Sermons + Mensajes

August 5, 2009 + “Be Prepared!” (Luke 12: 32-40) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:40:00 +0000

A certain lord kept a fool or jester in the house as great men did in olden times for their amusement. This lord gave a staff to his fool and told him to keep it until he met a greater fool than himself, and if he met such a person, a greater fool, he should give him the staff.

Not many years later, the lord fell sick. His fool came to see him and was told of the lord’s illness. The fool asked, “Whither wilt thou go?” “On a long journey,” said the lord. “And when wilt thou come back again,” asked the fool, “within a month?” “No,” said the master. “Within a year?” asked the fool. “No, never,” responded the master. “And what provisions hast thou made for thy long journey?” asked the fool. “None at all,” replied the master.

“Thou meanest thou art dying, going way forever,” said the fool, “and thou hast made no provisions before thy departure? No plans, no nothing? Here, take my staff for I am not guilty of any folly as that. Thou art a greater fool than I am.”

Are you like the master, a fool, because you have not planned for that last journey? Harsh though it sounds, that is the statement in our Gospel lesson for this week. It speaks about being ready for the coming of Christ. It speaks of our Hope.

As Paul wrote to the Romans, “…we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. …we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:22-25).

Not long before his death, Henri Nouwen wrote a book entitled “Sabbatical Journeys,” in which he wrote about some friends of his who were trapeze artists, called the Flying Roudellas. They told Nouwen that there is a special relationship between the flyer and catcher on the trapeze. This relationship is governed by important rules, such as “The flyer is the one who lets go, and the catcher is the one who catches.” As the flyer swings on the trapeze high above the crowd, the moment comes when he must let go. He flings his body out in mid-air. His job is to keep flying and wait for the strong hands of the catcher to take hold of him at just the right moment. One of the Flying Roudellas told Nouwen, “The flyer must never try to catch the catcher.” The flyer’s job is to wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him, but he must wait.

Nouwen said, “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.” Waiting is not a static state, it is a time when God is working behind the scenes, and the primary focus of his work is on us. I like Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Romans 8:24, “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. God is creating his life within us, and we must wait for it to come to full term.”

The second point is we are to wait expectantly. Gary Preston tells a story in his book “Character Forged from Conflict,” that illustrates how we are to wait. He writes: “Back when the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, there was a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large noisy office. In the background a telegraph clicked away. A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed the job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man completed the form and sat down with several other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? They muttered among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily disqualified for the job. Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office escorted by the interviewer, who announced to the other applicants, ‘Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man.’ The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and then one spoke up, ‘Wait a minute! I don’t understand. He was the last one to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair.’ The employer replied, ‘All the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out this message in Morse code: “If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.” None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. So the job is his.’”

The young man got the job because he was not just waiting – all the others were waiting – but he was waiting expectantly. We, you and I, are all sitting in the waiting room. But it is how we wait, and what we do with the waiting, that is important. Waiting does not mean just sitting down and doing nothing. You have to be watching and looking for God to fulfill His promise. You have to believe He is going to do it. We could miss what He is doing because we are just waiting without expecting God to really come through.

Finally, Jesus is reminding us that we are accountable to Him for the faith lives which we live. Our Lord challenges us to be faithful at all times as we walk our journey of trusting in Him. Our faith is not something which we turn on and off, but something which is always prevalent in our lives. Jesus wants us to be accountable in our faithfulness, a faithfulness based on the promises of God as we find them in the Bible and we are asked to have the same kind of reliance. The Gospel message is essentially a promise for our lives in which we are asked to believe.

It is like the following: Far away in a desert stands a water pump in the sand. You are alone, your canteen is empty and you come upon that pump. Tied to it is a hand written sign put there by some pilgrim. The sign reads, “I have buried a bottle of water to prime the pump. Don’t drink any of it. Pour in half of it to wet the leather. Wait, and then pour in the rest. Then pump. The well has never run dry, but the pump must be primed to bring the water up. Have faith, believe. When you are through drawing the water, fill the bottle and bury it in the sand for the next traveler.”

Having come upon this pump in the desert with this sign and being out of water, what would you do??? Will you dig up the water bottle and drink from it?? Or will you believe and believing, dare to pour that water, every drop of it into the old ‘trusty’ pump?? Because you trust, you take a risk, both for yourself and for the next person who will pass that way. What will you do???

Will you be faithful in the written promises of God? God has promised through Christ to care for us, to redeem us, to provide for us in His unique way. Faithfulness calls us to rely on God’s promises for our lives not ours. Faith is trust. Faith is trusting in God’s promises each day, because we are accountable for our faithfulness at all times when we need it and when we don’t. Confidence in God’s promises is a way of life. We are held accountable for the way we live and because we believe and trust we will want to live a faithful life.

Let me close with another story. A man owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, when a tired-looking woman came in and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for her small family. The grocer asked her how much she could spend. “My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War and I have nothing to offer but a little prayer,” she answered.

The grocer was not very sentimental or religious, so he said half mockingly, “Write it on paper and I’ll weigh it.” To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from the pocket of her dress and handed it to the man saying, “I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby.”

The grocer took the paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of his old-fashioned scales. Then he began to pile food on the other side, but to his amazement, the scale would not go down.

He became angry and flustered and finally said, “Well, that’s all the scale will hold. Here’s a bag, you’ll have to put it in yourself. I’m busy.” With trembling hands, the woman filled the bag and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed.

When the store was empty of customers, the grocer examined the scales. They were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the woman’s prayer. As the years passed, the grocer wondered about the incident. Why did the woman come at that particular time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse him so that he did not examine the scales.

Years went by and the grocer never saw the woman again. Yet he remembered her more than any of his customers. He came to treasure the slip of paper upon which the woman’s prayer had been written – simple words, but from a heart of faith. They said, “Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread.”

The lady’s written prayer was a great act of faithfulness. She believed God would provide and He was true. She didn’t know exactly how God would do it, however, the unique circumstances of the story with the scales being broken, people in the store, and the frustration of the grocer all lead to God’s way of providing for this young mother.

The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him. But we are called to live in the present, waiting in hope, waiting expectantly, and waiting faithfully as He has called us to serve with that which has been gifted us.

Amen.

July 29, 2009 + “Where Is Your Investment Account?” (Luke 12:13-21) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:53:00 +0000

Did you know you can purchase almost anything on eBay these days? About a year ago an Australian man sold his complete life – his home, his possessions, his job and his friends – the bidding reached L 400,000. About the same time a 20 year old student in the USA put his ‘soul’ up for sale on eBay. The bidding went to $400 before eBay removed the ad. What value would you place on your life this morning? If a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck when you arrive home today, what would you grab? How do you value a life? How do you measure what your life is worth? In buying life insurance, you think of the needs of those you leave behind, your family, meaningful organizations in your life, etc.

To the classical Greek world the division between soul and body was commonly accepted, as it is today. To the Hebrew mind, and to the Christian mind, such a division was, and is, unthinkable. For the Judeo-Christian mind it is impossible to separate the soul from the body. The Hebrew word ‘nepes’- the self, was a whole person, indivisible in parts and it is that understanding that we must keep in mind as we turn to this parable.

If we go back to the beginning of this Chapter, you will find that Jesus is teaching a crowd of many thousands. From the crowd a voice is raised above the others and asks the question of verse 13. ‘Teacher’ is Luke’s word for ‘Rabbi’ and the man in the crowd assumes he is addressing a legal expert. He asks Jesus a question concerning inheritance. Notice what he does not say in his question. He does not say that he and his brother are quarrelling over money and that he does not want this to get out of hand and destroy their relationship; therefore for the sake of their brotherly relationship would Jesus intervene and reconcile them. On the contrary, he says something like this, “Rabbi, my brother is in the wrong and therefore he should give me my rights.”
The words of this man, the demands that he makes, indicate that he and his brother had already been estranged because of the issue. The assumption behind the request is clear. The father had died without leaving a will or instructions, so according to the law of the time, the estate could not be divided until the older brother agreed. The fact that this man wants his inheritance would lead us to conclude that he was a younger brother. The petitioner had already decided what would be a just outcome of his request. But he doesn’t know Jesus!

In verse 14, Jesus addresses the questioner as ‘Man’ which was a form of address which denotes displeasure in the Middle East. He refuses to be judge between these two men and proceeds to explain why. He uses the question as a teaching opportunity, not just for the benefit of the man who had asked the question but for all who would hear.

Verse 15 gives us a clear warning about the insatiable desires of possessions. Possessions are attached to a deep, often irrational fear, that one day we will not have enough. There is always that gnawing fear that one day it will all be gone and it is never satisfied. Why, because the insecurity is never dealt with. Jesus warns the man, and us, that the measure of life is more than possessions. The amount that you have is no measure of the value of your life. Note how Jesus describes this desire for possessions – ‘greed.’ Greed is never satisfied; it never has enough. Jesus then moves on to tell them this parable, a strange and challenging story, to illustrate this general point.

Many of us may find this parable uncomfortable because, in America at least, we are considered wise if we hold onto our surplus and lay it up for the ‘rainy day.’ This is called ‘financial planning.’ The other tendency is to use our surplus to acquire more extravagant consumer goods. This could be called ‘upgrading.’ The ‘rich man’ in the parable, who could count up his amassed fortune and sit back and relax, living well off the interest, is the model for American retirement. Jesus shows us this ‘rich man’ in a very different way that convicts us all.

The man in this parable is already rich. He had what he needed for daily life and more than a little bit more. He did not work any harder for this bumper harvest that had arrived this year. It was not by the sweat of his brow or the toil of his labors that his fields yielded more than any other year. But listen to what he says in vs. 17-19. Let me read them again for you. “… and he thought to himself, ‘what shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this; I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’”

Did you notice that at the very beginning, ‘he thought to himself’? This would have come as a shock to those listening to Jesus that day. In the Middle East people make important decisions after long discussions with their friends. Everybody’s business is everybody’s business in such village life. Sometimes even trivial decisions are only made after discussion with family and friends; but if appears from Jesus’ account that this man had no friends. The literal translation as noted by commentators is that ‘he dialogued with himself.’ What a sad scene is depicted in those words – he had riches but he was alone. Isaiah 5:8 warned about the dangers of wealth – this man had paid no heed to the warning and was alone, with no one to discuss what he should do with this bumper harvest. How sad!

“What shall I do (with my crop)?” This man believes that this harvest is his. He shows absolutely no awareness that this harvest is a gift from God. He has a plan, but notice how self-centered it all is. He made no mention of the effort of the farm hands. It is all ‘I, I, I along with my, my, my - my crops, my bars, my grain, my goods, my soul.

It has been said that Jesus came to banish the words “I” and “mine” from life and to substitute “we” and “ours.” It is certainly significant that in the Lord’s Prayer the first person singular never appears; it is always the first person plural. Self is banished and man is taught to think of himself as one of a community of brothers and sisters.

The ancient monks of the Middle East may have made many mistakes in their outlook on life, but they had one custom worthy of emulation. It was laid down that no monk might ever speak of “my” book, “my” pen, “my” cell, and to use the word was regarded as a fault demanding rebuke and discipline.

This man remembered the first part of Ecclesiastes 8:15 to eat, drink, and be merry, but he failed to heed or chose to ignore the latter part of the verse – ‘it is God who gives the days of life to man.’ This man believed that a man made in the image of God can be ultimately satisfied with eating, drinking and being merry. What a fool he is? One of Lucy’ favorite hymns is formed with words from Psalm 42:1-2, ‘the soul of man thirsts for God just as the soul of a deer thirsts for water.’ St. Augustine stated, ‘my soul is restless till it finds its rest in thee.’ This rich man believed his soul would find rest, satisfaction, in the storing of the abundance of his wealth in bigger barns.

His plan is not God’s plan. God announces that this man’s soul is forfeited that very night and the goods that he was planning to store, and satisfy his soul with, would be left for someone else to enjoy. A commentary notes that in the Greek, there is a subtle play on words. The man, following the teaching of Ecclesiastes, plans to ‘make merry’ or ‘rejoice’ which is the Greek word ‘euphraino’ (from which we get the word euphoria), but God called him ‘aphron’- they sound almost identical when spoken. He thought he would ‘rejoice’ but God said he was a ‘fool.’ He learned, too late, that his soul is not his, but a gift from God. In fact the language used by Jesus here denotes the repayment of a loan. His soul was not his, but God’s and God has called it in. The question now becomes, who will inherit the man’s wealth? We turn again to the Book of Ecclesiastes (2:18-19), “I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me; and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.” In this parable God reminds this rich man and us of this other gem of wisdom.

It may well be said that the most dangerous word is the word, “tomorrow.” It may be a grim thought but a necessary one. We have no bond on time. No one knows if tomorrow will ever come. There is an old story of three apprentice devils that were coming from hell to earth to serve their time. They were telling Satan before they left what they proposed to do. The first said, “I will tell men that there is no God.” “That,” Satan said, “will not do because in their hearts they know there is.” The second said, “I will tell them that there is no hell.” That,” Satan said, “is still more hopeless for even in life they have experienced the remorse of hell.” The third said, I will tell them that there is no hurry.” “Go,” said Satan, “tell them that and you will ruin them by the millions.”

The rich fool forgot time. It is said that Alexander the Great kept a little model of a skeleton on the table before him to remind him that, even at the happiest, time was short and death must come. It is a thing that all of us must remember, not simply as a grim and frightening thing, but as a challenge to prepare ourselves for taking a step to a greater work and a higher world and a life in the presence of God.

Jesus concludes this parable with another general principle. The young man had come demanding his share of the wealth of his father but Jesus turns his attention to his wealth with God. Whether the inheritance was under the control of his brother or them both, ultimately it was under the control of God. Ultimately it belonged to God and was on loan to them.

You know it would be easy for us all to dismiss this parable. You may say to me, “Hayward, I’m not rich like this man. I’m not about to knock down barns and build bigger ones. I have no bumper crops this year or for that matter any year. And haven’t you heard of the credit crunch? Get real, Hayward!”

If you have money in the bank, money in your purse and you have spare change in the dish at home, then at this moment you are among the wealthiest 8% of the world’s population. If you went to school while growing up and learned to read, you’re better off than 2 billion people in today’s world. If you have food at home, have shelter, a bed to sleep on, you are wealthier than 75% of the world’s population.

I could continue with these comparisons, but what I want to do is leave these thoughts for you to ponder: If God demanded your soul of you right now, where would your wealth/treasure be stored? Are you the blessed who has stored up treasure in heaven? Or are you the ‘rich fool’ before God whose material possessions are keeping you off the road to heaven? God will demand an accounting from each of us, but we don’t know when He will call in His chips. This young man came asking about material wealth and Jesus turned his eyes to his eternal wealth. Where is your investment account?

Amen.

July 22, 2009 +“Lord, Teach Us to Pray” (Luke 11: 1-13) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:01:00 +0000

I think most of us who are here this morning feel a need of connecting with God in order to truly experience an abundant, fruitful life. Having said that, how often have you asked how do I achieve that connection? Jesus said, “You cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me.” So it seems the first thing we need to do is establish a relationship with Jesus. In order to establish that relationship, we need to overcome the barrier we call sin, that is to say exercising our free will contrary to what God would like us to do. Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” Most of us try to carry out the Ten Commandments, or at least the major ones. And we also try to live by the Golden Rule most the time. It is the subtle ones that we tend to overlook, but they constitute sin nonetheless. We have the community of the church to provide the support and guidance to keep us connected and moving in the right direction. We have the Bible to read and study to provide the road map, or in modern day language, the GP?. And we also have prayer to help us stay connected with God.

You may ask, what is prayer? For most of us here the answer may be obvious but I don’t want to take anything for granted. Biblically speaking, prayer is simply having conversation with God, or spending time in God’s presence. If we are to remain connected to God and enjoy a fruitful life from this relationship with God (in Jesus), we must communicate with him. Can you imagine claiming to have a best friend whom you haven’t communicated with for 20 years? How can someone have a close relationship with you if they don’t know what’s going on in your life, your joys, your hurts, your struggles? Although God knows every detail in our life, he wants to talk with us, and the way we relate to God is through prayer. Typically we think of prayer as asking God to do something, but prayer is first and foremost a conversation with God.
Most of us probably realize the importance of prayer and yet prayer seems to be one of the easiest areas to overlook in our life. I don’t know about you, but even as your Wednesday morning leader I find prayer difficult at times. I can get easily distracted. I find it difficult to make the time. I sometimes wonder if I’m doing it in the right way, am I getting the words right. Perhaps we don’t know what to say (Romans 8:26). Sometimes prayer feels like more of a chore, one more thing on my schedule, than a joy of being with God. Take out the trash, don’t forget the groceries, and oh yeah pray. It is easy to get discouraged with prayer because we have not seen any answers. Perhaps praying feels more like talking to the ceiling than to God.

While preparing for this message, I came across a quote from one of the great writers on prayer in the 20th century, Thomas Merton. He writes: “But let us be convinced of the fact that (when it comes to prayer) we will never be anything else but beginners all our life.” – Thomas Merton

It gives me great comfort in knowing that a person who was considered to be an expert on prayer admitting to being a beginner. Rather than feeling guilty about our inadequacies in prayer, we should be courageous like Jesus’ disciples and boldly ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Let us learn from the Master. And being with Jesus and witnessing his prayer life, his disciples realized that they were missing something. Can you imagine being one of Jesus’ disciples and comparing your own prayers with Jesus? Talk of feeling inadequate. On one particular occasion after being with Jesus, while he was praying, one of the disciples finally gathered the courage enough to ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John (the Baptist) taught his disciples.”

So, let us start by asking Jesus the same thing, in fact that can be our first prayer to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” We recognize that we are all just beginners in prayer and we need to learn from Jesus how to connect to God in a deeper way through prayer. We need to learn how to delight in spending time with God, so we can see God work in our life and in the lives of those we pray for.

Before we get into what Jesus teaches, let us look at Jesus’ model of prayer. What is it about Jesus’ life of prayer that the disciples needed to learn? First off, notice that Jesus prayed frequently and in solitary places. Luke 5:16 says, “… Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” As busy as Jesus was in his ministry Jesus prayed frequently. Jesus always seemed to have a crowd of people around who needed healing, desired to hear his teaching, and of course there were the disciples he was training too. And yet in the midst of all that need, Jesus frequently got away from it all and spent time in prayer. We don’t know how frequent is frequent, was it every day, twice a day, three times a day? We don’t know; all we know is that Jesus spent significant amounts of time with his Father.

When Jesus prayed he often withdrew to a solitary place, or lonely place. In other words, a place where there was no one but God. Sometimes it was the top of a mountain, or in a garden, but it was away from people. No people begging for healing, not even any disciples. Jesus made it a priority to get away from the hustle and bustle to talk with his Father.

In our fast paced society with cell phones, pagers, wireless email so you can get your email anywhere at anytime; it seems we are available to everyone at almost anytime, everyone that is … except God. How often do you get away from the distractions of the world to be alone with God? No cell phone, pager, no radio or television playing in the background, no family, just you and God. When will you make time to get away to be with God? Jesus created time and space to meet with God.

Susanna Wesley, the mother of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church, had something like 14 children. It is said, when she wanted to spend time alone with God, she would literally take her dress and pull it over her head. This was a signal to her children that she was spending time with God, and they better not bother her. Along the same line, she made time to spend with each child exclusively, one hour each week. I guess you can make the time if you want to. Susanna Wesley did; so can we.

There was a second thing we read about which the disciples saw modeled in Jesus prayer life. When Jesus prayed, miraculous things happened. Out of his time with God, things happened. It was during or shortly after times of prayer that some of the most significant events occurred in Jesus’ ministry. At Jesus’ baptism Luke’s gospel account records this: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3: 21-22).

Notice that it was not only after baptism, but also after his prayer that the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and God the Father spoke from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Later in his ministry a similar thing happened when he was on the mountain with his three closet disciples, Peter, James, and John. “As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning (Luke 9:29).

This change of appearance which we call the transfiguration occurred in response to his prayer. Jesus’ three disciples were able to see him for who he truly was in his full glory.

On yet another occasion Jesus had a crowd of thousands around him; he was given two fish and five loaves of bread by a boy. Jesus prayed by giving thanks to God, and he proceeded to hand out baskets and baskets of food until everyone had their fill.

You may think, “Well, that’s Jesus, of course he can do these things. What do you expect?” Listen to what Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12).”

The power Jesus had came not from within his own human frame but from the presence of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that is in every believer, and it came from the Father’s answer to prayer.

Many times we underestimate the power of prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit in today’s world. We often get easily discouraged because we do not see any immediate earth shattering miraculous answers. The person with cancer we prayed for isn’t healed. The marriage we prayed for isn’t mended. The people who are far from God don’t seem to return. When we don’t see the results we hope for, it is easy to give up. But as Jesus reminds us that we cannot give up praying, and that we must pray in boldness and persistence. If it is a just cause, we must keep asking because it will be given to you; keep seeking and you will find, and keep knocking because the door will be opened.

The illustration Jesus used was a man getting up at midnight and going to his neighbor, awaking him up to get three loaves of bread because he didn’t have any for his guest. To you and me, this seems pretty rude, but in middle-eastern Jewish culture which prided itself on hospitality, the rudeness was the neighbor who refused to hand over the bread until he persisted. Although the neighbor initially said no, he eventually conceded in order to keep his integrity. Jesus’ point was, if a human neighbor is willing to do that, how much more will God respond to our needs if we ask. Of course God is going to give you good things, if you ask, particularly the gift of the Holy Spirit. We must pray in faith believing God is going to do powerful things if we ask and ask with persistence.

John Wesley once said, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” Think about that for a second; in fact write that down somewhere. What if God did nothing but in answer to our prayers? How much would God get done? Prayer is essential for God to act in our world today.

Whatever the reason for the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus decided to teach them how to pray, and he used a form for prayer which we call the Lord’s Prayer. He gave this model to his disciples and has been handed down through the ages to you and me. It is a powerful personal prayer, but often we just say it without any understanding or meaning. We just say it as our duty. I believe in order for us to be truly connected to God and experience the fullness of life he wants to offer us and our church, we need to be a people of prayer.

July 15, 2009 + “Duty and/or Devotion' (Luke 10: 38-42) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:00:00 +0000

We continue this morning with the Third Year Lectionary assignment for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

I am always so glad to see you, but I often wonder what brings you to these Wednesday morning services, week-in and week-out. I know how difficult it must be to get here at 7:30 every week, particularly when it is so nice and cozy in the warm bed. Is it a sense of duty? Do you feel a sense of obligation to me since I have to be here? Or do you feel a sense of responsibility to the Lord for all that he has done for you. Is it possible to serve the Lord as well as others out of habit rather than out of love?

In last week’s study, Jesus was discussing with a Jewish lawyer the two great commands of the Scripture, that we are to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus used the story of “The Good Samaritan” to illustrate how we should love our neighbor. Now he uses an incident which I just read, involving two sisters, Mary and Martha, to illustrate how we should love God.

The incident takes place in Bethany, a little village just outside of Jerusalem. From what we can infer from Luke’s record and John chapters 11 and 12, Martha, her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus live together. It appears that Martha may be a widow, or at least the elder sister, for she is the head of the household. It is here in Martha’s home that Mary and Lazarus, Jesus and his disciples sit down for some relaxation away from the pressure of the crowds. Jesus is no stranger to this home for he had been here many times, a place that he knew He was loved and accepted. Both sisters are delighted to see Jesus but as you have heard they express their enthusiasm in very different ways. Let me read again how Luke describes His welcome. “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village, and a certain woman, named Martha welcomed Him into her house (vs.38). And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word” (vs. 39).

People have varying temperaments; some are active, always needing to be busy, never able to sit still. Others are thoughtful, willing to sit back and think things through. Martha is a very activity-oriented person, her sister appears to be of the more thoughtful nature. I believe that many of us have wrongly contrasted Martha and Mary, as though each Christian should make a choice to either be a worker like Martha or a worshipper like Mary. But in so doing I think we miss the point; I believe the Lord wants each of us to imitate Mary in our worship and Martha in our work, and to achieve a balance in both.

Mary is content to sit at Jesus’ feet soaking up the Word, and not “do” anything. But her big sister, Martha was looking around at all the guests and sees the need to prepare a meal. Martha was obviously a great hostess; she got up and began to prepare food for Jesus and all those there with Him. Martha looked and said to herself, “What a privilege to prepare a meal for the Master?” Mary on the other hand would have said, “What a privilege to sit at the feet of the Master?” Is one right and the other wrong? No! Duty and Devotion are both necessary, but there must be a balance.

Every action, every relationship, every institution has a basic focus, which is its reason for existence if it hopes to succeed … if it loses that focus, it will fail. When you lose your focus, which is why you do what you do, then you are in trouble. So, this morning, I want us to look at this story and see what it teaches about the cost of loss of focus.

Loss of focus caused Martha to resort to self-pity. All you ladies can appreciate what entertaining unplanned visitors is like and why Martha is flustered and feeling more and more frustrated with each passing moment. I have lived that experience many times so I also know what it’s like.

In the first part of vs. 40, Luke writes, “But Martha was distracted with much serving, …” the sense of the word “distracted” as used here means “to be pulled away” or “dragged away.” The implication is that Martha also wanted to hear Jesus herself and to sit at his feet, but she was pulled away by her sense of her “duties.” Fretting about the meal has robbed her of the joy of her service to the Lord. We should, of course, take our responsibilities seriously, but not ourselves to the point that we overestimate our importance. The problem did not lie in the work Martha was doing. It was the attitude that she was doing it with that became the problem. Martha’s problem was one of balance, between the going and doing and the sitting and listening. The difference between Martha and Mary is not that one served and the other did not, but one served out of duty and the other out of devotion.

