Springville UMC: Sermon January 6, 2013

Today we celebrate the Epiphany, which happens to fall on the 12^th day of Christmas.  Yes, that 12^th day of Christmas, the one that makes you take a deep breath so you can sing about pipers piping, lords a-leaping, ladies dancing, geese a-laying, gold rings, and a partridge in a pear tree!  In fact, even our readings this morning tell of the gifts that surround the arrival of our Savior.  Over 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, the author of Isaiah tells us that a multitude of camels will bring people with gold and frankincense to proclaim praise of the Lord.  David, in Psalm 72, tells us that kings will render him tribute and bring Him gifts.  And this psalm was written between 970 and 610 B.C.  Matthew’s gospel reminds us that the gift of a savior was foretold over 700 years before it happened, in the book of Micah 5:2-5, which says:

“But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.  Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.  And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the end of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.”

But what does the Epiphany mean for us today?  Dictionary.com says that the meaning of the word epiphany is “a sudden perception or insight into the essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple or commonplace occurrence or experience.”  A commonplace occurrence like the birth of a child, albeit a special child!  The symbol of The Epiphany is light, and Jesus is commonly called The Light of The World, the one who helps us to see that which is shrouded in darkness.  So, for me, the Epiphany is a time to gain a deeper understanding of God’s gift to us and to spread the light of God's love through the blessed gift of Jesus.

But how do we share such a joyous and hopeful message when so many of us are prisoners of earthly things?  Prisoners, you ask?  Yes!  It is clearly after the traditional Christmas gift giving season, and many of us are experiencing guilt & regret.  I can see the guilt on your faces!  I can smell the regret!  We now feel guilt over all of the high calorie food that we ate at all of those holiday celebrations.  And we feel deep regret as the credit card bills start rolling in for all of the earthly gifts that we felt that we had to give to who knows how many people; bills that we will need to tap into our bank accounts to pay.  And then there are the resolutions that we, at least for a few weeks, are prisoners to…pledging to exercise, and to diet, and not to swear, and to spend less money on non-essential things, and so on and so on.  And all of them hold until the pressure of modern life crush our dreams into the dust of previous years’ goals.  So what can we do to make 2013 different, a year when we are successful in bettering ourselves and in spreading the hopeful news of Jesus Christ?  I have a couple of ideas that have worked for me.

I begin with that fountain of wisdom know as FaceBook, and a quote that struck me hard a year or two ago.  It goes like this:

People who don't love themselves can adore others, because adoration is making someone else big and ourselves small. They can desire others, because desire comes out of a sense of inner incompleteness, which demands to be filled. But they can't love others, because love is an affirmation of the living, growing being in all of us. If you don't have it, you can't give it!!!

In years past, the Christmas season was not one that I looked forward to because of the financial situation into which we had put ourselves.  Money was tight, and my ex was adamant about making Christmas memories for our family via the joy that our gifts would bring.  I was only worried about her exceeding the budget we had set, the bills that would arrive in January and how I was going to pay them.  I did not speak up.  I made myself small.  And I now know that it was because I did not love myself.  I was not a living, growing being, except maybe around my waist.  And that Julius was not a pleasant person, and I now stand before you as someone who has been divorced for three years and now gets it.  So what changed?

I realized that I needed to change my mind, and my heart.  I was living in the wrong paradigm.  I needed to let go of the wants of the material world and seek the needs of my spiritual being, needs that the material world were helping to hide.  We do not recognize our spiritual needs when we are busy chasing our material wants.  It is not possible.  You cannot pay homage to two masters and be successful with both.  So how did I break out of that life and find myself again? 

I realized that I was never going to find what my heart needed in the material world.  I was blessed to be introduced to people who challenged me to find God in my heart, and they were then kind enough to help me find God in my heart and in my life.  How did they do that?

The answer is actually in today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  Paul speaks of the gift of God’s grace that Christ bestowed upon him; a gift that he was told to spread to the Gentiles of the time so that they could see God’s mystery in all things that He created for them.  Prior to his receiving God’s grace, Paul actually persecuted the church and cooperated in the killing of Stephen.  He was converted after seeing a vision of the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus.

I can say that my epiphany was not so dramatic…I had no vision of Christ.  I came to understand that the hardships I was carrying on my back were of my own doing…from decisions I had made to keep others happy…while ignoring my own needs, mostly the spiritual ones.  My “vision” was that I would have to drop that material world baggage in order to find my spiritual self.  I had to give up on the wants of the material world and feed my spiritual needs.  And I became convinced that I could not do this if I did not love myself.  When I found love for who I was, and decided to not allow others to judge me, I found God’s grace. 

God’s justifying grace reconciles us, it pardons us, and it restores us.  Through Christ our sins are forgiven.  Through God’s grace we are brought into a relationship with God.  We are only required to believe.  The Methodist church calls this process conversion, changing our earthly orientation to a spiritual orientation.  This can only happen when we see ourselves as right with God through his eyes.  It is a time of pardon and forgiveness, a new beginning in joy and love.  We turn away from behaviors that are rooted in sin and turn toward actions that demonstrate God’s love to others.  We are redeemed!!!

