Readings; Psalm 8, Genesis 1:1-2,4a, Matthew 28:16-20, 2 Corinthians 13:5-13
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 15th 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
The school year is over. All the exams and tests have been completed. At least that's what you thought! Our reading from 2 Corinthians suggests that there is one more test that we need to apply to ourselves. And nobody is exempt.
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.”
There's a difference between this test and all the other tests you will ever have to take in your life. This one is self-adjudicated. The only examination board is yourself. There are no grades that are going to be given. This one is simply pass or fail. It's that simple.
And the curious thing about it is the person who invites you to take the test, the apostle Paul, is actually worried that they themselves may fail it! When he writes to the Corinthians he says, in verse 6; “I hope you will find out that we have not failed.”
Paul is concerned that all the things he has shared with them through his preaching and teaching has not taken any root in their lives. He is worried that he has been wasting his time, that his teaching has had no good impact on them. He's grading his own performance on the results that he sees in them. Had they learned anything about what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus?
There were problems in Corinth. The church was split into different groups and the different groups were finding it hard to get along with each other. Each different group had their favorites that they followed and each one seemed to think that they were the most important ones.
Then there was the problem that some of the people in the church thought that when Paul told them God forgave them for their sins that it meant it didn't matter how they lived. If God forgave them, they could do whatever they liked and it didn't matter. Why? Because God was going to forgive them anyway!
And on top of all that there were people who thought that they knew better than Paul how to please God. In fact some of them seemed to have thought that they knew better than God how to please God and were making up their own rules to live by. It was as though they were saying, “I know you told us that Jesus taught that we should live this way, but we don't think that's realistic. We are going to do things our way instead!”
In verse 11 Paul puts it to to them 'Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.'
When we look back at how Paul taught them and the way the church would eventually grow and prosper, we can see that actually Paul did a great job as a teacher. Eventually the people in Corinth came to realize that the things he was teaching them made sense and that his encouragement to follow Jesus was worth following up on! It just didn't feel that way when he wrote the letter... and he was not one to hide the way he saw things. As he says in verse 8 “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.”
These words have something to offer us as we today celebrate a number of different things. Firstly they are an encouragement to all who give their lives to the task of teaching others. Whether it's in the school system or here at the church. Take note of the fact that Paul was discouraged.
You can have those days when you feel that despite all the seeds you have sown nothing has taken root. We forget so easily that seeds take a time to grow. And sometimes the weeds grow more aggressively than the seeds. It's always been that way. You can't force people to learn, no matter how amazing the lesson is you are trying to share with them. Paul had the greatest lesson of all... the invitation to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. His words were life-changing but you get the impression that some of those around him just gave the gospel a 'Whatever!' response.
So teachers, be encouraged! Maybe you, more than most can identify with Paul's words as he writes in verse 9 “For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect.” Learning life's lessons takes a lifetime!And we are all disciples ourselves, with a lot to learn. So remember that God is with you and keep on doing what you do!
It's Fathers Day. There are encouraging words here also for Father's. Paul speaks about “Using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.” It often falls upon the Father of a household to be the final authority. Often Dad's have the last word. I realize that these days we have many different kinds of households, but in every home there's always someone who has the final word.
Paul here encourages us to use our positions of authority, those places where we have the ability to make things happen, to use such leverage to 'build up' not to 'tear down.' In other words, don't just be encouraged, seek to be an encourager to others. Nurture those skills that help you be a good Father. Listen to those around you that you have to make decisions for. Seek their best, not just what may be easiest. Build up, don't put down.
And again, like Paul, you have those times when you don't feel up to the task. There is something very 'Father-like' in verse 7 '”We pray to God that you may not do anything wrong-- not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.” It's almost as though Paul is that parent who is saying, 'Look, it's not about me. I just want the best for you!” Some of us are fortunate to have had parents just like that, and we thank God for them!
This time of year is also graduation time. Graduation is a wonderful time of transition, moving from something you know to something as yet undiscovered. You look back at where you have been and you look forward to where you may yet be! There is both encouragement and caution in verse 5 where Paul writes “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?-- unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!”
He is telling us that we would not be where we are if God had not been with us. Through God's grace, Jesus has been with us every step of our journey. He's been in on everything we have done. So be thankful! Don't you realize that Jesus has been a part of your journey so far, helping you, guiding you, encouraging you?
Then we get that idea of the test, which is where we started this sermon today. The test we are to apply to our lives, be it as teachers, parents or graduates, is that we continue to seek for the presence of Jesus Christ to be in and around our lives. That where ever life may lead us, we will go forward knowing our lives are in God's hand, and indeed seeking to place them in God's care. That way, as Paul writes in the final verse of chapter 13 we fulfill what he most wished for our lives “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”
I know we sometimes use similar words at the close of our service. They are indeed a great encouragement and very fitting for this day in the churches calendar, that also happens to be Trinity Sunday.
That we go on our way, knowing that the grace of Jesus goes ahead of us. That we move forward knowing that God's love is moving all around us. That we can trust that God is surrounding our life with the presence of God's Holy Spirit, the most wonderful communion our lives can experience.
We have come full circle. Be we teachers, Fathers, Graduates … or wherever life has placed us... we can all apply to our lives Paul's words with which we started. 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.”
May we each simply seek to be the people God is calling us to be and do those things that God is calling us to do, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and conscious of the love of God that surrounds our lives. Amen!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
Burning Lamps
Readings; Psalm 131, Isaiah 9:2-7, Matthew 6:25-34, Acts 20:7-12
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 1st 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our Bible reading from the Acts of the Apostles spoke of Paul's last visit to Troas. Come with me and picture the scene on that day. It's late. We're in an upstairs room, gathered to here the words of a great man, a great preacher. We're all crammed together, like sardines, because he's going away tomorrow and we'll never have a chance to hear him again. As he speaks we are hanging on every word.
Sitting on the window sill is John Smiths son Jimmy. The preachers been talking for a while. It's late. Jimmy is starting to nod off. In fact he literally 'Falls asleep', falls out of the upstairs window onto the ground. "Oh No!" shouts somebody "Jimmy just fell out the window!"
There is a great commotion as we all push and shove down a narrow flight of stairs out into the street of the town. At this late hour lights start going on in the surrounding homes as people are awakened by our commotion. Mrs. Smith runs over to where Jimmy lies, picks up his head.. he's not breathing... there's no pulse. It can't be. He's dead? A silence descends on us all as a couple of the guys try and offer help. We stand around like dummies in a shop window.
Then the preacher makes his way through the crowd. He hadn't rushed down stairs like the rest of us. He beckons the guys trying to revive Jimmy out of the way and throws himself down on the ground next to Jimmy's corpse and hugs him. You don't know what to do. It's embarrassing. Visiting preachers don't usually embrace corpses. 'Don't worry', He smiles as he gets to his feet, 'He's still alive'.
The lad opens his eyes, sits up, looks around and gives the kind of look that says, "What am I doing down here, why are you all staring at me, and am I grounded for this?" We run back up stairs, some dumfounded, some talking... "He can't really have been dead". "He was y'know, I felt for a pulse..."
We share together in broken bread and then settle down to listen to what the speaker has to say. This time nobody drops off to sleep, but everybody is encouraged and comforted and when we do finally leave it is with a great sense of peace, joy and wonderment.
Such is a similar scenario to what took place when the apostle Paul visited Troas. It's one of the few pictures in Scripture of what happened when Christians in the early church met for worship. Apart from warning about the dangers of falling asleep during the sermon, it has a whole lot to teach us about what Christian worship could be like. One of the most illuminating verses in the passage comes at Acts 20, verse 8. "Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room."
I'm sure it was literally true, they would need lamps because it was dark. But you can also interpret this verse in a spiritual sense. In Troas many peoples hearts were burning with the desire to serve and follow Jesus Christ, catching fire under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is in that spiritual sense I'd like to think on those words today, "Many lamps were burning", for many hearts were hungry for God to speak.
The result of those burning lamps was worship that had a dynamic intensity. Theologian, Karl Barth, a man of great depth and intellect, penned these challenging words. "Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life." I'm not the only one who has been in services where the most momentous thing that has happened has been if the pastor has tripped on the steps or someone has dropped a hymnbook!
Christian worship is meant to be dynamic. Whether or not it is depends on how brightly the light of Christ burns in our hearts. Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. But what set those people alight? Their worship was focused on the great drama of crucifixion and resurrection. At the center of any Christian worship service must be a profound appreciation of the death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection to life. It is that experience of death being overcome by life that lies at the heart of the gospel message. It is towards that experience that the celebration of communion directs us.
It was a message that was vividly demonstrated by Paul's revival of Eutychus, the young man who fell out of the window. It is a message reinforced time and time again in the New Testament. Think, for example, of the Fathers words over the prodigal son who returned home. "He was dead, but now he's alive, Lost but now he's found".
Every year, till he passed away, I received a Christmas Card from Rev Eric Evans, a retired Welsh Presbyterian minister and ex-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, who attended the church I was nurtured in, that of Moreton Presbyterian in Merseyside, England. As a young person in that church, we always loved it when Eric preached. He was a fiery preacher. He'd shout when he was excited. He'd bang on the bible and wake up the little old ladies who had fallen asleep on the back rows. He had a few phrases that always let you know when a good story was coming, usually something along the lines of, "I remember a time when I was driving my car to Cardiff".
When I received a call to the ministry Eric was delighted. He used to write me encouraging letters at college. In one of them, after I'd preached at Hoylake, he wrote; "Adrian, if I had one word of advice for you it would be this. Preach often on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many things you can talk about, all sorts of interesting subjects you can preach about, but only the message of the crucifixion and the resurrection can bring a person from death to life and out of darkness into the light. Your calling is not to entertain people with fine words but to set them on fire with the Holy Spirit.".
One thing that can set our worship alive is to have that individual appreciation of what Jesus Christ has done for us. He died for us and was raised for us and because of God's grace we are saved.
I find it fascinating to attend events where people get really excited about their salvation in Christ. Because, after all, remember I am British. And we're bred not to be excited about anything except for football matches and cricket games. The 'stiff upper lip' and keeping your feelings to yourself, they're one of the few things the British could beat the world at if only they'd make it an Olympic Sport.
