Mar.  17, 2019                 Citizens of Heaven                            

         His name was Zach, and he was a IRS agent. He was good at his job, he knew what deductions were legal and what weren’t. He was fair and just, but he found that he had few friends, few people like the tax man, even fewer, those who are fair and just. Over the years, he often was exasperated by the deductions people tried to take, in time he was often quick to see the worst in others.  

         Her name was Samantha. And Samantha was a housewife, at least that was her dream. So she married her high school sweetheart, but somehow that just didn’t work out and a few years later she was divorced. She tried again, this one took for 5 years and she had two kids, but it too ended. She tried again, and again, and again. She just could understand, she was a good person, this was all supposed to be so easy, but she just kept marrying losers.

         His name was Nick, and Nick was a priest. But Nick had some doubts, doubts about his church, doubts about the priesthood. Oh, Nick told himself, he believed in God, there was no problem there, and he was a good man, keeping the commandments and doing the work of the church, but there was always this nagging doubt, did his life mean anything, did it really make a difference.

         Her name was Mary, and Mary, shall we say, was a professional. She had long ago given up on the idea of marriage and children. But that wasn’t important, none of that mattered. All that silly moral stuff that people talk about, they were liars, none of it mattered, the most important thing was to be a good person yourself, so that no matter what you had to do to get along, there was still something inside you that was pure, and good.

         A few years ago, I did a series on C. S. Lewis book, “Mere Christianity” A book that tries to get people to examine their faith, so that they can hear the Christian message anew, bringing faith and hope and new life to them.

         In the first section of the book, Lewis speaks about the Law of Human Nature. The difference between right and wrong that all people seem able to recognize. Lewis says, we love the law of right and wrong, for it establishes the ideas of justice and the common good that are in all our interests. Yet, at the same time, we hate the law of right and wrong, because it keeps us from acting solely in our own interest all the time, it keeps us from worshiping ourselves.

         And so, because of this love and hate relationship with right and wrong, we find that we have this same love and hate relationship with God, who gives us the law of right and wrong. We are not as good as we think we are, nor as bad as others think us to be, we are just people, people who love what is right, and people who love what is right for us.

And therein lies the problem, because as we live loving what is right for us, more and more, we love what is right for all, less and less, until we become lost, until we become enemies of God, and our lives become broken. And no amount of telling ourselves we are good, can set us right.

        

         Many of you might have heard of Zack by another name, his name was Zachaeus, and when he found Jesus, his whole life changed, he found an acceptance for himself by which he was able to accept others, for who they were.

         You might have heard about Sam, Sam was the woman at the Samaritan well, who learned that life was about more than marriage and babies, and she at last came to know a relationship of love, a relationship with God.

         You all know Nick, Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night, who discovered that his life in the church lacked that Spirit of God’s love that truly makes a difference in our lives.

         And Mary, Mary of Magdalene, who discovered that what you do, does make a difference in your life, that God wants us to live only the best life, and ultimately, the life that is best for us!

         Here again, these words of Paul to the Philippians,

         “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.”

        

         The season of lent, is a time for Christians to examine their faith, and whether we have bought the lie some tell ourselves that they are good by societies standard, when in fact they have become enemies of God. How many of us go about seeking our own wills, seeking glory by the standards of the world, and set upon our own personal desires, and find we are unsatisfied.

         To be citizens means to enter a realm where we are not our own any more, but where we are God’s. A life in which we seek God’s affirmation, not the world. A life where we seek the glory of God’s goodness in ourselves rather than our own.

         And when we live this new life, we find the burden of being responsible for our own goodness fall away, and a new life that frees us, to find our true joy and happiness in our lives.

         It worked for Zach, Sam, Nick, and Mary, and it can work for you! 