In our daily lives we can become so busy with the everyday things of life that we neglect the most important. Modern conveniences have not produced more leisure time; American society has become an overworked society, at least those who still have a job. Steven Convey in his book, “First Things First,” says “People expect us to be busy, overworked. It has become a status symbol in our society – if we’re busy, we’re important; if we’re not busy, we’re embarrassed to admit it. Busyness is where we get our security. It’s validating, popular and pleasing. It’s also a good excuse for not dealing with the first things in our lives.”

Loss of focus caused Martha to become angry at others. Our world is full of distractions. And the greater the pressure, the more tempting it is to focus on the urgent rather than the essential.

In fairness to Martha, I truly believe she wanted to honor Jesus. I even believe she began preparing dinner with the right attitude. I believe you ladies out there can relate to what I am about to say. Again, I can speak from personal experience, not once, but many, many times. You begin the task of a huge festive event with the greatest of enthusiasm, but as time passes you realize that you are running out of time and you can’t possibly finish everything you planned to do. When that happens, you get angry … angry at yourself for allowing yourself to get into this fix and angry at anyone else who might have made a difference in accomplishing you goals. Martha was like that, the harder she worked the more worked up she became. Some people “burn out” in service but Martha was “burned up” in hers. It’s bad enough to have everything to do. It’s even worse when we can think of someone who isn’t pulling their weight and who has let us down. That was what was happening to Martha. Tension and frustration were mounting ... she had so many things yet to do, time was running out and her sister was sitting out there at Jesus’ feet.

Loss of focus caused Martha to find fault. Martha was ready to explode as she came roaring out of the kitchen, red faced and furious. She says, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.” Martha is so upset with her sister she doesn’t even call her by name. In all fairness, I believe Martha had probably given all sorts of signals that she needed help in the kitchen, but Mary either didn’t catch the signals or chose to ignore her. I think Mary chose to remain seated at Jesus’ feet and face Martha’s anger because sitting at the Lord’s feet meant everything to her at that point. No one can force us to be devoted; devotion is a voluntary decision.

Loss of focus has caused Martha to question God’s care. Whatever Martha has already done to get Mary’s attention, she is totally exasperated now and speaks directly to Jesus. There is an accusation in her voice when she says, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” Martha was angry at Mary for being so selfish and she is angry at Jesus for allowing this to go on. Notice that Martha addressed her irritation to Jesus. You have to admit that she is one gutsy woman. Martha is accusing Jesus of not caring for her, because she was sure that if Jesus really cared for her He would tell Mary to get up and help her. In the vernacular of today, she’d probably say something like, “Lord, you know what a ding bat my sister is, but you are part of the problem too. You tell her to get her sweet self in here and help me!” In saying this she not only rebuked her sister but also the one for whom all these preparations are being made. Whenever our service causes us to criticize others and pity ourselves because we feel overworked, we need to take the time to examine our lives.

It is interesting how Martha links Jesus’ care for her with His willingness to tell Mary to get busy helping her. Martha thought that she knew how Jesus should demonstrate His care for her. I wonder, “Do we do that?” Do we ever accuse God of not caring for us, because we already decided what his care for us looks like? Part of Martha’s problem was that she worried too much about what others were doing. Does Martha’s concern over Mary remind you of Peter in John 21: 18-22? While Jesus was explaining to Peter what the future held for him, Peter looked at John and asked Jesus, “But what of this man?”(vs. 21). Jesus reminded Peter: That was not really any of his concern. He just needed to follow Jesus (vs. 22). In today’s text Jesus by his refusal to do as Martha had asked demonstrates that although what she was doing was valuable work, she should worry less about Mary’s choices. It all boiled down to the fact that Martha wanted to force Mary to serve Christ her way.

Loss of focus can be eliminated by remembering why we are doing what we are doing? (vv. 41, 42) Jesus responds to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled by many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken from her.”

Jesus responds with great tenderness. Notice that Jesus did not rebuke her for making preparations for Him and the other guests. He did not reject Martha’s attempt to serve Him. Martha’s problem was not that she was preparing food for the guests to eat, which was necessary, but she was giving too much importance to it. In the hustle and bustle of everyday living, we have to be careful that we do not let the necessary things that must be done get out of balance and distort our lives.

The core of Martha’s problem is that she tried to impose her value system on Mary. Note that Jesus did not tell Martha to do what Mary was doing. It was Martha’s attitude that needed correction. Martha’s work was both good and necessary. The reality is that you and I, as with all believers, need to cultivate both the Martha and Mary in each of us.

Martha came to Jesus because she wanted Him to lighten her load that day. He did what she wanted but not in the way that she had expected. He lightened her load not by having Mary help her but by giving her a new perspective on her work. When we forget why we are doing what we are doing we can get turned upside down, and we may end up feeling overworked and unappreciated. Dr. Mark Hollingsworth (Baptist minister) once remarked, “If we forget God while serving God we will probably quit God!” When we keep our attitude right we find that God will enable us to do what “needs” to be done with joy and satisfaction.

Unless we take the time to spend time with Jesus personally and privately, we will soon end up like Martha, busy but not blessed.

Martha was not wrong nor was Mary. It is a case where one did good and the other better. The Christian life is learning to balance duty with devotion.

July 12, 2009 + Speaking Truth to Power + Frank Alton

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:36:00 +0000

Amos 7:7-17; Mark 6: 14-29

Speaking truth to power is risky. That seems like the understatement of the century after hearing the story of John the Baptist’s beheading. But however understated or redundant, it is a truth we must face over and over again. Whether it’s our personal struggle to stand up for ourselves with our parents, our employers, our spouses, or someone who is oppressing us; or whether it is speaking up on behalf of some other group of people who are being treated unjustly, the risks of speaking truth to power are evident at every turn.

The people of Iran learned the lesson recently, as protesters and their leaders were arrested for questioning the current arrangement of power. The risk isn’t just about life and death. It’s about success and failure. What if a lot of people die speaking truth to power and nothing changes? A recent editorial in the New York Times, entitled “Understanding Iran: Repression 101”, compares the impact of the protests in Iran to those 20 years ago in Tiananmen Square in China, where the Chinese Communist party, albeit changed, continues in power; and to Solidarity uprisings in Poland where more radical change resulted. It goes on to compare protests and revolutionary movements in Burma and North Korea and Nicaragua. We can ask about the impact of protests in this country – against various wars, about environmental issues or abortion, the anti-nuclear movement of two decades ago, and many other examples of speaking truth to power.

Clearly, if speaking truth to power is evaluated based on short term success in light of the risks involved, not many would chose to participate. But that is to address the matter politically. How might it look different if we address it spiritually? What happens spiritually when we fail to speak truth to power? William Sloan Coffin said, “If you lessen your anger at the structures of power you lower your love for the victims of power.” (To the left, p. 5) I agree with Rev. Coffin. But love and anger are difficult travelling companions. One usually wins over the other at any given moment. That leads me to ask a question about the spirituality of people who speak truth to power. What prepares a person spiritually to speak truth to power? Amos and John the Baptist offer some hints.

First of all, both Amos and John had an appropriate sense of their own importance. Now, appropriate means neither too high nor too low. Both decided that despite not having high enough status, there was no one else more appropriate or available to take up the mantle. Amos refers to himself as “just” a herdsman, as over against Amaziah, who was a priest, with access to the king’s ear. When Amaziah tried to emasculate Amos by calling him a prophet and saying he wasn’t living up to a prophet’s status, Amos refused to take the label. “I am not a prophet. I am just obeying God’s call to prophesy.” Amos spoke truth to King Jeroboam; the official priest Amaziah tried to silence him. Amos wouldn’t hear of it. He was clear about who he was and what he was called to do. It wasn’t about him; it was about a larger cause. He wasn’t into status–that didn’t matter.

The same was true of John the Baptist. John’s role as messenger was to prepare for someone else. He began his career making sure everyone knew that he was not “the one.” “There is one greater than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Along the way he insisted that that he had to decrease while Jesus increased.

The people who need to speak truth to power don’t do it because it makes sense for them to be the ones who do it. They do it because there is no one else who is any better. Even though on the outside prophets clearly have a lower status than kings, in the Bible the call of the Prophet and the call of the King are very similar. In Nathan's oracle to David concerning building a "house" for God (temple) and a "house" for David (dynasty), God says, "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel" (2 Sam 7:8). The wording is strikingly similar to that in Amos's account of his calling: "and God took me from following the flock, and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel"' (Amos 7:15). Similarly, John’s announcement of his message is the same as Jesus’: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near.” The prophet has to know this while accepting a situation in which the prophet is in the power- down situation with respect to the person in power. That is the appropriate sense of self-importance so clearly spoken by both Amos and John.

The person who speaks truth to power has a sense of being part of something greater than him or herself – something that is more important than ones personal agenda, personal status, or petty peccadilloes. Who speaks truth to power? Not the powerful themselves. Rather, it is those who are considered least likely to do so. People who speak truth to power aren’t always the ones in the spotlight. Well known people are often expected to speak truth to power, so there may actually be less impact when they do. It’s the common person who has no right to speak, the one whom nobody expects to do it, that will have greater impact on the powerful. Whenever you find yourself tempted to say, “What difference could my voice make?” remember that it has mostly been people who didn’t think they could make a difference who made a difference when they spoke truth to power.

That was the kind of impact Gandhi had. While he became a person of stature through his struggle, he started out as a common person. He was able to have the impact he had because he understood that speaking truth to power required a spiritual strength that had to be developed. And he dedicated most of his energy to developing that spiritual strength.

Throughout history it has been mostly the unsung heroes rather than the historical icons we tend to elevate to hero status who have made the most significant changes. Howard Zinn proposes some alternative heroes for our nation’s history.

Why not recall the humanitarianism of William Penn, an early colonist who made peace with the Delaware Indians instead of warring on them, as other colonial leaders were doing?

Why not John Woolman, who, in the years before the Revolution, refused to pay taxes to support the British wars, and who spoke out against slavery?

What about grassroots heroes like Fannie Lou Hamer, the Mississippi sharecropper? Mrs. Hamer was evicted from her farm and tortured in prison after she joined the civil rights movement, but she became an eloquent voice for freedom. Or Ella Baker, whose wise counsel and support guided the young black people in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the militant edge of the civil rights movement in the Deep South?

Today also there are heroes speaking truth to power, like thousands of students on more than 100 college campuses across the country who are protesting their universities' connection with sweatshop-produced apparel; and the four McDonald sisters in Minneapolis, all nuns, who went to jail repeatedly for protesting against the Alliant Corporation's production of land mines; and the thousands of people who have traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia, to demand the closing of the murderous School of the Americas. (Published in the June 2000 issue of The Progressive Unsung Heroes by Howard Zinn)

The spirituality that undergirds this ability to speak truth to power has to do with moving from a reactive mode to an active mode of being. This is true whether it involves a public political protest, a child standing up to a parent, an employee standing up to a supervisor, or a customer relating to a shopkeeper. Personally, I have found it more challenging to speak truth to power on behalf of myself than on behalf of others. About 25 years ago I took a battery of tests that revealed how I respond to things when I’m in a reactive mode and how I respond when I’m in an active mode. For example, when I didn’t feel that people were respecting me, I went to my reactive response, which was either to withdraw or to relate to them as a compliant child. On the other hand, when I felt respected, I could access the broad range of active skills and abilities that I have and respond fruitfully.

Over the years I’ve learned that I have the option of choosing to respond from an active mode even when I am experiencing a lack of respect, by consciously accessing either healthy anger by restoring boundaries in a relationship, or by disengaging from the relationship because I realize the other person doesn’t respect me, and that I don’t want to be in relationship with that person. When I combine that awareness with the realization that I am participating in something that is greater than myself, I can choose to remain engaged, and channel my anger to speak truth to the one who claims more power in the circumstances, but who doesn’t really have more power in the larger scheme of things.

Another aspect of spirituality for speaking truth to power is the importance of maintaining a combination of love and anger, along with the courage to speak when it’s dangerous. St. Augustine wrote: “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” But it is also important for the spokesperson to stay connected to the love for the people that motivates the speaking truth to power in the first place. As William Sloan Coffin said, “We have to hate evil, else we’re sentimental. But if we hate evil more than we love the good, we become good haters, and o those the world already has too many. However deep, our anger must always and only measure our love.”

We see this balance in Amos. God shows three scenes to Amos in Amos 7: locusts ready to eat the harvest, a shower of fire that dried up the sea and ate up the land, and a plumb line. In the first two cases, Amos begged God to relent of the plans for destruction, and God did relent. In the third case, which is today’s passage, God inserts a question to Amos after showing him the plumb line: “Amos, what do you see?” God hadn’t asked that the other two times. Once Amos acknowledges that he sees a plumb line (a tool of measurement rather than an instrument of destruction like the other two), God proceeds to reveal plans for destruction. This time Amos does not beg. What happened? Did Amos lose his love and patience for the people? Or did he finally see what God saw: the discrepancy between Israel’s calling and its conduct.

The demand for justice required dramatic action to make the wall “plumb.” The wall that was Israel would never be able to support the structure of God’s call on its life without the needed correction to straighten the wall. A building whose walls are not straight (or “plumb”) will collapse under its own weight. In that case, love requires convincing the owner to invest in making the necessary adjustments.

I have a friend who just added a room onto a house. Last week the inspector came and said the city had denied the building permit. At this point, my friend will try to negotiate with the inspector to allow the room to stand, perhaps paying a fine. But if the inspector refuses, my friend will have to tear down the addition, which cost about $15,000. At a certain point, it does no good to argue. It is time for action.

Some of you may be following the news about the current spat between labor unions. At a time when workers need unions to be advocating for them more than ever, some of the largest unions are trying to recruit members from each others’ ranks. Whatever else one might say about that, it demonstrates a disconnection between the anger that leads people to fight for justice and the love for the people that evokes that anger when the people are hurt.

We have our own struggles to keep love and anger, justice and peace together. It turns out that this is one of the great challenges of taking up the mantle to speak truth to power. It is the message of the Psalm for today – Psalm 85: “Will you be angry with us forever? Show us your steadfast love, O God, and grant us your salvation… Steadfast love and truth fill meet, justice and peace will kiss each other. Truthfulness will spring up from the ground and justice will look down from the sky.”

Must we speak truth to power? Yes. Do we need to do that from a spiritually centered place? Double yes. As Immanuel continues to engage our anger at injustice by participating in struggles for justice for many groups of people, I pray that we will be able to do it in ways that also reveal our love and build bridges of peace. For otherwise, our justice work will just be clanging gongs and noisy cymbals.

July 8, 2009 + Who Is Your Neighbor? (Luke 10:25-37) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Samuel gave such a stirring sermon last Sunday, I’m glad I had skipped the Lectionary assignment and spoke instead about Independence Day and Christian Freedom. Immanuel is in the Second Year cycle, so as to avoid any duplication of thoughts, I’m using one of the other two years for our Wednesday worship. The familiar selection, which I just read for the 15th Sunday is commonly called the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

A few years ago, one researcher found in a survey that 49% of the people interviewed said they would be able to tell the story of the Good Samaritan if asked to do so, 45% said they would not be able to, and 6% were unsure whether they could or not. Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion that thought they could tell the story rose to 69%.

But whether or not one could accurately retell this parable, the concept of the “Good Samaritan” is familiar enough to most everyone. We name hospitals, churches, and institutions in his honor. Most people know a ‘Good Samaritan’ when they see one…Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, that anonymous person who simply stops to change a flat tire for you or helps a blind person across the street. Yes, we have all met one or have heard of one even if we can’t relate to the details of the parable.

In the story, we are immediately introduced to a lawyer, who poses a question to Jesus as a test, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” When I was teaching in the Army, I would often encounter someone in the class who would “sharp shoot”, put me to the test. I wish I had the ability to turn the tables as Jesus in those situations. Jesus answers the lawyer’s question with one of his own, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”

The answer comes back, “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Good answer. And Jesus agrees. But the lawyer, not satisfied with that, still wishes to be noticed, so he asks another question, “And who is my neighbor?” In other words, “OK, Jesus, I understand that I’m suppose to CARE, but what are the limits of my caring? When can I quit? And here Jesus tells this famous story.

The first person to whom we are introduced is the poor traveler. He had taken the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, which was notoriously dangerous. It descended nearly 3,300 feet in 17 miles, running through narrow passes at various points. The terrain offered easy hiding places for the bandits who terrorized travelers. This unfortunate man had been stripped, beaten and left for dead. Jesus’ audience that day knew how easily it could happen and I suspect that we as Jesus’ audience today could easily identify by glancing quickly through the newspapers or watching the TV news of the violence taking place on a daily basis.

Suddenly who should come along but a Priest? If anyone could be expected to stop and help it would be a Priest. But wait! The Priest doesn’t come over to help; on the contrary, he passes by on the other side. No reason is given. Perhaps it was fear? The Priest may be thinking, those who beat the man in the ditch might be lying in wait to beat him as well. Have you ever come upon someone after an ugly accident, and simply passed by for fear of becoming involved? You didn’t want to be a hero! As a note, if a Priest found a body on their journey they had a duty to bury it. Maybe that was what was going through his mind. For whatever reason, he went on his way.

Next, along comes the Levite…an “assistant” Priest. As Luke records it, “…he came to the place and saw him, (and) passed by on the other side.” He wasn’t going to be a hero either!
Now the final character comes along – a Samaritan. The GOOD Samaritan! Nowhere in the Bible will we find the words “Good” and “Samaritan” next to each other. For those folks who first heard this story, the phrase “Good Samaritan” would have been an oxymoron, (oxymoron is the putting together of words which seem to contradict each other) – the only GOOD Samaritan would have been a DEAD Samaritan.

Why such a depth of feeling? A little Jewish history! The hostility between Jews and Samaritans was hundreds of years old. It went back to the time of the division of the nation into the Northern and Southern kingdoms – Samaria came to be identified with the North and Judea with the south. Following the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria in 721 B.C., exiles from many nations settled in Samaria, creating something if a melting pot, no longer was it purely Jewish. Move forward a hundred years or so. Now it is the turn for the Southern Kingdom to fall – this time the conqueror was Babylon, and, as was the custom of the day, the people were carried off into exile to prevent any uprising in the occupied territory. The few Jews left in Samaria were considered no threat in that regard, so they were left in Palestine. Seventy years passed and the exiles were allowed to return. The Samaritans were ready to welcome them back, but the returnees would have none of it – Samaritans had intermarried with gentiles making them “half-breeds.” They had perverted the race. The Samaritans had also perverted the religion. They looked to Mt. Gerizim in their own land as the place to worship God, not Jerusalem. The interpreted the Torah differently that the Southern Jews.

By the time of Jesus, the animosity toward Samaritans was so great that some Jews would go miles out of their way to avoid walking on Samaritan soil. The hatred between Jew and Samaritan in Jesus’ day was as least as deep as the feeling Jews and Arabs have towards each other today. So much of this necessary historical background; let’s get on with the story
If Jesus were just trying to say we should help the helpless, supply the need of the needy, he could have talked about the first two men who passed by and the third one who stopped and cared for the half-dead guy in the ditch, without any identity. If Jesus were also making a gibe against the religious establishment, we would expect the third person to be a layman – some ordinary Israelite – in contrast to the two professional clergy. If Jesus were illustrating the need to love our enemies, then the man in the ditch would have been a Samaritan who is cared for by a loving Israelite. But that’s NOT the way the story goes. I’ll get into the question “Why a Samaritan?” in a few moments. Let’s get back to the story and try to see why Jesus cast these roles as He did?

The Samaritan sees the man, but instead of distancing himself just as the Priest and Levite had earlier, he comes closer. As Luke states, “…when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them (oil to keep them soft, wine to sterilize). Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii (two days wages), gave them to the innkeeper. And said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’” Not an insignificant amount, not lavish either, but enough to do the job. End of story!

Jesus has responded to the lawyer’s question about the neighborliness with this story and now turns the question back to the lawyer. “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” His answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” Amazing isn’t it? The concept of the GOOD Samaritan is so distasteful that the lawyer cannot bring himself to even speak the name. Perhaps the answer to that question I raised a few moments ago, “Why a Samaritan?” is that Jesus did not want his hearers to identify with this generous caregiver. It would be a temptation to identify with the charitably attractive and winsome behavior of this man, the helper/hero that he obviously was, but no good Jew could do that. He would not want to be like the Priest or the Levite either, so the only character left with which to identify would be the man in the ditch.

Now Jesus concludes, “Go and do likewise.” What? Be the guy in the ditch? Perhaps that is not so far-fetched as we might think. We never hear if this poor victim recovers, but my assumption is that he does. That being the case, what would the effect have been on him that a Samaritan had rescued him? One would presume that it would forever color his view of Samaritans. For that matter, one would presume that it would forever color his view of the world’s victims. There would be less callousness, less inclination to lay blame for getting into such fixes in the first place, less temptation to “pass by on the other side.”

If Jesus’ story had gone on any longer, I would bet that this poor fellow, from that day forward, became a better neighbor to the rest of the world than he would have ever dreamed possible. On occasions, when thinking of this parable, I’ve wondered about the rest of the story. What effect did the charity have on the man who was robbed and beaten and taken care of? Did he remember the cruelty of the robbers and shape his life with that memory? Or did he remember the nameless generosity of the Samaritan and shape his life with that debt? What did he pass on to the strangers in his life, those in need he met? Has anyone ever helped you?

“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” Amen.

July 1, 2009 + Independence Day: Christian Freedom (Psalm 33:8-22; Galatians 5:13-18) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Next Saturday, July 4th, we celebrate the 233rd birthday of our nation, The United States of America. Since the date falls on a Saturday, many offices will be closed on Friday and people will take the day off to make it a three day holiday weekend.

People will be celebrating Independence Day in a variety of ways. Many have become traditions. Some people will travel to see loved ones and others will just stay at home with the family. There will be fireworks. With the tinder dry brush conditions, I hope people will realize the high danger of wild fires associated with neighborhood firework displays. There will undoubtedly be the traditional barbeques and picnics, and hopefully some patriotic observances in recognition of what the Day stands for.

We celebrate this holiday because of what happened in 1776.

On July 4, 1776, there was signed in the City of Philadelphia one of America’s historic documents: The Declaration of Independence. It marked the birth of this nation which, under God, was destined for world leadership.

We often forget, in declaring independence from an earthly power, our forefathers made a forthright declaration of dependence upon Almighty God. The closing words of this document solemnly declare: “With firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

The fifty-six courageous men who signed this document understood that this was not just high sounding rhetoric. They knew that if they succeeded, the best they could expect would be years of hardship in a struggling new nation. If they lost, they would face a hang man’s noose.

We celebrate that these people had the wherewithal and courage to break the existing hold of Europe on these wilderness colonies.

It is important to remember certain facts about the men who made this pledge; they were not poor men by any stretch of the imagination. Most of them enjoyed much ease and luxury in their personal lives. They were wealthy landowners, respected men in their communities. Among the signers was a Presbyterian minister, John Witherspoon.

But they considered liberty much more important than the security they enjoyed, and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. They fulfilled their pledge. They paid the price. And freedom was won. It has been said, “To be born free is a privilege. To die free is an awesome responsibility.”

Freedom is never free. It is always purchased at a great cost. On the signing of The Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, “I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states; yet, through all the gloom I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means.”

We celebrate the actions of people we only know about because of books. We celebrate the actions of people who lived without the things we take for granted in our everyday living.

What did they want to become independent from? If you read through the document you find oppression, abuse, removal of rights, false justice and punishment. You find a precisely stated set of charges against the king and their justification for independence. Their declaration was to break free of the strangling hold of a tyrant.

Interestingly we celebrate the day of declaration not the day it was actually achieved. I guess if they had actually lost the struggle we would not be celebrating at all on Saturday. We celebrate the ideal of the prize that was worth so much time, energy and lives.

So what is the Christian comparison?

The scripture we heard this morning is talking about freedom. This passage is about Mosaic Law, something that helped to identify sin and how to live a life honorable to God. However, too many people, religious leaders, used the Law as a tool of control. They used it for power and position and separation.

Paul declares freedom from the Law. He tells the churches in Galatia that they are called by God through Jesus to be free.

The people of Paul’s day suffered persecution and hardship which increased as they become Christians. The community made it tough to live this new found faith. It was hard to celebrate the freedom that Paul encourages.

They had already broken from their old tradition. They were trying to figure out the ins and outs of this new faith. They had lots of questions and pressures to give into and it appears in Scripture that one of the most logical was becoming a Jew to become a Christian. The pressure was to live under the Law as a first requirement. Paul argued that it was not so.

Hindsight is so good. Today we can look at United States history and find the investment made by these signers so long ago was worth it. It is great to be free. It is fantastic that I can pretty much do what I want and say what I want.
The structure of the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence would give an English teacher apoplexy. The second sentence is straight forward and says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable (unchangeable) Rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 233 years later we still enjoy the freedom that the Declaration of Independence created for us: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

This is my kind of place. I am so happy that God placed me here – in the United States of America, in Los Angeles, in your company here at Immanuel. There are a lot of less comfortable places in the world where there is little or no freedom. Places where the liberty and pursuit of happiness are a pipe dream. The sun does not set on any part of this planet where the biggest goal is to have life and there is little hope for much else.

