First Presbyterian Church Birmingham Michigan

Grateful Disobedience

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:03:23 +0000

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Guest Preacher:
The Reverend Dr. Robert Dykstra
Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology
Princeton Theological Seminary

Scripture Lesson: Luke 17:11-19

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

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The Real Superhero: Our First Mission

John Judson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:32:40 +0000

January 15, 2012

Listen

Jeremiah 16:16-18

I am now sending for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall catch them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my presence, nor is their iniquity concealed from my sight. And I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.

Mark 1: 14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

This morning we are going to begin with a name association game. I am going to give you a series of names and I want to see if you can guess what links them all together. Here we go: Enkidu, Patroclus, Aaron, Sancho Panza, Robin, Kato, Samwise, Ron, Hermione, and Porky Pig. Yes, that is correct they are sidekicks. Enkidu of Gilgamesh, Patroculus of Achilles, Aaron of Moses, Sancho Panza of Don Quixote, Robin of Batman, Samwise of Frodo, Ron and Hermione of Harry Potter and Porky Pig of Daffy Duck. What we discover in virtually every form of literature in which a hero or superhero resides is that they all have sidekicks; men or women who work directly with them in order to accomplish their mission. And Jesus is no exception. Our morning’s edition of Mark’s story of Jesus superhero has him recruiting the fantastic four; Peter, Andrew, James and John. While Jesus will recruit many more followers these four will follow him on adventures on which no one else will go.

Once Jesus has recruited the fantastic four he tells them what their first mission will be. They will be fishers of men. For many of us this image, fishers of men, is not one with which we are comfortable. It smacks using force or some sort of bait to get people to believe in Jesus or come to church. As Americans we have been taught to be very respectful of the religious and spiritual space of others and so going out and fishing for people seems a bit untoward. In the same way, but for different reasons, this mission might have seemed a bit uncomfortable for the disciples as well. It would have been uncomfortable for them because all of the Old Testament images of God calling people to fish for others had to do with judgment. God would send people to hook the unrighteous evil people in order that they be judged and punished by God. We see this is in the Jeremiah passage where the prophet is relaying God’s message about judging Israel because they have ignored God’s laws and oppressed those whom they ought to have been protecting. Either way, this mission does not appear to one on which they or we would want to embark. These issues raise a couple of questions.

The first question becomes then how are we to understand what this mission is all about? The answer in the Gospel of Mark is that we let the context tell us. And the context of this recruitment and mission is what immediately precedes it, so in verse fifteen we find the answers for which we are looking. First we find to what end we are supposed to be fishing for people? We are fishing for them so that they can be part of God’s kingdom; so that they can be in a life giving relationship with God. This fishing is not for judgment but for the renewal and restoration of life with God. Second we discover the reason people need to be fished for is that they are headed away from the Kingdom of God and toward the Kingdom of this world…meaning they are moving in directions of legalism and violence…violence which will bring destruction upon God’s people. This is why the call for repentance. Finally we discover what net we are to use to draw them, and that is the Good News. The Good News is the reality that in Jesus of Nazareth the love and grace of God has been poured out into the world for all people. The good news is that God’s love and acceptance is for all persons and not simply for the perfectly pious or politically powerful. This is a net which never forces the heart but offers individuals a glimpse of what God has in store for them.

The second question becomes then, how do we translate this recruitment and mission into our lives in the twenty-first century? In other words who are Jesus’ sidekicks supposed to be in the here and now? The answers vary. Last month I read an article by a prominent church growth expert who said the pastor is to be the sidekick. The pastor’s job, he wrote, was to go into coffee shops, playgrounds and other places where people gather and fish for men, women and children. Other people have written that the task belongs to those who are ordained to the offices of deacons and elders. These persons have been chosen to show the love and grace of God to persons both with-in and with-out of the church. Thus it is their job. Still more have said that the task belongs to those who have the spiritual gift of evangelism. They are really the sidekicks of Jesus who have been spiritually empowered for this mission. What is wonderful about all of these explanations is that it lets most of us off of the hook…so to speak.

Fortunately for those of you who are not pastors, elders, deacons or possess the spiritual gift of evangelism…you are not left out. You too are sidekicks of Jesus and you too have been given the assignment of fishing for people. I realize, as I said a moment ago, that this is not an image with which we are comfortable. But here is the bottom line of fishing with the Good News. Anytime you meet someone who is need of a loving, caring community, that accepts them as they are, that is a no shame or fear zone…all you have to do is invite them to come and check us out. It is not our job to convert anyone. That is the task of the Holy Spirit. Ours is to let people know that in a difficult world filled with tough times, there is a place where the love of God lives for them.

My friends in a world that is filled with bad news, with shame and guilt, with pain and loneliness we have good news to tell. You and I have been called to be Jesus’ sidekicks. The challenge then that I want to offer you this morning is this. To ask yourselves who is it in my life who needs to hear the good news of God’s love and how am I inviting them to hear it?

