Denial and Recovery

Readings: Psalm 118:1-19, Isaiah 50:4-9, Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 22:31-34, 54-60
 Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, March 24th,2013

A printable PDF file can be found here

The crowds on Palm Sunday welcome Jesus with cries of welcome. 'Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is He'. Yet in under a week those cries have turned to shouts of 'Crucify Him, Crucify Him'. We may put it down to the fickle nature of the crowd, but if we dig deeper we find within ourselves that we also can betray truths we claim to believe. In none of the disciples is that better exemplified than Peter.

Peter moves from simply denying he ever knew Jesus, through to claiming no relationship with the disciples and eventually to rejecting his personal identity. There would be a recovery for Peter. Such an opportunity is always an open door for each of us. But we have to recognize our denials before we can ever move to a place of recovery.

Peter's first denial is of Jesus himself. “A servant girl saw him seated by the firelight. She looked at him closely. “This man was with Him”. But he denied it. “Woman, I don't know Him' he said.” (Luke 22:56-57). This first denial has to do with his personal faith.

There is something telling in Luke's description of the woman looking closely at him as he sat in the light of the fire. Sunday morning faith permits us to make an easy confession. When we are in the midst of the faithful, singing our songs, saying our prayers, shutting the world outside beyond our doors, it is not so hard to say 'Jesus is Lord.'

But when things start to fall apart, when we get a little too close to the fire, when we are far from home and facing the worst, where then is our confession? When people probe our faith and ask us hard questions about our beliefs, how do we hold up? We could say to ourselves, 'I do allright, I can stick up for what I believe, I'm confident I can rise to the challenge.'

But that's exactly what Peter said to Jesus, earlier in the day.'Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat'. Peter (probably wondering why Jesus was calling him by the name he had before he came to faith) declares 'Lord, I'm ready to go to prison for you, even to death with you.”

Peter thought he was secure. Hadn't Jesus called him the rock? Hadn't Jesus said that it was upon a faith like his that the church would be built? We may be tempted to think that when it comes to faith, we've got enough. We go to church, we read our bibles, we say our prayers, we try and be good people.

Trouble is, if we think we've arrived, if we think we've gone far enough and deep enough, then we are in denial. We are setting ourselves up for a fall. When the time of testing comes we are going to be found floundering and spluttering and fearful and hurting.

Let us not be in denial about the fragile nature of our faith. Look deeply into yourself, before someone else does it. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit refine your heart, before the fire of the world burns your relationship with God. Peter's first denial is very personal. He denies his savior.

The second denial comes in verse 58 “A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them” Having firstly denied his savior, Peter now denies his relationship to his fellow disciples. He goes from 'I don't know Him' to 'I don't know them'.

I have noticed in my own spiritual walk, that when I have conflicts with my personal faith, they soon spill over into conflicts with my communal faith. That is, if I'm in denial of my need for the personal grace of God to renew my life, I also deny my need for others to help me grow in my faith. I deny my need for community. I believe I can make it alone.

You here a lot of people say these days, 'I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious'. That often translates into, “I'm going my own way and don't see any need to belong to an organization like the institutional church.” 

I have been around church most of life. And you know what? It ain't easy. God goes and calls people to be part of our church communities that aren't the folk we want to hang out with! Think about the disciples.  Two sets of brothers. A freedom fighter. John, who seems a bit of a romantic. Thomas, whom we remember because of his doubts.  Judas who turns out to be a traitor. What an odd collection of guys!

But it turned out that their faith grew strong because they stayed in community.  Their jagged edges refined each other. They had to deal with each other and be accountable to each other. As a church we have meeting in our building a number of help groups, Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous. The people in those groups understand the power of community to effect the kind of recovery that going it alone cannot do.

I would suggest to you that every person who is truly on a spiritual journey, is a person in recovery. We are sinners who need the salvation grace of Jesus Christ to remould us and reshape us and renew us. We are all in recovery. And if we think we can do that alone, we are in denial. Peter's second denial is of his connection to the community of the faithful.

I understand that for some folks, maybe particularly our younger folks in school or college, to be seen belonging to a church, can make you seem way out of step with some of your friends.  Peer pressure is brutal. But I'd encourage you to trust in God to make a way for you to be yourself, without fear of what others may think. If you get the first thing right, your relationship with God, then somehow, your relationship to the church isn't a problem! Peter only denied his friends, after he'd denied his Lord.

Let us move onto that third denial. Luke 22:59 'About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean”. Peter replied, “Man, I don't know what you're talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.”

