​Sermon 12-9-18             Do the Right Thing        Esther 4:1, 3-4, 13-14
 
     Have you ever had to choose between doing the right thing and something that was probably easier and safer?  We all have.  How did you do?   
     In today’s scripture, the Jews were once again slaves in Babylon which is roughly modern day Iraq.  The King had sent out a royal decree that, all young women should sign up immediately for the Miss Persia contest, a yearlong pageant that involved a spa, a team of hair stylists and Jenny Craig.  The winner would get a crown to wear until the king decided that it was time to have a new queen.  Like the other girls, Esther entered.  When King Xerxes laid his eyes on Esther, he immediately canceled the swimsuit, evening gown and talent portions of the competition.  It was over.  The king found Esther’s beauty irresistible.  Ester was to be the new queen. 
     The key characters in the story are King Xerxes, who brought Esther into his court, not knowing she was a Jew; Esther, orphaned as a child and adopted by Mordecai, and finally Haman, a lacky in the king’s court who had been plotting the extermination of the Jews since the day that Mordecai, a Jew, did not bow down before him when instructed to.
     As queen, Esther had a number of servants who kept her aware of what was going on.  They knew that Mordecai was her adoptive uncle and that she was Jewish, and yet her identity was kept a secret from the king.  They must have cared about her very much.
     After they heard the order that all the Jews would be killed, Esther, Mordecai, and the other Jews could have turned to one of the human default responses - Fight, flight or freeze. They could have rounded up some crude weapons and taken on the greatest army of the world.  Some of them could have fled.   Or, they could have denied that it would really happen. 
     Mordecai should have prayed that God would intervene.  Instead, he put on sackcloth, covered his head with ashes and wailed.
     Sometimes we wonder why we are where we find ourselves.  We think that we’re doing little if any good.  And then something happens and we are in a position to help someone in some real way.
     She had neither caused the problem nor asked for it.  Why should she get involved?  The Jews could all die and no one other than her trusted servants would ever know her nationality.  She would be safe
     Mordecai had a plan.  Esther would pray that God would give her the strength and courage to go to the king and ask him to reverse his decree.  But there's certain palace educates and protocol in place.  If you appeared before the king unsummoned, it was all but certain that you would be killed on the spot, regardless of who you were.
     Mordecai knew this but believed that this was their only option, even though the king and queen had not seen each other or spoken in over a month, which suggests to me that she probably didn’t have much influence at that point.  Mordecai insisted that there is no other way.  She knew what the right thing was for her to do, and put the welfare of her people above anything else.
     As a woman, she had very little power, even though she was the queen.  Yet Esther used what power she had and maneuvered skillfully within the limits imposed upon her by her culture, and did a great thing.  She acted as a faithful daughter of Israel when the time came for her to show what she was made of and who she was down deep.
     Esther believed that only God could save them either directly or indirectly through human effort, so Esther prayed that God would work through her.  In addition to her private prayers, she ordered all of the Jews to gather in one area and fast and pray for three days.  The purpose of the fast is not just to avoid food, but to spend time in prayer, trying to understand what God wanted them to do.  At the end of the fast, Esther is reconciled to the danger that she would face and knew that God would be with her.  She is so comfortable with any outcome she says, “If I perish, I perish”.  Esther had been transformed because of the danger that she saw for herself and her people.
     When Esther approached the king un-summoned, he asked her what she wanted and she immediately responded, “Grant me my life and spare my people”.   The king heard her plea, reversed his ruling and Haram was killed for his deceptive, narcissistic behavior against a whole nation of people because of the act one person who would not do what he wanted.
     Esther was a heroine.  In a world where women were seen as possessions of less value than slaves, she is remembered as a woman who did a great thing for her people.  She didn’t start out wanting to be famous.  When Esther revealed that Haman was her mortal enemy and that she was Jewish she brought upon herself a death decree that Haram had instigated against the Jews with the approval of the king.  The reason for the decree was Haram’s desire for power over people and Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to him.
     This story not only tells of one time God’s people were almost all destroyed, but of God’s covenant with the Jewish nation, and the destiny of God’s people as the first to enter into the kingdom of God.
     It is a story about deliverance from death.  We gather each Sunday morning to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with joy and expressions of good will for one another and with gifts that will touch those suffering in our world; we remember that our sorrow has been turned to joy and our mourning to celebration.  Our destinies have been reversed from death to life against all expectation.  This is the heart of our Sunday celebration. We can face even the most threatening of circumstances with hope because we share in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is that destiny we celebrate in worship even on those Sundays when sorrow and mourning seem all too present.  
     We come together in worship. The gospel is preached, and everlasting life is proclaimed.  And we remember that we are called by God to share the good news of God’s love with everyone in our world.
     Of course, many look out only for number one.  They want to save their own skin.  About 40 years ago I was driving through a residential neighborhood in Springfield, near where I lived at the time.  I noticed part of a house on fire.  I immediately pulled over and jumped out of my car.  By the time I got to house, some neighbors had gathered.  An older woman lived there alone.  My first thought was to rush in and try to find her so I could get her out.  The fire department had not arrived and the fire was getting worse.  I asked if anyone knew for sure if she was home.  They did not.  I wrestled with what to do.  If they were certain that she was there, I knew that the right thing was to try to get her out.  Since their answer was no, I left.  The next day I heard that she had been at home and that she had died.  Would she have been dead before I would have gotten to her?  Would it have done any good for me to try to get her out?  I guess I’ll never know.  But I knew what the right thing was to do and was ready to do it.
     Do we remain silent to stay out of trouble or to avoid ridicule or do we do the right thing?  Do we stand up for those who need us?  Do we do what God wants and trust God for the outcome? What do we do when people bully others?
     One of the tasks of a community of believers is to help people carry their burdens.  Let each other know when you need some help, maybe just someone to care or listen, perhaps someone to run an errand or help fix something.  Of course you can pray with them.  Are there other ideas?  What else could we do? Esther demonstrated the importance of finding a purpose in our lives, and of discovering courage and a concern for the protection of others.
     Sometimes life does this to us.  It puts us in a position where we can take a risk for the good of other people.  Esther’s trust in God and the courage God gave her can be an example to us.  She calculated the cost.  She realized that her priority was saving her people even if she would be killed in the process.  She prepared herself by being one with God.  She established a course of action.  I am dismayed with the United Methodist Church.  Our mission as a denomination, is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  But how do we do that?  What is the strategy?  We’re solid on the what, but I’m not sure we have ever determined the how.
     Esther had power and wealth, yet none of this could save her and the other Jews.  It was only when God became involved that things began to change.  Deliverance from evil and death comes from God.
     God works through those who are willing to follow God’s lead.  We should pray as if everything depends on God and then act as if everything depends on us as we avoid the two extremes of doing nothing and feeling like we have to do everything.
     God had placed Esther and Mordecai where they were for a purpose.  Because they believed, God saved them and all their people.
     The question remains.  Who is God working through in our lives?  How is God helping us walk more humbly with God and live and operate in ways that are more merciful and just?  How can we have the courage to stand up like Esther for what's right, even if it means losing our comfort, our possessions and maybe even our lives?
     The next time that you face a difficult decision, take a bold step, trust in God and the courage the Holy Spirit can give you.  Calculate the cost and realize what the priority is in this situation.  Be at one with God and allow God to give you wisdom and protection as you do the right thing.
 