But; unless you have a bit of the Lord's fire in your life, it is nigh on impossible to really worship Him. What are we going to sing about if all those hymns about salvation are outside our experience? How can we be excited about prayer if we've decided we are not the praying type? How can we draw near to God if we have intellectually distanced our self from the personal, Parent God of Scripture who reveals God's love to us in Jesus Christ?
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room. Many hearts excited about their faith and coming to worship in expectancy. What is burning in our heart this day? What are the burning concerns that we have brought to this time of worship? What burns in us?
Could be fear. "What is the world coming to. How can I cope with this?" Could be complacency. "I'm all right. I don't need a Savior. "Could be unbelief. "Don't care what any preacher says. I'm going to do my own thing." Could be desire. "I want this, I want that and unless I get it I will never be satisfied"
What burns within us? We have an idea what we should be thinking about in church. We know, maybe, why we should come to church. But what really burns in us? What do we really want? The answer we give will determine how dynamic and momentous our worship is!
Eutychus, in our bible reading, wasn't burning with much desire, except to go to sleep. He couldn't stay awake. He fell out of the window. He was dead when they got downstairs. I know people fall asleep sometimes in church. I can see you all from the pulpit. So, listen, if your feeling sleepy, get out of the pew and sit in the window ledge. Then think about what happened to Eutychus and I guarantee you won't find it so easy to snooze.
Ephesians 5:15 has these words, which maybe Paul spoke to Eutychus. "Awake sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you". Eutychus woke up. Eutychus rose from death. Eutychus knew that Christ's light shone on him, and that night many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. Jesus said, "You are like light for the whole world. Your light must shine before people so that they will see the good things you do and Praise your Father in heaven." There is a way to be light in a dark world. God says so. The light is rekindled through worship. As the Westminster Catechism puts it, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever.
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room, because there had been many lamps burning throughout the past week. At times maybe they flickered. Some may even have gone out altogether. Some were still waiting to be lit. But when the people of God come together with their minds set on worship, hearts are set on fire to serve the Lord.
Praise God we have been granted another opportunity to rekindle our faith. May our burning desire right now be to enter into communion with Jesus Christ, that God's Spirit may renew our lives and that His Presence be our guide throughout the days that lie ahead.
"There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room." AMEN!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 1st 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our Bible reading from the Acts of the Apostles spoke of Paul's last visit to Troas. Come with me and picture the scene on that day. It's late. We're in an upstairs room, gathered to here the words of a great man, a great preacher. We're all crammed together, like sardines, because he's going away tomorrow and we'll never have a chance to hear him again. As he speaks we are hanging on every word.
Sitting on the window sill is John Smiths son Jimmy. The preachers been talking for a while. It's late. Jimmy is starting to nod off. In fact he literally 'Falls asleep', falls out of the upstairs window onto the ground. "Oh No!" shouts somebody "Jimmy just fell out the window!"
There is a great commotion as we all push and shove down a narrow flight of stairs out into the street of the town. At this late hour lights start going on in the surrounding homes as people are awakened by our commotion. Mrs. Smith runs over to where Jimmy lies, picks up his head.. he's not breathing... there's no pulse. It can't be. He's dead? A silence descends on us all as a couple of the guys try and offer help. We stand around like dummies in a shop window.
Then the preacher makes his way through the crowd. He hadn't rushed down stairs like the rest of us. He beckons the guys trying to revive Jimmy out of the way and throws himself down on the ground next to Jimmy's corpse and hugs him. You don't know what to do. It's embarrassing. Visiting preachers don't usually embrace corpses. 'Don't worry', He smiles as he gets to his feet, 'He's still alive'.
The lad opens his eyes, sits up, looks around and gives the kind of look that says, "What am I doing down here, why are you all staring at me, and am I grounded for this?" We run back up stairs, some dumfounded, some talking... "He can't really have been dead". "He was y'know, I felt for a pulse..."
We share together in broken bread and then settle down to listen to what the speaker has to say. This time nobody drops off to sleep, but everybody is encouraged and comforted and when we do finally leave it is with a great sense of peace, joy and wonderment.
Such is a similar scenario to what took place when the apostle Paul visited Troas. It's one of the few pictures in Scripture of what happened when Christians in the early church met for worship. Apart from warning about the dangers of falling asleep during the sermon, it has a whole lot to teach us about what Christian worship could be like. One of the most illuminating verses in the passage comes at Acts 20, verse 8. "Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room."
I'm sure it was literally true, they would need lamps because it was dark. But you can also interpret this verse in a spiritual sense. In Troas many peoples hearts were burning with the desire to serve and follow Jesus Christ, catching fire under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is in that spiritual sense I'd like to think on those words today, "Many lamps were burning", for many hearts were hungry for God to speak.
The result of those burning lamps was worship that had a dynamic intensity. Theologian, Karl Barth, a man of great depth and intellect, penned these challenging words. "Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life." I'm not the only one who has been in services where the most momentous thing that has happened has been if the pastor has tripped on the steps or someone has dropped a hymnbook!
Christian worship is meant to be dynamic. Whether or not it is depends on how brightly the light of Christ burns in our hearts. Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. But what set those people alight? Their worship was focused on the great drama of crucifixion and resurrection. At the center of any Christian worship service must be a profound appreciation of the death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent resurrection to life. It is that experience of death being overcome by life that lies at the heart of the gospel message. It is towards that experience that the celebration of communion directs us.
It was a message that was vividly demonstrated by Paul's revival of Eutychus, the young man who fell out of the window. It is a message reinforced time and time again in the New Testament. Think, for example, of the Fathers words over the prodigal son who returned home. "He was dead, but now he's alive, Lost but now he's found".
Every year, till he passed away, I received a Christmas Card from Rev Eric Evans, a retired Welsh Presbyterian minister and ex-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, who attended the church I was nurtured in, that of Moreton Presbyterian in Merseyside, England. As a young person in that church, we always loved it when Eric preached. He was a fiery preacher. He'd shout when he was excited. He'd bang on the bible and wake up the little old ladies who had fallen asleep on the back rows. He had a few phrases that always let you know when a good story was coming, usually something along the lines of, "I remember a time when I was driving my car to Cardiff".
When I received a call to the ministry Eric was delighted. He used to write me encouraging letters at college. In one of them, after I'd preached at Hoylake, he wrote; "Adrian, if I had one word of advice for you it would be this. Preach often on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many things you can talk about, all sorts of interesting subjects you can preach about, but only the message of the crucifixion and the resurrection can bring a person from death to life and out of darkness into the light. Your calling is not to entertain people with fine words but to set them on fire with the Holy Spirit.".
One thing that can set our worship alive is to have that individual appreciation of what Jesus Christ has done for us. He died for us and was raised for us and because of God's grace we are saved.
I find it fascinating to attend events where people get really excited about their salvation in Christ. Because, after all, remember I am British. And we're bred not to be excited about anything except for football matches and cricket games. The 'stiff upper lip' and keeping your feelings to yourself, they're one of the few things the British could beat the world at if only they'd make it an Olympic Sport.
But; unless you have a bit of the Lord's fire in your life, it is nigh on impossible to really worship Him. What are we going to sing about if all those hymns about salvation are outside our experience? How can we be excited about prayer if we've decided we are not the praying type? How can we draw near to God if we have intellectually distanced our self from the personal, Parent God of Scripture who reveals God's love to us in Jesus Christ?
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room. Many hearts excited about their faith and coming to worship in expectancy. What is burning in our heart this day? What are the burning concerns that we have brought to this time of worship? What burns in us?
Could be fear. "What is the world coming to. How can I cope with this?" Could be complacency. "I'm all right. I don't need a Savior. "Could be unbelief. "Don't care what any preacher says. I'm going to do my own thing." Could be desire. "I want this, I want that and unless I get it I will never be satisfied"
What burns within us? We have an idea what we should be thinking about in church. We know, maybe, why we should come to church. But what really burns in us? What do we really want? The answer we give will determine how dynamic and momentous our worship is!
Eutychus, in our bible reading, wasn't burning with much desire, except to go to sleep. He couldn't stay awake. He fell out of the window. He was dead when they got downstairs. I know people fall asleep sometimes in church. I can see you all from the pulpit. So, listen, if your feeling sleepy, get out of the pew and sit in the window ledge. Then think about what happened to Eutychus and I guarantee you won't find it so easy to snooze.
Ephesians 5:15 has these words, which maybe Paul spoke to Eutychus. "Awake sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you". Eutychus woke up. Eutychus rose from death. Eutychus knew that Christ's light shone on him, and that night many lamps were burning in the upstairs room. Jesus said, "You are like light for the whole world. Your light must shine before people so that they will see the good things you do and Praise your Father in heaven." There is a way to be light in a dark world. God says so. The light is rekindled through worship. As the Westminster Catechism puts it, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever.
There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room, because there had been many lamps burning throughout the past week. At times maybe they flickered. Some may even have gone out altogether. Some were still waiting to be lit. But when the people of God come together with their minds set on worship, hearts are set on fire to serve the Lord.
Praise God we have been granted another opportunity to rekindle our faith. May our burning desire right now be to enter into communion with Jesus Christ, that God's Spirit may renew our lives and that His Presence be our guide throughout the days that lie ahead.
"There were many lamps burning in the upstairs room." AMEN!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Knowing the Way
Readings: Acts 17:22-31, 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21, Psalm 37:1-6
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, May 25th 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Psalm 37:5 : " Give yourself to the Lord; Trust in Him, and He will help you"
How do we know the way of the Lord?
How can we find out what God's way is and so do the things He wants us to do?
Without faith, of course, nothing can be said about being guided by God. The whole thing rests upon our eagerness to listen for God's voice and our willingness to respond to it. Faith that Jesus is the Son of God He claimed to be, that He died and now He lives, that God has a purpose and can direct our lives through His Holy Spirit. What I'm asking right now is not whether that faith is there, but how, within that faith, God can guide our lives.
In examining that question I want to consider with you some of the ideas of John Wesley, the great Methodist Revivalist. Although he lived in the eighteenth Century his ideas on discerning the will of God have guided people of many generations.
John Wesley proposed four tests for truth, known to many of our Methodist friends as the ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral’.
Through their creeds and confessions the Reformed churches have always stressed the authority of the scriptures. Wesley saw the Bible as the fundamental source of guidance for Christian people. We have a responsibility to take every word we hear, any preaching we seek to understand, any advice (however well meaning), that we are given to our study of God's Word and see if what we are being advised is consistent with the truth we find in Scripture.
