tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73033299214985912182024-03-13T12:02:42.997-04:00The Practical TheologiansThe musings of Carrie and Torin Eikler, practical theologians (a.k.a. "pastors"), of the Morgantown Church of the Brethren/Mennonite ChurchEiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.comBlogger279125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-53906759324468891822014-08-24T12:00:00.000-04:002014-08-24T12:00:05.066-04:00A Garden of Doom and Hopesermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jeremiah 29</span><br />
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One of my favorite, though perhaps unsung cities, is
Minneapolis. OK, St. Paul too…the twin cities, Minneapolis-St. Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s not because of the Mall of
America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was introduced to the Twin
Cities when Torin’s younger brother Josh and his partner Saro lived there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was something about the cold weather
and the warm people that endeared it to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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If I were to live in the Twin Cities, I would most certainly
NOT consider it living in exile as it has a vibrant cultural life, social
justice awareness, good restaurants, and alternative economies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is still a city… which means green
space is limited, vast open places to run around in are somewhat rare, probably
far more concrete and metal than dirt and grass.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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But that doesn’t stop people from growing gardens.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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It doesn’t prevent people from connecting with the Source
that runs deep beneath the concrete and steel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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For some, it has inspired them to be more intentional about
this growing…about this connection.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Fritz Haeg is the artist-in-residence at the Walker Art
Center in Minneapolis, and he has let his art loose on many of Minneapolis’
most common green spaces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The front
yard.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Haeg’s project is called the “edible estate” and it is
something he calls both provocative and invitational.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He works with families in the cities to show
their neighbors how they can grow their own food in the space they have not
considered before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The space that
generally has just been a burden to mow and look tidy and impressive for those
passing by or the neighbors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he
finds that the best gardens are grown in the places you would least expect
them…in well-to-do neighborhoods where manicured lawns are important…and in run
down neighborhoods where once there were grassy lots of trash and debris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the provocative places for the best
gardens.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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But lest you think these are simply mini-farms with rows of
corn growing in the front, these edible estates are more than simply about food
production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haeg calls them pleasure
gardens that also produce food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The
point” he says “is to make visible food production in the city, but in a very
pleasurable way. [The whole point] is for everyone to look at this and think,
“I could do this too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If nobody else
does it in the neighborhood, at least everyone gets to watch and look at
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those little kids growing up on that
street who may not otherwise recognize that food grows on plants coming out of
dirt, they get the reminder every day.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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[pause]<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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When God speaks to the Israelite people in Jeremiah, he is
speaking to a group who have faced provocation…<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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A desperate group<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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A people who have seen their holy city of Jerusalem,
destroyed, their homes pillaged, their lives crumbling around them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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These people who, if you would ask them, who are you, what
name would you give yourself, they would say “God’s chosen people” now must add
to that description…<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Exiles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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They must face their new home in Babylon, some in
Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the prophet Jeremiah sends
them a letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certified no doubt, with
the mark of respect stamped right on it so they know this is not just the words
of one man, but the word of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
scripture, you notice, there are all these names, as we read we can hope…one of
these people will surely find the solution, queen mother?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The king?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The court officials?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Artists,
smiths?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least…maybe these messengers
will bring good news…<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Surely this letter will say, God will return you to your
home. <o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Surely this letter will say, “Don’t worry, I’m taking care
of it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a nice vacation and you’ll
be back in two weeks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Opening the letter, like Charlie waiting to see if he has golden
ticket for the chocolate factory, it says<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Buck up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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No, maybe not buck up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Maybe more like…Yeah, this is the way it’s going to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the new normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This</i>
is your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This. </i></b>Your home is with
me, and I am with you…here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make this
your home.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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[pause]<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Build homes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Plant gardens.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Eat.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Make love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Have children.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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Flourish.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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It is possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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[pause]<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Beautiful…but…not quite…what they were hoping for.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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As Fritz Haeg stands in his gardens in Minneapolis,
thousands of years and thousands of miles from the exiles in Babylon and Egypt,
he sees these urban gardens, perhaps like the exiles did as they envisioned
those gardens they were to create.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haeg
says that his gardens sit between hope and doom.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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A garden that sits between hope and doom. (?)<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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He says that of course, the garden evokes hope because it is
beautiful, everyone can benefit from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“When you see a garden like this, of course you think, wow what if
everyone in the city did this?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
there is excitement.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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“Then, maybe your mind snaps to the opposite extreme” he
says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“[You think this] is ridiculous,
nobody can do this; nobody has time for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The soil is too polluted, the air is too polluted, and nobody has time
to grow food in this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can list
all the reasons why we can’t and shouldn’t and won’t do this.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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And for him, this is where the best gardens are planted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This place between hope and doom. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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He takes the ideal notion of what the city he wants to live
in,<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>creates some small piece of that vision, <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
and then puts it
into the least likely part of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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The beauty is in the contrast between “the city we want and
the city we have” he says.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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[pause]<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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When we first arrived at Morgantown, I had the seminary chip
on the shoulder that most new pastors do, and honestly, is something that a lot
of churches want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That chip has energy,
enthusiasm, and vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I prided myself
on bringing the good news to you, to speak about the city, about exiles and
immigrant, about our call to social justice, to peacemaking, to welcoming, to
radical discipleship, praxis, action…<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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It took me a while, but slowly I realized that while these
are messages close to my heart, and yours, I found…they were probably the least
challenging for me to preach and for you to hear.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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It took me a while, but slowly I realized that the messages
most challenging for me to preach and for you to hear were not about calling
you to action, but calling you to reflection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Calling on you, and me, not to always turn your gaze outwards, but
calling your gaze inwards once in a while.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
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It took me a while, but I slowly came to terms with
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took me a while, but I slowly
convinced myself that this wasn’t a cop out, but what this community, and
myself needed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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This is a congregation that plants gardens, literally and
figuratively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are out there working
in the city, connecting with exiles, loving your neighbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a while I realized that our church
didn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always</i> need to be reminded to
do God’s good work because all of you are.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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What I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">realized</i> is
that your spiritual life is the garden where you perhaps see yourself
straddling the line between hope and doom<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Spirituality, a notion that seems so beautiful, so inviting,
so alluring<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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And yet…do we have time for it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is my spirit too polluted?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it too much work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it a nice idea, but beauty will never win
over productivity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it too close?<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Sometimes, dear friends, the place we can feel most like an
exile, is in our own hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we
don’t feel at home there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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When we wonder how this garden will be watered when what we
have experienced for so long is dryness and drought.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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Sometimes the garden of our souls is overrun with weeds and
pests and nothing is blooming and…where do we even begin?<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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How do we recognize the contrast between <br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the spirit we want and the spirit we
have.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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In the children’s book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Curious Garden </i>a little boy named Liam lives in a city that has no green,
no gardens, everyone stays indoors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is dirty and polluted. But Liam loves being outside in spite of it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day he comes across an abandoned railway
bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He climbs onto the railway and
sees a little patch of green with a few small flowers, struggling to survive,
but still opening themselves to the sun.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Over time, Liam begins to care for the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Liam may not have been a gardener” it says
“but he knew that he could help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he
returned to the railway the very next day and got to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flowers nearly drowned and he had a few
pruning problems, but the plants patiently waited while Liam found better ways
of gardening”<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
How many of you feel that this is the point where you are in
your exile-garden-soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You try things,
trial and error, some work, some don’t. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you can get discouraged…<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
But your soul waits patiently while you find better ways to
tend it…<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
“As the weeks rolled by, Liam began to feel like a real
gardener, and the plants began to feel like a real garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most gardens stay in one place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this was no ordinary garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With miles of open railway ahead of it, the garden
was growing restless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wanted to
explore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tough little weeds and
mosses were the first to move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
popped farther and farther down the tracks and were closely followed by the
more delicate plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
“Over the next few months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Liam and the curious garden explored every corner of the railway”<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
And what Liam discovers after months of tending this garden
is that the most surprising thing that popped up…<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
… were new gardeners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the end of the book, this brick and steel and concrete city that was
given over to desolation, became green: ivy growing up buildings, gardens on
rooftops, flowers popping out of abandoned cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
A little garden, perched between hope and doom, just a patch
of green in exile.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
[pause]<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Thus says the <span class="sc">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have
sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant
gardens and eat what they produce. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
What is this garden within you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This place of doom and hope?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plant it, water it, pray over it, invite
others into it and bless them with the fruit that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> and will come from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
And, above all, call upon God, the ultimate Gardener, Tender
or our souls, to walk before you, and alongside you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Inviting Her to kneel with you as dig your hands into the
deep earth of His love.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD,
plans for your welfare and not for harm to give you a future with hope. Then
when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search
for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May
it be so…</span></span>Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-16925910432725626742014-08-17T12:00:00.000-04:002014-08-20T16:14:48.537-04:00Learning from the Foreignersermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Matthew 15:21-28</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/OpOnlg06ymk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> (Note: this video starts about 1 minute into the sermon.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">About two-and-a-half years into my time as a
volunteer, I found myself looking for an assignment to fill in the time between
where I was and where I was going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
looked at the options, but nothing much seemed to be drawing me. So, I told the
BVS staff to pick a spot that needed a volunteer and send me there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up at Su Casa Catholic Worker House
on the South Side of Chicago.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Su Casa was located in the Back of the Yards
neighborhood where much of the gang warfare of the 1990s was taking place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was (and still is) the poorest place that
I have ever lived, and the people who live there are almost entirely African
Americans who has very low wage jobs if any at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could travel in most directions for a mile
or so without seeing another person with as light a complexion as mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I prided myself at the time for my level of racial
awareness and my ability to cross over racial barriers, but it didn’t take me
long to realize that I was out of my depth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most everyone who lived near us knew what Su Casa was and respected the
Catholic Priest who lived there and ran the place, but that is the only reason
that I was able to walk openly on the streets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I learned quickly that that protection did not extend to some areas or
into the darker hours, and I got to be skilled at reading the attitude and
behavior of the people who spent the days on their porches or playing in the
street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the same, it was clear to me
that I was in foreign territory, and I responded by shrinking into myself
whenever I was out on an errand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In our text today, Jesus finds himself in foreign
territory as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeking to avoid the
crowds that surrounded him everywhere he went in Israel, Jesus leaves the
country for a little R&R. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tyre and
Sidon were in Phoenicia, a region in Syria which stretched north between
Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea.<br />
<br />
This was a dangerous place for a Jew to be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Phoenicians were of Canaanite stock, the
ancestral enemies of the Jews, and the forbearers of the people we know as
Palestinians today. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On top of that, Jews
in Jesus' time considered all non-Jews to be unclean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who did not keep the Jewish
cleanliness laws was by definition "dirty,” and a Jew was to have nothing
to do with anyone who was unclean.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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I am sad to say that in my childhood I heard some of my closest friends to
African-Americans as "dirty," and I said nothing to correct
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember going on a date with a
young woman with in High School and overhearing other students talking about it
the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What is he thinking,”
they said, “doesn’t he know that ‘blackness’ rubs off.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know now that their attitude was born of
fear and ignorance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The words got me
thinking and wondering, though, because I didn’t quite know what they
meant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I mentioned it to my mother,
I learned that the town I had moved into used to have a law that read, “the sun
shall not set on the back of a [black man].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The law is gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, the attitudes that gave it life are still as common in
our time as they were in first-century, and I learned on that day, when I was drawn into that foreign world,
that it is those attitudes – whether I uncover them within myself or see them
in others – it is those attitudes that make me feel dirty.<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It can be disconcerting to go into foreign
territory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strange places and strange
peoples can bring out the worst of our fears and bad behavior. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And strangely, it is in foreign territory that
we often learn more about ourselves than anywhere else. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Richard Rohr writes that to find a new way of life,
"You have to leave the world where you have everything under control. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to head into a world where you are
poor and powerless. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there you will
be converted in spite of yourself."<br />
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Jesus was in foreign territory, and a "dirty foreigner" approached
him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that she was a woman only
made things harder since Jewish men were not to speak to women in public, even
members of their own families, lest they risk making themselves unclean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, when the Canaanite woman shouted at
Jesus, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My daughter is tormented by a demon,"
Jesus ignored her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did not even
acknowledge her existence, but the disciples were not so patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They urged him to send her away because she
wouldn’t stop. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when Jesus finally
spoke, it was with disdain: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel."<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The woman was not deterred by his words. She went
and knelt at his feet and pleaded with him, "Lord, help me."<br />
<br />
Jesus responded in a manner that seems uncharacteristically harsh. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"It is not fair to take the children's food
and throw it to the dogs."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite
the insult, though, the woman answered him without missing a beat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And I think she must have smiled as she said
this….) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Sir, even the dogs under
the table eat the children's crumbs."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Canaanite woman was good, you have to
admit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She did to Jesus what he was so
good at doing to so many of the critics who dared to engage him in oral combat.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nowhere else in the Gospel accounts is
there any report of anyone so clearly getting the best of Jesus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This “dirty” foreigner took Jesus to task, and
he knew it. What's even more surprising, though, is that Jesus not only got it,
he admitted his mistake. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did what all
of us could do better when we are shown to be wrong. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He graciously acknowledged the rightness of
her position, saying, “Woman, great is your faith! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let it be done for you as you wish.” to which
Matthew adds, “and her daughter was healed instantly."<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br />
There are two miracles here. The first one is obvious and by itself no small thing.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus healed that little girl, but
clearly it would not have happened except for this mother's great love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of his study books, James Moore calls this
"love with an attitude." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
says the woman was bold and courageous because she lived by an attitude of
love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would not be put off. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would not be discouraged. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would not give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was willing to risk humiliation in order
to free her daughter from her suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Love bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things. Love
never ends." Long before the apostle Paul penned these words, this
Canaanite woman lived them.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The second miracle in this story of healing is, in
many ways, even more significant. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus'
immediate response to the Canaanite woman was tribal - "I was sent only to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel." – which is not surprising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are all members of a family and a tribe
first. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who you are related to counts for
something in this world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Families take
care of their own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blood is thicker than
water and everything else. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How many wars have been fought, how many millions
have died in our world because of that attitude? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1994, 800,000 persons from the Tutsi tribe
in Rwanda were murdered by members of the Hutu tribe, who were then in power. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Ethnic cleansing" we now call this
- bad blood between neighbors that begins with simple disagreements about
religion and who owns what territory, and ends in a bloodbath. Witness Bosnia,
Kosovo, Burundi, Chechnya, Kurdistan, Northern Ireland, and Palestine, to name
just a few of the places where ethnic tensions have erupted in violence again
and again. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One wonders where God is in
these places, why it seems that God cannot be heard or is not known in these
bleeding hearts.<br />
<br />
Jesus said to the Canaanite woman, "It is not fair to take the children's food
and throw it to the dogs." And the voice of God spoke into the mess that
Jesus was making through the Canaanite woman when she replied, "Yes, Lord,
yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What do you suppose Jesus learned in that foreign
place that he could not have learned in his home territory?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">
<br />
Last week I made the journey from Morgantown to Goshen, IN and back on the
train.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those of you who haven’t done
much train travel, you should know that if when you sit to eat in the dining
car your table is filled up with others who are also in the mood for some food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, of course, uncomfortable to sit there
eating in silence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, conversation with
strangers is the order of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">At breakfast, I was seated with a pleasant enough
retiree from Missouri who had spent his life building houses and was returning
from a quick remodel of his daughter’s apartment in New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we chatted about our lives and world
events, he made a sudden shift to the situation in the Middle East – the
conflict between Israel and Palestine, to be specific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What began as a lament for the loss of life
over the years quickly became a low-key rant about the failings of Muslims in
general and the evil blood-thirstiness of the Palestinians in particular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ended his tirade with, “Those dirty sand-devils
will never stop fighting until they have everything and everyone else is dead,”
and looked to me for support in his statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I sputtered out something about the history involved and excused myself
from the table wishing that I could, somehow, get that man to step into a new
place so that he would be free to replace his ignorance and anger with compassion
and empathy … maybe even love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[In 2002], a 13-member delegation of The United
Methodist Church conducted a fact-finding tour of the Middle East. These 13
American Christians in foreign territory were taken aback by what they saw and
heard. It was a very different perspective than that provided by the American
news media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the visit the
delegation spent the night of July 27 in farmers' homes in a Palestinian
village. Les Solomon, of Alexandria, Virginia, noted that despite his extensive
travels to other parts of the world, "I have never experienced the levels
of repression on a people that I experienced during the visit. Its basic intent
is to break the will of the Palestinian people by breaking their spirit."<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Learning%20from%20the%20Foreigner%20-%20Matthew%2015%2021-28.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
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<br />
Working in other parts of the world, Esther Armstrong and Dale Stitt of
Portland, Oregon, have an ecumenical ministry called Journey Into Freedom that,
among other things, sponsors what they call "Trips of Perspective."
