The Gospel for All - a devotional.

Luke tells the story best, the story of all.

The ladies around town had gossiped about Elizabeth's barren womb for decades - and now God blesses her with a child who will prepare the way for the Messiah.  The rumors are just beginning, however, for Mary, the frightened teenager.

We tell the story that there was no room at the inn - but this is a euphemism.  These weren't hotels. These were the homes of Joseph's relatives  - family who rejected the unwed teenage mother out of shame and disgust.  The one who finally showed pity on her only offered a stable space, good enough for a girl such as this. Our pretty ceramic nativity scenes don't capture the filth and sorrow of this story, and they miss the goodness for the same reason.

In this place - the place of shame and darkness and disgust - the Christ child entered the world.

The angels chose the poorest and lowliest sheep-herders to bear witness - the kind of workers who would have been on TV multiple times describing what the tornado sounded like.  Certainly no group could be less trustworthy for such a task than shepherds.  God's star led wise and respected men to the young boy born in a trough.  Their gifts were extravagant burial items meant for an aged king, but they give them to the child-King anyway.  

The young and the old.  The rich and the poor.  Men and women.  Jews and gentiles. The religiously pure and the sin-stained.  If we could only read the first two chapters of Luke's Gospel, we would know only two things for certain - this Jesus is the Messiah and this Messiah came for all.

We must each decide in our own hearts, if we will be a church that rejoices in the Gospel for all or if we will hold onto our prejudices and fears.  Will we reject those that society rejects or will we be a people who believe and live out the good news that our Gospel is for all?
 
Luke 1:37 "no word from God will ever fail."

I'm often struck by the shear absurdity of a situation.  Volodya and I were walking through the park and this dog came up to us - it was smaller than a chihuahua but featured ear hair that dragged on the ground.  I almost wet myself I was laughing so hard.  Apparently it's a very expensive breed of dog - someone actually paid money for it!

It seems that life is filled with moments to celebrate and laugh.

It's easy to miss these moments.  It's so easy to get bogged down in the details of the day and to forget to just celebrate life.

It's never wrong to celebrate life.  I think that we forget this.  We try to be solemn and lead meaningful lives, but only laughter leads to a meaningful life.

Losing another dear friend to cancer has been hard on me.  It's hard to not be home and not be with people and you never feel like you've mourned well - but I write again and again the simple yet profound statement that if you fill your life with extraordinary people your life will be extraordinarily full.

Fill you life with good and kind and joyful people.  You won't go wrong.  Your life will be more good and kind and joyful for it.

A sermon based on an Henri Nouwen quote

[I read this beautiful quote, and decided that I wanted to flesh it out a bit for a sermon for our series on the Kingdom of God.]

We belong to a generation that wants to see the results of our work. We want to be productive and see with our own eyes what we have made. But that is not the way of God's Kingdom. Often our witness for God does not lead to tangible results. Jesus himself died as a failure on a cross. There was no success there to be proud of.  Still, the fruitfulness of Jesus' life is beyond any human measure. As faithful witnesses of Jesus we have to trust that our lives too will be fruitful, even though we cannot see their fruit. The fruit of our lives may be visible only to those who live after us.  What is important is how well we love. God will make our love fruitful, whether we see that fruitfulness or not. – Henri Nouwen

-----

What is success?  How do we define success?  Throughout history, as one empire has risen and fallen after another, it seems that they have all tried to become the biggest and the best.  American author David Sedaris wrote that his biggest shock after moving to France was that no country's motto was "We're number two!"  He was shocked to find that French people really felt their country was better than America.  And although most Ukrainians are realist enough to state that we may not be the best country in the world, we certainly have a long list of things that we are best at.  Even grandmothers are quick to remind us that Ukrainian girls are the most beautiful in the world.  We have the best salo.  The list goes on and on.  

For your mother, success is grandchildren.  For many of your colleagues, success is making more money than most of your colleagues.  To have a bigger house, a bigger military, a bigger paycheck, a bigger police force.  The way that we define success is pretty clear, isn't it.  Bigger, more, better.  We belong to a generation that wants to see the results of our work. We want to be productive and see with our own eyes what we have made.  

