Archive for March, 2016
Isaiah 64 Easter Sunday: A Buffet of Grace for a people of Injustice 201260327 RSUMC
Preaching on Easter Sunday has a seesaw of expectation. It’s Great news to celebrate the Resurrection and a challenge to tell even more.
Jerusalem. A Joy?
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]
- 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
- 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.
Easter Sunrise: Up and Out! 20160327 RSUMC
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!
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

- Jesus Christ is real,
- Jesus is King, and
- Jesus is with us.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- new life,
- a new way
- a new day, made possible thorugh Jesus Chirst, our King.
- Praise
- Words
- Witness of kindness
- Forgiving first,
- Our hearts
- Our gifts
- Our time
- Our presence
- Our wintess
- hearts,
- conversations,
- homes,
- streets,
- communities,
- nation and the world.
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
Six 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.
2 Corinthians 5.16-21 LENT: Your Jesus is Showing 20160306 RSUMC
From 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:
- God has been busy.
- God has changed the world, the rules and has changed us.
- The rules and boundaries have changed.
- We are no longer in control and no longer responsible for our salvation.
- Because God lived, died and conquered death, we now know God, in this new resurrection life.
- Everything old has passed away.
- Everything is being made new
- God’s goal is to make things whole.
- Reconciliation: God making our relationship whole.
- Why would God want to reset the relationship with us? The old ways are not working for us.
- What are the old ways?
- Choosing to Trust God with the purpose of our living.
- Choosing What God would want for us, because we trust God’s love and authority
- Choosing not because death is the alternative, rather because trusting God is
- Good
- God is working through us, just as God worked through Jesus.
- Ministry of Reconciliation
- Work as Ambassadors
- Being whole is God reflects our purpose,
- 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!