Seems like all I could see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight it's already been won"

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be
I am redeemed, I'm redeemed

All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, "Child lift up your head"
I remember, oh God, You're not done with me yet

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be

Because I don't have to be the old man inside of me
'Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I've got a new name, a new life, I'm not the same
And a hope that will carry me home

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, 'cause I'm not who I used to be

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, yeah, I'm not who I used to be
Oh, God, I'm not who I used to be
Jesus, I'm not who I used to be
'Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed

In closing, I ask you to give yourself a gift before this holiday season officially closes.  Take all of the earthly baggage that has been dragging you down and holding you back, and lift it up to God.  First off, He can handle it!  Second, it is an amazing feeling!  And finally, it will give you incredible energy to share His Good News with the world.  

Springville UMC Sermon: November 18, 2012

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you have what appears to be a difficult task to do, a second, wider look reveals the task to be simpler than you originally thought?  Yeah, that happens to me from time to time, too, and it happened in the preparation of today’s sermon.  The gospel reading from Mark starts with the admiration of several buildings by one of the Apostles, only to have Jesus reply with some line about the buildings they are looking at being demolished.  Boy, did I volunteer for the wrong day!  I struggled with my task and finally picked a direction, I wrote down a lot of notes, and crafted it into a message…a six and a half minute message.  This would not do!

So I went to what has become an old standby in my life, I looked for inspiration, and God provided it!  Why was I limiting myself to only the Gospel reading?  There are no such rules for writing a sermon!  So I read the other three readings, and a common theme emerged.  The same common theme I was already working on!  I was relieved!  I felt blessed!  I did not need to start with another stack of blank paper!!!

The first reading from the first book of Samuel details a change in the life of Hannah, mother of Samuel.  She was taunted & teased because she had no children, one of the major life accomplishments of women in those days.  The taunting led to her depression, a common sequence of events even today.  Even in her depression, Hannah found her faith in God, prayed to the Father, and her prayers were answered!  She had a son, Samuel.  Faith can do that, if we only let it!

Psalm 113, like many of the Psalms, is full of praise for the Lord, whose glory is higher than the heavens.  In this psalm, God lifts the poor from the dust, and the needy from the garbage dump.  In doing so, He elevates them to the status of princes and princesses upon their arrival in Heaven!  Faith can do that, if we only let it!

The writers of Hebrews then remind us that, unlike the frequent animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, Jesus’ sacrifice was good enough, or should I say great enough, to forgive all sins, everywhere, for all time.  We are able to enter into Heaven and enjoy God’s house, if we are sincere in our faith and fully trust Him.  The authors then ask us to motivate each other to acts of love, and to encourage one another, two things that we enjoy doing here at Springville United Methodist Church.  And faith can do all of this, too, if we only let it!

Today’s Gospel passage from Mark has Jesus talking to only 4 of the Apostles, who have asked him when the magnificent buildings they are sitting in the shadow of will be reduced to the stones from which they were built.  Bible scholars believe that Jesus, in response to their questions, foreshadows events that would take place after his eminent death.  Indeed, there were a series of wars after His death, including the Jewish War.  It was during these conflicts that Jerusalem was destroyed.  These scholars believe that Mark’s gospel was written after the Jewish War, and was composed to set the stage for Jesus’ return to a world that desperately needed Him.

Peter, James, John and Andrew are told that they will be persecuted and challenged for believing in and teaching about Jesus, just as the Son of Man and John the Baptist were.  This comes as no surprise to us today, because we know that Jesus life and death and the birth of the church shook the fabric of society for hundreds of years.  Mark’s gospel speaks of wars and earthquakes as the beginning of birth pangs, the world’s labor pains of Jesus’ return.  Some of that chaos was generated by those who held strongly to the teachings of the past several hundred years, as they did not believe that Jesus was the Savior they had been waiting for.

The Old Testament, as many of you know, is filled with stories of war and battle.  God clears out many a land to make room for his people.  In the book of Joshua alone the troops of Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon, as well as those of the Amorites, are defeated by Heaven’s Army, and those in only the first 10 chapters!  He also does a do-over with His people a few times because they will not obey Him.  God does all of this destruction and killing for an important reason: He is clearing the way for something better!  God does these things without warning, for what He has planned is so much better than what already exists.  We need to remember in times of war and natural disasters that God’s worst plans are better than even the best plans of we humans!

His swift, decisive actions are also meant to serve as a warning to future generations…a warning to be prepared!  In the Old Testament, He used the “fear of God” strategy to try to keep His people in line.  But, still, His people sinned openly and lusted after the things that other people had…and that lusting eventually led to sin, which then led to war.  For when we lust, we lose sight of God and our individual goodness, and we begin to seek greener grass.  Alas, the grass is not greener, and God is not happy with us.

I would like to read from Jeremiah, Chapter 7, verses 20 through 26.  “Therefore thus says the Lord God: My anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on human beings and animals, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.  Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.  For on the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.  But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backwards rather than forwards.  From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants, the prophets, to them, day after day; yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks.  They did worse than their ancestors did.”