The Real Superhero: Even Heroes Need Help

John Judson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:19:23 +0000

January 15, 2012

Listen

Genesis 3:1-7

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LordGod had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Mark 1:12-13

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

It was about 12:20 in the morning on May 26^th 1977. I was sitting in a darkened theater in the Galleria shopping complex in Houston. There beside me were my two best friends and about 300 strangers. We had no idea what to expect but we had waited in line for more than four hours for the experience that was about to unfold. A few minutes into the film I realized that it was worth the wait when a very tall man, dressed all in black, including his flowing cape and helmet, sounding like he had a bad case of asthma, strode into the picture and everyone in the theatre let out with this amazing chorus of boos. . It was opening night and none of us had ever seen this film before but we instantly knew who was going to be the villain, the nemesis of the hero in this epic, space cowboy adventure called Star Wars. That man in black, Darth Vader was and is a reminder that every great super hero had his or her nemesis. Superman had Lex Luthor. Batman had the Joker. The Fantastic Four had Dr. Doom…don’t you just love that name. You can’t get much more of a villain than Dr. Doom.

What links all of this together with our story is that this morning we get to meet Jesus’ nemesis, Satan. Before we go any farther however I think we need to take a moment and discover the back story of Satan so we know a bit more about him. In the Old Testament Satan was not such a bad guy. In fact Satan worked for God. In the books of Job and Zechariah we encounter Satan working for God as a private investigator. Satan’s job was to travel the world, observe human beings and bring back all the dirt he could find. By the time of the New Testament however the view of Satan had changed. Satan had undergone a transformation through the Hebrews encounter with the Persian culture. Persian religion had a very clear understanding of a super-demonic spirit who ruled over the demons. This evil one stood in opposition to the good creator God. Judaism absorbed this idea and slowly Satan evolved into the fallen angel who stood in opposition to all the good that God hoped to achieve. So as Mark opens his story we meet Satan, who is the nemesis of our hero Jesus.

With all of that having been said however, there is one significant difference between almost every superhero nemesis and Satan. That difference is that while all of the other superhero nemeses, including Darth Vader, can inflict harm and even death on their opponents, Satan cannot. Satan’s power is limited to one weapon, temptation. The scriptures are clear that in the end God holds all power and Satan holds none. What Satan can do though is tempt humanity. I realize that this may not sound like a great deal of power…in fact in the nemesis universe it looks pretty lame. However temptation is a powerful weapon. Temptation, simply put is an invitation to make what appears to be a life-enhancing choice, but which is in reality a choice which diminishes our humanity and dims the image of God within us. Let me say that again. Temptation, simply put is an invitation to make what appears to be a life-enhancing choice, but which is in reality a choice which diminishes our humanity and dims the image of God within us. We how powerful this power to tempt is in our Old Testament Lesson in which Adam and Eve make what appears to be a life enhancing choice, eating the fruit to make them as wise as God, only to find that their choice diminished their humanity and began to extinguish the image of God within them. We see this in that they become self-conscious, fearful and ashamed. They even hide from God.

This morning we find our hero Jesus in a similar situation; he has been driven out into the wilderness to be tempted by his nemesis Satan. Granted this may appear a bit confusing. Surely, we say to ourselves, God would want to keep God’s Son away from temptation. My response to that is that ultimately such protection is impossible. Jesus, as fully human, could not live in a fallen world and avoid temptation. In addition the closer Jesus moved to the completion of his mission to bring life to the world the greater the temptations to abandon that mission would become. What Jesus needed then was a temptation boot camp. Jesus needed to meet his nemesis head on, experience the greatest temptations that Satan had to offer and resist them. Only by so doing would Jesus be prepared for all of the temptations that were to follow. This wilderness struggle was necessary for Jesus to endure and succeed in his mission to give his life for the world.

Every Sunday we pray that God will not do the same to us. We pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” While we may often pray this without thinking about it, we know we mean it because we already live in a time and place of great temptation. We live in a world which is constantly tempting us to make choices which could diminish our humanity and dim the image of God within us. We are tempted to believe that the choices labeled accumulation, appearance and achievement are the paths to the ultimate fullness of life. We are tempted to believe that the choices of power, prestige and privilege are the paths to the real fullness of life. Yet we know deep inside that while there is nothing inherently wrong with any of those choices, they can, if we are not careful lead us away from God’s call upon our lives and diminish our humanity. Every day then we are faced with a multiplicity of choices which look really, really good yet in the end could extinguish the image of God within us. The question for us is how can we possibly manage to resist?

The answer can be found in Mark’s short but powerful description of Jesus’ temptation. The answer is that Jesus had help. In the other Gospels Jesus and Satan go mano-y-mano. But in Mark we hear that Jesus was with the wild animals and the angels ministered to him. The wild animals represent God’s good creation. The animals were a reminder that just as God cared for the wild creatures of this earth God would care for Jesus. The angels were a more concrete demonstration of God’s constant love love and care. The angels were not there to protect Jesus but to undergird him with their presence. Ultimately Jesus had to choose. Jesus had to choose which path he would take, but God insured that as he chose he was not alone, but was undergirded by God’s creation and creatures.

In the same way you and I are not alone when we make our choices. We are not alone when we face temptations because we too are undergirded not only by “the better angels of our nature” as Lincoln called them but we are undergirded by Christ and this community. In this place we can come and be redirected on our way. Through scripture, worship, friendship, prayer, study and community we can have our lives reoriented toward the path of life God has set before us. We can have questions answered. We can have corrective directions offered. We can have new insights offered. Ultimately each of us must make our own decisions. We must choose which path to take. Yet the good news is that we do not travel or choose alone. We choose in the midst of a loving and supportive family of faith which is guided by the presence and power of Christ himself.

For those of you who watched the Star Wars movies you know that the secret of the hero’s success was that he was part of an ancient and present community which had taught him how to discern between what would enhance and what would diminish life. He chose wisely as in the end did even Darth Vader. The challenge then with which I would like to leave you is this, to ask yourselves, “How am I allowing this ancient and yet present community to help guide the choices that I make, that I might resist the choices that diminish me and make the choices that lead to life?”

