tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-352923072024-03-23T14:13:48.582-04:00PulpitBytesTM<p><em><b>Sermons and such to the Glory of God and for the Common Good</b></em>.</p>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-41338109987478464452020-06-30T08:12:00.000-04:002020-06-30T08:13:49.208-04:00Born Again . . . To Love the World <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmaBak8EUlru7H8HuDjiG5GFptYpUM_7D87ZkQfZogHncxZsTAeHxj74V-WGUO7DsSenUd51QrzZ6QOHBzZo-KFzSXWJYnRR1kRFNzXSAxJ4z1FzbMRyq0dArQnzZGFhwJazys/s1600/Violin+player.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="500" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmaBak8EUlru7H8HuDjiG5GFptYpUM_7D87ZkQfZogHncxZsTAeHxj74V-WGUO7DsSenUd51QrzZ6QOHBzZo-KFzSXWJYnRR1kRFNzXSAxJ4z1FzbMRyq0dArQnzZGFhwJazys/s320/Violin+player.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">June
28, 2020</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">John
3:1-20</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Trinity
Baptist Church</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Newton, NC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is a famous pair of truisms in the proclamation of the gospel in this morning’s
reading from John 3. The first is the truism that we must be born again. The
second is the truism that God so loved the world that God sent God’s Son, not
to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him. Those are
truisms in the proclamation of the gospel. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Truisms
are common statements that are widely held to be obviously true and universally
applicable. But truisms tend over time to become a mile wide and an inch deep in
our understanding of them because truisms tend to be understood in isolation
from each other and in isolation from the contexts of their origin and of their
application. When someone states a truism, everyone nods in affirmation. Because,
well, it’s widely held, and it’s obviously true. Why would anyone even need to
think about it? This morning I want to us to think about these two truisms,
“You must be born again” and “God so loved the world” in relation to each
other, in relation to the context of their origin in John 3, and in relation to
our context in the application of them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the gospel of John, Jesus said, “You must be born again,” one time to one
person. In John 1, Jesus said to Andrew, “Come and see” (v 39). A few verses
later, Jesus said to Philip, “Follow me” (v 43). In chapter 5, Jesus said to a
lame man, “Take up your mat and walk” (v 8). In chapter 8, Jesus said to a
woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more” (v 11). In chapter 9, Jesus said
to a man who had been blind from birth, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam” (v
7). In the gospel of John, the different paths by which different people come
to faith and to following and to forgiveness and to healing are as varied as
the persons themselves and their circumstances in life. As John’s gospel
recounts Jesus’ ministry, Jesus reaches out to touch precisely the place in
each person’s heart and soul and mind that needs healing, forgiving, changing. And
in John 3, Jesus evidently knows it is not enough to say to the one named
Nicodemus, “Come and see” or “Follow me” or “Get up and walk” or “Go and sin no
more” or “Go and wash.” No. To this one Jesus says, “You must be born again.” “Man,
you gotta start all over.” From scratch. From the get-go. Return to Start,
Square One. Why did Jesus say that to Nicodemus and no one else? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Look
at what Nicodemus says to Jesus at the beginning of their conversation in John
3:2: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” Did you
hear that? Who knows? “We know.” Who is this “We”? Does Nicodemus “have a
rabbit in his pocket,” as they asked where I grew up when someone said “we” in
place of I? Are there others with him in the room? John 3 doesn’t say that Nicodemus
came to see Jesus alone, but it also doesn’t say that anyone else came with
him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
Nicodemus is introduced in verse 1, he is identified as “Pharisee.” So,
according to John’s gospel, Nicodemus was a member of the first-century Jewish
denomination of the Pharisees, a Jewish group distinct from the Sadducees and
Zealots and Essenes and Samaritans, as Baptists and Methodists and Lutherans
and Presbyterians and Episcopalians and Catholics are distinct denominations
among modern Christians. Nicodemus is then also identified as a “leader of the
Jews.” In John’s gospel, the expression, “the Jews,” οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι in Greek, is
used as a technical term for Jewish religious and political authorities regardless
of their denomination. So in addition to being a Pharisee, Nicodemus was a
member of the religious and political power structure in first-century in
Jerusalem and Judea. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
when Nicodemus says, “We,” to Jesus, that “we” represents the religious and
political powers that be in Jerusalem and Judea. And Jesus responds to that
“We” with a “Ya’ll”: “You” in the plural in Greek. “Youse guys” in Scotland and
Yorkshire and South Philadelphia. “You-uns” in western Pennsylvania and
Appalachia. “Youse guys, You-uns, Ya’ll must be born all over again.” That “We”
from Nicodemus and that “Ya’ll” from Jesus mark the opening salvo in a gospel-long
conflict between Jesus and the religious and political authorities who are
represented by Nicodemus. In other words, in the context of the origin of the
truism “You must be born again,” Jesus did not say it to unrighteous, unruly,
unreligious people the way it is commonly applied in preaching and teaching in
our time. The people whom Jesus said “must be born again” were self-righteous,
rules-based, religious and political authorities who despised, condemned and
excluded all but their own kind. To those people, Jesus said, “Ya’ll are so
messed up in your thinking that you gotta go back to the beginning and start
all over.” So, where, exactly, is Start? Where is the Beginning for someone
whose thinking about righteousness and rules and religious and political power
is so messed up that they need to go back to the beginning to start all over? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s
where “God so loved the world” comes in. The beginning to which self-righteous,
rules-based, religiously and politically exclusive people must go back is the
divine motivation expressed in John 3:16: “God so loved the world.” “God so loved”
the fallen, sin-filled, screwed-up world that God sent the Son, “not to condemn
the world,” v 17 says, but that the world might be saved. Love was God’s
motivation, according to John 3:16. And as God was motivated, so must we all be
motivated. If the reconciling love of God does not motivate our attitudes and
our actions at home and at work and at school and in our neighborhood and
community and state and country and world, if the reconciling love of God does
not motivate every mission and ministry of Trinity Baptist Church, then Jesus
is saying to us, “Ya’ll must be born again.” We’ve gotta go back to the
beginning and start all over. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s
what the Pharisee named Paul understood that the Pharisee named Nicodemus
didn’t get, at least not yet, in John 3: “In Christ,” Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians 5:19, “God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” God
did not entrust the church with a message of God’s condemnation of the world but
a message of God’s reconciliation of the world. The sole motivation of the
church in the world is the reconciling love of God for the world revealed in
Jesus Christ the Son. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Have
you looked at the Beliefs of Trinity Baptist Church lately? They are published
on the website. The first of the six stated Beliefs of this congregation is “To
practice being the love of God to all people within and without its
fellowship.” There it is: This is a John 3:16 congregation—Being the love of
God to all people within and without its fellowship because that’s how God so
loved the world. No self-righteous, rules-based, religious and political
power-mongering here or anywhere else Trinity folks go, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
before you breathe a sigh of relief that I just let you off the hook collectively
and individually, our “Beliefs” are not always reflected in our attitudes and
our behavior. Malcolm Gladwell’s 2005 bestseller <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking</i> provides example
after example of the power of our unconscious mind, our snap judgments, our
“thin-slice cognition,” as it is called. “We have our conscious attitudes,”
Gladwell wrote. “This is what we choose to believe. These are our stated
values, which we use to direct our behavior deliberately.” But there is another
level of attitude and the decision-making that follows. It is our unconscious
attitudes by which we make decisions and act on them before any deliberation about
how those unconscious attitudes relate to our stated values, the things we
choose to believe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Let
me give you just one example from <i>Blink</i>. More than 30 years ago now, major symphony
orchestras began to change the way they managed auditions. You might think that
the professional musicians who served as the committee of judges in the
auditions for positions in top-flight orchestras would be clear-eared and
clear-minded and rigorously analytical enough to rate the performers based
solely the musical talent they demonstrated in the audition. But listen to what
happened when the rules for the auditions were changed. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Musicians
were identified not by name but by number. Screens were erected between the
committee and the auditioner, and if the person auditioning cleared his or her
throat or made any kind of identifiable sound – if they were wearing heels, for
example, and stepped on a part of the floor that wasn’t carpeted – they were
ushered out and given a new number. And as these new rules were put in place
around the country, an extraordinary thing happened: orchestras began to hire
women. In the past thirty years, since screens became commonplace, the number
of women in the top US orchestras has increased fivefold. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blink</i>, p. 250) </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
the most clear-eyed, clear-minded, most rigorously analytical of us bring
subconscious assumptions to our decision making, subconscious assumptions that
sometimes contradict our conscious attitudes, our stated values, what we have
chosen to believe. Blink contains a host of other examples from neuroscience,
psychology, personal relationships, education, business, the military, law
enforcement, race relations, ethnicity. Gladwell peels away the veneer of our
explanations and or rationalizations for our attitudes and our behaviors to
show how often our minds were made up before we even consciously considered the
decision or the person or the thing in front of us in the light of our stated
values, what we have chosen to believe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our
unconscious mind is extremely perceptive, and our snap-judgments are very often
better than decisions we wrangle over endlessly in the paralysis of
over-analysis. But here’s the thing: When we find ourselves thin-slicing, snap-judging
people who are not like us socially, politically, economically, racially,
ethnically, religiously despising, condemning, and excluding them, then we have
become the ones whom Jesus called Ya’ll, Youse Guys, You-Uns: We have become
Nicodemus and the Pharisees and the religious and political authorities in Jerusalem
and Judea in John 3. And we must be born again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
doesn’t matter if the people whom we are thin-slicing are on the right or on
the left or caught in the middle. We have become Nicodemus, and we must be born
again. It doesn’t matter if the people whom we are thinslicing are of African
or Asian or European or Indigenous or Middle Eastern or Latinx extraction. We
have become Nicodemus, and we must be born again. It doesn’t matter if the people
whom we are thinslicing are demonstrating for #BlackLivesMatter or <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>#ReopenNorthCarolina. We have become
Nicodemus, and we must be born again. It doesn’t matter if the people whom we
are thinslicing are unruly or rules-based, unrighteous or self-righteous, religiously
and politically inclusive or exclusive. We have become Nicodemus, and we must
be born again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
we find ourselves thin-slicing, snap-judging people who are not like us, despising,
condemning, or excluding them, we must go all the way back to the beginning to the
divine motivation expressed in John 3:16 that “God so loved the world.” “God so
loved” the fallen, sin-filled, screwed-up world that God sent the Son, “not to condemn
the world,” John 3:17 says, but that the world might be saved through him.” “In
Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2
Corinthians 5:19). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
message of reconciliation: God so loved the world that we “practice being the
love of God to all people within and without [this] fellowship.” Be that
person. Be that church. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.06px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Copyrighted © 2020 by
Jeffrey S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">jeff@jeffreysrogers.org</a></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.06px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">.</span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-84346050791267937452020-06-23T18:06:00.000-04:002020-06-23T18:06:14.397-04:00I Can't Breathe
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1RZrYVsJ9unyi1rhPB8UoYXYmvieYOVc5jSATDEJHFtRnGPcADxUMHjOm3fBUAhL4HIrOZ3swdOcbDBXFtDB1BL61x1_Jw_IHOQMipJ7X_a8SySpiO3tfuMZwLgDCpa8hyphenhyphen1L/s1600/I_Can%2527t_Breathe_%252849974945906%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1RZrYVsJ9unyi1rhPB8UoYXYmvieYOVc5jSATDEJHFtRnGPcADxUMHjOm3fBUAhL4HIrOZ3swdOcbDBXFtDB1BL61x1_Jw_IHOQMipJ7X_a8SySpiO3tfuMZwLgDCpa8hyphenhyphen1L/s640/I_Can%2527t_Breathe_%252849974945906%2529.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: normal; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Photo by<span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span data-v-106f2c17="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: normal; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;">Taymaz Valley from Ottawa, Canada</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: normal; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;">, </span></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: normal; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">licensed under
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May 31, 2020 (Pentecost Sunday) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amos
5:18-24; Matthew 25:31-46 </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trinity Baptist Church, Newton, NC </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It
is the rarest of weeks in which I alter my plan for the sermon after the order
of worship has been printed. But it happened this week. It started Friday
night. Actually, it was very early Saturday morning. I woke up about 3 a.m.,
lying on my stomach. I’m not a stomach-sleeper, so I was surprised to find
myself in that position. It felt uncomfortable at first, and then it got worse.
The horrible video from Minneapolis that I had seen far too many times during
the week began to play in my head. I put my hands behind my back and pressed
them together at the wrists. I imagined what it would feel like to be in that
position, not in my bed but on asphalt with two men kneeling on my torso and a
third with his knee pressing down on my neck. I remembered what was like years
ago when I had pneumonia and every breath was a struggle. I imagined that sense
of panic coming over me all over again. I imagined myself saying, “I can’t
breathe.” And I wondered if among my last words, I would call out for my mother
as George Floyd did in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But
unlike George Floyd, I was able to roll over in my bed and keep breathing. And
as I did, I reflected on the fact that what happened to Mr. Floyd would not
have happened to me. If I were suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, I
would not end up dead, because the four officers involved in Mr. Floyd’s death
would have treated a short, old, white-collar, white male quite differently
than they treated Mr. Floyd. And therein lies the problem. And that’s why I
felt compelled, even though I didn’t want to, I assure you, to set aside the
sermon I had prepared to preach for the sermon I can’t not preach as a servant
of the Word and a witness to our Lord Jesus Christ. So here is the Word, as
this servant and witness sees it and hears it the Sunday after Memorial Day in
Minneapolis. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In
a tumultuous time in the eighth century BCE in the northern kingdom of Israel, the
prophet Amos proclaimed in Bethel that even though God’s people were doing all
the right religious things—they were giving their tithes and offerings, they
were keeping the Sabbath and singing the songs and praying the prayers and
giving thanks to the Lord and celebrating the festivals—like Pentecost, that I
had prepared to celebrate in this morning’s sermon—even though the people of God
were doing all the right religious things, Amos announced God’s judgment on
God’s own people because while they went about their business of doing all the
right religious things, the head of the poor in the land was being trampled
into the dust of the earth, and the afflicted were being pushed out of the way,
says Amos 1:7. The poor were being oppressed, and the needy were being crushed,
says Amos 4:1. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">mos’s
proclamation in that time and place puts us all on notice in our time and place
that no matter how high our standards are for faithfulness and devotion and
righteousness in the things of God, if our standards are not equally as high
for faithfulness and devotion and righteousness toward our neighbor, especially
our afflicted neighbor, that double standard will be the death of us. Right worship
without right treatment of all persons under God and under the law is useless
in God’s sight. In fact, it’s worse than useless: it’s detestable in God’s
sight. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Listen
to how Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase makes Amos 5:18-24 clear in our time and
place.</span></span><br />
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and
conventions. I want nothing to do with your religious projects, your
pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your
public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy
ego-music. When was the last time you sang to <i>me?</i> Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want
fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s <i>all</i> I want. </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It
is as though in the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25, people said, “When
did we see you and we weren’t just?” “When did we see you, and we weren’t fair?”
“When did we see you, and we treated you with a double standard?” And the king
in the parable would reply, “Any time it happened to one of the least of these it
happened to me.” On Memorial Day in Minneapolis, it happened to George Floyd. And
when it happened to George Floyd, it happened to Jesus Christ. And when it
happened to George Floyd, it happened to us all. It happened to me, and it
happened to you. We have sown the wind of double standards, and we are now
reaping the whirlwind. And all the right religious behavior in the world will
not save us until we make justice and fairness and faithfulness and devotion and
righteousness toward our neighbor of every of every race and every station as
high a priority in every aspect of our daily lives, our neighborhood, our
community, our county, our state, our nation, and our world as our faithfulness
and devotion and righteousness toward God. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let
me suggest two places to start. First, every one of us should call on our Senators
and Representatives in Washington to revitalize and reinvigorate the oversight
and accountability of local law enforcement agencies that was established by
Congress in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. That act
gives the federal Department of Justice the authority and the responsibility to
investigate, negotiate, and resolve systemic “patterns and practices” of abuse in
policing. There is nothing partisan about that Act, and there is nothing partisan
in calling for the Department of Justice to do what the legislative branch of
our federal government has charged it to do under the law. Republican and
Democratic administrations alike have seen to it that the Department of Justice
carried out its role of oversight and accountability for just, fair, and
equitable treatment of all persons under the law and under law enforcement. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
problem in Minneapolis on Memorial Day is not just “bad apples” on a police
force who pinned an unarmed, handcuffed man down on the asphalt until he died. The
problem is that people in Minneapolis, as in some other cities and towns around
the country, have been crying out for years for relief from double standards in
enforcement; and in the video of George Floyd’s death, we all saw an extreme
example of what some people in and around Minneapolis, among other places, have
been seeing and experiencing for years. We can effect change in Washington and
in Minneapolis alike, and one change we can effect is the revitalization and
reinvigoration of the oversight and accountability that Congress mandated in
1994 and every administration for nearly a quarter century made a cornerstone
of the work of the Department of Justice in local communities. That’s the first
place to start. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here’s
the second place to start. Four summers ago, in the aftermath of two police
shootings of African American men in one week, one of them outside
Minneapolis-St. Paul, by the way, a peaceful march in Dallas, TX, turned suddenly
lethal with what amounted to the premeditated assassination of five law
enforcement officers. Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent
Thompson, and Patrick Zanmarripa were killed while carrying out their sworn
duty to serve and protect. On Friday morning of that week, Natashah Howell, a
young African-American woman went to a convenience store in Andover, MA, to
pick up a few things; and here’s what happened, as she describe it in a
Facebook post. </span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As
I walked through the door, I noticed that there were two white police officers
(one about my age, the other several years older) talking to the clerk (an
older white women) behind the counter about the shootings that have gone on in
the past few days. They all looked at me and fell silent. I went about my
business to get what I was looking for, as I turned back up the aisle to go
pay, the oldest officer was standing at the top of the aisle watching me. As I
got closer he asked me, “How I was doing? I replied, “Okay, and you? He looked
at me with a strange look and asked me, “How are you really doing?” I looked at
him and said “I’m tired!” His reply was, “me too.” Then he said, “I guess it’s
not easy being either one of us right now is it.” I said, “No, it’s not.” Then
he hugged me and I cried. I had never seen that man before in my life. I have
no idea why he was moved to talk to me. What I do know is that he and I shared
a moment this morning, that was absolutely beautiful. No judgments, No
justifications, two people sharing a moment. </span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her
hashtag at the end of the post was #Foundamomentofclarity. Found a moment of
clarity. That moment of clarity, that moment of turning to each other instead
of on each other, of coming together instead of coming apart, is a model for
what must happen in this congregation, in this community, in this state and
region and nation and world. Every one of us must come to understand that when
it happens to George Floyd, it happens to every one of us—“I can’t breathe.” And
when it does, our faithfulness and devotion and righteousness in the things of
God are useless, detestable, even, in the eyes of God, as Amos said. What we do
or allow others to do to those persons whom we or they consider to be “the
least” among us, we do or allow others
to do to none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Every one of us must
come to understand that if we do nothing or say nothing, we are Derek Chauvin, with
our knee on the necks of other persons until they can’t breathe. There will be
no justice and there will be no peace because our knees are on their necks. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It
is time for a moment of clarity to remove the double standards in our lives and
in every walk of life. Hear the word of the Lord: “Do you know what I want? I
want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s
<i>all</i> I want.” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Start
with a non-partisan call to your Senator and your Representative. And start by turning
to someone instead of on them and coming together instead of coming apart. </span></span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">Copyrighted © 2020 by
Jeffrey S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at </span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">jeff@jeffreysrogers.org</a></span><span style="color: #333333;">.</span></span></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-39234304312008724612017-06-18T07:43:00.001-04:002017-06-18T07:48:08.692-04:00Clothe Yourselves with Love <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Colossians 3:14 </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Graham and Kasandra
Rogers </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">June 16, 2017 </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4061a8TbxOhphOtFh8S3oeonHS4GgXdrgOSHpCwGeoJX02tv7OErmv2RCisyHx2LMkIsptLD1SkruXLG2itk5o8JOuCy5zHJqEdZ5qeNQvr4d_rvLwVhgIYFsH5LKOSetG2b/s1600/Graham+and+Kasandra+Wedding+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4061a8TbxOhphOtFh8S3oeonHS4GgXdrgOSHpCwGeoJX02tv7OErmv2RCisyHx2LMkIsptLD1SkruXLG2itk5o8JOuCy5zHJqEdZ5qeNQvr4d_rvLwVhgIYFsH5LKOSetG2b/s320/Graham+and+Kasandra+Wedding+01.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Graham, your mother,
and Kasandra, your soon-to-be mother-in-law would be quick to tell you that I have
no business standing up in front of a group of people to talk about marriage. So
because she is here, I’m not going to do that. Instead I’m going to talk about clothing
yourselves with love, as Colossians 3:14 puts it. Three points. You asked for a
sermon, so there are three points. Grounded in God. Expressed in Action. Woven
into Your Lives. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">First, Grounded in
God. The first principle of the Gospel is found in John 3:16: “God so loved the
world that God gave the Son so that whoever believes in him may not perish but
have eternal life.” God so loved the world because "God is love," says 1 John 4. God
is so love, according to Romans 5, that “God demonstrates God’s love for us in
that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Clothing ourselves in
love is what we do when we are Grounded in God who gives, who is, and who
demonstrates love not only to those who are lovable but also to those whom others
consider to be unlovable. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Love Expressed in
Action is not about worthiness or feelings or words. Love Expressed in Action
is about behavior. So clothe yourselves every day with giving, being,
demonstrating love for each other and for others because that’s how God gives,
is, and demonstrates love. Grounded in God. Expressed in Action. And Woven into
Your Lives. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Kasandra, you will
remember, I’m sure, that when you were 10 years old, a stray puppy showed up at
your house and didn’t leave. For several days, your parents waited for it to
disappear as suddenly as it had shown up while they tried to decide whether to
take it to the pound or try to find a home for it. You finally confronted your
mother about what they were going to do about the dog. You told her that you
had been praying to God for a dog, and now this one had shown up at your house,
and that you thought you should keep it. Your mom had too big a heart to try to
tell you that God doesn’t answer prayers with half-starved, flee-bitten strays. And so you kept her; and you named her Lucky because, as you said, “She was
Lucky to find us, and we were Lucky to find her.” Best.Dog.Ever. And now you
have done it again. This guy comes from a long line of flee-bitten strays, and there
are multiple witnesses to that fact in this room. Grounded in God, Expressed in
Action, and Woven into Your Life is giving, being, and demonstrating love even to
those whom others might consider strays, unworthy, defective. That’s clothing
yourself in love, and both of you are lucky to have found each other as an
answer to prayer. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Graham, at about the
same age, you were reading the Harry Potter books; and one day you and I were
debating who was the most powerful wizard of all. You were championing the old
headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, and I was arguing for young Harry. I
asked you a question that I thought would seal my argument: “Why do you think
that Voldemort was not powerful enough to kill Harry when he tried?” You were
quiet for a moment, and I thought I had you. And then you said, “I think Harry’s
mother loved him so much and Harry loved her so much that their love was stronger
than Voldemort’s power.” Grounded in God, Expressed in Action, and Woven into
Your Life is giving, being, and demonstrating love that is stronger than any
power, that overcomes any assault, that triumphs even over death. That’s
clothing yourself with love, and that’s the love that you and Kasandra share
with each other. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As a sign and symbol
of the love that is Woven into Your Lives, I invite you to share now in the
bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper that is a witness to the love that God
gives, is, and demonstrates in Jesus Christ, and in which we clothe ourselves
every day. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Post-communion
prayer:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Grant, O God, that
nourished by the Bread of Life and sustained by the Cup of New Life Graham and
Kasandra may so clothe themselves with love that they may live with you and
with each other in Christ Jesus now and forever. Amen. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Copyrighted
© 2017 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="mailto:jrogers2@gardner-webb.edu"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">jrogers3@gardner-webb.edu</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-78482814012606783962016-07-30T20:05:00.000-04:002016-07-30T20:10:16.649-04:00Summer 2016 Commencment Message <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="irc_mi iPpai8H4w218-pQOPx8XEepE" height="265" src="https://www.youniversitytv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Gardner-Webb.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 5px;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dover Chapel, Gardner-Webb University, Boiling Springs, NC</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Gardner-Webb University <span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">July 30, 2016 </span>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Psalm 139:1-10; Luke
9:57-62 </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One afternoon in the
spring of 2001, as I was preparing to leave Furman University to accept a call
to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Greenville, South Carolina, I ran
into Dr. Bill Brantley, a physics professor and friend, who engaged me in a
conversation about the university and the church, the virtues and flaws of
each, about what a calling is, and about why anyone in his or her right mind would
leave the security and comfort of a tenured faculty position for the insecurities
and inescapable expectations of pastoring a tall-steeple church. As our
conversation ended, Bill pointed a finger at me and landed a parting shot before
he turned to walk away: “Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back,” he said.