Great as it is to live here in the United States, we are not without our problems, or should I say challenges to freedom and the pursuit of happiness: traffic laws, traffic lights, speed limits, home mortgages, income taxes, building codes, unemployment, medical costs, long lines at the checkout counter, need for money…the list could go on and on. It seems to me that with freedom, a lot of other things come which steal away our freedom.

The freedom we receive is cooperative, not exclusive. It is a union of people to protect God given rights at a cost that is shared by the group. The freedom we enjoy was not obtainable by one or two. In the revolutionary war they fought to make something new.

The freedom we receive has limits that keep us from expressing our freedom at the expense of another. But let us look at this from a Christian perspective. We live in the greatest country in the world, the richest, the finest, and the seemingly blessed.
In our reading, Paul tells the churches in Galatia that they are meant to be free. Free from slavery to sin – free from the obligation to keep the Law which is impossible to keep. However, Paul explains that with freedom there are still rules and limits.

He states Rule 1 like this: “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” (vs. 13).

We cannot use our freedom to become immoral people!
We cannot use our freedom to abuse or use other people!
We cannot use our freedom to avoid obligations with the church!
We cannot use our freedom to sit around and do nothing!

Our freedom is not a license to sin in any way. Paul adds, “We are to serve one another in love” (vs. 13).

Sounds like a limited version of freedom with all sorts of restrictions, kind of like the fine print that comes with the no interest credit card from B of A. But it really isn’t too expensive. After all, the people at church are family by birth or holy adoption. Remember Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia. We all do things we don’t necessarily like for family, at least occasionally.

Paul states Rule 2 like this: “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (vs. 14). Here’s that “Love your neighbor” thing again. It starts in Leviticus (19:18), then Jesus is quoted in Matthew, Mark and Luke, then Paul (Gal. 5:14) and James (2:8) both remind us. Sort of a pain, isn’t it, to be reminded about loving your neighbor, over and over and over again?

Perhaps, we need to take the reminders as extra significance or importance. Here Paul reminds us that this one rule replaces the entire Law. This one rule, if followed, will set your life on an even footing in the right direction. This one rule will set you free of all the little nuances and petty restrictions of the Law.

Loving your neighbor as self, what does that really mean? How do we demonstrate our love for ourselves?

When we are hungry, thirsty or sick, we do something about it. When I decide to go someplace, I get in my car, something I bought to meet my needs. I guess there are a lot of things I do for myself… some are needs, some are comforts or fun. But I am worth all of it…right?

According to Paul, our neighbors are worth something as well. With freedom comes obligations to our family, community, neighbors and even individuals along our path. Folks that don’t value you or me at all, should still be important to us because of our freedom.

Paul is writing to people who are in the middle of a battle over salvation. They do not have the advantage of hind sight. They are fighting their way toward the path of righteousness and are uncertain of the proper steps. Some of their issues are raised within the Church itself. There must have been some real knock-down conversations and accusations between fellow believers, as they struggle with the freedom that Paul reminds them of.

The main struggle is to try to live under the oppression of the Law in hopes that it would get better or to choose the freedom that God offered through Jesus Christ.

Our forefathers in this nation recognized that their lives were on the edge of slavery to the king. No rights or self government and more and more loss of control over lives led them to declare freedom against the all powerful King of England.

They did not declare war on the king. They just severed their servitude to a life as servants to an unjust king. They changed their direction, choosing the harder path of independence. A path of struggle and pain that would end in freedom like few in the colonies had ever known.

Paul tells his readers that for Christians that path is directed by the Spirit. The battle he describes is between the sinful nature of every person and the guidance offered by the Holy Spirit. He explains that the struggle is an individual battle within each person. The choice is being bound and controlled by a sinful nature or following the Spirit toward ultimate freedom.

The struggle for independence is still going on today. In our nation the battle over religious freedom is growing and I would suggest that if we don’t join the battle, we will continue to see our rights and freedoms trimmed and removed. Our nation’s founders obviously were much more open to the leading of God than many of our politicians and judges today who are trying to lead us to their form of a theocracy to the exclusion or limitation of other religious beliefs.

The battle over our individual spiritual freedom continues as well. We struggle over right and wrong everyday. We decide over loving ourselves and loving our neighbor and we probably don’t do as good a job as we could or should.

God offers us the help we need though it’s not as easy to find as we want. It takes real effort and control to listen to the Spirit. It takes an even greater effort to follow its direction.

All Glory be to God! Amen.

June 28, 2009 + Mark 5:21-43 + Elizabeth Gibbs-Zehnder

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:11:00 +0000

21When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”

24So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32He looked all around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

35While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

The little mom & pop convenience store around the corner from our house sells lottery tickets. They try to encourage sales by posting proof of the winning tickets that were sold there, taping them up to the bullet proof glass at the cash register.
When you sit down and do the math, its plain to see that the odds of winning are slim, very very slim, and yet, as my friend used to say – you can’t win if you don’t play.
In today’s gospel, Mark is encouraging us to get in the game, to play and he teaches that God runs the lottery differently than the state of California.

Mark tells us that Jesus comes to town and everyone wants a piece of him. They want to know what he is about, who he is, and what he can do for them …
Like the early months of Obama’s presidency. Sure he promised a lot of nice things on the campaign trail, but now that he is in the Whitehouse, who is he really? What is he going to do for us? We look closely at what he’s acting on, what projects he tackles first, wanting to see what promises he makes good on first. By watching what he does, we expect to learn who he really is.

Jesus and the disciples step off the boat, back into Jewish territory, and there’s a crowd waiting for him, watching to see who he seeks out, what he’ll do first- will he have lunch with the mayor or the bishop? Will he head to city hall or stay on the posh Westside? Who is going to be on the inside of the new administration and who is going to be left behind? News of his miracles must have traveled ahead of him, because at least two people in the crowd that morning were there, hoping for their own miracles of healing.

So where are you this day that Jesus came to town, his boat scraping sand on the shore, the disciples holding it steady as Jesus steps out – did you get up early to be there? Are you secretly working your way to the front – your head ducked so that the neighbors won’t recognize you? Maybe you’re the synagogue leader, standing in the front row with the other VIP’s, forcing a pleasant smile on your face trying to cover up the desperate question burning in your heart. Did you buy your lotto ticket? Are you holding it in your pocket, waiting for the numbers to be read?

Jairus, the synagogue leader has left his dying daughter’s bedside to seek Jesus’ help. It’s desperate to be helpless at the bedside of a loved one who is slipping away from you, no matter what you tried, no matter how hard you prayed. Rounds of chemo and radiation had failed, acupuncture had done nothing, nasty herb teas and medications left her even more sick.
That morning Jairus put aside his dignity and social position, fell to the sand at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come and heal his beloved daughter. Apparently what ever lunch plans Jesus had made could wait and the two of them (and the crowd of disciples and people) headed to Jairus’ home.

Time is clearly of the essence, Like an ambulance with sirens flashing, dashing across town, I imagine they were moving at brisk pace when Jesus stopped suddenly and started asking about who had touched him.
Everyone feels derailed by his distraction, the disciples give voice to it, barely cloaking their irritation, “obviously the crowd is pressing in on you, of course someone touched you”, and Jairus is silently screaming at Jesus to get moving again.
Who touched me?
The crowd parts and a woman comes forward, now she falls at Jesus’ feet, the whole story pouring out, 12 years of bleeding, endless visits to specialist, medical bills that emptied her savings, the religious authorities declaring her “unclean” being forced into isolation so as not to contaminate her family, hearing the stories about him, she had waited at the shore since dawn, hoping to get close to Jesus, hoping he could heal her, she was willing to buy one more ticket, take one more chance and she won, as her finger tips touched the edge of his jacket, she felt the bleeding stop.
Jairus’ heart must have sunk even lower, every second that slipped by, his daughter slipped closer to death, but now, this woman had touched Jesus, I bet Jairus recognized her, after all it was the religious laws that had judged her unclean.
And the way that everyone in the crowd understood cleanliness, religious cleanliness meant that this woman with her 12 years of bleeding, in touching her Jesus, even if it was just the hem of his jacket, now Jesus was unclean and unfit for ministry. Jairus, knew, as did everyone in the crowd, what Jesus was required to do to restore his own cleanliness – a ceremonial bath, a change of clothes, off by himself until sundown – then he’d be ready to go and heal Jairus’ daughter. By then, Jairus knew it would be too late. He let go of the worthless lottery ticket in his pocket.

And it appeared that Jesus was going to have a long conversation with this woman – Jesus listened as she laid it all out. And then Jesus said the most surprising thing, instead of condemning her for breaking the purity laws, instead of shaming her for making him, a rabbi, unclean, breaking the barriers that have kept her in the margins - Jesus calls her daughter – he names her as part of God’s family. No longer excluded, he gives her a place in the circle, daughter, and he blesses her, go, your faith has made you well.

Shocking really, because in the eyes of that community, she was of very little consequence – why would Jesus waste his time, his healing energy on her? Her condition – the “bleeding” is really code for vaginal bleeding, which meant if she’s bleeding for 12 years, she’s not able to bear children, which was the accepted sign of God’s approval of a woman. Its inferred that she has met with God’s disapproval) So Jesus comes into contact with her, and heals her bleeding, but then he places her directly in God’s embrace – Daughter, he calls her – this was code for child of the covenant, daughter of Abraham, Daughter he calls her, this makes her part of the family of faith again. Jesus demonstrates that God’s love goes out as far as there are people wanting to receive it. Any one can win God’s love.
A miracle for her and instructive for us. We can know that God’s love extends to us. There is no longer such a thing as being beyond redemption.

SO we can sit back in our comfy philosopher chair, with a nice cappacino and imagine the most dramatic situation in which this Gospel truth would apply – would Jesus reach out to someone of no consequence? A murderer? the serial killer on death row? sure, of course…God’s love goes to the ends of the earth.

But perhaps God’s radical reach is needed closer to our homes than we think. An more common experience for us is to be broken and marginalized by everyday life – to be broken by the familiar economic struggles and social marginalization that is so much of the air we breath that we don’t even see its face or sense its power to keep people on the edges, unable to find the healing they need.
We don’t even realize that we are just going through the motions of life
–crushed slowly by low grade depression, without energy or conviction to get what we need
– consistently passed over for promotion because we don’t work like our euro-American male co-workers.
– Its like the high school student’s I talk with, who tell me about teachers who expect little of them, who tell them they aren’t smart enough to pass, and pretty soon, these students believe what they are being told, and they drop out of school.
God’s love and God’s healing break through the margins and reach us here too, God reaches out to us, even when we are only a shell of our former self and restores us to a place at the table.

In Mark’s action-packed style, just as Jesus is turning from the formerly-bleeding woman, the people come from Jairus’s home with the terrible news, Jesus is too late, she has died. They dismiss Jesus, free him to return to his original plans for the day. We’ve learned from playing the lottery, where there is a winner, there is always the losers.
The street starts to spin out from under Jairus’s feet, his heart explodes with grief, Jesus catches him by the elbow and speaks calmly into the blur, “do not fear, only believe”.
So Jesus, now an unclean healer, dripping with impurity, heads to the home of the man charged with the responsibility of keeping the whole community clean and pure in God’s eyes. Jairus is desperate, he’s way beyond hope purchased by keeping the rules and he is clinging with all his might to a very small ticket of belief that God’s love could transform even this.
Jesus orders the crowd to stay put, and Jairus and Jesus and three of the disciples turn the corner to Jairus’ home. The women were already wailing and mourning, they laugh at Jesus when he tells them the girl is only asleep. With Jairus and his wife in the room, Jesus breaks the cleanliness law for the second time that day and touches the dead child, “get up little girl”. And again there is enough of God in the person of Jesus to go around. Its not some parlor trick, Jesus urges the parents to give the girl something to eat.

A gift of life from death is almost too big to receive, too big to grasp in the moment, winning millions after working for pennies each day. In the aftermath of the miracle, the everyday task of making a sandwich becomes a welcome refuge. But I imagine Jairus’ heart opened in a new way, maybe months later as he sang happy birthday to his daughter at her 13th birthday, his daughter now crossing into womanhood, maybe entering into marriage, now able to fulfill what society understood as God’s desire for woman.
There was enough love that day, Mark is teaching us, in God’s love, everyone can win. I imagine the bullet proof glass thick with tape and lotto tickets, every ticket purchased has won the jackpot! the multitude of winners declaring God’s kingdom has arrived.

Mark teaches us about God’s love – there is enough of God’s love for everyone. But just like the chaos at the convenience store where every lottery ticket is a winner, chaos accompanies God’s love as it breaks in. The world as we’ve understood it, a world where there is room for only one winner, the rules that keep that world in place get broken.
Being an overly obedient person, I find this a bit unsettling. I find comfort in knowing what the rules are, knowing what is expected of me, knowing how to function within a system to get what I want, knowing how to earn the “A”, the approval, the blessing. Even when the rules work against me, I still rely on them to understand the lay of the land.
But when God’s love breaks in, God doesn’t follow the rules – the bleeding woman didn’t stay obediently at home, hoping that Jesus would come calling – no, she went out, she sought him out, her hunger for healing, for inclusion in God’s family was a part of the equation.
And Jairus, he didn’t wait for Jesus to appear at the synagogue reception area. He didn’t wait for the official meet and greet cocktail hour to talk with Jesus – no, he was on his knees in the sand as Jesus stepped out of the boat.
Jesus didn’t stick to the agenda or the religious structure of the day. He poured out God’s love to those in need of it. And they were transformed by the experience – sickness to health, death to life, outsider to daughter.

We need to be clear on what Mark is NOT teaching us.
This is no domesticated Gospel. Jesus isn’t a puppet on the strings of our desires and agendas. There is no secret formula of prayer & desperation that will turn God’s hand.
I need to tell you that I’ve played the lottery, and never won the jackpot.
I’ve prayed for healing until my heart was broken open – for my own healing and for loved ones. Sometimes my prayers were answered. Sometimes they weren’t.
My guess is you’ve prayed similar prayers with similar results. My guess is the people following Jesus and Jairus around that day did too. For every woman who’s bleeding stopped, another’s continues. For every daughter restored to life, another succumbs to sickness.
The take away from today’s text isn’t about trying to touch the hem of Jesus’s jacket in the same spot or to get Jesus to kneel at the bedside in just the same way.
There’s no formula. There’s no guarantees. There’s no way even to calculate the odds. We learn from the text that God remains God – mysterious, powerful, and in the person of Jesus, ready to break into the whole of humanity in the most surprising way.
What Mark gives us is a glimpse of God breaking into the world in the person of Jesus. Reaching out in love and healing where healing was unimaginable. We see that God’s love knows no bounds. On that day and today Jesus comes to town and the reach of God’s love transforms with healing everything in its path.
Amen.

June 24, 2009 + “Keep the Faith!” (Mark 4:35-41) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:27:00 +0000

According to the Lectionary, the Gospel reading was for last Sunday, the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Because I chose to speak on a Father’s Day theme last week, I’m a week behind.

I don’t need to tell you how the economic recession had shattered the lives and dreams of so many Americans and their families. I get a lot of mail from charities. Many include real life stories of people who are facing the realities of today and how they are managing to face the “Storms of Life.” I want to begin this morning by sharing with you a real life story of a man named Steve.

Steve was living what some people might call the American Dream. He had a great wife and two wonderful children. He lived in a beautiful house on a quiet street, and had a job that most people would love to have. However, upon coming to work one day, Steve found out that his job in management had been eliminated…not downsized, but eliminated. As the bills grew higher and higher so did the tension between Steve and his family. The things that Steve and his family were going through could be summed up in four words, and they are the “Storms of Life.”

Have you experienced storms in your life?...those times where things just didn’t make any sense…times where your problems seemed so big and your faith seemed so small…times where you felt so swamped and so afraid that you were going to be taken over by the storm. I think all of us have had a feeling like that. I know that I have. Jesus’ disciples were no different. How did they deal with the storm? There are some major points that we can apply, between the Spiritual Storms and the disciples’ Physical Storm.

The first point is there will be storms…storms will come, sooner or later, they will come. Do you remember the lyrics of a song of the 40-50s, “Into each life some rain must fall, but too much has fallen in mine…!” Even if everything is going great right now, you must keep your faith in Jesus, because the storms will come. It only takes a second for everything to change, for everything to be flipped upside down. Maybe you lose your job, or a family member is in a serious accident, or as we’ve noted in recent years here in Southern California, home destroyed by wildfires and earthquakes. You can fill in your personal storms because the list goes on and on and on, physical storms, spiritual storms.

For the disciples, it wasn’t a spiritual storm, but rather a physical storm. When they left the docks that evening, everything was fine. However, it only took a split second for everything to go horribly wrong. The winds picked up and the waves crashed over the boat, and the disciples were afraid. When the storms come, they bring out the emotions of fear, anger, frustration, and uncertainty.

If we know the storms will come, we have to ask ourselves the next question, “How do we deal with these storms when they come?” The first thing we need to do is never give up. We need to take the storm that is plaguing our life for what it is, and that it is a test or trial or temptation. We must remember never give up!

The next thing we need to do in dealing with the storms is to keep focused. It’s so easy when times are hard to lose our focus from the things that are really important or the tasks we need to accomplish. And isn’t that how the devil traps and entangles us...by putting other things in our life to break our focus and to make us lose sight of our goal? You can bet your bottom dollar on it! That’s why we need to keep focused.

The third and final thing we need to do in order to deal with the storms in our life is that we must remember! We must remember to have faith in Jesus. With faith in Jesus we can be assured that no matter how bad things get, the storm will not stick around forever. And that leads us to the next major point.

The storms will go. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a storm that stuck around forever. I know that when it rains, infrequently as it does here in Southern California, and it’s wet and miserable outside, it feels like the storm will last forever, but what eventually happens? The Sun comes out, the temperature rises and before we know it, the storm is over. We can always take hope in the fact, that no matter how bad things get, the storm will pass. The same can be said of the blizzards in the Midwest or the hurricanes in the Southeast, the storms will pass.

Jesus’ disciples saw the same tings. They thought the storm may last forever, or at least long enough to put an end to them. But what do we see from the story, the SON, S-O-N, not the SUN, S-U-N, came out and calmed the winds and the waves and the storm that they were so worried about ended.

And isn’t that the way it usually goes? When we realize that we can’t do it on our own, that’s when we ask for help. That’s when we start looking for Jesus. And why do we do that? We do that because we know that Jesus will always be there to calm the winds and the waves of our spiritual lives. He will always be there to strengthen and comfort us.

But one question remains, what do we do with Jesus after the storm is gone? And here is an answer that I think is most important. We must remember to put our faith in Jesus! Now you might be asking yourself, why should I put my faith in Jesus? The storm is already over. Well, the storm may be over, but Jesus is still there! And that leads us to the third major point.

Jesus always remains. Just because Jesus is there in the storms of your life, that doesn’t mean you can’t look for Him in the good times. It doesn’t mean that you should only ask for help and guidance in the bad times. He wants to be there when things are going great also. He wants to share in you joys as well as your sorrows. When I say Jesus always remains, I mean always!

When we look at the disciples in the story, at what time did they go and get Jesus? It was when times were really bad, it was when they had no place else to turn. I think that is something each and everyone of us should think about!

I like a poem called “Footprints in the Sand,” by Mary Stevenson (1936). Let me read it for you.

“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

“In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was only one.

“This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“’You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?’

“The Lord replied, ‘The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you’”

A lot of people feel that the greatest phrase in this poem is the concluding phrase. While it is a wonderful phrase, I feel the best part is during the rest of the man’s life where there were two sets of footprints in the sand. The two sets of footprints remind me that we must put our faith in Jesus. For the simple fact that Jesus is always there! For the simple fact that Jesus’ love is always there! For the simple fact that His peace and patience and kindness is always there! And most of all for the simple fact that Jesus Always Remains!

Let us revisit our friend Steve. Since we last saw Steve, everything has changed. He has found a new job, and has rediscovered his relationship with Jesus. Steve summed everything up in this way, “When everything was going great, I thought I could do it all on my own. I thought Jesus was there to help in my times of trouble. However, when the storms hit my life, I began to read the Bible and I found out that Jesus always remains. He is there in the good times as well as the bad. And all I had to do is remember to put my faith in Him.”

I think Steve is on the right track. When the storms come we must remember to put our trust in Jesus, because He will help us through tough times. When the storms go we must remember to continue putting our faith in Jesus, because He will help us put our lives back together, strengthening and encouraging us along the way. And finally we must remember to keep our faith in Jesus, because Jesus Always Remains! So, let Him remain in your life always, through good times and bad.

Amen.

June 17, 2009 + “Joseph: Jesus Step-Father” (Matthew 1:18-25) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:25:00 +0000

Next Sunday is Father’s Day. Looking at the makeup of our Wednesday morning attendance, I don’t think a traditional Father’s Day message is appropriate. Yet at the same time, there should be something that I can say that would be equally applicable for male and female. So, let me try.

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was just about to turn out the light when he asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” His mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t, Dear,” she said, “I have to sleep with your daddy.” After a long silence he said, “The big sissy.”

There are certain sayings we associate with our fathers. Here are some typical quotes attributed to current vintage American Dads.:

“Ask your mother.”

“Don’t worry; it’s only blood.”

“Do I look like I’m made of money?”

“I’m not sleeping; I was watching that show.”

“I’m not just talking to hear my voice.”

“A little dirt never hurt anyone; just wipe it off.

“We’re not lost.”

“No, we’re not there yet.”

“Don’t make me stop this car.”

There are numerous quotes of different fathers in the Bible, but try as I might, I wasn’t able to locate a single quote from a prominent father, Joseph. I never thought about this before, but Joseph doesn’t say a single word in the Gospels. He listens and obeys. Once would think his words are recorded. We can only imagine the conversations he might have had with Mary and the angel Gabriel. We can hear him talking with the innkeeper. We can visualize him teaching Jesus about carpentry, but then he fades from the scene. It is widely thought that Joseph was much older than Mary, and when Jesus began his ministry, Mary appears alone. And, although the Bible doesn’t say she’s a widow, we can figure Joseph has since died.

Joseph probably thought his life was pretty well planned. His marriage and vocation were all arranged neatly for him, but then his world came crashing down. He discovered that his bride-to-be was pregnant. We know that Joseph was a man of integrity – he wanted to do the right thing, in the right way. He considered divorcing Mary when he learned of her pregnancy, but wanted to do so without calling attention to the reason, whereas he could have had her publicly disgraced or even stoned to death for adultery. Instead he risks being questioned about Mary’s pregnancy and marries her. As you may recall from earlier homilies, a marriage contract in those days was worked out between families and the engaged couple continued to live with their parents until their wedding. The townspeople could well have thought Mary and Joseph didn’t wait till their wedding. Joseph protected their reputation by moving up the wedding date and the Roman census took them far away from the town’s questioning eyes. This serves for all time as an example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others.

Although Joseph came from the royal lineage of King David (thanks to the Gospel genealogy), we can easily picture him as a humble man. The brief portrait of him in Scripture suggests he was a quiet, unobtrusive man, available when needed, willing to endure hardship and disappointment. Looking forward to fathering his own child, Joseph was faced with being a step-father to a child not his own. He accepted the humbling circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. He trusted the providential care of God every step of the way. He didn’t have Dr. Spock’s book on parenting, any training on how to be the father to the Son of God, but he possessed faith and compassion. Bible scholars portray Joseph as an effective provider and protector of the family.

A Sunday school class was putting on a Christmas pageant which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. One boy wanted so very much to be Joseph, but when the parts were handed out, a boy he didn’t like was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn-keeper instead. He was pretty upset but he didn’t say anything to the director.

During all the rehearsals he thought what he might do the night of the performance to get even with this rival who got to be Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the in-keeper opened the door and asked them gruffly, “What do you want?”

Joseph answered, “We’d like to have a room for the night.” Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide and said, Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house.”

For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do. Thinking quickly on his feet, he looked inside the door past the inn-keeper then said, “No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on Mary, let’s go to the barn.” And once again the play was back on track.

In all the Christmas pageants performed, Joseph doesn’t get a starring role, but his role is so important. His task is to watch over Mary and the baby Jesus. Joseph had the important role of caring for the needs of others.

When our lives take a nasty turn, we cry out, like Joseph must have cried out, “God how can this be?” But like Joseph, we hear a still small voice from God saying, “Trust me.” God’s ways are not always our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and we may never understand everything that God is doing this side of heaven, but God says, “Trust me, and all things will work together for good.”

It’s been said the best thing a father can do for his kids is to love their mother. Joseph’s love for Mary is reflected in Paul’s definition: “Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast; it is not proud or rude. Love is not self-seeking or easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres (I Cor. 13). Instead of being indignant, Joseph accepted this child as his own. Joseph accepted the revealed will of God. He followed the instructions – journeying from Nazareth to Bethlehem, then to Egypt, then back to Nazareth. We can easily picture Joseph receiving his son as a gift from God. The Bible doesn’t tell much about the 30 years that Jesus lived at home, but it’s safe to say that there was a deep and strong affection between Jesus and Joseph.

Joseph became a father to the Messiah, who would teach us all about the acceptance and grace of God. Joseph is charged with naming their son and thus defining His mission. The name Jesus means “Savior”. Archeologists have uncovered the ruins of Sapphoris, a thriving city near Nazareth. It is believed that Joseph spent much time there working on carpentry jobs, probably with Jesus, his carpenter apprentice son. When Jesus returned to his hometown, the people responded, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph, the carpenter?”