​Sermon 12-2-18     Habakkuk 1:2, 2:4, & 3:18-19       When Late is Still on Time
 
     When you were a child, did you ever feel things were not fair?  Did you feel that your parents loved your brother or sister more than you?  As an adult, have you felt that others got job promotions that you deserved?  Did you ever cry out to God? I don’t have to tell you that there is still a great deal of injustice in the world.
     Jehoiakim, the king of the Jewish people, was a cruel man who worked people like slaves and the result was chaos in Judah’s society.  The Hebrews felt that God had abandoned them.  Habakkuk saw and heard about gross injustices—deceitful dealings, economic exploitation of the poor by the rich, and wealth by conquest, in short, the total perversion of God’s intention for Judah’s life.  When the righteous, those who cling to God's will for life, tried to set things right, they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the evil around them and any reformation that they accomplished was immediately distorted by the wicked.
     The prophet Habakkuk was like every other person who is confronted by unanswered prayer when God seems to do nothing.  He is like every one of us who has grown weary with the fight against wrong in our society, our world and lives. Nothing seems to do any good anymore. “The wicked surround the righteous”
     Habakkuk was a man who sought answers and was troubled by what he observed, so he asked difficult questions. Habakkuk saw a dying world and it broke his heart.  Why is there evil in the world? Why do the wicked seem to be winning? Maybe we have been too passive and condoned too many things that are not part of God’s design for our lives.
     His arguments dealt openly and honestly with the discrepancy all persons face at one time or another between the facts of human experience and the ideals and visions of religious faith.  They arise not out of hostility or indifference to religious faith, but out of a passionate search for the ways of God in the world.  He boldly and confidently took his complaints directly to God, and God answered with an avalanche of proof and prediction.
     Seeing pain and suffering, it appears that God is not doing anything to relieve the sorrow of life.  We determine that either God is not powerful enough to fix the problems we have or God doesn’t care.  If God was either powerful enough or cared enough, things would be better.  What if we were more moved to use the resources and talents that God has given us to address the injustices that we see around us?
     Repeatedly, he prayed to God to intervene and to restore order to Judah, but it seemed that God had not heard and therefore would not save.  “How long will you let this evil situation continue”, he asked?  Do you hear what is being implied in this question—that God is not doing the RIGHT thing?
     We do this don’t we, both privately and publicly, when we experience firsthand the oppression or the suffering of the innocent, massive military spending at the expense of health and welfare needs, destruction and plundering, or ruthless accumulation of wealth by political officials against society’s poor and marginalized?  Aren’t there times that we complain and argue with God?  Don’t we ask God to explain why things are the way they are instead of how we think they should be?  Don’t we plead for God to rectify wrongs and restore order and to restore God’s just rule in spite of an unjust world?
     When you’re told to wait for something, how do you respond?  Isn’t it tough to wait for something that you believe should happen now?  Habakkuk is told to wait in persistent prayer for God like a watchman waiting in a tower.  In those days, stone watchtowers were built on city walls so that watchmen could see people, usually enemies and messengers, approaching the city while still at a distance. This is not just an answer for Habakkuk but for all God’s people.  The vision of God’s kingdom in this world awaits its time.  Because we trust God, we wait and watch. Have you ever watched a lifeguard at a swimming pool?  They aren’t just sitting up there daydreaming.  They are constantly scanning the water to make sure everyone is ok. 
     God’s only answer to Habakkuk's questions is that God is God, that God is holy and does care and will act when God sees fit but only in God’s time.  God assures his prophet that God is at work as God has always been even if God decides to work through ungodly non believers.  God can work through anything and anyone, even me.
     When circumstances around us can become almost undesirable, we wonder if God has forgotten us. Remember, God is in control. God has a plan and will judge evil doers in God’s time. Though the wicked triumph, they will eventually be judged, and righteousness will prevail.  Judgment may not come quickly, but it will come.  If we are truly humble, we will be willing to accept God’s answers and await God’s timing.  He realized that faith in God alone would supply the answers to his questions.
    Habakkuk said that he will rejoice in the lord even though he didn’t have answers for all of his questions and life continued to be difficult. 
     Instead of questioning the ways of God, we should realize that God is totally just and that one day evil will be utterly destroyed.  This gives me comfort to make it through difficult times?
     Crop failure and the death of animals would devastate Judah.  But Habakkuk affirmed that even in times of starvation and loss, he would still rejoice in the lord.  While some deny that they have any problems, we all know those who do nothing but wallow around in their pain.  Take your eyes off your difficulties and look to God.  The legacy of Habakkuk’s struggle “the just shall live by faithfulness’ challenges the truly religious person to remain committed to the larger vision of God's justice and purpose in the face of painful, difficult circumstances. 
     Almost every day, someone asks me why God seems to be silent in the face of violence, injustice and wrongdoing.  Each tragedy, whether individual or communal, revives the tension and directs us to reconsider the power of God’s call to faithfulness and steadfast endurance. 
     The way to abundant and eternal life comes by steady trust in God.  This kind of faith is not so much endurance in troubled times, but belief in Jesus and the power God displayed through miracles and most powerfully through God's power over death on the cross.
     This vision is of the kingdom of God initiated at creation and restored in our world to its original goodness when people live totally for God and everything is fair again.
     Weedman’s worship begins at 9:15.  Say my plan is to get there by 9:30.  If I get there at 9:25, am I late, or 5 minutes early?  Farmer City worship begins at 10:45; my plan is to arrive by 11:00. If I get there at 10:55, am I late or still have 5 minutes to spare?  It depends on whose schedule we are following. The same is true of us and God. God is right on time according to God’s schedule, regardless of what our schedule might be. I’m not comparing myself to God but we need to be  patient.  God will work out God’s plans in God’s perfect timing.  We need to be patient waiting and watching for God’s response, trusting that God is directing all things according to God’s purposes
     We live faithfully between the promise of justice and its fulfillment.  Christians trust God between the announcement of the kingdom of God in our world and its actual establishment on earth.  At the proper time, God will bring about his justice and completely rid the world of evil.  In the meantime, God's people need to live in the strength of God’s spirit. Knowing this can give us confidence and
hope in a crazy and confusing world.
 

​Sermon 11-25-18       Jeremiah 1:4-10; 7:3-7          The God of the Next Time
     Who are or were the foundational people in your life?  Often they are the ones that we go to to confide in or trust.  They are the ones that mentored us and whom we pattern our lives after.  They are the ones whose lives are anchored in faith in God and who depend on God every moment of their lives.
     We trust our friends and family because of our experiences with them.  They have been there and stood firmly beside us.  They have listened and helped us see the ways that God can work in and through us.  We read that God will be our rock and refuge that we can anchor ourselves to God in the midst of the storms of life. There are even hymns about Christ as our anchor holds us safely in the storms of life.
     That’s what we pray isn’t it?  Lord, I know you’ll be there for me, like you have in the past.  Do it again.  Keep me from being smashed into the rocks or taken far out to sea.  God was with us last year and last month and will be with us tomorrow and forever.
     The brutal fact is that a strong faith in and devotion to God is no fail-safe insurance against problems and complications in life.  Many people have cried out to God in distress only to find that their situations do not change.  Indeed, their distress sometimes gets worse, and yet, God is still there within us, and this gives us the strength and courage and hope to deal with anything that we have to face, knowing that God works through the storms of life with us.
     We have learned over the years that we are wholly dependent on God, not our 401k pension funds, our house appreciation, our spouse, or our jobs to always be there.  God has become our hope and our source of trust with a commanding role in the events of life.  For this we are forever thankful and we praise God continually, morning and night, all our life long.  There is something very comforting in this expression of trust in God—faith itself is essentially trust in God, seen here as both a rock behind the scenes and also as a redeemer in the events of life.
     God does not intend for us to grope about wondering what God wants of us. Instead, God speaks through people all the time.  Jeremiah recounts the story of his call to be a prophet to the nations, a call that he resisted.   Jeremiah was to speak God’s judgment and promise on behalf of God.  We have people that we empower to act or speak for us, our attorney, our parents, our children, and our spouse.  To be a prophet of the lord was to represent and speak for God, to speak on behalf of God.
     Jeremiah resisted God’s call because he was concerned that what God was calling him to do might be too difficult for him.  Yet God told Jeremiah, “I will put words in your mouth”.  “Call someone else”, Jeremiah protested.  Yet God continued to call Jeremiah to speak for God. 
     But isn’t that the way that it is between us and God?  Maybe we are not called to be prophets, but I believe that we have all been called to do something.  Your being a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, was God’s idea.  Our relationship with God is not dependent on our having the right family background, a good history of yearning for God, or any natural inclinations that keep us near God.  Our relationship with God is based solely upon God.
     Our call has much in common with other stories of people who felt God’s call on their life.  Usually, there is an expression of inadequacy or reluctance by the person who is being called.  We do not feel qualified or adequate.  We say that we are too young or too old that we have never done what God is calling us to do or that we are not very good at it, or that we have taken our turn and that it is someone else’s time.  Once a call is responded to, the person is equipped by God to carry out the task.  God will give us the words.  God will give us the strength, God will remove our fear.  Good will pave the way.
     Maybe it is a call to send cards to people who are sick or homebound, perhaps to teach or mentor. Your call may be to lead or serve or give from your resources.  You might be called to lead in worship and praise, to pray, to help with the food pantry or clothes closet, or on new community projects
     We are loved by God and then summoned to serve, not because of who we are, what we have done, or what we have to offer, but because of who God is.  I love the way that C.S. Lewis put it, “God closed in on me”. 
     “Please God, choose someone else”.  We’ve all said it. But as we respond, we realize that the things that we do and the things that we say are from God, speaking and acting through us in response to the need of that moment. God has “closed in” on us and we have become conduits for God.
     We are not intended to coerce people or impose anything on them, but one of the things that we are all called to do is share the good news of God’s love for all people that was demonstrated through Jesus on the cross. 
     Regardless of what it is or where we go for the glory of God, we trust the God of many experiences, the God of current power and presence and the God of the next time.