Esther wrote in their newsletter of a "wonderfully disturbing" trip
to Haiti where they met some of the poorest of the poor. They heard stories of
starving people so hungry they are forced to eat emaciated dogs and donkeys,
and of schoolchildren in Port-au-Prince swallowing stones to assuage hunger
pangs due to poverty. Why do they go? Esther says, "We go on our Trips of
Perspective not to fix the problems, to have answers, or even to make a
difference. We go to be present, to stand in solidarity with the people of
Haiti, to confront our real powerlessness in the face of dire need, and to be
transformed."<br />
<br />
What have you learned in a foreign territory that you could not have learned anywhere
else?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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Whenever we journey into scripture, we are traveling to a foreign land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know that, and we have talked about how
different the society and culture were in the time of Jesus many times
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I won’t burden you with more
of that today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me just share that on
this particular trip I learned that God’s mercy is open – that God’s grace is a
blessing that pours out on all – even those that I think of as unworthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It pours out, washes away the myths that
possess us, and pushes us to grow and change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That’s not a new thought for me, but it’s good to be
reminded of that from time to time … as I sit in judgment on men who talk about
the worthlessness of Palestinians or frown at those who want to white-wash this
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s good to be reminded that
no matter who we are, no matter where we come from, no matter what we have done
or said, God’s love is strong enough to hold us all – strong enough to hold us
… and wise enough to uncover our desire our truer nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s good to know that there is One there, ready to
welcome us in, bless us, and respond to our hearts deepest longings with the
words, “let it be done for you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">AMEN.</span>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Learning%20from%20the%20Foreigner%20-%20Matthew%2015%2021-28.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">from United Methodist News Service as printed in Newscope, August 9, 2002</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-3436809023547794472014-08-10T12:00:00.000-04:002014-08-17T09:50:19.496-04:00Becomingsermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Romans 12:1-8<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Matthew
16:13-20<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Those of you with children between the ages of 5 and
18 are probably quite familiar with the Transformers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What with 4 (I think) summer blockbusters
coming to movie theaters over the past five or six years, backpacks and other
school supplies plastered with the pictures of warrior robots, and the
ubiquitous Bumblebee costumes that have walked the streets on the last couple of
Hallowe’ens, the Transformers have become a cultural icon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This isn’t the first time, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 80s were the original decade of
transformers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We (at least some of us
who were just the right age back then) were obsessed with the Autobots and the Decepticons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were no movies about them back then
(and how could you have made one with computer-produced graphics) …. No movies,
but there were daily cartoons that ran for years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it wasn’t just the robot saviors of
humanity that were part of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
were also the Thundercats and Voltron.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They weren’t quite the same thing, but they had courageous warriors
(human or otherwise) who piloted battle machines that transformed into a huge
mechanized cat or a gigantic robot on demand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Those friends of my childhood and their action-packed
adventures made for some pretty highly-charged Saturdays in our household.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, throughout the week, we would imagine
new adventures and crash our toys together, and as we protected the weak from
the depredations of the enemy, we got to express, in graphic detail, our desire
violence and destructions without actually hurting each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That decade was also the time of some of my own
first personal transformations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
graduated from elementary school and Jr. High during those years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as my body grew and changed, my mind
filled with knowledge and an expanding perspective on life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also started thinking about faith and
spirituality for the first time somewhere during the middle of the 80s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a time filled with changes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Since then, I have graduated from adolescence into
college and on to adulthood with all the rights and responsibilities that come
along with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got married and
changed my name – a huge change that has affected who I am more than I thought
it would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And I don’t just getting
married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Changing my name began a
transformation in me that I never even considered.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went back to being a student again, and
then I became a father and a pastor at just about the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk about a change of perspective!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I look back over my journey through those
25 years, I realize that it has been one long process of transformation that
began, really, even before I became aware of myself in the 80s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’m sure that any number of you could tell
me all about how it will only keep on and on for the rest of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Those kinds of changes are much deeper and more
personal than the antics of Optimus Prime or the Thundercats, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their transformations only have to do with
form or functionality, and while some of my own changes had to do with my own
form, most of them went on below the surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, even those deeper changes were only on the level of my own
self-image, or my perspective, or my approach to living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The transformation that Paul is talking about
in this letter to the Romans reaches, I think, even farther down inside
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used the words “be transformed by
the renewing of your mind,” but I think he was speaking of something more
spiritual than it sounds like to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When we hear the word mind in this time and this
society, we find ourselves thinking of intelligence and will power, at least
that’s what I tend to think of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes we may throw a certain “je ne sais quoi” into the mix if we
are considering the nature of human consciousness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dictionary sums it up with the
definition: “</span><span class="hwc"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">intellect</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span class="hwc">or</span> <span class="hwc">understanding,</span> <span class="hwc">as</span>
<span class="hwc">distinguished</span> <span class="hwc">from</span> <span class="hwc">the</span> <span class="hwc">faculties</span> <span class="hwc">of</span>
<span class="hwc">feeling</span> <span class="hwc">and</span> <span class="hwc">willing;</span>
<span class="hwc">intelligence,”</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Becoming%20-%20Matthew%2016%2013-20%20-%20Romans%2012%201-8.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span class="hwc"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">but that isn’t what Paul was talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least it doesn’t seem that way to scholars
who know much more about the subject than I do.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Among the Greeks, Romans, and Jews of Paul’s time
there was a different biology of thinking, feeling, and being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For them, emotions, intuition, and passion
lived in the gut (an understanding that we preserve when we talk about our “gut
feelings” about a situation).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the
things that make of intelligence – logic and reason, knowledge and
understanding – were a function of the brain much as they do for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the mind – the sense of self and will,
the home of our true identity and the ground of our being – the mind dwelled in
the heart.<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: yellow; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: yellow;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So, when Paul speaks of a transformation, he isn’t
just talking about changing our mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
means something much more serious, much more fundamental.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He means a change at the deepest level of our
natures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is talking about a change of
heart – a transformation of our very selves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And for Paul that means three very specific things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">First and foremost, it is a move from being a
non-believer to a believer, and by that I mean believing in Jesus as the
Christ, as the Son of God come to set us free, as God himself made human to
share in our lives and redeem our living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most of the people that Paul knew were believers in something else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost everybody in the ancient world was a
follower of one God or another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some few
claimed to follow philosophy alone, but most worshiped the Roman Pantheon, the
Greek Gods, or YHWH.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The members of the community in Rome had been mostly
Jewish to begin with, but there were a smattering of gentiles mixed into the
group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while they had all come to
believe in Jesus and had been baptized into the church, the pressures of the
culture around them and the habits they had formed in their past tempted them
back into practices like sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Paul’s words to them called them away from conformity with those around
them and reminded them to return to the Christian teachings that freed them
from the need for those rituals.<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Which leads us to Paul’s second favorite theme, and
one which is especially prevalent in Romans: the change from being a people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doomed by</i> the law to failure and
judgment to being a people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">redeemed from</i>
the law by grace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over and over again in
this letter, Paul tries to help the people understand the gift they have
received through Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where they had
been liable to judgment under to the law of Moses according to which they would
certainly be found wanting and in need of punishment, within Jesus’ embrace
their sins were forgiven and their souls redeemed from damnation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">All they needed to do was cling to their faith and
try their best to follow the will of God, but in order to succeed in that they
were in constant need of the Spirit’s guidance, and that guidance could only be
discerned if their hearts were renewed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If at the root of their being they had become open and ready to receive
understanding beyond the selfish and limited truth that reason could provide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="background: yellow; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: yellow;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If you find yourself a little confused or feeling
lost in the tumble of words searching some clarity, you are NOT alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People have been struggling with Paul for
centuries, and I’m not at all certain that the members of the community that he
was writing to really understood what he was saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not even sure that I do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It seems like a lot to hold onto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I’ll sum those us as two bullet
points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be transformed from non-believer
to believer and be transformed from legalistic people of the law to the committed
people of grace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Believe and be
redeemed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="background: yellow; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And now we come to the last of the three great
transformations Paul wants us to understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When we are renewed through the grace of Christ, we become part of a
greater whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We become part of the body
of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may seem minor compared
with the other two changes, but I think holding onto that identity might be our
greatest challenge, because it is a transformation that reaches to the core of
our being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in this society, the idea
of being anything other than an individual is a big change indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’m sure there was a lot of individualism in Paul’s
day even with the greater stress on being part of the clan, but there is even
more now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the time we are born, we
are taught to become self-sufficient (which isn’t a bad thing) and to look out
for #1 (which is not so good).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
taught that our needs come before the wellbeing of the rest of humanity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We think in terms of me verses everyone else
most of the time, and our lives reflect that reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We are isolated in our homes more and more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t know or care to know many of the
people who live near us let alone the hundreds of people we pass by without a
thought each day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We find ourselves
stressing out when we face difficult challenges that have to do with money or
childcare or any of a number of other things because we assume that we have to
deal with them ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Paul is speaking directly against that message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are not, he says, really individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are part of a body of believers that is
connected in the same way that our physical bodies are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes we are unique parts of that body, but we
are not separate in any sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
one … together … joined at the deepest level – the spiritual level – with one
another, and that transformation changes a lot of things.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It shifts our way of thinking about each other and
makes it possible to take Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves
seriously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Paul thinks that it
can take one step farther so that we put the wellbeing of others ahead of our
own which he certainly did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It changes
our approach to the world because we begin to see all of God’s children as part
of our family – as long lost members, perhaps, of the body that we are a part
of creating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it makes the struggle
to hold onto our new identity a group effort instead of a personal trial. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Big changes … changes of the heart … change at the
deepest level … transformation that comes to us a gift of grace and the
Spirit’s work … transformation that began for all of us sometime in the past
and will continue throughout the rest of our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So, sisters and brothers, as we sit here in the
beauty of a creation that we are not separate from by intimately connected
with, I invite you to consider Paul’s words as if they were addressed to you….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I appeal to you,
therefore, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">2</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed [not just in body but in spirit] … be transformed by the renewing
of your minds, so that you may [become the children of God] who discern what is
the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">May it be so.</span>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Becoming%20-%20Matthew%2016%2013-20%20-%20Romans%2012%201-8.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mind?s=t<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-9405756152813202222014-08-03T10:04:00.000-04:002014-08-05T15:23:20.158-04:00Layers of Abundancesermon by Torin Eikler<br />
Matthew 14:13-21<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As many of you know, we just returned from a cruise
to Alaska on the inner waterway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Normally, I don’t think of cruises as my vacation of choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d prefer spend my time enjoying a
particular location for a few days rather than passing days on board a ship
with only a few hours in each port of call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I quite enjoyed this particular cruise, and I would recommend it to
anyone who likes to see amazing scenery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just leave the children behind so that you can actually spend time
appreciating it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Two days were particularly nice for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was the centerpiece of the cruise – a day
in Glacier Bay where I got to watch icebergs calve off into the sea, to see a
pod of orcas swimming lazily by, and to observe development of mature forest in
fast forward as we sailed from the glacier past land that had been uncovered
longer and longer in past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The other was our day in Juneau.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used our time there to go and visit a
glacier that ended in a freshwater lake surrounded by old growth evergreen
forest that was rife with waterfalls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the park, there were several trails, and we decided to take a 3 ½ mile hike up
to the head waters of the biggest fall and back through the forest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point, we stood on a board walk on the
edge of a hill that descended about 500 feet in the course of about 50
feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(That’s a 90% incline in case you
were wondering.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I stood there
looking out into the forest and listening the rills of water streaming down the
exposed areas of rock, I realized that I was still fully in the forest despite
the height, and I was taken with awe at the beauty and the majesty of the
scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was my kind of place – the
kind where I feel most alive – a place where I felt enfolded in the bountiful
gifts that God showers on this creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And then we came home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it wasn’t that life was hectic that
caught me off guard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our time on the
ship was just a frantic and full as it is at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What snuck up on me was the news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fighting over the water supply in Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drought in California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cities shutting off water to people who were
behind in paying their bills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After days
surrounded by the sound and the beauty of water, I found myself steeped in the
story of its scarcity.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And that, it turn, tuned my ears to hear the story
of “not enough” that flows through our society, seeping into our subconsciouses
(is that a word) and dripping into our minds until we find ourselves reaching
for whatever we can grab hold of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Reaching for it and holding on tight just in case there isn’t any
more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s a very pervasive feeling, isn’t it – that sense
that there isn’t enough … that we can’t or won’t get all that we want or even
just the things that we need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s real
and it’s powerful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the story our
culture tells us in a quiet, nagging voice and it makes us forget more
important things like compassion and love and joy and wears away our sense of
hope in God’s promise of abundance.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But there is another voice out there that tells a
different story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It speaks to us in the
creation narratives filled with life in plenty and soothes the fears of the
hundreds of thousands of our ancestors who spent forty years in the wilderness
eating manna and drinking sweet water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It resounds in the words of the prophets and echoes in the letters of
Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It paints a picture of what the
future might look like in Revelation, and it shows us how the table of God
provides for us all – even now – in the story of Jesus and a crowd sitting on
the side of a mountain with the sun setting on a long day of listening and
learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I think most of you know the story of the feeding of
the multitudes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s very popular and well
known in our churches (though as I looked back through our records we have only
preached on it once).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a favorite now, and it must have been in the
early church as well since it appears in one form or another 6 times in the
course of the 4 gospels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The details
change from place to place, but the essentials remain the same.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In Matthew, 5,000 people have gathered in the
wilderness between villages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I say
5,000, because that’s the number in the text, but it was probably more like
12,000 once you include the women and children that are mentioned (almost as an
afterthought).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people followed Jesus
to see the man who had been doing miracles of healing and to hear his wisdom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The crowd spent the day listening to the strange new
rabbi share a vision that was less-than-orthodox but filled with hope and
promise, and it must have been a long day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Lunch time passed and everyone ate whatever food they had brought with
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evening drew near, and children
began to complain about being hungry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Parents began to argue about when they should head home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the rumblings reached the ears of the
disciples who were taking it in turns to walk among the people and get a sense
of their response to the message.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">They shared their concerns with Jesus, urging him to
finish up so that they could all go and find something to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Jesus wasn’t quite done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sent them to find food for everyone just
as they would have it this was their home, and they returned with five loaves
of bread and two fish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Setting aside
their concerns, Jesus took the food and blessed it and it multiplied to feed
all 12,000 people with left-overs for the next day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the context of the gospels, this is a very simple
miracle story – though I think if we were hearing it for the first time, it
would seem much stranger than it does now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At least it is straightforward even if it is a bit hard to believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it tells us that Jesus – that God – still
has the power to provide abundantly when the need is great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s not just the story of a miracle that
took place long, long ago in a country far, far away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s deeper and more powerful than that, and
it flows across time to affect the lives of people today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It clashes with society’s story and it can
touch our hearts if we let it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I could go on for a while and talk about how that
can happen, but I’ll Sue Clemmer Steiner show you what it looks like as she
shares the story of how Matthew’s story has come alive in her experience….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A couple of times a summer, [when I was a child], a thin man dressed in black
would politely knock on our back door about an hour before suppertime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His face looked old and weather-beaten, and
despite the heat he always wore layers of clothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The little cart with his belongings sat by
the front gate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He would ask my mom if there was any food he could have that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So she made extra of whatever she was
preparing for dinner, keeping me inside the house while the man waited on the
back steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She filled a plate for him,
and he sat on the steps and ate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
finishing his dinner he knocked on the door, said thank you, and continued on
his way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Afterward my dad would launch into stories of the many hobos who passed
through our small Pennsylvania town on freight trains during the Depression,
looking for a meal and sometimes sleeping in the sheds at the family feed
mill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They’re homeless,” said my day,
“down on their luck, and it’s good for us to feed them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">My mom’s action, supported by my dad, left a deep impression on me….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sixty years later, when I pray about Matthew’s
telling of the feeding of the multitude , it’s the words “You give them
something to eat” that beckon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like my
mother, I hear these words addressed to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And like the first disciples, I’m overwhelmed….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I am surely infected more than I know by the invasive script of North
American politics and culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
scarcity script tells me that I need to protect what I have and grasp for
more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It encourages me to look after my
own interests and succumb to new and ever more exotic cravings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[Yet, as I ponder Jesus’ amazing act of compassion] I’m startled to find
a new script emerging, drawing me in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a script that begins not in fear of obligation but in compassion,
and it leads to awe….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus blesses and
breaks open what is surely not enough and dares us to offer it to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he does this, God’s economy of abundance
emerges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Perhaps, I can help set the stage for such miracles when I pay attention
to my own cravings for more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can pray
with Isaiah, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your
labor for that which does not satisfy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For when I do that my spirit is nourished, I
catch a glimpse of God’s economy of abundance, [and I step forward to share
that gift with others.]<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Layers%20of%20Abundance%20-%20Matthew%2014%2022-33.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The feeding of the multitude is not just a story
about God’s gifts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also a challenge
to us to join in – to reach out and share what we have been given so freely –
to break free from society’s story of scarcity and lead others into and the
abundance found under the reign of God.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That’s a good enough message, and maybe I should stop
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I remember saying in my last
sermon that we might do well to spend more time wrestling with the well-loved
scriptures as well as the challenging ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I did that with this text, when I used a few tools to dig a bit
deeper, I discovered a truth that John Shearman puts this way:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Perhaps, he says, we moderns may tend to focus too much on the miracle of
the loaves and fishes when we should look more closely at what it expressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That appears to have been the more important
aspect of [the stories in Matthew’s gospel.] <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jesus had just heard about the execution of John the Baptist. It was an
ominous turn of events. Whether or not we accept the tradition that John and
Jesus were related does not matter. It does not mean as much as the fact that
Jesus grieved for John's death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We might
even think of John as Jesus' mentor with whom he had had close association at
the time of his baptism and possibly some time before that. He wanted to be
alone not only to mourn but probably to talk with his disciples privately about
the dangers he now expected lay ahead for himself and for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.4in 0pt 0.5in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A colloquial translation of vss. 13-14 implies that his departure in a
boat was secretive, but that the crowds "got wind of it" and followed
him on foot. The traditional site shown to tourists … was not far from the
villages of Capernaum, Gennesaret and Magdala. It is an even shorter trip by
boat across the northwestern bay of the lake. When Jesus saw the crowds who had
gathered on the lakeshore, "he had compassion on them." … We might
say, "He felt it in his gut." [And,] no matter how great his own need
for privacy and time to grieve, he felt that their need for his attention was
greater.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Layers%20of%20Abundance%20-%20Matthew%2014%2022-33.docx" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As it turns out, this “simple” scene from Matthew is
actually more like a parable than a miracle story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could almost reframe the story to begin
with “the Kingdom of God is like a crowd of people who spent the day listening
to a rabbi, and, when the time came to eat they found nothing but a small boy’s
dinner to feed them….”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A parable ….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One that teaches us, as all parables do, about the reality we make for
ourselves and the reality that God wishes to give us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what I get from this parable is this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God provides abundantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Whenever we find ourselves in need … whenever we look
around us, and there is not enough, God takes whatever little bit we have to
offer, breaks it and transforms it so that pours down on us as a blessing.
Whether it is food or water we need, whether it is reassurance or courage in
the face of fear, whether it is hope or dreams to lead us forward, God has the
power and the desire to meet our needs … and not just in some idyllic
future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God has the power and the desire
to provide for us here and now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thanks be to God, AMEN.</span>
</div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Layers%20of%20Abundance%20-%20Matthew%2014%2022-33.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
Christian Century (July 23, 2014), 21.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Layers%20of%20Abundance%20-%20Matthew%2014%2022-33.docx" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
John Shearman as written in a post to Midrash list serve on July 28, 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-24419952162777443782014-07-20T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-29T16:11:51.352-04:00Stories from SueStories shared by Sue Overman during worship....<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/QDwYHp-m0R0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-47427362294150199932014-07-13T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-31T17:46:45.106-04:00Sermon from July 13, 2014Sermon by Jennifer Jones-Sale<br />
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Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-1512566429593642092014-06-29T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-29T16:10:50.108-04:00Wrestling with Sacrificesermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Genesis 21:8-21<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Genesis 22:1-14</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Over the past couple of weeks Carrie introduced you
to her process for approaching difficult scriptures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process I use is pretty similar though
there are some differences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
surprising since we all approach scripture in different ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also need to practice techniques several
times before they become ingrained habits that are easy (or easier) for us to
use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, rather than walk you through my
own way of trying to understand difficult texts in detail, I’m going to follow
the pattern set out by my lovely and talented co-pastor; though as you will
see, I plan to add a couple of things along the way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Before we really get into things, though, let me go
over the steps that we used last week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It will make things easier for those of you who were here, and it will
help the rest of us feel like we know what’s going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There are three stages in this process: preparation,
unearthing, and application.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first
involves reading (or hearing) read the scripture text and paying attention to
the feelings that rise up within us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
sit with those feelings for a time … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">without
judgment …</i> as we uncover our assumptions and preconceptions about the text,
and then we ask God to clear a way for us to hear a new word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The second stage involves digging deeper into the
text.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is filled with history, socio-cultural
context, and literary analysis. At the heart of this unearthing is an effort to
step out of our cultural assumptions and understandings, including some of our
beliefs about the nature of scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These words were written by people who lived a long time ago about their
own experience of the world, and they contain the interpretations and
assumptions of their cultures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Finally we arrive at the step where we try to find
some meaning in the text for ourselves in our time and in our cultural
context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what most of us are
looking for when we read the Bible, and with the scriptures that we read and
preach on more often, it can be a fairly easy process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Difficult passages like this one and so many
in the narrative histories of the Old Testament are a whole other matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The powerful imagery mixed with the violent
and the grotesque take them completely outside of our ability to relate to
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s why we find them
difficult in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Preparation….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let’s start with the feelings that this story of Abraham, Isaac, and God
brings up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You haven’t had the benefit
of a week’s time to let these words stew in your heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I’ll read them again for you – and here
is one the places that Carrie and I differ a little. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I come across a text like this one, I
read it through in more than one translation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Linda read us the New Revised Standard Version earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I’m going to read from the New
International Version.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember to pay
attention to the feelings raised by the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You’ll have a chance to share them in a minute.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Genesis 22:1-14….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Some time later God tested Abraham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said to him, “Abraham!”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here
I am,” he replied.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac,
whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will
tell you about.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled
his donkey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He took with him two of his servants
and his son Isaac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he had cut
enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him
about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the third day Abraham looked
up and saw the place in the distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey awhile I and the boy go over
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will worship and then we will
come back to you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and
placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the two or them when on together, Isaac
spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,
my son?” Abraham replied.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt
offering?”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb
for the burnt offering, my son.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
two of them went on together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When they reached the place God had told him about,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the
altar, on top of the wood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he reached
out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the angel of the Lord called out to him
from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here
I am,” he replied.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do not do anything to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I know that you fear God, because you
have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a
ram caught by its horns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went over
and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Abraham called that place “The Lord Will
Provide.” and to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be
provided.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[silence]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What are some of your initial feelings, reactions,
or questions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God ahead and share them
out loud, whatever they are ….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[space for sharing] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Good….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank
you for sharing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first response is
one of disgust and disbelief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I simply
cannot believe that God would ask for such a sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if it were within God’s being to request
such a thing, I cannot stretch far enough to accept that God would grant
Abraham and Sarah the child that they had longed for – the child they had been
promised – and then take him away just to prove faithfulness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I also feel pain, anger, and despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess that’s because I am a father now,
too, and when I put myself into the story I find myself in Abraham’s place,
tying up my sons, laying them on the altar, and picking up a knife to cut the
joy out of my soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, if I were
in Abraham’s place I would probably be turning away from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would be shouting and cursing and crying at
the pain of the choice laid before me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that’s just me….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Now let’s look at our preconceived notions about
this text….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you ever heard anyone
preach a sermon about the testing of Abraham before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did any Sunday School teachers ever discuss
it in class?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This story is a bit more
well-known than Hagar’s tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I’m
pretty sure you’ve been told what it means at some time or another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why don’t you share your experiences or the
interpretations that you have been taught with someone near you….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">[pause for sharing]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I know some that was easier for some of you than
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my own part, I remember
having two different themes from this story drilled into me during Sunday
School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first was obedience and the
second was trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put together they made
the moral of the story: “faith means trusting God enough to obey him
unquestioningly.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you know me at all,
you’ll know that it has always been the last part of that phrase the grates on
me the most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unquestioning obedience
(especially to a God who demands human sacrifice) is not one of my strong
points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need help discovering how to
do that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Some of what I heard you all sharing was similar to
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Now that we have that out in the open, let’s pause for
a moment to ask God to help us clear a path through it all….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a moment to find a calm center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take hold of all the feelings and struggles
that you have uncovered and hold them out to God….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">God, take all that I am holding –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
feelings, the assumptions, <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
messages that have been hammered into me again and again – <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>take
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Hold them for me and clear a space where I can let
go <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so
that my hands may be open to receive new insight…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so
that I can flow into the grace of your love and wisdom<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
receive a living word to light the way for me.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">AMEN.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Okay so far?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let’s add a little background and context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t need to do much, I think, since
Carrie set the scene so well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We just need
to note that in the time of Abraham, sacrifice was understood not just to be
good, but to be a necessary part of worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was the only way to make restitution for sins and/or to sooth angry
gods, and the more precious the scapegoat, the greater the debt repaid … the
greater the sin forgiven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, sacrifice
– even human sacrifice – wasn’t seen as beyond the pale in the way that we
think of it now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It might also be good to remind us all that the
stories in Genesis are narratives meant to shed light on the experiences of the
Hebrews and offer insights through retelling their encounters with the God they
knew intimately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And Abraham knew God well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a long-standing relationship with a tradition
of God asking Abraham for obedience that may seem harsh to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the years Abraham was sent to strange
countries, endured spousal mishaps, battle, circumcision (as a grown man I
might add), family feuds, Sodom and Gemorrah, a son saved and lost to exile,
and a son given according to promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Through it all, God walked with him and cared for him, and Abraham felt
himself to be blessed despite the difficulty of what had been asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Perhaps it’s not so surprising, then, that in this
story Abraham seems to trust God beyond what we would expect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s one interpretation that I’ve
read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another one that I heard from a
student at seminary was that Abraham knew God well enough to know that this was
just a test – to know, as he told Isaac, that God would provide a lamb for the
sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Maybe Abraham was really testing God to see if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God</i> would actually go through with
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone tests everyone else in a
family after all, and ultimatums (especially the extreme ones) often bring that
out in us the most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maybe</i> Abraham was just an idiot. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Sorry, it’s all those pesky judgments of mine coming
back out again, and we have put those things away for now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So…, all of those interpretations could be
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll never know, and that’s why
we have to hold them all in their competing, confusing clamor as we wait for
God to provide clarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, and here is
another way that I’m different than Carrie, I can’t let go as well as she can.