His paraphrase of the words of Jesus in Luke 9:62 took me by surprise and made
my impending departure from the college campus that had been my home away from
home for thirteen years suddenly more real than anything else yet had. “Put
your hand to the plow and don’t look back.” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, before I go any
farther, let make it very clear that the Office of Alumni Relations wants you
to look back and come back. And the Office of University Advancement wants you
to look back and give back. And so do I. But Jesus’ words in Luke 9:62 are a
first-century equivalent of the latter-century admonition to every student in
Driver’s Education: “Keep your eyes on the road.” And this morning, those words
serve as a reminder to the graduates and to us all that we are doomed to crash if
we insist on driving by our rearview mirror. So on this occasion of
Commencement, beginning, outset and setting out, I want to offer you a word of
orientation and a word of encouragement. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">First, the word of
orientation. Jesus addressed the words, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and
looks back is fit for the kingdom of God,” to someone who expressed a simple desire
to say good-bye to family and friends. If it weren’t Jesus who said it, most of
us would consider this remonstrance to be inconsiderate, insensitive, even. If
you think about the family and social dynamics at play in the famous sequence
of sayings of Jesus in Luke 9—“the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”; “let
the dead bury the dead”; and put your hand to the plow and don’t look back, as
Bill Brantley paraphrased it—you will understand why many Jews and Greeks and
Romans alike were offended by the teachings of Jesus and by the earliest
Christian communities because they understood them to be contrary to family
values and destructive to the fabric of ordered society. Sara Evans sang it in a
country song titled “Suds in the Bucket”: “How can eighteen years just up and
walk away . . . gone in the blink of an eye?” That’s exactly what Jesus said to
do in Luke 9:62. That sudden departure without so much as a good-bye violates
our family values and our assumptions about the nature of ordered society. Some
of us know that violated feeling at home or work or church: We have experienced
a departure that left us with a hole in our heart, unanswered questions in our
mind, and an empty cavern in our soul. So here’s a word of orientation to those
of us who are leaving and to those who are being left: Face Forward. “Put your
hand to the plow and don’t look back.” The essence of a biblically grounded
faith is not in how tenaciously we cling to the things of the past but in how
expectantly we embrace God’s future for us and for the world: Facing forward, eyes
on the road ahead, not longing for the sights and sounds of the past but
embracing vistas of a future yet to unfold. Face forward. That’s the word of
orientation. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now for the word of
encouragement. The underlying testimony of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation
and the explicit witness of Psalm 139 is that there is no time or place, no
circumstance or situation, outside the reach or beyond the real and effective
presence of God. According to Psalm 139, no matter where you go or when you go
there, you cannot escape the presence of God. You cannot run fast enough or far
enough to arrive a place that God cannot reach you, a place where the effective
presence of God does not surround you and hold you fast, even when you are not
aware of it or even when you actively assert God’s absence. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Six years ago now, John
M. Buchanan, who was then the Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and
the editor and publisher of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Christian
Century</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>recounted this
remarkable description of the reach of the real and effective presence of God: “a
minister I know had to lead her suburban Chicago congregation through an
unspeakable tragedy: a member of the congregation shot and killed his wife and
her son and then killed himself. The minister had to comfort her congregation and
hold it together. She spoke at a memorial service for the mother and son. What
is there to say in that situation? She told the congregation crowded into the
sanctuary that there was a phrase in the Apostles’ Creed that had always
bothered her: the phrase stating that Jesus ‘descended into hell.’ She told how
the pastor of the church in which she grew up so disliked that line he went
through the hymnals with a large black Magic Marker and crossed it out. ‘I grew
up saying the creed without that line,’ the minister said. ‘Now, this week,’
she said, ‘I understand it. We have descended into hell together and Christ has
gone before us, into every corner of it. The good news is that when life takes
us there, when we have to go there, [Christ] goes with us,’” she said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<i>The Christian Century</i>, March 23, 2010,
p. 3).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The testimony of Scripture and the witness
of the most ancient confessions of the Christian faith agree that there is no
time or place, no circumstance or situation, outside the reach or beyond the
real and effective presence of God. Songwriters Sam Tate, Annie Tate, and Dave
Berg combined a quote from Winston Churchill—“If you’re going through Hell,”
Churchill said, “keep going”—and an Irish toast—“May you be in Heaven five
minutes before the devil knows you’re dead”—to come up with an infectiously
singable chorus that Rodney Atkins took to the top of the country music charts:
“If you’re goin’ through hell, keep on going. Don’t slow down. If you’re
scared, don’t show it. You might get out before the devil even knows you’re
there.” You might. Or you might not. But the Ultimate difference maker is not chance
or the ignorance of the devil. The Ultimate difference maker is that when life
takes us into hell, Christ has already gone before us into every corner of it; and
when we have to go there, Christ goes with us. The essence of facing forward is
not hoping that we will avoid or escape failure or fear, pain or suffering, grief
or death or even hell for that matter. The essence of facing forward is the
full confidence and trust that come whatever may, there is no time or place, no
circumstance or situation, outside the reach or beyond the real and effective presence
of God. That’s the word of encouragement. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
So with Alumni Relations, I say, “Come
back . . . any time.” And with University Advancement, I say, “Give back . . . all
the time.” And with Jesus I say, face forward: Put your hand to the plow and
don’t look back. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Copyrighted © 2016 by Jeffrey
S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use,
provided this notice is included.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> The author can be contacted at </span><a href="mailto:jrogers2@gardner-webb.edu"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">jrogers3@gardner-webb.edu</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-77401108777586890272016-07-11T12:57:00.000-04:002016-07-11T13:06:39.997-04:00A Moment of Clarity<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Facing Forward: Bearing
Fruit </span></div>
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<span class="citation"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Colossians
1:1-14; Luke 13: 6-9 </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">First Baptist Church, Asheville, NC</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">July 10, 2016 </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Note: There are many things that must change
on many levels: operational, legislative, executive, judicial, and electoral. This
sermon focuses on the one level that each person can and must change: the
relational. </span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One afternoon some years ago, while a pastoral staff was
gathering for its weekly meeting, one staff members finished a phone
conversation with her husband with a cheery, “I love you too, sweetie. Bye bye!”
whereupon several of her colleagues responded with a spontaneous and unison, “Aaw!”
The young minister looked momentarily taken aback; and then she looked around
and said quietly, “Well, in his line of work, you never know when a good-bye might
be the last one.” Her husband, you see, was a city policeman, and now it was her
colleagues’ turn to be taken aback. I thought of that exchange on Friday
morning when like many of you, I awoke to learn that five law enforcement officers
in Dallas, TX—Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson, Patrick
Zamarripa—had said their last goodbyes without having known it. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s not the only flashback I’ve had this week. The
shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana on Tuesday and Philando Castile
in Minnesota on Wednesday took me back to another incident, one that didn’t
make the news. A college student out for the evening in a town like any other
town ended up beaten and incarcerated. When the investigation into the charges
against him was complete, it turned out that his only crime had been being black
at night in an encounter with the wrong officer of the law. No one involved
wanted the story told. The local law enforcement agency wanted it to go away, as
did the local Solicitor, as did the college where the young man was a student
and an athlete, as did his father who owns a business with sensitive law
enforcement connections. It didn’t end like the stories from Baton Rouge and
Falcon Heights this week, but it could have. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For my wife and me, it was a deeply disturbing reminder that
parenting a young black man in the United States is a very different experience
than parenting a young white man. What happened to him could very well have
happened to our son who was one of his best friends, a teammate, and a frequent
companion out on the town. Except that it would not have been likely to have
happened to our son because in spite of how much time he has spent over the
years with black teammates and roommates and coaches and friends, he can’t
commit the crime of being black at night in an encounter with the wrong officer
of the law. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But this week we may have arrived at a place we have never
been before. Van Jones, a political activist, commentator, and attorney, says
that police and African-Americans are now more alike than they realize. “I
think there may be only two groups in the US who actually can understand each
other. One: black young people. Two: the police. They literally are having and
describing the same experience.” They both say they feel vulnerable. Both say
they feel like it’s open season on them to be shot at and shot up. Jones says, “If
to both sides it seems that the world is misunderstanding them, it’s a good
time to say, ‘You know what? Let me open my heart up a little bit.’ And listen
to the pain of the law enforcement community, listen to their fear, listen to
their sense of being labeled and wronged and misunderstood. Or let me listen to
those African-American kids. . . . they . . . feel like they have a target on
their back because of their skin color. Maybe that’s a reason for them to
actually have some common ground. We can actually, rather than turning on each
other, turn to each other. Instead of coming apart, we can come together. Because
there’s now enough pain in both communities that we should be able to
understand each other.” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I want to suggest this morning that Van Jones has put his
finger on something that is bigger even than the horrific events of the past
week. “Let me open my heart up a little bit.” And listen to the vulnerability and
the pain and the fear and the sense of being labeled and wronged and misunderstood
and targeted. “Rather than turning on each other, turn to each other. Instead
of coming apart, we can come together.” Just maybe we can. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Listen to what happened in Andover, MA, on Friday morning. Natashah
Howell, a young African-American described a trip to a convenience store in a
Facebook post [reproduced here as it was written]. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I walked through the door,
I noticed that there were two white police officers (one about my age the other
several years older) talking to the clerk (an older white women) behind the
counter about the shootings that have gone on in the past few days. They all
looked at me and fell silent. I went about my business to get what I was looking
for, as I turned back up the aisle to go pay, the oldest officer was standing at
the top of the aisle watching me. As I got closer he asked me, “How I was
doing? I replied, “Okay, and you? He looked at me with a strange look and asked
me, “How are you really doing?” I looked at him and said “I’m tired!” His reply
was, “me too.” Then he said, “I guess it’s not easy being either one of us
right now is it.” I said, “No, it’s not.” Then he hugged me and I cried. I had
never seen that man before in my life. I have no idea why he was moved to talk
to me. What I do know is that he and I shared a moment this morning, that was
absolutely beautiful. No judgments, No justifications, two people sharing a
moment.” </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Her hashtag at the end of the post was
#Foundamomentofclarity. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That moment of clarity, that moment of turning to each other
instead of on each other, of coming together instead of coming apart, is a
model for what must happen in this congregation, in this community, in this
state and region and nation and world. I’d like to propose it as a new liturgical
moment. I propose that “It’s not easy being either one of us right now is it” .
. . <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No, it’s not” . . . be adopted as a
21st-century variation on “The peace of Christ be with you” . . . “And also
with you.” “I guess it’s not easy being either one of us right now” . . . “No,
it’s not” . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would pretty much take
in all of us in this room in one relationship or another in church, in school, at
work, at home, in the community. That moment of clarity models the way forward for
us all on Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, on Muslim-Christian
relations, on immigration, on sexual orientation and identity, on same sex
marriage, and on which bathroom which law requires me to use when I’m in the
state of North Carolina. You name it, it’s not easy being any of us right now; and
therein is common ground we must cultivate and plant and water and feed and week
and harvest. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Luke 13, Jesus told a parable in which a man with a fig
tree in his vineyard came looking for fruit on it but found none. So he said to
the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this
fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the
soil?” The gardener replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig
around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but
if not, you can cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9). The parable that Jesus tells puts
us all on notice that what we are most looking for and what we most need right
now takes years of cultivation and care to come to fruition. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning’s epistle lesson from Colossians 1 says in
verse 6 that the gospel has been “bearing fruit and growing in the whole world”
and bearing fruit in the congregation at Colossae. Verse 10 goes on to
characterize leading “lives worthy of the Lord” as bearing fruit in every good
work. And bearing fruit is a long, slow process that requires constant
cultivation and care. The exchange in the convenience store between Nastasha
Howell and the police officer was spontaneous on the face of it, but I assure you
that there is a long backstory that brought these two unlikely strangers to a
hug at a time when racial tensions in our country are running the highest they
have since the 1960s. That hug didn’t just happen: It was years in the making,
just like the figs on the tree in the parable in Luke 13. One of my grandfathers
grew up working for a farmer who had a peach orchard on his farm, and my
grandfather liked to say that the best way to tell that a peach is ripe is when
it drops off the tree. The peaches are dropping off the trees right now. The
trees are heavy with fruit, and the fruit stands are full. But a peach tree
must be cared for and cultivated for three years—and in some climates for four
years—before it is ready to bear fruit. “Bearing fruit and growing,” living
lives that are worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work, requires a
long-term commitment of time and energy and will and resources. And whatever
else it takes, it requires opening up one’s heart to share in the vulnerability
and the fear, to listen to the sense of being labeled and wronged and
misunderstood and targeted. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Galatians 5:22-23, the apostle Paul offers us an
inventory of what he calls the “fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That’s
the fruit we are called to bear in living lives worthy of the Lord. It takes
years of cultivation and care for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control to bud and bloom and set and grow
and ripen and then to go to seed so that the gospel will bear fruit and grow in
the whole world and in a congregation and in a community and a state and a
nation. It takes years, sure, but you can break those years of cultivation and
care down into moments of clarity in which you open your heart to simply ask someone
how they are really doing, and in the common ground of your mutual
vulnerability and fear, turn to each other instead of on each other, come
together instead of coming apart, and in so doing model living lives worthy of
the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work. #Foundamomentofclarity. May it be
so for you. Make it be so for you. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Copyrighted © 2016 by Jeffrey
S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use,
provided this notice is included.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> The author can be contacted at </span><a href="mailto:jrogers2@gardner-webb.edu"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">jrogers3@gardner-webb.edu</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>
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Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-60328344395351739522016-01-23T20:33:00.004-05:002016-01-23T20:33:46.736-05:00Roll Up Your Sleeves and Grab a Bucket<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS77-0L1-H35aZAFioZBaSlFDTNnrQAt9BAyHGFP8_QChOZBWl3NX29DfBgYG_XtJ_SuOJROTEJoGwxzWai7ILPFcaVXQNOt7u5D9KJ_bwXm4L_XXZHU9wHQW7nzKaLBMN_ccF/s1600/bucket.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS77-0L1-H35aZAFioZBaSlFDTNnrQAt9BAyHGFP8_QChOZBWl3NX29DfBgYG_XtJ_SuOJROTEJoGwxzWai7ILPFcaVXQNOt7u5D9KJ_bwXm4L_XXZHU9wHQW7nzKaLBMN_ccF/s320/bucket.png" width="260" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Psalm 51:1-17; Luke
4:14-21</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Myers Park Baptist Church </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Charlotte, NC </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">January 24, 2016 </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was an annual
ritual when I was growing up. It was practiced religiously and without fail. On
the first opportune day, spring cleaning began. There was no nook or cranny in
the house that was not dusted, vacuumed, swept, or otherwise harassed. Drapes
and curtains were taken down, rugs were taken up, and nothing—not furniture or
major appliances—went unmoved. Floors were scrubbed—not mopped, mind you; they
were routinely mopped. In spring cleaning floors were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">scrubbed</i>, walls were washed, and the windows inside and out squealed
for mercy. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I always wondered
why my mother did it. I always wondered why she worked so hard at spring
cleaning. It’s not like the house <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stayed </i>clean.
What I’ve come to understand these many years later that I didn’t understand
then is that the annual ritual of spring cleaning had less to do</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> with the condition of
the house than it had to do with the condition of my mother’s heart and soul. What
I couldn’t hear when I was younger was that in and around all the orders to
move this, move that, “stay off that floor” (and always and still my favorite: “Don’t
use that bathroom; I just cleaned in there”), there were other sounds—the
sounds of my mother’s heart and soul being refreshed, renewed, revived. </span>
</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It turns out that
our care for our living space can be a window on our care for our souls. Most
of the time, most of us get along pretty well, given how busy we are. We manage
to keep things mostly in order and more or less clean. One day years ago, when
there was more than the usual cleaning going on, our five-year-old announced that
he was wise to it all. He said, “I know why you’re doing all this cleaning.” “You
do?” I said. “Yes,” he answered. “Grandma’s coming, isn’t she?” And he was
right. While it is sometimes true that children have no clue what is going on
their parents’ lives, it also true that they see right through us far more
often than we realize. And it’s just as true that most of us don’t get around
to the spring cleaning of our hearts and minds and souls these days any more
than we get around to the spring cleaning of our living space. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And of our congregation.
Some years back, the congregation I was serving hired a consultant to visit
Sunday School and worship as a “secret shopper,” as it is known in the retail
industry. We asked him to provide us with the perspective of a fresh set of
eyes on our grounds and our facilities and our worship and our congregational
interactions. What he saw and reported to us was “eye-opening.” He pointed out
things that we were so accustomed to that we couldn’t see them for what they
were. On February 1, a new set of eyes will arrive in this place. That set of
eyes is attached to a mind and a heart and a soul to whom you are entrusting the
proclamation of the gospel and the leadership of this congregation. As they did
in the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4, you will hand the Scriptures to a new
preacher; and like his predecessor in the Galilee, Ben Boswell will “bring good
news to the poor. . . . proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight
to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor.” And on the first opportune day, impelled by his vision of the gospel and
a fresh set of eyes in this place, he will call on you to begin spring cleaning:
to roll up your sleeves, grab a bucket, and to get to work. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You may think that it’s
too soon to start thinking about spring cleaning when we are surrounded by ice
and snow. But there is a considerable body of literature in the field of psychology
that lines out the stages of thinking that precede any significant new action,
whatever that action might be. The first stage is Precontemplation. Precontemplation
is the stage at which you have not yet acknowledged to yourself that you need
to make a change. Clueless, I call it. The second stage is Contemplation. Contemplation
is the stage at which you recognize that you need to do something, but you’re
not ready or even sure you want to do it. Clued In, I call it. The third stage
is Preparation or Determination. Preparation or Determination is the stage at
which you decide and get ready to do what you have recognized needs to be done.
