Worship services should point to God. But if worship is to speak gospel (good news) in the face of the needs and hopes of the world,they should point to God and also answer the question: So what?
Let me develop this just a bit more.
The Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and the actions of Jesus Christ while here on earth all bear witness to the fact that Jesus is at the same time fully God and fully human. In Jesus Christ there is full communion between God and God’s creation. When we look at Jesus, we witness the awe and the wonder and the power of God. And when we look at Jesus we witness God’s deep concern and involvement for you and for me and for all creation, and God's empowerment of creation to respond as part of God's activity in addressing these needs. Every Christian worship service should therefore point both to the wonder and power of God, Who inspires such awe and worship in us AND to the actual involvement of God in the nitty gritty, earthy things that we are involved in.
To put it in other words, a worship service should tell us something about who God is, and should tell us in such a way as to inspire or reinforce our devotion to God. But a worship service should also point to what response this awareness of God requires of me and my generation of faithful people. A worship service that speaks of God but does not connect that awareness to the hurt and hopes of the worshiper and therefore engage them in either proper attitude and/or work in the real world is not enough.
Worship services should point to God. But if worship is to speak gospel (good news) in the face of the needs and hopes of the world,they should point to God and also answer the question: So what?
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
A Pentecost Sermon
Scripture:
Psalm 104:24-35 Romans 8:14-17 John 14:8-17, 25-27
Introduction: Worship Should Always Point to Two Essentials
The Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and the actions of Jesus Christ while here on earth all bear witness to the fact that Jesus is at the same time fully God and fully human. In Jesus Christ there is full communion between God and God’s creation. When we look at Jesus, we witness the awe and the wonder and the power of God. And when we look at Jesus we witness God’s deep concern and involvement for you and for me and for all creation.
Every Christian worship service should therefore point both to the wonder and power of God, Who inspires such awe and worship in us AND to the actual involvement of God in the nitty gritty, earthy things that we are involved in. That is also true on Pentecost Sunday, today, when we celebrate God in the Holy Spirit. Today, I want to do that through two stories, one about the Holy Spirit inspiring awe, and one about Holy Spirit inspired action.
Reviewing the Scriptures
However, before I do that, let’s review the Scriptures recommended by the Lectionary for today’s worship service. In all three Scripture passages there is a movement from fear to confidence, and that confidence becomes very important when we consider the work of the Holy Spirit through the church of today. Let’s take a look at the Scriptures together, watching for the movement from fear to confidence.
That movement from fear to confidence is not obvious in today’s Psalm, but it is there. Did you notice the reference to Leviathan in the Psalm? Leviathan was what they called the sea monster. Now, Israel was an inland, desert people. They feared the sea, because they just didn’t understand the sea. It was foreign and wild, and they didn’t know how to guard against it. But even scarier was the sea monsters—the whales and the giant squids and, probably even worse, the unknown. And that dreaded unknown was embodied in the mythical monster, Leviathan.
But in the Psalm, God isn’t a bit scared. God delights in all creatures—even Leviathan. And it is God’s spirit that gives Leviathan life or death. The Spirit is a spirit of delight, not fear. And there you have it, the movement from fear to confidence.
That movement from fear to confidence is much more obvious in the Romans Passage. Here, Paul tells us that we need to recognize that in receiving the Holy Spirit we have received we have not received a spirit of fear, but of security. We are not like slaves, afraid that we might be cast off at any time. Rather, we have received a Spirit of adoption, whereby God actually chooses us to become children of God. Our place is secure and nothing can take that away from us. We should therefore be confident of the ministry to which each of us has been called and join with Christ as Christ joins with all people and all creation’s broken-ness and suffering in this world.
And, indeed, Jesus himself told us that this is our work. Remember in the Bible, in the last half of Matthew 25 Jesus tells us that when judgment comes we will be judged by the way that we treated him when he was homeless, or hungry or in prison. And if we ask when we ever saw him like that, he will tell us that whenever we saw the least of these, his brothers and sisters, we were seeing him. He absolutely joins with the brokenness of creation.
