Connecting With The Faith

The Season of Christmas

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 17:05:00 +0000

Psalm 148
Matthew 1:18-25

One of the personal readings I do every Christmas is from W. H. Auden’s epic poem, A Christmas Oratorio: For the Time Being.
The part that is particularly apropos for today begins:
“Well, so that is that.
Now we must dismantle the tree,
putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes –
some have gotten broken –
and carrying them up to the attic.
The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt,
And the children got ready for school.
There are enough left-overs to do, warmed up, for the rest of the week –
not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,
stayed up so late,
attempted – quite unsuccessfully – to love all of our relatives,
and, in general
Grossly overestimated our powers.”
W. H. Auden wrote these words in England during the early 1940's, but they pretty much describe what most of us are feeling right about now, don’t they?

Like all the others around us, we celebrated Christmas.
It wasn’t too hard to catch the Christmas spirit and we entertained, and went to family gatherings, and exchanged gifts, and shopped until we dropped, and sent a few cards, and read a few cards, and we listened to the glorious music of the season, and perhaps even read a story or two, and we decorated, and we visited.

And, now, after weeks of doing this, we are beginning to feel like we’ve done it now.
As W. H. Auden says, “So that is that.”
Now, its time to move on.

And, then we come to church.
And the preacher is still talking about it.
Of course, for weeks now, when we’ve come to church we been expecting to sing Christmas carols and such, but the preacher kept talking about something called Advent.
And now, we can’t take down the decorations because Christmas is not just one day, but twelve!
And, the church says, the season of Christmas lasts until January 6 – what is called the day of Epiphany.
Again, the church seems out of synch with the rest of world – and that makes us somewhat uneasy.
After all, no one we know will be celebrating 12 days of Christmas – much less anything called Epiphany.
[I’ve never heard a store around here advertising Epiphany sales.]
But, it is a fact that in many cultures and many countries in the world, Epiphany is a much bigger celebration than Christmas day.
[And, we will celebrate Epiphany right here in this very room next Sunday, you won’t want to miss it.]

In weeks past you have heard me say that I believe that Christmas is at the very heart of our faith.
The stories of our faith that have been passed down through the ages to us speak to the very essence what Christianity is – how we relate to the creator of the universe and how we relate to others around us.

We looked at the fact that we really do not know the actual day Jesus was born – apparently it was just not important to those early believers. Jesus never talked about it. The Disciples never sang happy birthday to Jesus. And no one ever shared pictures of the baby Jesus. It was not important to them.

What was important was what they believed was his message and the authority he must have to be delivering the message so clearly and so forcefully.

And, so we need to know, that no matter how good hearing and singing and believing certain things makes us feel –
the real meaning of the season has nothing to do
with gifts, or trinkets, or lights, or candles, or trees, or parties, or dinners, or children, or movies, or shopping, or cards, or Santa, or crosses for that matter.

Christmas is for adults.

The key to understanding Christmas is Emmanuel.
Emmanuel is this Hebrew word that means, “God Is With Us”.

It is significant that we recall and remember that at this time in history – during the heyday of the Roman Empire,
in this particular part of world – an out of the way, nondescript place of no significance to anybody –
the ultimate authority of the universe, the Creator of all that is, broke through the barriers – the walls of the cosmic egg – and came to live among, alongside, and with us mortal beings.
God is no longer confined to the highest heavens, or to the other side of the wall, or to behind the curtain of the holy of holies.
No, this is about Emmanuel.

God is with us, we say.
At Christmas we remember the message and we celebrate the exact point when it happened in history.
But, the kicker is, the real message is, that it didn’t just happen once and that was it.
God did not simply open the door and say here I am and then leave.
Emmanuel, we say. God is with us, we say.
That’s what we remember through the Christmas stories.
And, Emmanuel, we believe.
God is with us – still. Today. And tomorrow, and all of our tomorrows – Every second of every minute of every hour or every day.
Emmanuel.

W. H. Auden continues his poem:
“Once again, as in previous years,
we have seen the actual vision
and failed to do more than entertain it as an agreeable possibility,
once again we have sent him away,
begging though to remain his disobedient servant.
The promising child who cannot keep his word for long.
The Christmas feast is already a fading memory,
and already the mind begins to be vaguely aware
of an unpleasant whiff of apprehension at the thought of Lend and Good Friday which cannot, after all no, now be very far off.
But, for the time being, here we all are,
back in the moderate Aristotelian city
of darning and the eight-fifteen,
where Euclid’s geometry and Newton’s mechanics would account for our experience.”
______________________
“And the kitchen table exists because I scrub it . . . .
. . . . at your marriage all it occasions shall dance for joy.”

For us, Emmanuel is something to be continually discovered – something continually to be celebrated. Emmanuel!
Our God is with us, we say.

But, often we lose sight of the significance of Emmanuel.
Often we lose cognizance of the presence of Emmanuel.
We lose touch with this most basic of beliefs – Emmanuel.
What would it mean for us to live as though we actually believed Emmanuel?
Keep Christ in Christmas we say.
And that’s fine, but so often, like the rest of the world, we tend to put Christ away with the baby Jesus and the rest of the decorations.

Friends, the truth of the matter is that we cannot confine Christ to Christmas.
The Emmanuel we seek, the Emmanuel we proclaim,
the Emmanuel we celebrate is basic and primary to the faith we hold – and yet is so misunderstood.

The Gospel of John tells us: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. “
That means that Christ is where we are -
whether we want it to be or not,
whether we recognize it or not.

The Christ is there.
It cannot be held in the manger.
It cannot be held within the family.
It cannot be held within the church.
It comes to us everywhere;
It is with us everywhere.
Oh that we might see it,
Oh that we might recognize it,
Oh that we might serve it where we are.

To be sure, there are places that none of us want to be, aren’t there?
But, there are no places that Christ isn’t.
Our Christ wants to be with us,
wherever we are,
whether someplace exalted and beautiful and holy,
or someplace humble and humdrum and ordinary. "No palace too great, no cottage to small."

Teresa Hooley wrote a striking little verse called "Christ in Woolworth's."
(Does anyone here remember Woolworth's – Woolworth’s was what we used to call a five and dime, a place where you could find a variety of items at cheap prices.)
The verse went like this:

“I did not think to find You there-
Crucifixes, large and small,
[a dime and a nickle], on a tray,
Among the artificial pearls,
Paste rings, tin watches, beads of glass.
It seemed so strange to find You there
Fingered by people coarse and crass,
Who had no reverence at all.
Yet - what is that You would say:
"For these I hang upon my cross,
For these the agony and loss,
Though heedlessly they pass me by."
Dear Lord, forgive such fools as I,Who thought it strange to find You there,
When you are with us everywhere.”

Folks, it is right for us to do what we are doing today.
We can’t keep Christ confined to Christmas day.
Emmanuel!
Christ is present with you everywhere, every day.
Let us not stop looking for it.
Let us not stop celebrating it.
We sing:
He hath opened heaven’s door,
And we are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this!
Christ was born for this!

In every moment of this coming year;
even in Woolworth's – or Reasors, or in Walmart; even at home and at work.
Look for, and celebrate Emmanuel – God with us. Everywhere.
Amen

Letting ThanksGiving Become ThanksLiving

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 00:04:00 +0000

Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.

Leviticus 19: 16-18
I Thessalonians 5:15-18

Thanksgiving has become the most universal of our holidays,
Many of us will be gathering with families to stuff ourselves, “enjoy” family stories and an afternoon of merriment and familiar foods.
True, in recent years our celebrations have less and less to do with our traditional understanding about our reasons for Thanksgiving in the first place. We have long ago given up reading the annual Presidential Proclamation as we have realized the Pilgrims were giving thanks for something completely out of sync with the scenario we learned in school.

In recent years, I have capitalized on the cultural celebrations of this season by introducing congregations to theological reasons for celebrating this holiday that have nothing to do with the images we have imprinted in our collective minds.

For me Thanksgiving is not just for one day out of the year,
but Thanksgiving is very basic to how we see and understand our faith.

Indeed, the most basic part of our faith, the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, begins with a thanksgiving for the faith that our forefathers and mothers gave witness to.

Paul could write to the believers in Thessalonia,
“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”
And, it is a message you and I need to hear:
“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”

Now, we can say that thanks giving is a good thing, and perhaps we can buy into the scripture study that tells us that God wants no sacrifice without thanks giving,
but, these days social scientists are collecting mounds of evidence that promotes positive affects of giving thanks at all times for all things.

The evidence mounts:
People who make simple exercises of thanksgiving as a way of life,
people who make thanks giving into thanks living,
people who have an "attitude of gratitude"
are in better physical health,
sleep better,
have lower levels of stress hormones in their blood,
and are happier than those who don’t.

One contemporary writer declares:
“The most psychologically correct holiday of the year is upon us.”

Thanksgiving may be the holiday from hell for nutritionists, and it produces plenty of war stories for psychiatrists dealing with drunken family meltdowns.
But it has recently become the favorite feast of psychologists studying the consequences of giving thanks.
Cultivating an “attitude of gratitude” has been linked to better health,
sounder sleep,
less anxiety and depression,
higher long-term satisfaction with life
and kinder behavior toward others, including romantic partners.

A new study shows that feeling grateful makes people less likely to turn aggressive when provoked.

“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”

Of course, it is difficult for us to be thankful at all times, isn’t it?
But, time and time again, evidence piles up with personal testimony to what can happen when folks purposely change their behavior and look for things to be thankful for – even when times are tough, and it seems there is nothing to be thankful for.

But, today, there is good news to be heard.
There are many research projects today that have developed techniques and tools we can use to help us in our task to
Be thankful in all circumstances.

Work at the University of California and at the University of Miami
teaches what can happen when a person does something as simple as taking an inventory and writing down five things for which you are particularly grateful - simple things, little things, big things - like a friend’s generosity, perhaps;
or something you may have learned,
or a sunset you enjoyed.

The gratitude journal they suggest is brief —
just one sentence for each of the five things —
and as they teach it, it is done only once a week,
but after two months there are significant effects.
Time and time again, people keeping the gratitude journal are more optimistic
and feel happier.
They report fewer physical problems
and spend more time physical exercising in some fashion.

A study of polio survivors and other people with neuromuscular problems showed that folks who kept a gratitude journal reported feeling happier and more optimistic than those in a control group,
and these reports were corroborated by observations from their spouses.
These grateful people also fell asleep more quickly at night,
slept longer
and woke up feeling more refreshed.

“If you want to sleep more soundly, count blessings, not sheep,” the researcher advises in his book on gratitude research.

“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”
And it is also has great benefits for us.

In an experiment at Northeastern University, researches sabotaged each participant’s computer and arranged for another student to fix it.
That was the test.
Afterward, the students who had been helped were likelier to volunteer to help someone else —
a complete stranger — with an unrelated task. Gratitude promoted good karma.
And if it works with strangers ....

Now, the thing is, we can try it out.
You don’t have to take my word for it.
You don’t have to sit there and think, “well, that sounds nice, Preacher, but it’s not very realistic."

Well, I’m here to tell you it works!
No matter how dysfunctional your family, gratitude can still work, says a researcher at the University of California, Riverside.
Just try it out, she says.
On one day
“Do one small and unobtrusive thoughtful or generous thing for each [person you meet]
“Say thank you for every thoughtful or kind gesture. Express your admiration for someone’s skills or talents — wielding that kitchen knife so masterfully, for example.
And truly listen, even when your [uncle Bob] is boring you again with [that same story he tells over and over again].”

Don’t counterattack.
If you brace yourself for insults, consider a recent experiment at the University of Kentucky.
After turning in a piece of writing, some students received praise for it while others got a scathing evaluation: “This is one of the worst essays I’ve ever read!”

Then each student played a computer game against the person who’d done the evaluation.
The winner of the game could administer a blast of white noise to the loser.
Not surprisingly, the insulted essayists retaliated against their critics by subjecting them to especially loud blasts — much louder than the noise administered by the students who’d gotten positive evaluations.

But there was an exception to this trend among a subgroup of the students:
the ones who had been instructed to write essays about things for which they were grateful.
After that exercise in counting their blessings, they weren’t bothered by the nasty criticism —
or at least they didn’t feel compelled to amp up the noise against their critics.

“Gratitude is more than just feeling good,” says Nathan DeWall, who led the study at Kentucky.
“It [actually] helps people become less aggressive by enhancing their empathy.
“It’s an equal-opportunity emotion.
Anyone can experience it and benefit from it,
even the most crotchety uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner table.”

Why does gratitude do so much good?

“More than other emotion, gratitude is the emotion of friendship,” one researcher says.
“It is part of a psychological system that causes people to raise their estimates of how much value they hold in the eyes of another person.
Gratitude is what happens when someone does something that causes you to realize that you matter more to that person than you thought you did.”

Another exercise you can try is called a gratitude visit.
This exercise, devised by folks at the University of Pennsylvania, begins with writing a 300-word letter to someone who changed your life for the better.
Be specific about what the person did and how it affected you.
Deliver it in person, (but safely) preferably without telling the person in advance what the visit is about.
When you get there, read the whole thing slowly to your benefactor.
“You will be happier and less depressed one month from now,” Dr. Seligman guarantees in his book “Flourish.”

Be thankful in all circumstances, our Book says.
This is what God wants from us . . .

Worshiping in a local church on a regular basis
can cause people to feel and act more gratefully, as demonstrated in experiments at Baylor University.
Other research shows that praying can increase gratitude.

One person speaks about how keeping a gratitude journal has affected her life.
She has been suffering from fibromyalgia and had become quite overwhelmed by the constant pain in her life.
And, she took the challenge of using a gratitude journal on a regular basis.
Every night as part of her bedtime routine, she would try to list five things she was particularly thankful for.

She writes:
“Sometimes I struggled to find 5 things for which I was grateful;
occasionally, one of those was, ‘I'm grateful this day has ended.’
But I stuck with it.

Gratitude is not about "looking at the bright side" or denying the realities of life.
Gratitude goes much deeper than that.
It's about learning from a situation,
taking the good to help deal with other challenges in the future.
It's about finding out that you have more power over your life than you previously imagined.
You can stop being a victim of your circumstances and reach out to the joy in living.
If you open your heart to the good in your life, gratitude becomes as much a part of your life as breathing.

I have found joy at every turn, from appreciating the beauty of nature to improved relationships with family and friends.

I still have muscle pain and fatigue.
Those symptom levels remain fairly constant.
But that journal opened the door to unconditional happiness with the hand I was dealt.
I can look beyond the pain and fatigue and look forward to each day and the joy it will bring.”

“Be thankful in all circumstances,” our Book says.
This is what God wants from us . . .

When we live with an attitude gratitude
things change for us.
Things actually change for us.
And it is real.
You can feel it when it happens.

And, when you do, nothing short of a miracle happens.
“Be thankful in all circumstances,” our Book says.
This is what God wants from us . . .

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard a version of this sermon on November 22, 2011.

The Single Most Powerful Voice to Inspire the Colonists Was the Pulpit .

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 18:28:00 +0000

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams proposed this image for the Great Seal of the United States. The image depicts Pharaoh’s army drowning as Moses closes the Red Sea upon them, while the pillar of fire guides God’s chosen people. The motto suggests that Moses’ actions (and those of the American Revolutionaries) were sanctioned by God. Source: Library of Congress.

Clergymen surveyed the events swirling around them, and by 1775 liberals and evangelicals, Congregationalists and Presbyterians,
men and women –
all saw in British actions grounds for armed resistance.

In fact, not only was it right for colonists to resist British "tyranny,"
to hear the preachers, it would actually be sinful not to pick up guns.

They latched on to Parliament's 1766 Declaratory Act, which stated that Parliament had sovereignty over the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

You see, for the ministers, this phrase took on the air of blasphemy.
These were fighting words – not only because they violated principles of representative government but even more because they violated the logic of their fundamental Presbyterian belief of sola Scriptura ("Scripture alone"),
and God's exclusive claim to sovereignty "in all cases whatsoever."

You see, from the first colonial settlements, Americans – especially New England Americans – were accustomed to constraining all power and granting absolute authority to no mere human being.

For Presbyterian and Reformed colonists, these ideas were tied up with their historic, covenant theology.
At stake was the preservation of their identity as a covenant people.
Not only did Parliament's claims of control “in all things whatsoever” represent tyranny, they also represented idolatry.
For colonists to honor those claims would be tantamount to forsaking God and abdicating their national covenant pledge to "have no other gods" before them.

So, to the question as to who determines whether government is "moral and religious",
In the Revolutionary era, the answer was simple: the individual.

The political and religious connotations were so closely intertwined that it was virtually impossible for colonists to separate them.

Throughout all the colonies, the preachers goaded, consoled, and impelled colonists forward in the cause of independence.

The pulpit served as the single most powerful voice to inspire the colonists.

For most American ministers and many in their congregations, the religious dimension of the war was precisely the point of revolution.

Would our faith be so strong
that if we were confronted with a proclamation of someone declaring sovereignty over us in all cases whatsoever, would we be moved to do anything about it?

Well, we are here today, so we can thank God that there were some who were moved to proclaim that God has exclusive claim to sovereignty in all cases whatsoever.

And, there can be no mere human beings who have absolute authority over us.

And, so let us remember that there was a time when religious beliefs greatly affected political and social issues.

Observing Lent the Lord's Way #5: Help the Needy

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 23:34:00 +0000

Almsgiving, generous giving for the needs of others, was expected among the people Jesus spoke to that day.
It is expected for us as well.

But, Jesus carries the act of giving a step further.
You are expected to give generously,
but when you do,
do it quietly,
without fanfare,
so no one will know what you did.

This Jesus stuff seems so far out of synch with the rest of the world around us, that sometimes for some people, it is just easier to drop out.
If you don’t hear about it, and don’t read it, life is easier.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11
Matthew 6:2-4, 21-24

So, this is the fifth Sunday in Lent - the season the church sets aside to encourage folks to prepare for Easter.
Remembering that Jesus reportedly took 40 days to prepare himself for his ministry, all believers are encouraged to spend 40 days to get ready to experience Easter.