This third denial in some ways is the saddest of them all. Peter loses his very identity. He was a Galilean, and Galileans were known for their protective nature towards their home town. This was like a New Yorker, saying, “New York? No. Never bin there. I'm from da South”. Not only would his accent give him away, it would be a denial of his roots.

When we are in denial about something it has that effect. We lose ourselves. We forget about our commitments to family, to community, to friends and colleagues. We just want to get away. We want a complete change of identity. But, we are who we are. And though we may try and conceal it, others will see through it.

As soon as I am involved in a conversation with somebody I haven't met before, it doesn't take them long to ask, 'What sort of accent is that?” I usually try and explain that it's a broadly British, tinged with West Virginian, Long Island dialect... I can't do anything to change it, and if I tried to hide it, it would still slip out. So Peter, can't hide where he is from.

I guess we all have those moments, when for some reason or other, we try and pretend that we're something that we're not. Maybe we're trying to fit in. Maybe we're afraid of what somebody will think. It never works. Remember that song, 'Oh yes, He's the great Pretender'? We can all be tempted to play that game.

One of the wonderful things about belonging to the Kingdom of God is that God doesn't want us to be anybody other than ourselves. God can use everything about us, our background, our talents, our dreams, our peculiarities. If we lay them at God's disposal, they are not a weakness but a strength.

After the rooster crows, we read “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.” (verse 61). We don't know what kind of look that was, but it caused Peter, not simply to regret what he had just done, but more importantly, it gave Peter the strength to walk away from his denials and make an amazing recovery.

Earlier at supper Jesus had said to him, “I have prayed for you Simon that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (verse 31). Did you hear that? 'When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers”

God can use those times when we are at our worst, our days of ultimate failure, to demonstrate the power of His grace and His love. Peter fails. Miserably. He promises to give it all and ends up denying it all. But he made a recovery. And what a recovery!

• He recovers his relationship with Jesus. He discovers in a new way the power of Jesus to forgive him and renew him. He becomes one of the first disciples to witness the resurrection. Before his denials, his words came from misplaced pride. Afterward, they came from brokenness and grace, and they become real and powerful
• He recovers his relationship to the church. He becomes the first spokesperson on the day of Pentecost, the day the church is born. He becomes one of the key leaders, main preachers, one of the churches greatest leaders.
• He recovers his identity. He holds his head up high as a citizen of the kingdom of God. He could tell you, 'That's where I'm coming from, that's where I belong, that's where I'm headed. That's who I am”.

Now what's the name of that big fancy church in Rome? That's right. St Peter's. Not a bad recovery for a guy who in our reading says, 'I don't know Jesus, I don't want anything to do with His church, I just want to be somebody else!” An amazing story of denial and recovery.

The crowds on Palm Sunday changed their cries of 'Hosanna' to shouts of 'Crucify Him'. But that wasn't the end of the story. Jesus was crucified. And as He hung on the cross, He prayed for them, 'Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing!”

I believe Jesus still makes that prayer for our world and over each one of us.  I believe that, even though we can be in denial of His love, He still reaches out to each of us. I believe that if only we can recognize where we fall, the strength offered through his Holy Spirit can pick us up again, restore us and offer us visions of new possibilities and opportunities.

As we reflect this morning on the ability of Jesus to take us, in all our brokenness, and use us for something beautiful, may we be encouraged to place our lives in God's hands. He did it for Peter, who denied that he even knew who Jesus was. His grace and love can do amazing things in us and through us, if we just allow God to be God.

And to God's name be the glory. Amen.

Rev. Adrian J. Pratt

Saint Patrick of Ireland

Readings: Psalm 97:1-12, Ezekiel 36:33-38, 1 Thessalonians 2:2b-12, Matthew 28:16-20
First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, March 17th 2013

A printable PDF file can be found here

Patrick was born about 390, in southwest Britain, somewhere between the Severn and the Clyde rivers, son of a deacon and grandson of a priest. When about sixteen years old, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland.

Much of what we know about him comes from his own writings. He has left us an autobiography (called the Confessions), a 'Letter to Coroticus' in which he denounces the slave trade and rebukes the British chieftain Coroticus for taking part in it, and there is a poem known as the 'Lorica' or 'Breastplate', that is traditionally attributed to his influence.

Patrick's confession of faith begins:-“I am Patrick. I am a sinner; the most unsophisticated of people, the least among all Christians, and to many, the most contemptible. I am the son of the deacon Calpornius, as he was the son of the priest Potitus who belonged to the village on Bannavem Taburiae. When aged about sixteen I was taken captive. I was then ignorant of the true God and along with thousands of others was taken into captivity in Ireland.