And I do mean creation. Humans? Assuredly. But also all creation. Because Jesus came for the love of all creation, because God so loved the world (by the way, in John 3:16 ,the word in Greek is kosmos. “For God so loved the kosmos that God sent the only son…”). But Jesus enters into ministry on behalf of all the broken and downtrodden of all creation, and asks us to join him in this as fellow children of God, with Christ as the firstborn. We join with Christ in this because we are not afraid of such ministry, we are moved to security and confidence.
Finally, today’s passage from John’s gospel, begins with the disciples absolutely bathed in fear. Jesus had just told them that he was about to be arrested and would die.
I have to believe that this was a shock to the disciples. They believed when they signed on with Jesus that he was going to lead them from victory to victory, right into glory. They didn’t believe that they had signed on with a Messiah who would be put to death, and leave them abandoned. And especially not abandoned at such a frightening moment. The religious leaders were gunning for Jesus, and they had managed to get the Roman governmental leaders to join them. If the religious and government leaders were after Jesus, then surely they would be after his followers, too. This had to have been a very scary message to receive, even from Jesus.
So Philip replied for them all: “Show us the Father, and that will be enough.”
I suspect Jesus was really frustrated by this. As he told Philip, he had already been showing them the Father. Didn’t they get it? The Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Whatever he had done, it was the Father doing it in him. He had already been showing them the Father. Showing the Father was not the answer to their fear right then.
Jesus was leaving them, it was not the Father they needed, but the Holy Spirit, Immanuel (which means God with you) who they needed. They needed the Spirit, who would be with them always, who would be the one to advocate for the Father, telling them everything they needed to know and reminding them of everything they already had been given. Yes, the Spirit would advocate for God to them, but also would advocate for them to God, making sure that God understood them, and even praying for them in ways they could not pray for themselves.
Further, the Spirit would empower them to continue Jesus’ ministry on earth, inspiring them and empowering them. If they listened to the Spirit for what Jesus wanted, then anything they asked in Jesus’ name would be done for them. Indeed, they would do the works Jesus was doing, and even greater works than Jesus had already done. For the Spirit would abide within them individually, among them all collectively, and would be at work through them.
When the Spirit comes we are moved from fear to confidence, and are sent out in confidence in the ministry of the Lord. Each of us are ministers. And nothing is more important than God’s love for this broken creation, and God’s ministry to save and reconcile that creation.
Powerful stuff. So now, let us look at this message both in terms of the awe and wonder of God, but also in terms of God’s involvement with us in ministry. Let me tell you two true stories.
First story: The Lord of Heaven
Not so long ago, I went goose hunting with an elder from the Atqasuk Chapel on the North Slope. The wind was really blowing, and we were standing in the show waiting for geese—which sounds like a cold, unhappy morning, I suppose—but it wasn’t. As I stood there, I began to think about passages from the Bible carrying a similar message to the one in today’s Psalm, Psalm 104:30—when God sends forth God’s spirit, creaturely thing, including living things, are created. And when God withholds God’s spirit, they cease to be.
It is this kind of teaching that causes Christians to teach the Holy Spirit in a couple of ways, and one of them is that the Holy Spirit is the sustainer. The Holy Spirit is the sustainer of the universe—the Holy Spirit holds the universe together; the Holy Spirit gives life to all living things and sustains them. But according to Jesus, the Holy Spirit also comes to us personally, drawing us into faith and guiding us to grow in learning and understanding.
And I suppose all of this might sound a bit confusing as it comes out of my mouth. But it wasn’t confusing while I was goose hunting!
Suddenly, I began to see God everywhere in a bunch of ways. I began to recognize that God’s fingerprints were in the air that I was breathing, the snow that was blowing, the bush that was shaken by the wind in front of my face, and the geese that I was hunting. Further, I realized that because of Pentecost, the saving Spirit of God dwells within me, and within my hunting partner, and within all people of faith worldwide. And suddenly, everywhere I looked I was seeing God. God around me in nature, God in me, God through me in my actions, and God at work among us, God moving in ways mysterious, through all creation and all time.