My linear mind keeps on pushing for something – anything solid that I can hold
onto.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I like what Carrie had to say about looking at
ourselves in the mirror of scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s not something I have thought of in that way before, and so I did
that this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I found was
surprising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not so much that
Abraham went along with God’s demand in this text that makes it hard for
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s more that I cannot see myself
doing the same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Facing up to that truth is hard enough for me that I
keep on wrestling with the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I try
looking at it from different angles and making different guesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I’m honest, I don’t really do that order
to understand it (though that would be nice).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I do it in order to explain it away – to take the bite out of it or
dismiss it all together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And that has me wondering about the scriptures that
I don’t struggle with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about the
ones that I am comfortable with?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love
you neighbors as yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feed the
hungry and provide hospitality for the homeless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you love me keep my commandments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about those lovely gems?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should teachings that were challenging enough
to get Jesus killed in his own time be challenging for us as well or can we be
relax into their comfortable embrace?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I am comfortable with them, but I’m not sure that I
should be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I step back and look at my
life, it doesn’t follow those guidelines … not really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard those words often enough, made
my own compromises often enough, given in to the voice of my culture often
enough … that I have grown callus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
teachings should be a struggle, I think, at least as much as the stories of
Genesis, and I wonder what would happen if we spent as much time wrestling with
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How would we change if we opened ourselves up to the
old familiar passages in the same way we have over the past couple of
weeks?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What new word of transformation
would the Spirit bring us if we ask?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Would we become something new if only we were to bind up our beloved,
comfortable lives and lay them on the altar?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">I wonder.</span></span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-90279601880200836992014-06-22T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-29T16:06:22.456-04:00Wrestling Continued ...2nd part of sermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Last week we began the process of
talking about how we wrestle with difficult scriptures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scriptures that make us uncomfortable, or
even offend us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I compared this to the
wrestling match Jacob had with the angel, which why I decided to include that
scripture again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To remind us of the
very real, physical effects holy wrestling can have on us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I went through the process suggesting we
start out with spiritual preparation and invited you into that on Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I invited you to hear Genesis 16:1-16, a
scripture that I struggle with and note the initial feelings and assumptions
you may have about this story: the conventional moral that is often heard, the
insight into who God is that is often presented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I asked you to pray for a clearing
through all of these preconceived notions that may prevent you from hearing the
living word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now for those of you who
weren’t here, or didn’t watch it online, we are going to hear the text again
and I’ll invite you to do a quick scan of these things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What initial reactions arise in you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you like or don’t like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How have you heard this story?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I invite Linda to read this scripture to us
again and will have just a moment of silence afterwards…[Genesis 16:1-16].<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So, I ask you, to begin with…what are
some of your initial reactions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Feelings?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Questions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go ahead and share them out loud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good thoughts about it, critical thoughts…[space
for sharing]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My initial reaction is one of anger
towards God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems as though God
tells Hagar to go back into what seems to me an abusive relationship, not least
of all to return to slavery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mind
quickly goes to all the abused women who have been told it is the duty to
return to abusive partners, or who feel they can’t leave for fear of what might
be done to them or their children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
even though the harsh treatment is from one woman to another,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fear that this story could be set up for
abuse itself, saying God favors women’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">roles</i>
(as wives and mothers) over women’s safety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I also feel pity. Not just for Hagar,
but also for Sarai who faces infertility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Honestly, I don’t feel anything for
Abram expect resignation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now there are other feelings I have…but
that’s enough for now. </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Essentially, I feel anger and pity.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This is not a scripture
that we hear as much as Noah’s ark, or the Beatitudes so to come up with a
common moral of this story may not be so easy as others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But maybe you’ve heard sermons on this
before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s tell one another perhaps
what you’ve heard about this…[pause for sharing]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well, again, not able to really pinpoint
“popular sermons” on this scripture, I feel as though I see a theme emerge of
trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trust that God knows what is
best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trust that God will give you
strength, even if you are scared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Honestly, this is a very good theme, I’d say!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I sometimes get rubbed the wrong way when
we say “trust” but…who really knows what that looks like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we trust with doubts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we trust with fear for our lives, or
our children’s lives?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trust is not
something that we can just be told to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Trust is something we need help in showing what it looks like.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So I’ve heard…. [summary of congregational sharing]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and I’ve heard… [summary of congregational sharing]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now is the time when we pray a prayer of
clearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I invite you to do that
with me right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a deep breath,
and holding all the feelings that you have shared, or not shared but hold
within your heart, hold them out to God…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">God,
take all of this<br />
All these feelings, all these assumptions,<br />
all these tapes in our heads playing over and over again,<br />
and give me a new word.<br />
A living word.<br />
Make a space within my heart where the wrestling can rest,<br />
and I can flow in your wisdom and grace and insight and love.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Next in the “Carrie’s steps to wrestling
with scripture” is the unearthing phase where to some extent we get to know the
time and place and context this scripture was written in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I said last week, this is especially
important for me as I use this process in preparing for sermons, and may seem
less important in devotional life, but I’ll reiterate a few items to at least
keep in mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We cannot jump to conclusions about what
scripture means because it was written in a different time, a different place,
and a different culture from us, in a different language from our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This most certainly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does not</i> mean we cannot learn from it, or apply it to our
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just means we can’t be so
quick to say “Ah, this it what it means”…even literally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Last week I spoke a bit about literary
genres and mentioned that Genesis is a narrative, indeed, it is a family
narrative, telling the Hebrew story about how the earth came to be, how people were
created, how the Hebrew nation grew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
know that other cultures and traditions have creation stories, flood stories,
family stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looks at Israel’s
history through a theological lens, and God is very much a character, the same
as Abraham and Hagar and Cain and Eve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God speaks, moves, is present, and is engaged with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This isn’t the case in other books of the
Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other works has God as an “out
there” deity to be looked at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
Genesis, God is part of the story, to be engaged with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Which is why this moment with Hagar and
God is so intimate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God comes to Hagar,
through an angel, which in Genesis is almost to be seen as one and the
same-just as we might talk about Jacob wrestling with the angel is the same as
Jacob wrestling with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And God, or
the angel, proclaims a blessing on Hagar and a prophecy, not unlike the one the
angels speak to Mary upon conceiving Jesus: “Now you have conceived and shall
bear a son…”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So what about the whole polygamy
thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is definitely a product of a
different time and culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(This is why
I think we should be slow to say we base our virtues of family values on the
Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which family in the bible? </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> ).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or the fact that Hagar was a slave?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t really understand the implications
of this culture where slaves could become wives, or how wives interacted, or
who was superior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But aside from all
that, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it is enough to say…let’s look
at the verbs that are used in describing this relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Above and beyond what generally takes
place in a slave-master relationship, the author <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">deemed it fit</i> to say that Hagar looked with contempt, that Sarai
degraded her,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that Hagar ran away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the make up here is, something broke
free of the norm and caused Hagar to flee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So we’ve done a little literary
research, a bit of wondering about social make up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well if anything, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it reminds us <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(as I’ve said before) that what we are
wrestling with here is so far from our immediate understand that maybe we
shouldn’t be so quick to take meaning from it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">but… </b>we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mysteriousness of the text can be an
entry point into the mystery of the one to whom the text points.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Last week I said that one way I wrestle
with difficult scriptures is to look at them as confessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is one way I look at the history of
Israel, with the bloody violence and the continual language of feeling as
though God deserted them and then God came back, but then they failed, and God
deserted them again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s very
confessional in nature.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But I can approach a narrative like this
in a confessional way, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not in
that I am saying the author wrote it as a confession, but I approach my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">reading</i> with a confessional heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where is there pain in this story?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where have people, in my estimation, acted
unjustly towards another human being, or the earth, or even turned against
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And rather than saying “they” did
these bad things, I quickly hold <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mirror
up with the text and ask, how have I (for personal confession) or “we” (for
social confessions) acted in a similar, human, fragile—yes, sinful—way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This time that I approach the story, it
is in a very personal way—and again this isn’t what you will get out of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I approach it as a woman who has
successfully bore three children into this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am confronted with the pain and frustration
of millions of women who have lost children, or have been unable to
conceive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I trust I do not look upon them
with contempt, as Sarai felt Hagar did, but this calls me to sensitivity and
awareness of those who cannot, or choose <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to</i>
not, bear children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We can also look at this confessionally:
how has a history of slavery shaped our current lives together?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How has abuse shaped women’s lives and their
fleeing from or clinging to God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can
you give a word of love and protection to women facing such difficult choices:
not saying “God sent Hagar back, so you go back too” but saying God provided
Hagar with protection and we want to provide <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> with protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
instead of lingering in anger towards the text or God, we ask what is ours to
do in situations where people are facing fear and abuse.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But above all, we can approach scripture
confessionally, knowing the impact and abuse these scriptures have had on
perpetuating cycles of violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
confess we have been part of a Christian community that has used its holy text
to oppress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These stories remind us of
that and awaken us to the louder call throughout scripture: to bring justice to
the captives and dignity to all God’s children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Again, we don’t let the uncomfortable feelings paralyze us, we ask
God,:what are you calling us to do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now this doesn’t solve all the troubling
things that might arise in us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coming up with these answers will take more
questions, more wrestling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I hope
you do that work and continue to ask scripture these questions. In a culture
where we want everything yesterday, approaching difficult stories and let them
work themselves out within us over time is not enticing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But sometimes, my friend, it is a
necessary step in the struggle, to pause in wrestling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not to give up, but to sit in hopeful
expectation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many times when I pray for
clarity on difficult scriptures, I sit with God and I don’t have any
expectation that God will give me the answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At that time, in the clarity of a Google search.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I do believe that in quiet waiting and
fervent prayer, God plants a seed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
that seed is watered by living Christ’s path and loving with Christ’s love and
confessing into Christ’s grace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And an
answer will be revealed in time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
connection, an insight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’ll go on
to wrestle with something else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And I have a final confession—and this
where outgoing pastors get a sense of freedom and perhaps get into a little
trouble—I have to confess that one of my frustrations being a pastor is that in
standing here every other Sunday and wrestling with difficult texts is that I
feel the burden to convince you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make
it make sense to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To find the
application for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To take the
questions or struggles you might be facing with this text and find a nice, tidy,
palatable answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when I’m not sure
I have it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now, maybe you expect that and maybe you
don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a struggle of many
congregations and pastors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not
going to convince you of anything, or assuage your anger or answer your
questions in a 15-20 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>minute sermon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I hope I have done in my time here, is
help you to ask the questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
encourage you to ask the questions, not of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me
</i>or your pastor now or in the future, but to ask <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God</i> the questions.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I will have considered my time with you
fruitful if you feel you are not only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">able</i>
to approach God with your struggles and questions, but I will feel I have done
my job if you feel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">compelled </i>to do
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enticed to be frustrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To feel it is worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To see opening the scriptures, wrestling with
the scriptures, and coming away without answers but more questions not as a
failure or a cop-out, but as well with your time and spiritual energy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">And I trust, like
Hagar, that no matter what I am returning to in my struggle, or what lies
ahead, God is present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God will
protect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God will bless.</span>Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-75596040177110102472014-06-15T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-29T16:02:58.776-04:00Wrestling with Scripture1st part of a sermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
the TV drama, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Angels in America </i>a
character named Joe reflects on a small childhood obsession:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“I had a book of Bible stories when I
was a kid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a picture I’d look
at twenty times every day: Jacob wrestles with the angel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t really remember the story, or why the
wrestling—just the picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacob is
young and very strong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The angel is
a…beautiful man, with golden hair and wings, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still dream about it.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Joe concludes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It’s me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that struggle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fierce, and unfair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The angel is not human, and it holds nothing
back, so could anyone human win?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
kind of fight is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not just.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Losing means your soul thrown down in the
dust, your heart torn out from God’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>And
he concludes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But you can’t not lose.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Friends,
when it comes to faith, there is a lot of wrestling involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Prayer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wrestling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Worship?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wrestling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Scripture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definite wrestling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When
I think of some of the serious wrestling in my faith life, and maybe you can
commiserate, the angel I wrestle with is not the lovely, blond, beautiful angel
of Joe’s picture bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is more like
a huge, stinky, Mexican <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">luchador</i>,
with a mask on so I can’t see its face, and a little too much spandex for my
liking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But
I have to say, scripture is one of the biggest wrestling matches I have, my
biggest <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">luchador. </i>It is ink on page
and while there are as many interpretations of it as there are stars in the
sky, there is something that makes this book…indeed, this Holy Book, a red
herring for many Christians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t touch
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t change one jot or tittle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take it word for word and even if you don’t
understand it, don’t question it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do
you wrestle with scripture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know I
do, as you can already tell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is so
much that I find offensive, hateful, misogynistic, racist, violent, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>un Christian (and unJewish, really)
unGod-like…in my interpretation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my
understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Today
my friends, I want to simply share with you one of the ways (and there are more
than one way) that I engage this wrestling match with difficult
scriptures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the next few weeks we are
going to be encountering some scriptures in Genesis that are difficult for by
Torin and me, and likely you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a lot
of this process is based on my particular interpretation of the Bible—the
10cent seminary word here is hermeneutic—my interpretation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may not be your hermeneutic, and if not,
thank you for at least allowing a space to share with you my process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, it may spark something for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Just
like the angel of God who wrestled with Jacob, wrestling with scripture is a
holy act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It engages us, touches us,
makes us engage it, touch <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And no matter how we end up after wrestling
with it, as Joe in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Angels in America</i>,
you can’t not lose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because you will be
transformed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So
most of you know I don’t give point-by-point sermons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Point 1, point 2, point 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, today I am giving myself grace to
deviate from that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When
I think about wrestling with scripture, I see three phases: the preparatory
phase, the unearthing phase, and the application phase. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
preparatory phrase is deeply spiritual for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When presented with a difficult scripture, I first note the feeling that
arises in me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it anger?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fear?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Disgust?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Delight? Complete and
utter exhaustion.? I sit for a while and wrestle with that feeling, without
judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And really, we can give thanks
to these scriptures for calling something out within us to work with, to attend
to, to engage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Better a passionate
response, than no response.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">After
I sit with those feelings, I note my assumptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How have I heard this scripture before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What have been the sermons I’ve heard on
this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is, for lack of better terms,
the conventional moral of the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What have I always been told this story “means”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then
after I get in touch with my initial reactions and assumptions, I pray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That might seem an obvious step, but this is
special prayer of clearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask God to
clear what may be blocking me from hearing new word, not dismissing my feelings
or throwing them out the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
denying what I like or dislike Not disregarding everything I have learned, but
to clear a path, or at least a space within my heart for a word of God to come
shining through in new ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now
I don’t know if that is the easy part or the hard part, this preparation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It probably has to do with the state I’m in
emotionally, or the particular scripture I’m getting ready to wrestle
with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the next part of my lucha-my
struggle-is quite different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
where I try to dig deeper into the text. The “unearthing” phase.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
read the scripture again, reminding myself that this was not written by someone
like me, living in my time, shaped by the course of history and social
movements and wars and influential people and political decisions that have
shaped me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly, the writers of
scripture have little to resemble us in many ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So to jump to an easy conclusion about what
these people “really meant” about God is wrong. ( I don’t usually call things
so blatantly wrong, but this I will: to jump to an easy conclusion about what
these people “really meant” about God is wrong)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
fact, the time span of all the books in the Bible cover thousands of years of
literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think about Barbara
Kingsolver and St. Augustine writing their experiences of God and put them into
a book and call it Holy and that’s about the extent and more so of what we’re
looking at in the Bible!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This
comes from the culture of the near east, with many micro-cultures within:
Hebrew,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Syro-Phonecian, Roman,
Greek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was written over two
thousand years ago in a predominately patriarchal culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this culture, because most scriptures were
written by men, lifting up men’s position, placing superiority of men over
women, speaking of God as man…this does not mean that is how God wants us to
live. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means these scriptures were
written in a time when society shaped itself around these social structures. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is how people saw their world in that time,
for good or for ill, and is bound to shape their interpretation and writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not mean they are social structures
God wants for our time or for God’s kingdom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Scripture
also has many genres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are
theological historical books, a retelling of history where the author tried to
see God’s hand at work in the shaping of their history: Exodus, 1 and 2 Kings,
1 and 2 Chronicles, these are theological histories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are books of poetry: of course, the
psalms and the erotic and overlooked and underappreciated Song of Songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are books of the law such as Leviticus.