There is no shortage of people around who will tell us, "The Lord wants me to do this" or "God is saying this". If what God is supposedly saying is not in accordance with what God has already said in God’s Word then the speaker may be confusing the voice of God with thoughts from within themselves or from some other source.
I have had people tell me "Jesus told me you should this" or "God wants you to do things my way". I am very suspicious of such statements, particularly if what the Lord has said to them reflects some prejudice or characteristic peculiar to that person. Sometimes people use the phrase, "God has said" as a form of emotional blackmail or to give more credibility to their own personal views.
I do believe that God can and will guide us in specific ways as we meditate upon and study God’s Word. It has been my experience that some of the most important decisions in my life have had their roots in prayerful and careful reading of God's Word. Where there is an open bible and an open mind, an expectancy of meeting with God, alongside a desire to do His will then people discover the truth the Psalmist spoke of, "Thy word is a light unto my feet".
John Wesley's first point. God guides us through prayerful consideration of the Bible. We have a duty to test everything we hear against the revealed truth of Scripture.
2. God guides us through Reason.
If we are considering a certain course of action or thinking about a particular word we have heard, Wesley's second criteria was the test of reason. Does what we are hearing make sense? Is there any coherence to it? Would this be a reasonable course of action to take? Is it something understandable or explainable to others?
You have probably heard the story of the man who was fed up of life. Nothing seemed to be going his way. He tried this and that until eventually he shouted out to God, "Lord, what would you have me do?" His plea was met with a stony silence. He had heard that God spoke through the Bible so in desperation he pulled one of the shelf, blew off the dust and said to God, "Right, Lord this is it. The first thing I read when I open this bible will be your word to me."
He opened it up and read Matthew 27:5 "Judas went off and hanged himself."
"Lord" he said, "The next thing I read in the bible will be your word to me". Having read of Judas's suicide the next thing he read was this:- "Go thou and do likewise.”
There is a huge difference between treating Scripture as some sort of spiritual lottery and prayerfully seeking the will of God. The Lord has created us with a capacity for reason. We have a mind and an intellect and disciples are expected to be responsible in using their God given capacity to think things through and consider the implications.
William Barclay writes, "Do not leave your mind behind when you try to read the Bible, or when you try to discern the direction God is leading your life. The truth of Christ is for the body, soul and spirit, for mind, feeling and heart".
We do not have to reason alone. We have each other. It is helpful to share our thoughts with our fellow travelers on the spiritual highway. If our thoughts are jumbled or if we are blind to possible consequences of our actions, it often takes some one else to set us straight. That's why it is important to talk things through. The more important the decision, the more reason to talk it through.
But a word of caution. When it comes to personal things don't just to talk to anyone and everyone. Seek out people you can trust and that you respect. People you can share with in confidence. Try and find those on a similar wave length or at least sympathetic to your needs and feelings. For there is also a biblical parable about casting pearls before swine!
3. God guides us through Tradition
It has been said that one of the greatest failures of the church of the current day is that her people have forgotten where they came from. They do not know their roots nor are they aware of their heritage. In a country as young as the United States that is particularly true. We are in danger therefore, in scriptures words, of "Being tossed to and fro with every word of doctrine", of being taken in by whatever sounds comfortable, attractive or easy.
It is sad that for some people "Tradition" has become a dead word. Something to be resisted and fought against, something negative and restraining. For sure it can become that. I'm reminded of the father in the "Fiddler on the Roof" and that marvelous story of how "Tradition" had to be maintained, yet in the interests of love also be reformed.
What is tradition? It is that experience of others that has proved the way of the Lord in the heat and fire of trial and tragedy. An ancient saint, St. Teresa, when crossing a stream in full rage, told her sisters, "Fear not, I have touched the bottom, and it is sound." Tradition tells us others have stood on the foundation of God's Word and God's Way and found it solid as a rock.
It is those principles, the accumulated experience of 2000 years of discipleship that we should take notice of. Whilst the outer world of civilization has changed, the inner world of the soul and the spirit have remained the same. We are still people who remain restless till their heart finds it home in the Fathers arms.
We can look back and see how people have made right and wrong choices. We can see how God has guided people in the past and how differences of opinion have been resolved. Sometimes we have to look back before we can go forward. We need to be reminded that we are not the first, nor shall we be the last to launch out in faith. God guides us through traditions.
4. God guides us through experience.
For most of us, for something to be relevant to us, it has be something we have personally experienced.
You can look at pictures of a sunset in a book and say, "My, that looks nice". But to stand on the banks of an ocean shore, watch the sun sink slowly down, see the changing colors, the red and the yellow glow that seems to burn on the water, to gaze undisturbed at the end of a day, is far more than saying, "My, that looks nice".
Such is the difference between giving assent to truth with our mind and knowing truth through our own experience. The more we experience the touch of God on our lives, the clearer we are able to understand the way He wants us to go. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life", Jesus told His disciples. The more we practically apply ourselves to living out the truths of Christianity then the clearer the Way we should go becomes.
We started out asking "How do we know the way of the Lord?" John Wesley offers us some pointers in the right direction.
The most important thing of all though is to have surrendered our lives to His love. Unless we can come to Jesus and say, "Lord, I will do whatever you want me to do" then we shouldn't expect to receive His guidance. What we would like, what we think is best for us, doesn't come into it. The basic essential is a living faith that places us in the right position to follow.
All of which brings us full circle to the words of the Psalmist with which we started;
Psalm 37:5 " Give yourself to the Lord; Trust in Him, and He will help you"
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, May 25th 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Psalm 37:5 : " Give yourself to the Lord; Trust in Him, and He will help you"
How do we know the way of the Lord?
How can we find out what God's way is and so do the things He wants us to do?
Without faith, of course, nothing can be said about being guided by God. The whole thing rests upon our eagerness to listen for God's voice and our willingness to respond to it. Faith that Jesus is the Son of God He claimed to be, that He died and now He lives, that God has a purpose and can direct our lives through His Holy Spirit. What I'm asking right now is not whether that faith is there, but how, within that faith, God can guide our lives.
In examining that question I want to consider with you some of the ideas of John Wesley, the great Methodist Revivalist. Although he lived in the eighteenth Century his ideas on discerning the will of God have guided people of many generations.
John Wesley proposed four tests for truth, known to many of our Methodist friends as the ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral’.
- The Bible
- Reason
- Tradition
- Experience
Through their creeds and confessions the Reformed churches have always stressed the authority of the scriptures. Wesley saw the Bible as the fundamental source of guidance for Christian people. We have a responsibility to take every word we hear, any preaching we seek to understand, any advice (however well meaning), that we are given to our study of God's Word and see if what we are being advised is consistent with the truth we find in Scripture.
There is no shortage of people around who will tell us, "The Lord wants me to do this" or "God is saying this". If what God is supposedly saying is not in accordance with what God has already said in God’s Word then the speaker may be confusing the voice of God with thoughts from within themselves or from some other source.
I have had people tell me "Jesus told me you should this" or "God wants you to do things my way". I am very suspicious of such statements, particularly if what the Lord has said to them reflects some prejudice or characteristic peculiar to that person. Sometimes people use the phrase, "God has said" as a form of emotional blackmail or to give more credibility to their own personal views.
I do believe that God can and will guide us in specific ways as we meditate upon and study God’s Word. It has been my experience that some of the most important decisions in my life have had their roots in prayerful and careful reading of God's Word. Where there is an open bible and an open mind, an expectancy of meeting with God, alongside a desire to do His will then people discover the truth the Psalmist spoke of, "Thy word is a light unto my feet".
John Wesley's first point. God guides us through prayerful consideration of the Bible. We have a duty to test everything we hear against the revealed truth of Scripture.
2. God guides us through Reason.
If we are considering a certain course of action or thinking about a particular word we have heard, Wesley's second criteria was the test of reason. Does what we are hearing make sense? Is there any coherence to it? Would this be a reasonable course of action to take? Is it something understandable or explainable to others?
You have probably heard the story of the man who was fed up of life. Nothing seemed to be going his way. He tried this and that until eventually he shouted out to God, "Lord, what would you have me do?" His plea was met with a stony silence. He had heard that God spoke through the Bible so in desperation he pulled one of the shelf, blew off the dust and said to God, "Right, Lord this is it. The first thing I read when I open this bible will be your word to me."
He opened it up and read Matthew 27:5 "Judas went off and hanged himself."
"Lord" he said, "The next thing I read in the bible will be your word to me". Having read of Judas's suicide the next thing he read was this:- "Go thou and do likewise.”
There is a huge difference between treating Scripture as some sort of spiritual lottery and prayerfully seeking the will of God. The Lord has created us with a capacity for reason. We have a mind and an intellect and disciples are expected to be responsible in using their God given capacity to think things through and consider the implications.
William Barclay writes, "Do not leave your mind behind when you try to read the Bible, or when you try to discern the direction God is leading your life. The truth of Christ is for the body, soul and spirit, for mind, feeling and heart".
We do not have to reason alone. We have each other. It is helpful to share our thoughts with our fellow travelers on the spiritual highway. If our thoughts are jumbled or if we are blind to possible consequences of our actions, it often takes some one else to set us straight. That's why it is important to talk things through. The more important the decision, the more reason to talk it through.
But a word of caution. When it comes to personal things don't just to talk to anyone and everyone. Seek out people you can trust and that you respect. People you can share with in confidence. Try and find those on a similar wave length or at least sympathetic to your needs and feelings. For there is also a biblical parable about casting pearls before swine!
3. God guides us through Tradition
It has been said that one of the greatest failures of the church of the current day is that her people have forgotten where they came from. They do not know their roots nor are they aware of their heritage. In a country as young as the United States that is particularly true. We are in danger therefore, in scriptures words, of "Being tossed to and fro with every word of doctrine", of being taken in by whatever sounds comfortable, attractive or easy.
It is sad that for some people "Tradition" has become a dead word. Something to be resisted and fought against, something negative and restraining. For sure it can become that. I'm reminded of the father in the "Fiddler on the Roof" and that marvelous story of how "Tradition" had to be maintained, yet in the interests of love also be reformed.
What is tradition? It is that experience of others that has proved the way of the Lord in the heat and fire of trial and tragedy. An ancient saint, St. Teresa, when crossing a stream in full rage, told her sisters, "Fear not, I have touched the bottom, and it is sound." Tradition tells us others have stood on the foundation of God's Word and God's Way and found it solid as a rock.