In preparation for this time here at Christ Church I began with the question we should probably always begin with: “What would Jesus do?”
How would Jesus observe Lent?
And, wouldn’t you know it, Jesus left us some specific instructions.
And, they are found right here in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (part of the Sermon on the Mount).
But, they are instructions virtually ignored as far as I can tell, by most folks who so piously observe Lent each year– or at least who start out intent on observing Lent each year on Ash Wednesday.

And, so for a month now, we have dealing with these Lenten themes that, if followed, would radically change our way of doing things, and
might even change our life,
and certainly give us new reason for Easter hope and a basis to understand just what happened and why it is still celebrated after some 2000 years.

The first week, we talked about the importance of just taking time to take a time out each day for 40 days – as Jesus did.

The second week, we looked at what Jesus said about not making public displays of our faith – remembering he specifically admonished believers to keep your face washed and keep your hair combed so as not to reveal your private religious practices.

The third week, we saw how Jesus expected us to fast during this time.
But, not fast like your grandfathers and grandmothers,
not fast like the rest of society,
no, Jesus notes that God completely redefines the concept and meaning of the word.

And, the fourth week we looked at Prayer – how it is so important to our life as believers – but, how it is to be kept private at all times.

(Remember, if you missed something, all the sermons are on-line on our church website.)

And today, we are looking at Jesus’ expectation that we would be generous in helping the needy, the troubled, the poor, the hurting.

There's a Dennis the Menace cartoon, which shows Dennis and Joey leaving the Wilson's front porch, each with a handful of cookies.
Joey has this surprised look on his face and Dennis says, "Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we're nice, but because she's nice."

And, Dennis is right on target.
It's not what we do but what God does for us.
We love God because God loves us.

It is one of the very central messages of Jesus:
Our generosity is motivated by our reciprocal love for God.
This has been a part the faith we have been a part of from the very beginning.
In the passage we read from Deuteronomy a while ago, (part of Moses’ farewell address to the Hebrews), God reminds the believers to always open your purse, and open your hands,
and give generously to neighbors in trouble,
the poor, the hurting.

So almsgiving, generous giving for the needs of others, was expected among the people spoke to that day.
It is expected for us as well.

But, Jesus carries the act of giving a step further.
You are expected to give generously,
but when you do,
do it quietly,
without fanfare,
so no one will know what you did.

Jesus says here, "You do what you do in secret; no fanfare, not looking for the applause and glory of men, but only for the glory of God, and "your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

There is an apocryphal story that I have read in several places, perhaps you have read as well:
In the 19th Century, a member of the British Parliament travelled to Scotland to make a speech. His carriage became mired in a bad road and a Scottish farm boy came to his aid with a team of horses.
Even though he was already late getting home and he knew his dad would be greatly upset, the boy took the hour and a half necessary to get this man out of the mud.

The man said, "Son, how much do I owe you?"
The farm boy, who could have used the money, said, "Nothing, Sir, I was just glad to help you. I just fulfilled the Golden Rule."

The man said, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
He said, "I'd like to be a doctor."

The Parliamentarian got this boy's name and years later paid for this Scottish farm boy to go to the university to become a doctor.

Fifty years passed and a world leader lay deathly sick with an infection in the country of Morocco.
A wonder drug was administered,
a new drug called penicillin,
which was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming.

Alexander Fleming was the young Scottish lad with the team of horses,
and the man who had sponsored his education was Lord Randolph Churchill, the father of Winston Churchill, who was the sick statesman who recovered.

Take God's word for it.
He has a way of rewarding even a cup of cold water given in His name.
So whatever you do, do it for His eyes only.
Do it for His glory only,
and your reward will be great,
both on earth and in Heaven.

Then Jesus went further with the ominous warning:
“No person can serve two masters. Your heart will always be where your treasure it.”

A number of years ago Bob Dylan wrote a song you may remember.
It is about this point and
It goes like this:
You may be an Ambassador
to England or France,
You may like to gamble
you might like to dance;
You may be the heavyweight
champion of the world,
You might be a socialite
with a long string of pearls;
But you're gonna have to
serve somebody...

May be a construction worker,
working on a home
Might be living in a mansion
you might live in a dome;
You may own guns and you
may even own tanks;
You may be somebody's landlord
you may even own banks;
But you're gonna have to
serve somebody.

There are people who actually study this stuff and publish the results of their studies on an annual basis.
One of the findings is that Christians pay more in interest [on loans, credit cards, etc]
(9.8% of their income)
than they give to the church."
(Southern Baptists give 2.3% of their income.)

The fact is that overall, among church goers, over a third (nearly 40%), give absolutely nothing to their church.

One of the researchers reminds us what Jesus said here in the sermon on the mount.
The greatest threat to our faith is not gay marriage, is not contraception,
is not a woman’s right to choose,
is not drugs,
is not sex,
is not murder,
is not rape,
or is not even politicians;
the greatest threat is “materialism."
You can’t serve both God and mammon, Jesus said.

Now, here’s the thing. It sometimes very hard for us to separate things out, isn’t it?
Sometimes we start out doing something for the right reason and somewhere along the line it becomes something else altogether.

For all of my ministry, I have had an interest in how church takes on many different forms – and especially how traditional churches become transformed into something they weren’t.
Our Presbyterian church is engaged in a project to enable and develop 1001 new worshiping communities all over the country.
Some of these worshiping communities meet in cafes,
some meet in taverns,
some meet in theaters.
Some established churches like ours, have decided that their mission is to be in mission and I have read about a few that have sold their buildings and purchased facilities with a kitchen to feed the hungry, some have razed their buildings and constructed affordable housing units, and some are installing free laundry facitilies in their buildings.

But, as you and I well know, it is very easy to get sidetracked sometimes from our primary purpose and mission.

There was this one church . . .
Well, this guy writes how he was looking for a place to eat while visiting Atlanta. And he
"I noticed in the Yellow Pages in the listing of restaurants, an entry for a place called Church of God Grill.
The peculiar name aroused my curiosity and I dialed the number.
A man answered with a cheery "Hello! Church of God Grill!"
I asked how his restaurant had been given such an unusual name, and he told me:
"Well, we had a little mission down here and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills.
Well, people liked the chicken and we did such a good business that eventually we cut back on the church service.
After awhile we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving the chicken dinners and kept the name we started with Church of God Grill."

No one can serve two masters, Jesus said.

Most of Jesus’ teaching challenges conventional wisdom, the sort of common sense everyone accepts, which means that to be his follower requires a great deal of un-teaching and un-learning and re-programming.
Life as a companion and understudy of Jesus is most often upside-down, inside-out, and bottom-side-up from the way the world operates under current management.

For sure, our first impulse is to domesticate the teaching and take away the edge.
And so, we skip over parts of the scripture that disturb us.
Or look for loop-holes.

But it is pretty hard to ignore certain things.
This Jesus stuff seems so far out of synch with the rest of the world around us, that sometimes for some people, it is just easier to drop out.
If you don’t hear about it, and don’t read it, life is easier.

But, believers have an edge.
Jesus talked about it a lot.
In fact, he said his whole reason for being was so you and I can know what real living is about.

As you and I get ready to observe the single most important event in our world’s history, let us remember that Jesus knew what Moses commanded the believers:
Be generous,
open your purse,
open your hands,
give to your neighbors in trouble,
give to the poor,
help the hurting.

But, don’t make a show of it, Jesus said.
Do it quietly,
without fanfare,
so no one will know.

And, the truth of the matter is that your heart will always be with what matters most to you –
As we get ready for Easter this year, may this prayer guide you today and in the days ahead:

I bind myself to God's power to guide me,
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to shelter me,
God's host to secure me...
Against the snares of demons,
against the seductions of vices,
against the lusts of nature,
against everyone who meditates injury to me, whether far or near, few or many.
Amen.

This sermon was shared with the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 17, 2013.

Observing Lent the Lord’s Way: #4 Pray

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 18:57:00 +0000

Prayer is a private matter –
privileged communication –
between you and your God.
It is no one else’s business!

Yes, they thought they knew how to pray.
Just like we think we know how to pray.

But, Jesus told them, and Jesus tells us,
they had it wrong, and most of us have it wrong.

In God we live and have our being, and prayer is as natural as breathing.
We come as we are.
God is already present.
As soon as we tune in, the exchange begins.

Habakkuk 3:2, 17-19
Matthew 6: 5-9

Today is the fourth Sunday of Lent.
Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.

But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.

From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.

Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.

I have been concerned for some time that we in the church are somewhat off track with our Lenten emphases each year.
So I decided to do something a little different this year.
This year I am exploring what it would be like if we observed Lent according to what Jesus said.
So, I am calling the series: Observing Lent the Lord’s Way.

The first Sunday, we observed how Jesus took that time off.
He took time to take a time out - for 40 days.
It obviously was of great benefit to him as he was about to start his earthly ministry.
And, the promise is that it could be of great benefit to us, as well, if we were to take the time to take a time out each day for this time before Easter.

And, two weeks ago I reminded us that Jesus left some pretty specific instructions about how we should observe Lent.
Oh, to be sure, Jesus never observed Lent, and Jesus wouldn’t understand what Lent has become,
but, Jesus was very concerned about appropriate behavior for people of faith.
And he spells a lot of this out in the sixth chapter of Matthew.

The very first thing Jesus addresses in the first verse of Matthew’s chapter 6 is to “Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public - so that people will see what you do.”
Jesus says that God is just not interested in public displays of faith.
In fact, we should wash our face and comb our hair so others will not have a clue as to what we may up to.

Last week we heard what Jesus said about fasting:
"When you fast," he said, "don’t do like the hypocrites do by putting on a sad face and making a show of it,
but make sure you wash your face and comb your hair so others won’t know what you are doing."

Fasting had become an integral part how faithful folks practiced their faith.
Fasting was understood, and expected.
So he said, “When you fast” . . .
Not “if you fast”.
“Don’t make a show of it, so others will know what you are doing.”
In fact, Jesus completely redefines the whole concept of fasting. (Check out what I said last week, it’s on line on our website.)

And, here in the fifth verse of the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus gives us instruction on prayer.
We are encouraged to pray.
It is part and parcel of our faith.
Prayer was an important part of Jesus’ life and whole being.
And he had some pointed things to say about how we should observe Lent this year.

Jesus told those gathered on the mountain that day, and he tells us, to pray –
but never ever make a show of it,
don’t be like those hypocrites,
just don’t pray in public.
In fact, when you do pray, be sure to go to your room and shut the door.
Prayer is a private matter –
privileged communication –
between you and your God.
It is no one else’s business!

And, Jesus doesn’t stop there, does he?
And, another thing, Jesus says, “when you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words.”
Keep it simple.
There is no magic formula that needs to be said.
There are no “holy’‘ words to memorize.
And nothing is gained by making prayers long.

Then, Jesus gives the example.
This is how a prayer should be.
And, he begins: “Our Father, who art in heaven . . .”
What we call The Lord’s Prayer .”

Prayer was a big thing to Jesus.
He seemed to be praying all the time.
He prayed before and during all major events in his life that we find in our Bible.

And, prayer was a big thing to people of faith in Jesus time.
But, Jesus thought that what people were doing with prayer was off-base.
The people observed what the priests and holy ones did and heard how they prayed.
They learned how to pray from them.
And they learned their lessons well.

But, Jesus said, that’s not what real prayer is.
Think about it, God knows you and God knows your heart,
God knows your need – as well as your joys – even before you are aware of them.
God doesn’t need a lot of gooble-de-gook from you.
God needs just for you to recognize what’s going on in the world around you and how you fit in to it.

And, most certainly, God is not impressed with public displays of prayer in any way shape or form.
When you engage a public display of prayer you are doing it for your own reward from those who see you – and those who may hear you.

In fact, the only honest prayer comes when you are in private, out of sight, behind closed doors.

Yes, they thought they knew how to pray.
Just like we think we know how to pray.
After all, most of us have been praying for years and years.

But, Jesus told them,
and Jesus tells us,
they had it wrong,
and most of us have it wrong.

Sam Walker Foss puts this into perspective with his poem "Cyrus Brown's Prayer":

"The proper way for man to pray,"
Said Deacon Lemuel Keyes,
"And the only proper attitude,
Is down upon his knees."

"No, I should say the way to pray,"
Said Reverend Dr. Wise,
"Is standing straight with outstretched arms,
And rapt and upturned eyes."

"Oh, no, no, no!" said Elder Slow,
"Such posture is too proud;
A man should pray with eyes fast closed,
And head contritely bowed."

"It seems to me his hands should be
Austerely clasped in front.
With both thumbs pointing toward the ground,"
Said Reverend Dr. Blunt.

"Las' year I fell in Hodgkin's well
Head first," said Cyrus Brown.
"With both my heels a-stickin' up,
My head a-pointin' down;

"An' I made a prayer right then an' there
Best prayer I ever said,
The Prayin'est prayer I ever prayed,
A-standin' on my head."

One preacher reminds us that part of the difficulty lies in the fact that we do not live in a praying world. It is a frightened and frightening world, but it is not a world that knows how to pray.
It perhaps would like to pray, but many have given up on the task.
It is a world that contains many who prayed once, but have given up the effort.
There are many gifted people in this world, who do the best they can to meet the challenges of a troubled world and who seek to become worthwhile people and contributing members to society.
But through it all there is a sense of isolation from God and because of that isolation, they feel alone in their struggle.

The real problem is that most of us were never taught about what prayer is and can be.
We grew up confusing the God and our discourse with God and Santa,
from whom we asked many gifts and favors.

Well-meaning church theologians haven't helped much either.
Their definitions and discussions on the matter often leave us cold and confused.
I even heard one well-known theologian in a seminar say: "Prayer is basically man in the totality of being stretched out to possess the transcendent, awesome God in the intimate inwardness of his deepest consciousness."
That sure clarifies things and sets our hearts and minds to the task, doesn't it?

Some you may have read Olive Ann Burn’s book, Cold Sassy Tree.
One of the characters, Grandpa Rucker, is a pretty lively character who can be counted on to dispense wisdom born of experience.

Listen to what Grandpa Rucker says:

"Another thang to think on: some folks ain't said pea-turkey to God in years.
They don't ast Him for nothin',
don't specially try to be good,
and don't love nobody the way Jesus said to 'cept their own self.
But they go'n git jest bout as much or as little in the way a-earthly goods as the rest of us.
They go'n have sorrows and joys,
failure and good times.
And when they come down sick they go'n git well or die, one,
jest same as the prayin' folks.
So don't thet tell you something bout prayin'?
Ain't the best prayin' jest bein' with God and talkin' a while,
like He's a good friend,
stead a-like he runs a store and you've come in a-hopin' to get a bargain?"

(When you pray, say Father – Papa – Daddy – )

Grandpa Rucker got to the heart of the matter our hearts.
Prayer is being in communion with God, not something to be used when needs arise.
Prayer is being in relationship so that God can speak to us,
more than our pestering God with a grocery list of wants.
Prayer is finding peace in the midst of troubles,
calm in the midst of calamity,
and love in the midst of our loneliness.
It is not that we don't know how to pray;
it is that we have lost what it means to be in relationship with a loving, hearing, forgiving and gracious God.

Prayer is the only skill the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them.
They didn't ask him how to heal,
or to teach,
or to ask for money,
or to run meetings,
or to do miracles,
or to manage crowds,
or to organize a movement
or start a church.
They asked him to teach them how to pray.
And Jesus said. When you pray, say "Our Father."

Our Father.
Not our God, Lord, commander, master.
Our Father.
Prayer was the way he began every important step of his life.

Anne Lamott thinks there are really three essential prayers.
Three things that spur our relationship with our God.
The three prayers that are genuine, most real, and so basic are:
Help,
Thanks,
and Wow.

Friends, you can write this down and take it with you: Prayer is simply being together with God.
Acknowledging that you are always in God's presence.
Prayer is mutual awareness and the quiet exchange, as when two friends sit before a fire.

Prayer involves exchange.
Just knowing that the power of the infinite surrounds us in all we do, we offer an effort to live a good life.

We give to God our human loves and our daily chores.

We give to God our small efforts to create a better world.
We share with God all our concerns,
for that is what friends do, isn't it?

Most of us live busy lives, and when we pray unceasingly, much of our prayer takes place on the run.
Whether we operate machinery,
change diapers and wash dishes,
or grapple with problems at a desk or on a phone, we too can have those moments of heightened awareness and greater exchange with the Mystery that is always right where we are.

We have people, concerns, and appreciations to hold up to God as we bathe and dress,
as we drive from place to place,
as we stand in the line at the bank or grocery store, as we wrestle with our responsibilities,
and as we relax with our friends.

Friends, the prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
In God we live and have our being, and prayer is as natural as breathing.
We come as we are.
God is already present.
As soon as we tune in, the exchange begins.
It is usually quiet and low-key, but something profound is happening.

Many of you in this room can attest to the veracity of the words of James: The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
Prayer has an affect on others,
and prayer changes you.
Pray unceasingly.
Experience for yourself, the healing power of prayer.
And you will be well on your way to living a fuller life – a max-life.

This is prayer the Lord’s way.
This will help you to observe Lent the Lord’s way this year.
You are on the way toward the very best Easter ever!
Amen.

This sermon was shared with the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, during a worship service, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 10, 2013.

Lent the Lord's Way: #3 Fast

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 22:42:00 +0000

Isaiah drops the hammer:
The Lord says words they did not want to hear –
Words WE do not want to hear today.
"This is the kind of fasting I'm after . . .

Well, I have mentioned before:
When I graduated from the university, some of my friends graduated "Cum Laude," it means "With Honors."
And, a few of my friends graduated "Magna Cum Laude" it means "With High Honors."
And I even had a close friend who graduated "Summa Cum Laude" it means "With Supreme Honors."

When they called my name, I believe the phrase they used was "Magna Cum Pellidentium."
I looked it up. It means, "By the skin of your teeth."

That is so like so many of us when it comes to knowing about and practicing our faith, isn’t it?
We practice our faith Magna Cum Pellidentium – don’t we?

So, on this Third Sunday in Lent, 2022, we are continuing our quest to see the Lord would want us to observe Lent.
Jesus actually left some pretty specific instruction what we should be doing – but, we tend to skip over these instructions, because . . .

But, I am convinced that if we did observe Lent the Lord’s way,
it could change our perception of reality
and leave us in a much better position to know what happened on that first Easter morning so long ago.