We are promised that if we work hard, all of these things will be delivered to us.  That we deserve these measures of success for our hard work.  

But that is not the way of God's Kingdom.

Let's read John 19:16-30

What is successful about this passage?  How does this compare to our understanding of success, productivity, and power?  Jesus himself died as a failure on a cross.   There is perhaps no greater failure in society's eyes than being executed by the state for criminal behavior.  There was no success there to be proud of.  In America, we regrettably execute a tremendous number of criminals.  But, we justify this by claiming that all of these people are beyond redemption and a serious threat to the people.  Jesus was executed as an enemy of the state, because he was a threat to the people.  He was executed for his promise to raise up a new Kingdom, one that would destroy the empire that surrounded it.  And as the soldiers mocked him that day, they certainly felt that the threat of his coming Kingdom had certainly passed.  He had failed at his mission.  He would be forgotten to history, just another failure in the footnotes of history.    

Often our witness for God does not lead to tangible results.  

Still, the fruitfulness of Jesus' life is beyond any human measure. As faithful witnesses of Jesus we have to trust that our lives too will be fruitful, even though we cannot see their fruit. The fruit of our lives may be visible only to those who live after us.

The governor of a large state back in America was traveling around his state raising money and meeting the people.  At one fundraising dinner, he waited patiently in line to get his meal.  It was a long buffet line, but to make sure it went quickly and that there was enough for everyone, they hired people to dish out the food.  When he got to the woman dishing out fried chicken, she placed two small pieces on his plate.  He leaned forward and asked, "Do you think I could have another piece of chicken?"  

"Two for each guest, that's our policy" she responded without looking up.

The governor was taken aback and obviously offended.  He angrily looked at her and demanded, "Do you know who I am?  I am the governor of this state.  I control the budgets for thousands of employees, have a staff of over one hundred people, and received more than sixty percent of the vote - now, I'll ask again - Can I have another piece of chicken?" 

The woman looked back at him with the same ferocity and responded, "Do you know who I am?  I'm the woman who is dishing out the fried chicken, and I told you that you already got your two pieces, so you can just move along now." 

This is a humorous story of a woman standing up to the powers that be.  What would it take for us to stand up to the powers that surround us?  We have this idea in our heads too often that we are powerless to change things, that we are too small and powerless to make a difference.  We too often forget that 1 plus God is always a majority.  What if we really began to stand up agains the corruption and bribery that make our hard earned diplomas less valuable?  

   

When I was a little child, the youth group from the church in my village took a field trip to the big city to visit an inner-city mission church.  I have so few memories of that trip.  I was probably eight or nine.  It was the first time I had seen more than one black person at a time.  It was the first time I had seen poverty. homelessness.  soup kitchens. bread lines. clothing drives.  And we closed in worship and this little white woman stood up at the pulpit - certainly the first female I had ever heard preach God's word - and she was the one leading this inner-city church.  And I just remember being so awed by her presence, by her courage and strength.

Years later, I'm close friends with that woman ... she and I are collegues in ministry.  I think about how much that experience impacted my call into ministry and how much her courage continues to shape me.  I'm sure that none of the good men and women who have influenced me over the years fully understand the impact they have had on me.  Few of us understand the ways that we are slowly and surely changing the world.

Because when we can see beyond the trappings of the Empires that we live in - when we can see beyond the  costumes and offices and business lunches and politicians - we can begin to see the glory of God and God's Kingdom.  When we look past the busy work and study schedules that trap us we can see the plans that God has for us.  When we can see beyond the Empire that insists we work hard to make more money to buy stuff we don't need to impress people we don't like we can begin to see what really matters in the Kingdom of God.

What is important is how well we love.

This is the only thing that matters in the Kingdom of God.  Our task is to love and God will take care of the rest.

God will make our love fruitful, whether we see that fruitfulness or not.

Amen. 