          

Mar. 10, 2019         A Blessing to the Sojourner                          

“None of us, are native Americans!” This statement was made by one of our local clergy, at our weekly minister’s meeting.  Which prompted a 20 minute discussion on the topic. Mostly, family histories of how we all came to this country. Now most of us have two family histories, one involves my great grandfather on my dad’s side, coming on a boat through the St. Lawrence seaway to Detroit, and the other involves my Mother’s side of the family, traveling up the Mississippi from New Orleans to settle outside of St. Louis. I’m sure most of you have your own stories of the days when your family came as immigrants to America.

A number of those stories probably include some kind of prejudice or discrimination along the way. When the Irish came to this country after the potato famine, they were feared and blamed for the society’s problems. Same thing when the Italians came, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Germans, and etc.  As the speaker noted at our Wednesday Lenten Breakfast, when strangers, foreigners, or what the bible calls sojourners, enter into a new community, they are often scapegoated, blamed for the ills of society. What our speaker didn’t go onto say, was that we do the same thing today, with our fear of Muslims, Mexicans, and people from backward countries.

So why am I on to this today. Well, I have preached numerous times on the temptation of Jesus, but I haven’t ever written a sermon on our passage from Deuteronomy this morning. And, since immigration, and our fears of those who are different from us, is a current concern in our society – indeed it always is - this a timely topic for us to meditate upon this morning.

Our passage from the book of Deuteronomy, speaks about what the people faithful to God are to do to celebrate, give thanks, in the promised Land that God is about to give them. The first thing they are to do is recognize that they were immigrants to the land. A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, reads the text. The next thing is to recognize the persecution of his ancestors – he went down into Egypt, ….. and was oppressed with hard labor. After that, we hear the story of how God brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and led them through the wilderness, to a land flowing with milk and honey. So therefore, in response to this, the faithful Israelite is to take the first fruits of his or her labors, and give it to the poor, the stranger, and the sojourner in the land.

This is the act of almsgiving, which I preached on at our Ash Wednesday service. This is not an anonymous act of giving money, but instead a direct one on one interaction with someone in need. The purpose of which is to know their sufferings, their persecution, and their hardship, as a reminder of what our ancestors faced when they were strangers in a strange land. And in so doing, to overcome our fears of the sojourner among us, so that they may be assimilated into our culture in peace.

Now I realize that there is a lot of fear out there, concerning the immigrant, the foreigner, and the sojourner among us. But one of my favorite quotes about immigrants, comes from Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish philanthropist, who said of first generation immigrants, that the vast majority of them are a hardworking, humble, and law abiding people, seeking the American dream. This statement, reminds us of our families, when they first came to these shores, seeking acceptance and inclusion in American society, and willing to work at any job, to secure that place.

     So what does this all have to do with God? Our passage this morning, shows us that God is the God of the wandering Aramean, the oppressed Israelite in Egypt, the Israelites who were sojourners when they came to settle the promised land. As a reminder of this God commands the Israelites to give of their first fruits to those in need and those who are sojourners among them.  To be clear, the God presented to us in our scripture lesson today is not on the side of those who fear monger and scapegoat the stranger or the foreigner. This God is a God who directs his faithful people to welcome the immigrant into our communities, helping to integrate them, so that we may dwell together in peace. That is ultimately the side that God is on, our living together in Peace! And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Amen.  

Mar. 6, 2019                Ash Wednesday                                       

As I noted in my newsletter article this month, Lent is that 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, Sunday’s not included. Lent is supposed to be for us, like 40 years in the wilderness was for the Israelites, and 40 days in the wilderness was for Jesus when he was tempted. The entire purpose of Lent is for us to grow in our relationship with God, and that can’t happen, when we continue in our devotion to the God’s and idols of our lives.

So for many people Lent is a time when they give up something. Some give up soda, or sugary foods, or time watching tv, or smoking, or drinking, or gambling, the list goes on and on.  The point being, to somehow better ourselves, through suffering the absence of such things. And perhaps, this is the only way that people can appreciate that all suffering isn’t bad, and sometimes it is helpful. But that’s not quite what Lent is all about, as I noted above, the suffering of Lent is supposed to help us understand the suffering of Jesus, so that we may be ready to appreciate the new life that is offered to us at Easter through Jesus resurrection. 