The Real Superhero: a Peter Parker Moment

John Judson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:57:09 +0000

January 8, 2012

Listen

Mark 1:1-11

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
   “Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight” ’,
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

Genesis 4:8-16

Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’ Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And theLord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

The Real Superhero: a Peter Parker Moment

It was a time to decide. Peter Parker had to make a choice. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Peter’s story here is a synopsis. Peter was orphaned at a young age when his parents were killed in a plane crash. He was then raised by his aunt and uncle. As he entered his late teen years he was unexpectedly bitten by a spider which had been dosed with radioactivity. Rather than becoming ill, Peter discovered that he had been given amazing strength and unusual powers. His first inclination was to use these powers to benefit himself; which he does by winning a wrestling tournament and the prize money that went to the victor. On his way home he encountered a burglar. Rather than using his powers to stop the thief, he let him go. Unfortunately the burglar ransacked Peter’s home and killed his uncle. It is in that moment that Peter realized that he must make a choice. He had to decide once and for all how he would use the power that had been given to him.

It was time to decide. Jesus had a choice to make. Jesus was about thirty years old and had been playing the role that his family and society had expected of him. He had been the obedient child; learned a trade at his father’s knee. Jesus had been the older brother; the good student of the Torah; the head of the house upon Joseph’s death. We are not told much about Jesus and the discernment process he went through which led him into his mission to the world but what we do know though, as the Gospel of Mark will point out, was that he was imbued with great power. And so when John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness proclaiming that he was preparing the way for the one, the messiah to arise, Jesus had to decide if he was the one. He had to choose to put himself out there and discover if he was indeed the one called to usher in the Kingdom of God. The time to decide had come; continue leading his family or lead God’s people.

Peter Parker made his decision. He chose according to one axiom: with great power comes great responsibility. Peter believed that for whatever reason he had been given his gifts of power that they brought with them great responsibility. They needed to be used to protect the innocent and defeat those who would harm others. Jesus made the same choice. Leaving his home in Nazareth he met John in the wilderness and allowed himself to be baptized. In essence he humbled himself to the work of God rather than the work society and family would have him to do. My guess is that many of us have never considered what a difficult choice this must have been. As a child I sort of assumed that on Jesus’ wall calendar there was a note on his 30^th birthday; go save the world. What I would like us to consider though is that this was a very, very difficult choice to make. He would have to stand against the pressure of his family, his friends and his society. It would have been much easier to be the local boy, healer made good. Yet by going to John he chose to risk everything to see if he, Jesus was indeed the chosen one of God.

An interesting thing happens to both Peter and Jesus upon making their choice; they were given secret identities. Peter of course, in comic book land, becomes Spider Man; the web-slinger who will forever be young and battle villains. Jesus is given a new identity as well; he is given the title Son of God. This gift of the new identity into which he will have to live is offered in an amazing moment. As Jesus emerged from the water following his baptism, the Holy Spirit, in the form of dove descends upon him, and a voice from heaven proclaims that he is God’s beloved son. This identity forms the core of the story in Mark. It is an identity into which Jesus is going to have to live while keeping it secret. Only in the final chapter of Mark after his death on the cross will the world come to understand who Jesus really is.

It is time to choose. Just as Peter Parker and Jesus of Nazareth had to choose what to do with the great power and gifts they have been give so too do we. I realize that few of us would think of ourselves as superheroes, unless it is of course grill-man who can cook the perfect steak or budget-woman who can make a small paycheck meet everyone’s needs. None-the-less we are indeed superheroes who have been called to live into our secret identities. What is our secret identity you may ask? It is that we are children of the Covenant. We are children of God who in our baptisms have been claimed, gifted and sent out by God to accomplish great deeds on God’s behalf. The issue for most of us though is that we were baptized as children. We were baptized before we could remember. What this means is that one day, perhaps at our confirmation, perhaps much later in life we have to choose to live into that baptism. We have to choose to make the claim of God on our lives a reality. We have to choose to use the gifts that God has given to us make a difference in the world. We have to choose to live by the axiom, with great power comes great responsibility.

Bob was gifted in many ways. In high school he was an all-state football player and a brilliant student. He went to the Air force academy to play football. While an injury ended his athletic career, he continued with his excellent academics, which led him to medical school and to a specialty in ophthalmology. Over the years he had been a nominal church goer. One day his wife Betsey dragged him to church with her…to the church I pastored in San Antonio. Slowly Bob began to feel more at home at Covenant and then over time began to claim his identity as a child of the Covenant. His life changed though when he went on his first medical mission. He began to discern that with great gifts, comes great responsibility. This realization ultimately led him to care for the homeless in his office and ultimately to found I Care San Antonio. I Care is a non-profit organization that serves the poor and homeless with eye care needs in San Antonio and Mexico. Since 1991 they have performed more than 1,000 eye surgeries and provided more than 15,000 pairs of glasses. While to the outside world Bob looks like any other ordinary guy, to those whom he has helped to give sight, he is a super-hero. He is someone who has lived into his baptismal identity.