Dialing In, I call it. The fourth stage is Action or Willpower. Action or
Willpower is the stage at which you finally do what you have recognized, determined,
and prepared to do in your life—or your congregation. All In, I call it. Precontemplation,
Contemplation, Preparation, Action. Clueless, Clued In, Dialed In, All In. It
takes a while to get there, so it’s not too early to start thinking about spring
cleaning in your life individually and together. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since the early
centuries of the Christian faith, Psalm 51 has served as a guide for what I’m calling
spring cleaning for the heart and soul and mind of individuals and congregations
alike. The first Action in spring cleaning is to open all the doors and
windows. Throw open the doors and windows of your life to God’s mercy. Psalm 51
begins this way: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according
to your abundant mercy” (v. 1). Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Message</i> starts this way: “Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge
in mercy—wipe out my bad record.” What Peterson’s paraphrase gets right is that
spring cleaning for the heart and soul and mind and church is a God-given
opportunity. If God is not “generous in love,” as Peterson paraphrases the
Hebrew word </span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE;">חֶסֶד</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>, and
if God is not “huge in mercy,” as he renders the Hebrew phrase </span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE;">כְּרֺב
רֶחֶם</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>, then every one of us and
all of us together are doomed to live our lives stuck in the mess we make of
them from time to time. But because God is “Generous in love” and “Huge in
mercy,” we have God-given opportunities to clean up our lives and our church and
to start all over again. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The second Action is
to take down all the drapes and curtains. Take down all the drapes and curtains
that cover and conceal your sin, your shortcomings, whatever is unsightly or
unseemly, inadequate or inappropriate in your life. The first two verses of Psalm
51 include a triple confession of sin: “my transgressions,” “my iniquity,” “my
sin.” Taking down the drapes and the curtains on our sin means acknowledging to
ourselves and to God that we have sinned. For some of us, that is the hardest
step of all. We live in an age of euphemisms, of evasive good-speak. We “fall
prey to indiscretion”; we “err in judgment”; we “get a little carried away”; we
“don’t know what came over us.” Some of us just can’t bring ourselves to call
our sin “sin.” Taking down the drapes and the curtains means confessing to God that
have missed the mark individually and congregationally in things we have done
and things we have left undone, in things we have said and in things we have
left unsaid, in things we have thought and in things we have failed to think. Taking
down the drapes and the curtains that are concealing our sin allows the purifying
and life-giving light of the presence of God to shine into the nooks and
crannies of our heart and soul and mind for the cleansing and healing that
comes only from God. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that’s the best
part of spring cleaning for the heart and soul and mind. The third Action is
this: God does the scrubbing. God does the scrubbing. Listen again to verses
1-2: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wipe away </i>my transgressions.” “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scrub away </i>my guilt.” “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cleanse me</i> from my sin.” Verse 7 says it
too: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be
whiter than snow.” Peterson renders the idea of verse 7 this way: “Soak me in
your laundry, and I’ll come out clean; scrub me, and I’ll have a snow-white
life.” We cannot cleanse ourselves from sin. There are no do-it-yourself
antidotes, no self-help remedies, for sin. Only God can do that kind of scrubbing.
According to 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, [God] who is faithful and
just will forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” “Generous in
love” and “huge in mercy,” God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves when
we turn our hearts over, broken and contrite to God, who wipes away our transgressions,
scrubs away our guilt, and cleanses us from our sin. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Peterson captures
life on the other side of spring cleaning in his paraphrase of verses 8-12: “Tune
me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. . . . give
me a clean bill of health. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God, make a
fresh start in me, . . . . breathe holiness in me. . . . put a fresh wind in my
sails.” Ever felt like you needed a fresh wind in your sails? That’s what spring
cleaning for your heart and soul and mind—and your congregation also—does for
you. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Along with a fresh
set of eyes, Ben Boswell will bring a fresh wind in your sails. I hope and pray
that you will make the most of the God-given opportunity that is just ahead of
you: Open the doors and windows, take down the drapes and curtains, roll up
your sleeves, and grab a bucket. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Copyrighted © 2016 by Jeffrey
S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use,
provided this notice is included.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> The author can be contacted at </span><a href="mailto:jrogers2@gardner-webb.edu"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">jrogers3@gardner-webb.edu</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>
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Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-84122757024739284452016-01-10T06:39:00.002-05:002016-01-10T08:06:13.044-05:00An Epiphany Vision: Local Food, Local Faith<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSNEY9lya1rF6Pe5Ghme29KSJ9P7rLVD_vl27PzHNcztw-xpA-ugGhW3oS4F26ZeDjKmBqU0cQszX3uu9Eg_Z_5cHGn739vOTilqpxj6xb7DYin6FUhy3y8XDyHBZjtDtUQYP/s1600/Farmer-Joe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSNEY9lya1rF6Pe5Ghme29KSJ9P7rLVD_vl27PzHNcztw-xpA-ugGhW3oS4F26ZeDjKmBqU0cQszX3uu9Eg_Z_5cHGn739vOTilqpxj6xb7DYin6FUhy3y8XDyHBZjtDtUQYP/s320/Farmer-Joe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">January 10, 1016</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Isaiah 60:1</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">; Matthew 2:1-12 </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Myers Park Baptist Church </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Charlotte, NC </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Christians are expected to be messengers of
change in bringing justice, peace, reconciliation and development. </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—Abune Paulos Gebre Yohannis</span></i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The local food movement, as it has been called, has become all the rage in
these parts, especially among affluent consumers. It’s a bit ironic, if you
think about it: In the two-thirds world, the only food that is available to the
overwhelming majority of people is local food. So local food is a surprising
new common denominator between Charlotte’s affluent urbanites and suburbanites
and impoverished villagers in India and Ecuador and Ethiopia, for example. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The dominant alternative to local food is mind-boggling in its scope.
Consider this: “In 1993, a Swedish researcher calculated that the ingredients of
a typical Swedish breakfast—apple, bread, butter, cheese, coffee, cream, orange
juice, sugar—traveled a distance equal to the circumference of the Earth before
reaching the Scandinavian table. In 2005, a researcher in Iowa found that the
milk, sugar, and strawberries that go into a carton of strawberry yogurt collectively
journeyed 2,211 miles (3,558 kilometers) just to get to the processing plant”<sub>(<a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6064">http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6064</a>)</sub>.
Global industrial agriculture moves tons of food across oceans and continents to
retail stores and restaurants the world over. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But here’s the thing: Before it became industrialized and globalized, agriculture
and the food it produced was a decidedly local phenomenon. And so was the
Christian faith. In the first century of the Christian faith, churches were
local congregations. There were no synods, presbyteries, conferences,
associations, conventions, or denominations. There were only local
congregations. But if you fast-forward to the twenty-first century, the
dominant model of the church in many peoples’ thinking is not the local congregation
but the multinational corporation. Multinational corporations pay constant
attention to global business metrics. For example, global same-store sales—that
would be baptisms and new members—and year-to-date global revenues compared to
the previous year—that would tithes and offerings—and the number of new offices
and retail outlets opened in the last year—that would be church planting and
new church starts. Baptisms and new members and tithes and offerings and church
planting and new church starts are all good things; I am a proponent of every
one of them. But it’s all too easy for global aspirations to seduce local
congregations into chasing the metrics and the branding and the marketing and
the organizational structure and the lust for competitive advantage that
characterize the multinational corporation. To which I would like to say this
morning, local food, local faith. Local food, local faith. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I am a recovering
globalist. “Hi! My name is Jeff, and I’m a globalist.” It’s early evening, and
I’m tired after a long and stressful day at work. It’s cold and windy. I left
home for the office in the dark this morning, and I’m getting home in the dark.
I hurry into the most convenient grocery store on my way to grab the last few
items Bev and I need to put supper together, and there they are. They stop me
in my tracks. Bright red, plump, and enticing, topped with delicate green
leaves: fresh strawberries in the dead of winter. A hint of May, a whiff of
spring. My resistance is down; I am weak; and I whisper to myself that
perennial lie: “Just this once,” I say. And just like that, I fall off the
local food wagon back into the addictive pleasures of global industrial agriculture.
</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m a recovering theological
globalist also. He wore a long, gilded robe. When he walked, he moved with a
slow, serene gait that made it look as though he was gliding. He was a
mysterious and exotic figure on an otherwise staid Presbyterian campus. When I
greeted him as we passed on the sidewalk or in the library, he didn’t ignore
me, exactly; but his response always gave me the impression that although the
two of us were fellow doctoral candidates, we were somehow far from equals. It
was only later that I learned how very true that was. He was born in 1935. He
entered a monastery in 1941. He was ordained as a priest in 1957. From 1967 to
1973, he engaged in theological studies in Princeton, NJ. In 1973, he was
called home to Ethiopia to become a Bishop. From 1976 to 1982, he was
imprisoned by the communist government in Addis Ababa. When our paths crossed
in the mid-80s, he was an Archbishop in exile. In 1992, he left Princeton to return
home again, this time as His Holiness, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church, an African communion that claims a lineage older than Rome, Canterbury,
and Geneva and celebrates its roots in the biblical account of the visit of the
Queen of Sheba to King Solomon in 1 Kings 10 and the Philip the evangelist’s encounter
with an Ethiopian “official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of
the Ethiopians” (Acts 8). We were fellow doctoral students, and we were far
from equals. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You might say that Abune
Paulos Gebre Yohannis sponsored my ongoing recovery from visions of pasteurization
and homogenization and commoditization and monopolization of the globalization
of the church. The church’s season of Epiphany is often used as a platform for
promoting a global vision of the church. But in the interest of the recovery of
us all, one day at a time, one grocery store visit at a time, one Sunday School
lesson at a time, one biblical text at a time, this morning I’m promoting local
food, local faith. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the gospel lesson
for Epiphany, Matthew 2:1-12, mysterious and exotic visitors arrive to offer
gifts to “a child who has been born King of the Jews. For we observed his star
at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” It is a fascinating little
study in the theological etiquette and biases of English-speaking translators
that Matthew 2:1 is the only verse in the Bible where the Greek word </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">μάγοι</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">μάγος</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
in the singular, is translated other than “magician” or “sorcerer,” a
practitioner of the occult. Long before the apostles and evangelists, long
before the bishops and priests and monks and ascetics, long before the framers
of orthodoxy in Rome and Canterbury and Geneva and Nashville, gifts were offered
to Jesus by the predecessors of Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts. Perhaps
we should sing, “We three wizards of Orient are.” They are mysterious, and they
are exotic, these visitors. They glide into Matthew’s gospel from parts
unknown, and they glide back out into the stuff of which legends are made. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the 300s, John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople—now
Istanbul, wrote that the magi came from Babylonia, Persia, and Yemen. An early
Armenian tradition said that one was from Persia; one was from India; and one was
from Arabia. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Local traditions
about these visitors and their origins and their gifts and their names and
their descendants grew up in Syria and Armenia and Persia and Ethiopia and
Afghanistan and Pakistan and India and China. The Epiphany story reminds us that
whenever we think about the church or pray about the church or preach about the
church, we must always remember the extraordinary and unsettling variety of origins
and gifts and names and customs of life and work and worship of those who in
diverse times and places and ways have responded to the Epiphany vision </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of a “light for
revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32), to the Epiphany call to “Arise, shine,
for your light has come” (Isaiah 60:1), and the Epiphany model of following the
star that leads to Christ. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Local
Food. Local Faith. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Because of where we
live, you and I sometimes make the mistake of thinking of variety in the church
as Baptist and Methodist and Presbyterian and Lutheran and Episcopalian and American
Methodist Episcopal and Roman Catholic and Pentecostal and non-denominational. We
are like kids in an ice-cream shop so struck by the colors and textures in
front of us that it never occurs to us to think that there is also trifle. And </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%A8me_br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e" title="Crème brûlée">crème brûlée</a>. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And cannoli. And baklava. And </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tavuk Göğsü. Tavuk Göğsü is a Turkish dessert that
became wildly popular in western Europe in the Middle Ages. It’s made from
minced chicken breasts, sweetened rice, milk, sugar, and flour and sprinkled
with cinnamon and almonds. As Polonius said in Shakespeare’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hamlet</i>, “There are more desserts in
Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Act
I.v.167-168). That’s not exactly what Polonius said, but it’s close. It’s one of
those paraphrases, you know, like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Living
Bible</i> or Eugene Peterson’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Message. </i>The Christian life and faith in which we share includes many flavors
and textures, many ways of life and work and worship, some of which are mysterious
and exotic to us but in which their practitioners—just as we do—offer their gifts
and their homage </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in response to
the Epiphany vision of </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a “light for revelation to the Gentiles,” to the Epiphany
call to “Arise, shine, for your light has come,” and to the Epiphany model of
following the star that leads to Christ. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Just how expansive
and variegated this Epiphany vision, call, and model might be was expressed in
1997 by a prominent Charlotte native when he said: “I think that everybody that
loves Christ or knows Christ—whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re
members of the Body of Christ. . . . Whether they come from the Muslim world, or
the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are
members of the Body of Christ because they’ve been called by God. They may not
even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their heart that they need
something that they don’t have, and they turn to the only light they have.” That’s
Billy Graham on what I’m calling local faith: “they turn to the only light they
have.” We all turn to the only light we have. Graham’s heart-felt understanding
of the human condition and his heart-felt understanding of the nature of God as
revealed in Jesus Christ led him to an Epiphany vision and an Epiphany call and
an Epiphany model that is expansive enough even to include those foreign astrologers,
“we three wizards of Orient are,” who followed the light they had to
become members of the Body of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">And that is how a Muslim woman standing silently in a crowd can be more Christ-like than the jeering, taunting Christians by whom she is surrounded. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, just in case your
theological tastes are more catholic and dogmatic than evangelical and
heart-felt, you might put more stock in these words from the Vatican II
document <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lumen gentium</i>, “Light of the
Nations” or “The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church”: “Those also can attain
to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ
or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds
to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience”
(II.16) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">(<a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html">http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html</a>)</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. In other words, the “light they have,”
as Billy Graham put it, is sufficient to lead them into the circle of those whom
Abune Paulos Gebre Yohannis characterized as “messengers of change in bringing
justice, peace, reconciliation and development” </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">(<a href="http://www.africamission-mafr.org/cisa19.htm">http://www.africamission-mafr.org/cisa19.htm</a>)</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. That’s a message of recovery for us all, a
vision and a call and a model for justice in every place for every person, for peace
in every community in every nation, for reconciliation in every relationship, and
for development—the cultivation in every location of faith and of learning, of education
and self-determination and economic opportunity—in the wide world, local and
global, of God’s creation. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s local food,
local faith. Bon apétit, my friends. Bon apétit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Copyrighted © 2016 by Jeffrey
S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use,
provided this notice is included.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> The author can be contacted at </span><a href="mailto:jrogers2@gardner-webb.edu"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">jrogers3@gardner-webb.edu</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>
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Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-59389345233351245562015-12-19T07:48:00.000-05:002015-12-20T17:32:14.165-05:00An Unfamiliar Christmas <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZdRJOOUBbj4b68ZTgcao0Zli4-7sUdIdXDrA0gklX8bmdQNrEl-Bcb8GP83AcOnAFHIffB0mmekzovGWhJOHwqc1ReiApRrh762RQJ8T-q9cMFLQ8SYNFUiKiVoOvOo7GtAxe/s1600/Southwell+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZdRJOOUBbj4b68ZTgcao0Zli4-7sUdIdXDrA0gklX8bmdQNrEl-Bcb8GP83AcOnAFHIffB0mmekzovGWhJOHwqc1ReiApRrh762RQJ8T-q9cMFLQ8SYNFUiKiVoOvOo7GtAxe/s320/Southwell+01.jpg" width="221" /></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>“My peace I give
unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27; KJV).</i></span></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Myers Park Baptist Church </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Charlotte, NC </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It will be an
unfamiliar Christmas in the northern Polish city of Olsztyn for the Syrian refugees
who have been taken in by a 70-member Baptist church there. The family of four Assyrian
Christians, a branch of the Christian faith that is old enough to be mentioned
in 1 Peter 5:13 as “your sister church in Babylon,” will be hearing the music
and words of unfamiliar carols in an unfamiliar language. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In that regard, they
are not so different from most of us here this morning as we listen to Benjamin
Britten’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Ceremony of Carols. </i>Unless
you grew up singing in an elite children’s choir, or you are a maven of Middle
English poetry, or you are an aficionado of 20th-century choral music, you too
are hearing unfamiliar carols in an unfamiliar language. There
is much to be said for the comfort and ease of the familiar at this time of
year: “Comfort ye my people,” comfort food, Southern Comfort. Easter has eggs, but Christmas has eggnog; it is indeed the most
wonderful time of the year. But this morning, instead of wishing you the
comfort and ease of a merry little Christmas, I am wishing you an unfamiliar
Christmas. I am wishing you at the very least a glimpse or a glimmer, an
instant or an insight in which you encounter the surprise, the power, the life-changing
and world-changing gift of “This Little Babe,” as the choir will sing next. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s a simple title,
“This Little Babe.” And the music to which the text is set exhibits a simple
compositional technique. It is a round, a canon, a simple form in which
successive voices take up the melody echoing each other, as in “1. Row, row,
row your boat/ 2. gently down the stream,/ 3. merrily, merrily, merrily,
merrily,/ 4. life is but a dream.” That’s pretty familiar, isn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ah, but the boat on
which Benjamin Britten was sailing when he set “This Little Babe” to music was
a cargo ship headed from the U.S. to England in April of 1942 while German
submarines prowled the Atlantic. The month-long ocean passage on which <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Ceremony of Carols </i>was composed is a
striking metaphor for our own time. The threat of the known—a world at war—and
the threat of the unknown—undetectable, lethal assailants lurking just out of
sight—are frighteningly familiar to us right now. And the round or canon in
“This Little Babe” is a similarly striking metaphor. Britten set the voices <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in stretto</i>, in close succession, so that
the second and third voices enter only one beat after the previous voice. Instead of the familiar, easy pace, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Row, Row, Row Your Boat”</span> would go like this: Row/Row/Row/Row.