​Sermon 11-18-18    Isaiah 37:1-7 & 2:1-4         Hope for Peace
     If you remember last week, we talked about how the Assyrians had captured all the fortified cities of Judah and were on their way to the capital of Jerusalem.  Today we read that they had surrounded Jerusalem and the Hebrews were running out of food and water. They appealed to the Hebrews hunger by telling them that they would be taken to a land with plenty of food if they surrendered.  They tried to get the Hebrews to believe that they had angered God and were now being punished. The Assyrians even suggested that they were there at God’s request and had God’s power, promise and blessing. While the Hebrews were considering their options the Assyrian spokesperson stood and called out in a loud voice “do not let Hezekiah deceive you and suggest that you rely on the Lord.  Even He cannot save you from the powerful Assyrian army. Has your God saved any of your other cities from destruction? Where is your God? If you don't surrender you will be destroyed like all of your other cities.”
     Hezekiah pleaded with God, “How long?”
     Tearing your clothing, wearing sack cloth (sort of like burlap) and pouring ashes on your head was a sign of mourning.  This was King Hezekiah's mood as he instructed his high officials to consult with Isaiah, the prophet from God, and entered the temple to pray. What would God do? Would God save Israel? Scripture tells us that God told the Hebrews not to be afraid because God would put a spirit in the king of the Assyrians so he would become afraid and he’d go back to their own land and kill himself.  
     The prophet painted a picture of peace-making but also tells the people to get busy at that activity.  Plowshares and pruning hooks brought economic security and the end of fear, as weapons of destruction are converted into implements of creation.
     We read that God will be a judge, not one that hands out punishment after establishing guilt or innocence, but a judge who will settle disputes between nations, resolving their differences so that peace can be established and maintained.  Those who respond to this vision will be peacemakers, acting as mediators and arbitrators.
     The vision of peace making suggests that nations will come to follow the example of the early Hebrews as they walk in the light, repenting and returning to God’s rule.
     Like it or not, others will love Jesus or reject Jesus because of me and my attempt to follow Jesus.
     I read recently that the definition of a war was any conflict in which there were 1,000 deaths. During human history it is estimated that one billion or 3 times the US population have died in some war. 108 million died in war during the 20th century. Over the past 3,400 years there have only been 268 years without some war related deaths that’s 7.8 % of the time. The U.S. spends $350 billion per year on our military which is about a billion per day or about 40 million per hour. With the same money we could build 15,000 Habitat for Humanity homes per DAY.
     When we encounter a stranger, the a Magdala center of our brain functions as it has for millions of years, enabling us to decide if a person is a possible threat or not, inducing us to move toward or away.  This was important in a time when our physical survival was threatened several times each day. Today, that once valuable coping mechanism is the source of damaging mistakes of judgment, and irrational fear of and false suspiciousness of others.
     What we’re talking about is Xenophobia—fear of the other, in which we separate ourselves from others in order to better oppress, exploit, expulse, confine, hurt, or deny justice and access to others, whom we have judged to be so “other” as to be beyond the bounds of having any bond between us or any claim on us.
     In The Lonely American—Drifting Apart in the 21st Century we read that between WWII and the 2000 census, the number of single households more than tripled to 26%.  It has increased even more rapidly in the two decades since. Robert Putnam who wrote Bowling Alone : the Collapse and Revival of American Community says that ”connections among individuals, social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arises from them have eroded dangerously”. The number of people who say they have no real friends has soared.  What is wrong with America, starts with one uncomfortable word—loneliness.  Doctors are suggesting a “loneliness epidemic”. Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has often said that loneliness kills.
     Social scientists suggest that the primary drivers of happiness are a family you love and that loves you, friends that you trust and confide in, work that matters and benefits others, and finally a worldview that can make sense of suffering and death. Our prosperity has outpaced our ability to figure out what community, friendships, and relationships should look like.  We’re richer and better informed and more connected—and unhappier and more isolated and less fulfilled.
     Our isolation has deprived us of healthy local “tribes” with whom we share values and goals and ways of life that uplift us, and so we fall into “anti-tribes” defined by what we are against rather than what we are for. We've turned to anti-tribes, an us-versus-them politics, and a rage-filled media complex that exploits our division for money.
     We are in a period of unprecedented upheaval.  Community is collapsing, anxiety is building and we have distracted ourselves with artificial political hatreds.  Yelling at our opponent makes us feel less lonely, yet saying terrible things about others will not draw us together as friends in pursuit of common goals.
     One problem with community is the ever-growing chasm created by almost all of us who are convinced that our position is 100% right and the other side is 100% wrong.  Is the person that we fear really a threat to us or are we simply feeling fearful because they are different from us?
     Some believe that we can only live with people that are exactly like us.  This is a direct assault on our commitment to universal dignity, and a big national step backwards.  With so many voices endorsing our fears, large shares of us will likely end up with persecution complexes, constantly offended and ready to fight. Politicians, advertisers and sometimes even religious leaders use fear as a powerful motivator in an attempt to exploit others for their financial advantage.
     Forgetting how to talk to people has created emotional as well as theological, philosophical, and political distance.  Normal people in the not-so-distant past were able to gather together, discuss politics and part ways as friends and neighbors.  Understanding each other better does not mean that we’ll stop debating and join hands around the campfire—but it does help us talk, having dispensed with the self-deceptive assumption that our opponents hate us and want to crush us.
     We’ll still have disputes, but they will be settled peacefully and fairly through listening, caring, and seeking good for all people.  We don’t need to agree on everything: we simply need to allow space for communities of different beliefs and customs to flourish.  In Hebrew, the word Shalom means peace.  For some, this has come to be seen as personal wellness and what many call mindfulness; but peace happens in relationships.  America is at its best when we resolve conflicts through the principles of compassion, tolerance understanding, and above all else civility.
     Senator Sasse, Republican senator from Nebraska in his recent book THEM takes contemporary America to task for our tribalism, exclusion, reflexive attitudes and outright harshness to one another.  I wonder what would happen if we opened our hearts to the hopes and anxieties of our fellow Americans, sought common ground and community where we can find it, and engaged each other around shared values.
     The Bible talks repeatedly of the reversal of priorities and goals and values that occur when God takes control of our lives.  The proud and arrogant are brought down and the low are raised up and exalted. We cannot have community without recognition of the reality of deeply different history and experience that must be honored if another is to be understood in all of their delightful, God-given difference.
    When we can wrestle freely and forth rightly in person and in the press, we will have safety values that depressurize tense situations.  We need to channel conflicts into words rather than swords,
believing that others are people of worth who have something of value to say.  We will also develop trust, knowing that one person or side doesn’t always have to be right and the other wrong.
     There is no promise that by moving toward the other or acting toward the other as Jesus has acted toward us that we will bring out the best in the other.  What we will discover is a move from nationalism and conflict to unity and peace.
     We make our rigid distinctions between us and them, enemies and friends, insiders and outsiders, then along comes God who blurs the distinctions by God's gracious love for all of us that we can't tell the difference in the others and us.  Jesus came, not preaching tolerance but rather God’s radical, gracious inclusion of all sinners at God’s table.  Jesus proclaimed that peace makers would be blessed by God, but Jesus did not require that we see ourselves as bad and the other as good but that we simply try to see the other as loved and cherished by God in the other’s mix of righteousness and sin, good and evil much like us.  I don’t believe that any army can destroy our nation, but I am scared to death that we will tear ourselves apart from within. The U.S. intelligence community is anxious about the information operations currently being conducted by foreign powers who see an opportunity to undermine American confidence in our system, in our institutions and in our American way.  Vladimir Putin loves U.S. cable news and the way it destroys the solidity that made America great.
     Things in our world confuse us about what is important and what God wants from us.  We need to come to God, seek instruction, and then act on what you believe God says to us.
     We all know that words can hurt or build up, which of your swords and spears (mean streak, angry outburst, cutting tongue, gossipy nature) does God need to transform?
     Hezekiah models how to respond to intimidation.  What big threats to the Christian faith do you worry about? A few weeks ago there was great concern for a journalist killed in Saudi Arabia.  What about the 95,000 Christians that are killed each year because of their faith?  That’s almost a million in the last ten years. Where is our government’s outrage? Where are the economic sanctions and tariffs on products exported from the countries where this happens?
     When instruments of war are converted into instruments of farming, all nations will be taught God’s desires and will obey them.  But we do not need to wait until then to start walking in God’s light and projecting and reflecting that light. Through our words, deeds and thoughts we will be rewarded, then as well as now.
     One thing on my bucket list is to see the Northern Lights, seen on TV, beautiful. In the meantime I watch every time it rains for a rainbow. Rainbows are beautiful and what if they only had one color? Blue or green curve would be great but not as pretty. Maybe God understands the beauty of colors together complementing each other in peace.