Was Joseph a perfect father? I don’t think so. We’re told that after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had children of their own, and they did not become believers in Jesus till after His resurrection. In spite of what their parents tried to tell them of their older brother’s miraculous birth, they refused to accept it. Parents can teach their children, but they cannot give their children faith. They can tell their kids how to live, but they can’t make them moral persons. They can baptize their children, but they cannot make them believe. They can love their children, but they can’t give them eternal life. The influence of parents is important, but we individually choose to accept or reject faith in God.

There’s a lot I’d like to know about Joseph – where and when he was born, how he spent his days, what he said, when and how he died. The last we hear of him is when he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Mary and Jesus, when Jesus was 12 years old. He was apparently a man of few words, for even in this episode, it is Mary who is quoted, but he did what he was suppose to do. We don’t know much about Joseph. We’re pretty sure he wasn’t a sissy - afraid of thunderstorms! Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge: who he was: “a righteous man” (Mt 1:18). Joseph may have thought that being righteous involved doing the right thing; he found out that it is also about being the right person.

Prayer: Lord God, when we observe the action of this mature, responsible man; when we study the compassionate involvement, his disciplined restraint, his plain obedience, all woven together into righteous action, we know that we too can live in accordance with your will for our lives. Amen.

June 10, 2009 + “The Price of Freedom and Forgiveness” (Luke 7:36-47) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:13:00 +0000

The month of June holds many important dates in my life as an American citizen. June 14, 1775 is the birthday of the United States Army. On the same date two years later was our first Flag Day. On June 12, 1898, (Pista Sai Nayon) the Philippines were freed from the Spanish rule only to endure many more years of foreign rule until she received her independence from the United States. On June 6, 1944, the Allied Forces stormed onto the Normandy beaches to free Europe from the Axis powers. Last Saturday, President Obama in the company of British, Canadian and French leaders stood on the shores of Omaha Beach in Normandy where thousands of servicemen gave their lives on the D-day invasion that led to the eventual liberation of Europe from the Axis powers. Having served my country for 36 years in the United States Army, you can understand why these dates are so meaningful to me.

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stood on the battlefield of Gettysburg to dedicate a portion of that land as a national cemetery. The featured speaker of the day was Edward Everett, acclaimed as possibly the greatest classical orator of his time. A former United States senator, Governor of Massachusetts and President of Harvard University, he spoke for more than two hours to an audience of some 25,000 people. His was a masterful address, broad in its scope and dramatic in its presentation.

Next was a musical interlude by the Baltimore Glee Club and then, finally, President Lincoln. Lincoln was formally introduced and the people settled back down in their chairs and on the grass to listen to him. Lincoln spoke simply and clearly and startled the people by the briefness of his remarks.
Now, I realize that most of you are already familiar with what he said, but would you listen again to a portion of it? After his opening sentence, he said:

“We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

“But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

“It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Gettysburg does not stand alone in our memory. I would run out of time were I to detail scenes of carnage and courage in places as Valley Forge, Flanders Field, Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima, Pork Chop Hill, the Mekong, and of recent times the operations throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

But friends, we must realize that if freedom is to be carried on from generation to generation – if our children and grandchildren are to enjoy freedom – then we must be willing to pay the price, because “freedom is never free.” “Freedom is never free.” It sounds like a paradox when you say it, but it is true. “Freedom is never free.”

In the same way, “forgiveness is never free.” That, too, sounds untrue at first. But before forgiveness takes place there is always a price to be paid. Let me call your attention to the Scripture reading of a few minutes ago. This incident and the parable that Jesus shares in it are of particular importance

Jesus had been invited to the home of a Pharisee by the name of Simon. That is something quite unusual because the Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their power, their teachings and their legalistic system. They saw Jesus as their enemy, not all of them, of course, but most of them. But this Pharisee invited Jesus to his home. We’re not exactly sure why he invited Him but most commentators believe he invited Jesus because he wanted to upstage Him. And Jesus accepted the invitation.

It was normal, when a guest arrived, to make him feel welcome by going through certain common courtesies.

First of all, his feet would be washed. A guest’s feet would be caked with dirt after walking in sandals on the dusty roads. So a servant would greet him at the door with a basin of water and would wash and dry his feet. After his feet had been cleaned, the host would come and greet him with a kiss to make him feel welcome and let him know that he was an honored guest.

Then it was a matter of courtesy to anoint the head of the guest with some cooling oil. Maybe it because of the hot oriental sun. Maybe some of the men were thin on top and slightly sunburned. Whatever the reason, it was customary to use oil to anoint the head of a guest. All these things went together to say, “You are welcome to our home.” But when Jesus visited the home of this Pharisee, none of these things happened.
Now, as they began eating, an unusual thing happened. This woman – Luke calls her a sinner (the word means “an immoral woman, a prostitute”) came to where they were eating – probably an outdoor courtyard to catch the evening breeze. She fell at Jesus feet and started to weep. Her tears fell on his feet so she dried them with her hair. Then she broke a vial of expensive perfume and anointed his feet and began kissing them.

All the while, Simon the Pharisee was watching. He was greatly offended and embarrassed by what was going on. Because all the things he failed to do as a host she was doing. Simon knew what kind of women she was, so as he judges her, he is also judging Jesus. He is thinking to himself, “If this man is truly a prophet, he would surely know that she is an immoral woman.” Simon saw her as a prostitute but Jesus saw her as a child of God who needed forgiveness.

Then Jesus told this parable about the two men who owed a money lender money. I won’t try to translate how much a denarii is suffice to say that a denarii represented a days wages at that time. So one fellow owed the equivalent of 50 days wages and the other 500 days. Assuming a five day work week, one owes ten weeks and the other 100 weeks or almost two years.

So Jesus says to Simon, “Simon, since neither can repay their debt and the money lender says to these two men, ‘Tell you what, fellows, I’ll stamp your bill paid in full and you won’t owe me anything,’ which one would be the most grateful?” Simon was caught between a rock and a hard spot. He thinks to himself, I may admit that I am a sinner, but not to the same degree as that woman. Jesus is making me out as the fellow who owes the 50 denarii’s and she as the person owing the 500. So he answers, “It would be the one who owes the most who would be most thankful.” Jesus said, “You have answered correctly,” and leaves it there for the time being.

He turns to the women and reminds her that her sins have been forgiven. He tells Simon that those who have been forgiven much love much and those who have been forgiven little love little.

How does this tie into “Freedom” and “Forgiveness” you may ask.

Every one is a spiritual debtor – you and I are in debt to society, to our nation and to God. We are all debtors. You may not thought of it in this way, but face it, all of us are debtors.

Now, an important asset when you are in debt is a good memory. Because if you don’t remember to whom you owe money, you’re going to have all kinds of problems. Simon’s problem was that he had a poor memory.

I suspect when Simon looked at himself he thought, “God, you’re lucky to have me on your team. I’m pretty special. I’ve memorized the law! I pray beautiful prayers! And I do so many significant things for you! I’m a Pharisee and I’ve mastered the art of being a Pharisee. God, I’m a pretty special guy.”

What Simon forgot was that he was a sinner. His sins were sins of the heart and he didn’t recognize them as sins. It was easy for him to forget that he stood in the need of forgiveness.

And isn’t it so easy for us to forget how indebted we are to those who paid the price to achieve freedom for us? Isn’t it easy for us to get in our cars and drive from one place to another without even thinking about the blessings of the freedom we enjoy?

Isn’t it easy for us to come into God’s house and open our Bibles and never give it a second thought. Isn’t it easy for us to forget those pilgrim forefathers who crossed the ocean to this new land? Isn’t it easy to forget the blood that was shed at Valley Forge and at Gettysburg?

We put hamburgers on the grill and sit around enjoying all the material blessings that God has given us and forget the blood that was shed so that the stars and stripes could fly in the breeze and that we could still enjoy the freedom that is ours as citizens of the United States of America.

We owe a great debt to our country and to those who have gone before. We also owe a great debt to our God who has redeemed and forgiven us. We are all debtors. We all owe a debt. We can never repay that debt.

Our nation’s fiscal situation is a good example of what I said. General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, AIG, Bank of America, Citicorp and all the other corporate “money managers” found that they owed more than they were able to pay and the Federal government had to bail them out. Our citizens who learned to live by the credit cards soon found themselves in the same situation. By making minimum payments, they were getting deeper and deeper in debt. The federal government faces the situation by printing more paper money and selling them as “IOUs”. In so doing, the United States faces the same dilemma should all its creditors decide to collect what is owed them all at once. All of these debtors, be it the government, the corporations or John Q. Public, have remained solvent so long as the creditors don’t demand everything at the same time.

When I think of the debt of freedom that I owe to our forefathers, I realize that is also a debt I can’t pay. And when I think of the debt I owe God for the price He has paid for my sins, I realize that I can’t pay that either.

Now getting g back to the story: When she wet Jesus feet with her tears and tried to dry them with her hair, and anointed Him with the oil, it was an expression of gratitude and love. Though you and I may think that was the way to pay God back, she wasn’t paying Him back. She was saying, “Thank you Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins.”

And that’s all you and I can do. We can never pay God back. But we can show our gratitude and love by rolling up our sleeves and go to work. We can worship and we can serve and we can cry a little bit and we can pray a bunch. And we can get out and reach people for Jesus. We can do all that, but we will never be able to pay the debt that we owe our God.

However, forgiveness is available to everyone. Though we can’t pay it, forgiveness is not free. In the instance of the money lender, it cost him 550 dinarii to forgive the debt. A pittance compared to the forgiveness of God, but it is a teaching parable. When God forgives, the forgiveness cost God through the cross. The ledger had to be stamped “Paid in Full” before forgiveness became a reality. Now that it’s been paid, it’s available to all.

Isn’t that also true of our freedom? The price has been paid. It is available to all in this great land. That is why we rejoice at the Declaration of Independence. That is why we rejoice in the Statue of Liberty. Freedom is available to all of us, regardless of where we live in this great nation.

Let me close with a story that I’ve told many times. One day, Abraham Lincoln went to a slave auction and noticed a young Negro girl who was about to be auctioned off. So he began bidding and eventually purchased her. They brought her over to him and he instructed them to take the shackles off her wrists and ankles. The he said to her, “You are free to go.”

She looked at him and said, “You mean that I don’t have to go home with you?” He said, “No, you don’t.” She said, “You mean that I don’t have to do what you say?” “That’s right.” “You mean I don’t have to be your slave, I don’t have to put up with your whims and your fancies?” He said, “No, you don’t. You are free to go.”

She bowed her head and tears started flowing down her cheeks. She looked up at Abraham Lincoln and said, “Then I guess I’ll go with you.”

Freedom is never free. It always costs someone something. Forgiveness is never free. There is always a price that must be paid.

Right now we need to remember the price and to thank God for our freedom and for our forgiveness. And we dedicate ourselves to keep on paying the price so that freedom and forgiveness might be enjoyed for generations to come.

June 7, 2009 + Unpredictability as Good News (John 3:1-13) + Frank Alton

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:16:00 +0000

As we begin the month of June in which so many weddings take place, I am reminded that one of the things I love about performing weddings is the opportunity to meet with couples for pre-marital counseling. I love getting to know them and to see how they relate to one another. For the second meeting I ask the couple to prepare a genealogy of their family. It’s not that I think it is so important to know where they come from. I do it to help all three of us discover insights into what matters to them, how family dynamics have made them who they are, and how that information might help them to see certain features of their lives as gifts rather than curses, and to see other features as behavior patterns they can choose to change.
Recently I met with a couple that told me they had argued a lot about religion and they didn’t like what happened when they did that. They wanted something different to happen, but they didn’t know how. I decided to ask them how they experienced spirituality. In spite of the fact that my question was about spirituality, the initial answers for both came back in terms of religion. She talked about what she believed, which usually comes across as what we know. He spoke about his problems with institutional religion. After I pointed out that they were both responding with mental constructs about religion, I asked them if they knew when their spirits were being nurtured. She began to tell us about the moments in her union organizing when a contract has just been signed and the workers are celebrating. In those moments she has the feeling that she is connecting to something greater than what is actually going on. I said, that is spirituality. He then spoke about why he loves astrophysics. He has told his friends that when he dies he hopes that he gets to travel through the universe to see all of the nebulae up close. He loves working with the mathematical models around astrophysics, because he feels connected to something bigger than himself. I told him, that is spirituality.
I think the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus was similar to that. Nicodemus knew that he was missing something, and he saw in Jesus a possibility for finding it. He, too, started with religion, and was caught off guard when Jesus spoke about spiritual experience. But Jesus took him seriously and pushed him far beyond his comfort zone, because he saw in Nicodemus someone who was willing to risk leaving behind the truth as he knew it to explore something new. It is often said that Nicodemus meets Jesus at night to avoid being seen in this illicit liaison. But could there be an alternate interpretation? The rabbis taught that the Torah was best studied at night when it was quiet and the distractions of the day had subsided. Could Nicodemus be using his precious study time to expand his search beyond the standard texts? Could Jesus himself become the book into which Nicodemus delves, mining every word for wisdom and understanding?
Immediately Jesus ushers this seeker into a realm of wisdom that is more complex, deep and rich than anything Nicodemus has known. Using language that is poetic, metaphorical, suggestive and imaginative, Jesus talks of being born from above. Like most of us, Nicodemus responds in his best left-brain, legal-scholar, word-parsing mode: “we know you are a teacher from God.” He sees tricks, dead-ends and practical impossibilities. It is all he knows how to see. Yet Jesus persists from his right-brain, heart vocabulary, with fertile images of wind, spirit and expansive love. He confronts Nicodemus with the uncomfortable truth that “you do not understand these things.” We don’t know how long Nicodemus dwells in this liminal space between what is familiar to him -- the world where his status is recognized and esteemed and his worldview reliable -- and this new world of life everlasting on the wings of the wind of love. But we do know that the Word-made-flesh becomes Nicodemus’s text, and the living water of the Torah an ever-expanding pool of wisdom. (Patricia Farris) Knowing and not knowing – both are important for being a complete human being. Not knowing is necessary for discovering new knowings. I think that is what Jesus was essentially saying about not knowing where the wind comes from or where it goes. Religion can be an especially opaque kind of knowing that gets in the way of spiritual knowing. The “not knowing” invites us to make his story our story.
I spoke at the beginning of this year about the role of chaos, another word for unpredictability. I quoted Margaret Wheatley who said that in the West “we have resisted chaos. We believed there were straight lines to the top. If we set a goal or claimed a vision, we would get there, never looking back, never forced to descend into confusion or despair. These beliefs led us far from life, far from the processes by which newness is created. And it is only now, as modern life grows ever more turbulent and control slips away, that we are willing again to contemplate chaos. The destruction created by chaos is necessary for the creation of anything new.” (Margaret Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science, p 119) In other words, only unpredictability creates the abyss in which we can recreate ourselves. That is the first piece of good news about unpredictability.
Margaret Wheatley goes on to say that life achieves order from clear centers rather than imposed restraints. This is the other side of unpredictability. Another Margaret – Margaret Boden – wrote that, “Unpredictability is not enough. At the heart of creativity lie constraints: the very opposite of unpredictability. Constraints and unpredictability, familiarity and surprise, are somehow combined in original thinking.”
I believe this is why we have the dance between religion and spirituality. Religion is about restraints. The word itself comes from the Latin “ligar”, which means to bind, fasten or tie. Even science has concluded that is not a bad thing in itself. But when a constraint – whether it be religion or a scientific theory – becomes more of an externally “imposed restraint” than a “clear center” around which our lives are oriented, then it ceases to be life giving. One way to discover our clear center is to ask ourselves, “What is it that would be so attractive that it would hold my behavior within a boundary and keep me from wandering into formlessness?”
I think that is what Jesus was inviting Nicodemus to ask himself. In John’s Gospel, knowing where people come from is an important part of social status. Nicodemus granted that status to Jesus by saying, “we know you come from God.” There are all kinds of ironic innuendo throughout John’s Gospel about Jesus’ origin. The truth is that Jesus knew where he came from, while very few others did. Jesus was offering Nicodemus what he offered everyone: the status of coming “from above” that trumped any other source of status or humiliation. No wonder it was easier for the poor to let go of their status to accept the status Jesus offered them?
The question, "Where do disciples come from?" may have two answers. One obvious, but shallow and insufficient answer is "Disciples are those who come to Jesus” (like Nicodemus did). The deeper answer of faith is, "from above" (anothen) and "from (ek) water and spirit". We might also offer the answer: "I decided to follow Jesus." But that ends up being a shallow and insufficient answer alongside an awareness that "God chose, claimed, and made me a child of God" – a much more accurate rendering of "having been born from above." (My growth from Campus Crusade to an awareness of God’s deep, inexplicable and “from childhood” call on my life.)
Initially, Nicodemus was too full of his own knowing; he resisted the emptiness of chaos he needed to take in the new question Jesus was asking him. I’ve heard various versions of an old story that speaks to this reality. Sometimes the person is a man and sometimes a woman, but the person sets off on a journey to find the meaning of life. Upon arriving at the home of a sage that everyone has pointed to as having the answer to the question, the sage invites the guest to a cup of tea. The seeker responds, “No thank you. I didn't come all this way for tea. I came for an answer. Won't you tell me, please, what is the meaning of life?" "We shall have tea," the sage replies forcefully. So the person gives up and goes inside. While the sage brews the tea the guest tells the sage about all the books read, all the people met, all the places visited. The sage listened, placed a fragile tea cup in the guest’s hand, and then began to pour the tea. The guest failed to notice when the tea cup was full, so the sage just kept pouring until the tea ran over the sides of the cup and spilled to the floor in a steaming waterfall. "What are you doing?!" the guest yelled. "It's full, can't you see that? Stop! There's no more room!" "Just so," the sage said. "You come here wanting something from me, but what am I to do? There is no more room in your cup. Come back when it is empty and then we will talk."
Barbara Brown Taylor makes a literary connection between this story and Nicodemus’ story: “Jesus and Nicodemus dispensed with a tea ritual, but the outcome was the same. Nicodemus came looking for answers. Jesus would not cooperate. He poured tea all over his visitor's hand and said, in effect, that Nicodemus already had gallons of answers available to him. What he needed was one drop of experience--one moment of new birth--and he could leave all his answers lying in puddles on the floor.” ("Stay for Tea, Nicodemus," Barbara Brown Taylor, The Christian Century, 1996)
I have a friend that I love very much, but who tends to be very reactive. When I say something that he understands through his own filters, he concludes something very different from what I meant. And he begins to rant. I used to try to interrupt him, but he would just keep talking. Eventually I learned to simply wait him out. As I listened, I became fascinated with the way my words could lead to such different conclusions. When he finally finished his rant, I said, “Are you done?” and proceeded to say what I meant in another way. He finally calmed down and understood.
The great Jewish theologian, Martin Buber, described this well: “Nothing in the world can change from one reality into another unless it first turns into nothing, that is, into the reality of the between-stage.” This is precisely why we need faith. Without faith we will not empty our tea cup so we can receive something new. But we have to empty it before we are sure that the tea that is being offered will actually satisfy us. Wise people have learned only by opening ourselves to the unpredictable can we become flexible enough to deal with reality as it comes. A third Margaret for this Trinity Sunday is Margaret Fredrickson. She writes that, “People who flourish become ‘beautifully unpredictable’ [because] acting in unexpected ways is necessary for growth. Nobody grows by doing the same thing every day. In natural selection random genetic variation leads to new traits, even new species. Children are not exact replicas of their parents. There’s always some random genetic combination that can lead to new skills and attributes. Similarly I think that being “beautifully unpredictable” is essential for our individual evolution. (The Science of Happiness: Barbara Fredrickson On Cultivating Positive Emotions, Angela Winter, in The Sun Magazine 05/09)
My friends, this morning we welcome the Church of Peace to share our building and enter into partnership. There is a beautiful unpredictability about the journey ahead. I invite you to discover the beauty of unpredictability as you open yourself to the discomfort of not knowing on the path to the deeper, more life-giving knowing of the Spirit, both in your personal lives and as a congregation.

May 20, 2009 + “Lest We Forget: People Count Most of All” (1 Corinthians 1:20-25) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:14:00 +0000

Ron was a fifteen year old, tenth grader. It was game day and he was the only sophomore suiting up with the varsity team. With great excitement, he asked his mother to go to the game. She had never been to a football game before and she promised to be there with several of her friends. After the game, she waited outside the locker room to drive her son home.

“What did you think about the game, Mom? Did you see the three touchdown passes our team made and our tough defense, and the fumble recovery that we recovered on the kickoff return? Did you, huh?”

His Mom replied, “Ron, you were magnificent. You have such presence and I was proud of the pride you took in the way you looked. You pulled up your knee socks eleven times during the game, and I could tell you were perspiring in all those bulky pads because you got eight drinks and splashed water on your face twice. I really like how you went out of your way to pat No. 19, No. 5 and No. 90 on the back every time they came off the field.”

“Mom, how do you know all that? And how can you say I was magnificent? I didn’t even play in the game.”

His mother smiled and hugged him, “Ron, I don’t know anything about football. I didn’t come here to watch the game. I came here to watch you.”

The moral of the story is, “People count most of all!” Football is fine and it is fantastic for some people. But people are supreme.. People are more important than the game. Here’s another way to look at it.

One time the beautiful and popular actress Sophia Loren sobbed to her Italian movie director, Vittorio De Sica, over the theft of some of her jewelry. And he said to her: Listen to me, Sophia, I am much older than you and, if there is one great truth I have learned about life, it is this, “Never cry over anything that can’t cry over you!”

What a lesson! What a great lesson for life! People are more important than things! People are more important than cars and computers. People are more important than houses and furniture. People are more important than all material things!

Next Monday, the last Monday in May has been set aside by Congress as Memorial Day. Traditionally, it would be observed the following Saturday, on May 30th rather than the last Monday in May. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who died in military service for their country. I think the Monday observance has turned what should be a day of spiritual observance into the make-up of another three-day weekend. Many organizations feel that changing the May 30th observance has undermined the very meaning of the day. I hope its observance this year will be more in keeping as a day of memorializing the sacrifices that have been our nation’s hallmark and make it a more spiritual observance, most especially as we hear of our men and women dying daily in Iraq and Afghanistan, a total of almost 5,000 since the war began.

Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was originally called, was an outgrowth of the Civil War. Waterloo, New York was the birthplace of Memorial Day. On May 5, 1866, the people in that community placed flowers on the graves of northern soldiers who had died in the war between the states. Two years later, Major General John Logan declared May 30th as a day for honoring soldiers who had died fighting for the north. After World War I, it was expanded to include the memory of all who had died fighting for our country in all of its wars – the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I. It has now been expanded to include World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and ipso-facto, the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those who still observe the occasion take the time to remember family and loved ones who have passed on to their eternal home by visiting cemeteries and memorials. A National Moment of Remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day. Another tradition is to fly the U.S. Flag at half-staff from dawn until noon local time.

I have read that on an average 750 persons will visit the U.S. Arizona in Hawaii and on Memorial Day weekend, about 4,600 will visit the memorial. And on an average some 3,000 persons will visit the Vietnam War Memorial and on Memorial Day weekend 7,600 will visit it.

God bless those who remember our deceased veterans. God bless those who remember any of their deceased loved ones. People count. People are what life is all about. People have contributed greatly to our lives and we need to remember them!

The American military through several wars and several centuries have preserved liberty for our citizens and others abroad. Many times a great price has been attached to their service.

In 2005, two pictures which were awarded first and second place at the Picture of the Year International were printed in the Rocky Mountain News.

The first place photo was of 2nd Lt. James Cathey’s body being unloaded off the plane at Reno Airport. Accompanying the picture was the following by Todd Heisler: When 2nd Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac.

During the arrival of another Marine’s casket last year at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process: “See the people in the windows? They’ll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta (sic) wonder what’s going through their minds, knowing that they’re on the plane that brought him home. They’re going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They’re going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should.”

The second picture was of Lt. Cathey’s widow sleeping on the floor in front of her husband’s casket. Todd Heisler wrote the following: The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag.

Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of ‘Cat,’ and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. “I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,” she said. “I think that’s what he would have wanted.”

Each year some 5,000 wreaths decorate the graves at Arlington National Cemetery. They are donated by the Worchester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine. The owner, Merrill Worchester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He has been doing this since 1992. Most years, groups of Maine school children combine an educational trip to our nation’s capital. with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is one of the poorest parts of Maine. Doing “good” is not necessarily well publicize.
It is well to remember those who have given their lives in the military service of our nation; it is equally important to remember others who have been most important in our lives.

First, we need to glorify our memory of Jesus the Christ!

Not everyone accepts the freedom offered in Christ, just as many do not properly use the freedom of this nation, which others died to provide for them. Paul said:

“Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.

“So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:21-24 NLT).

And, we need to clarify the memory of our family and friends.

Many of us have parents who are deceased. Have you reflected and given thanks for the positive impact they had on your life? At the same time, have you faced up to the negative influence they may have had on you? Those who have had negative issues, need to face them honestly in order to be emotionally strong and free of them. In forgiving, you may still remember those issues, but they will merely be historical facts without their ability to disable you any longer. Free from that bondage you can live in a more positive relationship with your loved one and friends, and help prevent you from passing on those same errors to your children.

For some the process may involve deceased spouses. Some should seek to correct bad memories. Others should rejoice and give thanks to God for loving, cherishing, spiritual, responsible spouses that were their strength and mainstay.