That’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in stretto, </i>and it wouldn’t sound
so “merrily down the stream” at all. Nor does Britten’s setting of this “This
Little Babe” sound at all like a merry little Christmas. And the
words of “This Little Babe” don’t either. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They were penned in
the 1500s by a Jesuit priest named Robert Southwell. Southwell was ordained as
a Roman Catholic priest in France in 1584, and in 1586 he returned to his
native England as an underground missionary. Six years later, he was arrested
by British authorities, imprisoned, and tortured. In 1595, Southwell was publicly
executed by hanging, drawing and quartering. Those words fall antiseptically on
our ears: hanged, drawn, and quartered. They mean that as he hung from the
noose, still alive, he was emasculated, then disemboweled, then beheaded, and his
body cut into four pieces. His crime? He was a Roman Catholic priest when being
a Roman Catholic priest was against the law in England. If you know much at all
about the history of Christianity, you know that today’s Islamic extremists look
like relative amateurs at atrocity compared to the historic atrocities of us Christians
of Anglo-Saxon and Aryan descent. Don’t fall into the popular trap of comparing
the worst of them to the best of us and the best of us to the worst of them and
then erroneously concluding that we are any better than they are. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Written in a world
in which professing Christians in a Christian nation dismembered and disemboweled dissenters, “This Little
Babe” is no “Away in the Manger.” Southwell’s poem depicts a surprise attack on
the gates of hell mounted not by an army but by an infant. The battle is fought
and won not with arms but with tears and cries and arrows of weeping eyes. The
fortress in which safety is found is a cattle stall, a broken wall, a crib, and
haystacks. Foes are foiled not by domination or annihilation but by joy. What Robert
Southwell understood and wrote of Christmas in “This Little Babe” and what he
lived and died of the gospel are entirely unfamiliar to you and me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They are as unfamiliar
as the gift-giving of which Jesus spoke in the gospel of John when he said, “My
peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (14:27; KJV). Gift-giving as the
world giveth is what is familiar to us at Christmas. But this morning, I’m
wishing you an unfamiliar Christmas, a Christmas in which the gift you give or
receive is not as the world giveth but is as the gift being given this
Christmas in that 70-member Baptist church in Olsztyn, Poland, and in other
places around the world to persons who have been driven from home and family
and country by war and terror and atrocity: it is the gift of the peace of God
which passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7); it is the gift of the peace
of Christ that hearts may not be troubled and neither may they be afraid.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Choir, it’s all
yours: Sing us the gift of “This Little Babe” and an unfamiliar Christmas. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Copyrighted © 2015 by Jeffrey
S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use,
provided this notice is included.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> The author can be contacted at </span><a href="mailto:jrogers2@gardner-webb.edu"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">jrogers3@gardner-webb.edu</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(With gratitude to
friends to whom this sermon is indebted: Charles Kimball, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When Religion Becomes Evil </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When
Religion Becomes Lethal</i>, and Marc and Kim Wyatt, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
field personnel) </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This little Babe so few days old,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is come to rifle Satan’s fold;</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All hell doth at his presence quake,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though he himself for cold do shake;</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For in this weak unarmèd wise</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The gates of hell he will surprise.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With tears he fights and wins the
field,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His naked breast stands for a shield;</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His battering shot are babish cries,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His arrows looks of weeping eyes,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His martial ensigns Cold and Need,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And feeble Flesh his warrior’s steed.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
<i>
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His camp is pitchèd in a stall,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of shepherds he his muster makes;</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The angels’ trumps alarum sound.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My soul, with Christ join thou in
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stick to the tents that he hath pight.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Within his crib is surest ward:</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
<i>
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This little Babe will be thy guard.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then flit not from this heavenly Boy. </span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Robert Southwell</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-67534901174087390902015-11-16T05:30:00.001-05:002015-11-16T05:50:47.029-05:00Inspiration and Perspiration: Turning What Is into What It Must Become<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hebrews 10:19-25</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Myers Park Baptist Church</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Charlotte, NC </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">November 15, 2015 </span>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In June of 1963, the
Baptist pastor and preacher the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed an
estimated 125,000 people in Detroit, Michigan, in what was at the time the
largest civil rights demonstration in our nation’s history. Toward the end of his
speech in Detroit, King told the crowd that he had a dream, and he told them
what was in it. Without even realizing it, King was warming up in Detroit for what
would become a far more famous speech in Washington. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I say “without even
realizing it” because the famous “I-have-a-dream” part of the speech in
Washington was not in the manuscript that King had prepared to deliver that
day. But when he got to the place in his prepared text where he spoke of “great
trials and tribulations” and exhorted the crowd, “Let us not wallow in the
valley of despair,” the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was standing
near King as he spoke called out him, “Tell them about your dream, Martin! Tell
them about your dream!” And so he did. He departed from the manuscript in front
of him to talk about the dream he had talked about in Detroit. And when he did,
his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial became the most famous oration by
a Baptist preacher in American history. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But I want to take
you back to Detroit two months earlier. In Detroit, King spoke of “the inner
conviction that there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some
things so eternally true, that they are worth dying for.” Fifty-two years and
innumerable deaths later, including King’s, there is all too much evidence in
our nation and in our world that King’s dream of universal justice through
reconciliation, redemption, and the creation of what he called Beloved
Community is a dream deferred, not a dream fulfilled. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From Ferguson, MO,
to Charleston, SC; on Staten Island, in Baltimore and Charlotte; in Sinjar
Syria, and in the streets of Israel and the Occupied Territories; in the air
over Sinai, and on the ground in Paris, the deaths—and the conflicting currents
of causation, incrimination, and recrimination are more than enough to drive us
into the valley of despair. And that’s why King’s words in Detroit are important
for us to hear. At the end of his speech in Detroit, King said this: “With this
faith, I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope through a mountain of despair.”
“With this faith, I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope through a mountain
of despair.” King’s dream words are inspirational. King’s tunnel-of-hope words
are perspirational. And it takes both Inspiration and Perspiration to turn what
is into what it must become. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that brings me
to this morning’s epistle lesson from the book of Hebrews. I want to suggest this
morning that Hebrews 10:19-25 provides us with a working model for turning what
is into what it must become. It is a universal model for what is often called “change
agency.” The model in Hebrews 10:19-25 is not a spiritual warm fuzzy; it’s not a
dose of homiletical Prozac or Xanax. It’s a working model of the Inspiration
and the Perspiration that are necessary to turn what is into what it must
become in any and every walk of life: business, education, politics, community,
church, family, individual existence. There are five moving parts to this working
model. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The first moving
part is Deep Conviction. Deep Conviction is King’s something so dear, something
so precious, something so eternally true, that it is worth dying for. The great
twentieth-century theologian Paul Tillich spoke of Ultimate Reality—capital “U,”
capital “R”—Ultimate Reality, what is Really Real, what is Truly True of God and
the world and human existence in the world. Every human being’s understanding
of the world and of human existence is grounded in some Deep Conviction, some
understanding of Ultimate Reality, what is Really Real and Truly True. Deep
Conviction about Ultimate Reality is an intellectual and psychological and
spiritual common denominator among Christians and Jews and Muslims and Hindus
and Buddhists and Baha’is and Native Americans and atheists and everybody else:
Deep Conviction about what is Really Real and Truly True. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The writer of the
book of Hebrews frames living in alignment with Ultimate Reality—or “right
relationship with God,” to use more familiar language—as participating in the ritual
activity that is commanded in the law of Moses; and in Hebrews 10:19-21 the person
and work of Jesus Christ are presented as serving the same function as the
ritual actions and the ritual personnel prescribed in Exodus and Leviticus. In
v 19, the blood of Jesus is analogous to the blood of animal sacrifices. In v
20, the body of Jesus is compared to the curtain of the sanctuary. In v 21,
Jesus is characterized as “the great high priest over the house of God.” The
writer of Hebrews 10 says that because of the structural similarity of the
person and work of Jesus Christ with the ritual system commanded in the Torah, we
can draw near to God in “full assurance of faith.” That’s a Deep Conviction, and
Deep Conviction about Ultimate Reality is Part 1 in turning what is into what
it must become. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The second moving
part in the model is Energizing Exhortation. King’s “I have a dream!” was Energizing
Exhortation. Roosevelt’s “This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with
destiny” was Energizing Exhortation. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do
for you, ask what you can do for your country” was Energizing Exhortation. Reagan’s
“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!” was Energizing Exhortation. The
Energizing Exhortation in Hebrews 10:20-23 calls its audience into a “new and
living way” and to “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.” I’m
convinced that these very verses are the biblical reservoir from which King the
preacher drew his words in Detroit: a vision of a new way of living together grounded
in the fullness of faith and impelled by unwavering hope. Part 2 is the Energizing
Exhortation that it takes to turn what is into what it must become. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The third moving
part in the model is Mutual Provocation. Mutual Provocation. It’s in Hebrews
10:24: “Let us consider how to provoke one another.” As if there weren’t enough
provocation in the world and in the church already, “Let us consider how to
provoke one another.” I don’t have to be from around here to know that some of
us are experts at provocation. Mutual Provocation is where Inspiration and
Perspiration intersect. In words and in deeds, by exhortation and by example, we
must encourage, support, challenge, instigate, and agitate one other to turn
what is into what it must become. The pledge walk in worship this morning is an
act of personal devotion; it is also a demonstration of Mutual Provocation. Individually
and collectively, the act of walking your pledges forward is a sermon without
words that says without saying, “C’mon, ya’ll! Hitch yourselves to this wagon
and pull with us!” That’s provoking one another by example, and Hebrews 10:24 says
to do exactly that inside these walls and outside them as well: encourage,
support, challenge, instigate, agitate, and demonstrate to turn what is into
what it must become. Part 3: Mutual Provocation. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The fourth moving
part of the model is Prevailing Disposition. Prevailing Disposition. In the
academic study of personality and personal and professional effectiveness,
research has demonstrated that what a person <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believes</i> makes a difference in his or her behavior. Those beliefs
are called dispositions: They are values and commitments that influence
behavior. In Hebrews 10:24, the prevailing disposition that influences behavior
is love: “Provoke one another <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to love</i>,”
it says. It should come as no surprise that Hebrews 10:24 posits love as the
Prevailing Disposition. After all, according to Jesus, the Great Commandment is
“You shall <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love</i> the Lord your God with
all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength” (Mark
12:30) and the second is like unto the first: “You shall <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love</i> your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). And Jesus said, “This
my commandment that you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">love</i> one
another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). And to bring us back to the first
moving part in the working model, Deep Conviction, 1 John 4:8 and 16 say that “God
is love.” So according to 1 John 4, God, Ultimate Reality, what is Really Real
and Truly True is Love. It’s no wonder, then, that the apostle Paul wrote, “Faith,
hope, and love, these three abide. And the greatest of these is love.” Because
“God is love.” This Deep Conviction—God is love—and this Prevailing
Disposition—love—are fully aligned with each other. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that’s
important, because failing to align Deep Conviction and Prevailing Disposition
is a root cause of the intellectual and psychological and spiritual dis-order
and dis-ease that plagues so many individuals and religious communities the
world over. My friend and former colleague Charles Kimball, an expert in
Christian-Muslim relations who also happens to be a Baptist minister, has
described the root causes of religious disorder and disease in his books <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When Religion Becomes Evil</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When Religion Becomes Lethal</i>. A
religious system—or any other kind of system: a family, a business, a school, a
church—in which Deep Conviction and Prevailing Disposition are misaligned leads
to evil, not good; illness and injury, not health; hate, not love; death, not
life. Kimball gives dozens of examples in his books, and the last two weeks of
news coverage have added yet more. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll give two. The oppressive
and murderous American apartheid of race-based slavery and Jim Crow segregation
was perpetrated by deeply religious people whose Deep Conviction and Prevailing
Dispositions were misaligned. The horrific atrocities of the so-called Islamic
State and Al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab are perpetrated by deeply religious people whose
Deep Conviction and Prevailing Dispositions are misaligned. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But in the working
model in Hebrews 10, Prevailing Disposition—Part 4—is rightly aligned with Deep
Conviction, and so it leads to the fifth part, Effective Action, which is characterized
in Hebrews 10:24 as “doing good deeds”: deeds that are good, not evil; deeds
that promote health, not injury and illness; deeds of love, not hate; life-giving,
not death-dealing deeds. Good deeds flow from the right alignment of Deep Conviction,
Energizing Exhortation, Mutual Provocation, and Prevailing Disposition. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Arriving there takes
Inspiration, and it takes Perspiration. It takes lining it up—that’s the Inspiration,
and it takes living it out—that’s the Perspiration. So think of it this way. The
invitation to the pledge walk that will be extended in a few minutes is an invitation
to a path of alignment. Whether you carry a commitment of your finances in your
hand, or whether you write another sort of commitment to God on the card and
carry it forward, or whether the commitment you make is written on your heart
or in your soul, I invite you to participate in the pledge walk as a pledge of
yourself: a pledge to align or realign your Deep Conviction, your Energizing
Exhortation, your Mutual Provocation, your Prevailing Disposition, and your
Effective Action so that what you experience inside these four walls forms and
transforms who you are and what you do outside these four walls. Lining it up
is the Inspiration. Living it out is the Perspiration: “With this faith, I will
go out and carve a tunnel of hope through a mountain of despair” to turn what
is into what it must become. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Copyrighted © 2015 by Jeffrey
S. Rogers. This material may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use,
provided this notice is included. It is available online at </span><a href="http://www.pulpitbytes.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">www.pulpitbytes.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">. The author can be contacted at </span><a href="mailto:jrogers2@gardner-webb.edu"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">jrogers3@gardner-webb.edu</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>
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<br />Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-67389712302081041802015-10-11T07:14:00.000-04:002015-10-11T07:21:35.552-04:00What Lies Beneath<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgy4esJRxMXmvTkZJBfDNbqgYx9AWztlnLYNEL6JR1hyphenhyphen4vYgbXWUrg1vLgCbALwl8kDoVepB-aGY6od7Px3ZBU4-7PrL0RPhfhP1u6bim4Y6nmb3cBtGP-7JJZ_zBPB6XKGxy/s1600/Pfeiffer+and+Ford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgy4esJRxMXmvTkZJBfDNbqgYx9AWztlnLYNEL6JR1hyphenhyphen4vYgbXWUrg1vLgCbALwl8kDoVepB-aGY6od7Px3ZBU4-7PrL0RPhfhP1u6bim4Y6nmb3cBtGP-7JJZ_zBPB6XKGxy/s320/Pfeiffer+and+Ford.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford in <i>What Lies Beneath </i>(2000)</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mark 10:17-31 </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">October 11, 2015 </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Myers Park Baptist Church </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Charlotte, NC </span></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Inner-life questions are the
kind everyone asks, with or without benefit of God-talk: “Does my life have
meaning and purpose?” “Do I have gifts that the world wants and needs?” “Whom
and what shall I serve?” “Whom and what can I trust?” “How can I rise above my
fears?” </span></i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
—Parker Palmer</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">are a
fan of Hollywood movies, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you may remember the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">pyscho-thriller </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What Lies Beneath.” To even mention it </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">15
years </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">after it was in theaters </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is to
give it far too much credit</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Its </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">only redeeming quality was that </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">its
co-stars Harrison Ford and Michelle Pf</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">eiffer </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">were very easy to look at</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The couple</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
that Ford and Pfeiffer played, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dr. Nor</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">man Spencer and his wife Claire </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">had a perfect marriage and a
perfect life, at least o</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">n the
surface, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">until t</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">he
stories they told themselves </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and others </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">began to unravel </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">as
what lay bene</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ath bubbled up and broke
the surface. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This morning’s gospel lesson from Mark 10</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is no psycho-thriller,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">it is no less unsettling </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">for what lies beneath in it. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On my first day of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">seminary, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I walked</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
across campus to the cafeteria </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">with several of my new </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">classmates. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We chatted </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">about where we were from </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and about
our current an</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">d previous work </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">i</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">n churches. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Kirby </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">was quieter than the rest of us </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and a
dec</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ade or more older. He had
never served a church </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in a paid capacity, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">he said. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He was a businessman who two </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">years earlier </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">decided that God was telling </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">him to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When
he </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">informed his pastor </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of
what G</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">od was telling him, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">his
pastor was not as fond of the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">idea
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">as
Kirby and God were</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“If </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you do that,” his pastor asked, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">who will provide for your wife and your two
daughters? How will you survive?” Kirby quoted Genesis 22:14: </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“The
Lord will provide,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
his pastor said they should talk again</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. The eventual outcome </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">many conversations was that Kirby’s pastor </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">convinced
him </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that what God was really
saying </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">was
that he</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> should sell his
possessions and go to seminary. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So he quit his job and sold his
family’s house</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
the four of them </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">moved from
Florida to North Carolina for Kirby to attend seminary. When we reached the end
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of
the cafeteria serving </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">line, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Kirby
headed off to </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">join our
classmates at a table, and I made a beeline </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to the oppos</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ite side of the room </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">because
I </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">had no interest in eating
lunch w</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ith
s</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">omeone who was obviously crazy.
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
had spent my whole life in church,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
and I had never met anyone </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">who actually beli</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">eved that God wanted her or him </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to sell
everything she or he had</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As I sat eating my
lunch alone, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">it dawned on me that what really </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">disturbed me </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">was not that Kirby might be </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">playing </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">with several cards short of a
full deck.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">W</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">hat really disturbed me </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">was
that his faith story </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">called into
question </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the authenticity a</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">nd integrity </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of my faith </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">story.
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> also believed that I was doing </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">what
God was telling me to do,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but of
course </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was sane </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and he
was crazy. Says who?</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
then there</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> were my underlying
assumptions </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and expectations.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I assumed and expected </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that going to seminary </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">would lead to a job </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">home ownership </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">providing for my family. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But
this g</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">uy had all that </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
gave it up to go to </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">seminary. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Suddenly,
it didn’t look as though</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I was
following Jesus at all. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was just one more Baby B</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">oomer </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ch</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">asing the American dream </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">conveniently covered with a thin gospel
veneer</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">S</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">o tell
me this: </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What do you do </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">when the
story you are telling yourself </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
others </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">about
your life becomes </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">hollow, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">inauthentic,
fraudulent even</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">? </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
happens when the “inner-lif</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">e
questions,” as Parker Palmer calls them, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">bubble up </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and break the surface? </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">what happens </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">i</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">n this morning’s gospel lesson. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The c</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">haracters who hear Jesus’ words </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">are
forced to face what lies beneath: </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">those inner-life questions that call
into question</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">our assumptions
and our expectations. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A college
development officer </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">te</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">lls the
story </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of
working with one of the school’s major donors</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to cultivate a large gift </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to the college from a friend of the donor. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> donor had committed $2 million </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to the
college’s capital campaign,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
the plan was to ask a friend of his</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
for a gift of $1 million. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The friend’s net </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">assets w</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ere in excess of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">$110 million, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">so the</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> gift he would be asked to give </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">was a</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">bout nine tenths of one percent of his net
assets. The donor and his friend </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">each </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">flew their private jets </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">into a regi</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">onal airport in a nearby state. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">O</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ver dinner, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the donor and the development
officer</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ta</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">lked about the college’s vision </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
its mission and its capital campaign</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and the gift the donor had made</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the donor popped the question: “We want to
ask you to consider </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">giving the college </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a $1 million gift.” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The friend was quiet for a moment;</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and then he responded, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“O my,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> no. I couldn’t possibly afford to give a
gift that large.” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the flight
home, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the
disappointed developm</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ent officer
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">asked
the donor,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> “How can he possibly
think </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that
he can’t afford </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to give a
million dollars?” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“I see it al</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">l
the time,” the donor replied. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“No matter how much some people </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">have, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">they are insecure and anxious</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and afraid they will lose co</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ntrol of it.” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In that development officer’s </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">story </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and i</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">n this
morning’s gospel lesson </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">what people have is </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">on the surface; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but insecurity,
anxiety</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and fear
of losing </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">control lie beneath. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When the
man who came to </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">heard</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> the words Jesus spoke to him, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“he
was shocked” and grieved.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But it’</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">s important for us to see </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that
what Jesus said </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in Mark 10 </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">was no
less disturbing to the disciples</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">:
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After
the man left, Jesus said</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, “How
hard it will be f</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">or thos</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">e who
have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and the disciples were
immediately</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“perplexed
at these words,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">because
these words violated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their</i></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> assumptions </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and expectations</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> as well as those </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of the
man who left</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And
when Jesus went on to say</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“It is
ea</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">sier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(Mark
10:25), the disciples were “greatly astounded.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the fall of 2003 </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">when I was preparing </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to preach this passage from </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Year B </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in the lectionary cycle,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I came to the realization </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">one reason being the pastor </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of a
tall-steeple church is exhausting</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
is that you expend </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">an enormous amount of energy</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">trying to shove </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">camels’
behinds through needles’ eyes, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and both the needle and the camel</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> a</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">re resistant to the enterprise.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The resistance of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the needle </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is g</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">rounded in the laws of physics. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But the
resistance of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the camel </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is
grounded in insecurity, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">anxiety,
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
fear of losing control.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus knew that. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s
why Mark 10:21 says </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that Jesus, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">looking
at </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the man with many
possessions, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“loved him.” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus
“loved him.” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus looked at him </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and loved him </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">because Jesus saw right through the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">veneer to what lies beneath. Jesus saw </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">what </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the man with many possessions </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">had not
yet realized: T</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">he very things </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">on
which he was relying for security,</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">contentment,
and control—in his case, rules-</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">based
righteousness </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and possession-based contentment—were actu</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ally increasing his insecurity, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">compounding
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">his anxiety, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and exacerbating
his fear of losing </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">control. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">T</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">he story he was telling himself about his
life was a fraud.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So what do you do </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">when you awaken one day </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to realize that your dream job is a</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> nightmare; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that the</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> home of your dreams </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a haunted house; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that
your confidence in your own </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">righteousness
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">or
y</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">our faithfulness or your talent
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">or
your good looks or your good health</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
or your friends or your spouse </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">o</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">r your parents or your children o</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">r anyone or anything else</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">has been misplaced?</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When the story you have b</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">een telling yourself </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">about
your life </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">becomes hollow,
inauthentic, fraudulent even? </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What do you do when that happens? </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">First, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">like the
characters in Mark 10, you are shocked, perplexed, and greatly astounded </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">because
yo</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ur expectations and
assumptions </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">have been violated</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">destroyed.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Second,
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you grieve </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">because
what you have lost </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is enormous.