There the Lord opened my understanding to my unbelief, so that however late, I might become conscious of my failings and turn with all my heart to the Lord. For it was He who looked on my lowliness and had mercy on the ignorance of my youth, and looked after me before I knew Him and before I had gained any wisdom.”

Patrick's spiritual journey begins in a similar way to many people of faith. Something happens that strips away all the things he took for granted and caused him to question what life is about. In the midst of changing circumstances he is convicted of the enormity of the grace of God that is reaching out to him and transforming him, an experience that he feels totally unsuited for.

After six years, he either escapes or is freed, and makes his way to a port 200 miles away, where he persuades some sailors to take him onto their ship. He returns to his family much changed, and begins to prepare for the priesthood, and to study the Bible.

In his own words, “After a few years I was again with my parents in Britain who welcomed me as a son. They, in good faith, begged me, after all those great tribulations I had been through, that I should go nowhere, nor ever leave them. And it was there, I speak the truth, that I saw a vision in the night: a man named Victorious, like one from Ireland, coming with innumerable letters. He gave me one of them and I began to read what was in it: 'The voice of the Irish'. And it was at that very moment as I was reading out the letter's opening, I thought I heard the voice of those around the wood of Folcut, which is close to the Western Sea. It was if they were shouting with one voice, “O holy boy, we beg you to come back and walk among us” I was broken-hearted and could not read another word.”

Initially Patrick is reluctant to go back to Ireland. But after a series of further visions and with the counsel of those around him, around 435, Patrick is commissioned, perhaps by bishops in the area of Southern France then known as Gaul, to go to Ireland as a bishop and missionary.

He made his headquarters at Armagh in the North, where he built a school, and had the protection of the local King. From this base he made extensive missionary journeys. Many times he faces opposition from local chieftains and land owners. Threats on his life appear to have been frequent. Later stories of his life tell of daring deeds, miracles and of the masses of people who embrace the Christian message under his leadership. The number of churches, both in Ireland and beyond, that claim him as their inspiration, is beyond counting. Under his influence Ireland is converted from paganism to Christianity.

He writes to the Irish people in his confession, “I spend myself for you that you might lay hold of me. Indeed I have traveled everywhere for your sake; I have gone amid many dangers; I have gone to places beyond where anyone lived; and I have gone where no one else had gone to baptize people, or ordain clergy, or complete people. With God's help I have carried out all these things lovingly, carefully and most joyfully for your salvation.

I was not the sort of person you would expect the Lord to give this grace to, nor did I deserve it, for I know with the greatest certainty that poverty and woe are more my line than pleasures and riches, after all, Christ the Lord was poor for our sakes. Not a day passed but I expected to be killed or taken back into slavery or assaulted in some other way. But for the sake of the promise of heaven I fear none of these things. Indeed I have cast myself into the hands of God, the Almighty One who rules everywhere as the prophet has said, “Cast Your Burden on the Lord and He will sustain you.”

Patrick's spiritual life is built upon an unwavering trust in God. His spiritual journey is informed not only by Scripture, but by personal dreams and visions and the counsel of those around him. He has a deep sense of the presence of Jesus Christ within Him and all around him. He sees the presence of Christ everywhere, even in those who stand against him.

For Patrick God is One who reveals love to the world through the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Patrick's view of the Trinity the three persons of the Trinity are in a state of constant dynamism. God is all in all and through faith in God's grace, revealed in Jesus Christ, we become caught up in the action of God's Holy Spirit and our lives are transformed by God's love.

This is so wonderfully expressed in the words we used to open our worship this morning. “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in     quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger. I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One, the One in Three, of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word. Praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord.”

This is the theology expressed in Celtic art, wonderful spiraling patterns that when you trace them you realize are actually just one line! A world peopled not only with humans, but angels and demons and saints and creatures beyond our comprehension, yet in the midst of  all the mystery stands Christ as Savior, Redeemer and Center of all.

In the celebrations of St Patrick's Day it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the one being celebrated was a humble christian missionary who knew nothing of parades, leprechauns and dark beer. The real Saint Patrick was a man of overcoming faith that led a nation to embrace the Christian message.

He offers a theology that embraces all of life and speaks of the presence of God in Christ, acting through God's Holy Spirit, within us around us and through our communal life as faith communities. For Patrick God is so intractably entwined in all of life, that we only find life by participating in the dance of the Trinity. 