The first week of Lent we observed the Jesus took a time out before he began his earthly ministry.
And, very early on, believers saw the benefits of doing that as well.
We are told that Jesus took 40 days to off, fast, and confront his demons.
The early believers thought we should take 40 days as well to prepare for our ministries.
In fact, they saw wisdom in taking 40 days each year just before Easter to prepare ourselves to receive and understand and properly celebrate what Easter reveals to us.
So, the first week, we were reminded to take time to take a time out each day between now and Easter.

Last week, we looked at how our Lenten observance should be totally incognito – off the radar – out of the public eye.
In fact, Jesus said, to be sure to wash your face and comb your hair – so no one will know what you are up to.

And, so today, I am looking at the notion of Fasting.
We know what fasting is, don’t we?
We have heard about people who fast,
we have read about people who fast,
perhaps even a few in this room have fasted in the past.
While we know what it is,
fasting is certainly not main stream for us,
or for anyone we know, is it?

But, we know what fasting is.
The dictionary definition is going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
We are told that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness before he began his ministry.

Gandhi fasted.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Fasted.
Peace demonstrators fasted.
Some prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center fasted.

In fact, fasting seems to be something some people do in an attempt to attract attention to their cause.

Personally, I have never understood this on at least two counts:
I am sure that I could fast for a week – or even 40 days and 40 nights – and no one would care.
No one would notice.
Nothing would change.

And, secondly, I know you will find this hard to believe, but when I go without food, I get cranky.
I know, it is so against the image you have of me, but I do get cranky when I go without food for too long.
I am unbearable.
I know, it is hard to believe, but ask Suzanne.
When I was discussing this with my daughter, she asked, well how long have you ever gone without eating.
I responded: “Oh, eight or nine hours.”

We know what fasting is:
Going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
People of the Jewish faith knew what fasting was.
In fact, it had become a sacred act – something a person did regularly in order to gain favor with God.
Fasting and offering animal sacrifice were part and parcel of how they expressed their faith.

The early Christians knew what fasting was.
After all, they were Jews at first,
and fasting was still practiced as a way of humbling oneself in order to get your priorities in life straight.
So, we are told, Jesus fasted before he began his ministry – for 40 days and 40 nights, we are told.
[By then, I would be soooo cranky.]

Because it was so widely practiced, we are told that Jesus felt like he had to address the issue right there during his sermon on the mount.

When you fast, he says.
Not if you fast, but when you fast.
You do it, you know you do, so listen,
when you do it, don’t do like the hypocrites do by putting on a sad face and making a show of it,
but make sure you wash your face and comb your hair so others won’t know what you are doing.

Wash your face and comb your hair is good advice.
When the practice of our religion is done in public for all to see – for people to see how holy you must be, it is wrong, Jesus said.
Good advice.

But, there is a problem with our understanding of this fasting concept.

Long before Jesus, 3-400 hundred years before Jesus, this prophet appeared in Judea and began spouting the weirdest things.
This prophet spoke for the Lord God.
He spoke with authority to the priests and to all the people.

Everyone knew him and recognized his authority.
They listened to him and even came to him for advice.

The people of faith came to him with their complaints.
Look, they said.
What’s happening here?
What’s going on?
It seems as if the Lord has abandoned us.
We have been left to cope all alone.
We hear nothing from the Lord.
Bad things happen to good people – and we don’t know why.
We pray and nothing happens.
We fast and nothing happens.
What gives.
Why should we fast if the Lord never notices?
Why should we starve ourselves if the Lord pays no attention?

And, the 58th chapter of Isaiah tells us that in response to those complaints the Lord said:
The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers.
Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight.   [You get cranky, the Lord says.]
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?
When you fast, you make yourselves suffer;
you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on.
Is that what you call fasting?
Do you think I will be pleased with that?

And, then to everyone’s surprise, the whole concept of fasting gets completely redefined.
Do you think I will be pleased with that?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my attention?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my favor?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to influence what happens to you?
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?

If you fast to have influence with the Lord God the Creator of the Universe and all there is,
your faith is on the wrong track.
If you think ANY of your faith rituals is going to influence me, you have another think coming.

And, then, Isaiah drops the hammer:
The Lord says words they did not want to hear –
Words WE do not want to hear today.
"This is the kind of fasting I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
This is what it really means to worship the LORD.
Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
Share your food with everyone who is hungry; share your home with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
don't [ever] turn away your relatives.

"get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
[Be] generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

This is what this religion is all about.
This is what I notice.
This is what gets my attention.
This is the Lord’s work.
Later on, Jesus picks up this theme when he says this is what is going to be on the final exam –
this is what you will be asked about during your orals –
this is what you will be judged on.
Because this is our calling.
This is what we are to be doing.
This is what we are about.
Our faith is about living for others.
When we give of ourselves for another, we make the ultimate call.
Jesus would say, when you do these things for these people, you doing these things for me –
you are doing these things to me.

For sure, this requires radical reorientation.
This goes so against what we were taught –
and what we learned so well –
and what we all bought in to.

Its not about me.
When it is about me, it is a distorted reality.

For the promise is made –
and has been so many times throughout history – and there are some people in this very room –
who can vouch for veracity of the promise:
when you work toward these ends,
when you do this ministry for others,
when you live your life so others may live better,
you will have great rewards.

"Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun,
and your wounds will be quickly healed.
I will always be with you to save you;
my presence will protect you on every side.
When you pray, I will answer you.
When you call to me, I will respond.

That’s the promise.
That’s the bargain.

"If you put an end to oppression,
to every gesture of contempt,
and to every evil word;
if you give food to the hungry
and satisfy those who are in need,
then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon.

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

This is the kind of fasting the Lord wants.
This is the kind of fasting the Lord responds to.
This is the kind of fasting that is part and parcel of our faith.
This is the kind of fasting that is an integral part of how we might observe Lent the Lord’s way.
This kind of fasting is an important component to an appropriate Lenten observance.

It’s the Lord’s work.
And it is what we are to do.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a worship service on the third Sunday of Lent, March 3, 2013.

Lent the Lord's Way: #2 Wash Your Face and Comb Your Hair

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 17:58:00 +0000

I have been concerned for some time that we in the church are somewhat off track with our Lenten emphases each year.

This year I am exploring what it would be like if we observed Lent according to what Jesus said.

Jesus was very concerned about appropriate behavior for people of faith.
And he spells a lot of this out in the sixth chapter of Matthew.

The very first thing Jesus addresses in the first verse of Matthew’s chapter 6 is to “Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public - so that people will see what you do.”

Today is the second Sunday of Lent.
Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.

But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.

During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power – not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.

From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.

Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.

This is a unique season.
This is a season that truly belongs to the church.
The rest of the world couldn’t care less about Lent.
Never has.
Probably never will.
Think of the last great Lenten movie you saw.

To be sure, the world observes the day before Lent.
Some know this as Paczki Day.
That's "Gobble Down the Jelly Donuts" day.
That's "Pig Out on Pancakes" day.
And in New Orleans, that's "Bring Mardi Gras to a Drunken Conclusion" day.
But one wonders how many people there were the next morning who understood why they stuffed their stomachs or soaked their livers the day before .

I have been concerned for some time that we in the church are somewhat off track with our Lenten emphases each year.
So I decided to do something a little different this year.
This year I am exploring what it would be like if we observed Lent according to what Jesus said.
So, I am calling the series: Observing Lent the Lord’s Way.
The first Sunday, we observed how Jesus took that time off.
He took time to take a time out - for 40 days.
It obviously was of great benefit to him as he was about to start his earthly ministry.
And, the promise is that it could be of great benefit to us, as well, if we were to take the time to take a time out each day for this time before Easter.

And, today I am reminded us that Jesus left some pretty specific instructions about how we should observe Lent.
Oh, to be sure, Jesus never observed Lent, and Jesus wouldn’t understand what Lent has become,
but, Jesus was very concerned about appropriate behavior for people of faith.
And he spells a lot of this out in the sixth chapter of Matthew.

The very first thing Jesus addresses in the first verse of Matthew’s chapter 6 is to “Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public - so that people will see what you do.”
It is very clear here:
no Tebowing,
no kneeling after a touchdown or other big play,
no pointing to the heavens when you may have done something extraordinary.
Jesus goes even further, and says that God is just not interested in these public displays of faith.

No, when we practice our faith,
we do faith actions,
we should do so no one will know what we are doing.
In fact, “wash your face and comb your hair” – let no one have any inkling of what you may be doing in private.

I am reminded of the old story of the man who walked into the little Mom and Pop grocery store and said, "Do you sell salt?"
The man said, "Do we sell salt! Just look!"
The man showed the customer an entire wall of shelves stocked with nothing but salt-Morton salt, iodized salt, kosher salt, sea salt, rock salt, garlic salt, seasoning salt, Epsom salts – every kind of salt imaginable.
The customer was amazed.

"You think that's something. Come over here."
He led the customer to a back room filled with shelves and bins and cartons and barrels and boxes of salt.
The customer said, "This is unreal!"
The man said, "You haven't seen anything yet."

He led the customer down some steps into a huge basement, five times as large as the previous room. It was filled wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with every imaginable form, size, and shape of salt you could imagine.
The man looked at him and said, "You really do sell salt!"

The store owner said, "No, we don't, that's just the problem! We never sell salt.
But that salt salesman that comes by every week, boy does he sell salt!"

It seems that we often miss the point – even when it is spelled out for us in an obvious way.

Remember to wash your face and comb your hair, Jesus said.
There is a story that Robert Redford was walking through a hotel lobby one day and a woman saw him and followed him into the elevator.
She was so excited she said, "Excuse me. Are you the real Robert Redford?"
Without even a smile, he looked at her and said, "Only when I am alone."

This is what Jesus was getting at: The real you is what you are and what you do when nobody sees and nobody knows, but God.

When you go out in pubic be sure to wash your face and comb your hair.

It may interest you to know that the word Jesus uses for hypocrite, is the same Greek word that means actor and/or, literally, mask-wearer.

One of the major forms of entertainment, back in the days of Jesus and Greek culture,
was the theater.
Greek and Roman actors would wear large masks and costumes designed to increase the size of their appearance.
They would wear platform shoes to make themselves look taller.
In other words, they did everything they could to make themselves appear to be something that they really were not.

They would wear different masks to portray different emotions or different scenes or different parts of the act and that is why they were called "hypocrites." Sometimes, they would wear one type of mask and sometimes they would wear another.

For the same reason that modern actors today put on heavy makeup and perhaps wear specially designed costumes or will pad their clothes to make them look bigger or stronger;
they project an image that appears to be real, but it really is false.

The word hypocrite soon took on the connotation of someone who treats the world as a stage on which he is just playing a part.
He tries to make himself appear to be something that he really is not;
his actions really don't match his words.

There is the person who can quote his Bible from one end to the other, but he never lives it.
There is the person who sits in a small group on Sunday morning pretending to be pious and religious, but regularly “overlooks” items on his tax return each year.
It is the person who comes to church, never misses and gets all the blessings of the church, but never financially supports the church and helps the church to continue its mission of reaching people for Christ.

Jesus was talking about people who play a game of religious make-believe.
They know all the cues.
They know what to say,
what to do, when to say it and when to do it,
but privately they have no heart for the things of God at all.

You may remember a movie that came out about a few years ago called, "Catch Me If You Can."
The film was based on a true story.
It is the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., who lived a wide and crazy life as a doctor, airline pilot, banker, investor, attorney and celebrity.
The irony behind his story was he wasn't any of these in reality.
He intentionally was a fake and a fraud and a pretender.

He realized early in his life that he had the uncanny gift to convince people that he was "somebody" just through the way he came across with confidence and acting ability.
He turned life into a game and made a living at it and soon found himself addicted to role playing. Before it was over, he had helped to perform surgery in an operating room,
conned banks out of thousands of dollars,
flew an airplane as a pilot
and gone places and met people most of us could only dream about.
The only problem was it was all a show;
it was all a sham.
The FBI finally caught him and he ended up spending years in the federal prison.
He had so much talent, but he wasted it pretending to be something he was not.

Call it whatever you what to –
putting up a front,
wearing a mask,
playing pretend,
putting on a show,
but the Bible says it is hypocrisy.
What God wants you to do is just simply be who you are.
Someone has well said, "Be who you is, because if you is who you ain't, you ain't who you is."

Be sure to wash your face and comb your hair.
Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public for all to see . . .

Again, Jesus clues in to “performing”. The word he uses is the Greek word which literally gives us the word "theater."
It means literally, "something to be stared at."
In other words, Jesus said, "You don't have to put on a show for anybody.
You don't have to put on a Broadway performance." The Pharisees were just like Dion Sanders.
When it came time to give
or it came time to pray
or it came time to fast, it was "prime-time".
They had a "strut your stuff" spiritually.
Jesus said about the Pharisees in John 12:43, "For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." (John 12:43, NASB)

Whenever you try to use your religion to cause other people to notice you
or to brag on you
and to give you praise and honor and glory,
when that becomes your motive, so that, as Jesus said in verse 2, "They may be honored by men."(Matthew 6:2, NASB)

Then listen to what He goes on to say, "Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." (Matthew 6:2, NASB)
The word "reward" is a technical expression that was used at the completion of a commercial transaction where a receipt would be given showing "paid in full."
Jesus was saying that those who trumpet and parade their good works so they can get the applause and glory of men receive their reward the moment the clapping begins and the moment the clapping ends their reward is over.
They get exactly what they are looking for, no less, but no more.

It is so easy to fake Christianity.
It is so easy to spit polish your image on the outside, but if it doesn't correspond to spiritual integrity on the inside, then to God it means nothing.

As you do your Lenten activities, remember to wash your face and comb your hair.

Jesus doesn’t want us to make a show of our faith. Jesus wants us to be authentic in our commitment to him.
I think that’s what Lent is all about.
It’s about dropping the pretense.
It’s about living the Christ life to the best of our ability
and not worrying about what the rest of the world thinks.
Even though we are in this treasured fellowship,
in a sense it’s just us and God.
We are humbling ourselves in the presence of complete holiness and praying with the Psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”

In this time before Easter,
remember what Jesus said and did,
take time to take a time out;
practice your faith in private;
and keep your face washed and hair combed
so no one will be the wiser . . .

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a corporate worship service the Second Sunday of Lent, March 3, 2013.

Doing Lent the Lord's Way: #1 Take Time to Take A Time Out

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 20:40:00 +0000

For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.

We are told that before Jesus began his ministry he took a time out.

He went off by himself – for 40 days – and 40 nights.

Jesus must of thought that this was completely necessary for him to do.

He did this to get his head right,
to get more completely in tune with God’s will and purpose for his life.

For centuries the church has said it was important to remember what Jesus did here,
and it is important for us to take a time out as well.

Jesus took 40 days for his time out,
the church said we should take 40 days each year before Easter for our time out –
a time out from the routine of our regular normal life to consciously focus on getting our heads on right,
to get more in tune with what God is concerned about and wants for us to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.
But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.
During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power –
not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.

From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.

Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.
This is a time for us to explore the mysteries of the universe,
looking beneath the surface –
within ourselves –
examining our own motives and desires,
and ascertaining exactly what our commitment is:
to what,
to whom,
and what it means.

Lent is meant to remind us that the days are getting longer now –
Spring is right around the corner.

Actually, the word Lent comes from an ancient word that meant "springtime," –
that period of the calendar during which the days lengthen.
Because the church season always fell at that time of year, the name came to apply there as well.

All around us new life is preparing to break out as the weather turns.
Signs of life are preparing to bud right before our eyes.
And, our task during this season is to prepare ourselves to see these signs when they occur.

Like I have said before, I believe we need Lent!

Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.
Through sustained focus on the life and ministry of Jesus, Lent can help us resist the pressures of this culture.
Lent can remind us that we are called to continue his ministry:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Consequently, Lent prepares us for an Easter that is more than bunnies and eggs –
an Easter that begins a whole new reality –
a whole new world.

As you know, 40 days is almost a sacred number with strong Old Testament associations.
40 days seems to be a long time when you think about it.
[It is more than the 30 days we get to accept the special offer of the day that is in our daily mail.]
It seems that God is saying:
“take up to forty days to decide –
40 days to make up your mind –
which side are you going to be on.”

The Gospels say Jesus was given 40 days to decide whose side his life would be spent on.
40 days to come to a decision to align with God or accept the worldly enticements of the Devil.

40 days seems to be God's time for allowing significant decisions to be made.
Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days getting the 10 commandments.
Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness encountering God.
An extended time was given people of Noah's time to make up their mind before it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The 40 days of Lent gives us sufficient time to make up our minds again:
to decide for life – or death,
to decide for God – or the ways of the world around us.

For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

For us with our total dependence upon clocks and schedules and appointments and meetings and deadlines, taking time for a time out is probably the most difficult thing any of us could be called upon to do.
And yet, here it is.
The call goes out each year during this time before Easter,
and our response is usually no more than an acknowledgment of a quaint – if not somewhat ancient, antiquated tradition – that we may give a passing nod to in church,
but having very little to do with anything in our home, or at work, or how we spend our time.

Most of the days of our lives we are pretty much self absorbed in our lives and our obligations and our health and perhaps in the caring for another or two or three or four or . . .
We live in response to stimuli from outside of ourselves.

Lent calls us to take time for a time out from all of that.
Take time now – just commit to only 40 days – this time leading up to Easter –
take time each day to focus on something other than on what we usually spend our time on.

It is important to take the time.
Jesus did it.
Moses did it.
Isaiah did it.
Many many others did it.
And, today many many others are doing it.
You can do it as well.

Traditionally, Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.
The pattern is,
the experience is,
the promise is,
that when we do,
we become more aware of God’s presence
and more aware of God’s purpose
and more aware of what we are to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

And, of course, that’s the scarey part, isn’t it?
Because we’re not sure we want to discover that we should be doing something we aren’t doing, right?
For years I have been compiling a file of stories of people who after a time out,
changed the direction of their lives because it became clearer to them that this is what God would be having them do.
It’s a thick file containing many many stories.
Someday it would be worth sharing in some way just to see the stories one after the other after an other after an other.