There are narratives: Genesis, the Gospels, Ruth, Esther, where the focus is on
the characters and the development of a plot and weaving in danger and suspense
and love and all that good stuff of a novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are letters: Paul!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
wisdom literature: the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apocalyptic literature: Revelations and
Daniel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When
wrestling with scripture I must acknowledge the different types of literary
genres to help me read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t look
to take away from my reading of Maya Angelou’s poetry the same thing I would
take away from reading read a biography of Pope John Paul II or the political
works of Noam Chomsky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I can’t
approach all the books of the bible with the same lens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask myself not just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> is being conveyed, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i>
is it being conveyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So
all this stuff is kind of heady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But another
way I like to unearth scripture is to approach it as if it were a prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There
are many types of prayers and while you may not be able to name them, you have
certainly experienced them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prayers of
praise, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of affirmation, prayers of petition
and intercession-where we ask for help, prayers of confession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often times the scriptures reflect some type
of sense of these prayers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
it is the prayer of confession that I have found helps me with some of the more
troubling scriptures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t tell you
what an impression it made on me when in seminary a professor said “We can’t
always read scripture looking for direction or instruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories weren’t all written with that
mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes the stories are written
as confessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Confessions of people
believing God was telling them to do something—kill, pillage, rape—and the
consequence show the folly of that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes
when approach difficult texts, I have to read them as confessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t do this as an apologetic or to dismiss
the gravity of the situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
can’t look at <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">all</b> scripture as
prescriptions—telling me what to do—but sometimes I must read it as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">descriptions</i>—showing us what people
tried to do, and showing us consequences. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
finally, I read scripture with the belief that it is a living word. I believe
that the text itself grows in meaning as I engage with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That I am changed, and in some way, the text
grows and changes as well, presenting itself to a new culture, with new
challenges and insights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll explore
more next week these last few items: reading scripture confessionally and with
the belief in the living word …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Because
next week we will have a chance to practice this. Next week we are going to
look at Genesis 16:1-16, a text that I struggle with, and maybe you too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we are going to begin the wrestling today
As we move into waiting worship, I am going to read that text and invite you
into the preparatory phase and I invite you to continue engaging with this text
throughout the week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As
I read this scripture note what feelings arise in you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have heard this text before, consider
what you have heard about it, how you’ve heard it preached on before, what is a
moral?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe, where does your mind
jump to conclusions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note that and this
week, be in prayer for a clearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
God may bless those, but also gently make space for a new revelation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now Sarai, Abram’s
wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was
Hagar, </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">2</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and Sarai said to
Abram, ‘You see that the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has
prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I
shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">3</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, after Abram had lived for ten years in the
land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl,
and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">4</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and
when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">5</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done
to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that
she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> judge between you and me!’ </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">6</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Your slave-girl is
in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and
she ran away from her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">7</span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The angel of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> found her by a spring of water in
the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">8</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And he said, ‘Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai,
where have you come from and where are you going?’ She said, ‘I am running away
from my mistress Sarai.’ </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">9</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The angel of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>
said to her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit to her.’ </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">10</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The angel of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> also said to her, ‘I will so greatly multiply your
offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.’ </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">11</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And the angel of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> said to her,<br />
‘Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;<br />
you shall call him Ishmael,<br />
for the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has
given heed to your affliction. <br />
</span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">12</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> He shall be a wild
ass of a man,<br />
with his hand against everyone,<br />
and everyone’s hand against him;<br />
and he shall live at odds with all his kin.’ <br />
</span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">13</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So she named the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi’;
for she said, ‘Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?’ </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">14</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;<br />
it lies between Kadesh and Bered. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">15</span><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hagar bore Abram a
son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">16</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Abram was eighty-six
years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">[Waiting Worship]<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we go into this
week of wrestling, receive this blessing from Carter Heyward: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May we realize that
God’s blessing upon us—that for which we have <br />
wrestled, some of us for so long and so fiercely—is that we be empowered<br />
to welcome and bless those who, like Jacob, indeed, like most of us,<br />
do not deserve to be blessed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #010000; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">May we sustain the
confidence and courage, the compassion and humor,<br />
to realize the sacred power in this stunning opportunity which is ours<br />
today, and will be ours, forever.<br />
(pause)<br />
This blessing will not be taken from us.</span>Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-8372170429841831702014-06-08T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-29T15:56:03.344-04:00Rich Spirit Soupsermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Acts
2:1-21<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Numbers 11:24-30</span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Last week we celebrated Ascension Sunday – the
festival that marks the departure of Christ in the heavens and the promise of a
return when the time is right.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We left
the disciples excited and stunned, waiting in Jerusalem for the arrival of the
Spirit.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">This week we celebrate Pentecost
and the fulfilled promise of the Spirit’s coming.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Often the story of Pentecost focuses us on the
disciples’ miraculous speaking in tongues or on the open invitation to the
children of God from all over the world that those words offered or on how this
was the birth of the church that would spread across the Roman Empire and then
the world.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">But I want to set all that
aside because a question has been growing in the back of my mind for the past
several weeks.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I want to know what
happened to the disciples that morning.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">What happened when the Spirit descended to dance with them as tongues of
fire?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">What changed for them besides the
languages they spoke?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">What changed
within them that made all the rest of the story possible?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Because the Spirit did change them.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">In just a moment’s time they became different
people: courageous where they had been fearful, bold where they had been timid,
loud and eloquent where they had been quietly mumbling through the good news
they had to share.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">When I lived in Elgin, IL, a part of my work
regularly included traveling to the airport to convey visitors or colleagues to
and from the Church of the Brethren Offices.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">At its fastest the trip took about 50 or 60 minutes depending on how
closely you followed the speed limits (which I always did, of course).</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Every once in a while traffic was extra light
and you could get there in 45 minutes.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">Most of the time, though, I ended up traveling through the beginnings or
the tail ends of rush hour.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">So, I
normally counted on an hour and a half and arrived on time or a few minutes
early.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">I spent the traveling time listening to radio –
usually to one of the Chicago NPR stations, and one morning I heard a
fascinating story about the models that were in the works to predict traffic
patterns.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">They were discussing a recent
breakthrough in which a researcher had compared traffic patterns – and particularly
traffic jams – to the behavior of water that has been cooled below 32º but kept
from freezing.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">That super-cooled water
behaved in pretty much the same way as water that was just above the freezing
point, but it was different in one important way.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">If you were to drop even a tiny fragment of
ice into it, the entire container of water would freeze solid instantly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">When I first thought of the change that came when
the Spirit fell upon the disciples, the image of that water becoming ice in
just an instance rose up in my mind.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">It
certainly captures the suddenness of what happened there in Jerusalem, but it
still isn’t quite right.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">The disciples
did not freeze up in that moment.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">They
did quite the opposite.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">They came to
life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="color: black;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">When we moved to Morgantown seven years ago, I began
to garden in earnest.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I had helped out
with the garden that my parents planted for most of my life … sometimes more –
an hour a day in high school, sometimes less – just harvesting potatoes,
snapping bean, and freezing corn in college, and sometimes very little because
I used to take just one bite of everything I saw when I was little.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I had helped, but I didn’t really know
everything that went into it until I got here.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">I discovered that first year, that there is a whole
lot more preparation involved than I ever realized.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">You start your garden in the fall, not the
spring.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">You prepare the ground then,
turning in compost or leaves or grass clippings (especially important in our
clay-ee soil) and pulling out those late season weeds before they get a chance
to plant their own seeds where you want yours to go.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">You let it sleep throughout the winter month
in the hopes that it will somehow become a richer, looser, loamier soil, and
then you turn it all over again when the cold and the ice finally let it
go.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Another round of fertilizing and
loosening, and finally you get to lay out your rows and plant your seeds.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Then it’s water and weed and water and weed
all through the spring and early summer as the seedlings grow into plants and,
finally, produce the vegetables you’ve been working on for nine or ten
months.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">And then it’s back to the
beginning again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">That sounds a bit more like the disciples.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">They were a garden of sorts there in
Jerusalem; one that had been waiting for the spring rains and the summer
sun.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">All winter long, the soil of their
spirits had been resting.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Jesus had come
and heaped on the fertilizer and pulled out the weeds that might have choked
off their growth.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">In his return he added
more, mixing and mixing so that they would be ready to receive the life to
come.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Then he spent forty days with them
planting seeds and leaving them to rest in the rich, quiet, fertile ground he
had prepared.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Finally, the Spirit came
to water and the warm and the lives of the disciples took root and grew,
sending out leaves and runners into the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">But that’s not quite right either.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">The vibrant color of Pentecost is in it.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">The life is there, but not the
suddenness.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">The disciples didn’t send
out small sprouts, slowing growing to produce fruit.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">They exploded into vivid motion – into rich
and enticing evangelism – into testifying to the power and blessing of Christ
alive in the world despite all the efforts of the powers of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Maybe what they experienced on that day was more
like the completion of a complex stew.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">I’m thinking of something like “Stone Soup”.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Many of you know what that is already, but
for those who don’t </span><u><span style="color: black;">Stone Soup</span></u><span style="color: black;"> is a book that tells the story of a traveling
monk who finds himself in an unwelcoming town.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">Person after person makes excuses for not sharing their food with him,
but they have no reason to refuse when he asks to borrow a soup pot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><span style="color: black;">T</span></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">he monk takes the pot to the center of town where
he fills it with water and sets it over a fire.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">He then put a stone in the bottom, telling the curious onlookers that
this stone always produces magnificent soup.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">As the people watch and wait to see if this monk can really produce soup
from a stone, the monk cleverly fools them into bringing various vegetables and
salt that will make the soup taste even better.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">And in the end, the village has provided the food for a delicious stew
that they all share together in the town square.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">I’m thinking that the story of the disciples on
Pentecost is quite a bit like </span><u><span style="color: black;">Stone Soup</span></u><span style="color: black;"> … only in reverse.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">They themselves were very different people –
as different as potatoes and onions and peas, and they had been left to stew
for a time.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Their praying and eating
melded the different flavors of their experiences and their passions together
into a unified community that had depth and variety, but lacked a certain je ne
sais quoi.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Into that mix, the Spirit
descended like a few teaspoons of salt sprinkled over the top, and instantly
the bland broth was transformed into a delicacy, bringing out the character of
each individual and adding a rich fullness that brought the stew to life – rich
fullness that became a blessing to all those who tasted this miraculous soup
made from the stones of unknown men.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Three different ways of thinking about what the
Spirit can and does do with people.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I
think that last one is the best fit for what happened to the disciples on that
long-ago day when they sprang into new life.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">But the real question is: which one are we.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Which one are we?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Are we the traffic jam waiting to happen?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I think it’s pretty safe to rule that one out.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We are not “the frozen chosen.”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">At least I don’t see any evidence of that as
I talk with, worship with, and live with you.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">You are not … we are </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">not</span></i><span style="color: black;">
super-cooled in any sense of the word.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">There is much too much passion alive within us.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Are we the garden coming into its fullness?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I think we like to think of ourselves that
way, and there is a lot of truth to that.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span><span style="color: black;">We are a people who are reaching and growing toward the light.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We are watered and cared for as a beloved
treasure of God.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We seem to move in fits
and starts – sometimes quickly and sometimes so slowly that it seems we are not
– though we are full of life.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Yes … I
think we are like the garden in many ways, but I wonder if we aren’t really the
stew.</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">Over the past few years, I have become convinced
that this congregation has been … well … swelling.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I have felt a tension growing among us (and
not a tension born from anxiety).</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">There
just seems to be so much potential … so much energy in this community of
faithful believers – an energy that is waiting for the right moment to burst
forth.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">I don’t know what the key
ingredient is – the salt that will transform us into a vibrant blessing that
draws people to us like moths to a flame, but it is coming.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">The enduring promise fulfilled at Pentecost
assures us that it is coming.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: black;">In the meantime, we continue to do what we do
well.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We love one another.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We pray together.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We worship and eat together.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">We work at the little things that we need to
do to keep on going.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">And we keep an eye
out for the tongues of flame or the sprinkle of salt.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: black;">May it be so.</span></span></div>
</span>Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-51168994444545596132014-06-01T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-29T15:52:34.199-04:00Hurry Up and Waitsermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Acts 1:1-14<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ephesians 1:15-23</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As I spent time this past week dwelling with the
scriptures for today, I found one image coming to mind again and again – the
image of a roasted chicken sitting on our dinner table two weeks ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I realize that that sounds very strange given that
our texts have absolutely nothing to do with food and certainly do not mention
roasted chicken, but bear with me and you’ll see the connection eventually. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The chicken was one that I made from a recipe titled
“Hurry up and wait chicken” in the New Joy of Cooking cookbook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a while I wondered why they called it
that, but then I noticed a little note introducing the dish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The name came about because the chicken is
roasted at 400 degrees (which is an unusually high temperature for cooking
poultry), and so the oven time was cut down to about an hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the cooking is finished, the chicken
gets propped up to stand on its head for 15 minutes before it is served.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, hurry up with the cooking … and wait to
eat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Hurry up and wait … that seems to be big part of our
culture here in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see
it every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I probably do it every
day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I see it when I pick Sebastian up at Suncrest and
watch Pre-schoolers rush out the door with backpacks and jackets not quite on
in order to make it to the bus line even though the busses won’t be gathering
them up for 15 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I see it at the grocery store as people race to the
checkout lines and stand, impatiently, for five … even ten minutes before they have
their turn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I see it in the news as politicians rush into
election season whole years in advance and soldiers take up positions facing
battles that may never take place in conflicts we pray will never boil over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I see it written on the lives of eleven apostles and
dozens of other believers faced with the departure of their teacher, their
friend, their Messiah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And there’s the connection I promised you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How are a family sitting comfortably at the
table across the street and a motley crew of terrified, enthusiastic Jews
gathered on a hill-top thousands of years away alike?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are both hurrying to wait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I imagine those forty days after Jesus’ resurrection
were an exciting time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three years of
preparation and confusion finally understood in the light of an open tomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three nights of fear and grief washed away by
joy of new life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A mountain of doubt and
despair moved by faith born of a promise fulfilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forty days sitting at the feet of the very
Son of God, feasting on the sight of him, drinking in the clear comfort of his words,
and racing toward a bright future of a world remade by the hands of love.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And then, the final instructions:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go to Jerusalem and wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Wait for what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>for how long?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is not for you
to know. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must simply go and wait…
wait for the Spirit to come and lead you on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“But”… “but”…, but before any more questions stumble
their way through jumbled lips, shocked mouths and speechless eyes dropped open
as Jesus left, rising into the air and disappearing for good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then angels standing among them, calling
them back from the clouds, reminding them – stirring them – get to
Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hurry up … and wait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But the waiting for them was different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our waiting is usually like Dr. Seuss
describes it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is a most useless
place” - a where we simply sit around or stand, our feet tapping out the rhythm
of our detour through boredom and monotony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We lean against trees or cars or walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We sit in chairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We lie on our
beds or our couches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or we stand in
lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But wherever we find ourselves,
our eyes glaze over and our minds retreat into a closeted space as life passes
us by while we wait for things to change around us.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The disciples didn’t wait like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their waiting was better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where ours is stagnant, theirs was active.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where ours is vacant and lifeless, theirs was
pregnant with lively expectation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where
ours sets us apart, alone with our thoughts and frustration, theirs joined them
to one another and to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I say “ours,” but I’m really only talking about
mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know about yours….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Do you retreat from waiting, using numbers and
stories to distract your mind from the anxiety and separating yourself from
others at the same time?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Do you welcome the tension, feeding off of it even
as it feeds off itself and using the energy to get things done?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Does the pressure build in you, resisting all your
efforts to hold it down until it spills out onto others who are close to you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Or is it different than that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I expect that it’s a bit different for each
of us, … but I know that it was entirely different for the disciples waiting in
Jerusalem in at least one very big way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their waiting was active and engaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They must have felt at least some of our sense that this was just time
to be passed, but they also felt that it was time to be embraced … embraced and
even cherished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so they lived into
the marching moments of those dangling days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">They gathered together each day to encourage each
other and to retell the stories of Jesus’ life … to practice the intricacies of
his teachings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They prayed and studied
and waited and prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They waited and
prepared so that they would be open and ready to receive the power and the
direction of the Spirit whenever it would come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They waited and in their waiting they forged deeper relationships with
each other and strengthened the ties between themselves and the absence that
was their Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They waited with
anticipation on their breath, expecting any moment to hear their names gently
drop into the silence of their hearts … preparing to follow the call that would
come with the name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I can’t know how we each are in our own lives, but
the life of this congregation often seems to revolve around worries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not during worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not during fellowship times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those times revolve around worship and
relationships (though the anxiety is still there in the background).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when we leave those sacred moments
behind, we worry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We worry together about budget and expenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We worry about the basement leaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We worry about the number of people we see
each week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We worry about the nursery
and about finding Sunday School teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We worry about any number of things, and they are all important things
to take care of, but they are not the soul of our life together … or they
shouldn’t be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I wonder if all those anxieties have so much life
among us because we give it to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
wonder if that is how we as a congregation deal with waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if they are our distraction or our
motivation or our possessors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if we could wait better … if we
could transform our waiting … if we could be more like those disciples gathered
in Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What would <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>
look like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would we gather daily for
prayer and study … probably not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
would it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel</i> like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would we find anticipation on our breath and
excitement strangling our anxiety … who knows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How would it change us if we embraced the time we
have between now and who-knows-when?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I don’t know, but I think we would be more prepared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think we would feel more fulfilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it could draw us together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could deepen our relationships with one
another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could strengthen the faith
the faith that ties us to the One we follow and serve and worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it would sharpen our ears and our
appetite so that we are more attuned to the whisper of life that breaths among
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure that it would silence some
of the noise that distracts us so that we are ready to hear when that breath
because a soft voice … ready to hear and to respond when it finally calls our
name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One interesting thing about that Hurry Up and Wait
chicken ….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the juiciest chicken
that I have ever cooked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t the
shorter cooking time that did it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
wasn’t the higher temperature sealing the outside of the bird to hold in juices
either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a lot</i> of juice that cooked out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn’t even the butter massage I gave it before it went in the
oven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was those fifteen minutes of waiting as
the smell filled the room and called my family to the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was as the chicken rested in the pan,
propped up on the bowl that I had carefully arranged and quickly covered with the
foil that I had set out in advance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was those things that allowed the juices still in the chicken to work its way
back down through the meat that made that meal so delicious and enjoyable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Sometimes … maybe most of the time, waiting is a
tedious thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are times when
it can be a gift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are times when
it and it alone brings richness and savor back to us when we have been toughened
and dried up by all our hurrying and worrying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are times when the waiting and the silence are exactly what we
need to renew our relationships, replenish the energy of our spirits, and
restore the strength of our relationships with the Divine One who bring us
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Perhaps if we spent less time and energy struggling
to hurry up and get there, we could spend more time and energy just … waiting….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-35330566494912003552014-05-25T12:00:00.000-04:002014-07-29T15:47:52.928-04:00I Want to be an Open Placesermon and communion by Carrie Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Acts 17:22-31</span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and
laid it out for them. "It is plain to see that you Athenians take your
religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with
all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god
nobody knows. I'm here to introduce you to this God so you can worship
intelligently, know who you're dealing with.</span></i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The God who made the world and everything in it, this
Master of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines or need the human
race to run errands for him, as if he couldn't take care of himself. He makes
the creatures; the creatures don't make him. Starting from scratch, he made the
entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space
for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark
but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote;
he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him! One of your poets
said it well: 'We're the God-created.' Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't
make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of
stone for us, does it?</span></i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"God overlooks it as long as you don't know any better—but
that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he's calling for a radical
life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and
everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him
before everyone by raising him from the dead."</span></i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> (Acts 17:22-32; The
Message)</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I like how Eugene Peterson’s reframing of this story starts
out with “Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus…”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be an open space. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be in the place of Paul, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in an open space </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">standing within and among people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be an open space, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">surrounded by culture </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and infused with the questions. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not taking for granted that it is what it is… </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">challenging the notion that how it has been is what it will
forever be. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be an open space </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">surrounded by beauty <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and
</i>questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be an open space ... </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">a space that makes room </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">for Athenians and Jews, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Romans and Christians, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gay and straight, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Muslims and Hindus, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Republican and Democrat, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Scientists and Creationists, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">those who love McDonalds a</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">nd those who love sushi. I</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> want to be the open space </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">where they all can come, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and dwell </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and feel loved. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And see God.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be an open space. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want the unknown God to come </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">into this open space. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not so we can finally see </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Or ultimately understand. N</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ot so the unknown is finally codified in our understanding, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">but so the unknown can dwell richly </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in the midst of our not fully knowing it </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in the bliss of what it means to have something we can’t
control </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in the presence of One that loves us no matter what we do to
it </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">that has been present throughout time </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And what…does that even mean?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be in an open space </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">where I am exposed to this God </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and we can join together in, as Peterson says, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">a radical life-change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be an open space. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do you?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What does it mean for you to be an open space?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What does that even look like?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well for Paul, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">standing in the midst of the cultural and intellectual
capital </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">of Greece, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">we see him being surprisingly…open. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He addresses them in the context of their culture. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He even refers to God in ways that their poets have spoken: </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“for In him we live and move and have our being; as even
some of your own poets have said.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He begins with a common area of interest and speaks to them
with respect. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He speaks of the “unknown God,” with whom they are familiar. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He uses vocabulary they understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not dumbing down </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">or demeaning. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And yet he delivers the gospel in its entirety and without
watering it down.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now maybe this was all tinged with sarcasm. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Maybe he said it with gritted teeth. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whether or not Paul intended it to be a moment of openness, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">does not diminish the fact that this is a snapshot </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">of what we encounter every day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">E</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">very day we wake up in a world with people like us </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and people different from us. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With different beliefs in God and values and politics. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Which is why I’m not saying I want to be like Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nope, I sure don’t.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am saying, I want to be like the space Paul <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is in. </i></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">An open space. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And there is the tricky part, I think. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To be an open space, we think we have to acquiesce to every
cultural whim </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">every expression of truth, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">every claim </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">every belief </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and say, “OK, I guess I will believe that.” </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But I don’t think that is what it means.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But to be an open space, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We need to entertain those who believe differently. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To show hospitality within our beings, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in our conversation, and our interaction. </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To be an open space, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">we must know who we are and what we believe, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">so we can live our lives grounded </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">while at the same time reaching out to those who are
different. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I like to use the image of a tall tree, with roots going
deep, deep into the ground </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and branches that reach out to provide shelter and shade and
a resting place </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">for all manner of creatures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s not necessarily to claim their beliefs as our own, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">but to claim that we are connected.