Each year, my family conducts a memorial observance at several cemeteries where our loved ones are buried. Some are connected by blood or marriage, others are people who have formed a link of love in our Golden Chain of life. Some have been buried over seventy five years and others only a year or two. Many of the family never met some of those we honor but it gives those who have a chance to share and recall the influences on their lives.

We need to look back and remember people. We need to remember the people who made an impact on our lives. Lest we forget-Memorial Day means people and people count most of all.

Remember these words of Jesus! “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

Amen.

10 de mayo de 2009

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:13:00 +0000

CANTOS ALELUYA, CRISTO RESUCITO
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucitó de madrugada el domingo!//
Fueron mujeres al sepulcro. La piedra, un ángel removió;
Les dijo: “Ha resucitado,” Y al irse les salió el Señor.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucitó de madrugada el domingo!//

La Magdalena fue llorando y cristo se el apareció;
Le pidió ir a sus hermanos con un encargo que le dio.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

A los discípulos de tarde, Cristo también se presentó.
Les enseñó las cinco heridas; dando la paz les saludó.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

Tomás no estaba en ese encuentro; ‘y ver pidió para creer.
Cristo llegó y le dijo: “Mira, palpa mi herida y ten fe.”
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

De Los Cuatro Rincones del Mundo
1.- De los cuatro rincones del mundo, se combina la sangre en las venas
de este pueblo que canta sus penas, de este pueblo que grita su fe;
recia sangre traída de España, noble sangre del indio sufrido,
fuerte sangre de esclavo oprimido; toda sangre comprada en la cruz.

2.- De los cuatro rincones del mundo, de Alemania, Escocia, Ilocano,
desde Asia y la costa africana, de El Salvador, México, Irán.
Esta hora bendita nos trajo el secreto designio divino
que a todos ató en un destino y de todos un reino creará.

3.- Por los cuatro rincones de mundo el pecado construye barreras;
mas la fe no respeta fronteras, la justicia y la paz triunfarán.
A los cuatro rincones del mundo somos pueblo que anuncia el mañana
cuando a todos en paz soberana Dios en lazos de amor unirá.

Cristo te necesita para amar
Cristo te necesita para amar, para amar. Cristo te necesita para amar.
Al que sufre y al triste dale amor, dale amor; al humilde y al pobre dale amor.

Refrán \\ No importen las razas y el color de la piel;
Ama a todos cual hermanos y haz el bien. //

Al que vive a tu lado dale amor, dale amor; al que viene de lejos dale amor.
Al que habla otra lengua dale amor, dale amor; y al que piensa distinto dale amor. Refrán

Al amigo de siempre dale amor, dale amor; y al que no te saluda dale amor.
Cristo te necesita para amar para amar. Cristo te necesita para amar. Refrán

INVOCACION Y BIENVENIDA

ORACION PARA LAS MADRES
Uno/a: Gracias, O Dios, por el don de la vida, y por la posibilidad que das a tantas mujeres
de ser madres y llevar vida en su propia vida.
Todos/as: Te pedimos que bendigas a todas las mamás: a las mamás abuelas o bisabuelas,
a las mamás jóvenes y las mayores, a las mamás primerizas y las de familia
"numerosa", a las mamás que acarician su pancita con esperanza y a las que
cada noche se despiertan a dar de mamar.
Uno/a: Te damos gracias por la fuerza y el cariño, no solamente en el parto, sino en la
lucha de cada día
Todos/as: Hoy te pedimos en especial por las mamás que están solas, que enfrentan el
embarazo, el parto y la lucha diaria, sin la compañía y el sostén de un hombre o
una familia.
Uno/a: Te damos gracias por tanto cuidado y dedicación de mamá las veces que
estuvimos con hambre, pasamos miedo o enfermedad.
Todos/as: Hoy te queremos pedir en especial por las mamás que defienden la vida que
llevan adentro, luchando contra el Sida que las destruye y la sociedad que las
discrimina. Porque sabemos tu amor por la vida, te pedimos que las cuides y nos
hagas solidarios en su angustia.
Uno/a: Te damos gracias por las mamás que están en este momento embarazadas y que
esperan con fe y alegría disfrutar de la vida que pronto estará en sus brazos.
Todos/as: En este día también queremos pedirte por las niñas mamás. Pedimos que tu
amor que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, se haga cariño y solidaridad en nosotros,
para acompañar estas vidas.
Uno/a: Gracias, O Dios, por el milagro de la vida. Porque cada vez que una nueva vida
llega al mundo sentimos la maravilla de tu amor a la que nos tienes acostumbrados.
Todos/as: Te pedimos, oh Dios, en este día en especial, por las mamás que han perdido a
sus hijos. Porque pusieron todo el cariño y la fuerza y no logran comprender por
qué el milagro de la vida no les sonríe. Y, en medio de tanta gratitud y alegría
por lo que nos has dado, nos atrevemos también a pedirte por todas las mamás, y
en especial, por las que más necesitan de tu presencia.

CANTO DE ADORACION ¡CANTA, DÉBORA, CANTA!
¡Canta, Débora, canta! ¡Canta, Débora, canta!
Madre de Israel, líder de ejércitos, canta un himno a tu Dios.
Porque bueno es Dios, bueno es Dios, Dios escoge a los humildes.
Porque bueno es Dios, bueno es Dios, Dios nos fortalece con su poder.

¡Canta, Débora, canta! ¡Canta, Débora, canta!
Todos los que cantan, alcen hoy sus voces, Canten un himno de loor.
Porque bueno es Dios, bueno es Dios, Dios escoge a los humildes.
Porque bueno es Dios, bueno es Dios, Dios nos fortalece con su poder.

LECTURAS BIBLICAS
Lector/a: La lectura viene del Libro de Los Hechos de los Apostoles, capítulo , versículos del 26-40. Escuchen por la Palabra de Dios a cada uno.

26 Un ángel de Dios le dijo a Felipe: «Ponte en marcha hacia el sur, por el camino del desierto que baja de Jerusalén a Gaza.»27 Felipe emprendió el viaje, y resulta que se encontró con un etíope eunuco, alto funcionario encargado de todo el tesoro de la Candace, reina de los etíopes. Éste había ido a Jerusalén para adorar28 y, en el viaje de regreso a su país, iba sentado en su carro, leyendo el libro del profeta Isaías. El Espíritu le dijo a Felipe: «Acércate y júntate a ese carro.» 30 Felipe se acercó de prisa al carro y, al oír que el hombre leía al profeta Isaías, le preguntó: “¿Acaso entiende usted lo que está leyendo?” 31 “¿Y cómo voy a entenderlo,” contestó, “ si nadie me lo explica?”
Así que invitó a Felipe a subir y sentarse con él.32 El pasaje de la Escritura que estaba leyendo era el siguiente: “Como oveja, fue llevado al matadero; y como cordero que enmudece ante su trasquilador, ni siquiera abrió su boca. Lo humillaron y no le hicieron justicia. ¿Quién describirá su descendencia? Porque su vida fue arrancada de la tierra.»
34 “Dígame usted, por favor, ¿de quién habla aquí el profeta, de sí mismo o de algún otro?” le preguntó el eunuco a Felipe. 35 Entonces Felipe, comenzando con ese mismo pasaje de la Escritura, le anunció las buenas nuevas acerca de Jesús.36 Mientras iban por el camino, llegaron a un lugar donde había agua, y dijo el eunuco: “Mire usted, aquí hay agua. ¿Qué impide que yo sea bautizado?” 38 Entonces mandó parar el carro, y ambos bajaron al agua, y Felipe lo bautizó.39 Cuando subieron del agua, el Espíritu de Dios se llevó de repente a Felipe. El eunuco no volvió a verlo, pero siguió alegre su camino.40 En cuanto a Felipe, apareció en Azoto, y se fue predicando el evangelio en todos los pueblos hasta que llegó a Cesarea.

MENSAJE El Testimonio de la Vida de Resurreccion Frank Alton

CANTO DE COMPROMISO Canción del Testigo
Estribillo: Por Ti, mi Dios, cantando voy la alegría de ser tu testigo, O Dios.

Es fuego tu Palabra que mi boca quemó, mis labios ya son llamas y cenizas mi voz
Da miedo proclamarla pero Tú me dices: “No temas contigo estoy”. Estribillo

Tu Palabra es una carga que mi espalda dobló, es brasa tu mensaje que mi lengua secó
Déjate quemar si quieres alumbrar, “no temas, contigo estoy”. Estribillo

Me mandas que cante con toda mi voz, no sé como cantar tu mensaje de amor,
La gente me pregunta cuál es mi misión, les digo: “Tu testigo soy”. Estribillo

ORACIONES DEL PUEBLO

NOTICIAS DEL PUEBLO

OFRENDA “OFERTORIO NICARAGÜENSE”
Estribillo: Te ofrecemos Oh Dios nuestro,con el vino y con el pan
nuestras penas y alegrías,el trabajo nuestro afán.

1. Como el trigo de los campos bajo el signo de la cruz,
se transformen nuestras vidas en el cuerpo de Jesús. Estribillo:

2. A los pobres de la tierra, a los que sufriendo están,
cambia su dolor en vino como la uva en el lagar. Estribillo:
3. Estos dones son el signo del esfuerzo de unidad,
que nosotros (as) realizamos en el campo y la ciudad. Estribillo:

4. Es tu pueblo quien te ofrece, con los dones del altar,
la naturaleza entera, anhelando libertad. Estribillo:

INVITACIÓN A LA MESA

ACCIÓN DE GRACIAS
Uno/a: Dios esté con ustedes Todos/as: Y con tu espíritu.
Uno/a: Levanten sus corazones. Todos/as: Los levantamos a Dios.
Uno/a: Demos gracias a Dios Todos/as: Es justo y necesario darle gracias y alabanza.

SANTO Santo Salvadoreño
Santo, santo, santo, Santo Santo, santo es nuestro Dios.
Señor de toda la tierra, Santo, santo, es nuestro Dios.
Santo, santo, santo, santo, Santo, santo es nuestro Dios,
Señor de toda la historia, Santo, santo es nuestro Dios.
Que acompaña a nuestro pueblo, que vive en nuestras luchas,
Su universo entero se une a la misión, Benditos los que en su nombre
el Evangelio anuncian, la buena y gran noticia de la liberación.

Santa, santa, santa, santa, Santa, santa Trinidad,
Que le da vida a los pueblos y les trae libertad.
Santa, santa, santa, santa, Santa,santa Trinidad,
Que vino a cambiar la historia de toda la humanidad.

PADRE/MADRE NUESTRO
Nuestro Padre y madre, que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu Reino.
Hágase tu voluntad, en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día.
Perdona nuestras ofensas, como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden. Y
no nos dejes caer en tentación, mas líbranos del mal. Porque tuyo es el reino, el poder, y la
gloria. Por los siglos de los siglos. AMÉN

PALABRAS DE INSTITUCIÓN

LA COMUNIÓN Unidos en la fiesta
Refrán Unidos en la fiesta, la alegría se hace canción.
Unidos en la fe la alegría se hace oración.

Cantaremos a nuestro Dios aleluyas con himnos y salmos,
Porque grande es el amor que en nosotros por siempre mostró. Refrán

Cantaremos la bondad de Jesús que nos sienta a su mesa
y nos llama a comulgar, como hermanos(as) su vino y su pan. Refrán

Cantaremos a nuestro Dios aleluyas al son de instrumentos,
Y será nuestra canción la alabanza que ensalza su amor. Refrán

Yo soy el pan de vida
Yo soy el Pan de vida, el que viene a mí no tendrá hambre.
La que cree en mí no tendrá sed. Nadie viene a mí si Dios no le trae.

Refrán Yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré en el dia final.

El pan que yo daré es mi carne por la vida del mundo.
Los que comen de este pan vivirán por siempre, viviran por siempre. Refrán

Si ustedes no comen de la carne del Hijo del Hombre,
Y no beben de su sangre, no beben de su sangre, no podrán tener mi vida. Refrán

Yo soy la resurrección Yo soy la vida.
Si ustedes creen en mí, aunque hayan muerto, vivirán por siempre. Refrán

Sí, Jesús, creemos que tú eres el Mesías, el Hijo de Dios,
Que has venido al mundo, para revelar a Dios. Refrán

ORACIÓN DESPUÉS DE LA COMUNIÓN

3 de mayo de 2009

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:10:00 +0000

CANTOS DE ALABANZA Cantemos al Creador
Cantemos al Creador un himno de alegría,
feliz canción de amor, al nacer el nuevo día.
Dios hizo el cielo y mar, el sol y las estrellas,
Y en ellos vio bondad, pues sus obras eran bellas.

Refrán // ¡Aleluya! ¡Aleluya! Cantemos al Creador. ¡Aleluya!//

Cantemos al Creador un himnos de alabanza
que exprese nuestro amor, nuestra fe nuestra esperanza;
También la creación pregona su grandeza;
con nuestro fiel cantar anunciamos su belleza. Refrán

De la Justicia Brota la Paz
Estribillo De la justicia brota la paz y del derecho la calma.

Cantemos a Jesús con alegría; vayamos hacia El con regocijo.
La paz de su reino nos ofrece en medio del dolor y el desconcierto. Estribillo

El mundo nos sonríe con tristeza; juntemos nuestras manos como hermanos.
Que nazca la paz de nuestro canto y la justicia de nuestros labios. Estribillo

HOY CELEBRAMOS CON GOZO
Hoy celebramos con gozo al Dios que nos da la vida,
quien con amor nos sustenta y provee de todo bien;
al que vino hasta nosotros y murió en una cruz,
que ha vencido a las tinieblas y a la muerte destruyó.

Refrán ¡Cristo vive! Celebremos y esperemos su gran don;
Santo Espíritu divino, ven a nuestro corazón.

Con júbilo celebremos a quien da la salvación
que da vida y esperanza y se goza en el perdón.
Con panderos y con palmas entonemos la canción,
celebremos que Dios vive dance nuestro corazón. Refrán

Hoy acudimos alegres a esta fiesta del amor;
el pueblo ha sido llamado a reunirse con su Dios.
En amor hoy celebramos esta santa comunión
estrechándonos las manos, somos pueblo del Creador. Refrán

Camina, pueblo de Dios
Estribillo: Camina pueblo de Dios, Camina pueblo de Dios.
Nueva ley, nueva alianza en la nueva creación.
Camina pueblo de Dios, camina pueblo de Dios.

Mira allá en el calvario, en la roca hay una cruz;
muerte que engendra la vida, esperanza nueva luz.
Cristo nos ha salvado con su muerte y resurrección.
Todas las cosas renacen en la nueva creación. Estribillo

Cristo toma en su cuerpo el pecado, la esclavitud.
Al destruirlos, nos trae una nueva plenitud.
Pone en paz a los pueblos, a las cosas y al Creador.
Todo renace a la vida en la nueva creación Estribillo

Cielo y tierra se abrazan, nuestra alma halla el perdón.
Vuelven a abrir los cielos para el mundo pecador.
Israel peregrino, vive y canta tu redención.
Hay nuevos mundos abiertos en la nueva creación Estribillo

Canción del Testigo
Estribillo: Por Ti, mi Dios, cantando voy la alegría de ser tu testigo, O Dios.

Es fuego tu Palabra que mi boca quemó, mis labios ya son llamas y cenizas mi voz
Da miedo proclamarla pero Tú me dices: “No temas contigo estoy”. Estribillo

Tu Palabra es una carga que mi espalda dobló, es brasa tu mensaje que mi lengua secó
Déjate quemar si quieres alumbrar, “no temas, contigo estoy”. Estribillo

Me mandas que cante con toda mi voz, no sé como cantar tu mensaje de amor,
La gente me pregunta cuál es mi misión, les digo: “Tu testigo soy”. Estribillo

INVOCACION Y BIENVENIDA

INVITACIÓN A LA CONFESIÓN

Uno/a 1 Hermanas y hermanos, oremos a Dios el Creador e invoquemos al Espíritu Santo, para ser perdonados y renovadas.

Breve pausa

ORACION DE CONFESION
Uno/a: O Dios, tu suples todas nuestras necesidades.
Hombres: Mas nosotros somos insensatos/as. Construimos sobre los delicados
pastos.
Mujeres: Nosotras contaminamos las aguas de reposo.
Todos/as: Hacemos caminos sin pensar y les ponemos nuestros propios nombres.
Nuestros miedos hacen valles de sombras de muerte para otras personas.
Uno/a: ¡Oh Dios, llámanos por nuestro nombre!
Mujeres: Perdónanos y sácanos de las correrías inútiles para llevarnos nuevamente
al hogar.
Hombres: Úngenos para servirte a ti y a todo lo que has creado, dando gracias por tu
gracia abundante.

ORACIÓN DE CONFESIÓN PERSONAL

Uno/a: Amén.

DECLARACIÓN DE PERDÓN
Uno/a: Amados y amadas, si nuestros corazones no nos condenan es que tenemos
valentía delante de Dios y recibimos de Dios lo que pidamos.
Proclamemos las buenas nuevas:
Todos/as: En Jesucristo somos perdonados y perdonadas

CANTO DE ADORACION Aleluya de Honduras
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, alabemos a Jesus.

LECTURAS BIBLICAS
Lector/a: La lectura viene del Libro de Los Hechos de los Apostoles, capítulo 4, versículos del 5-12. Escuchen por la Palabra de Dios a cada uno.

5 Al día siguiente se reunieron en Jerusalén los gobernantes, los ancianos y los *maestros de la ley.6 Allí estaban el sumo sacerdote Anás, Caifás, Juan, Alejandro y los otros miembros de la familia del sumo sacerdote.7 Hicieron que Pedro y Juan comparecieran ante ellos y comenzaron a interrogarlos: “¿Con qué poder, o en nombre de quién, hicieron ustedes esto?” 8 Pedro, lleno del Espíritu Santo, les respondió: “Gobernantes del pueblo y ancianos:9 Hoy se nos procesa por haber favorecido a un inválido, ¡y se nos pregunta cómo fue sanado!10 Sepan, pues, todos ustedes y todo el pueblo de Israel que este hombre está aquí delante de ustedes, sano gracias al nombre de Jesucristo de Nazaret, crucificado por ustedes pero resucitado por Dios.11 Jesucristo es ‘la piedra que desecharon ustedes los constructores, y que ha llegado a ser la piedra angular.’ 12 De hecho, en ningún otro hay salvación, porque no hay bajo el cielo otro nombre dado a los hombres mediante el cual podamos ser salvos.”

MENSAJE El Denuedo de la Vida de Resurreccion Frank Alton

CANTO DE COMPROMISO Arriba los Corazones
Estribillo: Arriba los corazones, vayamos todos al pan de vida,
que es fuente de gloria eterna, de fortaleza y de alegría.

A ti acudimos sedientos, ¡ven, Jesús! tenemos fe en tu misterio, ¡ven, Jesús!
Queremos darte la vida, ¡ven, Jesús! con sus dolores y dichas, ¡ven, Jesús! Estribillo

Perdona nuestros pecados, ¡ven, Jesús! por eso en ti confiamos, ¡ven, Jesús!
y hallaremos fuerzas, ¡ven, Jesús! para olvidar las ofensas, ¡ven, Jesús! Estribillo

Que no haya luchas fraternas, ¡ven, Jesús! ni esclavitud, ni miserias, ¡ven, Jesús!
aparta el odio del mundo, ¡ven, Jesús! que exista un orden más justo, ¡ven, Jesús!

ORACIONES DEL PUEBLO

NOTICIAS DEL PUEBLO

OFRENDA Danos un corazón
Gente nueva creadora de la historia, constructora de nueva humanidad,
gente nueva que vive la existencia como riesgo de un largo caminar.

Refrán Danos un corazón grande para amar, danos un corazón fuerte para luchar.

Gente nueva luchando en esperanza, caminantes sedientos de verdad,
gente nueva sin frenos ni cadenas, gente libre que exige libertad. Refrán

Gente nueva amando sin fronteras por encima de razas y lugar,
gente nueva al lado de los pobres compartiendo con ellos techo y pan. Refrán

INVITACIÓN A LA MESA

ACCIÓN DE GRACIAS
Uno/a: Dios esté con ustedes Todos/as: Y con tu espíritu.
Uno/a: Levanten sus corazones. Todos/as: Los levantamos a Dios.
Uno/a: Demos gracias a Dios Todos/as: Es justo y necesario darle gracias y alabanza.

SANTO Santo
Uno/a: Santo, santo, santo Dios de gloria y poder.
Todos/as: Santo, santo, santo Dios de gloria y poder.
Uno/a: Cielos y tierra proclaman tu gloria.
Todos/as: Cielos y tierra proclaman tu gloria.
Uno/a: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Todos/as: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Uno/a: Bendito aquel que viene en el nombre de Dios.
Todos/as: Bendito aquel que viene en el nombre de Dios.
Uno/a: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Todos/as: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.

PADRE/MADRE NUESTRO
Nuestro Padre y madre, que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu Reino.
Hágase tu voluntad, en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día.
Perdona nuestras ofensas, como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden. Y
no nos dejes caer en tentación, mas líbranos del mal. Porque tuyo es el reino, el poder, y la
gloria. Por los siglos de los siglos. AMÉN

PALABRAS DE INSTITUCIÓN

LA COMUNIÓN Eres santo
Eres santo, eres Dios por toda la eternidad;
siempre tu muy cerca estas de tu pueblo, O Dios.

Te alabamos hoy aquí, te adoramos con fervor.
A tu iglesia en vino y pan nueva vida así le das.

Eres santo, eres Dios, Te sentimos. La creación te dé loor.
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, O Dios.

Yo soy el pan de vida
Yo soy el Pan de vida, el que viene a mí no tendrá hambre.
La que cree en mí no tendrá sed. Nadie viene a mí si Dios no le trae.

Refrán Yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré en el dia final.

El pan que yo daré es mi carne por la vida del mundo.
Los que comen de este pan vivirán por siempre, viviran por siempre. Refrán

Si ustedes no comen de la carne del Hijo del Hombre,
Y no beben de su sangre, no beben de su sangre, no podrán tener mi vida. Refrán

Yo soy la resurrección Yo soy la vida.
Si ustedes creen en mí, aunque hayan muerto, vivirán por siempre. Refrán

Sí, Jesús, creemos que tú eres el Mesías, el Hijo de Dios,
Que has venido al mundo, para revelar a Dios. Refrán

ORACIÓN DESPUÉS DE LA COMUNIÓN

April 29, 2009 + “Jesus Is Speaking To You: Are You Listening?” (John 10:22-30) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:01:00 +0000

At first glance, our gospel lesson as prescribed in the Lectionary for the Fourth Week in Easter seems out of place. This story takes place before the events of Passion Week, before Jesus’ death on the cross, before his resurrection. As a matter of fact, the events in this story lead to the events of the past several weeks. So why has the Lectionary placed this text at this point in time for our study?

For three weeks, the Lectionary has led us to see Jesus appearing to Thomas, appearing to the people in the upper room, appearing to the two people along the road to Emmaus, appearing to the disciples as he made breakfast on the lakeshore. The physical fact of the resurrection has been very clearly documented in the scripture. We have seen that Jesus has risen indeed.

Today, the Lectionary leads us to see who Jesus is, the Son of God, the Good Shepherd. Today our Scripture tells us that Jesus and the Father are one. Today, we see who Jesus is beyond the resurrection. We see Him as the Son of God.

Our text begins as Jesus is walking in the portico of Solomon in the temple in Jerusalem. It was a cold day as John says it was winter. Winter in Jesus’ day meant that the wind came in from the east and it was raw and cold. He was walking in the part of the temple that was enclosed which sheltered him from the raw east wind. As he walked, prayed and meditated, a group of Jews came to him and asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father’s name, they bear witness to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life,…”

Jesus tells the Jews that he is the Christ, the Messiah. He tells them that he has told them over and over again who he is, but they will not believe. He speaks, but they do not hear.

Jesus wants us to hear his words; he wants us to understand who he is for our lives. He wants us to know and believe that he is our shepherd and we are his sheep. He wants us to follow his voice; he wants us to hear his words of peace and comfort in our lives. But sometimes you and I have a difficult time hearing.

Let me share a story about a dear old lady whose hearing had largely failed and was experiencing great difficulty understanding what was being said to her. Persons trying to communicate would draw close and shout loudly. They would cup their hands and scream into her ears. And even with all this, the dear old lady would often shake her head and sigh that she was unable to hear.

But she was married to a kind and patient man whom she had shared love and life for more than 60 years. It was strange to many that she could hear him when she was able to hear no one else. He would take her frail hand in his, look deeply into her eyes, and speak distinctly in a tone which seemed only a trifle louder than normal. And the wife he loved always heard and understood.

There wasn’t anything really strange about this. It was a matter of relationship, of basic understanding, a sense of love, compassion… a link connecting these two people. There was a bond of understanding, true mutual love and a sense of kindness that let the man have patience with his hard of hearing wife, and let her surrender herself to him for she knew he wanted only what was the best for her.
One of the consequences of the resurrection that is pointed out in this text, one of the things Jesus is asking us to understand about our risen Christ, is that we need to hear his voice and follow it in this world. Though we might have a difficult time hearing his voice, though it might seem we are deaf to his voice, Jesus is reminding us that he wants to be patient with us, he wants a bond of trust and understanding between us so that we can hear his voice, so that we can trust him, so that we will know he wants what is best for us.