Taking time for a time out can have a powerful affect on a person.
Norman Vincent Peale – and many other preachers – was convinced that by taking time out to concentrate on certain scripture lessons, folks could experience a power and wholeness and wellness that they never knew possible.

Of course, I think that, too.
Each Sunday between now and Easter, I will be focusing on specific practices that have proven to put us more in tune with the ultimate power and purpose of the universe.

Aligning our lives with the moral direction of the universe is probably the most primal of all our activities –
and that is something we cannot do with a compass or a clock.
It is something we can only do in a community like this one.

For your sake, each day during this time before Easter, take time for a time out.

And be here next week as we explore certain practices proven to lead us in the right direction.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon during a worship service, the First Sunday in Lent, February 17, 2013.

The First Sunday of Christmas

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 20:35:00 +0000

Reclaiming Mothers' Day

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Fri, 07 May 2021 21:49:00 +0000

If there ever was a holiday that needs reclamation it is Mothers’ Day!

Churches all over the United States report attendance on Mothers’ Day as one of the top three of the year - surpassing Christmas and/or Easter in some cases.

But, what is celebrated and valued is no longer a common-cultural experience for most people.

Significant numbers of our congregation have not had a positive mothering experience - for one reason or another.
And, of course, a number of our congregation are male and could never experience motherhood.
Other increasing numbers of folks have experienced a loss that precluded them from ever experiencing motherhood.
Others, through choice, or through no fault of their own, have never and will never experience motherhood.
And, still others experience mothering through persons not typical to a culture of 100 years ago.

It turns out that mothering is a very sensitive issue to very large numbers of people - and it takes a skillful preacher to be sensitive to their issues and craft a sermon that speaks to the needs of all in this day and age.

It is interesting to note that the one person responsible for creating and encourage the widespread adoption of a nationally recognized mother’s day, Anna Jarvis, lived long enough to see what was happening and spent her latter years trying to change the emphasis.

As we think of a way of celebrating Mother’s Day in a new way, there is much to give fodder to our thought.

Consider the first call for a mother’s day came from Julia Ward Howe, who dreamed of an international gathering of mothers pledging to protect their sons and daughters by ending all war.

And, most recently, a group of folks in the US call for Mothers for Action to work for peace on Mothers’ Day.

For years, after giving nod to the fact that all of us have mothers, I have proceeded to give homage to the roll of women in our church and in our faith. The preacher doesn’t have to look far for sermon points to lift up the role of women.

Taking a clue from the original call for a mothers’ day, we would do well to consider mustering interest in supporting a “cause” near and dear to mothers’ hearts:

Promote awareness of working mother’s issues.
Support a local women’s center.
Get involved in a Big Brothers / Big Sisters project.
Go to a nearby Senior Citizens Center
Support or start a day care center for working women

We received a special offering on Mothers’ Day to support Baby Manna in Philadelphia which supplies baby formula for poor mothers in Southeast Pennsylvania.

The Birthday of a Whole New World

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 22:11:00 +0000

Isaiah 25:6-9
Mark 16:1-8

Friends, Easter is the birthday of a whole new
world –
a whole new life –
a whole new way of living –
a whole new way of looking at the world –
a whole new religion!

    Every year now, for some twenty centuries,
Christian people have come together at this time of
year to celebrate the single most important event of their history!

     It was quite natural for the first Christians to
tie this Easter event with the traditional Passover
Celebration – which had been celebrated each year for centuries to remind people of their unique history and of their unique relationship with their God.

    You understand, it wasn't until after the Resurrection that the disciple's eyes were opened and they saw for the very first time that what they had been experiencing with this man from Nazareth was indeed a whole new thing.
It was after the Resurrection that they began to call him the Christ and saw him to be the fulfillment of the Passover – the promise that had been made each year over and over again for centuries.
So they began to meet together each week at dawn to celebrate Easter –
the coming of the new time –
the new week –
remembering the fulfillment of the Passover.

    In order to understand the full significance of what they were celebrating, I think we have to go back to the Hebrew poetic expression of God's relationship with people.

Again, we are all familiar with the creation stories in Genesis.
The familiar story with its rhythmical structure of seven days occurs in chapter 1.
And chapter 2 of Genesis begins another story of creation.
Now, really, both of these accounts were actually written fairly late in Jewish history –
most probably at the time of King David,
when for the first time people had the leisure to sit down and write the stories that had been handed down by word of mouth for centuries.

   Verse 7 of the second chapter of Genesis appears to express one of the earliest, most primitive concepts of the Jew's relationship to God.
Here, God is pictured as a potter:
Then the Lord God formed (molded) a man from the dust of the ground, and breathed (a loud breath) into his nostrils the breath of life.
Thus man became alive! (Gen2:v7)

    It seems that from the beginning,
they understood every person's breath is God-given – life itself –
for the human is critically related to Yahweh,the God that shared his breath –
the symbol for life itself.
You see, the thing that made the body alive was God.
God was intimately related to your life experience. [Therefore, a life without God was an absurd proposition.]

    Actually, by the time these stories were written down (at King David's court) the understandings of God had changed somewhat.
I’ve talked about this before.
Through the years a concept of God developed that they could put in a box.

At a risk of over-simplifying it:
you may recall that they were a nomadic people, they traveled a lot –
they traveled through lands occupied by people with other religions.
They saw that these religions had their holy places:
they had holy mountains,
there were holy caves,
and there holy wells.
Well, having no geographical references for themselves these wandering Jews knew that their God could not be confined to geography.
Their God was a traveling God –
but they came to feel that he needed a home –
God needed a place to be,
a place to rest.
So they built him an ark, a throne, so he could be comfortable.
And they carried this ark wherever they went.
It became a symbol of assurance: that God was with them as long as they had the box for him.
(We have a lot of stories about people stealing the ark. So history began to be recorded in terms of who has the box – who had God on their side. God was wherever the ark was.)

    This, then, became a real issue with David as he set out to bring together two nations of people – each with their own traditions and history.
David thought: The way to unite the country is to unite their religion.
So, let's build a house to put the ark in.
It will be a temple and will stand in the capital city as a symbol of God's presence in our new nation and people will always know where they can come to meet the Lord.
We'll put his box there and everyone will come to know that's where he sits!

    And the temple was built, and became the house of God.
His box was placed in one end of the building and a curtain was put in front of it – the reredos.
It was called the “Holy of Holies”.
[The curtain was loaded with symbolism –
it protected the people from perishing should they see the Lord face-to-face.
It served the function of keeping God's presence shielded from the people.]

    Now, all of this had become quite institutionalized by the time of Jesus.
The temple with its curtain, and the ark, was an important part of the religion.
For the Jew, there was no question what one had to do in order to be religious, to fulfill the law.
Leaders, Rabbis, spent their entire lives studying the law –
and as new situations and questions came up, they wrote new rules to amplify the old law.
The Rabbis were the authority and it was unquestioned (except maybe for a few splinter groups from time to time.).

    Of particular significance is that Jesus came preaching and teaching on his own authority –
far outside the established authority of his tradition.
They would say to him:
you totally disregard our tradition.
How can you go around preaching such contemporariness?

    And he would say:
It seems to me that I don't come to put an end to your traditional ways, so much as I come to fulfill the promises of our tradition.
For instance, look at me.
I live in the same relation with my Father (your God) as described in the ancient poem of our tradition.
I live and breath because God lives and breathes in me.
God is in me as long as I'm alive.
As long as I breathe, he dwells in me and I dwell in him – so, in this sense, my body is more of a temple in the traditional sense, than that building is where you go to worship and hope to find God.
This is what I preach.
And whenever the religious law encourages this understanding – it is valid – and whenever it hinders it, it is invalid.
You think you know how to be religious?
You don't!
Your organization gets in the way of your faith!

The New Testament writers took great pains to point out to us that Jesus came to fulfill the scripture –
he quotes the Old Testament and interprets the tradition anew.
His respect for tradition and history is not questioned.
Neither is his authority,
and his authority is unquestionably contemporary to his time.

    Now today, ironically, most of us Christians have the same concepts and attitudes about our Church and our religion as the Jews did about their temple and their religion at the time of Jesus, don’t we?

We have fostered the concept that the church building is God's House –
we should come here hoping to find God –
and we should enter, then, with appropriate reverence
and appreciate the use of music, prayers and ceremony that will uplift our hearts and inspire our souls so our faith may grow.

There are things we expect from our religion, aren’t there? –
and there are things we are comfortable with –
and we identify those things as "traditional" when the tradition may be not really be very old.

    In a real sense, my call as a laborer among God's people is to seriously come to grips with tradition (religion) that goes back beyond the past 50 or 60 years, even beyond the past 400 years, and beyond the past 2000 years –
attempting to see the contemporary situation our fathers and mothers in the faith faced,
and how they expressed themselves the way they did (and why they did it that way).
And then, facing the situation today, [the world around us in the year 2021],
attempt to react in the same manner and express the same faith –
the same hope for life –
that was expressed in those old situations.
This manner informs the things we do here in our worship service on Sunday mornings.

The Easter story is one of encouragement,
of hope,
of enabling dreams and visions of what could be –
if only....

For the story is that Jesus lived as a Son of God – God lived inside the physical confines of the man Jesus of Nazareth.
And that was the message the disciples were finally beginning to understand – until Good Friday.
[Now understand that at this point, Jesus was no different than a dozen other God-men in religious history.]

    But, the significant difference comes when Jesus dies.
There, on the cross, we are told, he gives a loud cry –
all that was in his lungs comes out.
He dies.
The presence of God escapes from his body.
Jesus the man, then, is lifeless –
the body is dead
(and later disappears).
God left the confines of this "body temple."

    Not only that, but each Gospel writer carefully records the message that, when this happened
the curtain in the temple was torn in two – from the top to the bottom.
God came out of the stone temple –
through the curtain.
No more to be separated and encapsulated in a box or a house.
No. He's not there any more.
He is no longer in the body of the man from Nazareth.
And he is no longer in his box in the temple!

    Where did he go?

    The message was – into Galilee –
back into the world where his followers lived and interacted, as he said he would.
And his disciples were to go there.
That's where they would find him.
Where he said they would:
feeding the hungry,
clothing the poor,
healing the sick,
involved in making the life around them more human,
more hopeful,
more enabling.
They were to join him in his work, and when they did, they knew and experienced the Presence of Christ – just like the old days – even better than the old days!

    You see, Easter tells us of a whole new way of religion – a whole new way of religion that's new to us even 2000 years later!
The question should be put to each of us today: "Why do you come looking among the dead for the one who lives?"

    You are looking in the wrong place.
If you want to see the presence of Christ today, get up!
Get out of here...

    Go.   Go into Galilee.
Go back home.
Look around you.
Go into your worlds and into your neighborhoods.
Go amongst your friends and family,
the people you encounter during your daily do.
Go find the poor and hungry and needy.
There you will see him.
Join him in his work.
Then, then, come back and celebrate Easter every Sunday –
because you enjoy it,
and because you can't wait to share your experiences of the risen Christ with the others in your Church.
Oh what a church that would be!

   Maybe that kind of church was lost forever in the
2nd century. Maybe.
But I continue to see glimpses of it with you –
and I continue to stand before you to testify that I've seen this happening here at this church.

    And although some say it is not in the realm of probability for us –
I am going to continue to work and to preach for the possibility.
For I am convinced that we are at the beginning of a whole new world...
the birthday of love and wings
where the ears of ears can awake
and the eyes of our eyes can open
and we can participate in it.

    Friends, the resurrection is for you and for me –
and we can participate in it –
by living in a new day in a new way.

    Alleluia! And amen!

[The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced the essence of this sermon during worship on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006]

Lent Begins: Take Time for A Time Out

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 03:56:00 +0000

Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.

The main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

We are told that before Jesus began his ministry he took a time out.
He went off by himself – for 40 days – and 40 nights.

Jesus must of thought that this was completely necessary for him to do.
He did this to get his head right,
to get more completely in tune with God’s will and purpose for his life.

For centuries the church has said it was important to remember what Jesus did here,
and it important for us to take a time out as well.

Jesus took 40 days for his time out,
the church said we should take 40 days each year before Easter for our time out –
a time out from the routine of our regular normal life to consciously focus on getting our heads on right,
to get more in tune with what God is concerned about and wants for us to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.
But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.
During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power – not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.

From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.

Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.

This is a time for us to explore the mysteries of the universe,
looking beneath the surface –
within ourselves –
examining our own motives and desires,
and ascertaining exactly what our commitment is:
to what,
to whom,
and what it means.

Lent is meant to remind us that the days are getting longer now –
Spring is right around the corner here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Actually, the word Lent comes from an ancient word that meant "springtime," –
that period of the calendar during which the days lengthen.
Because the church season always fell at that time of year, the name came to apply there as well.

Although we can’t readily see it with these sub-freezing temperatures, buried under snow, all around us new life is preparing to break out as soon as the weather turns.
Signs of life are preparing to bud right before our eyes.
And, our task during this season is to prepare ourselves to see these signs when they occur.

Like I have said before, I believe we need Lent!

Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.
Through sustained focus on the life and ministry of Jesus, Lent can help us resist the pressures of this culture.
Lent can remind us that we are called to continue his ministry:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Consequently, Lent prepares us for an Easter that is more than bunnies and eggs –
an Easter that begins a whole new reality –
a whole new world.

As you know, 40 days is almost a sacred number with strong Old Testament associations.
40 days seems to be a long time when you think about it.
[It is more than the 30 days we get to accept the special offer of the day that is in our daily e-mail.]
It seems that God is saying:
“take up to forty days to decide –
40 days to make up your mind –
which side are you going to be on.”

The Gospels say Jesus was given 40 days to decide whose side his life would be spent on.
40 days to come to a decision to align with God or accept the worldly enticements of the Devil that would have derailed his mission.

40 days seems to be God's time for allowing significant decisions to be made.
Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days getting the 10 commandments.
Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness encountering God.
An extended time was given people of Noah's time to make up their mind before it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The 40 days of Lent gives us sufficient time to make up our minds again:
to decide for life – or death,
to decide for God – or the ways of the world around us.

For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

For us taking time for a time out is probably the most difficult thing for any of us to conteplate doing. This year, most of us have been enduring a forced "time out" for over a year (so far). And folks are getting bored. And we are getting impatient. "Jesus took 40 days in isolation? We've already been in isolation for 360 days and still counting."

And yet, here it is.
The call goes out each year during this time before Easter,
and our response is usually no more than an acknowledgment of a quaint – if not somewhat ancient, antiquated tradition – that we may give a passing nod to in church,
but having very little to do with anything in our home, or at work, or how we spend our time.

Most of the days of our lives we are pretty much self absorbed in our lives and our obligations and our health and perhaps in the caring for another or two or three or four or . . .

We live in response to stimuli from outside of ourselves.

Lent calls us to take time for a time out from all of that.

Take time now – just commit to only 40 days – this time leading up to Easter –
take time each day to focus on something other than on what we usually spend our time on.

It is important to take the time.
Jesus did it.
Moses did it.
Isaiah did it.
Many many others did it.
And, today many many others are doing it.
You can do it as well.

Traditionally, Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but it what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.

The pattern is,
the experience is,
the promise is,
that when we do,
we become more aware of God’s presence
and more aware of God’s purpose
and more aware of what we are to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

And, of course, that’s the scarey part, isn’t it?
Because we’re not sure we want to discover that we should be doing something we aren’t doing, right?

For years I have been compiling a file of stories of people who after a time out,
changed the direction of their lives because it became clearer to them that this is what God would be having them do.
It’s a thick file containing many many stories.
Someday it would be worth sharing in some way just to see the stories one after the other after an other after an other.

Taking time for a time out can have a powerful affect on a person.
Norman Vincent Peale – and many other preachers – was convinced that by taking time out to concentrate on certain scripture lessons, folks could experience a power and wholeness and wellness that they never knew possible.

Of course, I think that, too.
Each Sunday between now and Easter, I will be focusing on specific practices that have proven to put us more in tune with the ultimate power and purpose of the universe.
Aligning our lives with the moral direction of the universe is probably the most primal of all our activities –
and that is something we cannot do with a compass or a clock.
It is something we can only do in a community like this one.

And to be clear, our best Lenten practices to align our lies with the moral direction of the universe have little or nothing to do with what we usually think of. The Prefector of our faith, Jesus, actually speaks clearly to us about Lenten practices that help to further the God-vision and purpose of our lives. And we will look at some of them over the next several days.

Yes, Fasting is involved . . . but, not the fasting we usually think of.

Yes, Prayer is involved . . . but, not the way of prayer we usually think of.

Yes, Singing is involved. And so is Parading.

For your sake, each day during this time before Easter, take time for a time out.
And be here next week as we explore certain practices proven to lead us in the right direction.
Amen.

This is a portion of a sermon delivered from the pulpit of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on February 28, 2010, by Clyde E. Griffith.

Epiphany Sunday

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 21:44:00 +0000

Isaiah 60:1-6
Matthew 2:1-12

Well, today is another special day in the church.
Today we are celebrating Epiphany Sunday.

Some of these words aren't in our everyday vocabulary, but probably should be.
We learned Emmanuel means "God-With-Us",
and Epiphany means "God has appeared",
God has broken through,
God has revealed a part of itself – a crack in the cosmic egg has allowed the beyond to be glimpsed – and everything is changed ever after.

Epiphany celebrates the visit of the "wise men" to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.
Of course, the Bible says nothing about the timing of their visit, but tradition has long held that the wise men arrived in Bethlehem on the twelfth day after Jesus' birth.
The time in between is what is called the "twelve days of Christmas".
In many cultures around the world, the thirteenth day, Epiphany, when the wise men arrived with gifts to visit the new baby, is celebrated more like we celebrate Christmas.
Christmas, for them, is a time for going to church. And, Epiphany is the time for the gathering of the family and the exchange of gifts.

Now, curiously, what we know about these so-called "wise men" is remarkably little.
The first twelve verses of chapter two of Matthew's gospel, which we just read, are the sum total of the Bible's account of them.
They are mentioned nowhere else.

Matthew tells us only that they were "wise men" or to use an older word, "magi" who came to Bethlehem to pay homage to Jesus.
It isn't stated how many there were. There could have been two, or three, or four, or twenty – it doesn't say.
But, we do know something more about who these guys were.