WOW!
As I said, there are two things that should be pointed to in every worship service. One is the absolute awe and wonder and power of God. And if you start to think of God’s spirit, holding the universe together, dwelling in your heart and drawing you into a life of faith, and at work connecting you to all people of faith and all creation that serves the Lord in all time and space…well if that doesn’t stir wonder in your heart, then just wait. Maybe you will be goose hunting one day, or fishing, or holding a baby, or something else. One of these days, the wonder of God present in every moment and place will reach out and grab you.
These moments of wonder are a gift from God and we need to hold onto them. Most times we don't feel such wonder. In fact, when times are tough, my emotions can get in the way so that I absolutely cannot feel the wonder and the awe. At such times, I have found two things that are essential to my spiritual well being. The first is remembrance--I need to remember these moments that show me what is always true whether I feel it or not. Indeed faith and life is not about feelings but about doing what is needed, no matter how we feel.
Second, I need to recognize that God always gives enough strength to do what is needed to the church, but rarely to one person alone. It is in the sharing that we find that there is strength enough and wisdom enough to face the most difficult moments. Person ally, I have established a relationship with two Soul-Friends, who I can call at any time, and who I can trust with the most sacred of things. If you haven't found a soul friend, I recommend that you do. And I also recommend that you remember those sacred moments of awareness that God gives to you. Remembrance is important and powerful.
Second story: The Lord of Earth
Did you know that the North Slope Borough was started because of the Presbyterians? We knew from our connection to churches in the arctic that the oil was going to be pumped South and the taxes from the oil was going to Juneau and not to the local people. No bank would finance the political and legal effort it would take to start the North Slope Borough. They feared that the oil companies would take their business away if they helped start another taxing agency.
But an Iñupiaq Eskimo woman named Martha Aiken was attending a Presbyterian meeting in New York and learned of a new thing in those days; The Self Development of People Fund. She and Eben Hopson filled out an application, the presbytery approved it and sent it on, and the national church gave a grant of $800,000 to bring justice to the arctic. Within two years another Iñupiaq man, Rex Okakok, returned to the General Assembly with a check in his hand. ‘No one would stand with us,’ he said. When it was not popular to empower native-based government, when public opinion was against us, and when we were left alone, our brothers and sisters in the church were the only ones, who stood with us. Only the church, because they knew God would not leave us here in poverty when there was something else that could be don.’
And with that, he handed the check to the stated clerk, repaying the full amount, plus interest. ‘Go out and do that again,’ he said. Find others facing injustice and join with them, too. Be like Jesus and with others that no one else will stand with.
This is the kind of church I want to be a part of. I want to be a part of a church that understands how it matters that Jesus is both fully God and fully human—that in Jesus we see divinity and the awesome power of God, who inspires us to worship and calls us, on the Lord’s Day, to set that day apart and come together to join our worship and offer it to him. And, in Jesus, who went to the cross for us, we also see a very human side, empowered to enter into as earthy and messy of a creaturely situation as you can imagine, and transform it from crucifixion to resurrection. And in the Holy Spirit, God touches us, brings us into the security of God’s salvation, and then inspires and empowers us to go forth in the name of Jesus. Because of the Holy Spirit, we are called and empowered to continue the Great Work of our Lord.
The Challenge
So what about us? How does this apply to us, specifically? Let me ask you a few questions about how this applies to you.
First, when did you have one of those moments of awe and wonder, when God seemed so amazingly present that you were drawn into worship and awe? Probably it wasn’t when you were goose hunting, though it might have been, I suppose. When was it for you?
Second, remember that you have met God so that you can know who you really are, a child of God, not a child of fear. And yet, humans that we are, we do know fear. When has fear, or anxiety got in your way when you knew God wanted you to do something?