Whatever else you have lost, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you have lost yo</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ur understanding </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of
yourself </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and your faith story
and your relationship with God </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and with others and with the wor</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ld. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And then, third, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">if you are wise, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you stop
and strip off the veneer</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> dispossess and divest yourself </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of the
hollow, ina</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">uthentic, and
fraudulent story </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you have be</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">en
telling yourself and others.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s what I know: </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you
will strip off the ve</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">neer to
expose your insecurity, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">anxiety, and fear</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> to the light of day, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you
will discover </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">beneath them </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the so</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">lid mahogany, the genuine ebony, the cherry
through and through </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that Jesus sees and loves in you.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Looking on you </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in all
your insecurity, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">anxiety, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and
fear of l</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">osing control, Jesus
loves you. And here’s what else I know: </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When you discover that kind of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">love, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">accept that kind of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">love, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and are embraced by that kind of
love</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you wi</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ll discover meaning and purpose </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in
your life;</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you will
accept whom and what</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you
shall</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> serve; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you
will embrace whom and </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">what you
can trust; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you will
rise above your fears. Y</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ou will. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And one last thing I know: </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Doing that </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is experiencing</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
the kingdom of God; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and when you do, the needle, the came</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">l, and the tall-steeple preacher </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">will
all breathe a giant sigh of relief. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Copyrighted
© 2015 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at <a href="mailto:02tlsjeff@gmail.com">02tlsjeff@gmail.com</a>.</span></span></span></div>
Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-28567552752875795742015-09-20T08:01:00.000-04:002015-09-20T08:01:24.995-04:00Outreach Sunday: The Sending Church <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="240" src="http://aeolianskinner.organsociety.org/images/01109(4).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Myers Park Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Genesis 12:1-3; Luke
10:1-11</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Seventeenth Sunday
after Pentecost </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">September 20, 2015</span></div>
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<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s not about the church meeting your needs; it’s about
joining the mission of God’s people to meet the world’s needs. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--Brian D. McLaren </span></i></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the landscape of American
Christianity, there are all kinds of churches. There are large churches and small
churches. There are city churches, suburban churches, and country churches. There
are high-church<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;"> </span></b>“smells-and-bells”
churches, and there are low-church “meet-and-greet” churches. My friend and former
boss at Furman University, Dr. A.V. Huff, Jr., a historian by trade and a
Methodist minister by calling, tells the story of a Furman student who came to
him for counsel. The student felt called to the ministry, but he couldn’t
decide whether he should become a Methodist minister or an Episcopal priest. When
the young man finished his monologue on the relative merits of Methodism and Episcopalianism,
he asked A.V., “How do I decide?” To which the venerable Dr. Huff replied, “It’s
very simple, actually. You need to decide whether you want to spend the rest of
your life going to pot-luck suppers . . . or cocktail parties.” There are
pot-luck-supper churches and there are cocktail-party churches. (I’m not even
going to ask which one this church is.)</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On this Seventeenth
Sunday after Pentecost—“Outreach Sunday” in this congregation, I want to call
your attention to five kinds of churches, and I’m going to highlight the fifth
one. The first kind of church is the “middle-name” church. “Middle-name
churches” define themselves primarily by their denominational brand. Myers Park
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baptist</i> Church. Myers Park <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">United Methodist </i>Church. Myers Park <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Presbyterian </i>Church. The most important
thing to middle-name churches is to represent the brand. Middle-name churches have
fallen on hard times lately. Brand dilution and a decrease in brand loyalty
among American church-goers has significantly reduced the number of middle-name
churches, even among churches that still use middle names. You may have noticed
that many churches have sworn off middle names entirely. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A second kind of
church is the member church. The primary purpose of a “member church” is the
care and feeding of the people who have signed up to be members. You can tell a
member church by the way the people in it introduce themselves. “Hi, I’m Harry.
I’ve been a member here for 42 years.” People in member churches don’t identify
themselves primarily by the ministries and the missions in which they engage through
their church. The most important thing in a member church is how long it has
been since you signed up for its care and feeding. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A third kind of
church was introduced to the landscape of American Christianity about 40 years
ago. It’s called a “seeker church.” The seeker church was developed in the
1970s as an evangelistic tool to reach people whom observers of American
religious life call “seekers,” people who are seeking spiritual fulfillment but
who haven’t found it in middle-name churches and member churches. Seeker
churches were originally designed as an “entry-level” Christianity for non-believers.
They are the developmental equivalent of Kindergarten in which the curriculum is
designed for those who need to learn their ABCs and their 123s before they can move
on to the more advanced content of the Christian faith and worship and living. That’s
the seeker church as it was originally designed to be. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A fourth kind of
church is the “disciple church.” Disciple churches are designed primarily to
teach and equip believers to understand and to live out a Christian faith that
they have already professed. Disciple churches specialize in programs intended
to turn believers into followers who understand and live by what they say they
believe. That’s the disciple church. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a fifth
type of church in the American landscape that I call the “sending church.” The
biblical mandate for the “sending church” is found, among many other places, in
the tenth chapter of the gospel according to Luke. In the first three verses of
Luke 10, there are four verbs of sending and going. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus
“sent them,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">apesteilen </i>in Greek. Our
English word “apostle” comes from the same root word as the Greek verb <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">apesteilen</i>. Jesus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sent</i> them on a mission. In verse 2, Jesus says to the ones whom he
is sending, “ask the Lord of the harvest to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">send
out</i> laborers,” “send out,” <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/strongs/?ll=g&t=kjv&sn=1544"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ekbalē</i> </a>in Greek; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ekbalē</i> means to “throw,” “to cast,” to
sling ’em out there. Then in verse 3, Jesus says, “Go!” <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/strongs/?ll=g&t=kjv&sn=5217"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hypagete</i> </a>in Greek:“ Go on!” “Get out
there!” Then Jesus says, “I am sending you,” apostellō. It’s the “apostle” word
again, someone who is sent on a mission. Four times in three verses: “send,”
“throw,” “go,” “send.” The sending Jesus; the sending church. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You can tell what is
really important to a church by what it measures. Children like to measure
their height because growing up is important to them. Many of us grow up to
measure inches around instead of up because our weight has become more
important to us than our height. Middle-name churches and member churches and
seeker churches and discipleship churches measure how many people they are
drawing in because drawing in is what is really important to them. But sending
churches reverse the metrics. Sending churches measure how many people are
going out. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In Luke 10, the
mandate of Jesus was not to draw a crowd but to send a crowd. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so we celebrate Outreach Sunday because reaching
out is the mandate of Jesus in Luke 10. That mandate has three essential
elements. The first essential element is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">universal
vision</i>. The oldest manuscripts of Luke’s gospel say in Luke 10:1 that Jesus
sent out 70 disciples. So why is it 70 instead of 72 as in later manuscripts of
the gospel of Luke or why not 64 or 36 or 40 or 120? Why 70? Over the centuries
of Christian interpretation of this passage, there have been many explanations.
Here’s the best one, in my humble opinion. Genesis 10 says that after the great
flood the descendants of Noah spread abroad “in their lands, with their own
language, by their families, in their nations” (Genesis 10:5,20,31). <span class="versetext4">Guess how many families are named Genesis 10. Seventy. The
number 70 in Luke 10:1 points back to all the families of the earth who “spread
abroad” in Genesis 10. The biblical mandate for the sending church is not to an
elect few but to all. The biblical mandate for the sending church is not to a
chosen race or a chosen nation or a chosen orientation but to all the families
of the earth: All of them. In whatever culture by whatever definition in
whatever configuration in whatever circumstance. </span></span></div>
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<span class="versetext4"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
call of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 12:1-3 reflects this universal vision when
God says to them, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s
house to the land that I will show you. . . . In you, all the families of the
earth shall be blessed.” Notice, first, that Abraham and Sarah are sent to “all
the families of the earth.” All of them. And notice, second, that Abraham and
Sarah are sent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to be a blessing</i> to
all the families of the earth. So the second essential element of the mandate
is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the blessing of God</i>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">L<span class="versetext4">ook at what Jesus tells the 70 to do. In Luke 10:5, Jesus
says, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” Your
first word to a stranger, says Jesus, is peace: “The peace of God be with you.”
Before you know anything about the household or the family—good, bad, or
indifferent, Jesus says pronounce a blessing on it. Those whom Jesus sends are to
be a vehicle of God’s blessing to everyone whom they encounter: “The peace of
God be with you.” A universal vision of the blessing of God. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now for the third essential
element of the mandate. In Luke 10:9, Jesus instructs the 70 to do two things: “cure
the sick who are there,” and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to
you.” Jesus instructs his followers to address both physical needs—as in cure
the sick—and spiritual needs—proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. Both
of them. Not just one of them. Both of them. That’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the holistic</i> blessing of God. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What we see in Luke
10 is a universal vision of the holistic blessing of God. The sending church reaches
out by proclaiming the gospel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> by addressing
physical and psychological and social and economic needs of persons to whom we
are sent. Genesis 12 and Luke 10 remind us that when we gather here to worship God
our reason for being is to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sent out </i>from
this place to live out a universal vision of the holistic blessing of God. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus said, “I am
sending you.” “Go!” “Go on!” “Get out there!” That’s the sending church. Be it.
Do it. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Copyrighted
© 2015 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at <a href="mailto:02tlsjeff@gmail.com">02tlsjeff@gmail.com</a>.</span></span></span></div>
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Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-72919790281813545162015-07-25T13:47:00.001-04:002015-07-25T13:47:57.589-04:00Bearing Fruit and Growing--First Baptist Church, York, SC <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Colossians 1:1-15</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">July 26, 2015</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Central Idea: Focus on the process instead of the produce. </span></i><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The peaches are
ripe, and that makes this a great time of year. My grandfather always said that
you know a peach is ripe when it drops off the tree. Unless you have a peach
tree in your back yard, you can’t get peaches any closer to ripe than at a
South Carolina orchard or farmer’s market right now. Trees are heavy with
fruit, and fruit stands are full, and that makes this a great time of year. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s something of a
reach to think that when the apostle Paul wrote about “bearing fruit” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he was thinking of peaches. It’s a reach, but
it’s not impossible. Peaches were cultivated in China thousands of years before
Jesus was born. They were introduced to ancient Persia—modern-day Iran—hundreds
of years before Jesus. The Persians introduced them to the Greeks and Romans who
called them “Persian apples.” By the time Paul was born and traveled around the
Mediterranean basin, peaches were known and grown all the way from China to
Europe. One twentieth-century German biographer of Paul wrote that on the
island of Cyprus Paul would have seen “big groves of fruit trees, oranges,
lemons, figs, mulberries, peaches, and apricots” (Joseph Holzner, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Paul of Tarsus</i> [London: Scepter, 2002],
p. 118). He probably did. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Four passages in the
New Testament letters associated with Paul speak of fruit (Romans 7:4-5; 1
Corinthians 9:7; Galatians 5:22; Colossians 1:6-10). In the passage in front of
us this morning from Colossians 1, we read of “bearing fruit” three times in five
verses. In v 6, the gospel of Jesus Christ “is bearing fruit and growing in the
whole world,” just as it has been “bearing fruit,” it says among the
congregation at Colossae. And then v 10 says that leading “lives worthy of the
Lord” can be characterized as “bearing fruit in every good work.” Unlike in Galatians
5:22 where Paul lists the fruit he has in mind—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—in Colossians 1 there is
no inventory of the traits involved in “bearing fruit and growing” and of “lives
worthy of the Lord.” So this morning, instead of focusing on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">produce </i>of the Christian life in
“bearing fruit and growing,” I want to focus on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">process</i> of “bearing fruit and growing.” The process rather than the
produce. What needs to happen for the gospel of Jesus Christ to bear fruit and
grow in the world and in the church? </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Most of the time, the
first thing we notice in the process of bearing fruit and growing is that fruiting
trees and vines begin to bud, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in the
bud, there is a promise </i>that fruit will be borne. The bud is not the fruit,
but it’s the first evidence of the beginning of the process that leads to
fruit. In Romans 7, another “bearing fruit” passage, Paul speaks of “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">new life</i> in the Spirit” (v 6). At our
baptism, Paul says, it is as though we are buried with Christ and raised with
Christ “to walk in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">newness of life</i>”
(Romans 6:4). That’s the budding stage of faith and the Christian life. It’s
the earliest sign of spring in our souls as we begin to grow in Christ. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But in fact, the
process has been underway for a long time already by the time the tree or vine
begins to bud. There is a lot of cultivation and care, pruning and watering and
fertilizing, that is necessary to produce even a bud, much less fruit. That’s
why we have to focus on the process, not just the produce; because if your
processes are inadequate, if your cultivation and care is insufficient, you
can’t succeed in bearing fruit and growing. That’s true in your personal life
and your family life, in your life at work and your life school, in your life
in your community and in your life at church. Cultivation and care are
necessary to arrive at “new life,” “the newness of life” that is the beginning,
the bud, of Christian faith and a Christian life. And in the bud there is a
promise of fruitfulness to come. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As that newness of life
grows, the bud opens and a flower blooms. That’s how it’s supposed to go. But
the truth is, there are people whose Christian faith and life bud but never
bloom. Maybe you know someone like that. They had an initial experience; they
exhibited an early sign of life, they made a commitment to grow. But for one
reason or another—an untimely freeze, an onset of some disease, a flood or a
drought in their lives, whatever the reason—the bud died and the promise of
faith was lost: Some people bud but never bloom. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But the bud that
blooms opens into a flower, and i<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">n the
bloom there is beauty</i>. Early on, the flowers get all the attention. The
Cherry Blossom Festival. The Apple Blossom Festival. The Orange Blossom
Festival. The Cranberry Blossom Festival. The flowers get all kinds of
attention. Because they’re so attractive, some people make the mistake of
thinking that the flowers are the goal. The flower is not the fruit. An orchard
of peach trees in full bloom is a glorious sight. But the beauty of the flower
is not the end: The flower is only a means to the end of bearing fruit. The flower’s
beauty serves the purpose of pollination, and pollination leads to
fertilization, and fertilization leads to the setting of the fruit. That’s how
it’s supposed to go. But there are people whose faith and Christian life bloom
but never set. They are beautiful for a time; but in the end, they are
unproductive: They are long on looks but short on fruit. Maybe you know some
people like that, whose Christian lives look good, but they don’t really do
much good. They bloom, but they never set. </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the setting of the fruit there is
potential</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> for bearing fruit
and growing. The process has moved from the promise of the bud to beauty of the
bloom to the potential of the setting of the fruit that will grow and mature
and ripen. <span class="versetext3">There is nothing to compare with the maturity
of ripened fruit on a tree or a vine or a Christian life. It’s not as showy as
the flowering stage, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in the fruit
there is fulfillment</i>. </span>Colossians 1 calls us all to the full maturity
of faith and the Christian life when it says in verse 10 that “bearing fruit in
every good work” is what living “lives worthy of the Lord” looks like. It’s not
the bud with all its promise; it’s not the bloom with all its beauty; it’s not the
set with all its potential. It’s the bearing fruit. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But there are people
and churches who set but never mature. Everything was in place: They were ready
to ripen, but they never did. Instead, they remained forever stunted, immature.
For whatever reason, they didn’t grow. Something went wrong in their processes
and they got stuck short of maturity. It is the fruit that is the fulfillment, and
for whatever reason or reasons, they didn’t arrive at bearing fruit. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And here’s the thing:
Even when we’ve arrived at bearing fruit, we’re not done yet. Because as far as
the plant that produces the fruit is concerned, the purpose of the fruit is to
provide seed because <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in the seed is the
future</i>. It’s sad to say, but there are people and churches alike who mature
in faith and the Christian life but never go to seed. They arrive at a place of
maturity, but they never pass it on; they never scatter and sow and plant. It
is enough for them to enjoy their own sense of fulfillment, their own sense of
calling, their own sense of community. And that’s all they do. And so as they
age and eventually decline—it’s called senescence in biological terms—there is
no one in a generation to come to take up the faith and life and the church. You
may like to eat seedless grapes and seedless watermelons, but in the Christian
faith and life, if there are no seeds, there is no future. “Bearing fruit and
growing” means going to seed every bit as much as it means budding and blooming
and setting and maturing. It means passing it on, scattering and sowing and
planting the gospel so that fruit may be borne by others. That’s the process we
are called to live in faith and the Christian life. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I want to illustrate
that process with three stories. Chances are, you’re not going to remember a
word I’ve said in the last 14 minutes. But if you remember one of these
stories, and that’ll do just fine. Jesus told the first story in the gospel of
Luke. <span class="versetext3">“A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and
he came looking for fruit on it and found none. </span>So he said to the
gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig
tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He
replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put
manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can
cut it down’ (Luke 13:6-9). That’s a story of the cultivation and care and
patience the process takes for bearing fruit and growing. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The legendary
preacher Fred Craddock told the second story about insufficient cultivation and
care. “I went to see a lady in our church who was facing surgery. I went to see
her in the hospital. She had never been in the hospital before, and the surgery
was major. I walked in there. She was a nervous wreck, and she started crying.
She wanted me to pray with her, which I did. By her bed there was a stack of
books and magazines: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">True Love, Mirror,
Hollywood Today, </i>stuff about [celebrities and such]. She just had a stack
of them there, and she was a wreck. It occurred to me, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There’s not a calorie in that whole stack to help her through her
experience. </i>She had no place to dip down into a reservoir and come with
something—a word, a phrase, a thought, an idea, a memory, a person. Just empty.
How marvelous is the life of the person who, like a wise homemaker, when the
berries and fruits and vegetables are ripe, puts them away in jars and cans in
the cellar. Then when the ground is cold, icy, and barren and nothing seems
alive, she goes down into the cellar, comes up, and it’s May and June at her
family’s table. How blessed is that person,” said Craddock. Blessed are those
who store up food for their soul and for the souls of others for when the
winter comes. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The third story is
also Craddock’s, and it’s a story that illustrates that even a little bit can
be just enough to help us make it through. “A young woman said to me, during
her freshman year of college, ‘I was a failure in my classes; I wasn’t having
any dates; and I didn’t have as much money as the other students. I was just so
lonely and depressed and homesick and not succeeding. One Sunday afternoon,’
she said, ‘I went to the river near the campus. I had climbed up on the rail and
was looking into the dark water below. For some reason or another I thought of
the [words], “Cast all your cares upon [God] for [God] cares for you.”’ She
said, ‘I stepped back, and here I am.’ I said, ‘Where did you learn [those
words]?’ She said, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘Do you go to church?’ ‘No . . . Well,
when I visited my grandmother in the summers we went to Sunday school and
church.’ I said, ‘Ah . . .’” A word, a phrase, a thought, an idea, a memory, a
person, a reservoir to dip into to see you through. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When the trees are
heavy with fruit and the fruit stands are full, it’s the best time of the
year—to put up the food your soul will need when the ground is cold, icy, and
barren and nothing seems alive or when you see nothing but dark water below. Blessed
are those who store up food for their soul and for the souls of others. That’s the
cultivation and care, budding, blooming, setting the fruit, maturing, going to
seed—and of storing it up for when you will need it. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Whether or not Paul was
thinking of peaches as I am these days doesn’t really matter. Because the
lesson for each of us in bearing fruit and growing—the lesson for ourselves, for
our families, our workplaces, for our schools, our communities, and for our
church—is this: Focus on the process, and the produce will come. Focus on the
process, so that you may “be made strong with all the strength that comes from God’s
glorious power, and . . . prepared to endure everything with patience, while
giving thanks to the Father who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of
the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:11-12). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">May it be so for
you. Make it be so for you. Amen.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Copyrighted
© 2015 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at <a href="mailto:02tlsjeff@gmail.com">02tlsjeff@gmail.com</a>.</span></span> </span></div>
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Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-43223005414276076902015-07-14T05:52:00.000-04:002015-07-14T05:52:10.567-04:00All Means All--First Baptist Church Asheville, NC, July 12, 2015<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Amos 7:7-15; Mark 6:14-29</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This morning’s
gospel lesson from Mark 6 reads as though it was lifted from the pages of a
steamy novel. The bedroom politics of the marriage of Herod Antipas to his
brother’s divorced wife Herodias, the suggestive overtones of his
stepdaughter’s dance at his birthday party, and Herodias’s calculatingly lethal
exploitation of her daughter to manipulate her husband that ended with the head
of John the Baptizer on a platter make this entirely tangential episode in the
gospel of Mark look like the stuff of tabloids and pulp fiction. There’s not
another passage in the four gospels that makes it any harder for good
church-goin’ folk—and their preacher—to stay focused on Jesus. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I once paid a
pastoral visit on a widow in her seventies who had just returned from her first-ever
trip to New Orleans. “So, what did you think of the Big Easy?” I asked. I was
left speechless when she answered with a wry smile on her face and a sparkle in
her eye: “Oooh, I didn’t know there WAS so much sin in the world.” “I see,” I
said, while I tried to figure out whether I should tell her I was glad she
enjoyed her trip or I should offer to hear her confession. Once the music and
the dancing start, it’s hard to stay focused on Jesus. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We have to be
reminded that the point of this morning’s gospel lesson is who Jesus is and
what Jesus is doing. Mark 6—the chapter in which this episode is
recounted—begins with Jesus teaching in the synagogue and his wisdom and his
mighty works. That is what Herod Antipas had heard about when our passage
begins in verse 14: “King Herod heard of it; for Jesus’ name had become known.”
The point is who Jesus is and what Jesus is doing. In the flashback to the
court of Herod Antipas and the execution of John the Baptizer, this morning’s
gospel lesson makes it clear that Jesus’ teaching and wisdom and mighty works played
out from the beginning in a world replete with tensions and conflicts and
anxieties and animosities. Then as now, claims and counter-claims of religious
and political authorities compete for our attention and our loyalty. And once
the claims and counter-claims begin, it’s hard to stay focused on Jesus. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That dynamic of
claim and counter-claim is also present in this morning’s Old Testament lesson.