​Sermon 11-11-18           Micah 1:3; 5:2 & 5a; 6:6-8               God’s Expectations

     In my experience as a pastor, most difficulty that people have in relationships has to do with expectations.  Maybe you came this morning expecting a five minute sermon and I drone on for 15+ minutes so you get frustrated because I did not meet your expectation.
     I believe that the greatest question that we can ever ask ourselves has to do with what God expects of us. How are we going to please God if we have no idea what God is looking for from us?
     The Assassins had laid siege to Jerusalem, and the situation looked hopeless.  The Assyrian empire had swallowed up the kingdom of Israel piece by piece until there was nothing left. The writer accepted the defeat of Israel.  Her troops have been defeated, her cities destroyed, her government overthrown. But this would be far from the end. Her revival and triumph was coming.
     Micah, however, remembered God’s promise that David’s family would provide servant leaders. The shepherd David came from the humble village of Bethlehem and Jesus would later be born there.  
     The other problem was that the God who delivered the people from Egypt had somehow become burdensome to them.  When people forget what God has done in their lives, we can become self-centered. Instead of trusting God, people trusted in equipment for battle, fortified cities, predictions of the future, and other “gods”.
     Jerusalem’s leaders were obsessed with wealth and position.  Worse than that, they had created and sustained a society that perverted equality and hated justice. Into this environment, Micah prophesied that mighty Jerusalem, with all its wealth and power would be destroyed.  In contrast, Bethlehem, a tiny town would be the birthplace of the king who would save all people. In the meantime though, the Hebrews would be given into the nations by God himself, and would be subjected to terrifying experiences until such as time that God would choose to bring forth a new king and reestablish the monarchy. While waiting for this to happen, Hebrews struggled with what it meant to be God’s chosen people when God was using evil nations to punish them.
     The prophet Micah spoke for God about the end of the kings, which shocked the people who thought that their kingdom would last just as it was forever.  The truth was that Judah was going to be destroyed but that God would help his people return. The present will remain a time of suffering and it may get worse, but the people should not lose heart.  It will be a time from suffering to salvation, from defeat to victory.
     The leaders of Judah had built their nation through oppression and injustice.   God was looking for a just society, not one that feeds on itself, but one in which all people have the opportunity to live in dignity, sharing the fruit of the bounty that God had given the world.  God expects those in positions of leadership within society to preserve justice, to treat all people fairly and to live in love with God. Micah was certain that Judah would have to pay a steep price for its infidelity.
     While no one else offered the people any sense of hope, the prophet described a future in which a new ruler would bring peace to both Judah and the world.  God would delegate power to the coming king who would care for and feed his flock as God would.  The new leader would stand in for and feed from the strength of God which Micah described as having the power of a lion.
     God’s salvation was to come from the most unlikely of places:  Bethlehem would come out of the shadow cast upon it by Jerusalem to provide Judah with another David who would rule in God’s name and bring about peace.  This promise of a new ruler to come from the town of Bethlehem is very familiar to all Christians and is often cited during the advent and Christmas season.
     The smallness of Bethlehem reminds us of a common Biblical theme.  When God is about to do something great, human estimates of size, status, power and influence are completely irrelevant. In fact, God often deliberately chooses someone who would probably be dismissed as the most unlikely candidate for carrying out God's mission. The emphasis here is on God’s power to save.
     In the sixth chapter the author plunges into one of the most widely discussed and hotly disputed questions in history.  On the one hand, we have people that think that God is too remote to actually be concerned about us or for us to approach God.  At the other end of the spectrum are those who know that God is closer than our breathing, reaching out to us 24/7. I believe that God is an integral part of our lives who can be worshipped, adored, studied and served but never as something outside or beyond us.
     What can we do to please God, especially at those times when we have gone astray and need to make things right with God again?  Does anything move God to accept me? How about some religious ritual or ceremony? What about a sacrifice with thousands of rams, or thousands of rivers of olive oil? God wants none of these.  God wants changed lives that cause his people to be fair, just, merciful and humble; living sacrifices not doing religious deeds, but living rightly, beginning by possessing God’s transforming love in our heart. People have tried all sorts of ways to please God.  God is making it clear. Are you fair? Do you show mercy to those who have wronged you?  Are you learning humility? Kindness has to do with loyalty and faithfulness, the key elements in relationships, whether in marriage or between human friends or between God and people. Mercy is not an abstract concept.  It is an action of setting free those that don’t deserve it by those that have experienced their own undeserved mercy and have not forgotten the experience.  We show mercy because that is what we have been shown by God.
     It is out of the experience of receiving God’s unmerited mercy that we realize how we ought to “do justice’ in the world among those who have wronged us and have no right to expect us to forgive them.
    The new king will bring perpetual peace to our world characterized by strength and majesty, much like the peace Jesus promised his disciples in some of his last words.  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.  John 14:27 (NIV) The peace God offers creates a life with no fear of judgment, conflict or guilt.  
     God will rule in the heart of every person in a world empire in which everyone on the face of the globe would give allegiance to the divinely instituted kingship.  Instead of being overwhelmed by fear of terrorism or nuclear attack, we should have confidence in God.
     The book of Micah speaks about an ideal ruler to come from Bethlehem in order to bring about the triumph of justice. We read these words and understand Jesus being the key to the transformation of the world according to God’s will.  The prophet’s vision still awaits its fulfillment. Jesus, the messiah, the son of God born in Bethlehem, calls his followers today to join him in bringing peace to the ends of the earth. We followers of Jesus anticipate Christ’s final victory and hastens the day of his return by working now for the transformation of this world.  The church reads this Micah passage, not simply to remember an ancient prophet’s words nor to asset its belief in their fulfillment in Christ. The church reads Micah’s words today to proclaim its faith in a fulfillment that is yet to come.  Our questions are not unlike those raised in 800 bc.  Our sins are similar. Our need for a word of warning and a glimmer of hope beyond the present ordeal is great.
     From our walk with God we get a perspective out of which to do justice.  Our experience of receiving mercy from God becomes the frame of reference through which our acts of justice flourish.  This is the power that can free the practice of mercy from a mere feeling or concept to a power. This is not a remote tale from long ago, but living examples of the ongoing presence and power of God in every age.
     As God’s people, we watch for subtle idolatries and religious practices.  To place our hope and ultimate security in anything or person or idea that is less than God is to be guilty of idolatry. The present pain is real, but deliverance will come and it will be wonderful.  There will be a happy ending as we meet God’s expectations by acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God.

