Sermon for January 28

The reading 

 

John 3:1-21

1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." 3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born from above.' 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 11 "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

The message 

I had always wanted to see the Northern Lights.    They are green flashes and streaks or bands of light in the night sky.   I had heard a lot about them and I had seen lots of pictures.  It fascinated me ever since I first learned about them.  It is a journey to get to them.  They occur mostly above a particular part of the world, generally around the Arctic Circle and viewable in winter from several countries not known for mild winters. They are a natural phenomon influenced by solar flares, clouds, weather, temperature and other factors beyond our control. This means you could be in the best viewing spot in the best place on the best possible night and still miss them. Last week, I went to Iceland with my family so I would have a chance to see them.  Our first day there was filled with stories of people who missed them, who were there on 7 or 8 tours and over a week with no sightings.  On our second night, we took a tour about an hour outside rekjevevick, the capital city where we were staying. We stopped in a relatively abandoned area (okay downright desolate area) and waited to see the Northern lights. There was nothing but cold and wind.  After 2 hours, the tour called it quits and we all received a free redo. Disappointed and cold, with the experiences we heard about, we booked for the next night and prepared for another cold, windy let down.  People who lived there all told us the same thing, keep going, keep looking, you’ll catch them.    

Our next trip went to a different, equally cold windy and desolate area of Iceland. When we got off the bus, my brother said, hey isn’t that the northern lights and I said, nah, it’s just some clouds.   We saw some sort of site a few hundred yards away and wandered over to the area (I don’t know what we expected to find). It happened to be the remains of a Viking settlement (also known as a few piles of rock),  Just that afternoon, I was complaining that I didn’t see any old stuff so it was a nice surprise,  As we walked back to the buses, those clouds were still there, my brother started again, hey clouds don’t stay around that long, those look sort of green and they are moving in weird ways.     

We asked one of the tour guides what we were looking at and she was a little surprised, saying, that’s what the northern lights actually look like.  She explained that our eyes do not see colors like our cameras do, our minds do not join images together in the same way our cameras do and we cannot photo-shop or edit what our eyes see.   Most of the time the Northern lights are faint and not nearly as bold as people expect, with occasional flares of brightness.  I stared at the sky for a while and started to notice subtle greens appearing and some movement.  It dawned on me that I was actually looking at the northern lights all along.   After this we saw the northern lights 2 or 3 more times, over the city, in places we were told they rarely appear.  The truth is if I had driven out there alone, I would not have stopped, without the help of a guide and others (and the internet), I would have driven right by without thinking twice about the clouds. It wasn’t exactly what I expected.        

In today’s bible reading,  Nicodemus wanted to see something. He wanted to see the Messiah, the long promised and expected savior, the presence of God with us, the restoration of God’s people. The problem was Nicodemus was not quite sure what he was looking for.  He suspected it could be Jesus but dismissed Jesus as a danger and a fake. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a group of highly educated and selective religious authorities, a group who had already made up their minds that Jesus was not the Messiah.  Nicodemus sneaks out at night and engages in this really sort of cryptic conversation with Jesus, they seem to be asking and answering different questions  and we have no indication that Nicodemus believes, accepts or even understands what Jesus is telling him.  Nicodemus starts with the big question on his mind.  What am I looking at in you?  Jesus was doing great signs and teaching with authority, Jesus was being very messiah like in every way and Nicodemus needs to know why.  Jesus does not say, well I am the messiah, instead, he replies, to see the kingdom of God you must be born from above.  Nicodemus takes this literally and wonders how someone can be physically born again.  After a few more misunderstandings, Jesus just flat out tells Nicodemus the truth.  That they are talking about 2 different things. Nicodemus is out at night, in darkness, focused on worldly things and cannot see what is happening around him. He is searching for the Messiah while standing right in front of him, missing this opportunity to see and believe. On the other side Jesus is focused on God, forgiveness and the gift of eternal life, sharing one of the most powerful passages in the bible "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Nicodemus is limited by his expectations, busy looking at his checklist to see if Jesus has enough boxes filled in to be the Messiah, while Jesus is revealing the kingdom of God, sharing the good news and trying to show him that God is doing something amazing.  

