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Archive for March, 2016

Isaiah 64 Easter Sunday: A Buffet of Grace for a people of Injustice 201260327 RSUMC

Posted by myoikos in #2016, #easter, #heisrisen, #helives, #jesus, celebration, Easter, End Times, Faith, God, grace, Hope, Jesus, Joy, Worship on March 26, 2016

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17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.. [ Isaiah 65.17-25, NRSV]
The prophet Isaiah spoke as an advocate for God and talked to challenge and encourage the People of God. He tells of a time coming soon when God would do something transforming in Jerusalem. The new ‘thing’ revealed to us is seen in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We gather to celebrate the fulfillment of this promise of God that has been awaited.
Except, having to get everything heated, the table set and the bread in the oven at the exact time, Easter Sunday dinner was one of the rare times that family dinner time was relaxing and enjoyable family time in my childhood and youth. Some years we were at home around our table, other time we gathered around my grandmother’s table. But never at the farm. It was too far to drive on Easter Sunday after church to Johnson County, but we would say, “one year we will find  a way.”  My mother had her cheese biscuits, and strawberry jam and her mother had her yeast rolls and orange and coconut ambrosia, but we never made it to the family gathering at the farm.
Easter Dinner at the farm: three types of meat, four pies and chocolate layer cake, hand rolled bread and collection of eight to ten vegetables covered the dining room table and spilling over to the chest freezer filled the house with the fruit of the labor or many hands. There is something extra special about sharing a meal with your family and friends that come from your work and love. Love and work that is not just in preparing the food, but also growing, tending and harvesting the food. It is convenient and more restful to eat out. That meal is more satisfying when we see the full perspective of the food.
The good news for Easter is God’s handiwork continues to meet us at the table.
During the time of Isaiah, The tribes of Judah lived through three kings and saw the kingdom of Israel destroyed and taken to Assyria. Isaiah is prophesying about time that there would be a joy in Jerusalem.
Joy in Jerusalem was an unbelievable promise. People might remember stories when David and Solomon made Jerusalem a jewel and envy, but now it was a dim memory at best. The prophet gives us a big picture look at the presence of God along the way. His words say “remember when?” And his words promise, encourage and help keep faith alive for all who share the faith and hope. There will be a day of Joy! There will be a time of reversal! There will be a moment that God brings all things to wholeness and justice.

Preaching on Easter Sunday has a seesaw of expectation. It’s Great news to celebrate the Resurrection and a challenge to tell even more.

 I step back into a spiritually lean time in the memory of our faith history to help give perspective on how God’s transformation by grace will come to be. The text tell us that the prophet foretells that God will make Jerusalem a Joy!

Jerusalem. A Joy?