William Shakespeare has a famous line from one of his plays, “All the world is a stage, and men and women are merely players.” When Jesus talks about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, this is what he is getting at, their acts of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, are done to be seen by others, to curry favor or acts for which they are well spoken. As Jesus says in another part of the gospel, those who perform these acts for such reasons, have earned their reward, and it is a human reward, not one from God.

The purpose of the disciplines of lent, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, are not meant for us to earn a human reward, each of them is meant instead to bring us closer to God, to knowing God’s presence, compassion, and strength through a process of emptying ourselves, giving of ourselves, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others. Because ultimately, life is not about us, it’s about our relationship with God, and that comes through the way we relate to one another.

So what is this almsgiving all about? Almsgiving is something that most of us really don’t do today. Actually, there are many who do almsgiving year round, but we don’t realize that is what we are doing. We have our offerings on Sunday, we have special collections in church, sometimes during Lent there are even special offering boxes that we fill, and then send in to a mission. Even people today, who don’t give to others through their church, can send money online, or sign up through facebook to support a cause, or even make a donation to hurricane victims via text. All of which makes us feel good about ourselves, but safely keeps us from interacting with those in need.

Real almsgiving is about interaction with people in need, it is one on one assistance, helping a struggling family pay their bills, or deal with their problems. Real almsgiving forces us to see their predicament, to see how the system is stacked against them, to see how the rules work against them. Real almsgiving forces us to realize that those who are deeply in debt to credit cards, who lose their homes because of medical payments, who choose drugs as a way to escape their pain and hopelessness, who are discriminated against because they are strangers, or foreigners, or just plain different, are not all that different from us. Real almsgiving challenges us to see the world differently, and allows us to experience God’s compassion for those the world so often ridicules or ignores.   

So what is this prayer stuff all about? We all know about prayer, in fact it is the most requested topic of sermons for the pastor. Pastor, why don’t you preach a really good sermon on how to pray? A lot of times, in response to this, the pastor will pass on some other prayer from scripture that can be read or memorized.  Then there are family prayers, said at mealtimes, or there are morning or nightly prayers said after or before bedtime. These prayers are usually a long list of what we want, or to help a family member or neighbor, or someone else in trouble. Some when they do pray, are in the deal making game, God if you do this, then….. But most of us are just to hurried, to busy, to devote ourselves to the kind of prayer Jesus is talking about.

When was the last time, you set aside a certain amount of time to pray? You know, twenty minutes of quiet time, when you actually took the time to ask God, for direction in your life, how to handle an awkward situation at work or school, how to love your children when they make mistakes, how to forgive your spouse when you have a disagreement or when they have done something wrong.  How often do we ever acknowledge things are not working out as we plan and ask God how to be a better person. Not many people today are willing to stand directly before God, and allow our lives to be examined, admit our insecurities, mistakes, our weaknesses, and ask God to help us, to guide us. This kind of prayer is the kind that leads to the thing we most fear, change, and it requires of us a trust in God that can be life changing. That’s the kind of prayer Jesus is talking about, the kind that lets God into our lives.

So what is fasting all about? Now I checked online and there are all kinds of fasting, some is total water, bread, and vitamins, some is partial fasting, excluding meat and only eating veggies during lent, one is even called supernatural fasting – going without bread or water for 40 days – somehow trusting that God will sustain you. Can you say tempting God? Also, for some people, a Lenten fast is a chance to diet, to lose some weight or go down a pant size, that’s more of a self-help version of fasting, which really misses the point – growing in our relationship with God.

In America, where the average weight of our citizens is pushing 200+ lbs, fasting during lent is perhaps not such a bad idea, however, what is more important about fasting during lent, is the way it changes the way we look at the world. As well fed Americans, we are full, satiated, sometimes even to the point of feeling ill. Fasting changes that, through fasting we learn what it is to feel empty, what it is to be hungry, and even more, to realize how much we have, and how much food we waste. When we fast, we come to realize, God really has given to us, more than enough, especially of food, and to trust that God has also done that in the other areas of our lives, enough to trust that we will not perish if we are not full of everything we want. 