​Sermon 11-4-18   2 Kings 5:1-14     Made Whole

     Have you ever felt like you didn’t fit in?  Maybe it was because you were the only person of your age or gender in the group?  Maybe you were the only one dressed a certain way. Have you ever gone to something and were overdressed or underdressed? Was it because you had done something that would hurt others or you had some contagious disease?  I’m not sure that we can understand the stigma that came with leprosy in those days. Today we worry about sepsis, MRSA, HIV+ and AIDS, but it’s not the same.
     Leprosy is a disease that is not limited to one part of the afflicted a person’s body, it has a profound effect on many aspects of someone, including their social life, since lepers were excluded from being around other people.  In fact, if they ever walked down the street they had to shout out “unclean, unclean!” with each step in order to warn others to get away. This practice collapses any distinction between people and the illness. The leper simply was the disease.  They simply were unclean. What does this mean? Excluded, marginalized, feared, demonized, segregate, kept out. Who do we consider “unclean”; foreigners, poor, homeless, migrants, people who believe differently, gays, and lesbians?
     A closer inspection of the Old Testament will show that being unclean is not simply a physical description.  It is also a moral designation. While there is definitely a physical component to this disease, the people of that day believed that God had caused this problem as a punishment for some sin.
     Ancient societies, including the 1st century Palestine operated from the assumption that anyone who was deemed to be “unclean” could share their disease with you by as little as physical touch or even being near each other. Because of this, the lepers were separated from the rest of society.  If the disease was to go away, they believed that it would be because of the special rituals done at the temple that were required of the person before they could be considered to be clean again and reenter society. After the ritual, the priest would determine that they were clean again. Remember the times that Jesus would heal lepers, he would send them to the temple to be declared clean. Thank God leprosy has been all but eliminated in our day.
     Presumably, Naaman had gone from doctor to doctor seeking help.  Of course, nothing helped. What about Naaman’s wife and the servant girl who was a Jew?  Even though she was way out of line to suggest what her master do, when she heard the problem, she suggested that Naaman ought to go present himself to the great prophet of Israel and seek his help.  Her compassion for Naaman was remarkable. After all, this young woman had been carted off from her people after some raid and cast into slavery. Perhaps God was working through her?
     Israel was a pretty insignificant sort of place.  That this pagan warrior should lower himself to go on bended knee to Israel with his hands outstretched was a great humiliation in his eyes.
But Naaman’s king thought it a great idea so he sent him with 750 lbs of silver, 150 lbs of gold and some other gifts.  It was quite a sight when Naaman and his horses and chariots arrived at Elisha's house and presented this awesome display of wealth and power.  But Elisha does not just walk out and say “Shazam” and heal Naaman.  Instead, he told him to go bathe seven times in the Jordan River in order to be made clean.  
     Naaman was furious at this ridiculous sounding suggestion and made his feelings known when he announced, “Are you mocking me? I paid good money to be healed and all I’m told to do is take a bath in the river? I thought that for me he surely would come out and call on his God and would have waved his hand over my body and cured my leprosy”. How often do we not try what we do not understand or see the point in?  “And besides, Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are much better and certainly more impressive than this little Jewish stream? Could I not wash in them and be clean”?
     Naaman got angry and started to take his chariots and horses and leave in a huff.  It appears that Naaman’s best gift is having servants, who will tell him the truth, because his plucky servant gave him a new perspective on his shortcuts when he said to him, “um sir, if the prophet had told you to do something really difficult, wouldn't you have done it?  All you have to do is bathe in the Jordan. Why don’t you give it a try? Wash and be made clean.”
     Being made clean isn’t about being impressive.  It’s about following directions, and so this powerful, rich, mighty Naaman did as he was told.  He submitted and washed himself in the Jordan seven times and was healed even though he really did not believe or the directions met his expectations. Now the question, did we wash in the river in response to being healed or was he healed as he washed himself? Sounds to me like the latter. The water of the Jordan upstaged the waters of Damascus, and more importantly, the God of Israel delivered a cure for Naaman.
     I had someone tell me some years ago that they were not going to come to the church that I was serving because they thought it was full of self-righteous, judgmental hypocrites.  My response was that everyone in our church was a sinner and two of our sins are self-righteousness and judgmentalism. I told him not to worry, that he’d fit right in no matter what his sins.  
     The wonderful truth is that God meets us in our suffering but God does not leave us there. If we are going to be made right with God it will be on God’s terms, not ours. And God’s terms are through an ordinary looking, lowly, suffering Jew from Bethlehem and the ordinary, humble, people through whom God works.  Sometimes our healing and help come from unexpected places as we forgo our prejudices of just how God must act and we become open to the movements of God among us, knowing that when God touches someone, God makes them clean. God accepts us no matter what—even if people shun us because of how we act or look.
     The power of God is stronger than any of our uncleanlieness and in response to all that God has done in our lives, we bring our brokenness and the broken people in our lives back to God for a second or a third or a 159th touch. And God changes our spirit, our heart, and our souls. We respond by being more joy filled, loving, peaceful, faithful, and gentle and in control of ourselves. The problem is that we often struggle to forgive ourselves.
     There are people sitting here today who can testify to having been met by God, having been touched by God and maybe even having been healed by God through the ministry of some ordinary person.  Our incarnate savior acts through ordinary people to work his miraculous divine wonders. Into our aloneness comes the one who stretches his hand across all the barriers and empty spaces to touch us and restore us and to give us our lives back again.  
     I believe that God knows what God is doing in calling people like you and me to witness to the kingdom.  Sure, the shoes are too big for us. Sure, we have doubts, fears and reservations if we can do it. Sure, each of us is a bundle of limitations and weaknesses, but we have also been gifted and empowered in very special ways and then called to join God as we celebrate God’s love through our words and actions.
     While it is important that we celebrate the ways that God works in other people’s lives, sometimes major, unexplainable ways and sometimes in subtle, less obvious ways, it is also important that we listen to the ways and times that God speaks to us through various people and circumstances, remembering when the servant girl boldly shared what she was hearing, God was able to heal Naaman through Elisha.
     As we continue to live, may we search for other places where God’s touch makes people clean. Let’s be on the lookout for times in our lives when God is touching us in some way and making us clean, so that we too may go out and invite others to be healed by God and remade into all that God intends for us to be.
     I’ve spoken about how God “touches” us and I’ve been speaking in a figurative way. But I wonder about the power of touch. Of course, we have “good” touch and “bad” touch, but isn’t there a great positive power in touch? Isn’t it a sign of closeness and caring? Doesn’t it close off the rest of the people and activity in the room so we can listen and care for and about each other in real ways?
     Doesn’t a hand on a shoulder convey encouragement as a hand on an arm or hand can convey sympathy? We put our hands up and slap them to congratulate. There is power in “good” touch that we need to rediscover, as we help God make people whole
 

​Sermon 10-28-18    1 Kings 3:4-15 Answer the Call
 
     There are many ways of sending messages; email, text, twitter, snapchat, messenger, instagram, body language, fax, surface mail, telephone (cell/land line),telegraph, sign language, sign in your yard, and telegram. Can we still send a telegram? I’m sure that I have missed some ways. These are all sorts of ways of getting someone’s attention you can be loud and in their face, nudge, or use bright colors. You can be bold and do something unusual or over the top.
     God is trying to get our attention.  God wants to get through to us and give us a message. Like voice mail, we can check it now, or later or even ignore it all together. The first part of the message that God has for us is that God loves us more than we can imagine in spite of our not always being the most loveable people around.  The second part of the message is that God wants to have a close, loving relationship with us. Do you remember the scene in the movie “Ghost” with Patrick Swayze, where he entered the body of his former girl friend? This is the closeness God wants.
     Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the history of the Hebrew people as they tried to follow God’s direction for their lives.
     Just like most people, there were times that they followed God’s direction pretty well, and other times they failed miserably like a lot of people in our world.  They were complacent, disobedient and rebellious and when they acted this way they found that they were not receiving God’s blessings like before. It was not that God turned some valve and the blessings stopped flowing.  It’s more like canoeing. If you are paddling in a different direction that the other person in your canoe is, it’s hard to reach your goal.
    After fighting for each square foot of the land they had been promised, the people divided into two parts.  Ten of the twelve tribes settled in the northern part of Palestine and called their part Israel. But they did not act like the kingdom that God had intended for them to become.  The kings were corrupt and the people worshipped foreign gods. The sins of the leaders had split the country in two and a fierce civil war resulted, with brothers killing each other. This intra-nation, intra-family warfare had made God’s people into a spectacle to the rest of the world.  Into this mess, God sent spokespersons who certainly had their work cut out for them. The life of the prophets was never easy, but they felt honored that God was using them.
     The Northern kingdom had been especially unfaithful to God, but God tried to continue to relate to and bless those in the northern kingdom.
     Unfortunately, the tribes in the north never acknowledged that it was God who was blessing them.  They were never thankful and God was getting tired of blessing people who did not appreciate what was happening in their lives or seek to be close to God in response to God’s love.
     God was pleading with the people to at least remember their call to be hospitable to one another.  This was one of the things that God's people were known for; their hospitality toward others. It was normal to provide provisions and protection to travelers and their animals.  On the one hand, this was done as a way to prevent attacks by people who might take more than they needed.
     It was an honor to serve a guest, even to wash their feet and provide entertainment.  A prolonged stay was considered rude, so after a day or two, the guests would move on, leaving with food and water for their journey.
     How are some ways that we can show hospitality to people who might come to worship with us?  Perhaps we need to look at the number and size of signs we have that help people find the things they are looking for in our building.  Maybe if we would make sure we smile and use positive body language, and make sure that we include children in our welcome.  Words are important. Visitors are people that we don’t expect. They are the people we are against in sports. It says it right on the scoreboard, Home and Visitors.  We hope they will leave soon. Guests are people that we have planned for. They have their own bedroom and their own towels in the bathroom.
     I try to watch the words that I use around guests like “repentance”.  We know what that means, but many people don’t,  so I talk about “turning back to God” or “ending our rejection of God”.  I usually don’t talk about being “born again” as much as God changing us from the inside out. A lot of my unchurched friends would have no idea what I would mean by “Savior and Lord” so I talk with them about my “forgiver and leader”.
     Have you ever prayed for God to do something exciting in your life?  God speaks through the part of God that we call the Holy Spirit. I don’t know about you, but it usually happens for me during prayer, when I am reading scripture, when I am serving others, during holy communion and when I am talking to others about my faith.
    Throughout history, God has been in relentless pursuit for all people.  God calls out and some respond. Others let it roll over to voicemail where they often never get around to calling back.
     The church is growing in Africa, parts of Asia, the former Soviet Union, Cuba and even in communist China.  It’s ironic that were religious freedoms have been suppressed, the people are hungry for the good news of God’s love.
     In our country, where you can go to any church you want, watch countless religious shows, listen throughout the week on the radio, turn to billions of religious sites on the internet, read thousands of religious books, discuss faith in private and public, post signs, or shout our beliefs on any street corner, Americans have to be begged to share our faith, tricked to attend worship, and bribed into serving others.  I am praying that God will open people’s eyes more and more and that they’ll have soft hearts and be receptive to what God is saying.
     As I go through my days and weeks, I meet people with a variety of needs.  Some have been beaten down and have experienced more than their share of disappointments.  Some are looking for peace or purpose. Others are trying to develop a sense of humility. Of course, some are struggling to keep their marriage together.  A number of the people I meet would find fewer potholes in their lives if they would just listen more or deal with people more gently. An act of grace from us would blow away some of our long-term adversaries.  How much relief would be introduced if people just laid aside some of the grievances and think about more pressing issues? It’s so easy to get lost in the weeds of resentment and the mess and chaos of daily life.  Maybe it’s time to look at the big picture instead of concentrating on some tiny spot? As God’s truth-tellers, let’s commit ourselves to telling and showing people the big picture of God’s amazing, undeserved love that we have experienced.  
     You may be stumbling over rocks and your footing may be uncertain, but God has us in the palm of his hand and is trying to lovingly care for you.  God has called each of us to be messengers to a world that has lost its way, and has mixed up priorities and values. This is what wisdom is all about, having a loving heart. We see this in the story of the two prostitutes who cared for each other in their pregnancies and delivering of their babies. Can you believe the greed of the one woman who was willing to have the baby cut in half; thereby killed it so she could have ½ of it? Thank God that Solomon had been given wisdom.
     The problem is that our standing in the word is not good.  Our influence has diminished. We separate ourselves over simple, silly things.  We fight among ourselves. More than a few religious leaders have made Christianity into a spectacle.
     The good news is that people will listen if we speak and demonstrate the truth clearly and lovingly.  Many will hear the message of grace, hope and freedom, but not all.
     Jill and I spent our honeymoon in Alaska.  It was beautiful, but they have the highest rate of crashes of small airplanes in US. Some of the pilots were not well enough trained for the extreme conditions or were uninformed about the changing weather.  Some did not realize they were low on fuel or flying the wrong direction. How do we wake up people and help them see that they are on the way to a crash site.  They say they are too busy or that it doesn’t apply to them. How can we help them to see that God is calling them?