If we look back in our remembered history, Jerusalem has been a place of turmoil, feud and war for generations and generations.
When will the time be? First, we learn how God works through epochs as well as nano-seconds. We want everything in an instantly unless we enjoy it, and then we want to take our time. We want a Spring Break vacation to last for twice as many days as we are allowed, but we want our cancers healed instantly. God works in God’s time. 1) GOD IS VERY PATIENT WITH OUR IMPATIENCE!
God’s time is entrusted with us. I believe with all my heart if the whole world would turn toward Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, that would be the moment that we found Joy in Jerusalem, and everywhere else. this possibility is inherently in the charge to make disciples of all the world.
The Apostle, preacher-teacher-leader encourages the Mediterranean church in Corinth, (1 Corinthians 15:19-26)
 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. [NRSV]
But this Easter we are somewhere between Isaiah and that final day.  Both Paul and Isaiah point to one hope: Jesus who died and rose from the dead as atonement, payment, for the brokenness and sin that keeps Joy hidden, beaten down and afraid, left-for-dead.
Easter Sunday is about Joy!
  • Joy that we have hope even though Terror fills the earth
  • Joy that we have faith even though correctness challenges beliefs
  • Joy that we have grace even though we want it immediately
  • Joy that we have life even though we need it eternally
  • Joy that we have love even though our hearts still know how to hate
  • Joy that we have each other because the body of Christ is entrusted to the church
  • Joy that we have forgiveness
  • Joy that we have songs for praise
  • Joy that we prayers for conversation
  • Joy that we have time for repentance
  • Joy that we have history to learn from past mistakes
  • Joy that we have a future that is prepared and paid for by Christ
  • Joy that Jesus was not just a teacher with good life lessons
  • Joy that Jesus was not just a historical figure
  • Joy that the Holy Spirit is our power
  • Joy
Why be afraid, Why be sad? Why think you alone? Why see the empty?
When we have Joy, Joy from Jesus Christ who lives, today, here, with us.
so we come to the Easter buffet of Good News:
What will go on your plate?
Q: chocolate bunnies and eggs that are tummy abs fun for a moment
or a taste of Joy?
ASK: your neighbor: How Does Jesus bring you, Joy?
WHAT,  you have no joy?
Have you forgotten? Already?
Today begins our serving the buffet of Jesus throughout our world:
  • to Celebrate Easter is to feed not eat
  • to Celebrate Easter is to forgive not hold over
  • to Celebrate Easter is to love the difficult to love
  • to Celebrate Easter is to live for Christ and not ourselves
  • to Celebrate Easter is to bring hope to the sad
  • to Celebrate Easter is to open hardened hearts
  • to Celebrate Easter is to offer life to the dying
  • to Celebrate Easter is to free those who hoard
  • to Celebrate Easter is to be the body of Christ living in the world for the transformation of the world toward Christ how lives forever.
Happy Easter, get to work!!
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Easter Sunrise: Up and Out! 20160327 RSUMC

Posted by myoikos in #2016, #easter, #gotell, #heisrisen, #helives, #jesus on March 25, 2016

Easter-Sunday Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. [NRSV, John 20:1-18]

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.[NRSV, Luke 24:1-12]

Why Do We Look for Life Among the Dead?

Think of the things that take away our life: We risk our lives and our eternity.

  • We risk our lives and our eternity.
  • We risk our relationships and our legacy
  • We risk our faith for opinions
  • We risk forgiveness in the name of being ‘right’
  • We risk our salvation holding to our possessions

We search for meaning, influence and belonging in many things, relationships, substances, beliefs and ideas.. when our heart’s home is ever in our face: Jesus.

We come to a Sunrise Service

Expecting to hear a familiar passage of scripture

Marking a tradition when we could be sleeping

Why?

Not everyone went looking for the Risen Lord: Those who seek will find.

That is story of Easter Sunrise: Mary is looking, even in her blindness of grief and fear she is in the place where Jesus is ready to be revealed to her.

  • Being in the right place, at the right time has some common sense, and is one of the key reasons we gather to worship.
  • Being where Jesus told disciples to be, worshiping and waiting together, is an action of faithfulness and trust.
  • Being awake and alert as we can be, is room enough for grace to take root.

You and I are the Easter People. We have come to see Jesus. Look at the shivering faces of Joy that come to this holy time and place. Jesus is with us. He lives in us. Go and be the body of Christ, transforming those who seek in darkness, hopelessness, fear and those who are asleep. It’s time to wake, Jesus is here!

 

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Luke 19:28-44

Posted by myoikos in #findingJesus, #helives, #jesus, #mysundaysermons, #ncaafootball; #football;, #palmsunday, Boldness, Christian LIving, Church, government, Holy Week, Passionate Worship, Politics, Putting God First, Salvation, Spiritual, Witness on March 19, 2016