We are left wondering if Nicodemus ever gets over his preconceptions and gets out of his own way to see the Messiah. He will show up 2 more times in John’s Gospel. He remains on his journey to see the Messiah that was right in front of him.  In John 7, Nicodemus will confront his peers, fellow religious leaders, mildly but enough to draw a lot of attention to himself: Here’s what happened:   Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?”  The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you?  Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?  But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.”  Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”

Nicodemus will appear again in John 19, at the burial of Jesus, We are told After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body.  Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews.  Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.  And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.  Nicodemus’ journey to find the messiah takes him to a meeting with Jesus, a conflict with his community and leaves him with Jesus when almost everyone else was gone.

The moment I saw this reading, I thought of my experiences with the Northern Lights. They were not exactly what I expected, not easy to find even in Iceland, not something I or the tour company or anyone could control and I would have missed them if I just left because it was only clouds or did not bother going back to that cold windy field again. I would have missed one of those bucket list things I wanted to see. It was work for me to see something literally right in front of my eyes.  I needed help, guidance and information. This reading challenges us to understand God is not limited by our expectations, to remember God does not always appear where, when and how we expect, God’s grace is wider that we imagine, covering more people and deeper sins, God’s power is greater than we can imagine,   

Sermon for January 14

The Reading

 

John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."

 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me  My hour has not yet come."

 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.

Jesus said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward."

So they took it.

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom

and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk.  But you have kept the good wine until now."

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

 

The message

When I started here at our church a little more than 8 years ago, one thing (amongst many) that I was completely unprepared for were the children’s church services that we do at our Rainbow Christian Preschool every week.  I had worked with teenagers, young adults, even some years with 4^th and 5^th graders but never 3 and 4 year olds.  I had no idea how it would go and I was not exactly eager or enthusiastic about finding out.  I reached out to the teachers, the staff at Rainbow and several pastors in the neighborhood that had preschools connected to their churches to find out what I was supposed to do. A lot of people gave me great advice, ideas, encouragement and suggestions.  I was directed to some great resources, websites and others to speak with,

The worst advice, the one thing that I still remember hating and going “uh, I don’t think so” has to do with today’s gospel reading about the Wedding at Cana.  It was the big example that people told me to do.  All you needed to show the children what happened there in Cana all those centuries ago was a few glass jars and a packet or two of red Kool aid.  You could tell the story and then when the big moment came, the transition of water into wine, all you had to do was distract the kids for a second and stir in your Kool aid powder. If you were quick enough and your distraction was good enough, you could turn water into wine and they would not even notice your little helper.  It would turn the water a color close enough to wine and the kids would all ooh and ahh over the miracle they just saw.

I guess I just never drank the kool aid on this one. It never felt quite right to me.  Taking this first miracle in John’s Gospel and making it seem like little more than a magic trick seemed deceitful and just a bad way to start teaching people about God. I get that it’s a cool thing to see, I understand that your average or even above average 3 year old is not well versed in the social and political landscape of the early 1^st century, that kindergarteners do not know the background, structure and context of John’s Gospel particularly well.   At the same time, there is so much more than a magic trick going on here.  John’s entire Gospel only contains 7 miracles presented to show people the evidence that Jesus is the messiah, the word of God made Flesh and dwelling amongst us.  Each one is very important, revealing something about God and showing us evidence that Jesus is God with us,   

We sang the first noel for our opening hymn.  I made that choice because today’s reading is basically an Epiphany moment in John’s Gospel.  There are several epiphanies in Johm, times when the world starts to figure out who exactly it was born on Christmas. In many ways, it’s the focus of the book.  In Matthew, this happens when the kings, astronomers or magi follow the star and bring the new born Christ gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (symbolizing that Christ is king, to be worshipped and will suffer).  In John’s Gospel, an epiphany happens here at this wedding in Cana, Jesus first followers and family realize that Christ is King, to be worshipped and will suffer (a lot of people note that turning water into wine happens on the third day, the same amount of time that it will take Jesus to turn death into life). 

 This wedding celebration is held a few quick days after Jesus promised his new followers that they would see great things. They are the ones who would open their eyes to come and see and then open their mouths to witness, testify and convert others. In this miracle, Jesus revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. This is the first of those great things they would see.