Instead of John the Baptizer there is the prophet Amos, and instead of Herod
Antipas there is King Jeroboam II of Israel, and instead of Herodias there is
Amaziah the priest of Bethel. Amaziah claims to Jeroboam that Amos has
committed treason. According to Amos 7:10-11, “Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent
to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, ‘Amos has conspired against you in the very
center of the house of Israel. . . . For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall
die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’” </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Amos is a textbook
example of a doom-and-gloom prophet. Amos warned of God’s coming judgment on
God’s own people. Years ago, back when I was a young and ambitious Old
Testament professor, I agreed to teach three simultaneous January Bible Studies
on Amos. There was a Wednesday-evening series at one church, a Sunday-evening
series at another church, and a Friday evening, Saturday morning, Sunday
morning series at a third church. I began that January so excited at the
prospect of unpacking the message of Amos in his time and relating it to the
church and to the world in our time. But I have to tell you: By the end of the
month, the doom and gloom of Amos times three had so beaten me up and beaten me
down that I was demoralized and discouraged for the church and for the world. “Thus
says the Lord: ‘For three transgressions, and for four, I will not revoke the
punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair
of sandals—they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and
push the afflicted out of the way. . . . I will press you down in your place. .
. . Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain their
strength, nor shall the mighty save their lives.” That’s in Amos 2 (vv. 6-7,
13-14). “Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: In all the
squares there shall be wailing. . . . I hate, I despise your festivals, and I
take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your . . .
offerings, I will not accept them. . . . Take away from me the noise of your
songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.” That’s in Amos 5 (vv.
16, 21-23). “Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the
poor of the land, The Lord has spoken. . . . Surely I will never forget any of
their deeds. On that day, says the Lord God, I will turn your feasts into
mourning, and all your songs into lamentation.” That’s in Amos 8 (vv. 4,8,10). Would you like me to stop now? Before
the month was out, I was seriously considering not going to Bible Study, and I
was the one leading it. Not every word of Scripture, you see, is a word of
comfort and peace. Two centuries after Amos, the prophet Jeremiah took up his
predecessor’s mantle when he said, “From the least to the greatest of them, everyone
is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They
have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when
there is no peace” (6:13-14). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I for one am
convinced that we have gathered here this morning as a wounded people whose
wounds are being treated carelessly. We are wounded by our own excesses and by
the excesses of others. We are wounded by the apathy of others and by our own
apathy toward others. We are wounded by tensions and conflicts and anxieties
and animosities, by claims and counter-claims. For example, two weeks ago today
I saw for the first time a now widespread internet meme: There are side-by-side
photographs of a Confederate flag and a Rainbow Coalition flag; and the caption
reads, “My Facebook feed looks like a battle broke out between the confederates
and a skittles factory.” Travis Garner, a staff minister at Brentwood United
Methodist Church in Brentwood, TN, reflected recently on carrying out ministry in
a culture and a church divided 5 against 4, an allusion to last month’s Supreme
Court ruling on marriage. Garner wrote, “The fact of the matter is that we are
a divided nation, a divided people. In today’s culture, every possible division
between people is exaggerated and exploited. Everything is turned into an
either/or scenario. Either you agree with me, or you are a bigot. Either you
agree with me, or you are completely immoral. . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. The reality,” he wrote, “is that there are
not ‘two sides.’. . . Each of us has a different story, unique experiences,
particular struggles, and when we make anything a simple ‘either/or,’ we
greatly miss the mark. What I’m feeling this morning as I prepare to head to
worship,” he wrote, “is a deep sense of gratefulness that I believe in a God
who loves all people. I’m thankful to be part of a church that has an open
table: all people are invited to sit at God’s table. Which means, by the way,
that people with whom I strongly disagree are loved by God and invited to sit
at God’s table. People who are and have been hurtful to me are loved by God and
invited to sit at God’s table. After all,” he wrote, “Jesus died for bigots. Jesus
died for the immoral. Jesus died for us all.” Travis Garner nailed it. When
charges and counter-charges of bigotry and immorality start flying, it’s hard
to stay focused on Jesus. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In recent weeks, we
have seen considerable publicity given to churches who welcome and affirm the
5s to the exclusion and marginalization of the 4s whom they call bigots, and
considerable publicity has been given to churches who welcome and affirm the 4s
to the exclusion and marginalization of the 5s whom they call immoral. But
instead of churches of 5s and churches of 4s defined by our differences and
divisions, I’d like to lift up this morning a church of 3s. A church of 3s
instead of 4s or 5s is a church whose vision and mission and identity are
grounded in three great equalizers in the Bible. These three great equalizers are
biblical common denominators that stand over against the exaggerated divisions and
the exploited of differences that are so widespread in our world and in the
church. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The first great
equalizer in the Bible is found in Genesis 1:27: All human beings are created
in the image of God. Behind our various divisions and differences there is a
first biblical common denominator: All human beings are created in the image of
God, and “all” means “all”; not just us; not just some; all. The second great
equalizer in the Bible is found in Romans 3:22-23 where Paul wrote, “There is
no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Behind
our various divisions and differences there is a second biblical common
denominator: “There is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God”; and “all” means “all,” not just them, not just some, all. The
third great equalizer in the Bible is found in 2 Corinthians 5:15: Jesus “died
for all.” Behind our various divisions and differences there is a third biblical
common denominator: Jesus “died for all,” and “all” means “all,” not just some,
all. All are created in the image of God; all sin and fall short of the glory
of God; and Jesus died for all. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A church that
grounds its vision and mission and identity in the biblical 3—instead of the
cultural 5 or 4—is a church that refuses to participate in the exaggeration of
divisions and the exploitation of differences. It’s a church that lives by the
reality that there are many more than “two sides” because “Each of us has a
different story, unique experiences, particular struggles” in our respective
and mutual woundedness that our culture and even our churches so often treat so
carelessly. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s not an easy or
comfortable thing to live by the 3s instead of the 5s or the 4s. For example,
most of us here know that on Wednesday evening June 17, the Rev. Clementa
Pinckney, the pastor of the storied Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church,
welcomed into a Bible Study a young man who an hour later would murder him and
eight of his parishioners because that young man’s understanding of the world
and of other human beings had been distorted by a culture that exaggerates
divisions and exploits differences. Something most of us here might not know is
that two years ago, standing in the sanctuary of the congregation he pastored and
addressing a group of doctoral students about the history of Mother Emanuel
Church and its historic activist role in Charleston and in SC working to ensure
that “all” means “all,” as in all human beings are created in the image of God and
as in “All [persons, not just some] are created equal and endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights,” Rev. Pinckney told the group, “You
may have to die<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. . . to do that.” “You
may have to die . . . to do that,” he said. And he did. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that brings us
back to Jesus. In a world that is—and until kingdom come will always be—replete with
tensions and conflicts and anxieties and animosities and torn by claims and
counterclaims, Mark 6 reminds us that whatever else happens in the world around
us and among us and within us, the focus of the church’s worship and the
church’s work, the focus of the church’s vision and mission and identity, what
brings us together in our differences that are real and our divisions that are
powerful is the teaching and wisdom and mighty works of Jesus who died for the
bigots, who died for the immoral, who died for all. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And all means all. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hymn 437 in <i>Celebrating Grace Hymnal</i>: How Wide
the Love of Christ</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">: It knows not class or race<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>but holds our one
humanity within its
broad embrace.</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span>(Herman
G. Stuempfle, Jr., 1996) </div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Copyrighted
© 2015 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at <a href="mailto:02tlsjeff@gmail.com">02tlsjeff@gmail.com</a>.</span></span></div>
Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-83880371163546356072015-07-12T20:29:00.000-04:002015-07-12T20:34:28.852-04:00Born Again--To Love the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T3Bp3bucFCw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T3Bp3bucFCw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><b>John 3:1-21 </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2015 </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>First Baptist Church Asheville, NC</b></span><br />
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Since the twelfth century in England and since the
fourteenth century in Rome, the Sunday after Pentecost has been designated
“Trinity Sunday.” It’s a feast day of the church on which Christians the world
over celebrate “The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity,” as it is officially
known. What I know from decades of observing Trinity Sundays is that even as I
say the phrase, “the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity,” at least some people’s
eyes begin to roll back into their heads while other people’s eyelids close suddenly.
And if I go on to explain that the Trinity is the Christian doctrine that God
is one in essence—<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">homoousion</span></i>,
while at the same time God is distinct in three individual substances—<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">hypostases</span></i>, <i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">heads
begin to snap back and nod forward all around the room. On the Christian
calendar it is Trinity Sunday, but I call it “Whiplash Sunday” because of the
neck injuries that occur when those heads go to snapping back and nodding
forward. Just watch what happens over the next 18 minutes. Chiropractors will
be busy this week adjusting those cervical vertebrae. On any given Sunday, i</span></i>t
only takes a few seconds for a preacher to lose an entire congregation, and on no
Sunday in the Christian year does it happen any faster or more consistently
than on Trinity Sunday when educated elites in pulpits the world over begin to
expound on the great and historic Trinitarian essentials of <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">homoousion</span></i>and <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">hypostases </span></i><i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">and
</span></i><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">perichoresis </span></i><i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">and
</span></i><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">filioque</span></i><i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">.
</span></i><i><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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So perhaps you can appreciate why in some Baptist circles the
doctrine of the Trinity has been dismissed as unbiblical speculation and an
impediment to the proclamation of the gospel pure and simple. Some Baptist preachers
and teachers who have seen those eyes roll back and eyelids close and heads snap
and nod have sworn off the Trinity as counterproductive to the proclamation of
the gospel. So imagine how happy those Baptists <i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">would be to see that this morning’s gospel lesson for Trinity
Sunday contains those great gospel-pure-and-simple one-liners </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“You must be born again” (John 3:7) and “God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in
him may not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Those two verses are
home base for proclaiming the gospel pure and simple. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">But maybe you noticed
that the passage in which those two famous verses occur <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is profoundly Trinitarian: 1) God who so loved
the world in v 16; 2) the Son who said in v 7, “You must be born again,” and 3)
the Spirit—of whom you must be born to enter the kingdom of God, according to vv
5-8. The gospel pure and simple: “You must be born again.” <i>And </i>God in
three Persons, Holy Trinity. So what might it mean that “born of the Spirit,”
“You must be born again,” and “God so loved the world” all occur in one and the
same passage? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It is a truism in
the proclamation of the gospel that we all must be born again. A truism is a
common statement that is obviously true. Over time truisms tend to become a
mile wide and an inch deep in our understanding of them. This morning I want us
to spend just a few minutes reflecting on both the common breadth and the uncommon
depth of this particular truism. It’s true enough that “You must be born again”
applies to all of us. But in gospel of John, Jesus said, “You must be born
again,” one time to one person. In John 1, Jesus said to Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother, “Come and see” (v 39). A few verses later, Jesus said to Philip,
“Follow me” (v 43). In chapter 5, Jesus said to a lame man, “Take up your mat
and walk” (v 8). In chapter 8, Jesus said to a woman caught in adultery, “Go
and sin no more” (v 11). In chapter 9, Jesus said to a man who had been blind
from birth, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam” (v 7). The different paths by
which different people in the gospel of John come to faith and to following and
to forgiveness and to healing are as varied as the persons themselves and their
circumstances in life. Jesus reaches out to touch precisely the place in each
person’s heart and soul and mind that needs healing, forgiving, changing. And Jesus
evidently knew it was not enough to say to the one named Nicodemus, “Come and
see” or “Follow me” or “Get up and walk” or “Go and sin no more” or “Go and
wash.” No. To this one Jesus knew to say, “You must be born again.” “Man, you
gotta start all over.” From scratch. From the get-go. Return to Start. Square
One. Why did Jesus say that to this one? We’ll get to that in just a minute. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">But before we do,
I’ll bet you didn’t know that Jesus spoke Southern. He did. I would remind you
that the gospels of Matthew and Luke both locate the birth of Jesus in
Bethlehem in Judea in the South. And even though the gospel of John says
nothing about Jesus’ birth and upbringing, it echoes the assumption that “the Messiah
is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David
lived” (7:42). So even though all four gospels say that Jesus was from Nazareth
in the Galilee in the North, Jesus is said to have been a son of a distinguished
Southern family. So of course Jesus spoke Southern. We know that for sure,
because in John 3:7, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ya’ll must be born again.”
“Ya’ll.” John 3:7 doesn’t say, “You” in the singular “must be born again.” It
says “You” in the plural “must be born again.” And every good Southerner knows that
“you” in the plural is “Ya’ll.” And every good Southerner also knows that you
don’t say “Ya’ll” to just one person. Only confused Yankees do that. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">When Jesus says
“Ya’ll” to Nicodemus, to whom is he speaking? John 3 doesn’t say that Nicodemus
came alone by night to see Jesus, and it doesn’t say that anyone else came with
him either. We just don’t know. But look at what Nicodemus says to Jesus in
John 3:2: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” Did
you hear that? Who knows? <i>We </i>know. Who is this “We”? Does Nicodemus have
a rabbit in his pocket, as they say where I grew up? Are there others with him
in the room? When Nicodemus is introduced in verse 1, he is identified as a “Pharisee”
and a “leader of the Jews.” The expression, “the Jews,” </span><span style="font-family: BSTGreek; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">oJi #Ioudaivoi</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> in the Greek of John’s gospel is a
technical term of sorts for Jewish religious and political authorities. This
Nicodemus was not simply a faithful first-century Jew; this Nicodemus was a representative
of the religious and political power structure. When Nicodemus says, “We,” and
Jesus says, “Ya’ll,” we are hearing the opening salvo in a gospel-long conflict
between Jesus and the Pharisees and between Jesus and the religious and
political authorities. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In other words,
Jesus did not say, “Ya’ll must be born again,” to unrighteous, unruly,
unreligious people. Instead, the people whom Jesus said “must be born again” were
self-righteous, rules-based narrowly religious people who despised, excluded, and
condemned all but their own kind. To those people Jesus said, “Ya’ll are so
messed up in your thinking that you’ve gotta go back to the beginning and start
all over.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And that’s where “God
so loved the world” comes in. The beginning to which self-righteous,
rules-based, narrowly religious people must go back is the divine motivation expressed
in John 3:16: “God so <i>loved </i>the world.” “God so <i>loved</i>” the fallen,
sin-filled, screwed-up world that God sent the Son, “not to condemn the world,”
v 17 says, but that the world might be saved. Love is God’s motivation,
according to John 3:16. And as God is motivated, so must we all be motivated.
If the reconciling love of God for the world does not motivate every mission
and ministry of this congregation, then “Ya’ll gotta get born again.” You have
to go back to the beginning and start all over. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">That’s what the
Pharisee named Paul understood that that the Pharisee named Nicodemus couldn’t
get—at least not yet—in John 3: “In Christ,” Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God
was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against
them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” God did not entrust
the church with a message of condemnation of the world but a message of reconciliation
of the world. We are motivated not by rules or self-righteousness or narrow religiosity,
but we are motivated by the reconciling love of God, Creator, Redeemer, and
Sustainer, Lover, Beloved, and Love, as St. Augustine put it. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And that’s where
“born of the Spirit” comes in. Remember Tommy Bratton’s Children’s Sermon last
week when he taught the children the Hebrew word<i> </i></span><i><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE;">רוַּח</span></i><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>: Spirit,
wind, breath? It’s </span><span style="font-family: BSTGreek; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">to; pneu'ma</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> in the
Greek of John 3:8, and it’s a play on the word: “The wind blows where it will.”
The Spirit moves freely in the world, unconstrained by our rules and our definitions
of righteousness and our narrow constructions of religiosity. And so do persons
who are “born of the Spirit.” The Pharisee named Nicodemus asked, “How can this
be?” But the Pharisee named Paul claimed that God “</span>has made us competent
to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“The Lord is the Spirit,” he wrote, “and where the Spirit of the Lord
is there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">That’s why this congregation’s vision of what it means to be Baptist asserts,
“we celebrate your freedom to be and become all that God made you to be.” That’s
an expression grounded in being “born of the Spirit.” And it goes on to say, “</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">We’re convinced that God loves
everyone—the whole world and each person in it. All people deserve our respect
and love, so our arms and hearts are open. . . . We’re trying to live in our
world like Jesus lived in his, accepting everyone and serving our neighbors, community,
and world.” That’s the essential difference between the Jesus way and the Pharisee
way, and too many people who call themselves Christians still don’t see the
difference. It’s a difference grounded in being born again—to love the world
that God so loved. No more rules-based, self-righteous, narrow-minded
religiosity. </span></div>
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<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">That’s what
it means that “God so loved the world,” “You must be born again,” and “You must
be born of the Spirit” all three occur in the same passage. Those aren’t
one-liners at all: they are three in one and one in three. The gospel pure and
simple in a Trinitarian package. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">More than 40 years
ago, in a small town not far from here, an investigative reporter from a big-city
newspaper walked the town square purchasing items from local merchants by
writing what looked to be starter-checks on a new bank account: The checks had
an account number on them but not the name or the address of the account
holder. Every one of the merchants cheerily closed the sales without asking for
a picture ID and without noticing that each check was signed, “U.” “R.”
“Stuck.” “U. R. Stuck.” And stuck they were: not only with a bad check but also
with an embarrassing exposé in the big-city newspaper.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I’ve never
forgotten Mr. U. R. Stuck. He comes around in my life periodically. I’ll bet
he’s visited your life too. If he hasn’t yet, he will sooner or later. We all
get stuck. Sooner or later in our life, in our marriage, in our parenting, in
our work, in school, at church, in our relationship with God, in our
relationship with others, in our relationship with ourselves, we get stuck. Whether
it is stuck in self-righteousness as was the case of Nicodemus or stuck in cynicism
or shame as happened in that small town after the exposé, whether it is in trusting
too little which makes us anxious and uncertain or in trusting too much which
leaves us vulnerable and exposed, whether it is disappointment in others or
disappointment in ourselves, whether it is woundedness from blows inflicted on
us by others or self-inflicted injury, sooner or later, Mr. U. R. Stuck shows
up in our life. And when he does, the mile-wide truism in John 3:7 applies to
us. The only way forward is to go back, all the way back. </span>You must be
born again. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You must be born again to love as God so loved the world.