We know that God sent a long line of servants and prophets to lead His people to Him.  This did not work well.  God needed to reevaluate.  Perhaps God decided that His ways were too obscure, too divine to be understood by humans.  Might that be why He sent His Son to live among us and teach us a way of life centered around service, and forgiveness, and love?  Yet, even this kinder, gentler approach does not appeal to many on planet Earth today.  The golden rule proves an elusive life objective for many!

Returning to our scene across from Mount Olive, Jesus talks of the destruction of the buildings.  WE know that Jesus had little use for the majestic, the shiny, the refined.  His people were simple and humble, with a deep faith in Him and the Father, a faith that could save them.  Faith is all that is required to receive His gifts, not fancy buildings or vestments.  Faith can do this, if we only let it!

Jesus tells the four to beware of those who claim “I am He.”  There were many deceivers, seducers and impostors back in the day, and there are even more among us today.  Who or what are these deceivers?  Then, as now, they are the people we choose to idolize.    They are the earthly things that we long for, and lust for, that are supposed to bring us happiness.  They may different from the golden idols and the carvings of the Old Testament, but, yet, they are quite the same.  You know them as Hollywood stars, cars, houses, clothes, professional athletes, vacations, food, Internet sensations, big screen TV’s, sexual partners, and so on.  And they all have the power to make us happy…for a little while…and none will last forever!  We use our God-given free will to choose these things, showing our humanity, our weakness.  We believe that these things are “the one thing”…the Holy Grail!  Then we learn again and again that “things” are never forever.  Only God is forever!

Knowing that everything comes to an end, many of us wish to know God’s timeline, as the four inquire of Jesus.  “When will it all happen?” they wanted to know.  We want to know!  They wanted to be ready.  We want to be ready!  God, however, has a different plan.  He would prefer we live the kind of life where we are always prepared for what comes next, be it a good step or our demise.

Jesus tells us several times in the Gospels that the end is near, but what is this end of which He speaks?  A few years ago, the song “Closing Time” had gained some popularity, and its lyrics tell us that every new beginning comes from some other new beginnings’ end.  Again, every new beginning comes from some other new beginnings’ end.  This is very true!  These beginnings often come from the birth pains of a new you!  But only God knows when it is going to happen, how it is going to happen, and how it is going to end.  We live a life where new rules are made occasionally, and God had made us flexible and adaptable and resilient enough that we thrive in new beginnings.  That is His way to help us to grow closer to Him, and closer to always being prepared!

I can tell you from personal experience that life is a never-ending series of renewals.  I saw new things when I went to high school, and I grew because of those experiences.  I went to college away from home, and saw first-hand how the families of my friends were different than my family, and different in a good way.  I had opportunities I never expected to have, and took advantage of them to gain useful experience.  My professors encouraged me to go straight onto graduate school, and it is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received.  Little did I know it, but I was evolving under the guiding hand of the Maker.  My work life provided more experience, and I was still changing.

I got married.  And I changed, but this change was less than good.  Looking back, it was one long period of my life when I did not think of or thank God very much.  And the financial problems grew.  And the stress grew.  And my depression grew.  And my waistline grew and my health got worse.  And at the height of all of this bowing to these earthly pressures while ignoring God, about 5 years ago, I looked like this on the left…and as I look today on the right.

Almost 4 years ago, a series of unrelated events put me on the path back to the me I used to be, and back to God.  I found a counselor who I could relate to, who brought me back from the floor of Hell.  I found a website that showed me how to release the fears and limitations that I had placed on myself.  I had a friend tell me that my comfort zone had disappeared along with my family, and my job, and my home.  Good riddance!  It had long grown uncomfortable, anyway.  I had the support of friends and family to build a new comfort zone.  I found a new career in teaching when my research career had seemingly reached a dead end.  I had an old friend invite me to a Via Di Christo weekend, think Walk to Emmaus, and my faith in God was fed by the grace He offers to all of us, yet too few of us readily accept it.  And I was blessed to meet a woman who challenged me to find God in my life, and to let God do His work for me by lifting my needs up to Him and thanking Him for all that He provides.

Mikeschair, “Someone Worth Dying For” video

We are God’s creations, and YOU, every one of YOU, are as magnificent as the most beautiful structure you can imagine…no, actually, we are more beautiful!  You are someone worth dying for!  We are made not in the image of some architect, but in the image of God.  As we grow up, we are exposed to the ways of the world, the temptations and all that.  We sometimes lose our focus and succumb to the deceptions of our world, falling into an abyss, and sometimes we even fall to the floor of Hell.  We feel alone and ashamed.  We are challenged and we crumble.  Yet we are built on solid rock…the love of the Redeemer and His Father!  They gave us birth pains and many warnings of a new life in Christ.  It is His way…to break us down…to make us the most vulnerable we have ever been…the most weak…the most unworthy…and give us not that which we want, nor deserve, but what we NEED…and what we need is His love and the chance to go out among His children to teach, to evangelize, to serve, to forgive, to love, to spread His Good News.  Yes, faith can do this, too, if we only let it!

He makes us better than we were yesterday, more beautiful, more able to resist the deceivers, with Him as our foundation!  And we are better prepared for His return, whenever it may be.  For we love Him and He loves us, each and every day!