To claim the two greatest commandments: to love God, the God who created these
wildly different people—and to love those people. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are indeed siblings, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">of one God. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Children of the Creator in whom </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">we live and move and have our being. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And friends, it seems like open spaces are fewer and fewer
these days. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When conversations are cut down to tired tag lines </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">or sarcastic memes on social media. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where who’s in and who’s out in our hearts is based on </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">what people believe about global warming or gay marriage or
taxes, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Open spaces are rare.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, no friends, I don’t seek to be just like Paul: </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">eloquent, pointed, passionate </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">with the ability to slide in a zinger to the elite. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to be that open space where he stands, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and you stand a</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">nd whoever you don’t really agree with stands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And in that open space, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">where we see each other face –to-face </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">brother to sister, sister to brother, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">open before God </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">in whom we live and move and have our being, i</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">n that open space </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">we will see one another.... </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And maybe reach out, and claim one another, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">as beloved.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just like Jesus did, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">stretching out his arms to embrace the world. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And as he stretched out to embrace us </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">he stretched his arms in welcome around the table, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">instituting a ritual that for two thousand years has re</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">minded us that we are one with him, with God, with the
Spirit, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and yes, dear friends, one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So you are invited to participate in embodying that reminder </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">that in Christ we are all called beloved children of God. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In preparing our hearts to come to this table, I invite you
to turn in your green sing the journey songbook </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">to #170.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
going to speak this invitation in unison. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hear it as an invitation for yourself,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but also hear the words of your sisters and
brothers </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">inviting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> to
join them at the table....</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is the Welcome Table of our Redeemer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and you are invited.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Make no excuses, saying you cannot attend; simply come, for around this
table you will find your family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come
not because you have to, but because you need to.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come not to prove you are saved, </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">but to seek the courage to follow wherever Christ leads.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come not to speak but to listen, </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">not to hear what’s expected, but to be open to the ways the Spirit
moves among you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So be joyful, not somber, </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">for this is the feast of the reign of God,</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">where the broken are molded into a Beloved Community, </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and where the celebration over evil’s defeat has already begun.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let us pray…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hospitable God,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who has created an open space before us through bread and
cup<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">may we see the place set for us so that, in turn, we may
welcome others<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">to your table.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the name of Jesus, Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">[communion taken]</span><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As the bread and cup, settles in you, becomes
one with you, as you are one with God, may you be blessed by being part of
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May God bless your journey this
week as you move into the world of those very much like you and those very
different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And by coming to this table,
may you be transformed into an open space where all can experience the Grace of
God, the Peace of Christ.</span></span>Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-20697121669510480832014-05-11T12:00:00.000-04:002014-05-13T16:54:09.673-04:00On the Journeysermon by Jennifer Jones-Sale<br />
Luke 11:9-13 Luke 12:22-31<br />
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There is no manuscript for this sermon.Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-46755108149842430792014-05-04T12:00:00.000-04:002014-05-07T10:22:17.862-04:00Keep Lookingsermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Luke 24:13-25<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(this sermon is inspired by the work of James
Eaton, and the parts of his sermon that are present are used with his
permission.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A man is traveling, … all alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He happens to be walking from
Jerusalem to Emmaus, but he could be traveling anywhere, any time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could be a poor man in a bus terminal:
hard seats, harsh lights and a scratchy PA system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over there, a family is rapidly speaking in a
language he doesn’t understand. Down the row, an old man is staring straight
ahead. He could be a rich man waiting in an airport terminal, sitting at a bar
with a drink he isn’t really drinking in front of him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe he’s thinking that he wished he had
something sweet to his wife when he left instead of just “See you Thursday, I
think.”<br />
<br />
A man is traveling, all alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And on the way he bumps against two
people ahead of him. You know how that happens … when you’re shopping at the grocery
store you see a small old woman pause and look, and you stop to help her reach
something on a high shelf. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe
you’re standing in a line and just to pass the time you smile at a child’s
antics or talk to a stranger.<br />
<br />
A man is traveling, all alone, and he comes upon two other travelers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He walks into a conversation. They’re
discussing the weekend, arguing about the meaning of the death of Jesus. They
don’t know the man traveling alone but as strangers on the same path sometimes
do he asks them what they’re discussing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Now there are two sorts of people in
the world: those who keep up with the news and those who don’t. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newsy people turn on NPR when they come home
or watch the </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">six o’clock</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> news and then the </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">eleven o’clock</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> edition to make sure they haven’t
missed anything. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newsy people are always
amazed when they run into the other sort. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are newsy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when he asked, they answered with some
combination of smugness and incredulity, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who doesn’t know what happened in Jerusalem this weekend?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He didn’t so they filled him in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They explained that Jesus of Nazareth was a
mighty prophet who was put to death over the weekend by the authorities. They told
him of their hope that he would redeem Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They told him about the women who found an empty tomb. But their faces
and their steps spoke too, spoke and told him that they have lost their hope in
fear and didn’t have any left for such nonsense. After all, they are on their
way away from Jerusalem.<br />
<br />
The strange traveler held up his end of the conversation. In fact, once he got
the gist of it, he had a lot to say. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
told them they were foolish and questioned the strength of their hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He may not have known much about the news,
but it turned out that he was well read on Moses and the prophets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What did he tell them? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one
knows, exactly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think he must have
told them something like this: God’s love is so wonderful, so powerful, so
unlimited, it can’t be stopped by the authorities any more than the tide can. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, after all, what you find in the
stories of Moses and the prophets: over and over again they tell the story of
how God loved beyond measure, even when God’s people were faithless and mean
and small spirited.<br />
<br />
A man is traveling, all alone, and he talks to two others who are also lonely,
because fear is a lonely business. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">All day long they talk about Jesus and
the prophets until it’s getting near sunset. Now, the roads got dangerous after
dark and the man who is traveling all alone doesn’t have a place to stay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the other two ask him to stay with them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did and that evening after they freshen up
they all get together for supper – a simple meal of bread and wine. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">They had been talking about Jesus all
day, and I suppose that they must have told the stranger about how Jesus invited
strangers and the lonely to his table, how he blessed the bread and broke it,
how he gave thanks and poured the wine. And suddenly, as the lonely traveler was
doing these very things their eyes were opened, and they understood that they
had been to blinded by fear and disappointment to notice that Jesus had been
with them all along.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of course, you listened carefully to the scripture, and you’ve heard it
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So you knew it was Jesus all
along. I think that some part of us always wonders about those two travelers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We shake our heads and ask “How could they not
have known they were talking to Jesus?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
of us might even be thinking... “You fools!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just open your eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s right
in front of you.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know how many
times I’ve heard people – adults as well as children – wonder out loud if Jesus
looked different, and I suppose death might change a person. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I don’t think that that’s the reason they
didn’t recognize him, and I’m not sure that the reason why really matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, they did recognize him, and the
“why” of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> moment is more
important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Certainly they recognized Jesus in the
breaking of the bread and the blessing of the cup, but I think that moment goes
back farther in their story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it
might have its roots in the picture Jesus painted about judgment day and which
people were in the kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people
were gathered together and told: You’re in! When I was hungry you fed me, when
I was naked you clothed me, when I was imprisoned you visited me!” and they
looked at each other in amazement and said, “When did we do any of that for you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He answered, “When you did it for the least
of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They hadn’t recognized Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They just did what Jesus would have done - they
followed the way of love and compassion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The same thing was true in Emmaus. The
two travelers experienced the Risen Christ by welcoming another … by feeding
him … by sharing the cup with him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
their actions, the loner disappeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
became a part of a community. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together,
they learned to embrace a new way of being together. They became the Body of Christ because they
recognized Christ in their midst … in each other.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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</span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I used to think that little story about the judging of the nations meant that
we should get more involved in compassionate outreach and social action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should give out food, clothes, and
fuel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should visit the sick, the
lonely, and the imprisoned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we can,
we should get the government to help out, but we shouldn’t wait for a miracle
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s up to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I still think those are good things to
do, but the more I think about it, the more I think there is something deeper,
something more difficult and more wonderful in that story. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can meet the needs of strangers, but what
God really hopes for is that we will become a blessing to the people where we
are - that we will embody the work that God does by becoming a caring community
– the hands and arms of Christ to reach out in love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That seems to be how God works. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When God set out to save the world, for
example, God did not create a new program, offer a policy proposal or hold an
election, God went and whispered to Abram: “Come be a blessing”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When God gets to the next act and decides to
come into the world, there’s no processional, no entourage and no advance at
all, just a baby and a family. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And even
when Jesus is on the cross, he reached out to make one more family saying to
his own mother, “Woman, here is your son”, and to John, “Here is your mother.”<br />
<br />
That’s what happens in this story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As strangers
meet, share a conversation and then communion, they discover that they are
connected after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They become part of
a community put together by the Christ who lives in their midst. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even a lot of compassionate care and social
action is not enough to make that happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What we really need is to take the time to come together … to make
strangers into friends and friends into brothers and sisters in the community
of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is by building that
community that we will discover the risen Christ.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That’s the power of the resurrection for
me. We experience it each time that we see Jesus walking and talking and
realize he’s right next to us. We experience it when we take care of each other
the way we would take care of him. The resurrection happens again and again
each time we recognize Jesus in our very midst.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s not hard to feel sorry for
strangers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t know them, and all
we see is a person who is suffering … a person who is hungry or homeless or
sick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s not hard to feel sorry for
strangers, but it is often difficult to see Jesus in the people nearby because
they are so annoying. They make the same mistakes over and over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t seem to want to take your own good
advice, and sometimes they don’t seem to be able to follow the simplest
directions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, it is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">easy</i> to see how wrong they are, and it’s
satisfying in a way too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there’s a deeper
reason we are here together and the reason is to so that we can become more
like the kind of people God hopes we’ll be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We may start out that way, but along
the way we tend to fall away from that vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We wander off the path and find all kinds of ways to avoid our true
identity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t list out all the ways
that happens because the ones that don’t affect you personally might leave you
feeling a little smug and the ones that do might make you embarrassed. But we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> all make mistakes, and the important
point is that God is right there trying to clean up the mess and put us back
together. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That’s in this story too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember where the disciples are headed when
the lonely stranger first meets them? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re
walking away from Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
going the wrong way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And does Jesus
chide them or send them back to the city?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No, he walks with them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes out
of the way to bring them around. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s
willing to go the wrong way round, to get to the right place.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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What about us? Where’s Jesus here? Look around: take a very good look. Because
the whole thrust of this story is that he is right here, waiting to be
discovered. He will be discovered when we take up our vocation to care the way
he does. A playwright once said, “Man is born broken. He lives by mending.
God’s grace is glue.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Keep%20Looking%20-%20Luke%2024%2013-25.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
If we take up the vocation of mending each other’s hopes and lives, comforting
each other’s fears and hurts, I believe we will see Jesus, I believe we will
see him right here and it won’t matter that we went the wrong way round because
wherever we find him … whenever we find him, we will know that we have come
home.</span>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Keep%20Looking%20-%20Luke%2024%2013-25.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Eugene O’Neill, THE GREAT GOD BROWN, Act IV, Sc. i.
You'll find it in Vol. III, p. 318, of the Collected Plays edited by Random
House.; As quoted by Anne Lamott on page 112 of <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Traveling Mercies, 112.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-725956151509559762014-04-27T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-30T09:35:37.408-04:00#IamAlivesermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">John 20:19-31, 1 Peter 1:3-9</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I will admit, I am not the quickest when it comes to
new technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My mother made us get a cell phone when I was
pregnant with Sebastian<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>8 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Since then Torin and I have had only one cell phone
between us, and it is pretty basic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Texting, calls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No internet, no
GPS. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I didn’t get on facebook until a couple of years
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really didn’t get what apps
were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never sent a Tweet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m still trying to figure out what this
whole hashtag craze is (for an example, check the title of your sermon).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So for those of you as slow, or slower, than I am
with bringing in new social media lingo into your life, let me give you a quick
glossary of terms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Social media=</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">is the interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange
information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Facebook and Twitter are the most popular,
but more and more are popping up all over the place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">App=short for applications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are essentially…things that help you do
stuff on your devices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t explain
it more than that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Tweets=the cute
name for messages put on the social media site Twitter.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Selfie=a picture
one takes of oneself, generally with their phone, a sort of digital
self-portrait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Hash tag (again,
sermon title)= these are number signs placed before certain words in social
media, such as Twitter, to group messages containing the same hashtagged
word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, if you sent a Tweet
saying I’m having a great Sunday at #MorgantownCOB, others might use
#MorgantownCOB in their tweets and you could see all the people talking about
Morgantown COB!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Sometimes, even I,
long for the romantic process of pen and paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>An envelope and a stamp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this
is how contemporary society communicates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes it all seems mundane or narcissistic or a playground for the
bored and unfocused, but sometimes this social media has taken a deeper
purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Sandra Hassan is a
26-year old student from Lebanon living in Paris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hassan had gotten sick of worrying about
family and friends whenever she heard news of a suicide bombing in her hometown
of Beirut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A detonation on January 21
spurred her to action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Partly out of
dark humor, partly out of practical concern, she created the “I Am Alive”
app.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to an article in the most
recent edition of The Atlantic, the was an “expression of discontent” on
Hassan’s part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">This app allows users, with one touch to tweet a
reassuring message to their followers: “I am still alive! #Lebanon
#LatestBombing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The app quickly caught
on: within a month it was downloaded more than 5,000 times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to cultural commentary, it
provided a much-needed service to people who live in areas targeted by
terrorists—and to those who care about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The moments following a suicide bombing are, after all, among the worst
times to make a phone call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Networks
jam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Getting sent to voice mail induces
dread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s the same cycle each time,”
Hassan says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You have to rush to your
phone or Facebook or Twitter to try to make sure that everyone you know is
okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a horrible feeling.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the ground, the trilling of victims’
phones becomes an eerie score to the aftermath.</span></i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In the moments
after crisis, everything is stripped away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Belief, hope, peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">This is exactly how
I picture Jesus’ followers in the days following the crucifixion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moments after crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything stripped away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not knowing what was going out amidst the
rubble, not knowing what to believe in, hope for, where to find peace.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">After reading this
article about instant survival messages, I was imagining what it would have
been like if Jesus was crucified in the age of social media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Jesus texting
Thomas he was alive.<br />
Thomas not believing it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Jesus taking a
selfie to prove it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Thomas saying
someone could have simply gotten that off of Jesus’ Facebook account.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Jesus tweeting
pictures of his bloody hands, feet, and side with the hash tag #IamAlive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Wow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that is to be believed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">And Jesus comes in.
Just as he burst from the tomb, so he maneuvers around locked doors to stand
among them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without the benefit of
social media, Jesus comes to prove he is alive, not berating Thomas of his
understandable doubts, he gives Thomas what he needs in order to believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">He gives Thomas what he needs in order to believe.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Unashamed,
unembarrassed, he offers his wounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go
ahead, touch them, get your fingers in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Get messy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feel it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be a part of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Thomas story is
presented every year, the Sunday after Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is an important story to the Easter season, showing us that we are
now witnesses to the Risen Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
we often talk about Thomas’ doubt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
have given many an apologetic sermon for Thomas, bestowing the virtures of
Thomas, the place we all share with Thomas’ doubts.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">But there is more
to this story than focusing on Thomas’ doubts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is more than imagining what it would be like to feel Jesus’
wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What would it be
like, to feel Jesus’ breath?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Before Thomas even
came into the room, Jesus said “Peace be with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
and then he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">This story is
sometimes called John’s Pentecost, because here Jesus breathes (which in Hebrew
breath and spirit are the same word) the spirit on them, just like the spirit
comes upon the people at Pentecost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Here it is not in
tongues of fire, but hot wet breath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">And while the
breath is still settling on them Jesus tells them now, go forgive.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Wasn’t that what he
said when he breathed is last breath on the cross? “Forgive them, Father, for
they know not what they do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Receive the
Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgive sins.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Not receive the
spirit, go convert people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Not, receive the
spirit, go testify.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Not, receive the
spirit, go start a war to vindicate my torture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Not even, receive
the spirit, go pray.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Once we receive the
spirit, we are compelled to go forgive others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Forgiveness: the
first task of discipleship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">We have just come
out of the Lenten season, with its focus on confession, repentance, asking God
to forgive our sins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What if, in the
season of Easter (the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost), we shifted our
focus to forgiving others?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easter as a
season of forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Forgiveness is
close and personal, like breath on your face. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Definitely like
touching an open wound. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Like a locked door
in our heart, Christ omes to us, comes in, gives us peace, and strengthens us
to forgive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">So take a moment
and think about who have you been withholding your forgiveness from? (pause)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What happened
between you and that person?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What might
forgiving them look like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it a
face-to-face conversation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A letter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it simply consciously letting go of hurt,
and a prayer saying “I forgive you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What would it feel
like to release that anger, and open it up with forgiveness?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Our quest to
forgive can be our hashtag that Christ is alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sign that connects us to Christ’s message
in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Christ is alive in
us when we forgive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Christ is alive in
the world when we walk through the rubble of violence and seek reconciliation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Christ is alive
when even in our doubts we seek understanding, and we forgive our shortcomings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Christ is
Alive!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Receive the Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgive sins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Alleluia and Amen.</span></span>Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-52817847721665145952014-04-20T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-30T09:26:20.441-04:00Christ is Alive!sermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">John 20:1-18</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/BtpHej5B64I?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Lord is Risen!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
dark days are over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stone has been
rolled away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Death has been
defeated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Christ has opened the way
to eternal life and joy in the embrace of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Christ is alive!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
is the eternal message of Easter – the promise laid out for us in the
scriptures – the gift given to us in the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes we lose sight of that
as we walk through the stories year after year and get caught up in the details
of what happened and the experiences of those who witnessed the miracle of that
first morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still the power and
promise and hope remains, and it is cause for us to celebrate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I
was taken aback several years ago, when I found myself talking to someone who
seemed to be disturbed by Easter morning worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was working with youth at the Disciples of
Christ church at the time, and this young man came into the classroom the week
after Easter looking very disturbed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was concerned myself because I knew that he had a difficult family life, and I was
worried that something might have happened at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when I asked him what was the problem, he
asked me a question in return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Did
Jesus have to die?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What?” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What?”