It is those principles, the accumulated experience of 2000 years of discipleship that we should take notice of. Whilst the outer world of civilization has changed, the inner world of the soul and the spirit have remained the same. We are still people who remain restless till their heart finds it home in the Fathers arms.
We can look back and see how people have made right and wrong choices. We can see how God has guided people in the past and how differences of opinion have been resolved. Sometimes we have to look back before we can go forward. We need to be reminded that we are not the first, nor shall we be the last to launch out in faith. God guides us through traditions.
4. God guides us through experience.
For most of us, for something to be relevant to us, it has be something we have personally experienced.
You can look at pictures of a sunset in a book and say, "My, that looks nice". But to stand on the banks of an ocean shore, watch the sun sink slowly down, see the changing colors, the red and the yellow glow that seems to burn on the water, to gaze undisturbed at the end of a day, is far more than saying, "My, that looks nice".
Such is the difference between giving assent to truth with our mind and knowing truth through our own experience. The more we experience the touch of God on our lives, the clearer we are able to understand the way He wants us to go. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life", Jesus told His disciples. The more we practically apply ourselves to living out the truths of Christianity then the clearer the Way we should go becomes.
We started out asking "How do we know the way of the Lord?" John Wesley offers us some pointers in the right direction.
- The Bible. God guides us through prayerful consideration of His Word.
- Reason. We have a mind and an intellect to guide us. We have each other to reason with.
- Tradition. The accumulated experience of 2000 years of Christianity needs taking note of. Tradition assures us others have "touched the bottom and found it sound"
- Experience. The more we experience the touch of Christ on our lives the more we will be able to discern the voice of Jesus amongst all the other voices that call to us.
The most important thing of all though is to have surrendered our lives to His love. Unless we can come to Jesus and say, "Lord, I will do whatever you want me to do" then we shouldn't expect to receive His guidance. What we would like, what we think is best for us, doesn't come into it. The basic essential is a living faith that places us in the right position to follow.
All of which brings us full circle to the words of the Psalmist with which we started;
Psalm 37:5 " Give yourself to the Lord; Trust in Him, and He will help you"
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Peculiar People
Readings: Psalm 116:1-19, Exodus 19:1-8, Luke 24:13-35, 1 Peter 2:1-9
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, May 4th, 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you, out of darkness into His marvelous light"
(1 Peter 2:9)
The phrase in that verse that always tickles me is where Peter describes Christians as "Peculiar people". As I've stood in pulpits in different places around the world and looked out at congregations, I have seen some peculiar people. There's a church in Tillingham, in England, that advertises itself as "The Peculiar People South Street Chapel". I've often wondered if they ever had people attending their services just to see how peculiar they were.
Looking back over the history of Christianity it has to be said that the church has had more than it's fair share of odd characters who expressed their religion in the strangest of ways. But when the bible here uses the word peculiar, it isn't using it in the sense of describing some odd behavior or eccentricity. Rather, the word peculiar is used to describe the unique lifestyle and way of being that discipleship of Jesus Christ calls us to.
God calls us to be peculiar in the sense of having the sort of life that others recognize as belonging to God. He calls us, explains Peter, "Out of darkness into His marvelous light". As I saw on a poster :-) "God is looking for Spiritual fruits not religious nuts".
Who are God's peculiar people?
In a nutshell; I'm looking right at you! For some peculiar reason God has chosen a bunch of people as inconsistent and as contradictory as we are to be His own! Don't ask why ... that's the mystery of Divine Grace. I can't speak for you, but I'm not sure I would be my ideal choice for a person likely to do much good for the Kingdom. Maybe that's the way it has always been.
Our Old Testament reading had Moses addressing the Israelites after coming down from Mount Sinai with the laws. "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession" (Exodus 19:5). Moses was such a reluctant leader that he even had Aaron do his speaking for him because he was so afraid of speaking in public. Maybe he knew how stubborn his fellow Israelites could be.
Stubborn they were, but, this verse shows that God was choosing them to be the world’s peculiar people. It wasn't that they were better than any other race or even more deserving. There was a job that needed doing and they were the ones God chose for the task. Problem was that some of them had the idea that being the "Chosen People" gave them a God given right to look down their noses at everybody else. "We're the best. We're the holy ones… the chosen ones"
That's the peculiar thing about being God's chosen people. Yes, He chooses us, but it is in spite of who we are not because of the way we are. We are not called to be 'holier than thou' people who insist that they alone have been privileged to have the truth revealed to them. God chooses us not to parade our imagined virtues but to offer ourselves to others in service.
The Israelites where chosen to be a light for all nations. They were to structure their lives and the life of their community in such a way that other nations would come to understand that God was at work in their midst. They were to prepare the way for the Messiah to come so that a program of Kingdom like faith could be a part of all races of all peoples of all times and places.
So who are God's peculiar ones today? The Christian Church, in all her variety, all her many different traditions and ways of expressing her faith. Who are the peculiar people who make up the church? Peculiar people like ourselves! Every believer and follower of Jesus Christ is one of God's peculiar people.
What should be peculiar about us?
The other sections of this verse give us some clues. You could do a whole sermon on each one of these, but let's just scratch their surface and try and get a little from each picture we're given.
1. A Chosen Generation
A Christ-like life should have the peculiar feature about it that the disciple recognizes them self as chosen of God. Not in pride or arrogance, but with humility and Christ directed praise.
Christ died for us. We did nothing to deserve it. On the contrary, ours were the sins that caused His abandonment to the cruel nails of Calvary's cross. We have done nothing to deserve being called chosen ones. He has done it all. This is the central core of the Gospel. We can't reach God. He reaches out to us through Jesus Christ and works in us through the Holy Spirit. In humility this leads us to praise. "I was lost but now I'm found, blind but now I see". The mystery of God's choosing is just that... a mystery. A peculiar mystery.
2. A Royal Priesthood
One of the great Reformation doctrines is the priesthood of all believers. Every Christian belongs to a royal priesthood. That means that whatever standards we expect of a Christian bishop or a minister, or a priest or a pastor, any servant of God, they are the standards we should apply to our own lives.
We (meaning all of us) are a royal priesthood. Those who stand in pulpits don't have any special access to God or any special resource of spirituality to draw upon that is not available to any other Christian person. I don't have in the pulpit a special telephone hot-line to heaven.
I can't forgive your sins. I can't give you a new life. I can't heal you. I can't convert anyone or save any one. I can not guarantee a glorious life after death. All I can do is say, "I know someone who can. He is Jesus Christ, the Lord". I can share with you what He's doing for me. And I know, that, because you are part of the same royal priesthood that I belong to, that if He can do amazing things for me, He can do amazing things for you.
We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.
3. A Holy Nation.
"Holiness" is about is being "Set Apart". God calls us to holiness of life. When we dedicate ourselves to that task then it does set us apart from others. We are to be a light that shines ... for as the text we have been looking at concludes, God has called us "Out of darkness and into His marvelous light to show forth praise and glory".
There's something very earthy and incarnational about true holiness. It's not sanctimonious or "Holier than thou". It's the sort of peculiar characteristic that made Jesus so very human yet so very much more human than most of us ever come near achieving. It's not something that takes us out of the world to an ivory tower where we sit and contemplate life, the universe and how many angels could dance on a pinhead.
Here's part of a letter by an anonymous author, who in the early years of Christianity wrote about the peculiar nature of those who were part of the earliest church.
Letter to Diognetus, (sometime in the second Century)
"These Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language or customs; you see they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect... They live in their own native lands, as citizens they share all things with others; but live like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country and every native country as a foreign country.
They marry and have children just like everyone else, but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are present in the flesh but do not live according to the flesh. They are passing their days on earth but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws but go beyond the laws in their own lives.
To put it simply, Christians are in the world but live in a way that is out of this world"
Don't be afraid to stand out of the crowd as one of God's peculiar people. He has chosen you to serve Him. He describes you individually as royalty - a royal priesthood and together as a chosen generation and a holy nation. But don't let that go to your head. See it for what it is. A call to service and a call to be a model of discipleship that others can relate to and follow.
To close, let me remind you of those words of our text;-
"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you, out of darkness into His marvelous light". (1 Peter 2:9)
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, May 4th, 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you, out of darkness into His marvelous light"
(1 Peter 2:9)
The phrase in that verse that always tickles me is where Peter describes Christians as "Peculiar people". As I've stood in pulpits in different places around the world and looked out at congregations, I have seen some peculiar people. There's a church in Tillingham, in England, that advertises itself as "The Peculiar People South Street Chapel". I've often wondered if they ever had people attending their services just to see how peculiar they were.
Looking back over the history of Christianity it has to be said that the church has had more than it's fair share of odd characters who expressed their religion in the strangest of ways. But when the bible here uses the word peculiar, it isn't using it in the sense of describing some odd behavior or eccentricity. Rather, the word peculiar is used to describe the unique lifestyle and way of being that discipleship of Jesus Christ calls us to.
God calls us to be peculiar in the sense of having the sort of life that others recognize as belonging to God. He calls us, explains Peter, "Out of darkness into His marvelous light". As I saw on a poster :-) "God is looking for Spiritual fruits not religious nuts".
Who are God's peculiar people?
In a nutshell; I'm looking right at you! For some peculiar reason God has chosen a bunch of people as inconsistent and as contradictory as we are to be His own! Don't ask why ... that's the mystery of Divine Grace. I can't speak for you, but I'm not sure I would be my ideal choice for a person likely to do much good for the Kingdom. Maybe that's the way it has always been.
Our Old Testament reading had Moses addressing the Israelites after coming down from Mount Sinai with the laws. "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession" (Exodus 19:5). Moses was such a reluctant leader that he even had Aaron do his speaking for him because he was so afraid of speaking in public. Maybe he knew how stubborn his fellow Israelites could be.
Stubborn they were, but, this verse shows that God was choosing them to be the world’s peculiar people. It wasn't that they were better than any other race or even more deserving. There was a job that needed doing and they were the ones God chose for the task. Problem was that some of them had the idea that being the "Chosen People" gave them a God given right to look down their noses at everybody else. "We're the best. We're the holy ones… the chosen ones"
That's the peculiar thing about being God's chosen people. Yes, He chooses us, but it is in spite of who we are not because of the way we are. We are not called to be 'holier than thou' people who insist that they alone have been privileged to have the truth revealed to them. God chooses us not to parade our imagined virtues but to offer ourselves to others in service.