Patrick is a reluctant servant who would probably be scornful of the honor laid upon him. He concludes in his confession. “I now pray for anyone who believes in, and fears God, who may perchance come upon this writing which Patrick, the sinner and the unlearned one, wrote in Ireland. I wrote it so that no one might say that whatever little I did, or anything I made visible according to God's pleasure, was done through ignorance. Rather you should judge the situation and let it truly believed that it was 'the gift of God'. And this is my declaration before I die.”

Truly we can say that Patrick was a gift of God, not just to the Irish, but to the Christian church across the centuries. May the example of his humble leadership and faithful adherence to the tasks God was calling him to, continue to inspire people across the generations. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt

Footnote on our closing hymn: 'BE THOU MY VISION'

In 433 AD St. Patrick came to the Hill of Slane in County Meath. It was the night before Easter, and concurrently the beginning of the Druidic festival of Bealtine, as well as the beginning of the Spring Equinox. High King Leoghaire (pronounced "Leary") mac Neill had issued a decree that no fires were to be lit until the lighting of the blaze atop nearby Tara Hill that would usher in the Spring Equinox.

The first fire, however, was not that of King Leoghaire. Rather, it was a flame lit by St. Patrick to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Instead of executing him, King Leoghaire was so impressed by St. Patrick's courage that he allowed him to continue with his missionary work throughout Ireland.

About 100 years later, inspired by the events on the Hill of Slane, Irish poet Dallan Forgaill wrote the original words to "Be Thou My Vision" in Gaelic The poem was not translated into English until 1905 when Mary E. Byrne wrote a literal translation. The words were made into verse and published by Eleanor H. Hull in a 1913.  The tune  is appropriately called 'SLANE', a centuries old Irish folk melody, and recalls Patrick's Easter fire lighting. The hymn first started appearing in Irish hymnals around 1919 and has been a favorite of many people ever since.

Travelling Instructions

Readings: Isaiah 55:1-9,Psalm 63:1-8, Luke 13:1-91 Corinthians 10:1-13
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, March 3rd, 2013

A printable PDF file can be found here

Long journeys can severely test your patience. You get up late, break a few speed limits to get the airport only to arrive and look at the information board and find your flight has been cancelled. So maybe you decide to drive.

It’s a hot sticky one, you’ve got a whole days traveling ahead of you, 40 minutes into the journey and a voice comes from the back, “Daddy, I need the bathroom”. “Why didn’t you go before we left like we asked you to?” “I didn’t need to go then, I need to go now”. So you stop and get back on the road again, another ten minutes and it’s “Are we there yet?”

No, we’re not there yet. And then the trouble really starts. “She touched me!” “He touched me first”. So you play a game, O.K first one to spot a blue truck. “There’s one”. “That’s not blue, it’s aqua-marine”. “Aqua-marines a shade of blue, so I win” “No you don’t, that was a car, not a truck, mom said a truck”

By this time dad has come off the main road into the traffic and managed to end up in an area that is totally unidentifiable and there’s not a sign in sight that gives a clue as to which way the interstate may be. So you drive around and somebody suggests dad should stop and ask for directions. Now that is not going to happen in a hurry because men are from Mars and women are from Venus. And on Mars, when you need help, you ask.

Finally, after passing the same gas station for the fourth time, Dad pulls in and sends mom to ask directions from somebody inside. It’s only then, whilst parked up that you notice the sign for the Interstate you’d already passed five times. And it’s right there.

Hours later you get to the hotel and everybody is hot, bothered, and not in the best of holiday spirits. One of the kids is wiping away the tears. The other is squirming and red in the face because they really can’t hold off from the bathroom much longer. Mom has her arms folded and is breathing just a tad faster than normal. The receptionist greets you with a chirpy “Welcome to the Hotel Sandy-Beach”. And everybody is just praying that Dad doesn’t express how he’s really feeling right that moment.

Vacations can turn into the sort of excursions that can cause even the most seasoned families to lose their marbles. When the Israelites came out of Egypt it was no vacation, but an act of liberation. Liberation to a hot and sticky forty year long journey through a desert before any of them ever made it to a promised land.

Along the way were occasions when the people expressed the strongest regret at having left Egypt. They complained. A lot. They felt that slave life was a preferred option to starvation in the wilderness. They doubted Moses ability to lead them. They wondered if the God that Moses kept talking about was really all that Moses claimed.