This first miracle certainly mattered a lot to the wedding hosts. In this time, throwing a wedding feast was caring for a community and your guests.  Wine was central to this, It wasn’t just social lubricant or a party enhancer. Wine was a sign of blessing, abundance and harvest.  To run out of wine was a very big deal. Do God’s blessings run out, no, well neither does the wine. Jesus bails out the hosts of this wedding.  To be honest it wasn’t exactly global news.  This is a very local story, one that would be covered by the ancient equilivant of a local paper or regional tv station, not the NY Times, wall street journal or CNN. 

Even the actual work is not that great.  I mean, in the events leading up to the exodus, the freedom from slavery for the people of Israel, Moses and Aaron turn all the water in Egypt to blood.  I could come close to replicating this with kool aid and im sure most magicians could easily do this as a trick with a few specially prepared props.  All Jesus does here is changes a few pails of water into wine, The greatness in this story is the result, this local act of sympathy and kindness reveals that Christ our savior was born on Christmas. 

I have been thinking a lot about small things and how they can add up to something much greater. Throughout the week, I have been preparing a speech or message for the Habitat for Humanity Restore as part of their Martin Luther King day of service.  I plan to talk about a series of small things.  At the store, there is a diverse and dedicated group of voluneteers who each do a small thing or two. Some make those shelves of glasses and cups and vases look good ( a skill I never got), others spot antiques, help customers, nudge an interested but hesitant buyer, offer great layout ideas or bring in new customers.  After lifting up the work of the volunteers, I plan to talk about one item I purchased   It’s a beautiful dining room table and chairs, Canadian maple I think (assuming the stamp on the bottom is real). I saw it, took my wife in to look at it and we both loved it, so we donated /dropped off our old table and chairs and bought it.  The first few weeks we had the table, we were afraid of using for much, we didn’t want to damage the wood, stain or scratch it.  We didn’t want it to be a computer desk, paper and key storage, a coat rack or anything like that (the fate of the old table).  There were lots of rules, use a coaster, do not lean back on the chairs, wipe up any spills or dropped food right away. After a while, we started to eat small meals at the table, very carefully.  Slowly, I started to keep papers on it, just stuff I needed right away, only for a few minutes, then the keys and wallet, then bags, then coats, gloves, hats, and backpacks started to appear on the chairs

We are still careful but now it feels natural to toss my coat on the table or pick up my books and papers for the day.  The table went from a thanksgiving dinner only to being used whenever we have too many people to fit on the kitchen table, a reserved for special occasions object is now for everyday use.  That is at the heart of Martin Luther King Jr’s faith and work,   It starts with small, simple things: actions like marching or walking together, not buying a particular product or using a particular service, ideas like everyone is a child of God and deserves a seat on the bus, a place at the food counter, the right to cast a vote, a seat in a college classroom, a seat at the table where decisions are made.  Here a series of small things changes America.  Things are now part of daily life for many of us.  This came from working together, being together, seeing one another as children of God and in this together.  We are daily changing hate and mistrust into love.  Changing separation into unity. 

Next week, we (well you, I won’t be here) see what happens next, now that the good news is out, Jesus jumps head first into confrontation with the religious authorities, chasing the money lenders out of the temple (a group of approved vendors ripping off worshippers).  Zeal, passion, once Jesus gets that glimpse of how things should be vs how the are, he must act.   Just like Jesus turns water into wine, the temple back into a temple and death into life, we must remember change starts here (where it goes is up to God) 

Sermon for January 7th

John 1: 35 - 51

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!"

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?"

They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 

Jesus said to them, "Come and see."

They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.  

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed ).

 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter ).

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."

 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth."

 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

Philip said to him, "Come and see."

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!"  

Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you."

 Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

 Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these."  And Jesus said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."  

The message

Today, we can really experience what is going on in this reading, in the calling of Jesus first handful of followers.  They are the ones who answered the question “what are we thinking” with faith and hope.  I found myself asking “what I am thinking” a lot recently

On New Year’s Eve, Jen and I went to the city for a few hours.   We went to 42^nd street to eat at a restaurant we liked and do some food shopping for New Year’s morning. We assumed it was early enough that things would not be closed yet.  The place we wanted to eat was closed, the second, back up place we wanted to go to was also closed, the supermarket we anticipated going to was closed and much of the area was already shut down for security reasons.  We ended up walking about a mile downtown, found a place and open market.   As we walked in the freezing cold and wind, I wondered what brought us out there that night, why we couldn’t just sit home in the warm house.  Part of it was I grew up being told what you did on New Years would be what you did all year. I was never sure if that meant new years eve or new years day but I didn’t want to risk spending the year staying home just because of uncomfortable weather.  Part of it was I didn’t want to miss something, a lot of new years eve Jen and I have had some wired, good or memorable experiences. We wanted to come and see what was happening. Another part was I knew New Years Breakfast was important to Jen and we wouldn’t easily find what she wanted in our neighborhood.