The Israelites where chosen to be a light for all nations. They were to structure their lives and the life of their community in such a way that other nations would come to understand that God was at work in their midst. They were to prepare the way for the Messiah to come so that a program of Kingdom like faith could be a part of all races of all peoples of all times and places.
So who are God's peculiar ones today? The Christian Church, in all her variety, all her many different traditions and ways of expressing her faith. Who are the peculiar people who make up the church? Peculiar people like ourselves! Every believer and follower of Jesus Christ is one of God's peculiar people.
What should be peculiar about us?
The other sections of this verse give us some clues. You could do a whole sermon on each one of these, but let's just scratch their surface and try and get a little from each picture we're given.
1. A Chosen Generation
A Christ-like life should have the peculiar feature about it that the disciple recognizes them self as chosen of God. Not in pride or arrogance, but with humility and Christ directed praise.
Christ died for us. We did nothing to deserve it. On the contrary, ours were the sins that caused His abandonment to the cruel nails of Calvary's cross. We have done nothing to deserve being called chosen ones. He has done it all. This is the central core of the Gospel. We can't reach God. He reaches out to us through Jesus Christ and works in us through the Holy Spirit. In humility this leads us to praise. "I was lost but now I'm found, blind but now I see". The mystery of God's choosing is just that... a mystery. A peculiar mystery.
2. A Royal Priesthood
One of the great Reformation doctrines is the priesthood of all believers. Every Christian belongs to a royal priesthood. That means that whatever standards we expect of a Christian bishop or a minister, or a priest or a pastor, any servant of God, they are the standards we should apply to our own lives.
We (meaning all of us) are a royal priesthood. Those who stand in pulpits don't have any special access to God or any special resource of spirituality to draw upon that is not available to any other Christian person. I don't have in the pulpit a special telephone hot-line to heaven.
I can't forgive your sins. I can't give you a new life. I can't heal you. I can't convert anyone or save any one. I can not guarantee a glorious life after death. All I can do is say, "I know someone who can. He is Jesus Christ, the Lord". I can share with you what He's doing for me. And I know, that, because you are part of the same royal priesthood that I belong to, that if He can do amazing things for me, He can do amazing things for you.
We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.
3. A Holy Nation.
"Holiness" is about is being "Set Apart". God calls us to holiness of life. When we dedicate ourselves to that task then it does set us apart from others. We are to be a light that shines ... for as the text we have been looking at concludes, God has called us "Out of darkness and into His marvelous light to show forth praise and glory".
There's something very earthy and incarnational about true holiness. It's not sanctimonious or "Holier than thou". It's the sort of peculiar characteristic that made Jesus so very human yet so very much more human than most of us ever come near achieving. It's not something that takes us out of the world to an ivory tower where we sit and contemplate life, the universe and how many angels could dance on a pinhead.
Here's part of a letter by an anonymous author, who in the early years of Christianity wrote about the peculiar nature of those who were part of the earliest church.
Letter to Diognetus, (sometime in the second Century)
"These Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language or customs; you see they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect... They live in their own native lands, as citizens they share all things with others; but live like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country and every native country as a foreign country.
They marry and have children just like everyone else, but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are present in the flesh but do not live according to the flesh. They are passing their days on earth but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws but go beyond the laws in their own lives.
To put it simply, Christians are in the world but live in a way that is out of this world"
Don't be afraid to stand out of the crowd as one of God's peculiar people. He has chosen you to serve Him. He describes you individually as royalty - a royal priesthood and together as a chosen generation and a holy nation. But don't let that go to your head. See it for what it is. A call to service and a call to be a model of discipleship that others can relate to and follow.
To close, let me remind you of those words of our text;-
"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you, out of darkness into His marvelous light". (1 Peter 2:9)
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
EASTER SUNDAY "Our Amazing Day”
Readings:Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, Jeremiah 31:1-6, Colossians 3:1-4, Matthew 28:1-10
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 20, 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Over a period of days that follow they experience His presence in numerous ways. He eats with them. He teaches them. They see on His body the marks of His suffering. He comes and goes as He pleases, and locked doors prove no impediment. He is witnessed to not only by those closest to Him, but also by whole groups of followers.
Because of His living presence with them the disciples are changed. They are bowled over by hope. Nothing in their world is ever the same again. After His ascension they are granted power from on high, the very presence of the resurrected Jesus through the Holy Spirit within them and around them. Eventually they are prepared to live and die for the truth they have perceived, that Christ is Risen.
Easter is our amazing day. In Matthew's account this amazing day begins with Mary Magdalene and another Mary going to visit the tomb of Jesus. They come not knowing what they are to do, yet they are drawn to the tomb out of their love and respect for the Jesus they had adored. They wish to honor Him, even though they know He is dead. They discover that His tomb is sealed and a guard has been set upon it.
It is the first day of the week. It was the first day of the rest of their lives. It was a new day. It was an amazing day. For their world is about to be shaken. Matthew describes it as an angel coming down from heaven, as an earthquake that rolls away the stone, as something that renders those in place to guard the tomb helpless and unable to keep it sealed.
It matters not that the other gospels describe things differently. These were events that were too earth shattering to put into words. Like witnesses to an explosion, all they can do is comment on the fragments that remained. Who was there, what was said, how it all happened sequentially are but small things compared to what had happened. They show a startling disinterest in the details, because the amazing revelation they witness to seems to make them not so important. What is that amazing revelation? It is found in the words proclaimed to the two Mary's. Verse 6."He is not here; He has Risen, just as He said"
Let us explore this verse.
I have heard people say that they would believe in God, but are frustrated by His absence. They prayed and nothing happened. They can't believe that a loving God would allow such terrible things to take place in the world. They don't know how to find Him.
The two Mary's who went to the tomb must have felt the same way. Why hadn't God protected the One they thought could save them? When He was so obviously innocent, how could God allow Jesus to be betrayed, tortured and crucified like a common criminal? Where were You God, when we needed you?
The first part of the angels answer is startling. 'He's not here'. Where is God? 'He's not here!' God was not in the tomb. God was not dead. God was not able to be contained or confined to any place, to any kind of understanding. God was not stuck in the past. God was not contained by the tragedy.God was not in the earthquake. God was not in the darkness. 'He's not here' declares the angel.
This is how our minds work. We want God to give us a reply. To say 'Here I am'. We want a God who stays still, who has a physical address and a geographical location. We want a God who is at our beck and call, who does what we ask. We want a 'Twitter' God, a God with a Facebook page and an email address.
We want a God who prevents bad things happening, not One who allows His beloved Son to be crucified and then claims that it was due to our sins that He suffered. We don't want a God who holds us responsible for anything. That kind of God, the God we make in our image and according to our needs and desires... 'He's not here'. The next part of the verse tells us why He's not here.
God is where the light is. God is where the life is. God is a happening. God is where the action is In the Psalm set for today, Psalm 118 we read, “The Lord is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation. I will not die, but live!” In the Old Testament lesson for today Jeremiah is a cheerleader telling the people; 'There will be a day when watchmen cry out : Come let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God”.
In our reading from Matthew the two Mary's are told; “Go on. Get out of here! He is not in this place. He has gone ahead of you!” As they leave that place, they are amazed! They don't know whether to laugh or cry. Verse 8, “Afraid yet filled with joy, they ran to tell the disciples” . And whilst they are running from that place “Suddenly Jesus met them, “Greetings” He said. They cameto Him, Clasped His feet and worshiped Him.”
We may not always recognize Him. He may come asking for help in the guise of a needy person. He may come to us as an encouraging smile from a total stranger. We may hear His voice in the midst of a TV program or through a random comment in an email.
We may hear Him in a sunrise or see Him in a random act of kindness. We may sense Him whispering in our conscience or nudging us to respond to a situation we are encountering. We may find that where others are starting to worry we are sensing His peace. We may find that when others are in despair we can't help but hope.
And hopefully at such moments we will open up in worship and with deep thankfulness. “Suddenly Jesus met them, “Greetings” He said. They came to Him, Clasped His feet and worshiped Him.” But we are not quite finished with the angels words. “He is not here; He has Risen, just as He said”. The final part...
Just as He said
God promises to be there for us when all others fail. God promises to provide what we need to be Kingdom people. God promises that in life and death nothing can separate us from the love of Christ if we but trust Him to lead us and guide us.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 20, 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
Easter is the Christian churches
amazing day. There is nothing normal about the Easter story. At
the center is the astounding claim that Jesus, whom the disciples
had witnessed dead and buried, had been raised from death. Risen,
not like a zombie to haunt them, nor simply come alive to
their imaginations, but had been clothed with a resurrected body
that pulsated with eternal life.
Over a period of days that follow they experience His presence in numerous ways. He eats with them. He teaches them. They see on His body the marks of His suffering. He comes and goes as He pleases, and locked doors prove no impediment. He is witnessed to not only by those closest to Him, but also by whole groups of followers.
Because of His living presence with them the disciples are changed. They are bowled over by hope. Nothing in their world is ever the same again. After His ascension they are granted power from on high, the very presence of the resurrected Jesus through the Holy Spirit within them and around them. Eventually they are prepared to live and die for the truth they have perceived, that Christ is Risen.
Easter is our amazing day. In Matthew's account this amazing day begins with Mary Magdalene and another Mary going to visit the tomb of Jesus. They come not knowing what they are to do, yet they are drawn to the tomb out of their love and respect for the Jesus they had adored. They wish to honor Him, even though they know He is dead. They discover that His tomb is sealed and a guard has been set upon it.
It is the first day of the week. It was the first day of the rest of their lives. It was a new day. It was an amazing day. For their world is about to be shaken. Matthew describes it as an angel coming down from heaven, as an earthquake that rolls away the stone, as something that renders those in place to guard the tomb helpless and unable to keep it sealed.
It matters not that the other gospels describe things differently. These were events that were too earth shattering to put into words. Like witnesses to an explosion, all they can do is comment on the fragments that remained. Who was there, what was said, how it all happened sequentially are but small things compared to what had happened. They show a startling disinterest in the details, because the amazing revelation they witness to seems to make them not so important. What is that amazing revelation? It is found in the words proclaimed to the two Mary's. Verse 6."He is not here; He has Risen, just as He said"
Let us explore this verse.