Actually, the term "wise men" is descriptive of the esteem in which the visitors in our story were widely held.
Magi is the plural of Magus, the root of our word magic – the best translation of the word used is probably "court astrologer".

The group of Magi in question came "from the east".
They might have been Zoroastrians, Medes, Persians, Arabs, or even Jews.
We don't really know.

They were quite knowledgeable about the stars – in fact it is quite remarkable to study some of the ancient charts that were made as they observed the phenomena of the skies.
That the stars and the sun and moon and the planets moved in the skies from night to night, was obvious.
But, they observed patterns to these movements, and could chart where all the different stars and planets, and sun and moon would be in the sky for any particular day of any year – in fact, for any particular minute and any particular second, of any particular day – going back in time to day one, and forward ad infinitum.

They knew their skies.

They served as court advisers,
making forecasts and predictions for their royal patrons based on their study of the stars.

We know that Magi often wandered from court to court, and it was not unusual for them to cover great distances in order to attend the birth of a new king, or a coronation, paying their respects and offering gifts.

It is not surprising, then, that Matthew would mention them as a sort of validation of Jesus' kingship,
or, for that matter, that Herod would regard their arrival as a very serious matter.

Matthew calls these Magi, "wise men."
These men were wise in several ways, and by remembering them every year, we can only hope that we may gain wisdom from their story.

These wise men were wise, first of all, because they eagerly sought knowledge of the natural realm in which humans live.

They sought learning in a variety of ways.
Their search for knowledge,
their search for learning,
their search for wisdom,
was an insatiable desire.

They thought nothing of taking off on journeys of long arduous distances to learn of something new and potentially important that might add to their store of knowledge,
and perhaps, affect their lives.
To them, ignorance was inhuman.

They knew the world to be full of life and knowledge to be learned.
Our Bible affirms that God gives humanity a wonderful world to live in,
to learn about,
to explore,
and to understand
as fully as our God-given minds will allow.
Truly wise men and women seek to know all they possibly can about the world God has placed in human care.

Secondly, the wise men were wise in that they sought religious knowledge.
And, it seems that their quest for religious understanding was as deep and as wide as their search for worldly knowledge.

They came from lands far removed from the territory of Israel,
but once they arrived there, they knew to go to Jerusalem in order to find the proper religious authorities –
those who could help them pinpoint the location of the birth of the new king.
Jerusalem was not the political capital of the region, nor was it the largest city.
Yet the wise men knew without asking, to journey there first.

Obviously, they had studied Hebrew Scriptures prior to their arrival, so that they were well-informed of the religious significance of Jerusalem in Judaism. There were open-minded persons who sought godly truth down many avenues –
even from those religions that were foreign to them.

It would seem that one of the largest problems people of faith have in these first days of the twenty-first century, is ignorance –
ignorance of Christian history,
ignorance of our Bible,
ignorance of what our faith is really all about.
It is the sign of wise men that seeks to know all they possibly can of God's revealed truth to humanity, and make a life-long vigorous pursuit of godly truth.

Thirdly, the wise men proved their wisdom in that they took action in response to both the worldly and the religious knowledge they had obtained.

They studied the Scriptures,
they observed the world around them,
they saw the star,
and they did something about it!

They got off their plush Persian pillows,
got on their camels or horses,
and went off to find the Christ child,
Emmanuel, the manifestation of God, Epiphany.

You know, most of us are so conditioned to inaction.
If it were announced that Jesus was coming to earth tonight, and would be arriving at the local nearby Airport,
I bet that most of us would opt to watch the coverage on television from the comfort of our own living rooms chairs.
But, you know, we've lost something.

Our Christian faith demands activity, not passivity. We can read the Bible religiously,
we can offer the most sincere prayers imagined,
we can pledge our love to Jesus during our favorite tele-evangelist's altar call,
and we can gripe about how the world is falling apart because of a lack of faith.

But, our Bible is clear,
our tradition is clear,
our faith is clear,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Christmas,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Emmanuel,
until we put our faith in action, we don't know Epiphany,
until we put our faith in action, we don't even know what Easter means.

Christianity has never been a spectator sport.
It requires active involvement on the part of every person who would dare to claim the matchless title of Christian.
The apostle James puts it succinctly:
"...be doers of the word, and not merely hearers." Truly wise men and wise women actively respond to the coming to Jesus Christ into the world.

The wise men proved how really wise they were in that they recognized their goal – the end – of all their seeking when they reached it.

Verse 11 of Matthew 2 says, "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.
Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

When they found the Christ child, these wise men knew that their seeking and searching had come to an end.
Henceforth, here would be the center point for their lives.
To the babe of Bethlehem belonged all their worship,
all their honor,
and all their gifts.

They need look no further.
They had found Emmanuel.

Perhaps you remember the old Russian legend about a woman named Babushka.
Like too many of us Babushka was always busy, too busy.
She was a tidy housekeeper, always occupied with the many chores that needed her attention.

One evening as she is cleaning her house she hears a commotion out on the street.
Looking out her window she sees her neighbors pointing to a star high in the heavens.
Off in the distance she sees a caravan approaching.

     Babushka is startled to hear a knock at her door. She opens it to find three richly dressed kings. They ask her if they could lodge there overnight. After all, she has the finest house in the whole village.
That night they tell Babushka that they are following a star.
They invite her to go with them in search of the
newborn king.
Babushka makes excuses.

First she tells them she doesn't have a proper gift.

Besides she has to clean up her house before she does anything.

As the three kings are leaving she promises to join them the next day after her work is complete.
And, the kings leave without her.

The next day Babushka cleans her house and finds a proper gift.
All of a sudden she has the urgent desire to catch up with these men.
But, now they are a full day's journey ahead of her but, she hopes to catch them.
Everywhere she goes, she asks if people have seen the three kings.

Finally she tracks them to the village of Bethlehem.
But she is too late.

The kings have come and gone.

And the baby they were searching for is gone too.

Babushka missed the kings and the King of Kings.

According to legend she continues her search year after year.

In fact many believe that she can still be seen
in villages at Christmas time, looking for the Christ Child.

"Is he here?" she asks the villagers, "Is he here?"
     Follow the star.
That's good advice for this first Sunday of a New Year.
Carpe Diem – seize the day.
Get into action.
Don't let life pass you by.

         Brothers and sisters, the example is given to each of us.
Arise and shine, we are told.
Like the wise men, seek the babe of Bethlehem. Open your eyes to Emmanuel.
Seek the signs of God breaking into our world.
Be sensitive to the clues we are given.
Search your night skies for real evidence of Epiphany.
It took wise men to see God appearing in that Christ child.
May you, and I, be so wise.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced a version of this sermon January 6, 2013.

On the Second Day of Christmas

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 00:02:00 +0000

The Night AFTER Christmas by Albert Brewster

‘Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house,
again no creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Mama in the bedroom; me asleep in my chair,.
totally relaxed without a worry or care.

When all of a sudden came a great rush of thought!
We had received so much more than we had bought.

And to think about that one Christmas day
was just about enough to blow you away.

The children had been especially nice to each other.
(You would never have guessed they were sister and brother.)

Together at the table; each in our place;
no pushing or shoving while I said grace.

We shared our love, our songs, our laughter.
We shared the chores and didn’t even have to!

Just what was it that made it all work?
Was it all planned, or simply a quirk?

As I think back I seem to recall
a series of messages from a man named Paul.
Andrew, Simon, John, and James,
Matthew, Bartholomew, and other odd names.

Someone is gone but is coming again,
We’re all brothers, or some kind of kin.

Coming from childhood these thoughts surround me.
Complex truths so simple they astound me!

The Word that reaches me doesn’t come through my ear -
from so far away - and yet so near.

Now I am looking for answers, and they must be viable.
I open the desk drawer, and dust the Bible.

We counted our blessings this wonderful day
and knew it could always be that way -

Or, would we let it escape us and again be gone,
when we get back to routine; and turn the TV on?

Bert Brewster UMC Pastor: adbrewster@aol.com

Christmas: A time for Recognizing God With Us

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:30:00 +0000

Isaiah 52:7-10
John 1:1-14

So, for us in the church, this is the Fourth Sunday of Advent – a time for us to contemplate why we celebrate Christmas anyway.

Again, this year, during these weeks before Christmas, we have been looking at the very earliest documents we have to ascertain just how those earliest Christians celebrated Christmas –
hoping to find clues as to how we might have a better understanding and actually experience a better Christmas this year.

The first week of Advent, we looked at the very earliest writings we have –
the letters of Paul and some of the writings that were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammurabi and other places in the desert country of Egypt and Syria and Palestine,
and the very earliest Gospel in our Bible:
the Gospel of Mark – which was published around the year 70.

We actually have several texts now that were published during these early years – during the first 75 years or so after Jesus was killed.
And, look as we may, it is obvious that none of these texts say anything at all about the birth of Jesus.
It just was not important to those earliest believers.

Yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their history,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their faith,
yes, Jesus was a pivotal figure in their life experience –
in their understanding of who they were and what they to do.
Clearly, they each articulate a faith that in Jesus, they saw God incarnate – God in the flesh –
for them, Jesus was Emmanuel – God with us.

The second week we looked at the second Gospel of Matthew, published some 15 years after Mark, and intended for a somewhat different audience.
Matthew begins his Gospel with a detailed genealogy setting Jesus firmly in the Jewish camp – a descendent of King David,
and even Father Abraham, himself.

In the 15 years between Mark and Matthew an interest in birth stories had developed.
Matthew’s community wanted to believe that their Jesus was no less a god than the mighty Caesar or any of the other gods they encountered among the cosmopolitan culture of the Roman Empire.
Every other god had a miraculous birth story to show their specialness, so, Jesus should have one, too.

The Gospel of Luke is the third Gospel of the collection in our Bible.
It was published some 15 years after Matthew.
And, again, it was intended for a different audience than Mark or Matthew.

Again, we are reminded that during these early years, indeed, for the first 100 to 150 years, there was no separate Christian church.
They were Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah and revered as Emmanuel – God with Us – and they would meet as small groups –
sometimes even sharing meals and resources and living arrangements –
but, when they worshiped, they went to the Temple.

We see Luke being addressed primarily to a predominately Gentile audience to show that belief in Jesus in Emmanuel conflicted in no way with their ability to serve as good citizens of the Roman Empire.

And, we see that each of the Gospels have a very different starting place.
Matthew starts very differently than Mark does – again with that long genealogy.
And Luke starts differently than either Mark or Matthew does with that miraculous birth story – not of Jesus, but of John.

And, here in the Gospel of John, we have an even stranger beginning.

Most scholars agree now that this Gospel of John was published no earlier than 110 years after the death of Jesus.
Clearly this Gospel was addressed to people under stress –
there was a conflict between the communities of believers in Jesus as Messiah
and the communities of believers in John as Messiah;
and there was a widening rift between these communities of Jesus believers
and the other believers of Judaism.
The break that we know today was occurring by the time John was published.
And this Gospel is written in that context.

Again, dwelling on establishing the specialness of Jesus with stories of his birth was not important to these people.
What was important, was how their faith in this radical new religion based on Emmanuel –
based upon the Incarnation –
based on God now being with us instead of dwelling from on high –
how life based on this new faith fits into the cosmic scheme of things –
and how it is different from the old ways of doing.

Curiously, we know from the writings of a Jewish Greek philosopher from Alexandria, Philo, that this concept of God as the Doer, the Speaker, the One who Acts, the Word
was emerging in Alexandria some 50 years before the Gospel of John was published.

Here, Jesus is remembered not primarily as a specific man at a specific time in history, but
as the embodiment of a wisdom, a sophia, that pervades all things and all people.

The Word has existed from the beginning, and the Word came and dwelt among people, “they knew him not.”

Here, John tells the story in a radically new way.

Jesus is identified with the Logos – the Word of God – and becomes something other than a man from Nazareth born of flesh and blood –
but nothing less than a construct of God –
a part of Almighty himself –
a very part of the cosmos itself.

Like I concluded last week,
I think it is important for us to ask why each of the Gospels treat the birth of Jesus differently.
And to remember that the story that you and I have learned and could tell on a moments notice, actually does not occur in any of our gospels.

The story you and I learned,
and the story you and I tell,
is really a composite of the stories we see in the Gospels.
We tend to take a part from one and combine it with a part from another and a part from another, and lo, we have our story.

But, if we actually did what those early Christians did, we wouldn’t revere any of the details of any of these stories;
but, we would come up with our own story –
like they did.
A story that begins with an experience with Emmanuel –
an experience of God being with us –
and then coming up with an explanation as to how special that experience is.

For you and me to fully understand and celebrate Christmas, we have to seek out and identify times of Emmanuel for us:
times we have been in the presence of God,
times we when we have been absolutely convinced that God is with us.

And, so we say Where or where is Emmanuel today?
And we are on the lookout for signs of Emmanuel in our times:
for some, like the shepherds in Luke’s Gospel, it is in celestial music;
for some, it will be in coming to the Lord’s Table;
for some, it will be in helping feed the hungry at the food closet;
for some, it will be in sharing special time with loved ones;
however and whenever and wherever;
this Christmas will be the best you have ever had when you open yourself to the presence of Emmanuel and recognize God with us.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, experienced this sermon during a worship service December 24, 2006

Gaudete!

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sun, 13 Dec 2020 00:35:00 +0000

Isaiah 12:1-6
Luke 2:8-20

Throughout these days before Christmas, we have been looking at some of the Christmas stories – trying to determine what was going on when they were being told, what they mean for our faith, and how they might impact our personal and corporate life today.

There is an ancient proverb that says: “God created man because he liked good stories . . . .”
Well, we have some mighty good stories that are passed down to us about Christmas.
And, the fact of the matter is, you will not hear these stories anywhere else.

This third Sunday in Advent has traditionally been called Gaudete Sunday.
Gaudete is the Latin word meaning, rejoice!
That’s what we hear the angel Gabriel telling Mary: “Rejoice!”
And that’s what the shepherds heard the celestial voices singing.

As we reflect on Christmas and Advent this year,
I am introducing the word theophany.
A theophany is an event where God becomes visible –
when a person glimpses the holy.

And, our story of Christmas is punctuated by many theophany stories –
with the climax being the ultimate theophany –
the Incarnation, Emmanuel!
The incarnation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of all that is, the great Jehovah, into our very lives.

Because, you see, the Christmas stories are stories of cracks that occurred in the cosmic egg that traditionally separates the holy from the mundane – cracks through which people were able to glimpse the divine,
cracks through which people encountered the holy.

So, this year, during this Advent season we are purposely focusing on these encounters with the holy from days gone by –
through the stories we hear and the stories we tell.

Through our telling and hearing these stories again, this Christmas, maybe, just maybe you and I can encounter the holy.

So, each week we have been looking for the breakthroughs in the stories of our faith and in the days of our lives.

The first Sunday of Advent we looked at the stories about angels that show up in the Christmas stories – there are five of them, five stories about messengers of God, angels, coming to speak to different people,
five theophany stories describing how God and God’s will is made known through angels .
And we are reminded to pay special attention to the disadvantaged in our midst, for oftentimes we entertain an angel unawares –
and, Jesus said, this is the way we encounter the Christ himself.

Then, we looked at the dream stories.
There are three stories about God speaking to people through dreams – three theophany stories describing God and God’s will being revealed through dreams – and we were reminded that dreams provide windows to the very soul of a person.

Next week, we will look at how an act of hospitality ushered in the ultimate theophany story

And, today’s theophany story is about the time the heavens opened –
a time when the cosmic egg cracked –
a breech occurred in the space-time continuum – and real life people heard celestial music –
the music of the spheres –
singing of God’s glory
and of God’s wish for peace on earth.

Luke lets us know that some local shepherds in the hills above Bethlehem experienced a theophany that night – actually, two theophanies.
While they were tending their sheep –
as they did every night,
night after night after night –
an angel suddenly appeared to them:
the first theophany they were to experience that night.

Now, as we are to understand, this was an extremely unusual occurrence for them.
This had never happened to them before.
This was far from their normal day to day –
or night to night – experience.
And, so, when it happened, they were afraid –
like you and I might very well be.

After the angel calmed them down,
reassured them and gave them God’s message of this special baby being born,
Luke vividly describes another theophany:
An actual rift,
a tear in the fabric of the cosmos,
a spacial worm-hole through which mere mortals got to glimpse the holy –
through which the divine was seen and heard.

To their amazement, the shepherds actually heard the music of the spheres singing of God’s glory and God’s wish for peace on earth –
sounds they had never ever experienced before.

And we are reminded that theophanys can occur through the expression of music.

You don’t have to tell this to anyone who sings in a chorus or choir.
There are times when your voice is blended with the others in such a way that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and you are transported to another plane of existence –
and for a time you experience a theophany –
an encounter with the holy.

The reality of that experience is why we offer so many opportunities for all of us to lend our voices in song throughout our worship services with congregational singing.

Shortly after I planned this Advent series and set up the topics to be addressed each Sunday, I was in Borders bookstore browsing the magazine section when my eyes fell on the December edition of Astronomy magazine.
I don’t know if you’ve looked at your copy of Astronomy magazine yet.
Astronomy magazine is a professional journal published for scientists with the latest findings in the field.
And, right here on the cover of Astronomy magazine is the headline: The Music of the Spheres –
and the lead article proclaims
that space is alive with music
and tells about scientists’ encounters with the sounds of the cosmos
as they purposely listen in for breaks in the space time continuum and hear sounds from the beginning of time.

Like those shepherds of old, let us listen to this music with open minds and eyes and ears
and experience a celestial encounter with music of the spheres.

There is an old old story of how God called the angels of heaven together one day for a special choir rehearsal.
God told the angels that they were to learn a special song . . . a song that they would sing at a very significant occasion.
The angels went to work on it.
They rehearsed long and hard . . .
with great focus and intensity.
In fact, some of the angels grumbled a bit . . .
but God insisted on a very high standard for this celestial choir.

As time passed, the choir improved in tone,
and in rhythm,
and in quality.
And finally God announced that they were ready... but then, God shocked them a bit.
They were told that they would sing the song only once . . . and only on one night.
There would be just one performance of this great song they had worked on so diligently.