You must be born of the Spirit that like the wind blows where it will to free you
from wherever you are stuck so that you may “<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">be and become all that God made you to be” in God’s service, in Jesus’
name, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">May it be so. May
it be so for you. Amen. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
BENEDICTION: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you go from this place into the week ahead of you, may
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with each one of you, now and forever. Amen.<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Copyrighted
© 2015 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for
non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be
contacted at <a href="mailto:02tlsjeff@gmail.com">02tlsjeff@gmail.com</a>.</span></span></div>
Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-90366580268296349792015-07-06T09:44:00.000-04:002015-07-06T09:45:23.057-04:00Pentecost Sermon at First Baptist Church, Asheville, NC <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4I1Q62ixTO0eGblZjfyvQQ1V2dNcODDXBJdEuGW_t66ObhauQRnYDTXtBgZi255zrPyGo9W2Vkmjlv3FkblybotOu9iRrbYZG3MS36nbCBp1wzrNiyDuj4qBQ1gjMESV6ug3/s1600/FBC+Asheville.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4I1Q62ixTO0eGblZjfyvQQ1V2dNcODDXBJdEuGW_t66ObhauQRnYDTXtBgZi255zrPyGo9W2Vkmjlv3FkblybotOu9iRrbYZG3MS36nbCBp1wzrNiyDuj4qBQ1gjMESV6ug3/s1600/FBC+Asheville.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4I1Q62ixTO0eGblZjfyvQQ1V2dNcODDXBJdEuGW_t66ObhauQRnYDTXtBgZi255zrPyGo9W2Vkmjlv3FkblybotOu9iRrbYZG3MS36nbCBp1wzrNiyDuj4qBQ1gjMESV6ug3/s1600/FBC+Asheville.bmp" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">In Their Own Language: What
Does This Mean?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Acts 2:1-21</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">May 24, 2015 </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">
</span>
<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/vNbXIHEz19U" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Watch Sermon Excerpt Video </span></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“What does this
mean?” they said in Acts 2:12. “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own
native language?” they asked in Acts 2:8. It was an amazing event—a miracle,
even—this first-century Pentecost in which persons of Asian and African and
European extraction heard the apostles “declaring the wonders of God” in their
own languages. This morning, on this twenty-first century Pentecost, I want to
suggest that as important as it is in the life of the church to celebrate Pentecost
as a miracle—as it is being celebrated by the faithful all over the world this
morning—it is even more important in the life of the church to appropriate Pentecost
as a model, as a model to be put into practice in all of the church’s missions
and ministries. “What does this mean?” they ask. “In our own language,” they
say. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the structure of
the book of Acts, this miracle and model in chapter 2 is the beginning of the
fulfillment of the promise of the words of Jesus in the first chapter of Acts. According
to Acts 1:8, Jesus said, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on
you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.” The church’s first Pentecost signaled the
beginning of the ends-of-the-earth witness of the apostles and the church. But
from a “God’s-eye-view,” it was not a beginning at all but a continuation—a
continuation of God’s self-revelation and self-communication “in their own
language.” According to the opening words of the book Hebrews: “Long ago God
spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these
last days God has spoken to us by a Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). God used the words
and songs and dramatic actions and the shape of the lives of the prophets to
communicate God’s self, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s essential
nature, and God’s call and claim on our lives. “In the beginning was the Word,”
says John 1:1, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and
truth,” says John 1:14. It has always been the way of God to “use language we
can understand,” as Robert Frost put it in his marvelous and largely underappreciated
poem, “Choose Something Like a Star.” In the life and ministry and the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God communicated God’s self and God’s call
and claim on our lives in our own language. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, if it is the way
of God in the world to communicate in our language, then every mission and
ministry of the church must begin with “their own language.” The effectiveness
of the gospel witness of the church in all of its missions and its ministries depends
on the church’s ability—the ability of all of us in this room—to communicate in
the native tongue, as it were, of the people with whom we interact on a daily
basis. The gospel witness of the church does not depend on how well we
communicate in our own language but how well we communicate in the language of
those with whom we interact and whom we hope to reach with the message of the
gospel. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We have long
required professional missionaries to be trained in the language of the people to
whom they were being sent. That’s linguistic competence: competence in the
vocabulary and the grammar and syntax of the language of those among whom they
will be attempting to communicate the gospel. And along with linguistic
competence, we have also instructed them in the customs and practices of the
people to whom they are going. That’s cultural competence. It’s not enough to
know the language; you have to understand the culture as well. There is
linguistic competence and there is cultural competence. And then there is interpersonal
competence. The gospel witness of our lives individually and collectively depends
every bit as much on our interpersonal competence as it does on linguistic
competence and cultural competence. If the greatest commandment is, as Jesus
says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30) and “You
shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31) and “This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12), then our
“ends-of-the-earth” witness begins with our individual and collective interpersonal
competence in love in their own language. Not in our own language. In their own
language. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Twenty years ago, Gary
Chapman, a Baptist minister and marriage counselor, published what became a NY
Times bestseller, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Five Love
Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate</i>. The “five love
languages” identified by Chapman are words of affirmation, quality time, gifts,
acts of service, and physical touch. Based on his experience and expertise as a
counselor, Chapman said that if you want to communicate your love for someone
effectively, use words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and
physical touch. Those are the five languages of love. But Chapman pointed out something
even more important than knowing and using these five languages. The key to communicating
love effectively, Chapman said, is using their language, not your own. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For example, years ago
it wasn’t unusual for me to stop at a flower shop on my way home from work on a
Friday afternoon to buy a fresh flower arrangement for my wife Bev. The Neil
Diamond song “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Any More” hit the top of the Billboard
Hot 100 the year after we were married, and I was determined not ever to be
that guy. So I brought flowers to express my love. Until one day, Bev sat me
down and told me to stop. She told me the flowers were pretty and that she
appreciated the thought, but there were other things she would rather have with
the money I was spending on flowers from the florist. “If you want to bring me
flowers,” she said, “just grab a $5 handful at the grocery store. They’ll do
just fine,” she said. I was crushed. The flowers I was bringing home expressed
my love. I would stand in front of the large glass windows of the cooler and
inspect the arrangements to see which one was just right. Were their daisies in
it? She loves daisies. Was there at least one rose? She loves roses. Was the
design of the arrangement creative, just a little bit quirky? She loves quirky.
But here’s the problem. For all my good intentions—and we all know what road is
paved with good intentions—for all my good intentions in communicating love, those
arrangements didn’t speak love to the person to whom I was giving them. In
fact, they were actually counterproductive to our relationship because they
were speaking in my own language, not hers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The same thing can
happen at church. One Sunday morning after worship I hugged a long-time member of
the congregation I was serving. “O, I like hugs,” she said, with a big smile. And
then she frowned. “Your predecessor would kiss me too, and I don’t like
kisses,” she said firmly. Note to the pastoral file: Hug this one, but don’t
kiss her. That would be counterproductive. The same thing can happen in our
theology and our teaching and our preaching. The Rev. Dr. G. Bimawoo Fiawoo
grew up in Ghana, earned a doctorate in Great Britain, and was sent by the
Presbyterian Church in the UK as a missionary to Robeson County, NC. When I met
him in the 1970s, he was a faculty member in the English Department at North
Carolina Central University in Durham where he was one of my teachers. Dr.
Fiawoo spent his summers in Chicago working in a church-sponsored program for underprivileged
children. One morning, he led a simple devotional on the opening line of the Lord’s
Prayer. But he said that every time he spoke of God as a father—God like a
father, God is our father, God is your father, “Our Father who art in heaven”—one
little boy would frown or shake his head or look away. So when the devotional
was over and the children were beginning to make their way to their next
activity, Dr. Fiawoo stopped the little boy and told him that he noticed that
it seemed to bother him whenever he said that God was like a father. “Not like
my father,” said the little boy; “My father killed my mother and my sister.”
Note to the pastoral file: “Father” isn’t love language for this one. Because
of their experience with the person and the language of “father,” that word
about God does not express love at all to some people; in fact, to them it
means something that is actually the opposite of what Jesus intended when he addressed
God as “Abba,” father (Mark 14:36). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In our gospel
witness—together as a church and individually as faithful followers of Jesus—if
the language we use is not their own language, it does not communicate love; in
fact, it is counterproductive in our efforts to communicate the gospel message.
When a congregation I was pastoring was preparing a mission team to go into an
eastern European country, we were instructed in how best to present ourselves to
adherents of Islam. We were taught to self-identify as a “follower of Jesus” rather
than as a “Christian.” Centuries of crusades and Christian-Muslim conflict have
turned the word “Christian” into a derogatory term to millions of Muslims. But
to be “a follower of Jesus” is to self-identify with a figure who is honored as
a prophet in Islam. Now, I’m embarrassed to tell you that my first reaction
to that instruction was to become indignant. “Who are they to determine how I
should identify myself?” I thought. “How I express my identity is my business,
not theirs. I’m a Christian, and a Christian is who I will be to anyone and
everyone.” That was the reaction inside my head. But then I heard another voice
inside that countered my reaction with a different question: “What is your goal
here, Jeff? Is self-expression really your highest goal? Or is the effective
communication of the message of the gospel your highest goal? If self-expression
is more important to you than effective communication of the gospel, then
insist on using your own language.” For those of you who are old enough to
remember, you might call that the Sammy Davis, Jr., approach to mission and
ministry: “I gotta be me, I gotta be me.” Edie Brickell sang it 20 years later:
“What I am is what I am.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But assertions of self-expression
are the antithesis of the wisdom expressed in the words of the apostle Paul in
Galatians 2:20: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me”;
and in 1 Corinthians 9:20, “To the Jews I became a Jew, in order to win Jews”;
and in 1 Corinthians 10:32-33, “Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the
church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking
my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved.” Because after
all, Paul said, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful
or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way,” Paul wrote (1
Corinthians 13:4-5). And that’s exactly the counsel of Gary Chapman in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Five Love Languages. </i>It’s a model for
interpersonal competence in every aspect of our lives and our missions and our
ministries. Before we insist on telling someone what means love in our language
we must first ask the question, “What means love to this person in her or his or
their own language?” </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s the lesson in
the church’s first Pentecost that I want you to see this morning. If you will ask
that question consistently and persistently in your every relationship and interaction,
sooner or later you will find yourself in the presence of an amazing event, a
miracle even, when you succeed in the interpersonal competence of communicating
in their own language. That’s the model of Pentecost. It’s the daily practice
of Pentecost in all our interactions in family, church, workplace, school,
neighborhood, community, nation, world. And that’s how we too can fulfill the
promise of the words of Jesus for the ends-of-the-earth witness of all of us, individually
and together. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Benediction: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As you go from this
place into the week ahead of you, go loving others in their own language as you
have been loved by God in yours. Go with God’s blessing, and go with God’s
peace. Amen.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Copyrighted © 2015 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at <a href="mailto:02tlsjeff@gmail.com">02tlsjeff@gmail.com</a>..</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-30235236364453359552012-08-06T06:15:00.000-04:002012-08-06T06:15:15.155-04:00A Word of Thanks for "Bread for the Journey"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ma-px0ZEG-LlRKz8iaebD3ApuemQkDfDVMUBeQQ0bxbTP55aIptwcRnWknjERaUjqLUzmOOK3LJWNt-GPPXdrUE2rDh6rekwtJ47E9eBzXhq9LzGMeRRqNXy_SoHFs7DLqJU/s1600/statue+pic+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ma-px0ZEG-LlRKz8iaebD3ApuemQkDfDVMUBeQQ0bxbTP55aIptwcRnWknjERaUjqLUzmOOK3LJWNt-GPPXdrUE2rDh6rekwtJ47E9eBzXhq9LzGMeRRqNXy_SoHFs7DLqJU/s400/statue+pic+03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<em>This note to the congregation of First Baptist Church, Greenville, S.C., appeared in the church </em><a href="http://www.firstbaptistgreenville.com/WeeklyNewsletter/News120730.pdf" target="_blank"><em>News</em></a><em> last week. The photos are by Juli Morrow and Bootie Cothran.</em>
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July 27, 2010</div>
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<br /></div>
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Friends, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The unveiling of Charlie Pate’s statue, “Bread for the
Journey: Giving and Receiving,” on July 26 was a sweet culmination of years of
stewardship visioning, planning, preaching, and teaching. I am grateful to
everyone who had a hand in making it happen and especially to the Vacation
Bible School children, teachers, and helpers who shared in the event. </div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4eiH8oH12kNNz9E0R5dzTd9jbs_FzsbWVI15-67VEdaE32zU9CUVVG1Mk5t_9bKDE2RPgPXePVszmgBzvjAVj3v8HUcluvxM2EeoQxFxdCqI_P96FLUZnmP88gQ8-g0PKmKhu/s1600/statue+pic+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4eiH8oH12kNNz9E0R5dzTd9jbs_FzsbWVI15-67VEdaE32zU9CUVVG1Mk5t_9bKDE2RPgPXePVszmgBzvjAVj3v8HUcluvxM2EeoQxFxdCqI_P96FLUZnmP88gQ8-g0PKmKhu/s320/statue+pic+04.jpg" width="320" /></a>Placed where children (and their parents) coming and going
to Sunday School, choir, children’s activities and missions education, FBCK,
and ITP can see it and touch it, Charlie’s portrayal in bronze of the little boy
with five loaves and two fish in John 6 holding out his basket and looking up
into the heavens is a wonderful children’s companion to the “Good Samaritan”
statue in the Remembrance Garden. It is a visible reminder of the biblical
witness that God<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> “is able to accomplish
abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20) when we are
willing to offer what we have and who we are to God. </span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I remain immeasurably
grateful to the First Baptist congregation for your generosity, kindness, and
prayers on the journey we have shared together; and I look forward to seeing
the exciting “Great Things Still To Come” that God has in mind for you in the
future. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Grace and peace, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-59418760539887485352012-02-12T10:20:00.000-05:002012-02-12T10:20:09.773-05:00The Chemistry of Love: A Valentine's Sermon<strong><em>The Orangeburg Series</em></strong><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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</tbody></table>Mark 12:28-34<br />
February 12, 2012<br />
<br />
For nearly 25 years now, I have been telling college students and congregations and anyone else who would listen that the two great frontiers for theology in our time are astrophysics and neuroscience. <br />
<br />
Astrophysics just might get closer to “reading the mind of God,” as the great physicist Stephen Hawking put it, than any other discipline. The farther out in space we look, the farther back we are seeing in time. And in theory, at least, if we can see far enough out, then we can to see far enough back to see the first light of the beginning of time when “God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light” (Genesis 1:3). <br />
<br />
But in addition to “reading the mind of God,” theology must plumb the depths of the human psyche as well, so the other great frontier for theology in our time is neuroscience, the study of the structures that underlie the human mind. If, as Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your . . . <em>mind</em>” (Mark 12:30), and the apostle Paul says, “Let the same <em>mind</em> be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5), then the structures of the brain that underlie the human mind are of utmost importance to theology. <br />
<br />
Exploring the mind of God in astrophysics and delving the underlying structures of the human mind in neuroscience are the great frontiers for theology in our time. <br />
<br />
But I know very well that you didn’t come here this morning for a lecture on astrophysics or neuroscience either one. What most of us feel that we need from church on Sunday is something we can carry away that will help us recover from the week that we just had and get through the week that lies ahead. So come with me for a few minutes to the grocery store. After all, that’s where we usually go to get the things we ran out of last week and need for next week, isn’t it? <br />
<br />
Maybe you still need a Valentine’s Day card or a box of candy or a big helium balloon or a handful of cheerful flowers. Whether you’ve been dating for six months or married for 60 years or anyplace in between, you better come home with something on Tuesday. <br />
<br />
I did a double take as I walked down the aisle. I was passing the magazines when a picture caught my eye. It was of a dark-haired couple in a romantic embrace, eyes closed, face to face, very nearly—but not quite—lips to lips. The photo was slightly grainy, sultry, steamy looking. In the bottom right corner, superimposed in red letters on a field of black was the word “Love.” Maybe <em>Time</em> would run this cover photo or <em>The National Enquirer</em>. But there was no mistaking the fact that this blissfully sensuous and romantic moment was framed by a bold yellow border that communicated as clearly and as incongruously as the white capital letters across the top: <em>National Geographic. National Geographic</em>? What kind of geography is this? Sign me up! I wanna be a geography major. <br />
<br />
I did a double take and walked on by. After all, it wasn’t love I came to the grocery store for at 10:00 on a weeknight after having been up since 4 a.m. It was children’s Tylenol, a gallon of milk, and 0.7 mm lead for a middle-schooler’s mechanical pencil. Only to have my attention distracted by a grainy photograph in a yellow border. I walked away with the picture on the magazine still in my head, and I had to ask myself, “What is it I’m here for?” “Keep moving,” I said. “You’re not here for ‘Love’—or <em>National Geographic</em> either.” So I waited until the next time I was in the grocery store—about three days later. A gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and <em>National Geographic</em>, the February issue 2006, just in time for Valentine’s Day. <br />
<br />
Since a whole bunch of you are signed up for the Valentine’s Day Banquet tomorrow night, I decided to return this morning to the topic of that first “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23: Love. “Love: The Chemical Reaction” was the cover story. Lauren Slater’s article was a blend of <em>Cosmopolitan</em>, <em>Anthropology Today</em>, and <em>Scientific American</em>. And Jodi Cobb’s photographs from Argentina, Cancun, Italy, Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were vintage <em>Geographic</em> with a Generation Next edge. <br />
<br />
The article introduced the reader to an anthropologist named Helen Fisher at Rutgers University who studies “the biochemical pathways of love in all its manifestations: lust, romance, attachment, the way they wax and wane” (p. 35). It turns out that the chemical pathways in the brain that light up when you are “madly in love” are those that are associated with a chemical neurotransmitter called dopamine. “Dopamine [is a chemical in the brain that] creates intense energy, exhilaration, focused attention, and motivation to win rewards. [Dopamine] is why,” writes Slater, “when you are newly in love, you can stay up all night, watch the sun rise, run a race, ski fast down a slope ordinarily too steep for your skill. Love makes you bold, makes you bright, makes you run real risks, which you sometimes survive, and sometimes you don’t” (ibid.). <br />
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Donatella Marazziti is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pisa, in Italy. She studies another chemical pathway of love. Her studies of people who could be identified as “passionately in love” have shown that their blood levels of the chemical serotonin are 40% lower than normal, which corresponds to level of serotonin exhibited by people who have been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In the best one-liner in the article Slater writes, “Love and mental illness may be difficult to tell apart” (p. 38). “More seriously,” she writes, “if the chemically altered state induced by romantic love is akin to a mental illness or a drug-induced euphoria, exposing yourself for too long could result in psychological damage” (p. 44). In fact, “Studies around the world confirm that indeed passion usually ends. Its conclusion is as common as its initial flare. No wonder some cultures think selecting a lifelong mate based on something so fleeting is folly” (pp. 43-44). <br />
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A few years ago, I sat with a group pastor-colleagues looking at each other in shock when we heard the news that a well-respected young colleague of ours had separated from his wife of five years because, they said, they just didn’t “have the same chemistry” any more. That’s what they said. They didn’t “have the same chemistry.” Duh. The chemistry of courtship is an unsustainable imbalance in the brain more akin to mental illness than to any other human condition. The brain chemistry of a couple in love is literally different after four or five years of intimacy. <br />
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Sustainable loving relationships inevitably move “from the dopamine-drenched state of romantic love to the relative quiet of an oxytocin-induced attachment,” writes Slater. “Oxytocin is a hormone that promotes a feeling of attachment, connectedness, bonding. It is released when we hug our long-term spouse, or hug our children. It is released when a mother nurses her infant” (p. 45). We tend to speak of the “chemistry of love” as metaphor, but it turns out that the literal chemistry of love in a long-term relationship is different from the heady brew of a romantic chase. Our body produces is less dopamine and more serotonin and oxytocin, so that long-term relationships are chemically less like mental illness than courtships are. It’s no wonder that our concept of love is sometimes so confused. The literal chemistry of our love changes over time. <br />
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Our relationship with God also changes over time. In this morning’s gospel lesson, Jesus said that there is no commandment greater than “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). That sounds almost dopamine drenched, serotonin-starved, enthusiastic and obsessive, doesn’t it? <em>All</em>, <em>all</em>, <em>all</em>, <em>all</em>! And there is a second, he says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). That one sounds oxytocin rich: attachment, connectedness, bonding with others. Who would have thought that biochemistry and the Bible, neuroscience and Scripture, could be so much alike? <br />
<br />
Look at how the Old Testament book of Hosea talks about the growth and development of our relationship with God. In chapter 2, we read of God’s courtship, God’s wooing of God’s people Israel: “I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. . . . There she shall respond as in the days of her youth” (Hosea 2:14-15). Do you see the allure, the responsiveness, the underlying passion of courtship in these verses? But the relationship does not end there. <br />
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The relationship moves from short-term courtship to long-term commitment: “On that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband.’ . . . and I will take you for my wife forever” (Hosea 2:16,19). When the relationship moves from courtship to long-term commitment, we no longer read of allure and passion. The prevailing terms of the relationship shift to righteousness and justice, and steadfast love and mercy. “I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2:19-20). In Hosea 2, God’s relationship with Israel—and with us—is described as though it moves from a dopamine-drenched, serotonin-starved courtship in the wilderness to an oxytocin-rich relationship grounded in core covenantal commitments: righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness.” Those are some marriage vows! Those core covenantal commitments long outlive the initial energy and enthusiasm, obsession and compulsion in a relationship and replace them with attachment, connectedness, bonding. <br />
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Notice one more thing about this long-term commitment. It is only in the long-term relationship of attachment, connectedness, and bonding with God that the book of Hosea says we “know the Lord” (Hosea 2:20). So many recent converts to the Christian faith make the mistake of assuming that the way they feel at the beginning of their Christian walk—the energy, the enthusiasm, the passion, the obsession and the compulsion of their feelings for God—are the substance of a relationship with God. But the book of Hosea very clearly says that’s only the courtship phase. After the courtship phase comes settling down and settling in for the long haul in righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness, the core covenantal commitments. <br />
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There are entire churches that are designed for courtship. Their mission is centered almost exclusively on match-making between God and new believers. They design their worship experiences and their ministries to elicit energy, enthusiasm, passion and obsession for God and for the church. Those are exciting and lively churches. After all, Psalm 47:1 says, “Clap your hands, all you peoples, shout to God with loud songs of joy”; and Psalm 150:4 says, “Praise God with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!” Those churches are as noisy as teenagers in love. Every Sunday is Valentine’s Day. <br />