… That was my brilliant reply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
question caught me so off guard that I couldn’t think of anything else to
say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it turned out to be a good
reply, because it opened the door for him to tell me about the struggle he had
been having that week, wondering why Jesus had to die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If God was so powerful and loving, he
thought, why would he send his son to Earth just to be killed as a sacrifice?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
spent some time explaining that, from my perspective, Jesus did not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i> to die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came to teach us and show the way of life
that would bring the Kingdom – that would bring heaven on earth, and that kind
of change didn’t sit well with the people who were in power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, rather than allow him to continue, they
killed him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He let them do it because he
understood the importance of treating each other with love, the power of
forgiveness, and our need to follow God even if it takes us to the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But,” I told him, “things might have been
different if everyone would have listened to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If everyone had gotten the message, the world
might have become paradise in one lifetime.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
told him that because I believe it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
believed it then, and I believe it now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
life was more important than his death, … and I think that his resurrection
validates that claim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
yet, I have been thinking a lot about Jesus’ death this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been thinking about death in general
more than usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been looking around at the way that the hard winter and the late
frosts have killed off some of the plants and even frozen the leaves of many of
the hardiest shrubs and ivies in our neighborhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I guess that has made me a little bit
sad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
this week I noticed that newer, more vibrant leaves and shoots are coming out
on those very same vines and branches that still hold the brittle memories of
previous years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have noticed new
seedlings growing up through the browned and decaying collections of weeds and
other plants that took too much encouragement from the earlier warm
spells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was reminded of a truth I
learned as a child and again as a youth … and again as a young man – death
makes way for new life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have come to feel that Jesus’ death <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i>
important … that even the manner of his dying – held up for all to see – was
important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It made space in the hearts
and minds of the disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It cleared
out the brittle hopes and the decaying expectations of glory that had collected
over their years following the strange, wise, prophetic miracle worker they had
come to call teacher and friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
prepared the way for something new – something more vibrant … more wonderful –
to take root.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
see that happening in the story of Mary and the disciples rushing to the
tomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lost and confused they left their
huddled grief and confusion behind them to run and see what had happened to
Jesus’ body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They found the empty tomb
and the first shoots of new hope and faith began to sprout in their hearts as
they walked back to the others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary
stood, though, her tears pouring from her heart and watering the earth that had
been covered by stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She stayed,
looking for more … hoping for something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She looked and saw not only angelic messengers but the very face of the
risen Christ, and whole new fields of possibility sprang to life within her,
beckoning her to grab hold of new life, calling her to share the good news.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not
just good news for the disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
just good news for the people of Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Good news for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ is
alive!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has risen from the tomb and
goes before to prepare the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He calls
out to all people through the Spirit that lives within.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He
calls out, inviting to those who would follow him to step onto the new way he
has opened to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He
calls out … calls us by name, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>gently beckons:</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>“Come to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Embrace new life.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Christ is alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let us rejoice!</span></span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-24101003414795954382014-04-06T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-09T10:13:17.786-04:00Do You Believe in Miracles?sermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5t111zKTwdM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I have a question easy to ask, but
likely hard to answer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you believe in miracles?</span><br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I’m not going to venture who among you
would say yes and who would say no. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But I would venture to guess that among
you, there is what I like to call a “but” response. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">These but responses are very common
among us, I believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you believe in miracles? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Yes, but…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you believe in miracles? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“No, but…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you believe in miracles?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Miracles are tricky things to talk about
in a Western Christian context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add to
that a largely Protestant dismissiveness of mystery and a twenty-first century
skepticism and rationalism, it is easy to leave the miracles stories in the
bible as nice fairy tales, but not things to hitch our hopes on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When we encounter miracle stories--when
we talk about the presence of these stories in our sacred text-- it is, for me,
spoken with reservation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Because our belief or lack of belief in
miracles points to something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It points to how we see God working in
the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It points to what we do or do
not believe is possible in the natural realm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It points to how and what we put our faith in.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And we are nervous to share those
possibilities with other people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either
our church folk won’t appreciate our rational doubts, or our non-church friends
will feel we are too…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I was presented with this…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In Allegheny Mennonite Conference there
is a new church plant in Pittsburgh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is made up entirely of immigrants from the south Asian countries of Nepal and
Bhutan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may remember a couple of
years ago, a prayer request went out to pray for a baby named Simran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simran was born and not expected to
live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her parents along with other
sisters and brothers in the congregation gathered around Simran and prayed over
Simran and waited on Simran and blessed Simran.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The doctors had said there was little
hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Simran is alive and well today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it a miracle?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it the prayers?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Then at the Allegheny Conference
delegate gathering last October, Simran’s parents brought her to the meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simran was well beyond the age when most
young children walk, but she showed no signs of being able to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her parents asked for prayers, prayers to
strengthen little Simran’s legs, to help her walk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The delegate body gathered around Simran
and her parents, laid their hands on them and prayed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We received word that the next day,
Simran, who showed no previous ability to walk, took a step.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Simran walked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Why did this happen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did it happen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I think what blocks me from fully
embracing the possibility of miracles iswhy do some people get them, and some
people don’t?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the question Torin’s
dad posed recently when preaching on Job…why do bad things happen to good
people?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Why didn’t a miracle happen to those who
died in the mudslide in Seattle, or the jetliner from Malaysia?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why weren’t fervent prayers for a miracle
answered by the mother who watched her young son die from leukemia, or answered
by the young man who watched his partner die of AIDS?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">These are the questions that have, in
the past, bound me up and prevented me from embracing the possibilities of
miracles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I posed this question to my virtual
community on Facebook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sometimes post
things to generate conversation that might help me process my sermon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I simply asked “Do you believe in
miracles?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are some of the answers:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Yes”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“No”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Anything is possible”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">absolutely. Yet....I think that the miracle is in that we see what is
already in place and happening”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">"no. I believe in miraculous events, wonders seen and unseen, unexplainable
phenomena and grace. But supernatural interventions are never going to be my
thing because they are too hitched to a cosmology I don't follow."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">"Yes. I believe creation is full of mysteries I will never comprehend, and
some of those mysteries are miraculous."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">"I believe life is miraculous on so many levels that it feels magical and
unexplainable. I believe when incredibly good things happen to us…and being
unexpected or unexplainable, we call it a miracle. But when something tragic
happens that we can't explain, we don't call it a miracle."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">"Miracles are everywhere, constant and ingrained in every cell of our body
and every wee atom."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">I loved all these answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet
one, from our very own Elesha Coffman, who is now a professor of church history
at the Dubuque Seminary responded to the question Do you believe in miracles
with the following: Yes, but I’d say they are best glimpsed by not staring
straight at them sort of like the Pleiades”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She then attached a link to a question forum where someone asked the
question <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“I've noticed that the
Pleiades but when I look directly at the constellation, it suddenly goes dim
and it's more difficult to make out the individual stars.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pleiades are a seven star cluster that is
in the constellation Taurus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But many
have found that the clearest way to see these stars are not by looking directly
at them, but to look around them, or to use your peripheral vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you try to look directly at them, head
on, squinty to see the detail, it all goes fuzzy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The answer to this
question has to do with eye structure, which one respondent went into great
detail about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about how we use the
rods and cones in our eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cones in
our eyes are greatly sensitive to color and work best in bright light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This contrasts the works of rods which are
more effective in low light conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These rods are located off the center of our retina, meaning we see more
clearly at night when looking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> at
the center or straight on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
called “averted vision.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So what Elesha was
pointing to, and a way that helps me <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">look</i>
at these miracle stories of Jesus is embracing this averted vision. Not
averting as in looking away, but averting as looking around, or looking from a
different perspective in the darkness…in the space around the object, the
stars, the miracle.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Our rational mind wants to
read the miracle stories, or think about miracles in how the story and the
action bumps up and challenges our conventional thinking of the physical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or we look at the story and hold it up as a
biblical truth that validates our traditional thinking of spiritual
truths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So would it mean to look at the
miracle stories, not looking at them straight on, but glimpsing them
indirectly?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Let’s look at our miracle
story today, the raising of Lazarus, with this averted vision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I like that this all goes
down in the dark, so already, we are using a different sort of vision, aren’t
we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Getting those rods in gear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we look around the story, we will take our
focus off of Lazarus for a moment and the miracles that happened to him and
looking at the side at the mysterious miraculous things going on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And so much goes on in
this story, my friend.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">My favorite thing that
happens is that here Martha gets a chance to redeem her scarred reputation as a
whirling dervish who was too busy to sit by Jesus’ feet where Mary was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Martha, Martha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do you bustle
about when you could sit here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well, here it is Martha’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doing</i> that gets something done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She runs out into the dark, while Mary sits…you
guessed it…at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I don’t mean to
diminish Mary here, but I have to say I’m glad Martha gets some good stuff her
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This miracle story starts to
illumine when can action, busyness, assertiveness…be holy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #111111;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #111111;">When take our gaze away from looking directly at
Lazarus, we see something about Jesus that we don’t come across much: his
weeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His being moved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or as commentator David Howell says, here we
witness “</span><span style="color: #333333;">that even Jesus finds death
horrible and gut-wrenching and real. What a relief that Jesus is moved to tears
by our tears when we mourn. There is, as the book of Ecclesiastes tells us,
"a time to mourn" (3:4). Apparently even for God.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333;">And I think that this averted sight can help us
not just look at the goodness of miracles in a new way, but the pain of
tragedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When September 11 happened,
many parents sought ways to protect their children from the horror of the
event, but media made that challenging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mr. Rogers was still alive at that time and he recounted something his
mother told him as a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he
would see some catastrophe on the newsreels at the movies (because Mr. Rogers
didn’t have a TV until he was out of college), when he would feel scared by
what he saw, his mother would tell him:<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #281b21;">“Look for the helpers. You will always find
people who are helping.” To this day, he said, especially in times of
“disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing
that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world…”They
are often on the sidelines, but they are there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s where our focus should be.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #281b21;">Even Mr. Rogers shares this wisdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look around, on the sidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here you will see miracles taking place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small miracles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small acts of mercy.</span><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">
</span></span> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">When we started
looking around the miracles, our eye sight changes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe it’s our heart. We may unbind the
need to look at these stories as factual accounts, and begin to see them as
stories that point to something else, maybe even something more amazing, more
incredible, more miraculous.</span>Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-60888477366143166022014-03-23T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-03T11:07:06.318-04:00The Beloved Woman Behind the MaskMeditation on monologue of the same title by Carrie Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">John 4:5-29 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">John 4:31-42</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/y51caKISyUs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<br />
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As many of you know, I had a 6 day trip
this past week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I drove from Morgantown
to N. Manchester Indiana with Patrick, dropped him off with the grandparents,
and continued on to the COB General Offices in Elgin Illinois.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I was there I participated in the
Mission and Ministry board meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
also had the chance to get away and spend the night with my brother in Chicago
[and let me tell you, Chicago on St. Patrick’s Day weekend is an experienced to
savored or avoided, depending on your perspective].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a lot of drinking going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I of course was not nearly so liberal in my libations, as Chris and I
enjoyed a quiet dinner in an Indian restaurant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But I’ll tell you, when I travel and
have meetings, I <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">do</b> drink a
lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And before you make assumptions,
what I mean is I drink a lot of coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe soda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of cups of tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Generally this is to help me “wake up” from
long hours in the car, or long meetings that are perhaps less than
thrilling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I realize, on these
trips, while I drink a lot of things, I rarely drink water.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oh sure, I have a bottle, but it’s never
feels like “what I need.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need
caffeine!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need something more
interesting!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But by the end of my trip,
or maybe even in the middle, I recognize the foolishness of my choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I begin feeling dry, tired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I drink more coffee to help me feel less
tired.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As I’m sure you know, caffeinated drinks
are not good substitutes for pure water when one is dehydrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, caffeinated drinks dehydrate you and
dehydration makes one lethargic and then it becomes a vicious dry cycle of
drink caffeine to wake up but ultimately just feeling more and more run down.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It’s about this time…two or three days
into the trip, when I drink some water and realize how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i> is what I really need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not milky sweet coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
acai-berry flavored vitamin water sweetened with organic cane sugar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not even a soothing cup of chamomile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I need is water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And you know that feeling…when I don’t even know I’m thirsty but I take
a cup of water and I wonder why I’ve been depriving myself of this for so long.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The other stuff is just masking my real
thirst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My real need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Masking what my body needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The West Virginia born country star Kathy
Mattea wrote a song called “Standing Knee Deep in a River (Dying of
Thirst).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She talks about good friends
she could count on, sweethearts she let go, how they all roll by like
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We go through life parched and
empty, standing knee deep in a river, dying of thirst.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The monologue about the beloved woman in
the mask was presented to those of us at the Sister Care seminar this past
fall, a seminar hosted by Mennonite Women USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a powerful weekend of Mennonite and ecumenical sisters
discovering how not only to support other sisters, but discovering our own
needs for self-care, honesty, and to claim our own identity as God’s beloved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We were reminded that as we grow in this
life, we forget our original identity as a beloved woman or man of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Culture tells us we are not good enough,
beautiful enough, talented enough, smart enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People or experiences in our lives may have
told us the same thing, and added the shame of sexual abuse, emotional and physicalabuse,
spiritual neglect, bullying, and other forms of shaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t take very long for those little
girls and boys, fresh faced and shining with God’s love, to grow into
self-protecting men and women who wear a variety of masks.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We wear masks to hide things we may be
ashamed of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wear masks because we
think those in the church might not approve of our past stories, our present
circumstances, or even our future endeavors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We wear masks because our thirst for a unified life, is masked by drinking
the lie that it is simply easier to put on false airs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To wear a mask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To show one face to someone when what is in
your heart and soul is completely different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now, as the monologue makes obvious, God
sees beyond this mask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God knows the
woman behind it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God knows the man
behind the mask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And God loves her. God
loves him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must claim that mercy and
grace in each part of our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
claim our identity as beloved daughters and sons.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And yet, I wonder…what would it look
like if you gave someone else permission to take off their masks, not only in
front of God, but in front of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could
you handle that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What spiritual depth
does that take?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What needs to be
released in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you </i>in order for you to
tell someone: God loves the person behind the mask, and so do I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You’re saying, I know you’re thirsty and
I won’t give you a can of Coke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t
give you a cup of coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something that
will not satisfy, and maybe even make you thirstier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know you are thirsty, and I will give you
water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living water. I will show you
what it means to be loved unconditionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I will physically manifest with it is that God proclaims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What will it take for you to do that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Standing here this moment, I can say
that I don’t know what it will take for you to get there, because I don’t know
the mask you are wearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know
how far you need to go before claiming your identity as God’s beloved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know what blocks you from being willing
to see behind the mask of someone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Only you know that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Drink of the living water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The living water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Water that quenches all thirst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drink in God’s unconditional love for
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And suddenly, you will feel
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That welling spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joy bubbling up, beginning to spill over
until it’s running like rivers all over the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">And you will find,
it’s too much for one person to drink alone.</span></span> </span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-25842762894257358712014-03-16T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-03T10:43:36.591-04:00Nothing Ventured ...sermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Genesis 12:1-4a<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>John
3:1-17</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8NWsgT3WEkA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was surfing the net the other day and one of those pop-up ads came on the
screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually when that happens I
close them immediately and exit the browser just to reduce the chance of any
unwanted program loading onto my computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But this time, the ad actually caught my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the words, “What could you do if you
knew who you really were?” it was luring me into taking a free online
personality test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It almost got me
….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I paused for just a moment before
closing everything down.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Personality
tests have become commonplace in our society these days…. Myers-Briggs,
Enneagrams, Jung test, Human-metrics, Kirsey Temperment sorter, and a host of
other less well known and less trusted tools out there.</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
first experience of tests like these was when I went to work with the workcamps
office in Elgin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t a personality
test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a communications style
assessment – a survey that evaluates your tendencies and approach toward
communicating with others both in words and in other ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carrie and I have both found it to be a
useful tool in our life together and in helping other couples headed toward
marriage understand some of how and why they struggle with each other’s
annoying habits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
give you a little overview, the assessment divides your responses into four
different categories: Accommodating/harmonizing, Analyzing/preserving,
Achieving/directing, and Affiliating/perfecting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each one of these has a characteristic way
communicating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and </i>of approaching the
world based on different central concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everyone can and does access all of the styles at different times, but
most people are more comfortable with one approach and they tend to use that
style most of the time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">People
who are primarily accomodating/harmonizing try to avoid conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they have to, they will sacrifice their
own goals and sometimes their own wellbeing to accomplish their goal, but they
prefer to use humor and a sunny disposition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A phrase that has often been associated with this group is “You catch
more flies with honey than with vinegar.”</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Achieving/directors
take a different approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They like to
try new things and innovate, and they prefer to work quickly to get things
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes they are compared to
semi-trucks speeding along in the passing lane by those who might get in their
way, but they are really just focused on accomplishing their goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re motto is “nothing ventured … noting
gained.”</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those
who live out of their Affiliating/perfecting natures value … well … strong
values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They follow a strong moral
compass, choose causes and people who they feel they can trust and look up to,
and give them their loyalty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They feel
that “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And,
analyzing/preserving people value limiting risk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They feel anxious when faced with new
situations or new people that they don’t understand because they are missing
important information that would clarify how their environment fits
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will work tirelessly to
gather all the data before making a change so that they can make the right
decision – a safe decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They believe
in the wisdom of the phrase “look before you leap.”</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
last one is my strongest suit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also
pretty strong in the achieving/directing tendencies … which makes for an
interesting struggle from time to time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Do I keep looking for information OR do I just get things done however
that happens.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most often, though, I
spend my time trying to assess risks and choose the most prudent path.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
see the same thing in Nicodemus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
risky to try and analyze the psychology of Biblical characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s just so little to go on, and the
world they lived in was so different from anything we know that it’s next to
impossible to figure out what they were like or what they might have been
thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, there something about
this secret nighttime meeting with Jesus that smacks of the need to gather
information without risking the judgment of the authorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose it might be something I would do…
calling Jesus in … to answer my questions in the secrecy of afforded by
darkness.</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So,
I feel like I understand what Nicodemus is doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He finds a safe … ish way to get the
information that he needs to make his decision, and he starts to asks Jesus his
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But things get out of hand …
because Jesus interrupts him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He doesn’t
get a chance to ask his questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
doesn’t get the answers he wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
gets Jesus … at his best … Jesus talking on two and three levels at the same
time … Jesus offering explanations that only lead to more questions … Jesus
challenging everything he thinks he knows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
he gets Jesus asking him to let go of control and take a leap of faith …
nothing ventured, nothing gained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
is hard for all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s scary to
consider let go and stepping out in trust that someone will guide us where we
need to go … that anyone could get us there safely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s particularly hard for people who
live out of the style that Nicodemus and I share.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Picture a trust fall – you know the group
building exercise where you stand on a chair or a table or just the floor, you
cross you arms and close your eyes, and you fall backward into the waiting
hands of your friends or colleagues who catch you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now picture falling through those hands onto
the hard ground, and you can understand the fear this kind of situation bring
up in me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
don’t know how many of you have the heard the story of my struggle with
baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It started when I was 10 years
old and my Sunday School went through a membership class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some reason, I missed the first day of
that series, and I didn’t know that it was a membership class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Six Sunday’s later, as we wrapped up the
lesson, the teacher said (in a matter-of-fact voice), “So, next Sunday will be
the baptisms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m going to pass around
note cards, and I want you to write your names and the word ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so we
know who will be getting baptized.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was stunned… stunned and terrified, and I think mine might have been the first
card she got back … with the word “no” written in capital letters and circled
(just to make sure that she saw it).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
the next 19 years, I struggled with the idea of baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any number of excuses came and went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t sure that I believed in God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t ready to accept that Jesus actually
divine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had already been baptized at a
healing garden when I was 8 years old, and wasn’t baptism a
once-and-for-all-time kind of thing.</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Eventually,
I realized that my real issue was control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I just wasn’t sure that I was willing to give up control of my own
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t sure that I trusted God
enough to believe that the Spirit would be a gentle and loving guide as I was
shepherded through whatever wildernesses there were down the path on the way to
a new life and a different kind of living.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
did finally decide to take the plunge … to be born again of water and the
Spirit, and even then, I had mixed emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the one hand, I was so eager and excited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dreamed of the Spirit descending on me … of
speaking in tongues … or any other kind of obvious manifestation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t because I wanted everyone else to
be impressed (or not mostly because of that).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What I really wanted was confirmation that I had made the right choice
and a clear sense of purpose to replace the uncertainty that had plagued me
during my long struggle.</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
the same time, I was scared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another
very big part of me was still reluctant to give up control, and I was terrified
that the Spirit would fall on me in the moment that I rose from the waters for
the third time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if that Spirit was
the very God that I was committing myself to, I was not eager to find myself
speaking words that I couldn’t understand or waking up to discover that I had
“gone out in the Spirit.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
the end, I didn’t get any special signs … unless you want to count the moment
in the hallway behind the sanctuary when my sponsor (who was helping me get out
of the baptismal robe and dry off) accidentally knocked a sign over on my toe
and I managed not to curse or even to shout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He seemed to think that was an act of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was so relieved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt so
disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also felt a new sense of
freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t all up to me to
figure everything out anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
riding on the wind of the Spirit, and even facing the inevitability of being
blown to places I wouldn’t always like … to places I certainly wouldn’t choose
on my own, I felt less worry and fear about the future than I had in
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That spiritual high only lasted
for a few weeks, but I still feel that taking that risk was one of the best
decisions of my life, and it has been one of the greatest blessings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
For many of us, the idea that we
are kites riding on the breath of the Spirit can be … well let just say that it
doesn’t seem like much of a blessing!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And yet, with a little shift of perspective, that same vision can bring
forth excitement and ….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As David Lose
puts it: <br />
<o:p></o:p> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
I think this declaration that the Spirit -- and those
born of the Spirit -- blows where it will gives us tremendous freedom when we
think about how best to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the age.