But I think you and I are too easily distracted in the rush of the modern world. Maybe we are deaf to the words of Jesus; maybe we don’t have a hearing problem as much as we hear what we want to hear so we tune out Jesus and tune in on all the sounds and words of the world as it rushes by. Maybe part of our problem is we don’t have a trusting relationship with him to listen intently to his words.

And maybe the other part of the problem is we only listen to what we want to listen to, and far too much of our listening is centered on the world and not on Jesus. I think the following story will demonstrate far better what I’m trying to say.

Two men were walking along a crowded city sidewalk. Suddenly one of the men remarked, “Listen to the lovely sound of the cricket,” but the other man couldn’t hear the sound. He asked his friend how he could hear the sound of a cricket amid the roar of traffic and the sound of the people. The first man, who was a zoologist, had trained himself to hear the sounds of nature. He didn’t explain to his friend in words how he could hear the sound of the cricket, but instead, he reached in his pocket, pulled out a fifty cent piece, dropped it onto the sidewalk, and watched intently as a dozen people began to look for the coin as they heard it clanking around amid the sounds of the traffic and the sounds of the crowded city living. He said to his friend, “We hear what we listen for.”

Maybe that is our problem with the voice of Jesus as he is trying to get us to follow him. We hear everything else but him because we aren’t willing to listen. We don’t want to hear his voice; we tune it out instead of focusing our attention on it.

The Jews heard, but did not believe. They saw his signs, but did not get the message. We have heard his word down through the centuries through the Bible, through preaching, through the sacrament, that Jesus is the Christ, the risen Lord. We have seen his deeds as the Holy Spirit has worked in the lives of countless people, but still we don’t believe, still we have a difficult time centering our attention, our focus on this shepherd who would guide our lives. In one sense we have an advantage over the Jews of Jesus’ time; we have the whole story. We have seen in the scripture the witness to the resurrection. We have heard sermons these last three Sundays from Frank, Sam and Elizabeth, giving powerful witness that indeed Jesus has risen. So we should be able to trust him, to follow him, to believe in his Lordship for our lives with greater conviction than the Jews who approached Jesus in the temple. But sadly, many people still doubt; many people still do not trust Jesus as their savior. Many people are still looking, still searching for meaning and purpose to their lives. Many people have found no one to help them with the burdens they carry. Many people are still wandering aimlessly in life, with no direction, no goal, no idea what to make of their life, what they want to accomplish with the God given gifts that have been so generously given to them.

I think one reason so many people are direction less, are aimless, are just wandering around with no purpose is because they have not let Jesus control; they have not surrendered to him so that he can be the good shepherd, so that he can take care of them giving them guidance, giving them peace, giving them a sense of worth and direction.

I want to close with a story that speaks of a guide who will guide us through the abyss of life. It was published among a collection of stories in a book entitled, “A Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, Third Planting” back in 1994.

“A traveler was returning to his home from a journey to a distant country. At nightfall he arrived at the entrance to a vast forest. Unable to either delay his journey or retrace his steps, he was prepared to traverse the sullen forces when he came upon an old shepherd from whom he asked the way.

“‘Alas!’ cried the shepherd. ‘It is not easy to point it out, for the forest is criss-crossed by hundreds of paths winding in every direction. They are almost all similar in appearance, though all with one exception lead to the Great Abyss.’ ‘What is the Great Abyss?’ the traveler inquired.

“‘It is the abyss which surrounds the forest,’ replied the shepherd. ‘Moreover, the forest is filled with robbers and wild beasts. In particular, it is ravaged by an enormous serpent, so that scarcely a day passes but we find the remains of some unfortunate traveler who fell prey to it. Still,’ the shepherd continued, ‘as it is impossible to arrive at the place where you are going without traversing the forest, I have, through a motive of compassion stationed myself at the entrance of the forest to assist and direct travelers. I have also placed my sons at different intervals to assist me in the same good work. Their services and mine are at your disposal, and I am ready to accompany you is you so desire.’

“The candor and venerable appearance of the old man satisfied the traveler, and he accepted the proposal. The shepherd held a lantern with one hand and with the other took the arm of the traveler. Then they set out upon their journey through the dark forest.

“After walking for some distance, the traveler felt his strength waning. ‘Lean on me,’ said the shepherd. The traveler did so, and was able to continue the journey. At length the lamp began to flicker. ‘Ah!’ groaned the traveler. ‘The oil has nearly spent, and the light will soon be gone. What will become of us now?’

“‘Do not fear,’ consoled the shepherd. ‘We shall soon meet one of my sons, who will supply us with more oil.’ Just then the traveler perceived a glimmer of light shining through the darkness. The light shone from a small cabin by the side of the narrow path. At the sound of the shepherd’s well-known voice, the cabin door swung open. A seat was offered to the weary traveler, and some plain but substantial food was set before him. Thus refreshed, the traveler set out again, guided by the shepherd’s son.

“In this manner the traveler journeyed on for the rest of the night. From time to time, they stopped at different cabins built along the path. At each stop he obtained refreshment, a bit of rest and was furnished with a new guide. With the dawning of daylight, the traveler arrived, without incident, at the farthest boundary of the forest. Only then did he appreciate the magnitude of the service rendered him by the shepherd and his sons. At the very edge of the forest, right before his feet, lay a frightful precipice, at the bottom of which he could distinguish the roar of an angry current.

“‘This,’ said his guide, ‘is the Great Abyss which my father spoke about. No one knows its depth, for it is always covered with a thick fog which no eye can penetrate. As he spoke, he heaved a deep sigh, and wiped a tear from his eyes. ‘You seemed grieved,’ said the traveler. ‘How can it be otherwise?’ replied the guide. ‘Can I look at the abyss without thinking of the thousands of unfortunate people who every day are swallowed up in it? In vain do my father and my brothers offer our service. Very few accept them, and of those few the greater portion, after journeying for a few hours, accuse us of needlessly alarming them. They despise our advice and set out on paths of their own choosing. The consequence is that they soon lose their way and are devoured by the serpent, murdered by robbers, or plunge headlong into the abyss. You see there is only this one little bridge by which the Great Abyss can be crossed, and the way which leads to the bridge is known to us alone. Pass over with confidence,’ continued the guide. He turned to the traveler, embraced him and said, ‘On the other side is your true home.’

“The traveler, overcome with gratitude, thanked his charitable guide and promised never to forget him. He crossed the narrow bridge and discovered he was now in his own land and his family was there to welcome him.”

Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

Amen.

26 de abril de 2009

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0000

CANTOS DE ALABANZA ALELUYA, CRISTO RESUCITO
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucitó de madrugada el domingo!//
Fueron mujeres al sepulcro. La piedra, un ángel removió;
Les dijo: “Ha resucitado,” Y al irse les salió el Señor.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucitó de madrugada el domingo!//

La Magdalena fue llorando y cristo se el apareció;
Le pidió ir a sus hermanos con un encargo que le dio.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

A los discípulos de tarde, Cristo también se presentó.
Les enseñó las cinco heridas; dando la paz les saludó.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

Tomás no estaba en ese encuentro; ‘y ver pidió para creer.
Cristo llegó y le dijo: “Mira, palpa mi herida y ten fe.”
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

HOY CELEBRAMOS CON GOZO

Hoy celebramos con gozo al Dios que nos da la vida,
quien con amor nos sustenta y provee de todo bien;
al que vino hasta nosotros y murió en una cruz,
que ha vencido a las tinieblas y a la muerte destruyó.

Refrán ¡Cristo vive! Celebremos y esperemos su gran don;
Santo Espíritu divino, ven a nuestro corazón.

Con júbilo celebremos a quien da la salvación
que da vida y esperanza y se goza en el perdón.
Con panderos y con palmas entonemos la canción,
celebremos que Dios vive dance nuestro corazón. Refrán

Hoy acudimos alegres a esta fiesta del amor;
el pueblo ha sido llamado a reunirse con su Dios.
En amor hoy celebramos esta santa comunión
estrechándonos las manos, somos pueblo del Creador. Refrán

Jesucristo Esperanza del Mundo
Un poco después del presente alegre el futuro proclama
la fuga total de la noche, la luz que ya el día derrama.

Estribillo: Venga tu reino, o Dios; la fiesta del mundo recrea
Y nuestra espera y dolor transforma en plena alegría. Ae,eia, ae,ae,ae.

Capullo de amor y esperanza, anuncio de flor que será,
Promesa de hallar tu presencia que vida abundante traerá. Estribillo

Nos diste, O Dios, la simiente, señal de que el reino es ahora;
Futuro que alumbra el presente, viniendo ya estás sin demora. Estribillo

Brota ya el retoño
Brota ya el retoño en el seco erial; la semilla en tierra vuelve a germinar;
nace a la luz de plena oscuridad.

Estribillo Vuelve ya el amor cual primavera en flor.

En oscura tumba vino a descansar; nunca imaginaron que iba a despertar.
¡Mas Él venció la muerte con poder! Estribillo

Bella la mañana cuando revivió Él que por tres días las tinieblas vió.
Vino Jesús la muerte a conquistar. Estribillo

Si en los corazones hay pena y dolor, basta su caricia para dar calor.
Perfecta paz tan sólo Él puede dar. Estribillo

INVOCACION Y BIENVENIDA

INVITACIÓN A LA CONFESIÓN

Uno/a 1 Hermanas y hermanos, oremos a Dios el Creador e invoquemos al Espíritu Santo, para ser perdonados y renovadas.

Breve pausa

ORACION DE CONFESION
Uno/a: Dios Padre y Madre, somos tus hijos e hijas a través de tu amor.
Todos/as: Sin embargo, no reconocemos a tu Hijo, nuestro hermano, cuando trabaja
en medio nuestro.
Uno/a: Buscamos a un fantasma con manos y pies heridos mientras que él cuida a
las personas quebrantadas y heridas que se encuentran en nuestras calles. Todos/as: Nos preguntamos si le reconoceremos aún si está en la puerta de nuestra
casa pidiendo algo de comer.
Uno/a: Oh Dios, abre nuestras mentes para que podamos entender las Escrituras.
Todos/as: Perdónanos y abre nuestros ojos para que podamos reconocer a Jesús y
unirnos a su trabajo. Amén.

ORACIÓN DE CONFESIÓN PERSONAL

Uno/a: Amén.

DECLARACIÓN DE PERDÓN
Uno/a: ¿Quién podrá hacerte daño si deseas de corazón hacer lo correcto? No les tengas
miedo. No te preocupes.

Todos/as: Porque Cristo murió para unirnos a Dios. Aleluya

CANTO DE ADORACION Aleluya de Honduras
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, alabemos a Jesus.

LECTURAS BIBLICAS
Lector/a: La lectura viene del Libro de Los Hechos de los Apostoles, capítulo 2, versículos del 32-37. Escuchen por la Palabra de Dios a cada uno.

El Peregrino de Emaús
¿Qué venías conversando? me dijiste buen amigo,
y me detuve asombrado a la vera del camino.
¿No sabes lo que ha pasado allá en Jerusalén? ¿De Jesús de Nazaret a quien clavaron en Cruz?
Por eso me vuelvo triste a mi aldea de Emaús.

Refrán Por la calzada de Emaús un peregrino iba conmigo.
No lo conocí al caminar; ahora sí, en la fracción del pan.

Van tres días que se ha muerto y se acaba mi esperanza.
Dicen que algunas mujeres al sepulcro fueron de alba;
Pedro, Juan y algunos otros, hoy también allá buscaron.
Más se acaba mi confianza, no encontraron a Jesús:
Por eso me vuelvo triste a mi aldea de Emaús. Refrán

Oh, tardíos corazones que ignoráis a los profetas.
En la ley ya está anunciado que el Mesías padeciera
y por llegar a su gloria eligiera la aflicción.
En la tarde de aquel día yo sentí que por Jesús
nuestro corazón ardía a la vista de Emaús. Refrán

Hizo señas de seguir más allá de nuestra aldea;
y la luz del sol poniente parecía que muriera.
Quédate forastero, ponte a la mesa y bendice.
Y al destello de su luz, en la bendición del Pan,
mis ojos reconocieron al amigo de Emaús. Refrán

MENSAJE El Camino a Emaus Elizabeth Gibbs Zehnder

CANTO DE COMPROMISO Su nombre es Jesús
Su nombre es Jesús y pasa hambre, y clama por la boca del hambriento;
y muchos que lo ven pasan de largo, acaso por llegar temprano al templo.
Su nombre es Jesús y sed soporta, y está en quién de justicia va sediento;
y muchos que lo ven pasan de largo, a veces ocupados con sus rezos.

Estribillo: Con nosotros está y no le conocemos, con nosotros está su nombre es Jesús.
Con nosotros está y no le conocemos, con nosotros está su nombre es Jesús.

Su nombre es Jesús y está desnudo, la ausencia del amor hiela sus huesos;
y muchos que lo ven pasan de largo, seguros y al calor de su dinero.
Su nombre es Jesús y enfermo vive, y su agonía es la del enfermo;
y muchos que lo ven no hacen caso, tal vez no frecuentaba mucho el templo.

Estribillo //Con nosotros está y no le conocemos, con nosotros está su nombre es Jesús//

Su nombre es Jesús y está en la cárcel, está en la sociedad de cada preso;
y nadie lo visita y hasta dicen: “Tal vez no era de los nuestros.”
Su nombre es Jesús, el que sed tiene; él pide por la boca del hambriento;
está preso, está enfermo, está desnudo, pero él nos va a juzgar por todo eso.

Estribillo //Con nosotros está y no le conocemos, con nosotros está su nombre es Jesús//

ORACIONES DEL PUEBLO

NOTICIAS DEL PUEBLO

OFRENDA Cuando el pobre nada tiene
Cuando el pobre nada tiene y aún reparte, cuando alguien pasa sed y agua nos da,
cuando el débil a su hermano fortalece.

Estribillo: Va Dios mismo en nuestro mismo caminar,
va Dios mismo en nuestro mismo caminar.

Cuando alguien sufre y logra su consuelo, cuando espera y no se cansa de esperar,
cuando amamos aunque el odio lo rodee. Estribillo:

Cuando crece la alegría y nos inunda, cuando dicen nuestros labios la verdad,
cuando amamos el sentir de los sencillos. Estribillo:

Cuando abunda el bien y llena hogares, cuando alguien donde hay guerra pone paz,
cuando ‘hermano’ le llamamos al extraño. Estribillo:

INVITACIÓN A LA MESA

ACCIÓN DE GRACIAS
Uno/a: Dios esté con ustedes Todos/as: Y con tu espíritu.
Uno/a: Levanten sus corazones. Todos/as: Los levantamos a Dios.
Uno/a: Demos gracias a Dios Todos/as: Es justo y necesario darle gracias y alabanza.

SANTO Santo
Uno/a: Santo, santo, santo Dios de gloria y poder.
Todos/as: Santo, santo, santo Dios de gloria y poder.
Uno/a: Cielos y tierra proclaman tu gloria.
Todos/as: Cielos y tierra proclaman tu gloria.
Uno/a: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Todos/as: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Uno/a: Bendito aquel que viene en el nombre de Dios.
Todos/as: Bendito aquel que viene en el nombre de Dios.
Uno/a: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Todos/as: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.

PADRE/MADRE NUESTRO
Nuestro Padre y madre, que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu Reino.
Hágase tu voluntad, en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día.
Perdona nuestras ofensas, como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden. Y
no nos dejes caer en tentación, mas líbranos del mal. Porque tuyo es el reino, el poder, y la
gloria. Por los siglos de los siglos. AMÉN

PALABRAS DE INSTITUCIÓN

LA COMUNIÓN Eres santo
Eres santo, eres Dios por toda la eternidad;
siempre tu muy cerca estas de tu pueblo, O Dios.

Te alabamos hoy aquí, te adoramos con fervor.
A tu iglesia en vino y pan nueva vida así le das.

Eres santo, eres Dios, Te sentimos. La creación te dé loor.
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, O Dios.

Yo soy el pan de vida
Yo soy el Pan de vida, el que viene a mí no tendrá hambre.
La que cree en mí no tendrá sed. Nadie viene a mí si Dios no le trae.

Refrán Yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré en el dia final.

El pan que yo daré es mi carne por la vida del mundo.
Los que comen de este pan vivirán por siempre, viviran por siempre. Refrán

Si ustedes no comen de la carne del Hijo del Hombre,
Y no beben de su sangre, no beben de su sangre, no podrán tener mi vida. Refrán

Yo soy la resurrección Yo soy la vida.
Si ustedes creen en mí, aunque hayan muerto, vivirán por siempre. Refrán

Sí, Jesús, creemos que tú eres el Mesías, el Hijo de Dios,
Que has venido al mundo, para revelar a Dios. Refrán

ORACIÓN DESPUÉS DE LA COMUNIÓN

April 22, 2009 + “The Earth Is The Lord’s” Genesis 1:1, 27-30; Luke 19:11-27 + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:59:00 +0000

Today has been designated as “Earth Day.” The first Earth Day took place April 22, 1970, thirty nine years ago. In 1970 the world’s human population was just under 3.7 billion. It had taken nearly 2,000 years to plump that number up from a mere 200 million that populated the earth in Biblical times. In merely 39 years the 3.7 billion has been inflated by another 3 billion.

In 1970, gas was 34 cents a gallon and few people pondered what the lead in it was doing to the environment, except those in the DuPont board room which had covered up lead’s downside for decades. Our oceans were still teeming with fish, and they weren’t anywhere near full of mercury yet. Delaware-sized chunks of Arctic and Antarctic ice shelf weren’t yet crumbling into the sea.

Back then, the weather extremes, species die-offs and oceanic dead zones of today were still within realms of conjecture between science and science fiction. Some events have come to pass that even the writers of science fiction could not have imagined, such as in 2004, when Australia’s epic drought drove thirst-crazed kangaroos
into the urban areas where they attacked humans.

In 1970, our dichotomy regarding the earth as both our oyster and our toilet hadn’t taken so obvious a toll on the planet, nothing like what is happening now. But it was enough to get people thinking and organizing. Earth Day was a huge event in which 20 million Americans took part…from teachers taking school children to tide pools to experience touching sea creatures to participants fostering substantive legislative, scientific and academic change.

Earth Day has since gone global, observed in 174 languages. But here at home it slowly demonstrated our political inertia, particularly over the past eight years of environmental rollback. But there is hope with the change of administration in the White House. After eight years of anti-environmental policies, changes have already been made at the Environmental Protection Agency under new leadership.

It is ironic that the Agency owes it existence to the first Earth Day. President Nixon, being politically astute, saw how he could bolster falling public support of his administration by giving lip service to what he saw represented by the 20 million people that first Earth Day. By combining various elements of existing cabinet departments, tying a bow around it, and calling it the Environmental Protection Agency, he gave away nothing and gained support from both sides of the Congressional aisle but most importantly outflanked his chief rivals in both political parties for re-election in 1972.

When my children were growing up, some of their favorite books were those written by Dr. Suess. People think of Dr. Suess as a writer of children’s books, which he was. But he was a political writer. Whether we realize it or not, his stories have imbedded political ideas in the brains of children and adults alike. One such book is Dr. Suess’s, The Lorax, based on environmental issues. He wanted people to see and understand what happens if the environment exploited.

The Lorax was a typical Dr. Suess creature who lived in the Truffula trees, and claimed to speak for them, to be their advocate, their voice in the human world for living creatures that had no voice. The main character, the narrator of this story, is a pioneer who moves around the land in hopes of striking it rich. He tells this tale to a young boy after all the trees in the land have been cut down. He describes, in almost a confessional way, his greed in cutting down the trees so that they could be processed into just about anything and everything. The richer he gets, the greedier he becomes. When the Lorax comes around to try to put a stop to the destruction of the trees and the animals that occupy them, this main character ignores his wishes and builds factories that pollute the area killing off the remaining animals. In Dr. Suess fashion, the narrator invents all sorts of fantastic machines to chop down the trees at an amazing rate and chuck them into his factories.

The narrator continually ignores the pleas of the Lorax. Only at the end does he realize that all the trees are gone. Not only has he lost in a strictly economic sense, but everyone has lost the trees. The Lorax, having predicted this outcome forlornly lifts himself into the air and goes to another land. The narrator ends his tale by pointing to a collection of stones in the ground. The stones bear a single word “unless.” He gives the boy who had been hearing the story the last sapling. He urges the boy, in an act of ecological redemption, to plant the tree and rejuvenate the trees. Perhaps then the Lorax will return.

In this simple straight forward, but emotionally powerful story the Lorax is very much like the Old Testament prophets. He is able to see the outcome of events, not because he is omnipotent, but because of his compassion and wisdom for all life. Thus he can proclaim with some authority that “I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees.” He almost sounds like “Thus saith the Lord.” The purpose of a prophet, the ones in the Bible, our childhood stories, or even our real life, is to wake us up. This also accounts for their unpopularity. Prophets have a popularity rating perhaps ahead of the Wall Street bankers and corporate America who have caused our world economic crisis. No one likes to be reminded of the harsh reality that they have successfully been denying. In the story, the Lorax is continually ignored by the narrator with catastrophic results. We need prophets like the Lorax. With the global and local environmental degradation nearing the point of no return, we need more forceful modern day prophets to make our elected leaders mindful of what is happening.

The definition of mindfulness is to wake up to the reality of the world as it is and not the way we wish it to be or hope that it would be. In some ways those prophetic writings of ancient Judaism are a form of mindfulness. They were saying to the people, “Pay attention to the way you are living. There can be severe long term consequences to your actions.” This is the message of the Lorax. That is what the Lorax’s stones warn us “unless.”

So often we hear the warnings and understand the problem of global warming and deforestation and pollution and so forth. However inspired or depressed we may be after hearing the words of the prophets we need to translate that feeling into action. Good intentions and regret do little to close the hole in the ozone layer.

Practice mindfulness by paying attention and being aware of the world around us, educate yourself to the issues, let this knowledge penetrate who we are as people, and really focus in increasing compassion and concern for Mother Earth. When we move beyond our ideas and thoughts and into our feelings and passions for how we want the world to be, then we have bridged an important gap in healing the world. It is a spiritual gap that is as wide as heaven and earth itself, but as important as any other for the soul.

Dr, Suess choice of the name LORAX has some interesting religious connotations. Let us break the word down to the letters AO, RX, and L. The AO in the Greek is Alpha and Omega, could symbolize Christ who once said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” The symbol RX commonly means prescription as we know it today. But if you look at the Greek you will find that R is Rho and X is Chi. The first two letters in Christos , or Christ are Chi and Rho, often used in Christian symbols. The letter L is Greek for Lambda, another representation of Christ since in the Greek alphabet Lambda is associated with a higher level.
The Bible tells us that we have a Creator God, that He does care about the environment, and shows us what our responsibilities toward nature and family are from His point of view. We do not own the earth. The earth is God’s. We are merely stewards, called to look after and take care of that which is His. Humanity’s job was - and is - to manage what God has entrusted to our care. Amen.

PRAYER: O God, we thank you for this earth-our home, for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and the green grass.

We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn fruit, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.

Grant us a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thorn bush is aflame with your glory.

Amen.

19 de abril de 2009

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:58:00 +0000

CANTOS DE ALABANZA ALELUYA, CRISTO RESUCITO
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucitó de madrugada el domingo!//
Fueron mujeres al sepulcro. La piedra, un ángel removió;
Les dijo: “Ha resucitado,” Y al irse les salió el Señor.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucitó de madrugada el domingo!//

La Magdalena fue llorando y cristo se el apareció;
Le pidió ir a sus hermanos con un encargo que le dio.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

A los discípulos de tarde, Cristo también se presentó.
Les enseñó las cinco heridas; dando la paz les saludó.
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

Tomás no estaba en ese encuentro; ‘y ver pidió para creer.
Cristo llegó y le dijo: “Mira, palpa mi herida y ten fe.”
\\!Aleluya, Cristo resucito de madrugada el domingo!//

El Peregrino de Emaús
¿Qué venías conversando? me dijiste buen amigo,
y me detuve asombrado a la vera del camino.
¿No sabes lo que ha pasado allá en Jerusalén? ¿De Jesús de Nazaret a quien clavaron en Cruz?
Por eso me vuelvo triste a mi aldea de Emaús.

Refrán Por la calzada de Emaús un peregrino iba conmigo.
No lo conocí al caminar; ahora sí, en la fracción del pan.

Van tres días que se ha muerto y se acaba mi esperanza.
Dicen que algunas mujeres al sepulcro fueron de alba;
Pedro, Juan y algunos otros, hoy también allá buscaron.
Más se acaba mi confianza, no encontraron a Jesús:
Por eso me vuelvo triste a mi aldea de Emaús. Refrán

Oh, tardíos corazones que ignoráis a los profetas.
En la ley ya está anunciado que el Mesías padeciera
y por llegar a su gloria eligiera la aflicción.
En la tarde de aquel día yo sentí que por Jesús
nuestro corazón ardía a la vista de Emaús. Refrán

Hizo señas de seguir más allá de nuestra aldea;
y la luz del sol poniente parecía que muriera.
Quédate forastero, ponte a la mesa y bendice.
Y al destello de su luz, en la bendición del Pan,
mis ojos reconocieron al amigo de Emaús. Refrán
Brota ya el retoño
Brota ya el retoño en el seco erial; la semilla en tierra vuelve a germinar;
nace a la luz de plena oscuridad.

Estribillo Vuelve ya el amor cual primavera en flor.

