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GOD IS READY TO BLESS - from Sunday, July 28, 2019

7/29/2019

God is a participant in covenant with the faithful and the source of our blessings. God is ready to bless. Does that mean God is like Santa Claus? If we've been good, do we get what we want? Let's consider this further.

Our shopping, bargain-hunting nature is to get the best possible deal. That is like a consumer instinct. However, we don't typically think about bargain-hunting with God, or (be honest) do we?

Genesis 18 shows the remarkable dialogue between Abraham and God over the fate of those in wicked Sodom and Gomorrah. The questions turn on the justice of God.

With shocking boldness, Abraham poses a series of challenges to God, questioning whether God's justice is served. It is a numerical argument that progresses in asking whether a certain of righteous would be killed along with the unrighteous since God is planning to destroy the cities. 'If [this] many righteous are there, will you destroy it?' God answers 'no' every time.

God actually engages in negotiation with Abraham over what God will do. And God yields to Abraham's challenge every time.

In Luke 11, Jesus presents the disciples with a prayer at the disciples' request, the Lord's Prayer, which talks about how God provides for the faithful. Jesus goes on to explain this.

God's blessing comes from a loving relationship, like father to child. He gives illustrations to make the point.

Jesus then assures the disciples that they simply need to ask, seek, and knock faithfully, and God will respond. It sounds something like Santa Claus, but we need to recognize the context to get this right. God is not Santa Claus. Watch the sermon video below and find out why.

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THE PRIORITY OF LISTENING: WORD AND KINGDOM - from Sunday. July 21, 2019

7/22/2019

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Are you paying attention? Have your priorities straight? Listening attentively? Getting yelled at by your sister who is doing all the work? Then maybe you're doing what is really needed. Jesus thought so. We explore the Martha and Mary story, and we hear about a different kind of famine in Amos, a famine of the word of God. Pay attention now.

Listening is a bit of an art form. It requires focusing on the one speaking with active engagement. It's the principal technique of every good therapist. Is this what we do when we turn to scripture.

Too often we understand what we have already believed and seek confirmation of those beliefs. It's just as bad when we turn to the Bible as if it were an answer book. It isn't. If we aren't getting the message, then perhaps we've gone astray.

That's what happened with God's people that caused the prophet Amos to bring his sharp tongue for justice, equity, and peace to Israel. It included God's judgment. A famine of the word of God is not what we expect, but its effect is devastating.

In Luke 10, the difficult story of busy Martha and sit-on-her-butt Mary confronts us. When Martha demands that Jesus get up and her feet and working, Jesus refuses. He says, 'Mary has chosen the one thing needed, and he won't take it away from her.' What did he mean? What needed thing was Mary focused on? How about serving the 13 newly arrived guests with the customary hospitality? Isn't that needed?

Find out in the sermon video below what Jesus was focused on, and what Mary was focused, and what we need to be focused on so that we don't discover ourselves in Martha's shoes.

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WHEN RELIGIOUS ISN'T RIGHTEOUS - from Sunday, July 14, 2019

7/14/2019

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Perhaps here, the wise Anglican vicar asked the question, "Who then is my neighbor?" as the bishop and the priest scurry down the road.

If you do all of the right things, go to church, pray, donate, hold the door, be nice to the old curmudgeon, you should be good, right? What if religious isn't righteous? What does that look like? We have some examples.

It usually occurs by disconnecting faith matters from the greater world of real life. Secure in its own silo, the individual faith isn't confronted by the real problems wrecking peoples' lives and ruining life for everyone.

This isn't new. Prophets like Amos were regularly communicating God's disdain for the emptiness of a Sunday-only faith. This faith commitment may not even last beyond the parking lot after worship service. It certainly doesn't consider a faith-centered response to the tragedies, crises, catastrophes, and violence, injustice, destruction, and pain and suffering being endured all around us.

And woe to the pastor who thrusts worldly realities in the face of congregants, confronting them with the demands of the Kingdom and contrasting it with the sinfulness of the world. A post from a colleague on the Presbyterian Leaders Facebook page asked how pastors were approaching the parable of the good Samaritan in view of the crisis at the border. Not a single comment over 4 hours from a large, talkative group! Not one! (See below - normally this kind of post would have 15-50 comments.) Do you see what I mean? Silence about reality is the unspoken rule in many churches, ours included.

Speaking of Amos, he railed with God's word against the wealthy who exploited and committed injustices against the poor. God even says that God doesn't want anything worship-wise from them - not assemblies, feasts, offering, even music and songs. God wants a lived faith, not a practiced religion.

This is really at the center of the parable of the good Samaritan. It isn't a nice feel-good story about some stranger helping someone else. It has quite a bite to it, targeting the "religious and devout" who don't practice what God and the Kingdom are all about. New life in the Kingdom is at stake, and who do you think goes to the front of the line?

Wonder how that works out? Check out the sermon video below the Facebook graphic.

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RECOGNIZE THE REAL HERO - from Sunday, July 7, 2019

7/8/2019

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The calling of Matthew. Notice Matthew at center, pointing his finger at himself in a "Who? Me?" gesture.

The super-hero saves us! But the super-hero plots show us to be weak, passive, and ineffective in overcoming the great threat. We should recognize that the real hero is different, empowering the weak and even welcoming the "threats."

In 2 Kings 5, the story of the healing of war hero Naaman is rather comedic at times. There are royal screw-ups, but the general finally brings his entourage into Samaria to the prophet Elisha. Rudely, the prophet doesn't come out to greet the war hero; he sends a mere messenger. The message is insulting and undignified. The hero storms off in a huff, but is persuaded by his servants to do as instructed. The result is a change in his life, not simply a healing.

In Matthew 9, a series of stories have Jesus breaking all the rules. In the process, the attentive reader realizes that the righteous religious are being skewered and discredited by Jesus' teaching and actions. People are empowered and the "threats" to the goodness and righteousness of society are embraced in fellowship.

What does this tells us about the real hero? Watch the sermon video below and find out more.