Part of what is so anxiety provoking about this time is that it feels like
there are no road maps….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[the] reliable
patterns by which [have organized our lives are gone].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[And when] we give those up…, we feel like we
are sailing in uncharted waters or driving down a foreign and forbidding road.<br />
<o:p></o:p> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
Except that we are not alone! The
Spirit … accompanies and empowers us to face a future that we may feel is
uncertain but has been secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus. From
this perspective, the anxiety that many of us feel -- <em><strong>there is no roadmap!</strong></em>
-- can be transformed into excitement -- <em><strong>there is no roadmap!</strong></em> :) Which
means that we are free -- we don’t have to do things the way they’ve always
been done. We can experiment, risk, fail (you can’t experiment without
failing), learn, and grow in ways we’d never imagined. Because the Spirit of
Christ will blow us in directions we hadn’t imagined.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Nothing%20Ventured%20...%20-%20Genesis%2012%201-4a%20-%20John%203%201-17.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
It is risky ... stepping out on the breath of the
Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Letting go of control and riding
the wind wherever it may take us … that’s not a comforting thought (even for
the achieving/directors among us).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
hope and promise ride the same wind along with the blessings of freedom and new
life. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
My prayer every day is that I will find the courage and the
strength to accept the risk – that we all will accept it so that we can know
the great blessings that come to us on the Spirit’s breath.<br />
<o:p></o:p> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Amen.</span>
</div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
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<br />
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Nothing%20Ventured%20...%20-%20Genesis%2012%201-4a%20-%20John%203%201-17.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">
David Lose - http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?m=4377&post=3103<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-54141005198471011232014-03-09T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-03T10:22:37.894-04:00Choosing the Bestsermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Matthew 4:1-11</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
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<br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have to admit that when I first read the scriptures for today, I was tempted to
talk with you about how Adam and Eve are much maligned in Christian teachings
(especially Eve).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or to talk about some
of the interesting thoughts out there that try to interpret Jesus’ temptations
in different lights … especially after Carrie mentioned Henri Nouwen’s
perspective on being relevant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or to
talk about the metaphor of Satan and how we have defanged its power … just
about anything except the obvious topic - temptation<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
suppose that I have given in to that temptation having indulged in that little
detour, but I promise that I will try my best to stick the task at hand ….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
I was a child, an important part of Sunday School being memorizing certain
scriptures – the beatitudes, the ten commandments, 1<sup>st</sup> John 4 especially
verse 7 and 8, and the 23<sup>rd</sup> Psalm come to mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think things have changed a little bit
since then because the curriculum that we have used during our years here have
had very little if any memorizing in them, and I have wondered about that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I do
remember a love-hate relationship with those verses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was great when they were pretty easy
because we got prizes for being able to reel them off in front of the
class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when the scriptures were
particularly long or challenging, it was a nightmare, because we still had to
stand up in front of everyone and there was always someone who had managed to
get them right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the rest of us … or
sometimes just me … felt embarrassed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Still, I have appreciated knowing those verses over the course of my life,
and when I began to work with the middler class this year, I decided that it
would be good for them (and for me) to work on some of the big ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we have gone through the Ten Commandments
and have begun to work on the Lord’s Prayer before diving into the 23<sup>rd</sup>
Psalm.</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last
week, we went through the Lord’s Prayer phrase by phrase before we put the
whole thing together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We worked out
“hallowed” and discussed what God’s Kingdom might look like and noticed that
the prayer has us ask to receive the same forgiveness we have given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we got close to the end, we talked about
what evil means and how good it is to be delivered from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, we didn’t talk about temptation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone seemed to know what it meant, and
there wasn’t very much time left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
this week, I’m kind of wishing that we had at least mentioned it….</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though,
temptation is that desire that we feel to do something that we shouldn’t, sometimes
it is easier to see and understand than others – like when we are faced with an
unguarded cookie on the steps or any time we are faced with something that is
obviously evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what happens when we
come up against less clear-cut decisions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What about the times when we could accomplish something good if we would
only make the tiniest of compromises … only take a small detour from the
straight and narrow path?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s when we
face the power of temptation … when we feel the real appeal of justifying the
means by the end … the lure of choosing good rather than God’s best.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Choosing%20the%20Best%20-%20Genesis%202%2015-17%203%201-7%20-%20Matthew%204%201-11.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ansi-language: EN;">On
Thursday, Pope Francis made a bit of a shocking confession at a meeting with
priests in Rome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told them that he
had stolen the rosary cross of his late confessor from the casket at his
funeral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As h</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">e told the story, he went to the pray at the casket of the [man known as
the] “great confessor” of Buenos Aires, and was stunned that no one had brought
any flowers….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he went out and bought
a bouquet of roses, and when he returned to arrange them around the casket, he
saw the rosary the priest still held in his hand.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“And
immediately there came to mind the thief we all have inside ourselves, and
while I arranged the flowers, I took the cross and with just a bit of force, I
removed it,” he said, showing with his hands how he pulled the cross off the
rosary. “And in that moment I looked at him and I said, ‘Give me half your
mercy.’”</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Francis said he kept the
cross in his shirt pocket for years, but that the cassock he wears now as pope
doesn’t have a pocket. He now keeps it in a little pouch underneath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And,” he says, “whenever a bad thought comes
to mind about someone, my hand goes here, always,” he said, gesturing to his
heart. “And I feel the grace, and that makes me feel better.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Choosing%20the%20Best%20-%20Genesis%202%2015-17%203%201-7%20-%20Matthew%204%201-11.docx" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m
not sure whether that qualifies as choosing good over the best, or if Pope
Francis really did wish so much for an extra measure of mercy, but it does show
how tempting it can be to reach for good things in the wrong way, especially when
it’s such a little thing – a cross that no one will miss.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
yet, I don’t think temptation is evil in and of itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, temptation is just part and parcel of
free will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t have the ability to
choose without the option of choosing poorly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s been that way since the beginning, and even Jesus felt the urge to
take the shorter, easier way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Maybe
that’s why the prayer he gave us goes to the extra effort of mentioning both
things.)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m
tempted again to go into the reasons why Jesus had to be tempted and what that
says about his nature and God’s desire to be one with us even though it’s not
in my manuscript.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">would</i> be a good thing to talk about, but
I promised to stay on task.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, I think
talking about how Jesus responded would actually be closer to the best for us….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
have a tendency to dismiss Jesus’ struggle in the wilderness because he was the
Son of God – God herself in human form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And what’s a little temptation to someone who is divine – who knows all
things and has all the power he needs already?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, faced with his temptations, Jesus turned to the word of God as he
had learned it over the past 20 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The truth in the holy verses he had memorized became the words with
which he resisted the power of The Deceiver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that’s not particularly miraculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s something all of us could do if we had the strength and the
presence of mind … although I’m pretty sure I would need more than that to
resist a little bread after forty days of fasting.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> fresh from his baptism and he did
have the Holy Spirit accompanying him which certainly would have helped, but it
was not all that power that helped him resist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was actually that power that made his temptation more intense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why not turn a few stones into bread or even
a more elaborate meal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one was there
to see him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one would have suffered
for his indulgence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it would have
been good to prepare himself physically for the ministry he was about to begin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yet
he refused.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He
refused … and we can only speculate as to the why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow he understood that God’s plan for the
world would not … could not be served by taking the easy way out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, he would have power over all the
kingdoms and rulers of Earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually, Jesus would experience God’s protection (not from mere
beatings or even crucifixion, but from death itself).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, he would make bread to feed
thousands appear from next to nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But this was not the time or the way to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s best hopes for the world required a
different path … a longer path … a path without compromise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with the power of the God’s word and the
Spirit’s guidance, he was able to choose the harder path.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There
is a phrase that I don’t really like though I know that it brings comfort to
many … “God never gives us more than we can handle.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every time that I hear those words, I cringe
a little inside because I can’t help thinking about how they incriminate
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They imply that God actually does
lead us into the path of temptation and evil or that God wants to test us with
suffering and pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that image is
present in the Bible, but I believe that Jesus’ gift to us is an assurance that
God isn’t really like that … that God is really all about love and grace and
mercy and healing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I do
think, though, that if we change that phrase just a little bit, it would be
true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God always gives us what we need
to make it through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the wisdom
of scriptures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the teachings and
example of Jesus and others who have lived well throughout the centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the assurance of grace and love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the guidance and support of the Holy
Spirit who walks beside us through every trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each
day of our lives, we face temptations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Little ones and big ones, they come to us as a part of our journey
through life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often we don’t even notice
them until we look back with regret or satisfaction on the choices we have
made.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have a feeling that we might find ourselves
regretting less if we paid attention more … because we have all that we
need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the wisdom to choose God’s
best (at least as well as we understand what that is).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the strength to resist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we have the Spirit to help us along the
way … if we are willing to take the first step.</span>
<br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Choosing%20the%20Best%20-%20Genesis%202%2015-17%203%201-7%20-%20Matthew%204%201-11.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Maggie
Dawn, The Christian Century (March 5, 2014), 20.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Pastors/Desktop/Our%20Documents/Torin/Sermons/Choosing%20the%20Best%20-%20Genesis%202%2015-17%203%201-7%20-%20Matthew%204%201-11.docx" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> http://nypost.com/2014/03/06/pope-francis-took-cross-from-late-confessors-rosary/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</span> </span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-42763509656214077922014-03-02T12:00:00.000-05:002014-04-02T17:30:47.767-04:00The Transfigurationsermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Matthew 17:1-9, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">2 Peter 1:16-21</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/suXYNtQnvjA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have to admit something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have grown afraid of the dark the older I
get.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Not the dark of my bedroom when the lights out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But pitch black dark, where you can’t see anything.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Now maybe I’m not the only one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And maybe I didn’t have much experience of
being in pitch black dark as a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s not an easy thing to come by in our electrically wired world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But I discovered this…discomfort when I was in Japan
for the first time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I say the first time because I have had the
wonderful opportunity to visit Japan twice in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first time was in 2004 when we visited
Torin’s parents in Hiroshima, where they were spending two years in Brethren Volunteer
Service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second time was in 2010
when Torin and I joined two other clergy couples in studying interfaith and
intercultural dialogue. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Both times I have gone to Japan it was with the
intention of studying the life and work of KoboDaishi, a Buddhist monk and
founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Both times were joyful occasions and I long to
return to Japan again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Both times we ventured to mountain peak monasteries.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Both times we explored the wandering grounds of
Buddhist temples. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">and Both times we went to Zensuji, one of the
eighty-eight temples on the pilgrimage around the island of Shikoku, a sacred
island to Japan’s Shingon Buddhist community.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And it was here I faced the dark, seemingly for the
first time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Underneath the temple of Zensuji is a circular
tunnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the wall of this tunnel are
paintings that tell the story of the Buddha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But you don’t see these pictures because it is dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pitch dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pitch black dark.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rather than seeing them, you run your hand along the
wall and let the wall guide you around the curves of the path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your hand passes over the story you don’t
see.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Immediately after entering into the tunnel this
first time, I knew this was not. for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt my heart racing, I
looked around as if I was going to see a lighted exit sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And just before I was about to turn around
and exit…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I closed my eyes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And I felt better.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Because, I was used to the dark behind my eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I “see” this all the time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">dark
was my friend, the dark I long for every night when I go to bed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The dark behind my eyes helped calm me down and I
found myself, still uncomfortable…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">but able to finish my journey.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Skip ahead 6 years. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Same temple.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Same doorway down into the abyss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Six clergy-folk ready to go underground.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My breath is already getting shallow and quick.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Everyone else seems so excited.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t remember the trick I learned last time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The six of us descend.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My heart rate increases.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Panic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give
a little groan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And I close my eyes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And it’s ok.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But I still mutter “I don’t like this”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And then I feel it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A gentle hand takes mine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my companions, I don’t remember if it was
Torin or Russ or Erin or Bill or Sara,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">held my hand until the blazing light of the external
world came streaming onto us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The hands of my companion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As good as, what Peter says, “lamps shining in a
dark place”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As good as, Peter saying “this is a good place to
be”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As scary as it is in this tunnel,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">as terrifying as what life is throwing at you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There are lamps shining for us, showing us the
blessing in the dark places.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The gospel story is commonly known as the
Transfiguration because</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and
John.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The empty space around him is
transfigured into the presence of Elijah and Moses.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Up here are three teachers, wise sages, prophets…blazing
bright.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Down there, down in the darkness, three friends,
simultaneously terrified and elated.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The theological significance of this moment,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">is that in this transfiguration, the true nature of
Jesus is revealed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Human and
divine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I can just picture a hand grasping for a friend in
this dazzling moment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Peter’s shout of “Lord it is good for us to be
here!” drowning out</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John’s weak confession: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I don’t like this”</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, really, we don’t know what the others said, but
we do know two things happened on this mountain</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">and this is the important part.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On this mountain, friends accompanied and God
affirmed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Accompany- to be a companion, to be with someone, to
walk with someone, to hold the hand of someone, to make a camp and pitch a
tent—or at least offer to—to be willing to fall down on your face in fear or
joy or grief and let someone see you do it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Affirm – to offer support, encouragement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To say that something is true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God affirms that Jesus is beloved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And this my friends,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">this is what I believe the Christian walk into our
own transfiguration…or maybe transformation…or maybe salvation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">is built on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A community that accompanies and affirms one
another.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have seen this recently as members sat and
vulnerably shared about their struggles of autism in the beloved children in
their life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have seen this recently as friends have encouraged
the gifts in others to pursue new ventures in ministry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Take a moment and think of the gift we have
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We here have a group of people
who, I hope, are here with a commitment to walk with you and encourage
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To accompany you and affirm
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just think about that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many people in this world just wished
they had even a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taste</i> of that? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But I’ll warn you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those who accompany you…who affirm you…they may not look like people you
normally choose as friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can be
surprising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And perhaps, because they
may be so different than who you would have dinner with on Friday night, or
play golf with on Saturday morning, or have a book group discussion with…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because</i> they are so different may be the
way that they show Christ’s illuminating face to you so clearly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have frequently talked about the L’arch
Communities around the world, intentional communities of people with mental and
physical disabilities and their friends and helpers who live with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have talked about the founder Jean Vanier,
and have talked about the way L’arche deepend the spiritual and emotional life
of the academic priest from Harvard, Henri Nouwen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In this little book “In the Name of Jesus” by Nouwen
tells a story about being invited to an conference in Washington DC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this time he is living with men with
mental disabilities at Daybreak, a L’arche community in Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The community decided that Bill should go
with Henri.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bill was one of the
higher-functioning residents of the community. As they prepared for their trip
to Washington DC, Bill kept telling Henri, perhaps reminding him “We are doing
this together, aren’t we?”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes, Bill” said Henri.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We sure are.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The little book is about what Nouwen shared
at the conference, but he said it was Bill’s presence that gave more lasting
influence than his own words.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Henri said that up until the moment he approached
the microphone he didn’t exactly know what Bill’s emphasis of “doing it
together” would mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Henri took his handwritten text to the podium
leaving Bill in the audience. Once Henri began, however, Bill walked up to the
podium and “planted himself right behind me” continues Nouwen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It
was clear that he had a much more concrete idea about the meaning of “doing it
together” than I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each time I finished
reading a page, he took it away and put it upside down on a small table close
by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt very much at ease with this
and started to feel Bill’s presence as a support.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But
Bill had more in mind. When I began to speak about the temptation to turn
stones into bread as a temptation to be relevant, he interrupted me and said
loudly for everyone to hear, “I have heard that before!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had indeed, and he just wanted the priests
and ministers who were listening to know that he knew me quite well and was
familiar with my ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, however,
it felt like a gentle loving reminder that my thoughts were not as new as I
wanted my audience to believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bill’s
intervention created a new atmosphere in the ballroom:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lighter, easier, and more playful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow Bill had taken away the seriousness
of the occasion and had brought to it some homespun normality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as I continued my presentation, I felt more
and more that we were indeed doing this together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it felt good.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After
I had finished reading my text and people had shown their appreciation, Bill
said to me:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henri, can I say something
now?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first reaction was, “Oh, how am
I going to handle this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He might start
rambling and create an embarrassing situation,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>but then I caught myself in my presumption that he had nothing of
importance to say and said to the audience, “…Bill would like to say a few
words to you.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bill
took the microphone and said, with all the difficulties he has in speaking, “Last
time, when Henri went to Boston, he took John Smeltzer with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time he wanted me to come with him to
Washington, and I am very glad to e here with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you very much.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was it, and everyone stood up and gave
him warm applause. <o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As
we flew back together to Toronto, Bill looked up from the word-puzzle book that
he takes with him wherever he goes and said, “Henri, did you like our trip?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh
yes,” I answered, “it was a wonderful trip, and I am so glad you came with me.”<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bill
looked at me attentively and then said, “And we did it together, didn’t we?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>“Yes we did, Bill. Yes we did.”<o:p></o:p></em></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is this sort of accompanying and affirmation that
brings the transfiguration to our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Being with another person and helping them receive a clearer picture of
Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allowing another person to show
you more clearly, the face of Christ…perhaps a surprising, potentially
embarrassing companion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But we accompany and affirm in Jesus’ name as we
step out of the darkness into the light.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-87790442582976176722014-02-23T12:00:00.000-05:002014-02-25T17:30:32.065-05:00Happy Heartssermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Matthew 5:21-37<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Deuteronomy
30:15-20</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ueXs7JUU24?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have been thinking a lot about happiness lately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m talking about deep happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not small moments of contentment or laughter,
but the profound sense of joy and fulfillment that the Psalmist are always
talking about when they say, “happy are those who … walk in the law of the Lord
… who seek him with their whole heart.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those little moments are – I think of them as echoes – but I have been
thinking about how they are different, and I have been wondering about it …
wondering and reaching for the deeper joy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
don’t always do that, sadly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually, I
think, I just move through my days taking care of business – getting things
done and making sure my children get things done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I certainly experience contentment and
laughter … often, but … in the past couple of weeks, many of the voices that
make up my conversation partners have been pushing me to go farther.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
my newest Netflix show of interest, one of the characters made the startling
claim that we all have to choose between a happy life and a meaningful
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To live meaningfully, he said, one
must be constantly aware of the past and envisioning the future as we navigate
the present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be truly happy, though,
one must live entirely in the present without dwelling on the past or imagining
the future at all.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
seems a bit extreme to someone who likes to look for a third way between the
absolutes, and I tried to dismiss the thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I tried and failed because his words held seeds of truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I thought about it I realized that I am
not really happy … maybe cannot be happy … when I am thinking of the past or
living in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, at least,
happiness is linked to the present, and I am not very good at living only in
the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
few days later, I heard an interview with a man who is conducting a study on happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would never have thought that “happiness”
could be studied empirically, but it seems that scientists are making headway
on that front.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I heard surprised
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was expecting more discoveries
about the brain chemistry that is involved with happiness and other emotions
since that kind of information has become more and more common in the past few
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I the scientist began
talking about tests that had been done using twitter and text messaging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those experiments seem to be pointing to
exactly the same truth – the more our attention is focused on the present … on
what we are doing at any given moment, the more likely we are to be happy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
heart sank when I heard that confirmation of my struggle, but fortunately the
conversation went on into more philosophical areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the interview continued, the scientist
began to talk about other wisdom that has been discovered and embraced by
people seeking happiness throughout the ages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Among the things he mentioned were the mindfulness of the Buddhist
monks, the dancing of the Sufi dervishes, and, eventually, Jesus’ call to treat
others as we would like to be treated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These
(or similar) principles, he said, come up again and again across religions and
cultures throughout history, and he was careful to note that they are also
important parts of the happiness equation because simply living in the present
moment does not seem to be enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
need to be doing something or working toward a goal that we believe is
worthwhile if we want to find happiness, contentment, or joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t just follow rule or even your
heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your heart has to be in the right
place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
seems like a more complete picture to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It fits with the words of the Psalmist and the wisdom of many Christians
down through the centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we follow
the guidance of God and the teachings of Christ, we will find a deep sense of
joy and fulfillment welling up within us to fill each of our moments with light
and life.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… Just
take a moment to imagine it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine it
and enjoy the feeling of lightness and hope … </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">because Jesus’ words in these
verses of Matthew are probably going to bring you back to earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You have heard that it was said …, ‘You shall
not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">22</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I say to
you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to
judgment….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">27</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You have heard
that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">28</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I say to you that everyone who looks at [another] with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">29</span></sup><sup><span style="color: #777777; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></sup></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">33</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Again, you have heard that it was said …, ‘You
shall not swear falsely, ….’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">34</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I say to you, Do not swear at all…. </span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">37</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this
comes from the evil one.”</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
he doesn’t leave it there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his
typical fashion, Jesus pushes us beyond the gentile vagaries of general moral
teachings and into the challenges of real life….<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it
out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than
for your whole body to be thrown into hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><sup><span style="color: #777777; display: none; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hide: all;">30</span></sup><span style="color: #010000; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut
it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than
for your whole body to go into hell….”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s
enough to bring anyone down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
may be that Jesus spoke those words as an exaggeration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or it may be that Jesus did not say those
exact words since the story was shared orally for many years before it was
written down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think there is a
truth in those words that we can’t avoid no matter how much we try to wriggle
past it – a truth about the nature of our struggle to follow in Jesus’ way – a
truth about our natures and the nature of sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
are vulnerable – prone to sin, and it can grow from even the smallest seeds in
our hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure that we can get
away from that no matter how hard we try.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And even though Jesus sets a pretty high standard, I am pretty certain
that if we try to ignore it, we will make things worse.<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="background: yellow; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-highlight: yellow;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I
was considering this passage and feeling weighed down as I tried to figure out
how to share the word that we shouldn’t sin (which, by the way, we
shouldn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a very important
point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t sin.)… as I was pondering
that challenge, another voice came back to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remembered a conversation that I had years ago about exactly these
words.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
began with the question, “Do you think Jesus’ really expected people to cut off
their hands or poke out their eyes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
doesn’t seem like something he would say.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As you may have guessed, the conversation took place at seminary where
people spend a lot of their time asking questions like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
a good question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you think Jesus’
really expected people to cut off their hands or poke out their eyes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does that sound like Jesus to you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
don’t think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think taking those
words literally would be a big … and painful … mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does
your hand cause you to sin?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do your
eyes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of
course not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your eyes only provide
information, and your hands only do what you tell them to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus knew that as well as you and I do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think he was trying to get people to think
about that – to recognize that the motivation behind our actions … the reason
why we do something is at least as important as what we actually do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
all about the heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sin starts with a
seed in your heart – a seed that begins to choke off the wellspring of our
happiness and our joy – a seed that grows into a tangle that separates us from
God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
realize that that doesn’t exactly make things easier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of having something concrete to do
(however horrific), we have the challenge of keeping our hearts clear and open
to God, and that is a challenge that people have all been struggling with for
all of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is where something my professor called “God’s Holy Heart Transplant” comes
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He brought it up when our discussion
reached this point, and it is helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s one of those ideas that comes from taking words and ideas from all
over the Bible and fitting them together into a nice neat package, and rather
than walking you through all those verses, I’ll just summarize…. (If you want a
cheat sheet, you can look at verse two of “Here I am, Lord” in your hymnal).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God
has a deep desire to draw us close and be one with us, and God wants that to be
our choice as well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of her love
for us, though, she does not turn away and abandon us when we choose a
different path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, she waits with
us, ready to reach out, break apart the stoniness of our hearts, and remake
them into loving, compassionate hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God is willing to clear away the debris and the wreckage of our bad
choices and rewrite the new covenant there so that we can feel her love and joy
welling up again and sense her guidance more clearly.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
takes some of the pressure off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not
just about me … about us struggling to find our own path or striving to keep
ourselves in line with God’s greater vision for our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is there to offer us guidance and
more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we open ourselves us to it, God
will even help us change our hearts so that the journey becomes easier …
becomes natural … becomes the source of our joy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
it still has to start with us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
still has to start within us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
we look toward the season of Lent and repentance, let us prepare the way for
joy and happiness by first sharing the Psalmist’s prayer, “Create in me a clean
heart …” so that we may sing our praises in pure delight.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May
it be so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-71634089313514474182014-02-16T12:00:00.000-05:002014-04-02T16:51:39.106-04:00Space for Prayersermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Psalm 143:8, Matthew6:24-34</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/kmY5faEwlBU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a new term out there, </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">one that began in the mid-1990s but has grown</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">with the help of social networking sites like
Twitter and Facebook.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s a term that I simultaneously love and loathe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That term is “First World Problem.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Have you heard this before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What is a “first world problem”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guarantee you, we all have them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, according to the source of all knowledge and
wisdom, Wikipedia, a first world problem is:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“a slang term used to refer to issues in the First
World nations [that’s us] that are complained about only because of the absence
of more pressing concerns.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The term is used to “minimize complaints about
trivial issues by shaming the complainer”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">UNICEF even conducted a survey about first world
problem in New Zealand.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The most common “first world problem” is slow web
access followed closely by the frustration when workers get your fast food
orders wrong.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I do love that trite little moniker because it can
put things into perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And yet, it is sort of the modern day equivalent of
the 50’s housewife chiding her children to eat the meatloaf because there are
starving children in Africa.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It does put things into perspective and yet, for
sensitive souls like myself (haha), I start questioning: are all my problems first
world problems?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A 12<sup>th</sup> snow day?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First world problem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Water pipes bursting? First world problem, be glad
you have water!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Tired at the end of the day because the kids are at
home <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> pipes are bursting?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just be glad you’re not out in the fields with a
baby on your back and your children aren’t forced to work in sweatshops.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yeah, I knew about first world problem before it was
cool to know about first world problems.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So are all my worries…all your worries…first world
problems?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
doubt it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The cause of worries are unique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what somehow, as I read the Matthew text
for today, I realize</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">that worry is not a first world problem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Worry is not even a 21<sup>st</sup> century or even
a 20<sup>th</sup> century problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s not a problem that sprang up alongside
urbanization and the Industrial Revolution.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus talks about worry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the people around him worrying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people all around the world worry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Worry is universal.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What is your worry today?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When you think of your worry, what happens in your
body?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are like many people, you’ll find your
shoulders have crept close to your ears.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Your stomach gets tight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Your breath gets shallow and your heart speeds up.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You may even yawn because of this…your brain doesn’t
have enough oxygen.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It seems as much as Jesus calls us to prayer, he is
obviously onto something spiritually.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But he also had, knowingly or unknowingly, given us
a spiritual gift that has physical benefits.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Because if we pray, we try to slow ourselves down.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When we pray, we actually talk about our problems,
first world or otherwise, with someone, even if that someone is unseen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When we pray, we breathe deeply.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So who here needs some space to slow down and
breathe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who here needs time and space
to pray the prayer of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> heart (not
simply the words I stand up here and say?)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well if that’s you, then today is the day for
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I’m going to give you
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And for those of you are a bit scared by
unstructured silence, I’m going to help you structure it a bit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And for those of you who think that church is no
place to slow down and be quiet, then…well, you probably need it just as much
as anybody.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our prayertime is going to be guided by our morning
psalm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This psalm has four movements, each one providing
opportunity for us to pray a different prayer,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(you can find this in your bulletin).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">May the day bring me word of your unfailing love.