And there were occasions when they gave up on God altogether and turned to golden calves, unrestrained excess, and the fulfillment of their most basic desires as a way to help them cope with the traveling experience.

In our reading that came from the Book of Corinthians Paul uses the example of the Israelites journey through the wilderness as a way to encourage the church to be faithful to God as they make their own spiritual journey. He provides them with some traveling instructions. Let me summarize them under three headings.

1. Remember who you are.
2. Resist the temptation to grumble
3. Realize the faithfulness of God

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE

We are the people of God. We are people that God chooses to enter into a covenantal relationship with through Jesus Christ. We are people who pass through baptismal waters and eat around a table laid with bread and wine as a sign of community. We are accompanied on our journey of faith by the cloud of God’s presence, the unseen cloud of many witnesses and words of promise passed to us across the centuries.

We are the inheritors of a faith that was forged in the experiences of Israel, our ancestors were under the cloud and passed through the sea, they ate the same spiritual food and spiritual drink, they drank from the same spiritual rock, the rock of Jesus Christ.

Remember who you are. This journey didn’t begin with you nor will it end with you. Yet your life is an intrinsic part of the fabric of faith, your personal faith journey is one of many threads that make up a great tapestry that pictures the Grace of God, in which every perspective is welcomed, every heart is embraced, and all are called by name and valued.

Remember who you are. A child of God greatly loved. Such knowledge does not mean all our problems and trials instantly evaporate into thin air. But it surely can help us travel through them. And it may well prevent us from indulging in a second thing identified in this passage

RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO GRUMBLE

Speaking of the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness Paul writes in verses 10 “Do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer”. Going back to the illustration I used at the start, there is one thing that for sure can ruin a good journey. Groaning, Complaining and Mumbling.

Paul is not writing about a family vacation. He’s writing to a church about the church. He knew that one thing that can destroy any congregation is when it’s membership cease becoming encouragers and start to become complainers. The church community provides a setting where grumblers and mumblers destroy each other.

There is a huge difference between offering constructive criticism and grumbling. There is nothing wrong with evaluating a situation, pointing out any strengths and weaknesses and working together with others to bring about positive change. That’s constructive. That’s positive. It builds. It moves us forward.

Grumbling comes from selfishness. I don’t like this. I can’t control this. So I’m going to pull it down. Grumbling is not voicing an opinion; it’s voicing an opinion in such a way as to cause discouragement and discontent. It’s having your mouth in motion whilst your mind is in limbo. It kills churches.

It causes a process. The same process as happened amongst the children of Israel. First came the murmurs and grumbles. “Well, I don’t know about Moses, we were better off back in Egypt”. Discontent with Moses leads to discontent with the God of Moses. “Great God, huh? Delivering us from Egypt only to perish out here!”

Discontent with God led to idolatry. “Y’know I think we can find a better God than this one”. Idolatry led to self-indulgence. “Hey this golden calf thing is great! Let’s party! Let’s do whatever the heck we want to do, because nobody can stop us now!” Unrestrained indulgence led to tragedy. “Twenty-three thousand fell in a single day”.

Paul says 10:6 “These things occurred as examples for us”. He warns us in verse 12, “If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall”. How do we then stand firm? We  remember who we are. We resist the temptation to grumble. Thirdly we ;

REALIZE THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.

Our reading concluded, “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

There are numerous things we can do to ensure that when temptation comes, we find a way through. Sometimes we will fall, but such experiences are common to everyone, and we should not let our walk with God be determined by the stumbles but by the strides.

One of the greatest things God has given us is the gift of each other to help us along the spiritual road. That’s why ‘grumbling’ is such a bad thing for community life and ‘encouragement’ is such a builder. Facing our problems and sharing our struggles together creates a way forward for us when the going is rough.

The spiritual disciplines of prayer and reading God’s Word likewise build into our lives strengths that help us out when difficult times come along. Just as we take care of our bodies through physical exercise it is important that we take care of our spiritual lives through regular and disciplined spiritual practices, sharing in worship, feeding our minds on solid things, nurturing our spirits by allowing God’s Holy Spirit to move us and renew us.

Simply recognizing that God is on our side, and that the tests that come our way are not to catch us out, but to deepen our relationship with Him, can help us see things in a different light. God is faithful. God’s people? “They are weak, but He is strong”.

• Remember who you are
• Resist the temptation to Grumble
• Realize the Faithfulness of God.

Traveling Instructions
Things that can help us move along on our spiritual journeys.

Rev. Adrian J. Pratt