​Sermon 10-21-18          2 Samuel 11:1b-11, 14
Complications & Consequences

     You’ve seen pictures of battles.  Presidents and top generals up on a hill watching and directing troop movements.  There was a fierce battle going on that David was in charge of but he had remained at home while his army was sleeping on the ground in the open.  Had he lost interest in the battle? Did he think he was too valuable to risk being near the fighting? The picture here is of an idle king, pacing about, looking for something to do.
     You know the story.  David had just finished his afternoon nap.  Walking around on his porch, he saw a beautiful woman bathing so he sent someone to find out about her. Uriah’s house was built in the usual style of that day with a flat roof that was used for a variety of activities.  David’s new palace of the Eastern ridge would have commanded a view of the houses below it.
     Being the King, he could have anything he wanted so he exercised his royal privilege to “take’ Bathsheba from her home.  The king sent for her and she obeyed because of his position of power over her. This is a coercive, self-indulgent use of power to satisfy his sexual lust.  He slept with her and then she went back home. Later, she discovered that she was pregnant.
     To cover up the situation, and remove any suspicion, David sent for her husband Uriah disguising his intentions by asking for news of the battle.  David commanded Uriah to go down to his house and “wash his feet”. This was a phase that meant to have sexual intercourse. (Remember he’s the king).  Uriah clearly understood. The command gives and almost frantic tone to the story.
     Once Uriah is seen entering his home and once the door is closed, everyone will assume that the child is Uriah’s.  But something quite unexpected occurred, Uriah slept in the streets with David’s servants and doesn't even go close to his home.  He
is too good a soldier and will not go home to see his wife while his men are still suffering in the battle.
     Plan “b” was to have Uriah sent on a suicide mission.  After Uriah died, David added Bathsheba to his harem. When the baby came, everyone assumed David was the father.
     Self-interested use of power had led David into a deadly chain of events from seizure to deception to death.  David, the chosen one of God, conqueror of Goliath, charismatic leader of a united Israel, descended here to the level of a thug, a lying, mafia godfather.  In the fourth century, church leaders decided what stories would be included in our Bible. Wouldn’t it be far more political, and less embarrassing to have omitted this story?
     This is a story of a fallen hero.  This time it is David who has fallen, and the fall is not in battle but in moral character.  It takes courage to present Israel’s greatest king with his weaknesses and vulnerability as well as his accomplishments and power.  Our world is filled with stories of politicians, clergy, military leaders and teachers guilty of sexual misconduct and manipulation of others or the sake of self-interest. In many of these instances, abuses were committed under the illusion that the authority of their office, rank or influence would protect them.  The tragedy of lives undone and accomplishments overshadowed by acts committed under such an illusion of power is an almost weekly story in our nation. A month or so ago there were allegations against Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington IL., one of the greatest pastors in the history of Christianity.
     The difficulty we have in facing the harsh reality of this story is a testimony to the ease with which we excuse our own sin.  But if we can face David’s sin for what it is, we may better face our own. To face the sin of our greatest Biblical heroes can allow us to face our own impulses to use others for the fulfillment of our own desires and to face the tragic ease with which we can become entangled in a web of sinful acts as we try to cover up and avoid responsibility. The story is especially directed to those whose position of power, leadership, and influence provide constant opportunity for manipulation or exploiting those in more vulnerable positions.
     I have been reading recently about JFK, J. Edgar Hoover, and LBJ and all the allegations against them. In more contemporary times we have allegations against Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Ben Affleck, Bill Cosby, and even George H.W. Bush.  In 1887 Lord Acton wrote to Bishop Creighton about the inquisition of the 13th century saying that the same moral standards should be applied to all men, political and religious leaders included, especially since “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
     The opportunity to stumble is always present. Perhaps it is good to preach the bleak side of David’s story more often, not simply to point fingers at the sins of the mighty but to acknowledge how often we excuse and emulate them.  Even those most admired and most accomplished are not immune to the temptation of an arrogant misuse of power for personal whim.
     Remember that there is an accounting for everything that we do and that God does not take kindly to our wanton abuse of power regardless of whether it involves a king or a commoner.  A stone dropped in water creates an ever widening series of circles that continues farther than we can actually see.
     They say that babies begin life thinking that they and mom are one person.  A baby’s need for autonomy or independence starts to emerge as a baby senses internal safety.
     The fear of abandonment keeps many people from setting boundaries in the first place.  It’s good to set boundaries when kids are young. If we teach responsibility, limit setting, and delay of gratification early on, the smoother our children’s later years will be.  If we don’t teach our children to accept “no”, someone who loves them much less than we do will take on the job and do it in a much rougher way than us. Discipline is the art of teaching children self-control by using consequences.  Irresponsible actions should cause discomfort that motivates them to become more responsible.
     We need to learn to be separate people who are still appropriately connected to others.  We need to learn to say appropriate “nos” to others without fear of loss of love. We need to take appropriate “nos” from others without withdrawing completely emotionally.
     Your boundaries need to be communicated and made visible to others with who you are in relationship. They need to be clear and unapologetic. State what an infraction would be. State the consequences. Administer the consequences if needed. Boundaries without consequence are not boundaries. You must decide if you are willing to enforce the consequences before you set them. With children, hold and comfort the child and reconnect with them after discipline. Painful consequences should never include a loss of connection.  
     People violate boundaries when they see things they want and think that boundaries are not for them. A poorly individualized person cannot maintain a substantive self-concept if they constantly receive negative feedback. Narcissism makes them think they're too smart to get caught or that they deserve more than they do.
     We also have boundaries with ourselves—things like overeating (usually out of negative emotions), money (impulse buying, poor budgeting, living beyond their means) poor time use, and sexuality.  We are ultimately happier and healthier if we choose more mature, adaptive behaviors that respect the natural boundaries between us and the world and between us and others. Many people try to change others by nagging which just intensifies the problem.  Accept someone as they are, respect their choice to be that way, and then communicate consequences clearly and enforce them firmly as you have said that you would.
     Eileen Schmitz, a full time counselor, in her book  Staying In Bounds suggests that common symptoms of possible boundary problems include strained relationship, financial problems, marital discord, excessive work, recurring illness, feelings of work issues and loneliness, submerged anger or irritability, diffused but constant sadness, hopelessness, loss of self-confidence, addictive behaviors, distractibility and inability to concentrate, poor judgment and discernment, neglect of routine responsibilities.
     As a pastor, I have experienced people feeling especially close through the sharing of private concerns, troubles and fears.  The close feelings can be reinforced by my guidance, support and affirmation. When someone’s concerns seem to be resolved or reduced, they could feel inappropriately close with me, along with feeling admiration and appreciation.  As a pastor, I avoid boundary violations by meeting my physical, emotional, vocational and relational needs through knowing myself as well as I can, personal relationships, appropriate guardrails, a strong relationship with God through hearing God in the voice of people and appropriate individualization.  Sometimes I physically remove myself from situations to help maintain boundaries
     The problem arises when one person trespasses on the other’s personhood, when one crosses a line and tries to control the feelings, attitudes, behavior, choices and values of the other.  It is your responsibility to gently and firmly tell the person how you feel about your boundary being violated.
     Reconciliation after boundary trespass requires five things: confession.  Assess the damage, identify how the breach occurred.  Say we’re sorry.  Fourthly we repent and promise to not do it again, and lastly we make restitution by repairing the damage caused by the violation in order to restore the relationship to its original state.
     As a pastor, I work with people a lot and I see a lot of triangulation which is the failure to resolve a conflict between two people and the pulling in of a third person to take sides. The third person has no business in the conflict but is used for comfort and validation by those who are afraid to confront each other. This is how conflicts persist, people don’t change and enemies are made unnecessarily
     You can’t control other people, only yourself and your reaction.  Since we have control over our behavior, not them, we have control over the consequences of that behavior.  Staying separate from another’s anger is vitally important. Let the anger stay in them. If you rescue them from it, or take it upon yourself, the angry person will not get better and you will be in bondage to anger.  Decide for yourself what you need to do for yourself.
     Violation of fundamental boundaries always has consequences.  The chances of you getting caught are about 90%. I don’t like those odds. I’m not smart enough to be in the 10%.  Disregarding important boundaries does not nullify them. It brings pain, first in our relationship with God and secondly in our relationship with others.  People are disappointed in us and lose trust in us. We might lose our jobs or our relationships. We might think that we are too old for boundaries, but we always have them.
     As we develop appropriate ways of being separate but connected, we learn effective and appropriate ways of addressing the stressors in our lives and of effecting change to alleviate discomfort that those stressors exert on us and others.
     But the two things that we will learn, that are far more important, is that like the Ten Commandments, boundaries are good for us.  They protect us and others and they help us grow and develop healthy relationships with others.
     The most important thing they help us learn is how to live the way that God created us to. So that we might be truly happy, at peace and in complete connection with God.