Again, some of the angels grumbled.
The song was so extraordinarily beautiful and they had it down pat now . . .
surely, they could sing it many, many times.
God only smiled and told them that when the time came, they would understand.

Then one night, God called them together.
God gathered the celestial choir above a field just outside of Bethlehem.
"It's time," God said to them... and the angels sang their song.
O my, did they sing it!
"Glory to God in the highest . . .
and on earth peace and good will toward all..."
And as the angels sang, they knew there would never be another night like this one,
and that there would never be another birth like this birth in Bethlehem.

When the angels returned to heaven, God reminded them that they would not formally sing that song again as an angelic choir,
but if they wanted to, they could hum the song occasionally as individuals.
One angel was bold enough to step forward and ask God why.
Why could they not sing that majestic anthem again?
They did it so well.
It felt so right.
Why couldn't they sing that great song anymore? "Because," God explained, "my son has been born... and now earth must do the singing!"

Once each year, Christmas comes around again to remind us of that . . .
God's Son has come to earth . . .
and now it is up to us to do the singing!
And look at how we have tried.

Without question, one of the best and most beloved parts of the celebration of Christmas is the music!

The good news of Christmas is so awesome,
so full of wonder, that it's not enough to just talk about it.
We have to burst forth in song.
We have to sing it.

These are moments of theophanies.

These are moments God breaks through to us
to let us experience the Christus Praesense –
the presence of Christ in our lives –
the holy in the mundane world we know and live in –
and glimpse the true nature of God.

There are times when we can hear the celestial music.
The celestial music resounds throughout all creation – and we can hear it if we try.
The celestial music pulses with the beat of the heavenly drum.
The celestial music hums under the sounds heavenly harmony.

Do you remember Nipper, the RCA Victor dog –
for years and years, RCA used the image of this dog, Nipper, sitting in front of a phonograph with his head cocked – and the caption read “listening to his master’s voice.”

In a real sense, that is what your and I are called to do during this time of Advent as we prepare for the coming of Christmas.
Celestial music is being made.

Celestial songs are being sung.

You and I are called to sit like Nipper, with our heads cocked, listening for our master’s voice.

Listen.
The song is being sung.

Listen.
The music is there.
Listen.

The shepherds did.
And that night they encountered the holy.
That night their lives were changed forever.

Listen.
This Christmas you can and will encounter the holy.
Amen.

Clyde Griffith

Adapted from a sermon experienced by the congregation of Christ Presbyerian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania: December 18, 2005.

Christmas Is for Adults - About the Adult Jesus

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 22:30:00 +0000

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.

The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out.

For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel.
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.

The Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 12:2-6
Matthew 1:17-25

For over 1500 years, the church has set aside this time before Christmas as a time of preparation –
a time for believers to engage in opportunities of study to better understand the enormity of what it is we celebrate at Christmas and its profound impact on the faith passed on to us from previous generations.

This year, in an attempt to help us focus on the real reason for the season – what is so central to the faith we hold – I am trying to address what was important to those very earliest of Christians.

Last week we looked at the writings of some of the very earliest Christians and looked at what they had to say about the birth of Jesus.
The very earliest writing we have in the New Testament is a letter from The Apostle Paul, written around the year of 35 AD.
The earliest Gospel we have is attributed to Mark. The Gospel of Mark was most probably published around the year of 50 AD.
In the past 60 years, many other documents have been discovered that date back to the very first decades after Jesus’ death.
When we read these documents looking for what they say about the birth of Jesus, we discover one thing in common.
None of them have anything to say about the birth of Jesus. Nothing.
It simply was not important to them.

Oh, for sure, they were all convinced that the experiences they recalled with this Jesus of Nazareth were extraordinary.
In fact, as the years went by, they were convinced that they had experienced nothing less than the in-dwelling of God Almighty.
That, for sure, they experienced the holy –
that, for sure, for a while, and even now, they experienced Emmanuel –
[a Hebrew word that means God With Us].

[As a side note: I related to the congregation an article that was published just the day before by Bayler University’s Center for Christian Ethics, wherein, the author spells out much of the same things I did in our sermon last week!
I just wanted them to know, and the reader to know, that really, I don’t make this stuff up!]

Now, the second oldest Gospel text is the Gospel of Matthew.
It was written about thirty years after Mark – around 80 AD.

Matthew is somewhat different than Mark.
Matthew obviously knew about Mark’s Gospel.
Matthew includes the entire Gospel of Mark.
Yes, he edited freely and rearranged some of the scenes, but its all there.
Everything you read in Mark is in Matthew.
But, Matthew includes much more.
And, the editing and rearranging he does reflect his own emphasis, and are worthy of study and noting.

Matthew also includes writings and sayings from a second document that was circulating during those days –
a document that Luke knew about and used also;
a document that Mark did not know about or didn’t care about.
(Scholars call this the "quelle" document – or “source” document.)
Matthew also knew and used material from a third source –
stories that were circulating among some circles that were becoming known as the infancy narratives – stories relating to the birth of Jesus.

I believe we are lucky to be living in these days, because we are discovering new source material all the time.
It seems that every month or so, something new crops us that provide new light on old documents, and old practices, and old beliefs.

One of the most exciting discoveries, to me, is that we are discovering that those earliest Christian believers were a pretty diverse bunch.
Contrary to what we may have taught, those early Christians, right from the beginning were not of one mind about their belief
or about their practices
or about their place in the world.

We know that after Jesus’ death, his followers scattered and hid.
But, shortly after, many came to the conviction that something extraordinary had happened – something that changed their perspective on who Jesus was and he would mean for the future of their movement.
It was their experience of the resurrection experience that led the disciples to come to think of Jesus as somehow more than just a prophet, but as the Messiah himself.
And that’s when they began to organize around his memory.

But, we must remember, the earliest form of the movement was as a sect within Judaism.
Jesus was a Jew.
Jesus disciples were Jews.
Jesus was a Jewish Messiah.
They are followers of a Jewish apocalyptic tradition.
They are expecting the coming of the kingdom of God on earth.
It was a Jewish movement.

For sure, it was made up of small groups.
At least one of them was based in Jerusalem, but others were spread all over the countryside, including at least one or more in Galilee.
These were small, homebased groups, that met together weekly, studied together, ministered to one another, and prayed for and with one another.
But, when time came, they went to the temple for worship.

What we have discovered is that pretty much, each of these small groups developed their own take on what they experienced with Jesus of Nazareth and what had happened to him at the end of his public ministry.

Some groups seemed to be in competition with one another –
especially as they considered how closely they were to observe the Jewish laws of the Torah.

One historian writes, “Christianity, or one should rather say “Christianities,” of [the early years] were a highly variegated phenomenon.”
We can see from recent discoveries that there were very different views of Jesus in the various types of Christianity.
Another historian reminds us that it was “a time where there was no fixed formulation what the set of Christian beliefs should be.
What Christian rituals should be.
What they should think
or what they should tell about Jesus.”

The Christianity of Rome was different that Christianity of North Africa
and that was different from what we find in Egypt,
and that was different from what find in Syria
or back in Palestine.
So, we see each form of Christianity beginning to tell the story of Jesus in different ways.

And, so we see different “Gospels” emerging from these different groups.
You have heard about the Gospel of Thomas that has been translated and published with the last few years.
There is also the Gospel of Philip,
the Gospel of Truth,
The Gospel to the Egyptians,
the Apocryphon of John,
Secret Book of James,
Apocalypse of Paul,
the Letter of Peter to Philip,
the Apocalypse of Peter,
the Acts of Thomas, the Acts of Paul,
and the list goes on and on and on.
So far, some 52 different Gospels have been discovered – besides the four found in our Bible.

And within our Bible, we see how this gets played to a small degree.
We noted that Mark just wasn’t concerned about Jesus’ birth.

Matthew was.
Matthew was very concerned about showing Jesus as being the embodiment of Hebrew prophecy –
the presence of the long-awaited-for Jewish Messiah.

This was important to Matthew because at that time, another man, Simon bar Kochba, was leading a Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire. bar Kochba was imploring his kinsmen to take up arms: “Come join us to fight against the Romans.
You believe God is going to restore the kingdom to Israel, don’t you? Join us.”

bar Kochba was leading the revolt as the Jewish Messiah.

And, this set some of the Jewish Christians back a bit.
“Bar Kochba can’t be the Messiah – we already have one.”

And so, Matthew takes a clue from the Romans who gave all of their gods some sort of divine birth story.

Others were circulating birth stories of Jesus to show that Jesus was second to no Roman god.

So, Matthew includes some of the stories that were circulating at the time.
But, Matthew wanted to make clear that not only did Jesus have a special birth like the Roman gods,
but that Jesus was clearly a Jew.

The religious community that produced the Gospel of Matthew took pains to place their understanding squarely within its Jewish heritage
and portrays Jesus as one whose Jewish identity is beyond doubt.
After copying Marks first verse, Matthew begins by tracing Jesus’ genealogy.

Now, everyone knew, he only needed to show that Jesus was a descendent of King David.
But, Matthew takes no chances.
He traces Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Abraham.
It was that important to Matthew.

He wanted to show Jesus as even greater than Moses.
And, he edits his narrative to have Jesus constantly reinterpreting what was commonly known as Jewish law.
“You’ve heard it said . . . But, I say to you . . .”

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.

The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out.

For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel.
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.

For all those early Christians,
for all those writers of faith documents for their communities,
this word reflects what they affirmed had happened in this man from Nazareth –
what they continued to experience long after he had gone –
that Jehovah –
the Great I Am –
God Almighty –
Creator of the Universe and all the worlds that are –
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob –
the One God of the faith of our fathers and mothers –
deigned to enter our world and become as we are
to let us know there is no separation now from holy and mundane,
from sacred and profane,
from work and ritual.
No.
In this man from Nazareth, we see Emmanuel!
Through this man of Nazareth, we know Emmanuel.
With this man of Nazareth, we experience Emmanuel.
God is With Us.
That’s what we hear.
God is with us.
That’s what we sing.
God is with us.
That’s what we believe.
God is with us.
That’s what we celebrate.
Each and every year at Christmas.
Each and every week in worship.
Each and every morning when we get up.

Emmanuel! This Christmas.
Emmanuel! All year long!
Emmanuel! Every minute of every hour of every day of your life!

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon as a part of their worship service Sunday, December 4, 2011 - the Second Sunday of Advent.

Christmas is About Emmanuel

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 19:44:00 +0000

The Christmas we celebrate-- and the world around us celebrates -- really has little to do with the Christmas that is so much a part of our faith history.

It may surprise you to know that for over 300 years nobody celebrated the birthday of Jesus.

The stories and pictures that you and I value about the birth of Jesus and all the events around that — simply were not important to the early Christians.

For 300 years they did not worship a baby.
They worshiped an adult "Emmanuel" —
through which they kept having encounters with the holy.
These encounters were important to them.
It was the basis of their new faith.

First Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 40:3-,9
Luke 3:1-11

Today is the First Sunday of Advent —
a time the church has set aside for us to prepare for the coming of Christmas.
Christmas is the most universally loved holiday of all the church holidays.
It's hard not to get caught up in the "Christmas Spirit", [isn't it?] as the markers go up that announce to everyone that the holiday is approaching:

The Thanksgiving Day parade,
the shopping frenzy known as Black Friday,
carols on the muzak,
decorations on the street poles
lights in the yard,
lights on the house,
lights on the roof,
lights on the chimney,
lights in the trees,
Santa at the mall,
Santa at MacDonalds,
TV specials,
TV commercials, and, of course,
catalogs galore!

Everywhere you look you are reminded that Christmas will soon be here.
And the unannounced task is that "you'd better get ready."

For the most part, we like the feeling that comes with this season, don't we?
We like to see the smiles on children's faces.
We like to receive cards from people we haven't seen in ages.
We like to give gifts to special people in our lives.
We like to share time and meals with people we just don't seem to have time for at other times of the year.
For the most part, Christmas is a happy time.

But the Christmas we celebrate -- and the world around us celebrates -- really has little to do with the Christmas that is so much a part of our faith history.

We say, Christmas is for children, and so it has become in our American culture.
It may surprise you to know that in most cultures in the world, Christmas is NOT primarily a day for children.

In fact, throughout our faith history Christmas was and is for adults.

It may surprise you to know that for over 300 years nobody celebrated the birthday of Jesus.

But, there is ample evidence that Christians have always recognized and celebrated the specialness of Jesus — universally called the Christ — and identified in Matthew as Emmanuel — God With Us.

Each Sunday, from now until Christmas, I intend to look at how those earliest Christians celebrated Emmanuel —
and look for clues as how you and I can have the very best Christmas ever this year,
celebrating the Presence of Christ, God With Us, Emmanuel.

When we sing one of the most ancient of all our songs, 0 Come, 0 Come, Emmanuel, we place ourselves squarely alongside Christians through the ages who approach this season with a profound faith.

Of course, we all know (intellectually, if not out front)
that none of our New Testament was written at the time of Jesus.
No one was going along taking it down in Gregg Shorthand – or what ever they had in those days.
No one was observing events all day and writing in a diary at night.

All of the writings we have about Jesus were written some years after Jesus was killed.

The very earliest writings we see in our New Testament are the letters of Paul.
The very earliest of these letters – I and 2 Thessalonians –
were written around 25 years after Jesus was killed.

The very earliest Gospel we have is Mark -- which can be dated to around 50 years after Jesus was killed.

All the other writings were later than that. Since the Bible was codified, we have discovered a whole slew of other writings of the time – you have heard about some of these found among “The Dead Sea Scrolls” or other places in the desert within the last 40-50 years.
The earliest non-cannonical gospel that has been found has been recently published as “The Gospel of Thomas.”

So, curiously, when we ask the question: what do these very earliest writings say about the birth of Jesus?
The answer is: Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero. Nothing at all.

It was of no importance to them.

The fact that is was important to three of the Gospel writers is what we will be looking at in the weeks to come.

But, today, these very earliest writings — say nothing about the birth of Jesus.

They say nothing about the birth of Jesus, but they all write about the specialness of Jesus —
that through their experience with the adult Jesus, they were sure they were experiencing the holy — Emmanuel — God With Us.

No one celebrated Christmas at all for over 300 years after Jesus died!
It just wasn't done.

This was the time of the Roman Empire.
And Israel was part of the Roman Empire.

You know the Romans had a whole slew of gods
that were important to their life —
and each of the conquered territories usually came
with a whole slew of gods the indigenous people worshiped.
There were pagan gods everywhere.

To the Jews, and we need to remember, these early Christians were Jews,
these pagan gods were not even close to the One they knew and
experienced through a thousand year history.

And so, we have discovered writings from around 200 years after Jesus was killed, that deal with the fact that because the pagans celebrated the birthdays of their gods, it would be wrong for Christians to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.
Jesus was special.
Jesus was God with Us.
Jesus was Emmanuel.
But, Jesus wasn't like the pagan Gods.
And shouldn't be treated as such.
No birthdays for Jesus. (Out of principle.)

Of course, another issue was that nobody knew when Jesus was born.
Again, there were no records kept.
No one was around filling out forms to be filed.
We have no mention of the Disciples ever celebrating Jesus' birthday,
so we assume that it was not of great importance to Jesus.
Apparently, he didn't tell anyone when his birthday
was — and apparently no one asked.

But, as you can guess, that didn't keep folks from speculating.

After some 150 to 200 years passed, people starting trying to figure it out.
One popular writer wrote that Jesus must have been born on May 20.
Others presented convincing arguments that Jesus' birthday must be April 18,
others favored April 19,
others thought it more likely was May 28.

Within a few years it became a popular pastime to speculate on the date of Jesus birth.
The well-known Hippolytus thought, for sure, that Jesus was born on January 2.
But others carefully figured it must be November 17, or November 20, or perhaps March 25.
In 243 it was promoted that Jesus' birth should be celebrated on March 21, because that was believed to be the date on which God created the sun.
The debate went on for over a hundred years.
There was no agreed on date of Jesus' birth.
There was no celebration of Jesus birth.

In fact, it was the year 336, when the Christian church first celebrated Christmas –
and it was on December 25.

This was one of Constantine's first acts to make Christianity the religion of the empire.

So many other pagan religions already had some sort of celebration at this time, that it was natural to tell the people, "you are to stop these other celebrations to these other gods, and make this one common celebration of the birth of Jesus."

As one theologian wrote in 320 about December 25: "We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made the sun."

And, so for nearly 1700 years now most Christians celebrate the birthday of Jesus on December 25. [Except for the Armenian Church and some Orthodox Churches —
the birth of Jesus is important to them, but it is celebrated on January 6 along with his baptism and Pentecost.]

As we look at these earliest writings reflecting the faith of the very earliest Christians, we find some common threads that speak to us and give us clues as to the kind of celebration that is appropriate for us.

First of all, it is clear that people had extraordinary encounters with this Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus "connected" the people who encountered him with a life other than they knew --
where downtrodden were lifted up,
where the lame walked,
where the blind could see,
the lonely befriended,
transgressions forgiven.
Through encounters with this Jesus, people experienced "the Holy".

(Was it encounters of a third kind?]

Was it encounters with Yahweh — Jehovah — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the Great I Am?

And, these encounters with Jesus - this experience of the Holy - didn't stop with Jesus' death.

The "People of the Way" still had "holy" encounters with and through this man they knew as Jesus.
They could explain it as "Emmanuel".
For them, Jesus was "God With Us".
For those that encountered him, Jesus was Emmanuel.
The heart of Jesus teaching was that anyone could -
and would - encounter Emmanuel when certain things were done.

For me, a crucial part of what we celebrate here at Christmas is Emmanuel

That our celebrations are just not complete until we go looking for Emmanuel.

It's kind of like those children's books, Looking for Waldo.
You and I are called to go looking for Emmanuel.

As we do, we need to put a few things aside:
first of all, forget what you think Jesus looks like.
Forget the pictures of Jesus.

Again, we don't know what Jesus looked like.
No one was there to take video of his birth or ministry.
No one was there to take a photograph.
No one was there to sketch a portrait.
Again, it wasn't important to them.

But, not only are we called to look for him, we are called to minister to him.
And we are given some very specific instructions.
This is what Matthew 25 is about.