How did you respond? (if you are like me, sometimes you responded well and sometimes not well at all)
Please recognize that we are called to learn, both from those times when we responded well and when we did not. You are still a child of God, no matter your past. What does God want you to learn?
And now a question for this church. The First Presbyterian Church of Anchorage is made up of this group of people, in this town at this time. What ministry does God want this church to do? How does God want this church to make a difference here at this time.
Now, each of you are in this church. Each of you are to make a difference in it. Are you giving your self to this ministry with all your energy, intelligence, imagination and love? Are you doing what you can to make the ministry of this church effective?
Hear the words of your Savior:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Psalm 104:24-35 Romans 8:14-17 John 14:8-17, 25-27
Introduction: Worship Should Always Point to Two Essentials
The Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and the actions of Jesus Christ while here on earth all bear witness to the fact that Jesus is at the same time fully God and fully human. In Jesus Christ there is full communion between God and God’s creation. When we look at Jesus, we witness the awe and the wonder and the power of God. And when we look at Jesus we witness God’s deep concern and involvement for you and for me and for all creation.
Every Christian worship service should therefore point both to the wonder and power of God, Who inspires such awe and worship in us AND to the actual involvement of God in the nitty gritty, earthy things that we are involved in. That is also true on Pentecost Sunday, today, when we celebrate God in the Holy Spirit. Today, I want to do that through two stories, one about the Holy Spirit inspiring awe, and one about Holy Spirit inspired action.
Reviewing the Scriptures
However, before I do that, let’s review the Scriptures recommended by the Lectionary for today’s worship service. In all three Scripture passages there is a movement from fear to confidence, and that confidence becomes very important when we consider the work of the Holy Spirit through the church of today. Let’s take a look at the Scriptures together, watching for the movement from fear to confidence.
That movement from fear to confidence is not obvious in today’s Psalm, but it is there. Did you notice the reference to Leviathan in the Psalm? Leviathan was what they called the sea monster. Now, Israel was an inland, desert people. They feared the sea, because they just didn’t understand the sea. It was foreign and wild, and they didn’t know how to guard against it. But even scarier was the sea monsters—the whales and the giant squids and, probably even worse, the unknown. And that dreaded unknown was embodied in the mythical monster, Leviathan.
But in the Psalm, God isn’t a bit scared. God delights in all creatures—even Leviathan. And it is God’s spirit that gives Leviathan life or death. The Spirit is a spirit of delight, not fear. And there you have it, the movement from fear to confidence.
That movement from fear to confidence is much more obvious in the Romans Passage. Here, Paul tells us that we need to recognize that in receiving the Holy Spirit we have received we have not received a spirit of fear, but of security. We are not like slaves, afraid that we might be cast off at any time. Rather, we have received a Spirit of adoption, whereby God actually chooses us to become children of God. Our place is secure and nothing can take that away from us. We should therefore be confident of the ministry to which each of us has been called and join with Christ as Christ joins with all people and all creation’s broken-ness and suffering in this world.
And, indeed, Jesus himself told us that this is our work. Remember in the Bible, in the last half of Matthew 25 Jesus tells us that when judgment comes we will be judged by the way that we treated him when he was homeless, or hungry or in prison. And if we ask when we ever saw him like that, he will tell us that whenever we saw the least of these, his brothers and sisters, we were seeing him. He absolutely joins with the brokenness of creation.
And I do mean creation. Humans? Assuredly. But also all creation. Because Jesus came for the love of all creation, because God so loved the world (by the way, in John 3:16 ,the word in Greek is kosmos. “For God so loved the kosmos that God sent the only son…”). But Jesus enters into ministry on behalf of all the broken and downtrodden of all creation, and asks us to join him in this as fellow children of God, with Christ as the firstborn. We join with Christ in this because we are not afraid of such ministry, we are moved to security and confidence.