So, you might have noticed that Jesus doesn’t say if you give alms, pray, or fast, but rather when you give alms, pray, or fast. The purpose of these is not self-help, nor is it to look good before others, but it is indeed for us to experience God’s presence in our lives, to grow in our relationship with God, but most importantly, to prepare ourselves to enter into that new life, that is ours through faith in the resurrection. For as the scriptures tell us, in dying to this life, the door is open to the new life that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ. And that’s the Good News of Jesus Christ in this season of Lent! 

Mar. 3, 2019                  Unveiled Faces                             

Every year, following Easter, the graduates of Eden Seminary gather for convocation. It is a glorious three days, where ministers gather to hear lectures by the leading theologians of our day, and then spend time discussing the ideas presented. It is a time for old classmates to catch up with one another, and a time for the seminary to celebrate those who have been in ministry for 25, 30, 40, and even 50 years.  It is a time for outstanding students to preach and to submit papers for discussion. And of course, there are daily worship serves, in a hall filled with hundreds of people.  Yes, convocation is a glorious event, and at the end of that event, we all return home to our congregations, to do the real work of ministry.

       I thought of Eden Convocation this week, first of all because I was looking over the speakers for this year and deciding whether to attend, and secondly, because convocation reminds me a bit of the story of Jesus transfiguration. In our story of the transfiguration, Jesus leads Peter, James, and John, up the mountain, and there he is transformed before their eyes. And in addition to this, Moses and Elijah, appear with him, discussing perhaps the path of suffering that Jesus will take towards Jerusalem.

       To the disciples, this is a glorious sight, and Peter seeking to make this moment last, suggests they build booths and make shrines on the side of the mountain, so that people may come to the mountain top, and having shared the glory of the moment, might then go down the mountain revived and renewed to be followers of Jesus. But fortunately, Jesus knows better than that. Jesus knows that no matter how wonderful and glorious the vision on the mountaintop may be, that his disciples will need to descend again to the plains and the valleys, and carry out the ministry associated with that vision. Just as Jesus knows, that he must descend the mountain, to realize the vision of God’s glory, through the hard road to the cross that he must walk.

     Brothers and Sisters, about a year ago, a colleague sent me a vision of what the world could look like through faith in Jesus Christ. In a world filled with racial bias and division, faith in Jesus Christ leads us to acts of unity and solidarity with people of all different races. In a world that divides and oppresses people based on race, gender, ethnicity, and economic classes, faith in Jesus Christ leads us to take a stand against those who exploit women, stereotype and slander people of different economic backgrounds, and to seek ways to lift those who are poor, out of poverty. In a world that calls for us to consider those of other nations to be inferior to ourselves, and seeks to treat immigrants as less than fully human, faith in Jesus Christ calls us to recognize both foreigners and immigrants as fully human, deserving of the most basic of human rights. In a world that seeks to destroy truth by repeatedly lying, and offering alternative facts, faith in Jesus calls us to speak truth to one another, to actively refute falsehoods, and to hold people accountable when they lie. In a world that tells us that the only way to change people’s lives is to rule over them, faith in Jesus Christ calls us to be servants to one another, finding ways to change lives through compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.

      This is a wonderful vision, but the bottom line is, this vision will not, and cannot be realized without the daily acts of faith in Jesus Christ, by those who believe in him. The same thing goes for the vision given to those who attend Convocation at Eden Seminary. It is indeed a glorious event, but it all comes to nothing, without that vision being taken to the churches, and the work of each church and it’s members, through their faith in Jesus Christ. As Walter Brueggeman noted in one of his sermons, the glory of God is not just on the mountain top, but is present when a stranger is welcomed, when a hungry person is fed, when someone who is sick is cared for, when someone who is grieving is comforted, when people in trouble are prayed for, when the handicapped are helped, and etc. 