It is time to choose. Each of us in one way or another have been given great gifts. While we might not be able to give the gift of sight to another person we can offer all that we have and all that we are. We may have the ability to offer the love, grace and acceptance of God to those who need to find a friend. We may have the ability to pray for those in need and lift them before God. We may have the ability to serve others in small and great ways. We may have the ability to write a check so that children and adults might not go hungry. We might have the ability to mentor at risk children. We might have the ability to tutor those who are falling behind in school. We might have the ability…well you get the idea. Our calling then is to live into our baptismal identity as did Jesus of Nazareth, trusting that even as God used Jesus to offer salvation to the world, God will use us to impact one small portion of it.

The challenge then with which I want to leave you this week is this: to ask yourselves, how am I living into my baptismal identity and living out the axiom that with great power and gifts, comes great responsibility?

Listen to Christmas and New Years Sermons

John Judson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:21:27 +0000

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011, 8pm

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011, 11pm

Christmas Day, December 25, 2011, 10am

New Years Day, January 1, 2012, 10am

Once Upon a Time: The Right Message

John Judson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:42:48 +0000

Christmas Day, December 25, 2011

Listen

Luke 2:1-20

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful upon the mountains
   are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
   who announces salvation,
   who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
   together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see
   the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing,
   you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
   he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm
   before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
   the salvation of our God.

It was halftime and we were down. Since I was the coach and had recruited all of the players I decided that what was needed was a great halftime speech to inspire them. If we were to have any chance of victory the team would have to step up their game. I thought about all of the speeches I had heard over my life regardless of the sport and wondered what I ought to say to my disheartened players. Granted, it was just coed intramural basketball, but none the less, I needed to say something. As I was considering my options I glanced once more at the score board, took in the reality that we were down about 50 to 8, took a deep breath and said something like, “Well we are not going to win this game. So go out and have some fun.” I realize that it was not “win one for the Gipper” but I thought it was the right message for the moment.

This morning what I would like you to do is to think of our story from Luke as a halftime tale. The first half of God’s salvation story has come to a close. It has been an uneven half. There was God’s very, very good creation followed by humanity’s fall where we forgot all the plays God had taught us. There was God’s choosing a people, offering an eternal covenant but then God’s people landing in captivity. Next God, with a mighty arm, as the story goes, freed God’s people and led them toward the Promised Land. However, God’s people decided that the Promised Land was filled with giants and so they wanted to go back to Egypt…their opponents were far too powerful to oppose. Once again God waited, let a generation die off and then helped them occupy their new abode. The rest of the half was filled with ups and downs as God’s people were faithful one day and unfaithful the next. Now at halftime, the people are down. They were occupied, oppressed and depressed. They were waiting for God to send the right coach, the messiah, to lead them to victory in the second half.

You can imagine then that when the moment of the Messiah's arrival finally came the people would be expecting the greatest halftime speech of all time. They would be expecting God’s message to be one of victory and power and the defeat of the opponents, the Romans. So when the angels appeared in the sky to announce that the messiah had been born there would have been great expectation. “Behold, we bring you good news of great joy, today in the city of David has been born to you a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Yeah, go on! “This will be a sign to you: you will find the child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Immediately there were other angels and the halftime talk continued, “Glory be to God in heaven and peace to all humankind.” This is great! But wait, where is the, we are going to kick the Romans’ can? Where is the, we are going to beat the enemy? What is this peace to all people? Hey what kind of halftime speech is this?

Most of us have become so accustomed to the Christmas story that we seldom step back and look at it with First Century eyes. The nation of Israel was in crisis. The people were desperate for the new coach to lead them to victory. The message that the angels offered then, while being somewhat helpful was probably not what they were expecting to hear. Yet in the end, it was the right message for the moment. And we see that it was the right message because of the shepherds’ response. They leave their sheep, head into town, find the baby Jesus and give thanks. This would indeed seem to be counterintuitive; why would they give thanks when the message was not what they expected and hardly seemed to meet the need of the moment? The answer I would argue was in the final unanticipated words, peace on earth among all humankind. Victory is great but peace is better.

The history of our world is usually told in terms of wars and conquests; victories and defeats. We remember the great conquerors; Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Attila the Hun. What we forget are the people whose lives were ruined or destroyed by the conquerors egos and the edges of their swords. We forget that who ultimately pays the price of conquest are the ordinary people whose livelihoods and lives are taken from them. We forget that most of humanity, from beginning to end has had one dream…peace. They and we dream of living in a time and place where we can earn a living, raise our children and enjoy the best that God’s creation has to offer. Peace is the end game for which most of us yearn. It is understandable then why these shepherds would be thrilled with the unexpected and yet and wonderful words of the angels. Here comes a messiah who will bring you peace. Here comes a messiah who will bring peace to the entire world. This is good news! This is great news!

I was blessed to have spent the first few years of my ministry serving as an associate pastor under a man named Duncan Stewart. Duncan, other than actually being Scottish had the distinction of being one of the most highly decorated chaplains in US military history. He had been an infantryman in the Pacific in the Second World War, earning a bronze star and at least one Purple Heart. He then spent more than 25 years as a chaplain retiring as full colonel after having been twice considered for chief chaplain of the Army. As someone who had served in three major wars; World War Two, Korea and Vietnam, one thing Duncan wanted was peace. And so what he taught me that as followers of Christ we were to be peace builders. He liked that term, peace builder, because he said that is what one does. One builds peace one relationship, one community, one nation, and one world at a time. I believe that on this Christmas morning that is the message we are given; that as followers of the Prince of Peace, we are to be peace builders; one relationship, one community, one nation and one world at a time.

Halftime is over. It is time to get back in the game. Let’s get back in it and allow Jesus to show us how to be peace builders in this world.