​Sermon 10-14-18            Joshua 24:2b, 3a, 6-8, 13-14a, 15-17, & 24-25              Promises, Promises
 
     During their captivity in Egypt, generations of Hebrews had grown up without seeing God at work in their lives.  Their parents were slaves, they were slaves, and their kids would probably be slaves. Then God did something amazing and freed them. They crossed through dry land and were not captured by the Egyptian army. They arrived at the land that God had promised them, but there was a problem.  Someone was living there and they had not heard from God that this land now belonged to the Hebrews.
     Remember how they sent some spies in to check it out. Ten slaves brought back negative reports. “The people are huge”, they said, “and there is no way we can take the land.”  Joshua and Caleb reported about how wonderful the land was and anyway, God said that he would be with the people. What else did they need?  
     I have been afraid before.  I used to have a terrible time with heights.  It’s not my favorite thing, but I’m 1,000 times better than I used to be. Well, we know what happened. They let their fear get the best of them and they backed off from taking what God was going to provide for them.  I say “provide”. What was going to happen was they were going to have to fight to take their land, but God was going to be with them.  That would be better than having Chuck Connors, Jackie Chan and Rambo with you. Sounds like pretty good odds to me.
     Frustrated with his people, God traveled with them for forty years as they wandered around until they came back to the land that God had promised them. Why forty years?  Well, about this time Moses who had failed to convince the people to follow God into the Promised Land died. The Hebrew leaders who had failed to trust God had also died.  It was a new day, a fresh start. God had appointed Joshua to lead the people. Before they started though, he wisely decided that they needed to renew their promises to God.  They needed to remember who God was, what God had done in their lives and what God promised to do before they could move on. We all know who we can trust and who we can’t—who keeps promises and who doesn’t. They needed to remember, promise and dedicate themselves to obeying God even when it was scary and they knew that there would be some cost involved. Be careful what you promise can you really deliver? Many times we make promises to kids. We might be leaving but we always come back. They like to hear this. They need the reassurance.
     We’ve talked together about the covenant that God had made with the Hebrews after they escaped capture by the Egyptians.  They had forgotten that covenants take work. Be careful what you promise. You can’t just make promises and then sit back and expect things to go well.  Anyone think that relationships with people are easy? They sure aren’t simple for most of us. God had established this covenantal relationship with the people because they were going to lead the people of the world to God and they would need God’s constant power and presence to do this.  For the Hebrew, this was decision time. They were going to have to make some tough decisions. Were they going to trust and worship and obey God? This is still a decision that people have to make. It’s import that we understand what we are doing and why and that our motivation is right. We don’t obey out of fear but in joyful response to what God had done in and through us and what God will continue to do.
     Joshua was the leader-he was their role model-their example, and he stepped out of the crowd and stood apart from the people.  “As for me and my family”, he stated, we will follow God.” Isn’t this the decision that we all have to make at some point, not forced or coerced, but in confidence and joy?
     Later in our service when we renew our vows, we are going to take a moment to remember who we are, whose we are, where we are, where we are going and how we’re going to get there.  In verses 14-25 Joshua called the people to love and serve God again. We read that the people enthusiastically responded. But Joshua had his doubts. He knew how easy it is to say the right words and what a serious and often difficult matter it is to live a life of dedication and obedience.
     The good news that I have for all of us today is God loved Israel long before they knew who God was and that God loved and provided for those people even when they turned their backs on God.
     Faith is a choice.  We have to decide every day what we’re going to believe and what will lead us through life.  What will we do to when we don’t know where we are and where we are headed? Will our GPS get us where we need to go?  Will Siri and Alexis be able to tell us what to do when we face some tough choice?   Will they remember where true north is? Will they fall back on your core values and principles that never change? God has put people in our lives who have both experience and wisdom. We’re silly if we don’t turn to them for the help they can give us.
     It’s important to make and keep promises.  It’s vital that we are held accountable and that we do the same with others because it’s so easy to talk a good game but fall by the wayside when the going gets tough.  I don’t know about you, but the more often I confirm a promise I have made, the more likely I am to keep it.  The more I invite God to work in and through and with me, the more likely I am to be faithful to my promises.
     This is important because the pollsters who have studied our society for the last 50 years tell us year after year that there is very little difference between how Christians and Non-Christians live their lives.  There is little difference in terms of who watches porn or cheats on their spouse or their taxes. We choose every day how we are going to use our money, how we will respond to those that have hurt us, how much time and effort we will invest pursuing a relationship with God, and how much we will serve others.  These choices, small and large make a big difference in where we end up.
     How we live is not about not wanting to be punished by God as it is in responding to all the things that God has done in and through, and maybe in spite of us.  In the midst of the noise and confusion, the rushing and conflicts we struggle to hear God’s direction for our lives.
     Where will we encounter God today?  What assignment will God have for us?  Will we know that with God with us we can do anything that God asks of us?  This happens as we review where we have been and where God has taken us. What were the key events and who were the key people?  What helped us to trust God in the past?
     In the old days we didn’t smoke or dance or drink or play cards and we thought that this was what it meant to follow Jesus.  But we have seen that more is required than just this. While I believe that we are made right with God through faith in what God has done in Jesus, and by believing that God came into our world to teach us and die for us so that we might live with God forever.  Our response to this is to live with joy and to share what we have experienced with everyone we can. In response to God’s love for us that we do not deserve, we live in ways that God has recommended to us; ways that will make our lives and the lives of those around us stronger, more loving and more life-giving. We do or don’t do out of fear or to get something. We do and don’t do is in response to what God has done in our lives.
     I think that the motivation that people have for doing or not doing something is very important. We can beg and belittle and threaten or try to scare people into doing something or we can help them to see that what God calls us to do is good for us and for others in our lives.  It is the better way to live, happier, healthier, more fulfilling, and more abundant lives.
     It’s your decision, today and every day who and what will direct your life, but as for me and anyone that I can influence, we will follow the lord. Will we allow God to test us one day as we journey through life and then remove all who obstacles the next? Will we allow God to help us to become all God designed us to be? As for me, I’m going to follow God!
 