PalmCross  As [Jesus] was going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?’ just say this, “The Lord needs it.’ “ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
  As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.“ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
  As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” [NRSV]
The entrance into the holy city Jerusalem is akin to the presidential motorcade after the inauguration swearing in service. People lined the way, shoulder to shoulder, waving and cheering the confirmation of their new leader. But Jesus did not arrive in the usual way. Neither had he been endorsed by the Sadducees nor Pharisees. He entered riding on the back of a humble work animal instead of a proud steed of power and status. He was praised by the disciples, those who had been healed, fed, blessed and taught along the way of Jesus’s ministry. I make NO contemporary political correlation to candidates running today, only to the stress and strife of a non-establishment figure being ushered into the city by the voice of the people.
We may have more insight into the context of this event that other generations. The Pharisees saying, “If this Jesus becomes our leader, I’m leaving Jerusalem” The Sadducees saying, “If they don’t get a handle on this outsider, we will take steps to bring our own man in.” Do you get the scene and the tensions?
The establishment says, stop your people from this circus. Teacher, we hold you responsible for the chaos. It’s your fault. We will stop you if you don’t stop the unruly crowd. [Again, I am not suggestion that any of our political figures are messianic leaders, but I am listening to the similarities of the crowds and the commentators and voices of the establishments then and now.]
All this sets the stage for Palm Sunday. We would much rather look at the scenes of the children lining the streets waving along the Jesus parade as a sweet image of Palm Sunday and not see the emerging political unrest that blows up in less than a week. I believe it is vitally important to look at the politics that is very much part of the Palm Sunday story.
The sweetest fruit in this passage from Luke’s Gospel is about seeing and not seeing. It is about believing and refusing to believe. It is about choosing to accep or closing our eyes, “sticking our heads in the sand in times of fear”,
instead of proclaiming
  • Jesus Christ is real,
  • Jesus is King, and
  • Jesus is with us.
The secondary witness is about praise that cannot be held back.
  • When we know Jesus is real, this becomes the foundation of our life
  • When we know Jesus is King, this becomease the guide for our living
  • When we know Jesus is with us, nothing can stop us from praising.
So What is “Palm Sunday About?”
  • There story is about preparing for worship
  • The story is about making way/room for Jesus in our public/fears
  • The story is about remaing awake and aleart that it is Jesus that leads us and not anything or anyone esle.
Where does Peace come from? The Prince of Peace:
  • Peace does not come from armies and weapons
  • Peace does not come from governments and policies
  • Peace does not come from acts of kindness and justice
  • Peace comes from God, through Jesus Christ, guided by the Spirit, through the church, through us for for the whole world.
Palm Sunday is about seeking peace from God with us.
If we cant’ see God with us, we will never find Peace.
Peace in Syria?, in Instanbull?, in the media? in the streets of our nation? in our homes? in our hearts?
  • Peace comes when Jesus comes in.
  • Peace comes when Jesus is praised
  • Peaces is possible to see when we see God showing up on our streets.
We life our palm brances as signs of a
  • new life,
  • a new way
  • a new day, made possible thorugh Jesus Chirst, our King.
The Practice response..
Start with what we have: cloaks and branches and pave the way.
Start with our
  • Praise
  • Words
  • Witness of kindness
  • Forgiving first,
Loving even though others have not loved us first
  • Our hearts
  • Our gifts
  • Our time
  • Our presence
  • Our wintess
Use these to pave the way for Christ to enter our
  • hearts,
  • conversations,
  • homes,
  • streets,
  • communities,
  • nation and the world.
That means raise the praise in church but don’t stop there, don’t stop now,
LIft Christ… and let a hurting, hateful, fearful, broken world know Jesus is here.

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John 12.1-8. “The Price of Worship” 20160313

Posted by myoikos in #jesus, #sacrifice, 5 Practices, celebration, Extravagant Generosity, Grief and Loss, Lent B, Passionate Worship, Stewardship, Worship on March 13, 2016

 

imageSix days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” [NRSV]

I recall visiting sanctuaries through out Europe, some hundreds of years and wonder on one hand did Jesus imagine the ornate gilded cathedrals would become witnesses of his body and presence in the world. On the other hand, having walk through those ornate and gilded cathedrals and having join in the presence of worship that was older than my prayers and praises the allow us to experience the glories of a presence that is beyond our imagination and beyond our wealth and beyond our interpretation.

Somewhere in the combination of faithful stewardship and extravagant generosity we find the sincerity and and passion of worship.