Finally, today’s passage from John’s gospel, begins with the disciples absolutely bathed in fear. Jesus had just told them that he was about to be arrested and would die.
I have to believe that this was a shock to the disciples. They believed when they signed on with Jesus that he was going to lead them from victory to victory, right into glory. They didn’t believe that they had signed on with a Messiah who would be put to death, and leave them abandoned. And especially not abandoned at such a frightening moment. The religious leaders were gunning for Jesus, and they had managed to get the Roman governmental leaders to join them. If the religious and government leaders were after Jesus, then surely they would be after his followers, too. This had to have been a very scary message to receive, even from Jesus.
So Philip replied for them all: “Show us the Father, and that will be enough.”
I suspect Jesus was really frustrated by this. As he told Philip, he had already been showing them the Father. Didn’t they get it? The Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Whatever he had done, it was the Father doing it in him. He had already been showing them the Father. Showing the Father was not the answer to their fear right then.
Jesus was leaving them, it was not the Father they needed, but the Holy Spirit, Immanuel (which means God with you) who they needed. They needed the Spirit, who would be with them always, who would be the one to advocate for the Father, telling them everything they needed to know and reminding them of everything they already had been given. Yes, the Spirit would advocate for God to them, but also would advocate for them to God, making sure that God understood them, and even praying for them in ways they could not pray for themselves.
Further, the Spirit would empower them to continue Jesus’ ministry on earth, inspiring them and empowering them. If they listened to the Spirit for what Jesus wanted, then anything they asked in Jesus’ name would be done for them. Indeed, they would do the works Jesus was doing, and even greater works than Jesus had already done. For the Spirit would abide within them individually, among them all collectively, and would be at work through them.
When the Spirit comes we are moved from fear to confidence, and are sent out in confidence in the ministry of the Lord. Each of us are ministers. And nothing is more important than God’s love for this broken creation, and God’s ministry to save and reconcile that creation.
Powerful stuff. So now, let us look at this message both in terms of the awe and wonder of God, but also in terms of God’s involvement with us in ministry. Let me tell you two true stories.
First story: The Lord of Heaven
Not so long ago, I went goose hunting with an elder from the Atqasuk Chapel on the North Slope. The wind was really blowing, and we were standing in the show waiting for geese—which sounds like a cold, unhappy morning, I suppose—but it wasn’t. As I stood there, I began to think about passages from the Bible carrying a similar message to the one in today’s Psalm, Psalm 104:30—when God sends forth God’s spirit, creaturely thing, including living things, are created. And when God withholds God’s spirit, they cease to be.
It is this kind of teaching that causes Christians to teach the Holy Spirit in a couple of ways, and one of them is that the Holy Spirit is the sustainer. The Holy Spirit is the sustainer of the universe—the Holy Spirit holds the universe together; the Holy Spirit gives life to all living things and sustains them. But according to Jesus, the Holy Spirit also comes to us personally, drawing us into faith and guiding us to grow in learning and understanding.
And I suppose all of this might sound a bit confusing as it comes out of my mouth. But it wasn’t confusing while I was goose hunting!
Suddenly, I began to see God everywhere in a bunch of ways. I began to recognize that God’s fingerprints were in the air that I was breathing, the snow that was blowing, the bush that was shaken by the wind in front of my face, and the geese that I was hunting. Further, I realized that because of Pentecost, the saving Spirit of God dwells within me, and within my hunting partner, and within all people of faith worldwide. And suddenly, everywhere I looked I was seeing God. God around me in nature, God in me, God through me in my actions, and God at work among us, God moving in ways mysterious, through all creation and all time.
WOW!
As I said, there are two things that should be pointed to in every worship service. One is the absolute awe and wonder and power of God. And if you start to think of God’s spirit, holding the universe together, dwelling in your heart and drawing you into a life of faith, and at work connecting you to all people of faith and all creation that serves the Lord in all time and space…well if that doesn’t stir wonder in your heart, then just wait. Maybe you will be goose hunting one day, or fishing, or holding a baby, or something else. One of these days, the wonder of God present in every moment and place will reach out and grab you.