En oscura tumba vino a descansar; nunca imaginaron que iba a despertar.
¡Mas Él venció la muerte con poder! Estribillo

Bella la mañana cuando revivió Él que por tres días las tinieblas vió.
Vino Jesús la muerte a conquistar. Estribillo

Si en los corazones hay pena y dolor, basta su caricia para dar calor.
Perfecta paz tan sólo Él puede dar. Estribillo

Cuando el pobre nada tiene
Cuando el pobre nada tiene y aún reparte, cuando alguien pasa sed y agua nos da,
cuando el débil a su hermano fortalece.

Estribillo: Va Dios mismo en nuestro mismo caminar,
va Dios mismo en nuestro mismo caminar.

Cuando alguien sufre y logra su consuelo, cuando espera y no se cansa de esperar,
cuando amamos aunque el odio lo rodee. Estribillo:

Cuando crece la alegría y nos inunda, cuando dicen nuestros labios la verdad,
cuando amamos el sentir de los sencillos. Estribillo:

Cuando abunda el bien y llena hogares, cuando alguien donde hay guerra pone paz,
cuando ‘hermano’ le llamamos al extraño. Estribillo:

INVOCACION Y BIENVENIDA

INVITACIÓN A LA CONFESIÓN

Uno/a 1 Hermanas y hermanos, oremos a Dios el Creador e invoquemos al Espíritu Santo, para ser perdonados y renovadas.

Breve pausa

ORACION DE CONFESION
Uno/a: Oh Dios, tu eres luz y en ti no hay ninguna oscuridad.
Todos/as: Nos llamamos a nosotros/as mismos/as hijos e hijas de la luz, más sin
embargo a veces actuamos como si no lo fuéramos:
Uno/a: Nos amamos a nosotros/as mismos/as más que a otras personas,
manipulamos a otras personas para lograr lo que queremos y entonces nos
hacemos los/as inocentes.
Todos/as: Nos engañamos a nosotros/as mismos/as y la verdad no está en nosotros.
Uno/a: Haz que tu luz brille en nuestros lugares oscuros.
Todos/as: Trae la verdad a nuestros labios. Recibe nuestra confesión en tu fidelidad y
perdónanos.

ORACIÓN DE CONFESIÓN PERSONAL

Uno/a: Amén.

DECLARACIÓN DE PERDÓN
Uno/a: Si decimos que somos amigos de Dios y a la vez, vivimos pecando, entonces
resultamos ser unos/as mentirosos/as que no obedecen a Dios.
Todos/as: Pero si vivimos en la luz, así como Dios vive en la luz, nos mantendremos
unidos/as como hermanos/as y Dios perdonará nuestros pecados por medio de la
sangre de su hijo Jesús.
Uno/a: Si decimos que no hemos pecado, nos engañamos a nosotros/as mismos/as y no
decimos la verdad.
Todos/as: Pero si reconocemos ante Dios que hemos pecado, podemos confiar siempre en
que él, que es justo, nos perdonará y nos limpiará de toda maldad.»
Uno/a: Escuchemos las buenas nuevas. En Jesucristo somos perdonados y perdonadas. Todos/as: Podemos vivir en paz.
Uno/a: Dejando a un lado el juicio, Dios nos ofrece vida.
Todos/as: Poniendo atras el enojo, Dios nos abraza con amor.
Uno/a: Soltando el lamento, Dios derrama agua viva sobre nosotros.
Todos/as: Esta es la Buena nueva. El amor constante de Dios permanece para siempre

CANTO DE ADORACION Aleluya de Honduras
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, aleluya, alabemos a Jesus.

LECTURAS BIBLICAS
Lector/a: La lectura viene del Libro de Los Hechos de los Apostoles, capítulo 2, versículos del 32-37. Escuchen por la Palabra de Dios a cada uno.

32 Todos los creyentes eran de un solo sentir y pensar. Nadie consideraba suya ninguna de sus posesiones, sino que las compartían.33 Los apóstoles, a su vez, con gran poder seguían dando testimonio de la resurrección del Señor Jesús. La gracia de Dios se derramaba abundantemente sobre todos ellos,34 pues no había ningún necesitado en la comunidad. Quienes poseían casas o terrenos los vendían, llevaban el dinero de las ventas35 y lo entregaban a los apóstoles para que se distribuyera a cada uno según su necesidad. 36 José, un levita natural de Chipre, a quien los apóstoles llamaban Bernabé (que significa: Consolador),37 vendió un terreno que poseía, llevó el dinero y lo puso a disposición de los apóstoles.

MENSAJE La Economia de la Resurreccion Frank Alton

CANTO DE COMPROMISO En medio de la vida
En medio de la vida estás presente, oh Dios, mas cercano que mi aliento, sustento de mi ser.
Impulsas en mis venas mi sangre al palpitar y el ritmo de la vida vas dando al corazón.

Refrán O Dios del cielo y tierra, te sirvo desde aquí;
te amo en mis semejantes, te adoro en la creación.

Estás en el trabajo del campo o la ciudad, y es himno de la vida el diario trajinar.
El golpe del martillo, la tecla al escribir entonan su alabanza al Dios de la creación. Refrán

Estás en la alegría y estás en el dolor, compartes con tu pueblo la lucha por el bien.
En Cristo tú has venido la vida a redimir y en prenda de tu reino, al mundo a convertir. Ref.

Estás en la familia, huésped de cada hogar, oyente invisible de nuestro conversar.
Bendices nuestra mesa y no nos falta el pan, cuidas de nuestros hijos, frutos de nuestro amor. Refrán

ORACIONES DEL PUEBLO

NOTICIAS DEL PUEBLO

OFRENDA HOY CELEBRAMOS CON GOZO
Hoy celebramos con gozo al Dios que nos da la vida,
quien con amor nos sustenta y provee de todo bien;
al que vino hasta nosotros y murió en una cruz,
que ha vencido a las tinieblas y a la muerte destruyó.

Refrán ¡Cristo vive! Celebremos y esperemos su gran don;
Santo Espíritu divino, ven a nuestro corazón.

Con júbilo celebremos a quien da la salvación
que da vida y esperanza y se goza en el perdón.
Con panderos y con palmas entonemos la canción,
celebremos que Dios vive dance nuestro corazón. Refrán

Hoy acudimos alegres a esta fiesta del amor;
el pueblo ha sido llamado a reunirse con su Dios.
En amor hoy celebramos esta santa comunión
estrechándonos las manos, somos pueblo del Creador. Refrán

INVITACIÓN A LA MESA

ACCIÓN DE GRACIAS
Uno/a: Dios esté con ustedes Todos/as: Y con tu espíritu.
Uno/a: Levanten sus corazones. Todos/as: Los levantamos a Dios.
Uno/a: Demos gracias a Dios Todos/as: Es justo y necesario darle gracias y alabanza.

SANTO Santo
Uno/a: Santo, santo, santo Dios de gloria y poder.
Todos/as: Santo, santo, santo Dios de gloria y poder.
Uno/a: Cielos y tierra proclaman tu gloria.
Todos/as: Cielos y tierra proclaman tu gloria.
Uno/a: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Todos/as: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Uno/a: Bendito aquel que viene en el nombre de Dios.
Todos/as: Bendito aquel que viene en el nombre de Dios.
Uno/a: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.
Todos/as: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna en los cielos.

PADRE/MADRE NUESTRO
Nuestro Padre y madre, que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu Reino.
Hágase tu voluntad, en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día.
Perdona nuestras ofensas, como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden. Y
no nos dejes caer en tentación, mas líbranos del mal. Porque tuyo es el reino, el poder, y la
gloria. Por los siglos de los siglos. AMÉN

PALABRAS DE INSTITUCIÓN

LA COMUNIÓN Yo soy el pan de vida
Yo soy el Pan de vida, el que viene a mí no tendrá hambre.
La que cree en mí no tendrá sed. Nadie viene a mí si Dios no le trae.

Refrán Yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré, yo le resucitaré en el dia final.

El pan que yo daré es mi carne por la vida del mundo.
Los que comen de este pan vivirán por siempre, viviran por siempre. Refrán

Si ustedes no comen de la carne del Hijo del Hombre,
Y no beben de su sangre, no beben de su sangre, no podrán tener mi vida. Refrán

Yo soy la resurrección Yo soy la vida.
Si ustedes creen en mí, aunque hayan muerto, vivirán por siempre. Refrán

Sí, Jesús, creemos que tú eres el Mesías, el Hijo de Dios,
Que has venido al mundo, para revelar a Dios. Refrán

ORACIÓN DESPUÉS DE LA COMUNIÓN

April 15, 2009 + “Faith from Doubt” (John 20: 19-31) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:57:00 +0000

The Gospels document four people at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. Were you there with the four?

His mother, who had carried him in her womb; nursed him through infancy; watched him playing as a child; worried when he wandered away in Jerusalem at the age of twelve and discovered him learning from the elders in the temple; watched him learning the trade as a carpenter; worried but proud of what he did as an itinerant teacher in his brief adult years; and now this, with heavy heart, watching her son, her flesh and blood hanging on the cross. Were you there?

Mary, his mother’s sister, the wife of Clopus, and mother of James which would make her his Aunt Mary. Then there was Mary Magdalene, a one time prostitute, from whom Jesus cast out the seven demons, a follower who experienced a genuine conversion and whose life would never the same again after she met him. Finally, there was the disciple “whom Jesus loved,” generally acknowledged to be John, the writer of the Fourth Gospel. Were you there?

Where were the other ten disciples? Where had they scattered when Jesus was arrested? Where were the others whose lives Jesus had touched in his brief years of teaching and healing? There must have been hundreds if not thousands. Where were they? The Gospels only name these four. Were you there?

When Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb on that first Easter morn, she was instructed to tell his disciples to go to Galilee and he would meet them there. Now the Gospels differ on the details of who all were there but suffice to say the message was delivered.
Our reading this morning finds the disciples closeted behind closed doors that evening in what was probably the same room where they had observed the Passover with the Lord the preceding week. They had good reason to barricade the doors for the Jews were searching for these followers of Jesus. Since Galilee is some distance to the north of Jerusalem, the details in the Gospels don’t add up, but don’t let it interfere with the substance of the message which deals with doubt and faith.

Thomas, has in seems like forever, had the title of “Doubting Thomas.” Sermons have been preached all over the globe criticizing Thomas for doubting that Jesus had risen from the dead.

I think his reaction was a normal human reaction. After all, on Easter, according to the different Gospels, the women came early to the tomb to find the stone rolled back and Jesus gone. They were told to tell the disciples that Jesus was risen, yet they were not believed. Poor Mary Magdalene, according to John, believed that his body had been stolen, and in her grief she mistook Jesus for the gardener. It wasn’t until he spoke to her that she realized he was alive.

The point is, doubting is a very human failing. One would think after all the time spent seeing miracle after miracle, including the raising of Lazarus, that the disciples would accept something as wonderful and amazing as resurrection. Unfortunately, it is very human to want to crawl back to normalcy. We tend to explain away anything out of the ordinary, especially if it makes us feel uncomfortable. After Jesus was crucified, the disciples were despondent. They hid, because having followed what the rest of the Jews termed a “false Messiah,” they were in danger themselves. As Jesus said, “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.” One thing that stands out about Thomas is the level of his need for proof. He wants to make sure the appearance of Jesus to the others is not an apparition of a ghost. He insists he must feel the nail holes and the wound in the side. No ghost would be substantial enough to provide him with this kind of proof.

For the sake of Thomas, Jesus appears a week after everyone else has seen and believed, and urges him to feel the nail holes, the wound in His side, and believe. He remarks that there will be those who believe without concrete evidence. I don’t think this is a rebuke. It was a comment on the faith of those who would follow. I think Jesus acted from love for Thomas, who had been so decimated by his death that he could not accept the miracle of his resurrection without proof.

If faced with this kind of situation today, how many of us would be even as trusting as Thomas? I have heard persons claiming to be Christian, but unable to believe in miracles. These people do their best to explain away every little detail of the writing in the New Testament to fit their pet theories of modern thought. While I agree with Bible scholars who say that some of the Bible we have today is allegory, not historical fact, I cannot help but accept that miracles do happen.

This is not to say I think we should believe everything we hear. I believe in having an open mind but not so open that my brain falls out. A little healthy skepticism keeps us from joining cults and giving all our life savings away to false messiahs. We need discernment. The disciples either truly saw miracles, believed they saw miracles, or were liars. If they believed they saw miracles and were wrong, or were liars, upon what is our Christianity based? If we are to call ourselves Christians, does this, or does it not mean that we follow Jesus and believe in his teachings? If we believe Jesus, then should we not also believe in miracles, since they occur in every Gospel? If the disciples were misled, or were liars, then our faith is indeed on very shaky ground.

If the writers of the four Gospels and all the epistles were liars, why were they willing to die in order to foster their beliefs? The disciples would have been the first to disappear to a safe place, and stay there, had their stories been lies. What person in his or her right mind makes up a lie and then marches forth to die for it?

God knows we are fallible creatures. We cannot turn belief on like a faucet. It would be so much easier if we could simply decide we were going to believe something and then do it. Wasn’t there a character in Through the Looking Glass who claimed to believe something impossible each day before breakfast, as if it was a desired quality?

None of the disciples believed Jesus when he told them he was going to be crucified in the first place, even when he told them plainly without parables. Peter even at one point told Jesus “Heaven forbid” he would die, and received a rebuke for it. None of the disciples were brave fearless warriors come to rescue Jesus from his fate. They weren’t meant to be. They were all afraid. They all hid after he was crucified.

This contrast is also what makes the miracle of Pentecost so spectacular when it happens. These unpromising frightened doubting disciples in a few weeks-only fifty days after Easter-will be completely transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They will go out and completely change the world.

When Jesus breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he gives them their great commission. The whole reason they have been called to be apostles is about to come to fruition. From the time Jesus called them they have been educated and groomed for their real mission: To proclaim to the world the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, and the salvation of those who follow Him.

April 8, 2009 + “Don’t Fast, Serve Instead!” (Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Matthew 4:1-4, 11) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Our Scripture readings this morning is prescribed by the Lectionary for the first Sunday in Lent. The lesson is intended to focus on the beginning of the Lenten Journey. My civilian life as a civil engineer has been spent dealing with “pot holes” along our nation’s highways. I know first hand how they damage the automobiles that run over them. I would like to spend a few moments this morning dealing with “pot holes” not only along the Lenten Journey but the entire rough and rugged road of life and how they can damage our spiritual highway.

Each of us in our daily lives, succumbs to some type of temptation, be it by overeating, drinking too much, smoking too much or any number of other forms of over-indulgence. Some of us are even tempted by the seven deadly sins: sloth, lust, greed, gluttony, pride, envy, anger.

Think about it! How many of us are so used to using the remote control on our everyday electronic gadgets instead of getting off the sofa to change the channel? How many of us lust? Just watch men driving in a car when a beautiful woman crosses the street and watch their heads; better still, watch the head of their partner! Gluttony, obesity levels in this country are now epidemic and I heard on the radio recently, it starts with the first six months of an infant baby’s life. Perhaps, we should go easy on those corpulent individuals, such as me, because it isn’t entirely their fault. As for pride, just look at some of our homes and possessions. Envy, I defy anyone to claim that they have not been envious in their lives. U.S.C. Trojans winning the Collegiate Football Championship Trophy make many U.C.L.A Bruin fans envious and those of us who carry those extra pounds can be envious of the super slim size 6 women or six pack men, and each of us has surely been angry at some point in our lives.
I can say with certainty that in many ways, all of us have committed the seven deadly sins without even blinking an eyelid. We have all succumbed; we have all given into some form of temptation and some for a price! Everything has a price if we think about it. Eating too much leads to being overweight and the other medical problems. Uncontrolled drinking leads to alcoholism a major source of family and societal problems. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. The list goes on and on.

The trouble is there are other ways in which we give in to temptation and we don’t even think about it. We give in to challenges before they are even attempted, finding the negative points to concentrate on before we find the positives! Some of us are gutsier than others in certain areas and today’s Bible readings give two examples of dealing with temptation.

In the Old Testament, we see what happens when we give in to temptation, we see the punishment that God dishes out and it is not really something to enjoy. Adam and Eve are cast out from Paradise, the fall of mankind begins and we paid the price until the arrival of Jesus, who despite everything manages to resist temptations of the devil. Let’s face it, if you were Jesus, if you were provided with the offers that Satan provided, an easy cushy life, no worries, no troubles, no public beating, no humiliation and rejection and best of all, no crucifixion, what do you think you would have opted for?

Human nature being what it is, most of us opt for the easy way, the quick solution. We tend to avoid challenges at all costs, because we know in our heart of hearts, to do so require effort. For some it’s quite an effort to accept a challenge but it’s often the case, that it is more of an effort to avoid a challenge. Just think back to Adam and Eve, they seemed to capitulate very easily, whereas Jesus on the other hand, has a much harder task and from all accounts, he seems to handle it very well. I bet many atheists and those of other faiths would look upon Jesus as being quite a fanatic, a religious zealot but still he triumphs.

Traditionally in Lent many Christians throughout the world give something up, to test themselves, to see if they can go the journey that Jesus undertook. I think many of the things people give up are superficial and really make a mockery of the sacrifice Jesus made. This is not to denigrate those who make sacrifices that genuinely test and nurture their spirituality.

I would prefer that we in the Reformed tradition hold true to our values and principles and that we are not made to feel guilty by not giving up something. In the alternative, I would prefer that we take up something. We could begin a hobby, we could volunteer or we could do something worthwhile. We could even become more involved in the life of Immanuel and add to the workforce against the agents of evil. That’s one way to look at Lenten sacrifice.

You know, God calls us as we are. He created Adam and Eve and they screwed up and His Son Jesus Christ proved the way for us to follow.

Here is a biography of a man that God once called. He was a well known murderer, violent, aggressive and abusive toward women. He was not a likeable person at all; he thought nothing of torturing people, young and old, men and women alike. We might say he was the Charles Manson of his day. He was the epitome of evil. This man had done so many terrible things, so many evil actions that he was detested by whole communities and no one, but no one, trusted the man. His name was Saul and on the road to Damascus was converted to the Way, by his experience of God talking directly to him. God spoke to him and he responded and thanks to that most unworthy, defiled man, perhaps an agent of the devil – he became the greatest ever Apostle of the Christian Church and spread the Gospel throughout the Western World. His name as we now know him by is Paul.

If you aren’t already, perhaps you will be moved by the Spirit to take up a challenge set before you and continue the work of Paul, the works of God and become a true disciple. God wants you as you are, not by testing yourself or testing Him; He wants you ‘lock, stock and barrel’ to follow as his disciple, not by giving up but by taking up.

The National Lottery, several years ago, had as part of its logo the words, “It could be you.” It was a form of temptation clothed in clever advertising. In the advertising there was a huge finger that pointed to you. Perhaps today on our journey through Lent, it is a sign from God, that “It is you!”

Don’t give up, take up! Don’t fast, serve instead!

5 de abril de 2009 + Spiritual Foundations for Life: Anointing, Friendship, Failure (Mark 14:1-52) + Frank Alton

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:55:00 +0000

Anointing (An act of understanding and of friendship) 14:1-11
The story of Jesus’ anointing by the unnamed woman is sandwiched between two brief narratives in which the plot to kill Jesus is hatched then sealed. Mark is setting the reader up to see the difference between true friendship with God and merely apparent friendship with God. The chief priests and scribes were the apparent friends of God in the eyes of Jewish society. Here they are presented as Jesus’ enemies. Judas was one of Jesus’ most intimate friends. Here he betrays him for a little cash. Between these two pieces of bread is the story of a true friend of God – a woman who truly understood Jesus’ mission as big enough to endure death.
So she anointed Jesus for death, just as he had been anointed for life at his baptism. A community that understands true friendship with God will surround people at moments of beginning and at moments of ending. Many of those of us who feel adequate unto ourselves miss this truth. Those who get it are those who have to rise to the occasion to respond to the challenge of the moment.
This woman’s story is one of faithfulness by the unexpected one. It must have been the disciples who were present at the dinner complaining about her lavish act. Religious leaders wouldn’t have attended a meal at the home of a leper. So it was the disciples that misunderstood Jesus’ call while this woman understood. Sometimes misunderstanding looks so much like understanding that we get confused. It is consistent with the logic of the gospel at one level that “this ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor.” But there is a deeper logic that is more about being present to the moment, no matter how illogical it might appear. This woman was present to the moment, while the disciples were fearful about the future and therefore living in a theoretical plane rather than in reality.
The Gospel of Mark actually presents a whole series of unnamed figures who understood, received and followed Jesus when the expected ones don’t: Let’s remember them:
• the nameless leper whom Jesus healed
• the anonymous paralytic, all of whose sins Jesus forgave
• the nameless man with the withered hand
• the unnamed Gerasene demoniac
• The woman with the issue of blood and Jairus' unnamed daughter
• The nameless Syrophoenician woman
• the unnamed blind man of Bethsaida
• The unnamed epileptic boy
• The young man who ran away naked at Jesus’ arrest
• The young man at empty tomb
I cannot end this reflection without referring to the misunderstanding and misuse of the “poor always with you” text. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard Christians say that justice work is not part of the Gospel because of this text. That statement reflects the very misunderstanding of the truth of this woman’s action that the disciples demonstrated. In Deuteronomy, these words are followed by, “therefore, you can always do good to the poor.”

Sermon Part 2: Friendship (giving ones life for all, including enemies) 14:12-26
Jesus started out troubled from the previous meal in Bethany where the disciples failed to understand the appropriate response of friendship and maintained the dominant social perspective (especially toward women) Jesus was hoping to reverse. He didn’t expect much more (and didn’t get much) here. It looked like the disciples would unite around resentment over the death of their leader to undertake a self righteous revolution against the Romans that would fulfill their desire (need?) to make a sacrifice out of the perpetrators of this crime against them and their cause. This is the mentality that the church took up in the wake of Constantine, most classically demonstrated in the Crusades of the Middle Ages.
Jesus had to give a powerful demonstration of friendship so that at least they might remember later, if not understand then. It is important to take note that the demonstration of friendship comes against the thickly painted backdrop of the betrayal, which was already underway in Judas, and already predictable in the rest – predictable in a way that didn’t require divine inspiration, but simply human insight involving paying attention with eyes open. We learn of two acts that Jesus performed that night in order to further equip the disciples to live true friendship: the washing of feet, which we will practice together on Thursday evening, and the breaking bread and blessing the cup, which is the focus of Mark’s telling of the story.
Foot washing was a simple and transparent act, but the disciples still didn’t comprehend it. Resentment was building in their hearts around the rejection of Jesus’ mission. The image of foot washing was a giant STOP sign to their hatred and resentment toward Jesus’ enemies. A servant who washes the feet of her subordinates is hardly the kind of person who will destroy the Romans the way God had destroyed the Egyptians in the first Passover. It’s probably more accurate to say that they couldn’t embrace it. Peter understood it well enough to protest against it. Judas seems to have understood it all too well; it fueled the already raging fire in his heart. Jesus knew that telling them one more time wouldn’t help. Something other than words was needed. He gave them a simple and concrete image of his teaching about friendship. If more and more people treated each other like this, the entire social order would crumble around the communal life that emerged through this action.
But Jesus knew that an image alone wouldn’t provide what was needed. The second action of the night – breaking the bread and blessing the cup – provided the spiritual possibility for living out Jesus’ kind of friendship. Jesus’ style of friendship involving loving enemies and eschewing violence was so far beyond them and us that only if the Spirit of Jesus actually takes up residence inside us can we embrace it. That is what happens in the Eucharist. The words, “This is my Body” and “This is my blood” were revolutionary, spoken as they were by Jesus at a Passover celebration. At Passover, the Jews were not just recalling the Exodus from Egypt; God was actually made present yet again in their midst. So, in breaking bread and blessing the cup, Jesus was promising to be present to the disciples every time they followed this commandment.
Here, Jesus' descent is far deeper than the position of a servant who washes feet. Now Jesus descends to the level of the vegetable kingdom and gives his life in the grain of the fields and the grapes of the vine. Jesus becomes be one with them and with us – as the food we eat becomes one with us. In the Eucharist, the reign of God assumes a form in which it can enter into us and thus infiltrate our defensive wills, leaving no room for resentment against those who put Jesus to death. (Schwager, Raymund: Jesus in the Drama of Salvation. New York: Crossroad: 1999, p. 113) As far as God's reign is concerned, it would make no difference whether the disciples overthrew the Roman Empire or were crushed by it. So Jesus didn’t give himself as a corpse in hopes that the world might become a better place if enough people feel bad about killing him. He gave himself as a living being. Only when they broke bread and passed the cup in memory of Jesus would they begin to realize that in Jesus the living God was giving them abundant life in spite of the fact that Jesus had been nailed to a cross and left to die. (THE FIRST SUPPER: In Which the Servant is Betrayed. by Andrew Marr, OSB)
In Jesus’ words of institution the usual direction of sacrificial offering is reversed: instead of the worshiper giving to the god, the god is giving to the worshiper. the breaking of the bread and the pouring of the wine as substitutes for the killing of victims in the temple. The room substitutes for the temple, the table for the altar, and the sharing of the food for the killing of the victim. Normally, the worshiper brings the offering into sacred space; here, the upper room is the nonsacred counterpart of the holy of holies, and so the offering is made outside of sacred space. Thus, the sacrificial system is subverted by the reversal of the direction of its ritual logic.