He is not here
I have heard people say that they would believe in God, but are frustrated by His absence. They prayed and nothing happened. They can't believe that a loving God would allow such terrible things to take place in the world. They don't know how to find Him.
The two Mary's who went to the tomb must have felt the same way. Why hadn't God protected the One they thought could save them? When He was so obviously innocent, how could God allow Jesus to be betrayed, tortured and crucified like a common criminal? Where were You God, when we needed you?
The first part of the angels answer is startling. 'He's not here'. Where is God? 'He's not here!' God was not in the tomb. God was not dead. God was not able to be contained or confined to any place, to any kind of understanding. God was not stuck in the past. God was not contained by the tragedy.God was not in the earthquake. God was not in the darkness. 'He's not here' declares the angel.
This is how our minds work. We want God to give us a reply. To say 'Here I am'. We want a God who stays still, who has a physical address and a geographical location. We want a God who is at our beck and call, who does what we ask. We want a 'Twitter' God, a God with a Facebook page and an email address.
We want a God who prevents bad things happening, not One who allows His beloved Son to be crucified and then claims that it was due to our sins that He suffered. We don't want a God who holds us responsible for anything. That kind of God, the God we make in our image and according to our needs and desires... 'He's not here'. The next part of the verse tells us why He's not here.
He has Risen
God is where the light is. God is where the life is. God is a happening. God is where the action is In the Psalm set for today, Psalm 118 we read, “The Lord is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation. I will not die, but live!” In the Old Testament lesson for today Jeremiah is a cheerleader telling the people; 'There will be a day when watchmen cry out : Come let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God”.
In our reading from Matthew the two Mary's are told; “Go on. Get out of here! He is not in this place. He has gone ahead of you!” As they leave that place, they are amazed! They don't know whether to laugh or cry. Verse 8, “Afraid yet filled with joy, they ran to tell the disciples” . And whilst they are running from that place “Suddenly Jesus met them, “Greetings” He said. They cameto Him, Clasped His feet and worshiped Him.”
How can we encounter the Risen presence
of Jesus Christ? I believe it takes place as we go about doing the
things He asks us to do and living the way He wants us to live. When
we set our hearts to the task of being Kingdom people, the King
has a habit of showing up.
We may not always recognize Him. He may come asking for help in the guise of a needy person. He may come to us as an encouraging smile from a total stranger. We may hear His voice in the midst of a TV program or through a random comment in an email.
We may hear Him in a sunrise or see Him in a random act of kindness. We may sense Him whispering in our conscience or nudging us to respond to a situation we are encountering. We may find that where others are starting to worry we are sensing His peace. We may find that when others are in despair we can't help but hope.
And hopefully at such moments we will open up in worship and with deep thankfulness. “Suddenly Jesus met them, “Greetings” He said. They came to Him, Clasped His feet and worshiped Him.” But we are not quite finished with the angels words. “He is not here; He has Risen, just as He said”. The final part...
Just as He said
Jesus, on numerous occasions,
instructed the disciples that He would be raised from death on
the third day. They listened. They heard. But they had to
experience Him before they believed Him. That's how it is with the
Word of God. We listen to it. We may read it. Yet it is only as
we experience it that we truly believe it.
It is only as we seek to allow the Holy
Spirit to make the stories of scripture our story that we
break through to fresh revelation of what God can do in and
through our lives. It is only as we believe on the promises that
God reveals God's love through the promises.
God promises to be there for us when all others fail. God promises to provide what we need to be Kingdom people. God promises that in life and death nothing can separate us from the love of Christ if we but trust Him to lead us and guide us.
But we have to act on God's word. We
have to trust in God's word. It can't be just words, we need to
respond by being prepared to do what God asks us to do, go where God
asks us to go, be the people God wants us to be. We have to lay
aside our personal agenda and ask God to rewrite the story of our
lives. We have to stop singing 'I did it my way' and start trying to
do it God's way, every day, in whatever way God desires.
Then we will know God's promises are
true. Then we will know His Risen presence. Then we will move
beyond a life that is endlessly striving to find acceptance, to one
where we know we are accepted children of the most High God.
Then we are free to be who God wants us
to be instead of having to living up to other peoples expectations
of us. Then we will be able to discern where to invest our time,
talents and treasures. Then we won't be afraid to invest the best
of the rest of our lives in our relationships and families and our
communities... things that at the end of all days are revealed to
have been the things that really mattered.
Easter Sunday. Our amazing day! The day
we proclaim to the world... “It ain't over till it's over”. The
day we are invited to wonder at an empty tomb and to invite the
Spirit of the resurrected Jesus to invade our lives and fill our
hearts with the possibilities opened to us through God's Kingdom, the
Kingdom of hope that even death can not destroy.
I pray that the amazing good news of
resurrection may capture all of our lives... that this will be
an amazing day for us all. Amen.
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.Monday, April 14, 2014
From the Palms to the Cross
Readings: Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-11, Exodus 17:1-7, John 4:5-26
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 13th 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
FROM THE PALMS TO THE GARDEN
We began our service by celebrating the the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. The sad thing is that it didn't take long for those shouts of welcome to change into shouts of accusation. The first thing that Jesus did when he got into town was go to the temple. He was horrified by what he saw there.
There were money-changers and tax collectors cheating the people. The whole thing seemed to have been corrupted by those who used religion for their own ends. Jesus got mad. This wasn't how it was meant to be. The temple was supposed to be a light for all nations, a place where all the world could discover the awesome love of God, a place of prayer. "You have turned it into a den of thieves". He storms in and turns over the tables and lets loose the sacrificial animals - and those in charge know that He is right and no-one lifts a finger to stop Him.
Now He really has peoples attention. Over the next days through parables and confrontations with the religious leaders He teaches of the danger of false religion, and of how the leaders of the day had got it terribly wrong. He prophesied how a time was coming when He would be shown for who He really was and they would be left looking foolish.
He accuses them of hypocrisy, a Greek word that comes from the world of the theatre and described the way actors would wear masks as they played their parts - pretending to be something that they were not.
Matthew 23:1-10
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them."And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger."But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments."And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues,and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi."But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers."And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven."And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.
Jesus makes it ever clearer to the disciples that He is the Christ, He is the One God had sent to be the Savior. He teaches them about how in serving others they would be doing His will, how at the end of time God would judge the peoples, how many would not want to listen, but still they must work for the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, serious trouble was brewing.
Matthew 26:1-5
And it came about that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up for crucifixion."Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas;and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth, and kill Him. But they were saying, "Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people."
At the home of Simon a woman comes and anoints Jesus with oil. Jesus describes her act as preparing his body for burial. He shares a passover meal with his disciples and tells them that the bread that was broken represented His body which would be broken and that the wine was his blood which was to be poured out for the forgiveness of sins, a sign of the new covenant.
For one of the disciples, this is to much. Maybe he was scared of Jesus getting hurt and wanted to stop Him. Maybe Jesus wasn't turning out to be the sort of Messiah he had hoped for. We don't know what it was that motivated Judas, but we know what happened.
Matthew 26:14-16
Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, "What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up to you?" And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver. And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.
After the Passover meal, during which Jesus predicts that all of his disciples would fall away, (even those who thought they would never do such a thing), Jesus heads for the Garden of Gethsemane.
In this garden comes the turning point. We celebrate at Easter time the victory of Christ. But where was that victory won? I believe it was in the Garden. Had Jesus not at that critical moment said, "Not my will, but thine be done", there would have been no cross and no Easter Resurrection, no forgiveness for us, nor new life in the Spirit.
Where will we find the victory over the things that trouble us and drag us down? Where will we find the strength to go on when we feel all is dark? I suggest it is in our prayers, in our turning our will over to God's will.
Matthew 26:36-45
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt."And He came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?"Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done."And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
William Bradbury's hymn takes us to the Garden with Jesus. (Can be sung to the tune of the Doxology)
"Tis Midnight and on Olives Brow, The star is dimmed that lately shone,
Tis midnight in the garden now, The suffering Savior prays alone.
Tis midnight and from all removed, The Savior wrestles lone with fears,
E'en that disciple whom he loved, heeds not His masters grief and tears.
Tis midnight and for others guilt, The man of sorrows weeps in blood,
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt, Is not forsaken by His God.
Tis midnight and from heavenly planes, is borne the song that angels know,
Unheard by mortals are the strains, that sweetly soothe the Saviors voice."
"FROM THE GARDEN TO THE CROSS"
In the garden Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss and He is led away to be tried. For what crimes? Love. Speaking out against what was wrong. Setting free the oppressed. Giving dignity to those others had no time for. Daring to be who He was. Healing. Caring. Of course they are not the accusations. Blasphemy. Lies are uttered. False testimony created by false witnesses. Before Caiaphas and before Pilate the lies continue. Jesus confounds them with His silence, the only words He speaks cut his accusers even deeper as they reveal their hateful hearts.
Peter in fear betrays Jesus by denying that he had ever known him. Judas tries vainly to turn back what he has done. The courts turn Jesus over to the soldiers. The law enforcement officers beat him and spit on him and mock him. They press a crown of thorns into his head, for the rumor is going around that he claims to be King of the Jews.
In an attempt to wash his hands of the whole thing and prevent a riot Pilate suggests a prisoner should be freed, as was customary at Feast time. "Who do you want, Jesus the Christ or Barabbas?" The crowds shout for Barabbas. "And what of Jesus?". Now hear the voices that shouted hosanna change their tune. "Crucify Him, Crucify Him, Crucify Him".
Battered, bruised, beaten Jesus is forced to drag his Cross through the jeering crowds. The Carpenter who had made things of beauty now facing being nailed to this ugly construction of clumsily thrown together beams. He stumbles, his strength gone and a man called Simon is pressed into carrying the cross.
Matthew 27: 33-37
And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots; and sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And they put up above His head the charge against Him which read, " THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. "
Two thieves are also being crucified. One mocks Him. The other finds life in the midst of death. Some respectable folk hurl insults. Others, women who had stayed with him, have no words, only tears.
Matthew 27: 45-54.
Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?" And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah." And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
A centurion comes to a statement of faith. Yet the story was far from over. Others like you and I would believe. Not simply because of the cross but because of what came after. On Easter Sunday we will not mourn, we will celebrate! On Easter Sunday we will declare that where we have left off today, is not the end, but only the beginning.