Once Upon A Time: Silence and Shouting

Amy Morgan — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:59:03 +0000

December 18, 2011

Once Upon A Time: Silence and Shouting

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Isaiah 9:2-7

The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
   on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
   you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
   as with joy at the harvest,
   as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
   and the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor,
   you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
   and all the garments rolled in blood
   shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
   and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
   He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
   from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Luke 1:57-80

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbours, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’ For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah’s Prophecy

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a mighty saviour for us

in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,

and has remembered his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,

to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,

might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness

before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

by the forgiveness of their sins.

By the tender mercy of our God,

the dawn from on high will break upon us,

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.

He was just trying to be helpful, I’m sure.

As my phone buzzed from inside my purse in the quiet examining room, the doctor said, “You know, you can turn that on silent.”

I sighed apologetically.

“I know I should be able to,” I replied, “but I haven’t been able to figure out how.”

“Well, every phone has a silent setting,” the doctor continued.

Wishing he would keep his advice to things of a medical nature, I gave him a strained smile and said, “I’m sure they do, but mine is difficult to figure out.”

“It wastes your battery,” he said.

Honestly.

I reached over to my purse on the countertop and pulled out my phone, showing him how all the buttons that would normally silence any other phone only managed to quiet mine to that low buzz. I tossed the phone back into my purse with enough frustration to communicate to the doctor that I’d like him to get back to my routine examination so that I could eventually get out of his office and return the phone call I’d so obviously missed.

He was just trying to be helpful, I’m sure, but I was frustrated because I wanted a medical check-up and instead got less-than-helpful technical advice.

I wonder if Zechariah thought, if only for a moment, “They’re only trying to be helpful.”

As his neighbors and relatives bantered on about what to name his son, he sat there, mute.

“No one in your family is named John.”

“Surely he should be named after his father.”

“Of course Zechariah would want his first son to bear his name.”

As Elizabeth tried to insist that Zechariah wanted the child to be named John, Zechariah’s frustration surely mounted. He was unable to speak, and had been for months, but he knew the child must be named John.

True, it was the custom to name a first-born son after his father. True, John was not a family name. But the naming of this child was unique.

They were just trying to be helpful, but Zechariah was frustrated because he wanted his family and neighbors to rejoice with him in the birth of his son, but he really wished they’d keep their noses out of the naming business.

The very first story told in the gospel of Luke is that of Zechariah serving in the temple of God. While he performed his priestly duty, an angel of God appeared to him and told him he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son and should name him John. This child would make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

But Zechariah didn’t take the angel at his word. He had come to the temple to participate in a ritual. He expected to perform his priestly duty and go on with his life. And he was so bound by this sense of what he expected and so caught up in performing a ritual that he failed to believe a divine messenger. Zechariah asked how he would know these things would happen. He and Elizabeth were old. What the angel was proposing was nothing short of miraculous. Zechariah wanted proof. He wanted a sign.

The angel said, “Really? Really?” (and I’m paraphrasing here) “There is an angel standing here talking to you. That isn’t sign enough? That isn’t enough to make you believe?”

So the angel gave Zechariah a sign. Zechariah was made mute until he saw the truth in what the angel told him. Zechariah was going to have to wait in silence. He was going to have to just wait and see.

My grandmother loves the prayer, “God, put your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.” She likes the prayer so much she had it printed on dozens of pens that she now gives away as gifts. Essentially, it’s a prayer that reminds us to be silent and wait. To just wait and see.

And my grandmother feels called to spread the message of this prayer because, really, we’re not very good at waiting, watching for what God is about to do in the world and in our lives.

I wonder if, in God’s divine better moments, God thinks, “They’re just trying to be helpful.”

We have this sense that we are responsible somehow for Christmas. We buy presents and put up decorations, we bake and send cards and throw parties as if the very coming of Christ depended on it.

Advent is a season of preparation and repentance. But most of us experience it more as a season of planning and partying. In a season where historically Christians have fasted and prayed, we generally feast and play.

But we’re just trying to be helpful, right? We’re doing what we can to spread Christmas cheer, to get in the spirit of Christmas, and to make this a memorable time for our family and friends.

I have a little note on my office door that reads, “Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.” And I think how true that is of this time of year. If God could just make sure we have enough money for gifts and enough time to decorate and enough energy to celebrate, that would be just great. If God could see to it that the sorrowful are comforted and the lonely are loved and the poor are cared for, that would be even better. Somehow, it’s not enough that God became incarnate, that God is with us, and that God has promised to come again. That has ceased to be shocking. It is no longer wondrous.

And so we get caught up in traditions and rituals – the Christmas of our own making – and we miss the divine message right in front of us. We fail to believe in the possibility of God’s “Once Upon a Time” story becoming real.

In Zechariah’s story, the birth of a child – of two children, actually – prompts his voice to return to him. When he gives his son the name given to him by the angel – breaking with tradition, forgetting about customs – we know that he has seen and believed in God’s story. It has become real for him. And out of that reality, he shouts out praises to God and prophetic truth. His prophesy echoes that of Isaiah, telling of God shining light into our darkness and bring peace on earth.

Children can help us believe in God’s story as well. In large part, we think about Christmas as a time for children. And, in fact, they are, for the most part, much better at preparing for Christmas than most adults. They are generally free from those responsibilities we laden ourselves with at this time of year. They get to watch the beauty of the season emerge. They wait in hopeful anticipation for what will happen on Christmas Day. They even experience repentance as they strive to remain on Santa’s “nice” list. They aren’t trying to help God out. They aren’t trying to make Christmas happen. They allow Christmas to happen to them. They experience wonder and joy. They wait and see.