Sermon Part 3: Failure (grace is the only adequate response) 14: 27-52
It may not seem quite right to end our Lenten sermons with the theme of failure. But unless we understand the role of failure we will miss the entire thrust of the Gospel. Failure is a spiritual foundation for life because only when we face up to the inevitability of failure and allow it to be our teacher can we possibly find life. The story of the second part of Thursday night is all about that failure. Peter's refusal to believe Jesus’ prediction of his failure is the essence of spiritual pride. Whenever we see ourselves as “the great exception”, we are falling into that pride. The shallow heroism and false understanding of life that led Peter to exclaim, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” is itself the failure. And it wasn’t just Peter’s failure. “All of them said the same.”
The Gospel exposes the fallacy of such spiritual heroics. Not one of those heroes stood by Jesus. In the very next scene, they show that they cannot even watch with him as he prays in Gethsemane. They have not understood that Jesus is no sacred hero, religious virtuoso, or saint, but simply a victim of violence in need of moral support. They fail to understand that he needs companionship in his time of temptation. Confident that the great leader has everything under control, they doze off in the midst of his struggle. They cannot bear to hear that his soul is sorrowful, or accept his frailty, or believe that he needs their presence and support. "My soul is very sorrowful unto death" (14:34) is the last thing they want to hear from him. So they maintain their sacred illusion by shutting out reality in sleep.
Jesus rebukes Peter for not being strong enough to stay awake to all that is going on, warning him to be alert and on guard against temptation. It’s as if he were answering Peter's declaration of faithfulness unto death. When Jesus says “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” he is not comparing Peter’s unwilling spirit to Jesus’ “un-frail” flesh. The point is that Jesus faces up to the struggle with the demons inside through prayer.
That has been the point of our Lenten emphasis on spiritual practice. If we could overcome failure any other way, or somehow avoid it altogether, we wouldn’t need spiritual practice. But we can’t; so we need to pray like Jesus, in the multiple ways that we have witnessed throughout this season. There is an irony in Jesus’ words to Simon the third time he returns to find the disciples sleeping. One translation says, “Go ahead an sleep for the rest of the time.” Don’t watch while the rest of the drama is played out. You don’t have the strength to go through this with your eyes open, so you might as well remain asleep. We, the readers, are expected to hear the irony and be convicted by it, and thus motivated to "Stay awake & watch!" so as to see the truth unfold in the text & in the world.
Jesus’ friends allowed themselves to be scandalized by Jesus. Scandal is either the inability to affirm the way of the cross or a breaking of the relationship with Jesus altogether. It wants Jesus to use rather than to suffer sacred violence, to be a hero rather than a victim. The result of the scandal is, therefore, that the disciples wander from the way of the cross & are scattered like sheep without a shepherd (14:27). They are confused and without direction. Unable to take the way of the cross and unable to turn back, they mill around in confusion.
To the extent that Christian piety has denied failure’s role as teacher despite Jesus' insistence on its role, it has actually interfered with Jesus' work for our souls. So, listen up; this is important. There are several failures in the Passion story: from the world’s perspective, Jesus failed in his project, since death is understood as the end of a project; Jesus’ friends failed to grasp Jesus’ message, which included the teaching that failure is a necessary part of any significant human project; because they didn’t know that failure was alright they all betrayed him to avoid failure. s
Jesus could “foresee” the “failure” of his project precisely because he understood that failure is necessary for life. But he didn’t see that as the end of it, simply a death it had to pass through in order to be fulfilled. His foresight was neither fate nor divine inspiration. It was human insight informed by an accurate perception of the inevitability of failure.
Failure is not outside the Gospel story but at dead center. Jesus doesn’t call us to honor him as a hero but to join him in facing up to the indignity of political defeat and personal failure. Only by facing up to failure and death can we break their hammerlock on history, the world, and our lives. Only then can the story begin afresh, based not upon idealism but grace. Whether we will carry on with this story or not depends upon our understanding and acceptance of both the tragedy and the hope of our own failures. For it is there that our following Jesus will either truly end or truly begin. The failure of the disciples was not so much their denial itself, but their refusal to accept Jesus’ assessment that they would fail.
The spiritual foundations for life are usually suprising. That is a testimony to how far we have wandered from the way that Jesus is and that Jesus showed us. The invitation of this season has been to get back on the path and to practice spirituality in order to stay on it. I encourage you to heed that invitation.

29 de marzo de 2009 + Adelante… A la muerte? ( Juan 12:20-33) + Frank Alton

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:52:00 +0000

Hoy nos encontramos en un momento muy interesante para tratar el tema del impacto de la muerte. Hace cinco dias celebramos el asesinato del Monseñor Romero. En tres dias celebramos la lucha de Cesar Chavez para la justicia para los obreros campesinos en California. La siguiente semana recordamos la muerte de Jesus, que murio para iluminar el camino a la vida a través de la muerte. Estos tres casos, entre muchos otros, nos enseñan la verdad del versiculo central del pasaje que leimos: “a menos que un grano de trigo cae a la tierra y muere, permanence como un grano; pero si muere, da mucho fruto.” Las vidas de Romero, Chavez y Jesus testifican a esa verdad. El efecto multiplicador de entregar la vida es lo que se nota en el record de cada uno de ellos.
Pero, no es una verdad que facilmente incorporamos a nuestras vidas, por mas ejemplos que se multipliquen a través de la historia. Resistimos la muerte a cualquier costo. No queremos creer que la muerte de alguien importante puede traer algo todavia mas impactante que su vida. Romero hablo de resucitar en el pueblo Salvadoreño. Algunos dirian que esa profecia se cumplio en las elecciones de este mes. Cuando creemos que nuestras vidas y nuestro trabajo son mas importantes que la vision de Dios mismo, tenemos que meditar sobre testigos como Romero, Chavez y Jesus.
También vale la pena meditar sobre la realidad de la vida misma. La verdad es que partes de nosotros estamos muriendo a cada momento. Mueren mas o menos 100,000 células en nuestros cuerpos cada Segundo. Afortunadamente, un numero igual de células se reproducen en un cuerpo saludable. Cuerpos saludables tienen este ciclo constante de células que mueren y nuevas que renacen. De hecho, las celulas que no se mueren en este ciclo normal crean problemas – nos llevan a enfermedades como el cancer que en sî es la situacion de células que no responden a los mensajes del cerebro que deben apagarse.
Aunque esta realidad esta arraigada en la realidad fisica, nuestra resistencia de permitir que ciertas cosas mueran es principalmente una enfermedad espiritual. La resistencia de perdonar lleva a la muerte de relaciones, mientras el enojo y la amargura estorban el espiritu como un cancer. Agarrar los remordimientos ahorca la esperanza antes de que pueda levantarnos a una nueva vida. Tratar de controlar eventos y a otras personas lleva a la frustracion, el estres excesivo, y el agotamiento. El perdon y soltar control son practicas espirituales en el arte de morir para que la nueva vida abunde.
La ironia es que los dos grupos de personas que aceptan esta verdad mas facilmente son los misticos y los pecadores. Los misticos dejan de proteger y defender su ego porque han tenido experiencias trascendentales de lo absoluto, lo santo o Dios. Una vez transformados asi, ya no pueden tomar tan en serio la parte que resiste la muerte. Los que saben que son pecadores reconocen que no han podido hacer la danza de la vida “correctamente” con tal que no vale la pena disfrazar su ser verdadero. Dejan de buscar la perfeccion o alguna ciencia o conducta superior. Se colapsan en una identidad mas profunda de quienes son en Dios.
Aqui creo que es importante traer las palabras de Jesus cuando dijo, “Siento en este momento una angustia terrible!” Muchas veces nuestro concepto de Jesus no permite que Jesus cuestione el camino de la cruz como nosotros. Pero no podemos evitar que aqui los esta cuestionando. Es cierto que no se queda alli, y eso es a donde tenemos que llegar. Pero muchas veces tratamos de ir directamente a la moral de la historia sin pasar por el terreno de la lucha interna. Me allegro mucho que Juan incluye esta linea en su evangelio, porque me invita a enfrentar mi resistencia donde realmente habita – dentro de mi mas profundo ser, no solo en el nivel de la ética.
En mi testimonio yo hablo de dos conversions a la justicia y la lucha contra la pobreza. Una conversion fue ética y la otra espiritual… Si nos quedamos al nivel moral no tocamos el fondo de nuestra resistencia para liberarnos a la busqueda de la verdad.
Antes de proceder quiero aclarar que, por mas importante que sea dejar de resistir la muerte, encontrar significado en la vida no siempre requiere una muerte literal, sino una muerte a nuestro sentido de insignificancia. Nuestro gran temor no es solo a la muerte sino a la posibilidad de que cada uno de nosotros esta aqui para lograr algo grande. Cuando Jesus dijo, “Ustedes haran cosas mas grandes que yo porque yo envio mi Espiritu”, quiso decir que cuando cada uno de nosotros se atreve actuar con denuedo y sencillez, el mundo cambia.
Hay una historia que demuestra la sencillez de este impacto. “En un barrio pobre de una ciudad distante, vivía una niñita. Ella iba a la escuela local. Su familia no se preocupaba mucho de ella, razón por la que casi siempre andaba sucia. Sus ropas eran muy viejas y maltrechas. La maestra estaba triste con la situación de la niña. ‘¿Cómo puede ser que una niñita tan bonita venga a la escuela tan mal arreglada?’ Separó un poco de dinero de su sueldo y, aunque con dificultad, resolvió comprarle un vestido nuevo. La niña estaba linda con ese vestido azul. Cuando la madre vio a su hija con aquel lindo vestido azul, sintió que era lamentable que su hija, vistiendo aquel traje nuevo, fuese tan sucia para la escuela. Por eso, comenzó a bañarla todos los días, peinarle sus cabellos, cortar sus uñas. Cuando terminó la semana, el padre dijo: ‘querida, ¿no encuentras vergonzoso que nuestra hija, siendo tan bonita y bien arreglada, viva en un lugar como éste, cayéndose de a poco? ¿Qué te parece si arreglamos la casa? En las horas libres, yo voy a pintar las paredes, arreglar la cerca y plantar un jardín’. En poco tiempo, la casa se destacaba en la pequeña villa debido a la belleza de las flores que inundaban el jardín, y el cuidado en todos los detalles. A los vecinos les dio vergüenza el vivir en casas tan feas y decidieron también arreglar las suyas, plantar flores, usar pintura y creatividad. En poco tiempo, todo el barrio estaba transformado.  Una persona, que acompañaba los esfuerzos y las luchas de aquella gente, pensó que ellos bien se merecían una ayuda de las autoridades. Fue al municipio para exponer sus ideas y salió de allí con autorización para formar una comisión para estudiar las mejorías que serían necesarias para el barrio. La calle de barro y lodo fue substituida por asfalto y las veredas de piedra. El alcantarillado fue canalizado y el barrio recibió aires de ciudadanía.  Y todo comenzó con un vestido azul... 
No era la intención de aquella maestra arreglar toda la calle, ni crear un organismo que socorriese al barrio. Ella hizo lo que podía, contribuyó con su parte. Hizo el primer movimiento que terminó haciendo que otras personas se motivasen para luchar por mejoras. ¿Será que cada un/a de nosotros/as está haciendo su parte en el lugar en que vive? ¿Acaso somos de aquellos/as que solamente señalamos los hoyos de la calle, los/as niños/as sueltos/as sin escuela y la violencia del tránsito? Recordemos que es difícil cambiar el estado total de las cosas. Que es difícil limpiar toda la calle, pero es fácil barrer nuestras veredas. Es difícil reconstruir un planeta, pero es posible dar un vestido azul.
En el pasaje de Juan, la reflexion de Jesus sobre la muerte fue provocada por la llegada de unos griegos que querian verlo. ¿Qué curioso, no? ¿Qué sabia Jesus que le llevo a esa reflexion? La teología de la cruz es siempre una amenaza a los sistemas de poder que, cuantos más absolutos más oprimen y más absolutamente excluyen. La condena a muerte en la cruz por subversivo y la resurrección como expresión visible del apoyo de Dios siguen siendo un escándalo y deben continuar siendo un escándalo y una amenaza a todas las ortodoxias políticas y teológicas que se sienten dueños de la verdad.  
La proclamación de una comunidad radicalmente inclusive implicita en la llegada de los griegos preanuncia la cruz para Jesus. La tarea pastoral y de comunión con las personas y los grupos en situación de vulnerabilidad son y deben ser una amenaza a los sistemas de exclusión. Sabemos muy bien que las inclusiones no son fácilmente aceptadas y las inclusiones incondicionales aún menos. Aceptar el desafío nos lleva a un proceso de cambios de modelos y acciones que no habíamos pensado.
Siempre tenemos la tentación de querer vivir como cristianos y cristianas en la comodidad de saber que todos nos aceptan, comprenden y quieren, sin paradojas ni escándalos.  En estos momentos vienen a la memoria la escena en la cual san Francisco de Asís reconoce su profundo rechazo y repugnancia hacia los leprosos de su tiempo y se obliga en una perspectiva de cruz a abrazar y besar a aquel leproso que se le interpone en el camino. Sabemos muy bien que ese abrazo y ese beso provocaron una radical conversión en Francisco. No sabemos que le pasó al leproso. El abrazo cambio a Francisco y es muy posible que haya producido muy pocos cambios en el leproso.

March 25, 2009 + “Provisions for the Lenten Journey” (Exodus 16: 1-7; Ephesians 2: 1-10) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:49:00 +0000

Except for last week, I have been presenting a series of homilies on our 2009 Lenten Journey. To refresh our memory on the spirituality of this Journey, let me read from my homily of two weeks ago, words by Father Henri Nouwen.

“Lent is probably the most important time of the year to nurture our inner life. It is the time during which we not only prepare ourselves to celebrate the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also the death and resurrection that constantly takes place within us. Life is a continuing process of the death of the old and the familiar, and being reborn again into a new hope, a new trust, and a new love. The death and resurrection of Jesus therefore is not just an historical event that took place a long time ago, but an inner event that takes place in our own heart when we are willing to be attentive to it.

“True repentance is an interior attitude in which we are willing to let go of everything that prevents us from growing into spiritual maturity, and there is hardly a moment in our lives in which we are not invited to detach ourselves from certain ways of thinking, ways of speaking, ways of acting, that for a long time gave us energy, but that always again need to be renewed and recreated.

“Lent offers a beautiful opportunity to discover the mystery of Christ within us. It is a gentle but also demanding time. It is a time of solitude but also community; it is a time of listening to the voice within, but also a time of paying attention to other people’s needs. It is a time to continuously make the passage to new inner life as well as to life with those around us.

“When we live Lent attentively and gently, then Easter can truly be a celebration during which the full proclamation of the risen Christ will reverberate in the deepest place of our being.” (End of reading)

In preparing for the Lenten Journey, we immediately see that the point of beginning is a wilderness – a place of tangled vines, disorder, rank growth, and spiritual twilight, all representing our inner self, our spiritual dimension, which, when due to the scant attention we give to it most of the year, becomes thick with over grown weeds that choke out life and openness to God and to each other.

The Israelites in their flight from Egypt had to pass through the wilderness on the way to the Promise Land. In like manner, in our spiritual journey to greater growth, we cannot avoid our own inner wilderness. We cannot bypass it or take any detour to avoid it, if we are going to reach our destination, for, in order to grow spiritually, we must face the reality of our own condition. When we do turn and face the entanglements of our inner life, we open ourselves up to the change and growth which can then begin to take place.

One of the basic principles of quantum physics is that to examine a phenomenon is to cause it to change. Nowhere is this principle more applicable than in the spiritual life. To reach ourselves honestly, to face the morass of inner contradictions and unresolved pain within ourselves is to set in motion the process of healing and renewal.

As we enter the wilderness of our Lenten Journey, we must attempt to identify and name that interior darkness. We may find that a primary cause of this darkness, of the internal disorder, is our lack of faithfulness to a regular time of prayer and communion with God. Too often a neglect of regularity in the essential activity of the Christian life can prevent us from opening up to God’s transforming love, through which we can be led to a more creative, vital, and vulnerable way of life and so into deeper communion with our sisters and brothers.

But whatever the cause of the chaos of that inner landscape, the initial task of the Lenten Journey is to restore it to order. It must be pruned and weeded, and the ground must be plowed so that seeds for new growth can be sown. Through the light of Christ’s love and the fresh breeze of the Spirit, the wilderness can take on the appearance of a garden that can be fertile and fruitful for God.

We will be fed by God in the wilderness on our Lenten Journey. He knows that we need spiritual sustenance as we attempt to untangle our inner lives and restore order. We need the affirmation and manifestation of His love to support us as we give attention to the disarray within.

But just as the Israelites were fed only what they needed each day of their journey, so we are given only what we need. Lent is not a time when we are to ask for profound spiritual knowledge or illuminating truths or mystical visions that may distract us from our inner work. Rather, it is a time for silence, stillness, and openness to what God decides we need.

God said to Moses, “Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day that I may prove whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4). As with the Israelites, our faith is deepened and developed most effectively when we are given only what is essential for the moment – only the amount needed for the next step, only the little bit of knowledge necessary to undertake the next task. The spiritual benefits to be gained from such economy are a lowering of expectations, a contentment with what is known, a profound gratitude, and a deeper receptivity. One begins to understand that a person must be truly hungry for God to receive and be nourished by the manna which He sends.
True hunger for God is one of the symbolic aspects of the physical fast that many Christians undertake during Lent. But the underlying purpose of fasting is the commitment to a deprivation that keeps one aware that our real bread, our super-essential bread and the only bread that satisfies is the bread of Heaven – the bread God gives us in the form of His Son, the bread that was broken for us in the form of His Son, the bread that was broken for us that we might be given the food of eternal life. This bread was provided for us in a special way in the Eucharist on the first Sunday in Lent to nourish us during the rigorous forty-day Lenten journey. Each time we observe the Eucharist we are reminded anew of that spiritual nourishment.

The daily distribution of the manna thus symbolizes our dependency on God for exactly and only that which we need. And through the communion with Him, He totally satisfies that need in the form of the ultimate bread, “the finest of wheat and honey from the rock” – the Body and Blood of our Lord, which feeds us and insures our life for all eternity.

Lent is known in some churches as a time of “bright sadness.”
It is a time of sadness as we look at our failures, our inadequacies and inability to be what we are called to be. During Lent, we sense more keenly than ever that we are truly in exile from God. In our renewed self-awareness and resulting penitence, we realize that we are far from our Father’s home, and in our alienation we can only sit down by the waters of Babylon and weep. We hang our harps on the willows, for we cannot sing the Lord’s song in the foreign land.

But even in our alienation, even in the dark tangle of our spiritual wilderness, we are aware through our sorrows and through our tears of brightness: the hope of a promise land, an anticipation of glory, a radiance that already lights our path – for we know where our Lenten journey will end.
Our journey ends at both a place and time. The place is an open tomb where One Who had been crucified and buried is not to be found, where we encounter a figure in shining garments who tells us, “He is not here for He has risen!” It ends in time on that day of all days, that resurrection day, that ultimate moment, when time begins anew for the children of God, who no longer fear death and have been restored to communion with the Father through the death and resurrection of His Son.

So, as we continue our Lenten journey, we are assured that the One who has brought us life abundant will lead us through the wilderness of the renewing of ourselves, He will feed us with the manna of His love through His broken body and blood, and as we move toward the promised land of deepened communion with Him, we rejoice in the confidence that we will share His victory over death on that glorious resurrection morning!

Amen!

March 18, 2009 + “A 21st Century Journey with St. Patrick" (Psalm 107:1-22; Romans 9:30-33) + Hayward Fong

emurray@immanuelpres.org (blogmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. So belatedly we’re going to look at the patron saint of Ireland, though he was not born Irish.
From his extensive work over his lifetime he has become an integral part of the Irish heritage through his service in Ireland since the 5th Century.

For years and years, my concept of St. Patrick’s Day was a time for wearing of the green, eating corned beef and cabbage, and drinking a pint or two of Guinness Stout. If it weren’t for this holiday, I probably would never have looked into his life. In so doing, it became apparent that there is a purpose and reason for human events

Magonus Sucatus Patricus was born in Roman Briton about 385 A.D., of well-to-do Christian parents. His father was Calpurnius, a Roman-British army officer. Though his father was a deacon in the church, it is suggested that he held the office for tax purposes. Roman Briton consisted of what we call England and Scotland. Young Patrick was probably no more interested in religion than most boys. What worse fate could befall this sixteen year old boy, raised in a home, nominally Christian, but where pagan beliefs were definitely frowned upon, than to be captured by Irish traders and sold as a slave to a master who practiced human sacrifice? For six years, the boy watched over his owner’s herds of sheep and pigs while recalling his Christian teachings he had absorbed without realizing it. He became a Christian and prayed for deliverance. He was what many of us have termed a “battlefield conversion.”

Patrick’s prayers were answered; he escaped and roamed penniless through Italy and France, eventually making it back to his family in Briton. But God had plans for him; He was speaking to him...in dreams, visions and voices. Night after night, Patrick heard Irish voices pleading with him to come back and teach them about the God he’d come to know so well. Go back? Back to the place of suffering, to the very people who had wronged him? You got to be out of your mind! But this was what Patrick came to believe God wanted him to do. He joined a monastery and studied under St. Germaine, the Bishop of Auberry. It took him a quarter of a century to complete his theological training. Eventually the Pope sent him as the second bishop of Ireland following St. Palladiums who was transferred to Scotland. This tends to negate the story that Patrick was sent to convert the Irish to Christianity. More accurately might be to say he was sent to continue the conversion.

His former captivity had given him invaluable knowledge of the people and the land. With love for the Lord burring in his heart, he traveled the island witnessing to the hostile people of God’s Son and salvation. At an age when many of us have thought of or actually retired, he succeeded in completing the mission of transforming Ireland from a pagan to a Christian country without any bloodshed. With the decades of bloodshed between the Catholic and Protestant factions, Northern Ireland could have used another Patrick.

Patrick was very successful at winning converts and, through his preaching, he made important converts among some of the royal families. This fact greatly upset the Celtic Druids, so Patrick wound up being arrested many times and somehow he managed to escape each time.

For over twenty years, he traveled Ireland establishing monasteries across the country. He set up schools and churches which would aid him in his evangelistic work. During this time he developed a clergy fostering the growth of monasticism and then established dioceses where church councils were held. He seemed to be very skillful in church organization and administration
By the end of the 7th century, Patrick had become a legendary figure and his legend has continued to grow ever since. There are many legends associated with St. Patrick. It is said that he used the three leafed shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity. Legend has it that he had put the curse of God on venomous snakes in Ireland and that he drove all the snakes into the sea. It is probably more accurate to interpret the legend as his role in driving the pagans out of Ireland. By superimposing the sun on the cross he made the cross more acceptable to these people who worshipped nature in its myriad of forms. Thus was born what is known as the Celtic Cross, the form that adorns our church.

His final mission in Ireland lasted over 20 years and he died on March 17, AD 461, the date observed as St. Patrick’s Day. It was observed originally as a religious holiday in Ireland and was kept as such for hundreds of years. Since the date falls during Lent, special dispensation was given so meat, which was Irish bacon, could be served with cabbage for the feast, giving rise to our secularized modern day tradition, whatever the heritage, of eating corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day. Though the first St. Patrick’s Day parade was not held in Ireland, but in New York City in 1762, it is interesting to note that St. Patrick’s Day is observed worldwide, in countries like Japan and Singapore, with dancing, parades, corned beef and cabbage, Guinness Stout, all seven yards.

Though it is well to wear the green, join in the festivities and even be Irish for the day, the thing that we should remember is St. Patrick’s resolve...a resolve that he couldn’t forget, even though it took decades to fulfill. When I think of the many resolves that I have yet to fulfill, I tend to get discouraged, but then I think of St. Patrick’s example, and dare to dream.

Sometimes when we look back, we can see how past troubles have prepared us for challenges in the present. What we have confronted as stumbling blocks become building blocks---part of God’s plan, a plan alive with meaning.

Patrick is not truly a saint in the Catholic tradition as he has never been canonized by Rome. Notwithstanding, some writers have nevertheless downplayed Patrick’s right to sainthood...no charming the snakes off the Emerald Isle because there weren’t any there; no miracles of record. But then, what kind of miracles warrant consideration for sainthood? He got messages from God; however, I suspect many of us have received messages in one form or another. I believe the steadfast obedience to God’s messages is the miracle. His autobiography, Confession of St. Patrick, is one of the most unique records of his life. He describes the things that happened to his life but most importantly with focus on his spiritual growth.

His response some fifteen hundred years ago are as modern as tomorrow. He bought and freed slaves as he Christianized. He advocated mass education and literacy, previously restricted to the elite. He introduced the written Gospels, book culture and the Latin alphabet. He insisted his converts learn and then teach others, shades of Frank Laubach. And all of this came just in the nick of time, for when the Dark Ages engulfed Western Europe, it was mainly his converts across the Irish Sea who kept the flame of Christianity and culture alive.

There have been Patrick’s in every age. Corrie ten Boom ministering to the Germans in whose prisons her father and sister died. Elizabeth Elliot returning to serve the Ecuadorian Indians who murdered her husband. Steve Mariotti, the New York City businessman mugged by a street gang, turning his business into a classroom where street kids learn to be entrepreneurs. Our own Mitch Moore, who starting with a deflated basketball and a half dozen boys in the alley behind the Parish House, built HOLA into a million dollar inner city organization, where kids of all colors, learn to live as good neighbors with one another. Another Patrick is born each time you and I encounter hate and answer instead, “I love you.”