(here you can think about all that you are grateful for in your life and dwell
on those good things and give god thanks)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I put my trust in you (we give an affirmation of our
faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to think of this one as
the “fake it till you make it” section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes all I can say is “I put my trust in you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put my trust in you”)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Show me the way I should go (we ask God to guide us
in decisions we are facing, or problems that are causing us to respond)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For to you I lift up my soul (here we lift up
prayers of petition or intercession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is like our joys and concerns time, but you can share things with God
that you might not share with any other person)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is my daily prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This helps me, if for even 5 minutes slow
down and breathe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In a moment we are going to have a full five minutes
of quiet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may simply enjoy the
silence to breathe deeply.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You may slowly work your way through this prayer,
saying in your mind or even quietly the words of the psalm and inviting
yourself into the guided prayer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Or maybe you feel drawn to one in particular, and
you might, say, spend five minutes meditating on your gratitude blessings, or
holding a certain person up to God for healing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We’ll begin with some deep breathing and then I will
read the psalm once and then you can enter into the silence as you feel led.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So let’s take a few deep, grounding breaths…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">May the day bring me word of your unfailing love.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For I put my trust in you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Show me the way I should go.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For to you I lift up my soul.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How do you feel?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sisters and brothers, worry is not a first world
problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not a contemporary issue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Worry has its Biblical roots as far back as the
Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve hid from God.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This week, I hope if you find yourselves lost in
worry, you return to Christ’s invitation to pray, to ask and seek and knock.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To quiet yourself and find the deeper place in your soul</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Where there is peace and gratitude and Light.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">May you be blessed this week.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">men.</span></div>
</span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-27016446184944315022014-02-09T12:00:00.000-05:002014-03-12T09:56:49.373-04:00Save the Shoessermon by Carrie Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Micah 6:1-8, Hebrews 2:14-18</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Me7KZHEGX1s?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For those of you who are married, or in
any sort of relationship with another human being…and really, that would be all
of you…you have I’m sure experienced what Torin and I experienced the other
week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miscommunication</i> (do you about that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it’s just us).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">miscommunicated</i>
and he thought he was to preach last week and I thought I was to and we were
both looking at the same texts and what do we do…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Well what we do is we worked with
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, Micah’s text to do
justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God is not one, I believe,
that you can hear too often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once a
week, if not more, would be just right, because if we’re honest, every day we
are faced with new situations, new opportunities that ask us to respond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How will we respond with justice, kindness,
and humility? And every day we can grow from that question and find new
insights about ourselves and our God.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But, alas, I decided not to preach on
Micah and went, with fear and trembling, to the scripture from Hebrews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while I am usually put off by texts with
references to the devil in them, I realized this scripture isn’t about the
devil at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about the power of
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about the power of
Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about how light will permeate
the darkness and darkness will not be able to overcome the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This scripture is an insight into who Jesus
is, why he has come to humanity, and how he lives among us today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What this scripture comes down to, I believe,
is to highlight what Jesus’ purpose was, and is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What is Jesus’ purpose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well it is clear that it is not to help the
angels, but to help us, children of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When Torin and I were in seminary, we
took an introduction to preaching course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is, indeed, one of the most terrifying courses most seminarians
feared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is where you learn the art
and craft of reading biblical text, writing something that is 12-20 minutes
long (depending on your congregation) and then delivering it with good eye
contact, paying attention to your voice, your body language, your emphasis, speed,
volume….all while having someone take a video of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then… watching it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Terrifying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Early on in the class we learned a
technique for structuring our sermons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once we read the scripture, prayed, read the scripture again, asked
questions of it…we were told to come up with a “focus” and a “function” of the
sermon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the “focus” and the
“function” of what we are going to present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now the focus is the point of the sermon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a one sentence (God forbid if you
must have two sentences) explanation about what it is your are going to try to
get across.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So, for example, looking back on a
recent Advent sermon of mine the focus was “We experience what Advent waiting is
when we simply sit with others who are in pain.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then we come up with the function.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The function is what we hope those hearing
the sermon will do because of hearing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Therefore, the function of that sermon was “To encourage people not to
be afraid of simply sitting with others when they are in pain because their
presence helps bring healing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The focus and function. Now you have
just had your first homiletics session.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But if we think about it, identifying
the focus and function isn’t just about sermon writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is something we should be doing with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our lives.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the focus and function of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my life?</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now this isn’t exactly the existential question of “What is the meaning
of life” but it is a very vulnerable, exciting, examination of our own
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We might even call it…discernment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is it that I am to be doing in this
world and what affect do I want to have on this world?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This is what the author of Hebrews is
doing when he or she speaks of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According
to Hebrews, the focus of Jesus’ life was to help the descendants of Abraham by
redeeming their suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His function
was to empower those he touched to extend that grace to all they encounter—to
meet others in their suffering and offer hope and healing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When we accept the call to faith, when
we step into the baptismal waters or have them flow down our head, we are
accepting a life that continually asks that question: what is your focus and
function?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are you here to do, and
how are you going to do it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And once we
have accepted the call to faith, we recognize that all we do, all we say, is
rooted in the love and grace of Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And from there, it is simply a matter of joyfully discovering what it is
that gives us joy and passion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We were all created with unique
abilities and talents and circumstances and challenges that make us perfectly
ripe for having a unique impact on this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it seems to me, that if we don’t examine what that might be, we
likely wander around thinking there is nothing we can do in a world that so
desperately needs people engaging with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Loving it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Changing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So, what is your focus and
function?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I have thought about this
for myself, I have come to admit that what my focus and function was ten years
ago is not what it is now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember a
few years back talking with our beloved neighbor Kitty Lozier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of you know Kitty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is a good friend, a friend with a little
“f” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> with a big “F” meaning she is
a Quaker, a member of the Religious Society of Friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She and her husband John haves become like
the grandparents in abstentia of our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like us, issues of peace and justice, reconciliation and service are
close to their hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A few years back I was perhaps lamenting
a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt as though the life that I
had led in my twenties, actively involved in all sorts of activist-type
organization…I felt that I somehow let that life go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t involved as much in issues I felt
passionately about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t going to
marches or demonstrations or going to my congressperson’s office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t feel like the change agent I thought
I was before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just felt…tired.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remember Kitty looked at me with wide eyes, and said in her best
Wisconsin born accent “Oh…Carrie!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
are raising two boys [there were only two at the time].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are teaching them so many things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cultural
change agent</i>.” (I swear, those are the exact words she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said that I am changing the world by what
I am teaching the next generation.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">[pause]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now I don’t know if that’ s true or she
said it to make me feel better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what
it did was show me that when we ground the very depths of our being in the love
and grace of the divine being, every phase of our lives will shift and modify
what our purpose is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The focus and
function of our lives do not remain static.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They change and shift and morph and transform, as we grow and deepen and
learn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Which is to say…just because you’re old
doesn’t let you off the hook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
because you’re young doesn’t mean your work isn’t needed for the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stepping into those baptismal waters, being a
child of God, means we have a purpose beyond merely existing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The challenge is, through prayer,
discernment, and in community…discovering and claiming God’s call in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
And if you are like me, you may feel that what you are doing isn’t so
significant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you’re mourning a
shift, like I was when I talked to Kitty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If that is the case, then let me leave you with the story of Mark
Bezos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bezos shared this story at a TED
Talk in 2011.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Back in New York, I am the head of
development for a non-profit called Robin Hood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I’m not fighting poverty, I’m fighting fires as the assistant captain
of a volunteer fire company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now in our
town, where the volunteers supplement a highly skilled career staff, you have
to get to the fire scene pretty early to get in on any action.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I remember my first fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was the second volunteer on the scene, so
there was a pretty good chance I was going to get in….When I found the captain
in charge [to find out my assignment] he was having a very engaging
conversation with the homeowner who was surely having one of the worst days of
her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here it was, the middle of the
night, she was standing outside in the pour rain, under an umbrella, in her
pajamas, barefoot, while her house was in flames.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The other volunteer who had arrived
just before me…got to the captain first and was asked to go inside and save the
homeowner’s dog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dog!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was stunned with jealousy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here was some lawyer or money manager who,
for the rest of his life, gets to tell people tha the went into a burning building
to save a living creature, just because he beat me by five seconds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I was next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The captain waved me over . He said, “Bezos,
I need you to go into the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need
you to go upstairs, past the fire, and I need you to get this woman a pair of
shoes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, not exactly what I was
hoping for, but off I went—up the stairs, down the hall, past the ‘real’
firefighters, who were pretty much done putting gout the fire at this point,
into the master bedroom to get a pair of shoes.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I carried my payload back downstairs
where I met my nemesis and the precious dog by the front door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took our treasures outside to the
homeowner, where, not surprisingly, his received much more attention than mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A few weeks later, the department
received a letter from the homeowner thanking us for the valiant effort
displayed in saving her home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The act of
kindness she noted above all others: someone had even gotten her a pair of
shoes.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In both my vocation at Robin Hood [the
anti-poverty non-profit] and my avocation as a volunteer firefighter, I am
witness to acts of generosity and kindness on a monumental scale, but I’m also
witness to acts of grace and courage on an individual basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you know what I’ve learned?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They all matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So as I look around this room…I would offer
this reminder: don’t wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t wait
[until you’ve done something amazing] to make a difference in somebody’s
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have something to give,
give it now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Serve food at a soup
kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clean up a neighborhood
park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be a mentor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not every day is going to offer us a
chance to save somebody’s life, but every day offers us an opportunity to
affect one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So get in the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Save the shoes.</i><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Christ has come into our suffering and met us in our pain, turning despair
into hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, it’s our turn to
decide…how will we do the same?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as
Mark Bezos reflected in a follow up interview after this TED talk—don’t wait to
do something great, or you miss all the opportunities to do
something good.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">My friends, there is a world on fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there are shoes to save.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May you discover what is yours to do and the
strength to go and do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my God’s
grace and help go with you. Amen.</span></span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303329921498591218.post-22702271041026770322014-02-02T12:00:00.000-05:002014-02-12T13:32:41.702-05:00Baby Steps to Blessingssermon by Torin Eikler<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Micah 6:1-8<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Matthew
5:1-12</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/UWs4jJlFb5M?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Over
the course of our Christmas holidays, I got the chance to watch “As Good as it
Gets” for the third time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember
thinking that it was a good movie when it first came out several years ago, and
as is often the case with good movies, each time that I see it, I find new
things to appreciate and enjoy it even more.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
world of “As Good as it Gets” is populated by many fantastic and memorable
characters, including one very irascible dog, but the two main characters are
the most fascinating of all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Melvin is a
very successful author who suffers from a pretty extreme case of obsessive compulsive
disorder and spend most of his time living as a recluse in his well-organized
apartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carol is a waitress at the
café where Melvin habitually goes for breakfast – the only waitress who knows
his exacting needs and is willing to serve him despite his rudeness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
movie really picks up steam when Carol’s son gets sick, and she has to take off
from work in order to stay with him in the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disturbance this causes in Melvin’s life
is (as you might expect) too much for him to handle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It proves to be enough of an inconvenience
that Melvin takes a big step out of his comfort zone and actually goes to the
hospital to convince Carol that she needs to come back to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She
refuses, as most mothers would, and Melvin is forced to take more extreme
action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He calls up a doctor friend and
shows up at Carol’s home to take care of the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carol is skeptically grateful, thinking that
Melvin is trying to manipulate her into an illicit liaison which is the
farthest thing from his mind … at least until she mentions it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From
there, the story of their relationship takes many twists and turns, and the two
eventually fall in love with each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But Carol just can’t get past all the strange and controlling behavior
that is part and parcel of Melvin’s OCD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Melvin, for his part, makes a huge effort to break the chains of his
illness, but it proves to be too much for him to tackle all at once.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Carol
gives up, saying in exasperation that she just wants a normal boyfriend, and
normal is clearly just not an option for Melvin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is just too much to overcome … too many
quirks for her to accept and adjust to … too many changes that need to be made
for things to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole
relationship is just too hard to manage, and she is not sure that it’s worth it
to take the plunge into such a mess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
me, Micah message seems like a similar challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that these words are a comforting … to
some people, and as Cindy has told us, they have formed the mission statement
of at least one church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I completely
understand the sense of comfort that a short, clear list of theological virtues
to pursue, but I find it difficult to fully embrace that mission because it is
just too … big … for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s
not that it’s vague … anything but.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
words are quite clear: “Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My studies have even helped me understand
what those words probably meant to Micah and the people he spoke to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s hard for me is the all-encompassing
nature of the challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Doing
justice is easy to say, but it is much harder to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so many different ways that we
understand justice, and they often take us in opposite ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if we reach for a deeper meaning then we
have to drive into uncertainty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can’t
grasp the perspective we would need to know God’s justice for certain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the only way to move forward is to pay
attention to each situation because God’s justice seems to emerge from
conversations and a deeper understanding of each person’s experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loving
Kindness isn’t any easier for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
“kindness” Micah is talking about is the Hebrew concept “chesed.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a complex idea that speaks of covenant
and the mutual obligations of partners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s about trust – trust that our partners will honor our interests just
as we honor theirs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about being
ready to treat the well-being of others as a higher value than our own
vindication, and that means making ourselves vulnerable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
the last words are easily the most difficult for me. Walking humbly is not one
of my fortes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t do humility all
that well, as you probably have noticed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I like to feel like I know what I’m doing and what I’m talking about,
and that makes it hard to admit that I can be wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m getting better at it, but it’s still one
of my biggest spiritual struggles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each
one of these is hard enough … especially since Micah implies that we should be
doing them all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you put
all three together, it seems like an impossible leap from where I am now, … and
I don’t do well with the impossible either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I said, it’s just too big to take all at once, and I begin to despair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
times like that – times when I dwell on the difficulty for too long – I need
something smaller … something more definite … something that I can actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get done </i>… or at least make concrete
progress on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I feel that way, find
myself turning to Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beatitudes, in particular provide me some
comfort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not exactly smaller …
not exactly easier to live up to, but they are more limited in scope and they
are easier for me to embrace.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some
of them, I don’t really understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
does it mean to be poor in spirit, for example?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How does one “hunger and thirst for righteousness?” When do we find
ourselves being persecuted for righteousness’ sake … reviled and persecuted on
Jesus’ account?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Others
come more naturally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand what
it means to be peacemaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
experienced mourning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know mercy and
meekness even if I struggle to embody them many times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are things that I can take hold of …
goals that I can work toward … and actually accomplish from time to time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
I really like, though, is not that these tasks are more limited in scope or
that I feel like I can get something done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No, what gives me hope and gets me moving again is that these challenges
are not absolute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t have to do
them all … and I don’t have to do them perfectly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I
make peace when I’m able, I am a peacemaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If I show mercy instead of ruthlessness, then I am merciful (at least
for those moments).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I find myself
remembering loved ones with longing or aching for the loss of humanity’s soul,
then I am mourning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if I am led to a
place of stillness where I can let go of my pride in the face of others’ need
to be the best, then I have been given the gift of meekness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
all of these ways … in each of those moments, I succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In bigger or smaller ways I succeed in living
out the ideals of Jesus’ teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t need to make one huge leap into the fullness of life in Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can take smaller steps … little hops …
maybe even a jump or two from time to time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
I first saw Melvin all those years ago, I felt sorry for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was trapped in a world where he felt
uncertain, even threatened … nearly all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he found himself in love, and his
struggles only got worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He simply
couldn’t be the normal guy that Carol wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was touching and sad, and uplifting in the end, and I walked away
from the movie feeling hope and relief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hope because in the end, when Carol decides to give it one last try,
Melvin pushes himself to take a few small steps across cracks in the sidewalk
in order to walk next to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relief
that I was nothing like him.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m
not sure about that last thought anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I have watched the movie more recently, I have come to find an
affinity for the poor man on the screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is an extreme case, of course, and I hope that I will never find
myself in that position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, I do see parallels
in my own life – places where I am just as trapped in habits or compulsions
that keep me from being the man I want to be – times when I despair of ever
reaching a truer, fuller relationship with God or with the people I love
because of my own faults and weaknesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe
I’m not so different from Melvin in the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe none of us are when we get right down to the bottom of it, but
that doesn’t mean that we are lost and without hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Melvin found his way out of the tangled mess
that bound him, but he didn’t do it all at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t … he couldn’t take it all in one
big leap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had to take one little step
at a time … one baby step after another toward a more normal life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We don’t
have to get it all right at once either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a big, beautiful promise out there for us – a big picture in
which justice and mercy kiss and righteousness flows like a mighty river – a
new world in which we all (and we, each one) do justice, love kindness, and
walk humbly with our God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we can get
there … we will get there, not in one big leap but through baby steps … through
small moments of choosing peace and mercy and meekness and righteousness …
moments that change everything and uncover blessings to encourage and
strengthen us along the way<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hold
onto to that promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grab hold of the
big picture of a world and a people reborn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But work at the small things.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span><br />Eiklerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484939740719814585noreply@blogger.com0