This Friday, I had to wait for a delivery for our food pantry.  As I walked to Bethany to wait for the truck, it was cold, probably colder than new years. I wondered why I was doing this too.  Again why I left the warm house to walk through the post blizzard community and get a delivery that could wait. The next pantry is not until January 20^th, so I could just move the delivery date.  I knew it was important to the grant coordinator at LSS to have this food delivered by Friday, it would make his life a lot easier, I knew the food wholesaler worked in all weather and moving dates would make a mess for people who already dealt with enough (the delivery guy had some stories about working through the blizzard the day before, just urgent deliveries, hospitals and stuff but still a rough day).  If they bring the food, I could certainly be there to simply open the door. I wanted to be dependable, to show everyone we have relationships with that St Jacobus’s food pantry does what they have to do to keep commitments.

That leads me to wonder why we are here this morning, what did you go out for. It cold, I think it’s a record low for this area, the heat up here sucks in this temperature and we are still cleaning up after a bomb cyclone (I must admit I love the new names for weather people are making up, blizzard is so not cool anymore). I think most people would understand if I canceled service this morning for safety concerns.  Even though I was just inspired by the number of people who came to church on the 4^th Sunday of Adventmas, the morning of Christmas eve, I wondered if anyone would show up today.  I thought, I had to come and see.  After all, there are 4 other churches who will worship here today. We are accountable to each other. What would their members who show up think if we did not. What would that say about how important church was.  What if someone decided to show up at church for the first time in years and found it not available. What if someone in our neighborhood was unable to get to their regular church and really needed to hear God’s word. What if someone in our community really needed some prayer and encouragement?  What if someone wandered in with a tremendous need for help, for warmth, prayer or food.   I like to think of the weather as a sort of metaphor for the word made flesh, the church open at all times, God with us at all times, good and bad.      

For Jesus earliest disciples, they probably asked the same questions.  Why are we here. why have we left our work, families, lives, stability to follow a wandering preacher with no name recognition or accomplishments to speak of.  This starts with the outreach and encouragement of John the Baptist.  He played a prominent role in the opening prologue we heard on Christmas, when the active, engaging, creating, sustaining and powerful word of God is made flesh and dwells amongst us. John is the first person to realize what happened on Christmas, telling his followers and his enemies, the Messiah is here. When John sees Jesus, he declares  "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!   Jesus, the word made flesh can do what John, Moses, Abraham or anyone else could not, he could save us from sin in ways repentance, baptism or any ritual could not.  John does not just say these things.  He stops his work, dismisses his followers and points to another unauthorized, untrained wandering preacher, You came to me for something, the best gift I can offer, the best word I can share, the best wisdom I have is knowing what I am done, is to direct you to Jesus.   This was unexpected. Many of John’s followers anticipated a crescendo to his work. A revelation that he is the messiah or the prophet returned or that he will do some great thing. Instead, John points to Jesus.

Today, we get the picture of how John did this.  There are two main parts to how things go viral, how this child born on Christmas in a little known and even less respected area of the world shows everyone that he is the Messiah (God will be revealed in physical, earthy ways, In John’s Gospel there is a series of 7 signs or miracles that are focused on to show, to verify, to convince, to teach that Jesus is the messiah).   It all starts when 1: John says what he sees and 2: Jesus invites others to follow, to come and see.  That is all there is to it,  John says what he sees and Jesus invites others to follow, to witness and make their own decisions.

This work of opening our mouths and opening our eyes, of seeing God present in the world and telling people what we experience is not for history books, it is as much our mission as it was theirs.  Our stories may well start with why we are here this morning, what we came out to see in the cold and ice, that our God is always around, that the word was made flesh at Christmas. Our reading today ends with Jesus promise, You will see greater things then these, next week and a few verses later, we begin experience those greater things.