There are times for simple and there are time for excess
The Garden of Eden reflects a sips relationship, one love and one rule, one trust and the consequences one transgression/choice.

Think of worship in the home of Mary and Martha. Recall Martha is the practical, hard working, thrifty with time and extravagant with comfort and dependable order. Mary is willing to throw caution aside! She is willing to leaving the house messy for a time, eat brunch for dinner, and invite too many guests to the party.

Mary take an extraordinary gift worth a years wage and gives the entire jar to cover Jesus. One pure of nard retailed for $700. Not a dab with the lid behind the ear r on ones wrist. She covers Jesus’s feet. Nard is viscous, acidic and concentrated scent similar to gardenia. It would have filled the house

Today we come to a historical day in the life of the church that is a mar rage of extravagant generosity AND a practical challenge. The big news is about t be revealed and it is a unique and exciting opportunity that draws on both our Mary and Martha sides.

The waste is not in using our gifts, the waste would be not to give.

Give extravagantly.

Love passionately.

Life in the Joy of Chrost with us.

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2 Corinthians 5.16-21 LENT: Your Jesus is Showing 20160306 RSUMC

Posted by myoikos in #gotell, #humility, #jesus, #sermons, 5 Practices, Boldness, Church, Communion, God, Lent A, Lent B, Lent C, Love, Ministry, Politics, Relationship, Salvation, Sin, Spiritual, Truth on March 6, 2016

reflect_jesusFrom now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [NRSV]

The One sentence sermon: Because of God’s work of grace in Christ makes our spirit  new, we are charged with a ministry of doing the same with the world through Christ.

Paul Case for the Church:

  1. God has been busy.
    1. God has changed the world, the rules and has changed us.
    2. The rules and boundaries have changed.
    3. We are no longer in control and no longer responsible for our salvation.
    4. Because God lived, died and conquered death, we now know God, in this new resurrection life.
    5. Everything old has passed away.
    6. Everything is being made new
  2. God’s goal is to make things whole.
    1. Reconciliation: God making our relationship whole.
    2. Why would God want to reset the relationship with us? The old ways are not working for us.
    3. What are the old ways?
      1. Choosing to Trust God with the purpose of our living.
      2. Choosing What God would want for us, because we trust God’s love and authority
      3. Choosing not because death is the alternative, rather because trusting God is
        1. Good
  3. God is working through us, just as God worked through Jesus.
    1. Ministry of Reconciliation
    2. Work as Ambassadors
    3. Being whole is God reflects our purpose,
    4. get your Jesus Shine on, show them, Chrost

 

Ambassadors for Jesus Christ. Official spokespersons and witnesses of Jesus.

  • Because
  • In Christ we are a new creation, the old passes away,
  • This is made possible by God, through Jesus, for a ministry of reconciliation.
  • We are entrusted with God’s message of reconciliation,
  • As resident representatives.
  • God appeal is make through us, when we are in Christ.

Ministry of reconciliation:

Be Reconciled, find the common ground, that leads to truce, which gives space for steps toward what is consistent with both parties and for Christians that is when we recognize that we are sinners, made new in Christ, to be witnesses to others sinful, broken, hurting folks toward the whole world accepting the work of Grace God has done through Christ for us all.

  • Be reconciled is be working toward Christ.
  • Be Ambassadors of the Journey
  • Be come the Child of God, through Christ, for the transformation of the world.
  • Key verse for being United Methodist

so what?

Applied to how we relate to sin, shine the light of Christ on our family, neighbor, communion, nation and world.. Show Christ

  • sometimes Jesus says take a sword other times put them away
  • sometimes Jesus says come to me and at the same time go and sin no more
  • sometimes Jesus rides in triumphantly and walks on water, other time he disappears in the crowd
  • sometimes Jesus says feed the hungry and  times he says eat this bread

To reflect Christ is neither conservative nor liberal

To reflect Christ is allow the new creation to thrive and the old self to let go

To reflect Christ is to be close enough to Christ, by faith/trust, that it’s Christ the world sees

Go let God make is so through Christ, Shine on!

 

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