Through the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, from the palms to the Garden, from the Garden to the Cross, from the Cross to the Resurrection, God was working in an unprecedented way to bring salvation to the world. A later disciple, Paul, speaks of the incomparable Jesus Christ in this way;
Colossians 1:19-22
For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him,and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach!
Praise be to God! Amen!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 13th 2014
A printable PDF file can be found here
FROM THE PALMS TO THE GARDEN
We began our service by celebrating the the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. The sad thing is that it didn't take long for those shouts of welcome to change into shouts of accusation. The first thing that Jesus did when he got into town was go to the temple. He was horrified by what he saw there.
There were money-changers and tax collectors cheating the people. The whole thing seemed to have been corrupted by those who used religion for their own ends. Jesus got mad. This wasn't how it was meant to be. The temple was supposed to be a light for all nations, a place where all the world could discover the awesome love of God, a place of prayer. "You have turned it into a den of thieves". He storms in and turns over the tables and lets loose the sacrificial animals - and those in charge know that He is right and no-one lifts a finger to stop Him.
Now He really has peoples attention. Over the next days through parables and confrontations with the religious leaders He teaches of the danger of false religion, and of how the leaders of the day had got it terribly wrong. He prophesied how a time was coming when He would be shown for who He really was and they would be left looking foolish.
He accuses them of hypocrisy, a Greek word that comes from the world of the theatre and described the way actors would wear masks as they played their parts - pretending to be something that they were not.
Matthew 23:1-10
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them."And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger."But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments."And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues,and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi."But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers."And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven."And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.
Jesus makes it ever clearer to the disciples that He is the Christ, He is the One God had sent to be the Savior. He teaches them about how in serving others they would be doing His will, how at the end of time God would judge the peoples, how many would not want to listen, but still they must work for the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, serious trouble was brewing.
Matthew 26:1-5
And it came about that when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be delivered up for crucifixion."Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas;and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth, and kill Him. But they were saying, "Not during the festival, lest a riot occur among the people."
At the home of Simon a woman comes and anoints Jesus with oil. Jesus describes her act as preparing his body for burial. He shares a passover meal with his disciples and tells them that the bread that was broken represented His body which would be broken and that the wine was his blood which was to be poured out for the forgiveness of sins, a sign of the new covenant.
For one of the disciples, this is to much. Maybe he was scared of Jesus getting hurt and wanted to stop Him. Maybe Jesus wasn't turning out to be the sort of Messiah he had hoped for. We don't know what it was that motivated Judas, but we know what happened.
Matthew 26:14-16
Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, "What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up to you?" And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver. And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.
After the Passover meal, during which Jesus predicts that all of his disciples would fall away, (even those who thought they would never do such a thing), Jesus heads for the Garden of Gethsemane.
In this garden comes the turning point. We celebrate at Easter time the victory of Christ. But where was that victory won? I believe it was in the Garden. Had Jesus not at that critical moment said, "Not my will, but thine be done", there would have been no cross and no Easter Resurrection, no forgiveness for us, nor new life in the Spirit.
Where will we find the victory over the things that trouble us and drag us down? Where will we find the strength to go on when we feel all is dark? I suggest it is in our prayers, in our turning our will over to God's will.
Matthew 26:36-45
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt."And He came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?"Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done."And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
Then He came to the disciples, and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
William Bradbury's hymn takes us to the Garden with Jesus. (Can be sung to the tune of the Doxology)
"Tis Midnight and on Olives Brow, The star is dimmed that lately shone,
Tis midnight in the garden now, The suffering Savior prays alone.
Tis midnight and from all removed, The Savior wrestles lone with fears,
E'en that disciple whom he loved, heeds not His masters grief and tears.
Tis midnight and for others guilt, The man of sorrows weeps in blood,
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt, Is not forsaken by His God.
Tis midnight and from heavenly planes, is borne the song that angels know,
Unheard by mortals are the strains, that sweetly soothe the Saviors voice."
"FROM THE GARDEN TO THE CROSS"
In the garden Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss and He is led away to be tried. For what crimes? Love. Speaking out against what was wrong. Setting free the oppressed. Giving dignity to those others had no time for. Daring to be who He was. Healing. Caring. Of course they are not the accusations. Blasphemy. Lies are uttered. False testimony created by false witnesses. Before Caiaphas and before Pilate the lies continue. Jesus confounds them with His silence, the only words He speaks cut his accusers even deeper as they reveal their hateful hearts.
Peter in fear betrays Jesus by denying that he had ever known him. Judas tries vainly to turn back what he has done. The courts turn Jesus over to the soldiers. The law enforcement officers beat him and spit on him and mock him. They press a crown of thorns into his head, for the rumor is going around that he claims to be King of the Jews.
In an attempt to wash his hands of the whole thing and prevent a riot Pilate suggests a prisoner should be freed, as was customary at Feast time. "Who do you want, Jesus the Christ or Barabbas?" The crowds shout for Barabbas. "And what of Jesus?". Now hear the voices that shouted hosanna change their tune. "Crucify Him, Crucify Him, Crucify Him".
Battered, bruised, beaten Jesus is forced to drag his Cross through the jeering crowds. The Carpenter who had made things of beauty now facing being nailed to this ugly construction of clumsily thrown together beams. He stumbles, his strength gone and a man called Simon is pressed into carrying the cross.
Matthew 27: 33-37
And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots; and sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And they put up above His head the charge against Him which read, " THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. "
Two thieves are also being crucified. One mocks Him. The other finds life in the midst of death. Some respectable folk hurl insults. Others, women who had stayed with him, have no words, only tears.
Matthew 27: 45-54.
Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?" And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah." And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
A centurion comes to a statement of faith. Yet the story was far from over. Others like you and I would believe. Not simply because of the cross but because of what came after. On Easter Sunday we will not mourn, we will celebrate! On Easter Sunday we will declare that where we have left off today, is not the end, but only the beginning.
Through the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, from the palms to the Garden, from the Garden to the Cross, from the Cross to the Resurrection, God was working in an unprecedented way to bring salvation to the world. A later disciple, Paul, speaks of the incomparable Jesus Christ in this way;
Colossians 1:19-22
For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him,and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach!
Praise be to God! Amen!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Life Stinks
Readings: Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-11, Ezekiel 37:1-10, John 11:1-45
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 6th 2014
A printable PDF can be found here
Sometimes life stinks. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try it just doesn’t work out. It’s not fair. It’s not right. And if life stinks then death stinks even more. Your born, you get by, then you die. For some that’s about it. That is their creed. That is what they base their days upon.
As we go through life we become disenchanted, disentangled, displaced. Things come along that we hadn’t anticipated, hadn’t thought would happen to us. They leave us hurt and confused.
Maybe you are familiar with the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’. My favorite line comes just after the scarecrow is attacked by the evil flying monkeys. The brainless scarecrow is ripped to shreds and bits of him scattered around a clearing in the forest. “Well” he says, “That’s me all over”. We can feel like that. Things come along that knock the stuffing out of us and we are at the mercy of others to try and help us get it all back together again.
We had two bible stories this morning about displacement and scattering. Ezekial compares the Israelite people in exile as being a valley full of scattered lifeless bones. Mary and Martha try and deal with the death of Lazarus and are confused as to why Jesus wasn’t there when they really needed him.. “He could have done something; where was He when we needed Him?”
In both stories something amazing happens. It happens in response to one thing. The Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord is spoken and everything changes. Where there once was hopelessness and despair there comes joy and vision. To where there was scattering and displacement there comes focus and energy.
It’s a story as old as Creation. Recall the very first words of Genesis. There is chaos. Then the Word of the Lord. Creation starts to happen. Darkness is turned to light. Nothingness is turned into life. And God looks and God says it is good.
Follow the story of the Israelite nation throughout the Old Testament. Called into being by the Word of the Lord. New Creation, but then losing their way, no longing hearing, recognizing or acting upon the Word of the Lord. Only when they have ears to hear and eyes to see do they become once more a pilgrim people of hope.
Into this crazy scattered world comes Jesus Christ. Born into the midst of all it’s confusion. He is the New Word that God speaks. The New Covenant, the New Testament Word. Those who hear recognize His authority. Those who are touched and healed and delivered by His life know their life will never be the same again.
Then there is that dark moment when people such as you and I crucify the Lord of love. We twist His words, turn to the darkness instead of the light. We don’t hear the word of the Lord. We shout it down. We like the sound of our own voice better than His.
Fools. God has the last Word. The word of Resurrection. The word that calls death a loser. The word that reverses evil’s power. The Word that makes a laughing stock of those who think they are powerful or important over and above others. The Word that changes barren places into flower gardens of hope and deserts into rich gardens. The Word that changes the Cross from an emblem of shame to a symbol of victory.
God calls us as individuals to be remade by His love. We all have problems. We all have gifts. We are all alike sinners. We are all alike made in God’s image and capable of great things. We need to hear the word of the Lord that tells us to personally get our act together with God, to know ourselves His people, saved by Grace through faith, aware of who we are and whose we are. It’s the first great commandment, that you and I , for ourselves, love the Lord our God heart-fully, mindfully and soulfully.
The second great commandment is that we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. It’s not just about us finding ourselves and being spiritually fulfilled, it’s about being built into a community that looks beyond the four walls of it’s own church to the people outside, about being built, by the power of God’s Spirit, into an army of ordinary people for the cause of Jesus Christ, fighting not with weapons of material warfare, but empowered through prayer and spiritual gifting and knowledge of God’s will and God’s Word.
We are put together as individuals and brought together as a people of God. We are not called to be a pile of old stinking bones, but a fresh and living witness to the love and grace of God in our midst. Hear the promise of God to those who hear this word. “I will put my Spirit within you, and you will come to life... you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken”.
When we hear the word of the Lord life no longer stinks. Life takes on a different fragrance. Paul, in Ephesians tells us, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Staying on an aromatic theme, consider these words from our second reading, at the raising of Lazarus. We heard how Jesus arrived some time after Lazarus had died and how Mary and Martha weren’t exactly sympathetic to the fact that He hadn’t been there when Lazarus was dieing, because now it was to late.
When Jesus asks to unseal the tomb, is Martha expecting a miracle? Is she thinking, “O.K. Jesus is here now, things are going to be fine.”? No way. (Verse 39). “Jesus said, “Remove the stone”. Martha said, “Lord by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days”
They were about to witness a miracle. Don’t ask me to explain miracles. They are so out of the ordinary they defy our understanding. They are not meant to be commonplace easily understood events. Sometimes they are just one of a kind.