What might happen if we asked God to “Put your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth?” Might it be like Isaiah protesting that he is a man of unclean lips? Might it be like God silencing Zechariah? Might we be able to wait and see and experience the wonder and joy of God’s story becoming real in the very lives we live and in the world around us?

I still haven’t figured out how to silence my cell phone.

But my greater challenge this season, and my challenge to all of us, is to figure out how to wait in silence. How to wait and see. I invite you to give yourselves the gift of silence, the gift of hopeful anticipation. When God’s story becomes our reality, I look forward to hearing our voices shouting praises to God and prophetic truth. May our lives and our voices echo the prophesies of Isaiah and Zechariah, telling of God shining light in to our darkness and bringing peace on earth.

Once Upon a Time: The Most Dangerous Season

John Judson — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:41:24 +0000

December 11, 2011

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Isaiah 61:1-11

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to

the oppressed,
   to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
   and the day of vengeance of our God;
   to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
   to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
   the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
   they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
   the devastations of many generations.

Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
foreigners shall till your land and dress

your vines;
but you shall be called priests of the Lord,
   you shall be named ministers of our God;
you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations,
   and in their riches you shall glory.
Because their shame was double,
   and dishonour was proclaimed as their lot,
therefore they shall possess a double portion;
   everlasting joy shall be theirs.

For I the Lord love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant

with them.
Their descendants shall be known among

the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the Lord

has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments

of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of

righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in

it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness

and praise
to spring up before all the nations.

Luke 1:46-55

And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness

of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will

call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
   and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
   from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts

of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from

their thrones,
   and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
   in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to

our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

I want to begin this morning with having us play a Christmas version of Name That Tune. I am going to play two pieces of music for you and first I want you to identify them and then we will have a vote as to which is the most appropriate Christmas music. Here is the first clip. (play Handel’s “For Unto Us a Child is Born” from the Messiah). OK so what is the piece? Yes, that is correct it is Handel. So here is the second piece. (play the opening theme to the movie Jaws). OK, so what was that piece. Some of you got it immediately. It was indeed the opening theme to the movie Jaws; a movie so frightening that one of my friends, after having watched it, could not only not go back in the ocean for years, could not even take a bath for a year. Now comes the second part of our quiz. Which of these pieces of music is more appropriate for Christmas? Let me see a show of hands. For Handel…most of you. For the Jaws theme…not so many. Well what if I were to tell you that I think the Jaws theme fits better because Christmas is the most dangerous season of the year?

When I say that Christmas is the most dangerous season I am not referring to the fact that you might get pepper sprayed at Wal-Mart while you fight over the last discounted I-pad; or because you may have a coronary when you see your VISA bill in January. I believe it is the most dangerous season because of what Mary had to say upon becoming pregnant with the one who would save the world. I realize that for most of us Protestants this whole Mary thing seems a bit much, but she actually had a lot to say. We read the passage earlier this morning as it is usually read…through the lens of what the church, including John Calvin by the way, referred to as the Blessed Virgin, meek and mild. Now I want to read it again through the lens of a young woman who lives as a part of an oppressed people; who has been raised to believe that God will act on behalf of God’s oppressed people just as God acted against the Egyptians in the Exodus. Let’s hear it again. (reread the passage with anger and power).

Do you hear the difference? What Mary is proclaiming is that God takes down empires. Mary is proclaiming that God levels the playing field by taking down the rich, the powerful and the proud while lifting up the poor and powerless. Mary is doing this because this is what God does. God levels the playing the field of humanity. This was the same point that Isaiah was making more than four hundred years earlier. Isaiah was anointed to tell the poor and powerless that God was going to level the playing field by taking the Babylonians down a peg or two; which is exactly what happened. Babylon was taken out by the Persians. Then the Persians when they became too proud were taken out by the Greeks. Then the Greeks when they became too proud were taken out by the Romans…and you get the picture. Mary proclaims that God has leveled the playing field in the past and is going to do it in the future…and this time God is going to do it through her son…which is why this is the most dangerous season of the year. Jesus is coming to level the playing field.

I understand that this idea may appear a bit foreign to many of us this morning; that God would be about leveling the playing field. Yet it is at the heart of this entire story (the Biblical story). We can find its roots referred to in our Isaiah text. The prophet speaks of proclaiming the “Year of the Lord’s Favor.” This Year of the Lord’s Favor is the Jubilee year described in Leviticus. The Jubilee year was supposed to occur every 49 years…or once every generation. In that year all debts were cancelled. In that year all land that had been sold outside the family was to be returned to its original owners. Sounds pretty dangerous doesn’t it? The purpose of this Year of the Lord’s Favor was twofold. First it was a reminder that everything, meaning all land and goods belong to God and not to those who occupy them. Second it was a way of insuring that everyone benefited from God’s creation. God’s intent for creation was never that a few have much and everyone else has little. The intent for creation was that there was enough for everyone and that at least once every generation the playing field was re-leveled and people had a chance to begin again.