These moments of wonder are a gift from God and we need to hold onto them. Most times we don't feel such wonder. In fact, when times are tough, my emotions can get in the way so that I absolutely cannot feel the wonder and the awe. At such times, I have found two things that are essential to my spiritual well being. The first is remembrance--I need to remember these moments that show me what is always true whether I feel it or not. Indeed faith and life is not about feelings but about doing what is needed, no matter how we feel.
Second, I need to recognize that God always gives enough strength to do what is needed to the church, but rarely to one person alone. It is in the sharing that we find that there is strength enough and wisdom enough to face the most difficult moments. Person ally, I have established a relationship with two Soul-Friends, who I can call at any time, and who I can trust with the most sacred of things. If you haven't found a soul friend, I recommend that you do. And I also recommend that you remember those sacred moments of awareness that God gives to you. Remembrance is important and powerful.
Second story: The Lord of Earth
Did you know that the North Slope Borough was started because of the Presbyterians? We knew from our connection to churches in the arctic that the oil was going to be pumped South and the taxes from the oil was going to Juneau and not to the local people. No bank would finance the political and legal effort it would take to start the North Slope Borough. They feared that the oil companies would take their business away if they helped start another taxing agency.
But an Iñupiaq Eskimo woman named Martha Aiken was attending a Presbyterian meeting in New York and learned of a new thing in those days; The Self Development of People Fund. She and Eben Hopson filled out an application, the presbytery approved it and sent it on, and the national church gave a grant of $800,000 to bring justice to the arctic. Within two years another Iñupiaq man, Rex Okakok, returned to the General Assembly with a check in his hand. ‘No one would stand with us,’ he said. When it was not popular to empower native-based government, when public opinion was against us, and when we were left alone, our brothers and sisters in the church were the only ones, who stood with us. Only the church, because they knew God would not leave us here in poverty when there was something else that could be don.’
And with that, he handed the check to the stated clerk, repaying the full amount, plus interest. ‘Go out and do that again,’ he said. Find others facing injustice and join with them, too. Be like Jesus and with others that no one else will stand with.
This is the kind of church I want to be a part of. I want to be a part of a church that understands how it matters that Jesus is both fully God and fully human—that in Jesus we see divinity and the awesome power of God, who inspires us to worship and calls us, on the Lord’s Day, to set that day apart and come together to join our worship and offer it to him. And, in Jesus, who went to the cross for us, we also see a very human side, empowered to enter into as earthy and messy of a creaturely situation as you can imagine, and transform it from crucifixion to resurrection. And in the Holy Spirit, God touches us, brings us into the security of God’s salvation, and then inspires and empowers us to go forth in the name of Jesus. Because of the Holy Spirit, we are called and empowered to continue the Great Work of our Lord.
The Challenge
So what about us? How does this apply to us, specifically? Let me ask you a few questions about how this applies to you.
First, when did you have one of those moments of awe and wonder, when God seemed so amazingly present that you were drawn into worship and awe? Probably it wasn’t when you were goose hunting, though it might have been, I suppose. When was it for you?
Second, remember that you have met God so that you can know who you really are, a child of God, not a child of fear. And yet, humans that we are, we do know fear. When has fear, or anxiety got in your way when you knew God wanted you to do something?
How did you respond? (if you are like me, sometimes you responded well and sometimes not well at all)
Please recognize that we are called to learn, both from those times when we responded well and when we did not. You are still a child of God, no matter your past. What does God want you to learn?
And now a question for this church. The First Presbyterian Church of Anchorage is made up of this group of people, in this town at this time. What ministry does God want this church to do? How does God want this church to make a difference here at this time.
Now, each of you are in this church. Each of you are to make a difference in it. Are you giving your self to this ministry with all your energy, intelligence, imagination and love? Are you doing what you can to make the ministry of this church effective?
Hear the words of your Savior:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)