        In short, whenever those who believe in God, suffer themselves to minister to others, as the members of this congregation do regularly, and congregations across this nation do regularly. There in the work of those who believe in Jesus Christ, and listen to him as a guide for their lives, there is the presence of God’s glory in our lives. So take heart, those of you who wonder where God is present, where God’s glory is hiding, it lives and dwells in the acts of faithfulness and love in your lives, not on some mountaintop far, far away. And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ.  

Feb. 24, 2019                      The Golden Rule

A number of years ago, there was a musical called “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” It was a wonderful production that told the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis, through a variety of musical and dance scenes. It was a great show and very popular. I think Donny Osmond played Joseph in the movie. In the next to last scene, we find our reading from Genesis this morning. Joseph, seeing that his brothers have learned to overcome their selfishness, by offering themselves for their brother Benjamin, Joseph reveals himself and Joseph forgives them. Now I suppose, that that is a solid moral interpretation of the story, but there is just one problem with that, it lacks God.

Many of you know the story of Joseph, how he had dreams of ruling over them, how his father gave him a multicolored coat, how they took him, threw him in a pit, sold him to traders, and told his father he was dead. How Joseph was a slave Potiphar’s house, and rose to be his overseer, till Potiphar’s wife accused him of being forward, and he was thrown in jail. How in jail, he interpreted dreams for his fellow inmates, and eventually for Pharoah, which earned him the position of grand vizier, second only to Pharoah himself.

It is at this point that Joseph’s brothers show up on the scene, Joseph plants a cup in his brother Benjamin’s sack, and then has him arrested and held till the other brothers bring their father back with them. When they are told this, the brothers throw themselves before Joseph, and Joseph reveals himself to them. And the major difference between Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, is that in the movie, Joseph acts with compassion and forgiveness because his brothers have met his criteria for selflessness. But in the Bible, Joseph acts with compassion and forgiveness because of God.

Do not be afraid, Joseph says, God sent me to preserve life…. God send me to preserve a remnant, God sent me here… not you. You see, this moment is the high point of the book of Genesis. Genesis begins with the creation story, then the fall of humankind, then the rise of vengeance, violence, and fear, till the flood. Then we follow the patriarchs as they seek to overcome these sins in their lives and families, and finally we have the story of Joseph, who rises above it all. Joseph acts with compassion and forgiveness towards his brothers not because they have proven themselves to him, but because that is God’s plan. To preserve life, to preserve a remnant. Joseph is the reversal of all that has gone wrong with humanity, he sees the world and acts in the world not according to his fears, but according to how he might fufill God’s plan for him.

Now in our gospel lesson this morning we find the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Many people know this from Sunday School, and I even think I saw this on a school bulletin board when I was a kid. And I think that most of us came to interpret this as be nice to others who are nice to you, or worse stick it to others who stick it to you. That interpretation comes from the pain and hurt that people have experienced in their life, and so they live in fear, and lash out, doing to others only as they do unto us.

But that is forgetting the rest of our gospel lesson this morning. Jesus goes on to say in effect if your love only to those who love you, what does that accomplish? Love your enemies, do good not evil, lend to those in need, expecting nothing in return, do not return violence with violence, pray for those who have abused you, those who hate you. Now those who do not believe, interpret this as Jesus asking us to be doormats, but there is nothing here about not protecting yourself from abuse or violence, just not responding to it with abuse and violence.  

What Jesus is doing is asking us to rise above humanities fallen state of fear, vengeance, and violence. Jesus is calling for us to recognize this fallen state in the actions of those around us, and break that endless cycle, by acting according to God’s plan – compassion, forgiveness, mercy. Remember, God’s plan is not to condemn the world, but to save it, and that is why Joseph forgives his brothers, why we are called to forgive and seek to be reconciled to those who have done wrong to us, for this is God’s plan for our salvation and the salvation of the World. And that’s the Good News of Jesus Christ.  