Put your nets down

[This is a four part sermon that Pastor Volodya and I will preach at Pilgrims tonight.  I am second and fourth, and while I have an idea what Volodya will preach about, I'm not entirely sure what direction he will go.  The altar will be covered with a fishing net, and at the end students will be invited to come forward and place fish into the coils of the net to represent the things that they need to give to God to be able to become a "fisher of men(catcher of people in Ukrainian).  Enjoy.]

Let me paint this picture for you.  It's easy to forget where we are in the story - we see all the way to the end.  When we read the Bible we see all that has come after it, we see that Christianity is the largest religion in the world - that it has transformed the entire world and that things are better and better as the Kingdom of God continues to spread.  Let me paint a picture for you of what these disciples saw.

Jesus has just been baptized.  The people who were there, they swear that they heard the very voice of God - but those were all the crazy people who had followed John into the desert to hear him preach.  Jesus has just returned from the wilderness - where he didn't eat for forty days.  Jesus comes out of the desert place, and you can count his ribs he is so emaciated and Jesus comes up to you and asks you to follow him - to become like him.  What is your response?

Jesus goes to two brothers who are fast at work and he offers them an invitation.  "Follow me and I will make you catchers of people."  And two more brothers - James and John - are sitting with their father in the boat and Jesus calls them and they drop their nets and follow Jesus.

I think it's really important that we think about fishing for a minute.  When I think of a fisherman, my first thought is always of the people I saw fishing as a child.  They would go to the river or a lake and they would have a fishing pole and they would cast out their line and wait until something took the bait.

Every fisherman has a story about the fish that was "this big."

But, these men were fishermen as a career.  The lived on their boats, they cast their nets hundreds of times a day - and sometimes were successful and sometimes they weren't - but when they didn't catch anything, their families went hungry.

This wasn't an occassional past time for leisurely men - this was their work, this was in their blood, this was their whole life.

I think one of the problems with America Christianity is we read this verse - and in English it reads literally "fishers of men" - and we get the image of our modern American fisherman.  Someone who from time to time throws a line out and tries to bring in one fish or a few.

And this is not the picture that Jesus is painting at all.  Jesus calls these men to always be about catching people.  Jesus calls them to live their whole lives preaching the Gospel, sharing their stories, and welcoming people into the arms of God and into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus calls us to throw the nets out wider and wider, to welcome all people in, to invite everyone to sing a new song - a song of joy and hope.  Jesus calls us to be catchers of people - that in everything we do, in ever conversation we have and cup of tea we share to bring our companions just a little closer to God.  To let them just see a tiny slice of the Kingdom of Heaven.


----

Jesus asks these men to give up everything - to give up their jobs and their families and their livelyhoods and to follow him  And these men drop their nets and they follow Jesus.

Jesus calls these men to drop their nets.  To put down what they are doing.

There was nothing wrong or sinful about fishing.  Jesus didn't pull these men away from their fishing nets out of disgust for their work.  Jesus looked at these men, and he asked them to put their nets down because he had something better for them in mind.

Jesus called them to something higher - to something greater.  Jesus called them to do the same thing they had always done, but for a better reason and a higher purpose. With these twelve men Jesus changed the world.  With these twelve men, Jesus turned the world upside down and made it right.

Jesus calls us to drop our nets.

Jesus calls us to think about what we are doing and why we are doing it.  If we are studying and working so that we can have a big apartment and a nice car and respect from important people - then God has something better for you.  God wants you to do everything for the glory of God.

What keeps you from dropping your net?  What is holding you back from inviting others.  And I don't just mean inviting people to come to worship here - which we certainly want you to do - but I mean this in a bigger sense.  What keeps you from sharing your faith?  What prevents you from talking about what God does in your life?  What holds you back?

Tonight we have a net up here on the altar and lots of fish.  During our prayer time and our closing song - I want us to think and pray about what keeps us from dropping our nets.  Maybe it's pride.  Maybe it's fear.  Maybe it's sickness.  Write all of these things on different fish and bring them up here to our altar and put them into the net.  Allow God to hold onto those things so that you don't have to.  Let God have them so that you can put your net down and begin a life as a catcher of people.

Amen.