Christmas can be truly special if we are purposeful about our decorations
purposeful about our trappings
purposeful about the stories we tell and read
purposeful about the movies and videos we see.

Christmas is really about encountering the holy.
But the truth of the matter is, that most of what we do —
most of what we will do between now and Christmas Day —
has nothing to do with encountering the holy at all!

My favorite Christmas Stories are ones in which the hidden Christ is revealed:
stories about encounters with ordinary people that turn out to be encounters with the holy —

So, stories and pictures that you and I value about the
birth of Jesus and all the events around that —
simply were not important to the early Christians.

For 300 years they did not worship a baby.
They worshiped an adult "Emmanuel" —
through which they kept having encounters with the holy.
These encounters were important to them.
It was the basis of their new faith.

And, as they found out, anyone could have these encounters
by feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked,
tending the sick.

That's how they found Emmanuel.
That's how they knew Emmanuel.

And, today, that's where — that's how — you and I will know Emmanuel.

May this Christmas be your best ever.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard these words during a worship service on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.

Letting ThanksGiving Become ThanksLiving

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 22:15:00 +0000

Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.

Leviticus 19: 16-18
I Thessalonians 5:15-18

Our holiday will be somewhat different this year. Most of us will not be gathering with families to stuff ourselves, “enjoy” family stories and an afternoon of merriment and familiar foods.
True, in recent years our celebrations have less and less to do with our traditional understanding about our reasons for Thanksgiving in the first place. We have long ago given up reading the annual Presidential Proclamation as we have realized the Pilgrims were giving thanks for something completely out of sync with the scenario we learned in school.

In recent years, I have capitalized on the cultural celebrations of this season by introducing congregations to theological reasons for celebrating this holiday that have nothing to do with the images we have imprinted in our collective minds.

For me Thanksgiving is not just for one day out of the year,
but Thanksgiving is very basic to how we see and understand our faith.

Indeed, the most basic part of our faith, the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, begins with a thanksgiving for the faith that our forefathers and mothers gave witness to.

Paul could write to the believers in Thessalonia,
“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”
And, it is a message you and I need to hear:
“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”

Now, we can say that thanks giving is a good thing, and perhaps we can buy into the scripture study that tells us that God wants no sacrifice without thanks giving,
but, these days social scientists are collecting mounds of evidence that promotes positive affects of giving thanks at all times for all things.

The evidence mounts:
People who make simple exercises of thanksgiving as a way of life,
people who make thanks giving into thanks living,
people who have an "attitude of gratitude"
are in better physical health,
sleep better,
have lower levels of stress hormones in their blood,
and are happier than those who don’t.

One contemporary writer declares:
“The most psychologically correct holiday of the year is upon us.”

Thanksgiving may be the holiday from hell for nutritionists, and it produces plenty of war stories for psychiatrists dealing with drunken family meltdowns.
But it has recently become the favorite feast of psychologists studying the consequences of giving thanks.
Cultivating an “attitude of gratitude” has been linked to better health,
sounder sleep,
less anxiety and depression,
higher long-term satisfaction with life
and kinder behavior toward others, including romantic partners.

A new study shows that feeling grateful makes people less likely to turn aggressive when provoked.

“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”

Of course, it is difficult for us to be thankful at all times, isn’t it?
But, time and time again, evidence piles up with personal testimony to what can happen when folks purposely change their behavior and look for things to be thankful for – even when times are tough, and it seems there is nothing to be thankful for.

But, today, there is good news to be heard.
There are many research projects today that have developed techniques and tools we can use to help us in our task to
Be thankful in all circumstances.

Work at the University of California and at the University of Miami
teaches what can happen when a person does something as simple as taking an inventory and writing down five things for which you are particularly grateful - simple things, little things, big things - like a friend’s generosity, perhaps;
or something you may have learned,
or a sunset you enjoyed.

The gratitude journal they suggest is brief —
just one sentence for each of the five things —
and as they teach it, it is done only once a week,
but after two months there are significant effects.
Time and time again, people keeping the gratitude journal are more optimistic
and feel happier.
They report fewer physical problems
and spend more time physical exercising in some fashion.

A study of polio survivors and other people with neuromuscular problems showed that folks who kept a gratitude journal reported feeling happier and more optimistic than those in a control group,
and these reports were corroborated by observations from their spouses.
These grateful people also fell asleep more quickly at night,
slept longer
and woke up feeling more refreshed.

“If you want to sleep more soundly, count blessings, not sheep,” the researcher advises in his book on gratitude research.

“Be thankful in all circumstances.
This is what God wants from you.”
And it is also has great benefits for us.

In an experiment at Northeastern University, researches sabotaged each participant’s computer and arranged for another student to fix it.
That was the test.
Afterward, the students who had been helped were likelier to volunteer to help someone else —
a complete stranger — with an unrelated task. Gratitude promoted good karma.
And if it works with strangers ....

Now, the thing is, we can try it out.
You don’t have to take my word for it.
You don’t have to sit there and think, “well, that sounds nice, Preacher, but it’s not very realistic."

Well, I’m here to tell you it works!
No matter how dysfunctional your family, gratitude can still work, says a researcher at the University of California, Riverside.
Just try it out, she says.
On one day
“Do one small and unobtrusive thoughtful or generous thing for each [person you meet]
“Say thank you for every thoughtful or kind gesture. Express your admiration for someone’s skills or talents — wielding that kitchen knife so masterfully, for example.
And truly listen, even when your [uncle Bob] is boring you again with [that same story he tells over and over again].”

Don’t counterattack.
If you brace yourself for insults, consider a recent experiment at the University of Kentucky.
After turning in a piece of writing, some students received praise for it while others got a scathing evaluation: “This is one of the worst essays I’ve ever read!”

Then each student played a computer game against the person who’d done the evaluation.
The winner of the game could administer a blast of white noise to the loser.
Not surprisingly, the insulted essayists retaliated against their critics by subjecting them to especially loud blasts — much louder than the noise administered by the students who’d gotten positive evaluations.

But there was an exception to this trend among a subgroup of the students:
the ones who had been instructed to write essays about things for which they were grateful.
After that exercise in counting their blessings, they weren’t bothered by the nasty criticism —
or at least they didn’t feel compelled to amp up the noise against their critics.

“Gratitude is more than just feeling good,” says Nathan DeWall, who led the study at Kentucky.
“It [actually] helps people become less aggressive by enhancing their empathy.
“It’s an equal-opportunity emotion.
Anyone can experience it and benefit from it,
even the most crotchety uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner table.”

Why does gratitude do so much good?

“More than other emotion, gratitude is the emotion of friendship,” one researcher says.
“It is part of a psychological system that causes people to raise their estimates of how much value they hold in the eyes of another person.
Gratitude is what happens when someone does something that causes you to realize that you matter more to that person than you thought you did.”

Another exercise you can try is called a gratitude visit.
This exercise, devised by folks at the University of Pennsylvania, begins with writing a 300-word letter to someone who changed your life for the better.
Be specific about what the person did and how it affected you.
Deliver it in person, (but safely) preferably without telling the person in advance what the visit is about.
When you get there, read the whole thing slowly to your benefactor.
“You will be happier and less depressed one month from now,” Dr. Seligman guarantees in his book “Flourish.”

Be thankful in all circumstances, our Book says.
This is what God wants from us . . .

Worshiping in a local church on a regular basis
can cause people to feel and act more gratefully, as demonstrated in experiments at Baylor University.
Other research shows that praying can increase gratitude.

One person speaks about how keeping a gratitude journal has affected her life.
She has been suffering from fibromyalgia and had become quite overwhelmed by the constant pain in her life.
And, she took the challenge of using a gratitude journal on a regular basis.
Every night as part of her bedtime routine, she would try to list five things she was particularly thankful for.

She writes:
“Sometimes I struggled to find 5 things for which I was grateful;
occasionally, one of those was, ‘I'm grateful this day has ended.’
But I stuck with it.

Gratitude is not about "looking at the bright side" or denying the realities of life.
Gratitude goes much deeper than that.
It's about learning from a situation,
taking the good to help deal with other challenges in the future.
It's about finding out that you have more power over your life than you previously imagined.
You can stop being a victim of your circumstances and reach out to the joy in living.
If you open your heart to the good in your life, gratitude becomes as much a part of your life as breathing.

I have found joy at every turn, from appreciating the beauty of nature to improved relationships with family and friends.

I still have muscle pain and fatigue.
Those symptom levels remain fairly constant.
But that journal opened the door to unconditional happiness with the hand I was dealt.
I can look beyond the pain and fatigue and look forward to each day and the joy it will bring.”

“Be thankful in all circumstances,” our Book says.
This is what God wants from us . . .

When we live with an attitude gratitude
things change for us.
Things actually change for us.
And it is real.
You can feel it when it happens.

And, when you do, nothing short of a miracle happens.
“Be thankful in all circumstances,” our Book says.
This is what God wants from us . . .

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard a version of this sermon on November 22, 2011.

Good Friday for the Rest of Us

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 18:04:00 +0000

Philadelphians went for Good Friday observances big time when we first moved there in 1976. Following long established tradition, employers large and small throughout “the tri-state area” gave folks of all persuasions the afternoon of Good Friday off so they might attend a service at their church. Good Friday services were full. Choirs sang. Processions processed. Preachers preached.

Alas, chinks in the tradition started appearing shortly thereafter. One after the other, employees were required to bring proof of their attendance of a Good Friday service. It began to be more and more difficult for employees to get off work Good Friday afternoon.   By 1999, Attendance at Good Friday services dwindled to nearly nothing and most churches stopped holding them all together.

Today, all across the country, many churches struggle to hold a Good Friday observance without a single person in the church building. Why?

Because it has been an important service for hundreds of years.
Because there is an important story to be told - somehow.
Because we just feel we should.

Alas, the story that gets remembered and gets told on this day is lengthy and detailed, so that by the time we get to the end we tend to overlook the point of the story and thereby miss, and misunderstand, it’s point and why it was so significant to the very earliest Christians.

All four Gospels contain a version of the same story. When confronted with different accounts of the same story, we believers seem to have a need to treat each as incomplete and so we attempt to combine the separate elements to try to make different stories one story.
Tradition has it there are 12 stages of this story - 12 Stages of the Cross.
A traditional Good Friday Service consists of some sort of meditation on each of these 12 stages. Most often by the time we get to the end of the story - the climax, if you will - most of us are so thankful to have completed the exercise that the climax, the point, is missed.

Interestingly, (and of particular significance to me) all four Gospels are clear and explicit about the climax and point and purpose of remembering and retelling of the story.

After relaying these profound stories of Jesus encounters on his way to and while he is hanging on the cross, all four Gospels relay what happens when Jesus finally gives up the ghost. (I mean, that’s what happens. isn’t it?) Finally, Jesus lets out his last gasp. All of his breath, all of God’s life-force, the very breath of God according to the Creation story, leaves his body. His body hangs life-less.

And as that happens, the curtain in the temple is torn in two! The Temple Curtain, the curtain that separates “The Holy of Holies” (the residence of The Lord Almighty) from the faith adherents IS TORN IN TWO from the top to the bottom. This profoundly states that God is no longer there! God escapes the box. God can no longer be kept away from the people.
The word is clear for all to hear.
God is no longer in the house.
God is no longer in this dead man on the cross.

So, what does this story have to do about the price of beans?
This story was to have profound affect on how worship was to be done and what one was to believe.
The story tells us that if we are not to find the Holy in the dead man on the cross;
and if we are not find the Holy in the Temple;
how can we to experience the Holy?
Where do we go and what are to do to experience the Holy?
And, we told very clearly, “Go back to where you came from. Go home. Look around you. Value the lives of others. Meet their needs. Help them out. Give of yourself. It is when you do these things that you meet the Holy.”

Fred Rogers’ mother told him to “Look for the helpers.” She got the message.
To me, this is the message of Good Friday. And how I observe it.

Thanks for reading.

Clyde Griffith
Tulsa, Oklahoma
April 10, 2020

Observing Lent the Lord's Way: Fast

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 04:44:00 +0000

I am convinced that if we did observe Lent the Lord’s way,
it could change our perception of reality
and leave us in a much better position to know what happened on that first Easter morning so long ago.

Well, I have mentioned before:
When I graduated from the university, some of my friends graduated "Cum Laude," it means "With Honors."
And, a few of my friends graduated "Magna Cum Laude" it means "With High Honors."
And I even had a close friend who graduated "Summa Cum Laude" it means "With Supreme Honors."

When they called my name, I believe the phrase they used was "Magna Cum Pellidentium."
I looked it up. It means, "By the skin of your teeth."

That is so like so many of us when it comes to knowing about and practicing our faith, isn’t it?
We practice our faith Magna Cum Pellidentium – don’t we?

For hundreds of years, the church has set aside a season of 40 days before Easter as a time for believers to think about their faith and how it impacts how we live our lives.

Jesus actually left some pretty specific instruction what we should be doing – but, we tend to skip over these instructions, because . . .

But, I am convinced that if we did observe Lent the Lord’s way,
it could change our perception of reality
and leave us in a much better position to know what happened on that first Easter morning so long ago.

The first week of Lent we observed the Jesus took a time out before he began his earthly ministry.
And, very early on, believers saw the benefits of doing that as well.
We are told that Jesus took 40 days to off, fast, and confront his demons.
The early believers thought we should take 40 days as well to prepare for our ministries.
In fact, they saw wisdom in taking 40 days each year just before Easter to prepare ourselves to receive and understand and properly celebrate what Easter reveals to us.
So, the first week, we were reminded to take time to take a time out each day between now and Easter.

Last week, we looked at how our Lenten observance should be totally incognito – off the radar – out of the public eye.
In fact, Jesus said, to be sure to wash your face and comb your hair – so no one will know what you are up to.

And, so today, I am looking at tackle the notion of Fasting.
We know what fasting is, don’t we?
We have heard about people who fast,
we have read about people who fast,
perhaps even a few in this room have fasted in the past.
While we know what it is,
fasting is certainly not main stream for us,
or for anyone we know, is it?

But, we know what fasting is.
The dictionary definition is going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
We are told that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness before he began his ministry.

Gandhi fasted.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Fasted.
Peace demonstrators fasted.
Some prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center fasted.

In fact, fasting seems to be something some people do in an attempt to attract attention to their cause.

Personally, I have never understood this on at least two counts:
I am sure that I could fast for a week – or even 40 days and 40 nights – and no one would care.
No one would notice.
Nothing would change.

And, secondly, I know you will find this hard to believe, but when I go without food, I get cranky.
I know, it is so against the image you have of me, but I do get cranky when I go without food for too long.
I am unbearable.
I know, it is hard to believe, but ask Suzanne.
When I was discussing this with my daughter, she asked, well how long have you ever gone without eating.
I responded: “Oh, eight or nine hours.”

We know what fasting is:
Going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
People of the Jewish faith knew what fasting was.
In fact, it had become a sacred act – something a person did regularly in order to gain favor with God.
Fasting and offering animal sacrifice were part and parcel of how they expressed their faith.

The early Christians knew what fasting was.
After all, they were Jews at first,
and fasting was still practiced as a way of humbling oneself in order to get your priorities in life straight.
So, we are told, Jesus fasted before he began his ministry – for 40 days and 40 nights, we are told.
[By then, I would be soooo cranky.]

Because it was so widely practiced, we are told that Jesus felt like he had to address the issue right there during his sermon on the mount.

When you fast, he says.
Not if you fast, but when you fast.
You do it, you know you do, so listen,
when you do it, don’t do like the hypocrites do by putting on a sad face and making a show of it,
but make sure you wash your face and comb your hair so others won’t know what you are doing.

Wash your face and comb your hair is good advice.
When the practice of our religion is done in public for all to see – for people to see how holy you must be, it is wrong, Jesus said.
Good advice.

But, there is a problem with our understanding of this fasting concept.

Long before Jesus, 3-400 hundred years before Jesus, this prophet appeared in Judea and began spouting the weirdest things.
This prophet spoke for the Lord God.
He spoke with authority to the priests and to all the people.

Everyone knew him and recognized his authority.
They listened to him and even came to him for advice.

The people of faith came to him with their complaints.
Look, they said.
What’s happening here?
What’s going on?
It seems as if the Lord has abandoned us.
We have been left to cope all alone.
We hear nothing from the Lord.
Bad things happen to good people – and we don’t know why.
We pray and nothing happens.
We fast and nothing happens.
What give?
Why should we fast if the Lord never notices?
Why should we starve ourselves if the Lord pays no attention?

And, the 58th chapter of Isaiah tells us that in response to those complaints the Lord said:
The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers.
Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight.   [You get cranky, the Lord says.]
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?
When you fast, you make yourselves suffer;
you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on.
Is that what you call fasting?
Do you think I will be pleased with that?

And, then to everyone’s surprise, the whole concept of fasting gets completely redefined.
Do you think I will be pleased with that?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my attention?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my favor?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to influence what happens to you?
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?

If you fast to have influence with the Lord God the Creator of the Universe and all there is,
your faith is on the wrong track.
If you think ANY of your faith rituals is going to influence me, you have another think coming.

And, then, Isaiah drops the hammer:
The Lord says words they did not want to hear –
Words WE do not want to hear today.
"This is the kind of fasting I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
This is what it really means to worship the LORD.
Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
Share your food with everyone who is hungry; share your home with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
don't [ever] turn away your relatives.
Get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
[Be] generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

This is what this religion is all about.
This is what I notice.
This is what gets my attention.
This is the Lord’s work.

Later on, Jesus picks up this theme when he says this is what is going to be on the final exam –
this is what you will be asked about during your orals –
this is what you will be judged on.
Because this is our calling.
This is what we are to be doing.
This is what we are about.
Our faith is about living for others.
When we give of ourselves for another, we make the ultimate call.
Jesus would say, when you do these things for these people, you doing these things for me –
you are doing these things to me.

For sure, this requires radical reorientation.
This goes so against what we were taught –
and what we learned so well –
and what we all bought in to.

Its not about me.
When it is about me, it is a distorted reality.

For the promise is made –
and has been so many times throughout history – and there are some people in this very room –
who can vouch for veracity of the promise:
when you work toward these ends,
when you do this ministry for others,
when you live your life so others may live better,
you will have great rewards.

"Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun,
and your wounds will be quickly healed.
I will always be with you to save you;
my presence will protect you on every side.
When you pray, I will answer you.
When you call to me, I will respond.

That’s the promise.
That’s the bargain.

"If you put an end to oppression,
to every gesture of contempt,
and to every evil word;
if you give food to the hungry
and satisfy those who are in need,
then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon.

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

This is the kind of fasting the Lord wants.
This is the kind of fasting the Lord responds to.
This is the kind of fasting that is part and parcel of our faith.
This is the kind of fasting that is an integral part of how we might observe Lent the Lord’s way.
This kind of fasting is an important component to an appropriate Lenten observance.

It’s the Lord’s work.
And it is what we are to do.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a worship service on the third Sunday of Lent, March 3, 2013.

Remember To Take A Time Out

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 19:57:00 +0000

For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.

We are told that before Jesus began his ministry he took a time out.

He went off by himself – for 40 days – and 40 nights.

Jesus must of thought that this was completely necessary for him to do.

He did this to get his head right,
to get more completely in tune with God’s will and purpose for his life.

For centuries the church has said it was important to remember what Jesus did here,
and it is important for us to take a time out as well.

Jesus took 40 days for his time out,
the church said we should take 40 days each year before Easter for our time out –
a time out from the routine of our regular normal life to consciously focus on getting our heads on right,
to get more in tune with what God is concerned about and wants for us to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.
But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.
During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power –
not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.

From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.

Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.
This is a time for us to explore the mysteries of the universe,
looking beneath the surface –
within ourselves –
examining our own motives and desires,
and ascertaining exactly what our commitment is:
to what,
to whom,
and what it means.

Lent is meant to remind us that the days are getting longer now –
Spring is right around the corner.

Actually, the word Lent comes from an ancient word that meant "springtime," –
that period of the calendar during which the days lengthen.
Because the church season always fell at that time of year, the name came to apply there as well.

All around us new life is preparing to break out as the weather turns.
Signs of life are preparing to bud right before our eyes.
And, our task during this season is to prepare ourselves to see these signs when they occur.

Like I have said before, I believe we need Lent!

Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.
Through sustained focus on the life and ministry of Jesus, Lent can help us resist the pressures of this culture.
Lent can remind us that we are called to continue his ministry:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Consequently, Lent prepares us for an Easter that is more than bunnies and eggs –
an Easter that begins a whole new reality –
a whole new world.

As you know, 40 days is almost a sacred number with strong Old Testament associations.
40 days seems to be a long time when you think about it.
[It is more than the 30 days we get to accept the special offer of the day that is in our daily mail.]
It seems that God is saying:
“take up to forty days to decide –
40 days to make up your mind –
which side are you going to be on.”

The Gospels say Jesus was given 40 days to decide whose side his life would be spent on.
40 days to come to a decision to align with God or accept the worldly enticements of the Devil.

40 days seems to be God's time for allowing
significant decisions to be made.
Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days getting the 10 commandments.
Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness encountering God.
An extended time was given people of Noah's time to make up their mind before it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The 40 days of Lent gives us sufficient time to make up our minds again:
to decide for life – or death,
to decide for God – or the ways of the world around us.

For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.

For us with our total dependence upon clocks and schedules and appointments and meetings and deadlines, taking time for a time out is probably the most difficult thing any of us could be called upon to do.
And yet, here it is.
The call goes out each year during this time before Easter,
and our response is usually no more than an acknowledgment of a quaint – if not somewhat ancient, antiquated tradition – that we may give a passing nod to in church,
but having very little to do with anything in our home, or at work, or how we spend our time.

Most of the days of our lives we are pretty much self absorbed in our lives and our obligations and our health and perhaps in the caring for another or two or three or four or . . .
We live in response to stimuli from outside of ourselves.

Lent calls us to take time for a time out from all of that.
Take time now – just commit to only 40 days – this time leading up to Easter –
take time each day to focus on something other than on what we usually spend our time on.

It is important to take the time.
Jesus did it.
Moses did it.
Isaiah did it.
Many many others did it.
And, today many many others are doing it.
You can do it as well.

Traditionally, Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.
The pattern is,
the experience is,
the promise is,
that when we do,
we become more aware of God’s presence
and more aware of God’s purpose
and more aware of what we are to do with the rest of the days of our lives.

And, of course, that’s the scarey part, isn’t it?
Because we’re not sure we want to discover that we should be doing something we aren’t doing, right?
For years I have been compiling a file of stories of people who after a time out,
changed the direction of their lives because it became clearer to them that this is what God would be having them do.
It’s a thick file containing many many stories.
Someday it would be worth sharing in some way just to see the stories one after the other after an other after an other.

Taking time for a time out can have a powerful affect on a person.
Norman Vincent Peale – and many other preachers – was convinced that by taking time out to concentrate on certain scripture lessons, folks could experience a power and wholeness and wellness that they never knew possible.

Of course, I think that, too.
Each Sunday between now and Easter, I will be focusing on specific practices that have proven to put us more in tune with the ultimate power and purpose of the universe.

Aligning our lives with the moral direction of the universe is probably the most primal of all our activities –
and that is something we cannot do with a compass or a clock.
It is something we can only do in a community like this one.

For your sake, each day during this time before Easter, take time for a time out.

And be here next week as we explore certain practices proven to lead us in the right direction.
Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon during a worship service, the First Sunday in Lent, February 17, 2013.

Whose Birthday Is It Anyway?

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 03:35:00 +0000

Ready or not, Christmas is coming.
With every catalog we get in the mail,
with every card we receive,
with every Christmas song we hear in the stores and on the radio,
with every television special we see,
with every advertisement we see and hear and read,
with every invitation we receive,
we know Christmas is on the way.
And, it will come, wether we are ready or not.
And, so we begin to get somewhat anxious about it all, don’t we?

It is almost as though there are two Christmases:
one of the lights and trees and decorations and presents and reindeer and parties and snowmen –
and . . . . and . . . . and . . . .
The one we talk about in church.

Sometimes, it seems that the two Christmases are not even of the same wavelength.

We know the Christmas story that most of the world around us celebrates – and we know it well – and we participate in it willingly and knowingly – often for very good reasons.
We like the feeling that comes with giving and thinking about others and going out of our way to make someone’s day.

But, you know, the earliest Christians did not celebrate Christmas.
    It just was not important to them.

No one knows when Jesus was born . . .
    No one kept a record – maybe he never told anyone – we don’t know
    It just was not important to them.
There is no record of the Disciples ever singing happy birthday to Jesus.

Of course, the first Christians knew Jesus,
they lived with Jesus,
they heard Jesus talk,
they saw Jesus laugh,
they felt Jesus hurt,
they saw Jesus sleep and eat and drink and do all kinds of bodily functions –
they experienced a living breathing person just as you and I experience each other.

But, after a few hundred years, some believers began to question whether Jesus ever really lived at all.
He was being remembered and worshiped as more of a god – than remembered as a real living breathing man who lived and died during certain days and years of the Roman Empire.

So, a small faction began to think it was important not to forget that Jesus was a real person.
And if he was, we ought to remember when he was born.
Trouble was, nobody knew when Jesus was born.

The very earliest writing we have in the New Testament is a letter from The Apostle Paul, written around the year of 35 AD.
The earliest Gospel we have is attributed to Mark. The Gospel of Mark was most probably published around the year of 50 AD.
In the past 60 years, many other documents have been discovered that date back to the very first decades after Jesus’ death.
When we read these documents looking for what they say about the birth of Jesus, we discover one thing in common.
None of them have anything to say about the birth of Jesus. Nothing.
It simply was not important to them.

A strong vocal faction of early believers thought it was just plain wrong to celebrate Jesus’ birthday – because that was too much like the world around them did when they celebrated the birthdays of the pagan gods, the Caesars and the Pharaohs.

But, there appeared a major debate in the middle of the third century.
Whether or not we would celebrate it, it would be nice to know when Jesus was born.
So the speculation began.
After a careful study of scripture, one prominent theologian of the third century calculated the birth date of Jesus must be May 20 [Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215)]
The debate began. Others calculated that it must have been April 18,
others thought it was April 19, and
still others were fairly certain it was May 28.
One of the leaders of a powerful faction thought Jesus’ birthday should be remembered as
January 2 [Hippolytus (c.170-c.236)]
Others calculated it to be November 17,
others November 20, and
some, March 25.
And, so it went.
It took over 300 years for the church leaders to agree on a date of December 25 to recognize as the birthday of Jesus.

And, even at that point, the believers were at odds with the culture around them.
Most of the world already celebrated major festivals on December 25:
the natalis solis invicti (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"),
and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers.
The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier.
There were a lot of major celebrations going on at this time of year in most of the cultures of the world – and they had nothing to do with the church.
So, many believers thought it would be most inappropriate to celebrate Christmas at all.

And, in fact throughout history, there are long periods of years when nobody celebrated Christmas at all.
But, Christians have always had an uncanny ability to find ways to celebrate.
And, in almost every culture where Christians found themselves, they appropriated local events and customs and made them their own.
And, oftentimes there were movements that would spring up to convince believers they should not participate in the cultural seasonal festivities –
sometimes by trying to convince people to remember the reason for the season,
sometimes by campaigning to put Christ back in Christmas,
sometimes by actually passing laws to ban Christmas celebrations altogether!

Imagine that, outlawing Christmas!
In the seventeen century, you may recall, Christian religious zealots took over the government of England.
Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan Party actually passed legislation that outlawed Christmas.
To them Christmas had become a time for lavish and raucous celebration and behavior and commercial exploitation – sound familiar?
So, that was it.
Plain and simple.
No more Christmas.
(Sounds like a Dr. Zeus story, doesn’t it?)

And, it gets stranger.
The people were outraged.
There was rioting in the streets.
Secret Christmas celebrations broke out all over England.
But, Oliver Cromwell retaliated.
Parliament decreed penalties of imprisonment for anyone caught celebrating Christmas.
Imagine that!
Being rounded up and being put in jail because you dared to celebrate Christmas!

Each year the “Christmas Police” would go through the streets a few days before Christmas warning people against celebrating Christmas.
Businesses were not to be closed during the day and there were to be no displays of Christmas decorations.

They went around and broke up any sign of Christmas celebration with force of arms.

And the people rose up.
And the jails filled to overflowing.

The people would not be denied.
They took to the ballot box and voted the Puritans out of power.
Christmas was back.
The very idea.
Outlawing Christmas.

Meanwhile, over here in the new country, the zealots persisted.
Christmas was outlawed and not celebrated in many colonies for years.
In fact, Christmas remained illegal in Massachusetts until sometime after 1850!

So, there is nothing new here.
It seems that ever since day one, there was some controversy between what the church thought should be remembered and celebrated
and what and how the world around them celebrated.

Recognizing this historical reality doesn’t really do much to ease the conflict today, does it?
Christmas is celebrated in public schools without singing Christmas songs or telling Christmas stories.
All kinds of merchants appropriate seasonal music and messages to sell their products.
And fa-la-las are sung in synch with cash registers.

And, as it so often happened in the past, today the Christmas of the church gets short-shrift in our celebrations.
For the church, Christmas celebrates one of the most fundamental of beliefs – what is called incarnation.
Specifically, the incarnation of God – that is, literally, God in the flesh.
What we also call Emmanuel – God is with us!

The profoundness of this message is shown in the beginning words of the Gospel of John:
this is a time to recall that God existed before time began –
and all things that are and that ever will be were brought into existence by God.
God is described as the eternal logos – the Word with a capital W.
And John reminds us that this eternal logos, this Word, this God,
came into the world with flesh and blood –
bridged the gap – came to be one of us – came to live with us.
And that is Emmanuel means.
God is with us.
– a profound statement, to be sure.

At this time of year we take time to hear that God is no longer “other”,
God is no longer “out there”,
God is no longer to be appeased with sacred rites and sacrifices,
God is no longer relegated to the realm of religion – apart from where we live and work and play.

So, I am kind of on a personal crusade to never slough over the essential message of the season – the reason we in the church have celebrated the season for so long.
Because, this is the only place that this message will be proclaimed this year –
you won’t hear it in the schoolroom,
you won’t hear it on television,
you won’t hear it on the radio,
you won’t read about it in the newspaper or magazines,
you won’t hear Rush Limbaugh talking about it,
you won’t hear Charlie Rose talking about it,
you won’t hear Oprah talking about it,
you are not likely to hear your neighbor or friend talking about it.

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.

The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out.

For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel.
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.
For all those early Christians,
for all those writers of faith documents for their communities,
this word reflects what they affirmed had happened in this man from Nazareth –
what they continued to experience long after he had gone –
that Jehovah –
the great I Am –
God Almighty –
Creator of the Universe and all the worlds that are –
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob –
the One God of the faith of our fathers and mothers –
deigned to enter our world and become as we are
to let us know there is no separation now from holy and mundane,
from sacred and profane,
from work and ritual.
No.
In this man from Nazareth, we see Emmanuel!
Through this man of Nazareth, we know Emmanuel.
With this man of Nazareth, we experience Emmanuel.
God is With Us.
That’s what we hear.
God is with us.
That’s what we sing.
God is with us.
That’s what we believe.
God is with us.
That’s what we celebrate.
Each and every year at Christmas.
Each and every week in worship.
Each and every morning when we get up.

Emmanuel! This Christmas.
Emmanuel! All year long!
Emmanuel! Every minute of every hour of every day of your life!

We have a story to tell.
We need to find significant ways to celebrate the incarnation and the revelation of this one we call Emmanuel – Jesus our Christ.

Somehow, we have allowed non-Christians to take over our territory, our message, our celebration.
We should be the ones known for partying.
We should be the ones known for celebrating.
We are, really, the only ones that have anything worth celebrating, don’t you think?

This year, let us – you and me – be the ones to tell the stories, to tell the news.
Let everyone who lives shout and sing!
Our God is great and lives among his people!
Emmanuel! Amen.

This sermon was shared with the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, December 6, 2009, by the Reverend Clyde E. Griffith.

The Season of Advent Begins

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 20:16:00 +0000

Advent begins December 1!

Advent is a time the church concentrates on preparing for Christmas.

Although the commercial culture in which we live begins the “Christmas” season right after Halloween these days, the church traditionally celebrates twelve days of Christmas beginning Christmas Day, December 25, and ending with what is called The Epiphany, January 6.

And so, this time before Christmas, this time of Advent,
is a time for us to prepare ourselves for Christmas.

Christmas is so important to our faith.
It is so basic to our understanding of God and Jesus.
Without Christmas – and the stories that are told about it –
the rest of our faith would be nonsense.

I really like Advent and Christmas and Epiphany.
It gives us a chance to get down to the raw basics and to hear stories that impact our faith and how it gets expressed in our lives.

The Christmas stories are stories of theophanies – encounters with the holy – culminating in the ultimate theophany: Emmanuel! –
the incarnation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the Creator of all that is,
the great Jehovah,
into our very lives.
The Christmas stores are stories of cracks that occurred in the cosmic egg that traditionally separates the holy from the mundane –
cracks through which people were able to glimpse the divine,
cracks through which people encountered the holy.

During this Advent season let us purposefully focus on these encounters with the holy from days gone by – through the stories we hear and the stories we tell.

Through our telling and hearing these stores again, this Christmas, maybe, just maybe, you and I can encounter the Holy.

Oh, I am convinced that we do encounter the holy just as we hear they did in days of yore.
It’s just that usually, we don’t recognize it when it happens.
Even when the very skies open and the celestial voices sing, we are prone to ignore it –
perhaps because we are so preoccupied with enhancing our own display.

The stories of our faith are good stories.
And, they have lasted through the years because they speak of truth – truth that ring to the heart of all who hear them.

But, if we let them remain as stories of people of another time, of days gone by, we do them – and we do us – a disservice.
For, they are true.
And they speak to our reality.

This year I invite you on a quest to encounter the holy.
I am convinced that we can.
I know that we do.
Let us take this time before Christmas to sharpen our senses and to hone our skills so that, like the people in our Christmas stories, we can point to times the holy breaks through in our lives,
to recognize it when it happens,
and to celebrate when it does.

So, in church each week look for the breakthroughs in the stories of our faith and in the days of our lives.

Pay attention to the messengers of the Lord that come to us – is they did to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds.

Be alert to our dreams and heed them as Joseph and Simeon and the Magi did.

Listen for the celestial song – the music of the spheres – as the shepherds heard.

See what happens when hospitality is practiced – remembering the Innkeeper and the Table of The Lord.

And, we will learn to celebrate the incarnation – Emmanuel! – Christmas Day and every day.

This Christmas we are on a quest to encounter the holy.

That's what Advent means to me.
A time to prepare for Christmas - an event you don't want to miss - but, alas, most folks will.

Clyde E. Griffith, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Editor@NewCelebrations.com

All Saints Day - Part 3

clydegriffith@gmail.com (Reverend Clyde E Griffith) — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This Sunday, Christian Chuches all over the world remembers the saints who have touched our lives.

I have long advocated that every preacher should read John Irving's book, A Prayer For Owen Meany.

The book begins with these words:
     "I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice –
      not because of his voice,
      or because he was the smallest person I ever knew...
      but because he is the reason I believe in God;
      I am a Christian because of Owen Meany."

That sentence is the seed of the book's story and, in a curious way, it is the seed of our story as well, isn't it?

All of us believe in God because of someone.
Christ haunts us in the face of someone.
We see God in the walk or word, deed or dare of someone.
We believe in God because of some "Owen Meany",
or some group of "Owen Meany's" in our life.
We all believe in God because of someone.
We are all here today because of someone.
Today, think about who that is for you.

There is no greater power than that of calling forth such belief in another.
There is no greater power than enabling another person to see life in a way that gives hope and comfort and gladness.

Each of us has sensed the power of someone who has helped us find our way a little, not so much by their pointing it out to us as by the way they themselves walked – or walk – in this wondrous, awful world.

Think about those people – those saints – who have touched your life –
maybe unexpected people from unexpected places.
People who have called forth in us belief and hope and strength.

Today is a time for remembering those people.

The Congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard these words as part of a sermon for All Saints Day in 2006.