Feb 17, 2019               Blessings and Woes                                

Before we begin this morning to look at Luke’s version of the beatitudes, I would like to note a few things about the Gospel of Luke that are important background information for understanding them.  

First, The most important thing is that Luke is the Gospel for the poor. Luke reveals a kingdom of God in which the roles of the greedy and poor are reversed. You might have noticed that I didn’t say rich, because being rich in itself is not evil. However, more often than not, the way in which people become rich in wealth involves greed, and a desire to accumulate more than is necessary for living.

For instance, businesses that hire illegal workers when they have legal workers who want the jobs or save money by bypassing safety regulations. Or pharmaceutical companies that increase the price of insulin pens 10 fold because that’s what the market allows. Or internet companies that are fraudulent, or that sell items for 4 times their cost on other sites, hoping you won’t shop around.

The Jesus of the gospel of Luke tells us, that when the kingdom of God comes into being among us, if we believe in Jesus Christ, and live according to his will, then the majority of poverty, which is caused by greed, will be no more.

Second, I mentioned a few weeks ago, that Jesus reading of Isaiah in the Synagogue was essentially Jesus announcing the Jubilee year. Now we don’t know if Israel ever had a Jubilee year, but it’s in the law. At the end of 40 years, everything resets. Think of playing monopoly, at the end of the game, when one person has all the money, then the board is wiped clean, all debts forgiven, everyone goes back to their family homestead that they lost, or had taken from them, and everyone starts with a fresh slate. 

Now I realize this isn’t capitalism, nor is it socialism, or any other ecomonic theory. The purpose of the Jubilee year was to offset the original sin of human greed that has been present in all human societies since the beginning of time, hence the reason Luke focuses on this message throughout his Gospel. Not as an economic theory, but as a way of living.

Third, Luke’s gospel is not given on a mount, it’s given on a plain. It does not come down from above, but is announced in the valley, amidst the people. Think of it this way, Luke’s gospel is a grass roots movement, proclaimed to the people, resonating among them, and when they live it, it is meant to change people’s lives and the world in which we live.

Fourth, Luke’s gospel is not a spiritualization of Jesus message, while Matthew talks about the poor in spirit, Luke talks about the poor. Matthew talks about those who hunger for righteousness, Luke talks about those who are hungry. Matthew talks about seeing God, Luke talks about those who weep and those who laugh. In some ways, Luke’s Gospel is the “just the facts” version of the Gospel.

So where does all this get us. Well, it’s clear to me, that Luke’s Jesus is telling the people what will happen if they enact the jubilee year in the living of their lives. The poor will be restored to their homes in the kingdom of God – as in ancient Israel. Those who are hungry will be fed, those who cry now will again laugh and rejoice. Those who spoke of the Jubilee year and were persecuted by the greedy and wealthy for suggesting such a thing, will be revered.

And those who were greedy will lose what they have, those who had all they wanted will go without, those who laughed at the troubles of the poor will cry, and those who people spoke well of for the sake of wealth, will now be spoken of shamefully.

So where does that get us. First I want to emphasize the message of hope for so many of us who are struggling with our own debt, our own hunger, our own grief and sufferings in life. Jesus announces that through faith in him, that he will help us to overcome these. Second, I want to emphasize the message of judgement that will befall those who are greedy. That a life filled with the pursuit of wealth, indulgence, and entertainment, will ultimately lead to a reversal of fortune. Third, I would emphasize the grassroots nature of Jesus sermon on the plain, this is a call for us to live a new life in our relationships with one another, to practice forgiveness, compassion, and care for one another, to change our lives now, and Jesus promises will change the world to come. is something that no politician, political party, or government can do, on through the faith of those who believe in Jesus Christ can bring this about.

And that is what happened two thousand years ago, small Christian communities, caring for the poor, the widowed, the orphan, feeding the hungry, and helping those in need. This movement eventually took over the Roman Empire, and it has time and time again throughout history, helped those suffering from poverty and oppression to find freedom in their lives.