​Sermon 10-7-18             Exodus 19:3-7, 20:1-17          Radical Obedience

     As a child, did you ever try to bend the rules in your home?  Were there consequences? I remember spending much of my adolescence in “time out” and my high school days “grounded”.  Which rules would not bend? Mostly rules about eating vegetables and how fast my car wanted to go.
     God had earlier made a covenant with Abraham that he would be the beginning of a great nation.  The covenant now is with the people, not their leaders or their priests who they believed had access to God and mediated on behalf of the people.   
     God had a reason for rescuing the Hebrews.  Now he was going to let them in on the plan.  They were to become a holy nation of people that would bring others into a right relationship with God like the priests of ancient Israel.  In the New Testament, the church took on this covenantal relationship and role.
     This covenant between God and Israel was the key event in the life of the Hebrew people.  It was a binding agreement that required complete loyalty to God and responsibility to community members.       Why did God choose Israel to be his nation to share his love to all the world?  It was not because they had done anything to earn that right. It was out of God’s great mercy and grace.  They were to be a channel of God’s blessings. Through Israel, all nations would know God’s love. But everything depended on their readiness to really listen and to keep the boundaries and expectations of the covenant.
     The Hebrews had just come from Egypt where many gods were worshipped.  When God told the people to worship him that was not too tough. They’d just add him to the list.  Then God said to worship only him, and that was hard to accept. But if they did not learn that the God who led them out of Egypt was the only God, they could not carry out their role and God’s conduit of love.  
     We live in a world where people have many choices what to give their loyalty to.  It does no good to pretend that there are no other offers of well-being, joy and security. The problem is that we can allow many things to become gods in our lives, work, money, pleasure, or sports. No one sets out with the intention of worshipping these things, but by the amount of time and money we invest in them they become god-like and control our thoughts and energies.  Letting God control the central part of our lives keeps this from happening. No one can worship more than one God. There is no room for a second place God. To worship God is to have one supreme loyalty in one’s life which all instincts and passions obey. Obedience to God must be the first thing in our lives; otherwise it is only pious talk.  
     The second commandment said that we should not make, bow down or serve or worship an object, instead of God.  There are two reasons for this. God is active, caring, involved and present in our lives. An object cannot listen, care or respond like God.  Also, what does God look like? Do you remember the book and movie The Shack? Is that what God looks like? For those who did not see the movie, God was played by an African American woman. Is this what God looks like? Maybe, maybe not. How could we create something that everyone would agree would represent God?
     The third commandment points out the cheap and easy use of the divine name some use to cover up poverty of real thought and feeling.  Common cursing and swearing happens when inarticulate people try to impress other inarticulate people. The easiest way to shock another person into attention seems to be by the use of a particularly sacred and holy name.  But the effect wears off almost immediately, and vulgarity simply becomes a boring habit and an expression of impotence and weakness.
     This commandment is often misunderstood, thinking that it only refers to bad or vulgar language. While right speech is indeed an issue, more is at stake than not cursing or using obscenities.  This commandment deals with using God’s name in vain. The Hebrews believed that saying a name invoked the power of the person of whom the name was a part.  To call upon that which is not an expression of God’s character by means of the divine name is to use the name in vain.
     To make wrongful use of God’s name means to invoke through utterance the power and purpose of God that is not part of who and what God is.  This diminishes and trivializes God. God will not be pleased with those who seek to use God for their own purposes. It is about respect.
     The fourth commandment deals with rest for humanity and honor for God.  Life takes its toll on us. We all need to take time off for rest, spiritual rejuvenation and worship. Sabbath helps to restore peace and creation.
     Sabbath is not about restrictions or “blue laws” rather it concerns the periodic, disciplined regular disengagement from the systems of productivity whereby the world uses people up to exhaustion.  Human nature requires a day of rest from labor. We need to spend unhurried time in worship and rest each week. Sabbath refreshes our spirits. Some people have way too much pride about being busy.  We are all busy. We hurry here and there. What we need in our lives are times when we are unhurried.
     I try to take Friday’s as my Sabbath, but there are many weeks when that does not work. Things need to be done and can’t wait, so I take a different day the next week or I take a few hours here and there.  Different things work for different people.
     Family solidarity has always been one of the characteristics of Israel.  This fifth commandment was addressed to adults who were concerned with the care of aged parents and is a warning against abandoning them when they can no longer care for themselves or work.
     This commandment concerns the struggle between the generations, a struggle that is often filled with tension.  On the one hand there can be a kind of traditionalism that submits excessively to the way things were. On the other hand, there can be a narcissism that imagines nothing important happened until “us”.  The commandment speaks to a new generation that disregards their parents and does not give them due weight. What is sought is not a blind, mechanical submissiveness of children to parents. “Honor” is a more delicate process whereby both parties grow in dignity.  To honor is to speak well of someone, to show them courtesy and respect and not to lose their teachings and example. To honor is to give weight to and not treat lightly.
     Many English translations use the word “kill” in verse 13 when the Hebrew word meant “intentional, premeditated murder”.  We should not take the life of another out of greed, malice, or jealousy. The sixth commandment did not prohibit the slaying of animals, capital punishment or the killing of enemies in war.  
     The seventh commandment deals with the sacredness of marriage and warns against being ruled by our physical urges.  Sexuality is a enormously wondrous and dangerous gift from God. It is available in a community if it is practiced respectfully and under discipline.  The danger is that it is capable of the destruction of people and communal relations
     Exactly what is stealing?  I was taught not to take things that are not mine including falsifying business documents.  We are aware, of course, of the theft of property by burglars, and armed assaults, white collar crime where large sums of money and property are seized in seemingly “victimless” crimes.  I believe that a breakdown in serious covenantal relations precede such actions.
     Viable human community depends on truth telling. Truth is a bedstone of any relationship. Do you remember Liar, Liar, the Jim Carey movie where he played a hot shot lawyer who couldn't lie for 24 hours?  We laughed at his inability to lie in normal situations.
     This commandment is not concerned with “white lies” but the public portrayal of reality that is not excessively skewed by self interest or party ideology.  The primary point of reference is the court, where witnesses speak and testimony is given. The commandment calls members of the covenant community to not distort reality to each other.  
     To covet is to believe that you deserve something that belongs to someone else, but it goes beyond saying “I’d like to have one like that”, into thinking that you don’t want someone to have the one they have, resenting the fact that they have it and desiring it to the extent of trying to take possession of it by any means.  Our admiration of the possessions of another should not be a preoccupation to get what you want regardless of who owns it. Envy inevitably destroys community. The drive of desire should be replaced by the honoring of neighbor, by the sharing of goods and by the acceptance of one’s own possessions as adequate.
     The commandments are understood as being divided into two sections, one concerning our relationship with God and the other concerning others.  It would be wrong to take either part alone. We first have to get it right with God before we can get it right with others. The second tablet gives direction to how we can live out our faith in God.  The way that we relate to God will determine how we relate to others and vise versa. It is precisely the worship of God that provides the strength to reshape human relations in healing and liberating ways.  
     The Hebrews were intentional in their dedication.  This does not have to do with health, sin or guilt. The people chose to remove themselves from certain aspects of personal and communal life so they could devote themselves to being in God’s presence.  We ought to make decisions based on the covenant that we have with God and with each other.
     The 10 commandments are not complete explanations of how to live with God and other people.  They need interpretation in order to accurately and fully follow them. Each generation will find new applications and new meanings for the commandments that make them meaningful and relevant to life in our current environment.
     These Ten Commandments are the basics of faithful living in relationship with God and our neighbors.  But how can we share them in more positive ways so they will be heard and responded to better by people?
     The Hebrews were set apart for a special calling to do God’s work among the nations.  As followers of Christ, we are now those that have accepted that calling of worshipping God, serving our neighbors and caring for God’s creation
     The communities of faith (first Israel, and now those who follow Jesus) have been called to be a distinct presence in the world on behalf of God.  Like Israel, we have to decide daily if we will accept this odd identity and destiny in the world and that decision is for complete and radical obedience.  These Commandments are for our own good/benefit and protection. The reality is that we are all sinful, and that it’s impossible to know which sin is worse than others. To obey these Commandments we need to heed the call to love and care for God and all people, all the time, everywhere, in every situation.