What then are we to do with this? How are we, as those who have much, supposed to respond to Mary’s proclamation that Christ came into the world to level the playing field? One way we might think about this is through another Once Upon a Time, but sort of real story; the story of the original St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was a real person. He served as a bishop in the Fourth Century in what we know as modern day Turkey. He was credited with several great miracles, only one of which I want us to remember today…and it is not the one about gifts and stockings. This miracle has to do with wheat. It begins with a famine in the area in which Nicholas served. One day at the local port he notices men loading grain aboard a ship which is headed for the capitol and the Emperor. Nicholas tries to convince the men to share their wheat. They are hesitant because they have weighed the wheat and unless the wheat weighs the same when it arrives at the capitol they will be in serious trouble. Nicholas prays about the situation and then tells the men that if they will trust him and God, and share the wheat, he will promise that the wheat will weigh the same when it arrives at the capitol. They agree, offload the wheat and head out on their journey. The wheat they offload is enough to feed Nicholas’ people and provide seed grain for two more years. The wheat that arrives at the capitol…weighs the same. Nicholas was leveling the playing the field by insuring that the lowly had enough and were able for their needs and could share in the best that God’s creation had to offer. He insured as well that the powerful shared what they had. His other miracles all pointed in the same direction.

Perhaps then our response to Mary’s proclamation is to become those who, like Nicholas, work at leveling the playing field. In other words if we are to be followers of Mary’s son, the one who came to scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts; to bring down the powerful and raise up the lowly; to fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty then maybe we need to be Christ’s co-levelers. In a way we at First Presbyterian Church have made a good beginning of doing this. Many of you work for companies that provide people with a living wage at work and by so doing you are helping to level the playing field. Many of us work to help students in low performing public schools gain the skills they need to make it in this world. Others of us work with charter schools in other areas to insure low income students can make it in the world. As a congregation we fund the training to nursing students in Haiti that they might improve the health of their nation. Through deacons and individual efforts we support agencies such as Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners which make it possible for the hungry to eat. We also work with the Foster Care programs to help insure that every child has a loving family. These are but a few of the ways in which we together, are working to insure that all of God’s people have the opportunity to share in the goodness of God’s creation.

This is the most dangerous season of the year because it reminds us that Jesus came not just to save souls but to begin the great leveling process of humanity. This is the most dangerous season because it calls us to work alongside Christ as the levelers of the world; to risk what we have that all might participate and enjoy this amazing creation. The question for this week then is, “How am I, in the name of Christ, helping to level the playing field of this world?”

Once Upon a Time for Real: A Word of Hope

John Judson — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:29:29 +0000

December 4, 2011

Once Upon a Time for Real: A Word of Hope

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Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, O comfort my people,
   says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and cry to her
that she has served her term,
   that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
   double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
   make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
   and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
   and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
   and all people shall see it together,
   for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

A voice says, ‘Cry out!’
And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades,
   when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
   surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades;
   but the word of our God will stand for ever.
Get you up to a high mountain,
   O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
   O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
   lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
   ‘Here is your God!’
See, the Lord God comes with might,
   and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
   and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
   he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
   and gently lead the mother sheep.

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

They needed a word of hope. Nationally unemployment stood at 25%. Gross Domestic Product, the total output of goods and services had fallen by more than 40%. The Dow Jones had declined by 90%. The suicide rate had risen by 20%. Real investment in the economy had declined by 83%. Wages had fallen by 20%. And even the fertility rate had declined by a similar percentage. The year was 1934. The place was the United States. The event was the Great Depression. Many of you lived through it. Many of you were shaped by it. But in those dark days the nation needed a word of hope. And so they turned to the man they had elected as president in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Now I realize that FDR was either beloved or despised. Regardless though of how people felt he understood that part of his role was to bring a word of hope. He did so not only with reading the comics to the nation on Sunday mornings or with his “fire-side chats” but also with phrases such as:

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world on the horizon.
There is nothing to fear but fear itself.
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

FDR got it. He was to offer hope for better future.

They needed a word of hope. The people of first century Judea and Galilee needed a word of hope. They needed a word because farmers were being driven off of their lands by taxes and the incredible interest they had to pay on loans to purchase seed. People in small communities were going hungry because the produce of the nation was being bought up by traders to sell in the large cities and to Rome itself. Their national religion, that of worshipping YHWH was in danger by the rapid growth of Greco-Roman cities in which foreign gods were worshipped and foreign customs were being practiced. And above all of this was the reality that Rome ruled them. Rome was the foreign power that took what it wanted. So into that reality stepped John the Baptizer. John brought a word of hope; a word of hope from God. Returning to the words of the prophet Isaiah John reminded the people that God was not done with them; that God was still getting ready to do something new.

I am the messenger who is preparing the way for God’s messiah
God’s messiah is on his way so get ready.

John was offering a word of hope.

John however was doing more than offering a word of hope; he was calling people to get ready for the reality of that hope. When John called upon people to be baptized for the repentance of sins he was literally asking them to turn their backs on one way of seeing the world and to open their eyes to the new thing that God was doing. He wanted people to be ready to see this messiah who could come and set God’s people free. John offered a word of hope along with a ritual action which would prepare people to see the hope when it arrived.

We need a word of hope. We live in the midst of the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression. At other times there have been recessions which have hit parts of the nation for short periods of time, but now we are in a downturn which is impacting not only the entire nation but the entire world. Our economic fate is still tied up with Europe, China and the rest of the world. We live in a metro area in which Detroit is on the verge of bankruptcy, their schools continue to fail, the state is cutting back on education funding and the government in DC cannot agree on a budget that will help set us on the road to recovery. We need a word of hope; which is why I am so grateful that Advent has arrived. I am grateful not just because Black Friday and Cyber Monday were such great successes; or because there are predictions of more jobs here in Michigan, but because I am reminded that God is still at work in the world. The words of John and Isaiah are not mere once upon a time words. They are words that speak of the reality of God’s love for and action in the world.