And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ! Amen.

Feb 10, 2019                 Discipleship                                  

This past week, one of the sermons I read, spoke about the confession of faith of one of the most beloved members of his church, which took place at  a revival many years earlier. Now for those who don’t know, a revival is a series of worship services spread out over a four days to a week, where people gather to worship and praise God. The goal of these services is for people to give themselves to Jesus Christ.

Well, the man in the story had family and friends who encouraged him to give his life to Christ, and so he showed up the first night, and he brought a gift of 5 brand new shirts, still in their plastic with him, hoping that it would secure the acceptance of his confession. When he came forward, he offered the shirts to the pastor, but was told, that they weren’t enough.

The second night the man brought the 5 shirts back along with 4 blankets, and offered them to the pastor. Again he was told, that it wasn’t enough. The third night the man brought the 5 shirts, 4 blankets, and offered 3 horses that he had brought with him, and were tied up outside. Again, the pastor told him, it wasn’t enough. Finally, on the last night, the man showed up without any gifts, and when he went up front, he said to the pastor, if nothing I have is good enough for God, the only thing I have left to offer is myself. And the pastor replied, that is all that God requires. And the man made his confession of Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and was welcomed into the church.  

This morning, we have three stories about people who offered their lives to God. Isaiah serving in the temple, recognizes that the priesthood in which he serves has gone astray. They may carry out all the right rituals, but they do not love God, and do not serve God. The disciples are fishermen, who may believe in God, like any ordinary person on the street, but they have not yet given themselves over to God as the Lord and Savior of their lives. And the last story is about the apostle Paul, who in fact believed he was serving God, by enforcing the Jewish law, but came to realize, that his motivation for making sure people followed the law didn’t come from a love of God, but out of his own sense of moral righteousness, and his own desire for power over others. And to add to these three stories, I would add my own story.

As a seminary student, I came to seminary believing I had a call, and also because being a minister was a long standing family tradition. In my first year, I remember that I kept my grades up but really hadn’t committed myself to the ministry. At the end of the year, at my oral examination, I remember being asked a simple question by one of the professors. “Do you love God?” Now I grew up in the bible belt, and knew there were plenty of people going around bragging about how they loved God, so I didn’t want to be like that, so I gave this answer. “I guess I both love God and hate God,….. I love God because God is all that is beautiful, and powerful and wonderful in this world, …… and I guess I hate God, because God is all that I am not. To which the professor replied, “Well, I guess you have a choice to make, to devote yourself to loving God, or loving yourself.” From that time on, I gave myself to God.

Now I realize that not everyone who gives themselves to God becomes a pastor. Some are teachers, nurses, doctors, housewives, garbage collectors, lawyers, insurance agents, and on and on. Some of these have a greater love and faith than any pastor. They are people who chose to love God, more than they loved themselves, and they showed this love in their compassion, concern, and patience with others, in their worship and work in the church. Many of them have become beloved members of their churches, like the man in our opening story, or maybe just good friends, looking out for one another.  And almost all of them have found ways to make a real difference in the world through their work on behalf of the church of Jesus Christ. This is the step, that each of the people in our scripture lessons this morning took, turning away from self love, to a love for God that made their lives new.

Finally, in our newsletter this month, I told the story of Billy Graham, telling Wheaton College they could keep his tennis trophy, because in the light of God’s love for him, it had very little value to him. As almost everyone knows Billy Graham is considered one of the greatest Evangelists of our time, calling hundred of thousands, if not more, to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And those hundreds of thousands all have remarkably similar stories, how in accepting Jesus Christ, they were freed from the powers of sin and death, from greed, from drug abuse, from abusive relationships, from their desire for power over others. By choosing to love God more than they loved themselves, all the things of this world, all the self-serving rules they once lived by, no longer held power over them, and they were freed to live life anew. And so can you, through your accepting Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life. And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ! Amen!