The Word of the Lord is spoken. Jesus offers a prayer of thanks then shouts into the tomb, “Lazarus’ Come out”. And out he comes. “Get him out of those grave clothes” suggests Jesus, “He’s still got some living to do”.
I wish every time we had a bereavement I could walk along and tell the deceased to wake up and get on with living this life. But that’s not the way things are. The resurrection of Lazarus was a special event that took place prefiguring Christ’s own death and resurrection. Eventually Lazarus had to go back to tomb - just wasn’t his time right then, God had a higher purpose in mind.
Whilst there are a whole lot of layers of meaning to this passage, for me today this passage is reminding me that every day we get to wake up in the morning is a gift from God. There’s an Andrea Crouch gospel song (I think it’s called “This is another Day”) that has a line it in it where he says, “He didn’t have to wake me up this morning, but the Lord so did”.
Every day that we are given we have a choice as to what we are going to make of that day. We can get up and say “Life Stinks”. We can walk around, as it were in our grave clothes, feeling that there is really no point and no reason and why bother. Or we can “Hear the Word of the Lord”. We can thank God that there is still life in our bones, whether they be older bones or newer bones. We can walk with Christ. We can welcome His word on the different situations we encounter during the day.
We can see our lives in the larger picture. Not the picture that is framed by being born, getting by and living only to die, but the framework that Jesus gives us of life lived from before the womb to beyond the tomb. We can hold before us that Jesus tells us that our lives matter to God, that they have meaning and purpose and are not just an aimless mistake, that there is a God who wants to love us and loves to be loved by us.
We can hold before us the resurrection picture, that we are not living to die, but we are living to live! That whenever this life is no more, that is not God’s final word about who we are and why we are here and what our destiny may be.
We don’t have to be displaced people in exile from God’s love. Jesus has made the way for us to know God’s love in an intimate and personal way. We don’t have to walk around with the shadow of death stalking us like some grim Reaper. Jesus died that we may have life, abundant life, resurrection life. He says to us, as He said to Lazarus, “Come out of that tomb”.
Hear the Word of the Lord. Come out of the tombs of hopelessness, the tombs of pointlessness, the tombs of anxiety and worry, the tombs of addictions and life crushing habits. Get out of there. It stinks. Walk free and forgiven, offering your lives as a sweet smelling sacrifice to God.
Whilst Lent is meant to be a time for reflection, the Sundays in Lent are set aside for proclaiming Resurrection. Passages like we have heard today, dry bones coming to life, Lazarus coming out of the tomb, lead us towards Easter when we celebrate that Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed!
First comes Palm Sunday. And then the events of Holy Week, the crucifixion and the cross. For sure death casts it shadow heavily upon this season. There are moments of deep darkness. But at the end of the Easter road is a brilliant resurrection light whose brightness transforms everything that lies before it and that comes after it.
Ezekials vision of dry bones and Lazarus’s tomb were just the appetizer. The main course lay just ahead. And to God's name be all glory. Amen!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on April 6th 2014
A printable PDF can be found here
Sometimes life stinks. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try it just doesn’t work out. It’s not fair. It’s not right. And if life stinks then death stinks even more. Your born, you get by, then you die. For some that’s about it. That is their creed. That is what they base their days upon.
As we go through life we become disenchanted, disentangled, displaced. Things come along that we hadn’t anticipated, hadn’t thought would happen to us. They leave us hurt and confused.
Maybe you are familiar with the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’. My favorite line comes just after the scarecrow is attacked by the evil flying monkeys. The brainless scarecrow is ripped to shreds and bits of him scattered around a clearing in the forest. “Well” he says, “That’s me all over”. We can feel like that. Things come along that knock the stuffing out of us and we are at the mercy of others to try and help us get it all back together again.
We had two bible stories this morning about displacement and scattering. Ezekial compares the Israelite people in exile as being a valley full of scattered lifeless bones. Mary and Martha try and deal with the death of Lazarus and are confused as to why Jesus wasn’t there when they really needed him.. “He could have done something; where was He when we needed Him?”
In both stories something amazing happens. It happens in response to one thing. The Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord is spoken and everything changes. Where there once was hopelessness and despair there comes joy and vision. To where there was scattering and displacement there comes focus and energy.
It’s a story as old as Creation. Recall the very first words of Genesis. There is chaos. Then the Word of the Lord. Creation starts to happen. Darkness is turned to light. Nothingness is turned into life. And God looks and God says it is good.
Follow the story of the Israelite nation throughout the Old Testament. Called into being by the Word of the Lord. New Creation, but then losing their way, no longing hearing, recognizing or acting upon the Word of the Lord. Only when they have ears to hear and eyes to see do they become once more a pilgrim people of hope.
Into this crazy scattered world comes Jesus Christ. Born into the midst of all it’s confusion. He is the New Word that God speaks. The New Covenant, the New Testament Word. Those who hear recognize His authority. Those who are touched and healed and delivered by His life know their life will never be the same again.
Then there is that dark moment when people such as you and I crucify the Lord of love. We twist His words, turn to the darkness instead of the light. We don’t hear the word of the Lord. We shout it down. We like the sound of our own voice better than His.
Fools. God has the last Word. The word of Resurrection. The word that calls death a loser. The word that reverses evil’s power. The Word that makes a laughing stock of those who think they are powerful or important over and above others. The Word that changes barren places into flower gardens of hope and deserts into rich gardens. The Word that changes the Cross from an emblem of shame to a symbol of victory.
God calls us as individuals to be remade by His love. We all have problems. We all have gifts. We are all alike sinners. We are all alike made in God’s image and capable of great things. We need to hear the word of the Lord that tells us to personally get our act together with God, to know ourselves His people, saved by Grace through faith, aware of who we are and whose we are. It’s the first great commandment, that you and I , for ourselves, love the Lord our God heart-fully, mindfully and soulfully.
The second great commandment is that we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. It’s not just about us finding ourselves and being spiritually fulfilled, it’s about being built into a community that looks beyond the four walls of it’s own church to the people outside, about being built, by the power of God’s Spirit, into an army of ordinary people for the cause of Jesus Christ, fighting not with weapons of material warfare, but empowered through prayer and spiritual gifting and knowledge of God’s will and God’s Word.
We are put together as individuals and brought together as a people of God. We are not called to be a pile of old stinking bones, but a fresh and living witness to the love and grace of God in our midst. Hear the promise of God to those who hear this word. “I will put my Spirit within you, and you will come to life... you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken”.
When we hear the word of the Lord life no longer stinks. Life takes on a different fragrance. Paul, in Ephesians tells us, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Staying on an aromatic theme, consider these words from our second reading, at the raising of Lazarus. We heard how Jesus arrived some time after Lazarus had died and how Mary and Martha weren’t exactly sympathetic to the fact that He hadn’t been there when Lazarus was dieing, because now it was to late.
When Jesus asks to unseal the tomb, is Martha expecting a miracle? Is she thinking, “O.K. Jesus is here now, things are going to be fine.”? No way. (Verse 39). “Jesus said, “Remove the stone”. Martha said, “Lord by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days”
They were about to witness a miracle. Don’t ask me to explain miracles. They are so out of the ordinary they defy our understanding. They are not meant to be commonplace easily understood events. Sometimes they are just one of a kind.
The Word of the Lord is spoken. Jesus offers a prayer of thanks then shouts into the tomb, “Lazarus’ Come out”. And out he comes. “Get him out of those grave clothes” suggests Jesus, “He’s still got some living to do”.
I wish every time we had a bereavement I could walk along and tell the deceased to wake up and get on with living this life. But that’s not the way things are. The resurrection of Lazarus was a special event that took place prefiguring Christ’s own death and resurrection. Eventually Lazarus had to go back to tomb - just wasn’t his time right then, God had a higher purpose in mind.
Whilst there are a whole lot of layers of meaning to this passage, for me today this passage is reminding me that every day we get to wake up in the morning is a gift from God. There’s an Andrea Crouch gospel song (I think it’s called “This is another Day”) that has a line it in it where he says, “He didn’t have to wake me up this morning, but the Lord so did”.
Every day that we are given we have a choice as to what we are going to make of that day. We can get up and say “Life Stinks”. We can walk around, as it were in our grave clothes, feeling that there is really no point and no reason and why bother. Or we can “Hear the Word of the Lord”. We can thank God that there is still life in our bones, whether they be older bones or newer bones. We can walk with Christ. We can welcome His word on the different situations we encounter during the day.
We can see our lives in the larger picture. Not the picture that is framed by being born, getting by and living only to die, but the framework that Jesus gives us of life lived from before the womb to beyond the tomb. We can hold before us that Jesus tells us that our lives matter to God, that they have meaning and purpose and are not just an aimless mistake, that there is a God who wants to love us and loves to be loved by us.
We can hold before us the resurrection picture, that we are not living to die, but we are living to live! That whenever this life is no more, that is not God’s final word about who we are and why we are here and what our destiny may be.
We don’t have to be displaced people in exile from God’s love. Jesus has made the way for us to know God’s love in an intimate and personal way. We don’t have to walk around with the shadow of death stalking us like some grim Reaper. Jesus died that we may have life, abundant life, resurrection life. He says to us, as He said to Lazarus, “Come out of that tomb”.
Hear the Word of the Lord. Come out of the tombs of hopelessness, the tombs of pointlessness, the tombs of anxiety and worry, the tombs of addictions and life crushing habits. Get out of there. It stinks. Walk free and forgiven, offering your lives as a sweet smelling sacrifice to God.
Whilst Lent is meant to be a time for reflection, the Sundays in Lent are set aside for proclaiming Resurrection. Passages like we have heard today, dry bones coming to life, Lazarus coming out of the tomb, lead us towards Easter when we celebrate that Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed!
First comes Palm Sunday. And then the events of Holy Week, the crucifixion and the cross. For sure death casts it shadow heavily upon this season. There are moments of deep darkness. But at the end of the Easter road is a brilliant resurrection light whose brightness transforms everything that lies before it and that comes after it.
Ezekials vision of dry bones and Lazarus’s tomb were just the appetizer. The main course lay just ahead. And to God's name be all glory. Amen!
The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
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