. Her call goes straight through to the kitchen as I'm walking in to get my coffee wearing a label with my name on it. 'Could you find Adrian Pratt for me?' Yvonne asks this guy, whom I don't know from Adam. As he answers the phone, there I am, standing right in front of him. He looks at my name tag. 'It's for you' he says. Of course this is sad news for me to hear, but the amazing thing is, I'm right there to take that call. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
The week is over. Funeral plans are being made. But we had scheduled vacation time and set appointments to pursue the very wonderful task of Yvonne, daughter Helen and the bridesmaids shopping for a wedding dress in Virginia whilst I spent some time with my future son-in-law. What now Lord? It turns out that over in my homelands, various cousins and family are also having scheduling problems. So the funeral is delayed for a few days and we have time to go to be with my daughter, and get back in time for us to have time to travel back to England for the funeral.
First day we are spending with my daughter in Herndon, Virginia, I wake up with the words of an English folk song that reminds me of mum singing in my head. The words, particularly appropriate to my life situation, say “It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me, but my darling when I think of thee”. Obviously, I'm from Liverpool, I'm grieving and I'm missing my darling mum. Ever heard the song? On the radio maybe? No? Well I've never heard it, anywhere since moving to the USA many years ago.
'Where are we going to eat?' We decide on the local Irish pub. I'm sitting next to the little stage as a guitar and banjo duo are setting up. By now you can guess what's coming! What is the first song that they sing, that I've never heard this side of the big pond but was buzzing though my head that morning? You guessed! 'It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me, but my darling when I think of thee!” Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
We travel to my homelands for mum's funeral. At one point I'm standing in the Moreton Methodist Church, the church my mum helped found and where she bought me to be baptized, my first Sunday School teacher is standing one side of me, my Presbyterian minster and mentor Rev. Barrie Redmore is standing the other side of me, and I'm thinking how strange it is to have all these spritual strands that have weaved their way though my life suddenly coming together at one time, in one place, through the normal everyday actions of drinking tea and sharing in conversation. I'm sharing with cousins I hadn't seen for years, rebuilding family connections and I'm just thinking, you can't plan this stuff, you can't make it up. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
After our trip to England for the funeral we return to Baldwin. It's dark and we're tired. But when we get up next morning we go outside and Building and Grounds have been at work in the flower beds at the manse. It looks great! That was so kind of you! We have a mail box later in the day filled with wonderful cards and expressions of sympathy. When I'm writing this sermon, I'm in North Carolina and James Taylor comes on the radio singing 'When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand...You got a friend” So now here I am wanting to express to you, this congregation who have reached out to me friendship and concern and love, thank you for being a friend. Coincidence or God-incidence?
Finally. Last week I'm on study leave at Montreat Conference Center. I am not expecting to be meeting with anybody I know. At the first meal, who comes across to sit with me. Of course. Rev. Bob Wood. Whose late wife Lynn Wood prepared the curriculum I used up at Bluestone Conference Center, Bob, whom I missed seeing up there by a few hours. On Wednesday afternoon we get a chance to reconnect and renew a friendship... and even to grieve a little over the losses we've experienced. We spend more time together than we would have had a chance to had we been passing ships up at camp. Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan, but maybe God's secret plan!
Now let me say I have no desire to explain or suggest anything from all these connections other than that it seems to me that there is more going on in and around our lives than we are often prepared to acknowledge. It all proves nothing. But you see, that's what these elements of bread and wine on the table are all about. We are invited to share in the mystery of the fact that our lives can be blessed and nurtured and nourished and changed and are accompanied by the living influence of Jesus Christ, though the power of God's Spirit.
It has for me and mine been quite a summer. I'm thinking, 'Where did it go? What just happened?' But I'm also grateful to God. Grateful to God for a wonderful church family who have been there for me in a time of need. Grateful to God for the love and grace and joy I find through Jesus Christ. Grateful to God for getting me through. It's nothing I can earn. It's nothing I deserve. It truly is a mystery.
And, I'm thinking maybe there's been things that I've shared this morning that have resonated with things you have been going through. Maybe over the summer in your own life there have been things that made connections or caused more questions than answers. And maybe all of that is connected with our walk with God.
So in conclusion I share again the text from Ephesians 3:6 with which I began 'The mystery is... that through the gospel... we are sharers together in the promise...” And I ask you to ponder with St.Paul and myself as we come to the table together: Coincidence or God-incidence? Not my plan. God's secret plan! Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
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