The gift of this day however is that it offers us more than a word of hope. We are offered an opportunity to turn toward that hope. We are invited to come to this table and be reminded that the God of the universe is also the God who cares for each of; that the God of this universe cared enough to come in human form to give us new life; that the God of this universe cared enough to offer us a place in which hope is always found. We are enabled to hear that Isaiah’s words and John’s words were not merely intended for some lost moments in time, but that they were intended for our moment as well. As we say in our communion liturgy, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. God is still at work…and so we have hope. My challenge to you this morning then is to ask yourself these questions, “How am I living into this hope in my life? How is the hope Advent offers changing the way I see and relate to the world around me.”

Once Upon a Time for Real: Trusting in God

John Judson — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:07:04 +0000

November 27, 2011

Once Upon a Time for Real: Trusting in God

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Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Isaiah 7:10-17

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.’

I was standing on the edge of the porch, my back facing outwards, my arms crossed and I was supposed to fall backwards with complete trust that the people standing behind me were going to catch me. It was probably 1970 and people were into trust exercises. This had been a youth group exercise and I had been one of the catchers, which was actually an amazing experience. People would cross their arms, close their eyes and fall…and we would catch them. Regardless of their weight, the shared strength of the group would insure that they never fell to the ground. But now it was my time to fall. Honestly I could not tell you what was going through my conscious mind at the moment I fell, but I can tell you what my subconscious was saying. “Who are these people? You can’t trust these people! Protect yourself!” I know this because as I fell my arms came out to brace myself, and like a missile I shot right through their arms. The ground hurt.

Trust is an amazing thing isn’t it. Most of us are fortunate enough to learn how to trust as infants. We cry and someone picks us. They change our diapers, feed us or simply hold us close. That closeness allows us then to go out into the big world and trust complete strangers. However what most of us learn along the way is that there are people we can trust and those we cannot trust. Most of us learn this early on in school. We discover that there are certain people to whom we can tell our deepest secrets and they will keep them as surely as if they were locked into a vault without a key. We also discover that there are other people that if we were to tell them our deepest secrets we might as well put them on Facebook, Twitter and the Five O’clock news because everyone will know our secrets within five minutes. We discover that there are people we can trust to work with on projects. They will get their parts done. Then there are other people that we hope and pray the teacher will not put in our groups because they never do their part. Two categories…those we can and those we cannot trust.

The question for God’s people has always been into which of these two categories does God fall? Is God someone we can trust? Or is God someone on whom we can’t really depend? I realize that the answer to this question ought to be obvious, but sometimes in real life it isn’t. Sometimes the situations in real life are so difficult and trying that we wonder if God will come through? So this morning we will spend some time with two “Once Upon a Time for Real” stories which hopefully will help us understand into which category God ought to go.

The first story is about a king named Ahaz. Ahaz had a problem. There were two other kings who wanted to take away his kingdom and make someone else king because he refused to work with them to defeat some people called the Assyrians. Ahaz had two choices as to what to do. He could trust God because God had already told Ahaz that God would protect him. But Ahaz could also trust in the Assyrians who said that they would come to his rescue if he sided with them. Our passage speaks of God even giving Ahaz a sign as proof of God’s trustworthiness. So which choice did he make?

Our second story is a more familiar one. It concerns Joseph, as in Mary and Joseph. Joseph as we will discover is engaged to Mary. He discovers that she is pregnant and he knows that the child is not his. He plans to put her away. An angel arrives and tells him that the baby is God’s and Joseph is to stay with Mary and adopt Jesus. Joseph has a choice. He can trust the religious Law which says he ought to divorce Mary or he can trust God and God’s angels. So which choice did he make?

What is fascinating to me is that they made different choices. Ahaz chose the Assyrians. He in fact paid them money to destroy his enemies…which they did, even though the enemies were also Hebrews who worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Afterwards Ahaz had an altar to the gods of Assyria made and placed in the Temple in Jerusalem. What is sad though is chances are had he trusted Isaiah and God, all of God’s people might have survived. Joseph on the other hand chose to trust in God. He married Mary and took Jesus in as his own son. By so doing Jesus became a descendant of David and savior of the world.

So the question is into which of the two categories does God fall; the one composed of those we trust or the one in which we place those we cannot trust? I hope that our “once upon a time for real stories” show that ~~the~~ God not only belongs in the “whom we can trust” category but also defines what that category looks like. In each case God was faithful to the promises that God had made. God took care of those who were oppressing Ahaz’s people and God sent a messiah through Mary. Granted, these are only two stories. If that were all there were we might not have much of a case for trusting God. But the wondrous thing is, is that there are more stories. The first place we can find them is in this book (the Bible). From beginning to end it is filled with stories of God’s absolute faithfulness. The second place we can find them is in our lives. My guess is that many of you here this morning have your own “Once Upon a Time for Real” story of God’s faithfulness to you…which brings me this week’s challenge, or perhaps better put, assignment, if you choose to take it.

What I am asking you to do is to write down a “Once Upon a Time for Real” story when God was faithful to you; when you learned that you could trust God. Then, if you are willing send it to me, and you can change all of the names if you wish, so that I can put them in the back of the church. My hope is that by so doing we will discover that God can continue to be trusted now and always.