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But other churches are designed almost exclusively for marriage, the long-haul relationship with God in this life that is characterized not so much by obsession and passion but by familiarity and trust, in “the relative quiet of an oxytocin-induced attachment.” Habakkuk 2:20 tells us, “the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep <em>silence</em> before him!” There’s no clapping and shouting there, but silence in the presence of the holy one. “The effect of righteousness,” says Isaiah 32:17, “will be <em>peace</em> . . . <em>quietness</em> and trust forever.” Every Sunday in those churches marks an Anniversary Day decades long in the making. <br />
<br />
One of the unfortunate things about the American church scene in our time is that these two kinds of churches talk about each other as though each is the only kind of church that is really church. The old marriage churches call the new courtship churches “all style and no substance,” while the new courtship churches call the old marriage churches “cold and dead.” And even some people inside their own church sometimes launch attacks based on “hot” and “cold,” “style” and “substance,” “loud” and “quiet.” And all the while, those criticisms are signs of arrogance and ignorance. <br />
<br />
It’s arrogance, because that criticism asserts that where I am in my relationship with God and my walk with God and my worship of God is where everyone else should be. And it’s ignorance, because it knows nothing about the chemistry of love, the profound and powerful ways that our deepest and most intimate relationships begin in enthusiasm, passion and obsession, and then develop and change over time in attachment and connectedness and bonding, “quietness and trust.”<br />
<br />
Whichever church you’re in, don’t get caught up in the arrogance and the ignorance of criticism. <br />
<br />
By the way, it turns out that I was in the grocery store for love at 10:00 p.m. on a weeknight. It isn’t the dopamine-drenched, serotonin-suppressed love of the first four or five years of Bev’s and my romance. Instead, it’s the oxytocin-rich love of 34 years of marriage and four children and all the joy and the anguish, all the gratitude and the disappointment, all the happiness and the heartache that comes with the chemistry and the core covenantal commitments that are at the heart of love that lasts. <br />
<br />
And I’m still in love with the local church more than 30 years after my ordination, not for the rush of it that it was in the beginning, but for the core covenantal commitments between God and God’s people at the intersection of time and eternity in Jesus Christ. <br />
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So if ever find yourself asking, “What is it I’m here for?” I suggest that you consider answering this way: <em>I’m here for love in all its manifestations</em>, and above all, love for God with heart and soul and mind and strength and love for neighbor as for self. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2012 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-90408879745552183452012-02-05T10:48:00.000-05:002012-02-05T10:48:28.588-05:00Reservoirs and Cisterns: The Spirit Dwells in You<strong><em>The Orangeburg Series</em></strong><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fbcorangeburg.org/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuWNGdRrwgZdd3nItxWgVXBrVBwgIkcb1wdQilCZ82XVStCRASanZPBubRr94uJG_9iPkzvUVOcMdP1Ng89MI-sO1gUlphAP_Iz4DEJE8KlTYx58fWw8Ti4-2fVxw_xQY8cRS/s1600/FBCO.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the pic to visit the church <br />
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</tbody></table>Ezekiel 36:24-30; Romans 8:1-14 <br />
January 22, 2012<br />
<br />
I want to begin this morning by taking you on a quick tour of three locations in the mountains of Upstate South Carolina. <br />
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Our first stop is the iconic Table Rock. It’s picturesque in every season from almost any angle. But my interest this morning is not the mountain. It’s Table Rock Lake at the foot of the mountain. Table Rock Lake is a man-made lake. It was completed in 1930 to provide drinking water for the city of Greenville. As reservoirs go, it’s relatively small by today’s standards, covering 36 acres and holding an estimated 9.25 billion gallons of water. East of Table Rock, the newer and larger North Saluda Reservoir was completed in 1961 and stores approximately 25 billion gallons. Larger still, to the west in Oconee and Pickens Counties is Lake Keowee, which began to fill in 1970 and covers more than 18,000 acres with some 300 miles of shoreline. <br />
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One of the seldom-told stories about the growth of Greenville over the last 50 years is the role of these three reservoirs. Without them, its expansion in population and business and industry and quality of life would have been impossible. Now, the point of this quick tour is not to promote Greenville. After all, self-promotion is one of Greenville’s favorite pastimes. And besides, these days I’m wearing City of Orangeburg cufflinks; and I love walking along the North Fork of the Edisto River, the longest free-flowing blackwater river in North America; and every chance I get, I stop to smell the magnificent roses right here in Orangeburg. <br />
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The point of the quick tour through the mountains of the Upstate is to get us thinking about reservoirs. “Reservoir” is a French word for “storehouse,” a place where what you need is stored up, reserved for when you need it. Let me show you a set of reservoirs from the time of Jesus. Out in the Judean wilderness, down near the southernmost tip of the Dead Sea, there is a massive, rocky outcropping called Masada. It rises over 1,400 feet above the Dead Sea. On top of Masada, Herod the Great of biblical fame built a luxurious three-level palace and a nearly impregnable fortress. <br />
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One of the most impressive parts of Herod’s Masada was its water-storage system. Masada is located 20 miles from the nearest source of fresh water, so Herod’s engineers designed and excavated twelve huge cisterns—underground reservoirs—carved out of solid rock and plastered from top to bottom to keep them from leaking. They were fed by rainwater and could hold some 40,000 cubic meters of water. That’s more than 10.5 million gallons, enough to provide Masada with drinking water for an entire year and to fill Herod’s several swimming pools and Roman-style bathhouses and to provide irrigation for small-scale agriculture. <br />
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I call your attention to Herod’s cisterns at Masada to remind you that in addition to external reservoirs—lakes laid out on land—there are also internal reservoirs, cisterns carved out on the inside. Do you have an internal reservoir? Do you have a spiritual cistern? Do you have a place where you are able to store up, to reserve, what you need to sustain your relationship with God, even in the dry seasons of your life? Do you have a place where “the Spirit of God dwells in you”? <br />
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In last Sunday’s sermon, I encouraged you to “Receive the Holy Spirit,” as Jesus says in the gospel of John (20:22), to embrace the constant, continuing, empowering, and purifying presence of God in your life. Next Sunday, I will begin a series of series on what the apostle Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22). Jesus says, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” (John 15:5). In Romans 7:4, the apostle Paul says that we are to “bear fruit for God.” This morning, I want you to consider what it is going to take for you to “bear fruit for God,” as Paul says, and “to bear much fruit,” as Jesus puts it. <br />
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One of the distinctive things about the cultivation of fruit is that fruit-bearing shrubs and trees don’t spring up quickly like the grasses and flowers of the field. Fruit-bearing plants grow and bear slowly over a long period of time, and they require reliable and sustained sources of water to bear fruit. Do you have a reservoir, a spiritual cistern within you, so that you can provide reliable and sustained irrigation to your life to bear fruit, as Jesus and Paul say? Especially in the dry seasons of our lives, we need spiritual reservoirs, deep cisterns within us for the Spirit of God to dwell in us.<br />
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Sometimes we think of the Spirit of God as a force or power that comes to us from far away, like the rain-bearing storms that sweep across the United States from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, or the ones that flow up from the south out of the Gulf of Mexico or from the Gulfstream of the Atlantic. In that way of thinking, the Spirit of comes to us intermittently, unpredictably, from somewhere far away. Other times, we think of the Spirit of God as located somewhere not so far away where we can gain access to it more consistently than just waiting for it to rain down on us from above. For example, we keep a goodly pool of the Holy Spirit right here at 1240 Russell Street on The Square in Orangeburg. This room, this congregation, is a reservoir for the Holy Spirit. Whenever we need a little or a lot, we can come here to get it, right? Those are common ways of thinking about the Spirit of God, and both of them reflect something true and authentic and entirely biblical about the way we experience the Holy Spirit. <br />
<br />
But in this morning’s New Testament lesson, the apostle Paul offers a third way of thinking about the Spirit when he says in Romans 8:9, “the Spirit of God dwells in you.” “The Spirit of God dwells in you.” Paul says that the Spirit of God does not come to us intermittently or unpredictably from someplace far away. Paul says that the Spirit of God is not in some location where we must go to experience it there. Paul says the Spirit of God is in you. “For those who are in Christ Jesus,” Paul says in Romans 8:9, “the Spirit of God dwells in you.” <br />
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Now, Paul didn’t invent that idea. He got it from his Bible, the Jewish Scriptures, what we Christians now call the “Old Testament.” In Ezekiel 36:7, in this morning’s Old Testament lesson, God promises, “I will put my spirit within you”; and so in 1 Corinthians 3:16, the apostle Paul asks, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” Not far away. Not just in this place. In you. <br />
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How about you? This morning I want you to think about how much room there is in you for the Holy Spirit. Is there room for the Holy Spirit in you? Or are you so busy, crowded cluttered and distracted on the inside that the only room for the Holy Spirit in your life is on your outside? Or maybe in your case, it’s not busy-ness or clutter or distraction, but you are simply impervious to the Spirit. You are one of those folks who doesn’t let anything inside you. Your insides are like the rock of Masada before Herod’s engineers went to work carving out the cisterns. Is there room for the Holy Spirit in you? <br />
<br />
The great 16-century Spanish pastor and reformer and mystic, John of the Cross, spoke of “deep caverns of the soul” (Living Flame, 3.18). He said, “The capacity of these caverns is deep, because that which they can hold is deep and infinite; and that is God” (Living Flame, 3.22). God becomes present “wherever [God] finds space,” John said (Living Flame, 1.15). <br />
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According to John of the Cross, most people who struggle to “find God” present and active in their lives just haven’t made room for God. They haven’t cleared the space in their lives and in their souls for God who always becomes present “wherever [God] finds space.” John writes sadly of people who come to God but then “leave God just as they came.” They “leave God just as they came because their hands were already full, and they could not take what God was giving” (Letter dated 11/18/1586). <br />
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If we want to experience God’s presence and activity in our lives—not intermittently and unpredictably, not somewhere we must go to find go, but with us and in us day and night, day-by-day and hour-by-hour—then we must create space for God in our lives. We must carve out or expand our internal reservoirs, our spiritual cisterns, for the Holy Spirit of God to “dwell in us” to irrigate our lives so that we may “bear fruit,” as Jesus says, even in the dry seasons and the droughts that come our way in life. <br />
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Creating space for God, making room for God to dwell in us, takes three things. First, it takes vision. Vision. Vision is the capacity to see an alternative future. Some people never make room for God in their lives because they cannot see beyond the conditions and the circumstances of the present. Whether the conditions of the present are desperate and degrading or comfortable and convenient, some people cannot imagine, see, envision, a life with God and in God and God in them any different than the life they are living. It takes vision to motivate us to take the necessary steps to dedicate precious time and energy and resources and interior space to prepare for bearing fruit, fruit that will last, in our lives. Some people never develop interior reservoirs, spiritual cisterns, because they never see the need. <br />
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The truth is, interior space may not be necessary to sustain physical existence at some level or another. Human beings can survive without it, as some of us here this morning are living testimony. But there is a huge difference between surviving and thriving. When Jesus said that we are capable of bearing much fruit, he was not using an image of subsistence farming, of merely scratching out an existence from the land. In a dry and rocky region of the world, the Palestinian landscape of Jesus’ day, “fruit” is an image of opulence, luxury, the abundant blessing of God. <br />
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In Ezekiel 36, God says, “I will summon the grain and make it abundant. . . . I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer.” In gospel of John, Jesus does not say, “I came that they may have life and barely survive at it.” No. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Bearing fruit is a sign and symbol of that quality of life that Jesus calls “abundant.” Vision is the capacity to see or imagine a new quality of life that God offers us in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit in us in order to motivate us to move toward a better future with God and in God and God in us. <br />
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In addition to vision, creating space for God, making room for God to dwell in us, takes will. Will. It takes an act of extraordinary will to build a reservoir. Because Orangeburg takes its water from the free-flowing North Fork of the Edisto, you may not have experienced the battles of will among civic and business leaders and the general citizenry that are necessary to set land aside for submersion. Bev and I were living in the Research Triangle of North Carolina when the B. Everett Jordan Dam was built to create Jordan Lake in Chatham County and when the Cane Creek Reservoir was under development in Orange County. It’s not a pretty sight when a municipality or a county determines that it is necessary to take a Carolinian’s land away to put it under water. <br />
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“They’re stealin’ my granddaddy’s farm!” we heard, and they were. “Our gubbermint’s finishin’ what Sherman started! He burned it, and they’re drownin’ it.” And they were. Whether we are talking about literal reservoirs or spiritual reservoirs, it takes an act of extraordinary will to create them. The parts of your life that need to be claimed and cleared—cut down and bulldozed—to make room for the Holy Spirit in you will fight back, I promise you. Nature abhors a vacuum. The laws of physics favor inertia. The status quo always resists change. It takes an act of extraordinary will to create internal reservoirs, spiritual cisterns, for the Holy Spirit. You have to decide—and decide again and again and again against the resistance you will experience—that making room for God in your life is worth the effort. <br />
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And that brings us to Work. Vision, Will, and Work. In addition to an act of extraordinary will, it takes an enormous amount of work to make room for God in your life. The reservoirs that we know as Cane Creek and Jordan Lake and Keowee and North Saluda and Table Rock didn’t happen on their own, any more than those enormous cisterns in the rocky outcropping of Masada did. There are spiritual analogies to acquiring the land and clearing it, building the dams, reinforcing the shoreline, or cutting the rock and lining the cisterns with plaster. It takes years and years and years of work to build adequate reservoirs, to cut sufficient cisterns to provide water for the dry seasons and the droughts. <br />
<br />
Some people start out with the best of intentions. They try some worship; they try some Bible study; they try some quiet-time devotions; they try some prayer. They try for a while, and then they abandon the enterprise because they didn’t get filled up quick enough to satisfy them. “It just didn’t happen for me,” they say. “I went a few times, but I didn’t really feel anything happening.” Of course you didn’t. The hard truth is it takes years. <br />
<br />
You have to acquire the interior ground; you have to clear it of obstructions; you have to reinforce the shoreline and dam up the outflow. And even then, after years of work, when the reservoir is ready, it takes more than a single rainy season to fill a reservoir or cistern large enough to carry you through the dry season and the droughts. It takes years and years of dedicated and determined effort in faith and in works, in worship and in Bible study, in fellowship and in prayer, in repentance and in confession, in forgiveness and in reconciliation, to create space for God, to make room for the Spirit to dwell in us so that when the dry season arrives or when the drought sets in, we are steadfast in our faith; we are tenacious in our hope; and we are unfailing in our love. Nothing less will do if you want do what Jesus says: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), and “Bear much fruit” (John 15:5). <br />
<br />
Engage your Vision, your Will, and your Work to make room for the Spirit to dwell in you. Start today: acquiring and clearing the land, building the dam, reinforcing the shoreline, carving out the rock and lining it with plaster, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Start today. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2012 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-75731450553298518942012-01-22T20:04:00.000-05:002012-01-22T20:04:24.331-05:00The Holy Spirit and Fire<strong><em>The Orangeburg Series</em></strong><br />
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</tbody></table>Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 3:15-17<br />
January 15, 2012<br />
<br />
Are you old enough to remember when the words “Baptist preaching” were nearly synonymous with the words “hellfire and damnation”? Do you remember the day when if the preacher wasn’t shoutin’, then he—and it was always “he”—wasn’t preachin’? <br />
<br />
Several years ago, I supervised an African-American Baptist seminary student in an internship for his field education experience in seminary, and one of his internship opportunities was to preach in worship at First Baptist Greenville. As we were getting ready for worship the morning he was to preach, he said his wife had told him as he was leaving the house, “Now John, don’t you get to shoutin’ this mornin’. White people don’t like to be shouted at.”<br />
<br />
But out and about on the highways and byways of white Baptist life in the American South, the enthusiastic revivalism of what Baptist historians call the “Sandy Creek tradition” birthed and bred generations of loud-shoutin’, high-whinin’, Baptist preachers dedicated to scaring the hell out of people in order to get them into heaven and into the church. <br />
<br />
I confess that I don’t understand the psychology of coming to church Sunday after Sunday to be yelled at from the pulpit, but I also admit that I have never lived the hard-scrabble life of tooth-and-claw existence of so many of our Baptist forebears in the woods and on the farm and in the mill. <br />
<br />
Not all Baptist preaching was that way, even “back in the day.” Among the genteel and cultured representatives of what Baptist historians call the “Charleston tradition,” modeled on the worship and preaching of the stately and orderly First Baptist Church of Charleston, shoutin’ preachers and hellfire and damnation sermons were the exception rather than the rule. <br />
<br />
Over time, as we Baptists—especially we citified First Baptists—have left the woods and the farms and the mills, as we have become more educated and our lives have become more comfortable, we have become less and less comfortable with whinin’ and shoutin’ and hellfire and damnation. And along the way, we have lost something entirely biblical that we would do well to reclaim in our preaching and our teaching and our living. <br />
<br />
It’s the Holy Spirit and fire. In this morning’s gospel lesson from the third chapter of Luke, John the Baptist says to the crowds who are coming to hear him preach, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming. . . . <i>He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire</i>” (Luke 3:16). <br />
<br />
If I were a Pentecostal preacher, I would point out to you that when it comes to baptism, Baptists have spent a whole lot of time fussin’ and fumin’ over how much water is to be used and when it is to be applied when all the while, the Bible says that the baptism of John was a baptism of water; but the baptism of Jesus is a baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. <br />
<br />
So how come we Baptists almost never talk about the Holy Spirit and fire, and especially so at baptism when Luke’s gospel, at least, suggests that the Holy Spirit and fire are distinguishing marks of the ministry of Jesus Christ? <br />
<br />
At the beginning of the book of Acts, Jesus says to the disciples, “This is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but <i>you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit</i>.” (Acts 1:5). So this morning, let’s talk about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit and fire. <br />
<br />
First the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the constant and continuing presence of God in the world and in the church and in the life of every baptized believer. <br />
<br />
In the historic Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the “third person” in the distinctively Christian understanding of God as Three in One and One in Three: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit; Lover, Beloved, and Love. <br />
<br />
Outside the enthusiastic confines of Pentecostal and charismatic congregations, the “third person” in the Trinity is routinely overlooked—or at least underemphasized—compared to the Father and the Son, the Creator and the Christ, the Lover and the Beloved. But the gospel of Luke doesn’t overlook or underemphasize the Holy Spirit at all. <br />
<br />
At the baptism of Jesus, as Luke tells the story in chapter 3, “when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and <i>the Holy Spirit descended upon him</i> in bodily form like a dove.” From the baptism of Jesus on, in the gospel of Luke, the ministry of Jesus himself is driven and empowered by the Holy Spirit. <br />
<br />
In Luke 4:1 we are told that following his baptism, “Jesus, <i>full of the Holy Spirit</i>, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.” In Luke 4:14 we read, “Then Jesus, <i>filled with the power of the Holy Spirit</i> returned to Galilee” where he began his ministry of teaching and preaching and healing. Luke 4 also tells us that when Jesus returned home to Nazareth to teach in the synagogue there, he read from Isaiah 61, “<i>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me</i>, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). <br />
<br />
After the resurrection, Jesus said to the disciples, “You will receive power <i>when the Holy Spirit has come upon you</i>” (Acts 1:8), which is precisely what happens on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:2-4 when “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were <i>filled with the Holy Spirit</i>.” <br />
<br />
From Pentecost on in the book of Acts, individuals who minister in Jesus’ name are said again and again and again to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:8,31; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9,52) and “full of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 11:24). In fact, the Holy Spirit plays so prominent a role in the life of the early church in the book of Acts that more than one commentator has suggested that instead of being called “The Book of the Acts of the Apostles,” as the church has traditionally named it, it should be called “The Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit.” <br />
<br />
According to the gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit empowered life and ministry of Jesus Christ; and according to the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit empowers the life and ministry of the church and empowers the life of every baptized believer. One and the same empowering presence of God was at work in Jesus Christ, in the church of Jesus Christ, and in every baptized believer in Jesus Christ. <br />
<br />
So don’t make the mistake that most non-Pentecostals and non-charismatics have made by reducing the Holy Spirit to the “third person of the Trinity.” Instead, “receive the Holy Spirit,” as Jesus puts in John 20:22. Embrace the Holy Spirit as the constant, continuing, <i>empowering</i> presence of God in your life. <br />
<br />
Now for the fire. Fire as a biblical sign and symbol of the presence of God is as old as the covenant of God with Abraham (Genesis 15:17), the appearance of God to Moses at the bush that was burning but not consumed (Exodus 3:2) and to all Israel at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:18). Consider this fire imagery on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 24:17: “Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a <i>devouring fire</i> on top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.” A devouring fire. <br />
<br />
In this morning’s gospel lesson, fire is an image of judgment. John the Baptizer says that the one who is coming “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Luke 2:16-17). There it is. “Unquenchable fire.” Can’t you just smell the sulfuric vapors of the brimstone? “Hellfire and damnation,” anyone? <br />
<br />
The fire reminds us that in addition to being the constant, continuing, and empowering presence of God in our lives, the Holy Spirit is the constant, continuing, and <i>purifying</i> presence of God in our lives. The fire that burns the chaff, the husk, the waste material of the wheat is like the “refiner’s fire” of our Old Testament lesson this morning from the prophet Malachi: “For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord” (Malachi 3:2-4). <br />
<br />
Malachi speaks hard words of judgment with the imagery of fire, but notice that the point of that judgment is to purify rather than to destroy. The refiner’s fire burns away the dross, the impurities, and leaves behind only the pure metal. In our citified Baptist discomfort with hellfire-and-damnation preaching, we run from the refiner’s fire. And when we do, we are left with nothing to burn away the useless stuff, the wasteful stuff, the unnecessary, and impure stuff that weighs down our hearts and minds and souls and lives and separates us from God. <br />
<br />
The image of the fire of judgment in this morning’s gospel lesson is a reminder that none of us is so pure that we don’t need the fire of judgment, the refiner’s fire, in our lives to burn away what is useless, wasteful, unnecessary, and impure. No church is so pure that it doesn’t need the fire of judgment, the refiner’s fire, in its life to burn away what is useless, wasteful, unnecessary, and impure. As individuals and as a church, we must not reduce the Holy Spirit to the “third person of the Trinity” but embrace the Holy Spirit as the constant, continuing, and purifying presence of God in our lives and in our church. <br />
<br />
The image of the refiner’s fire in Malachi 3 and fire of judgment in Luke 3 is also a reminder that your “Stop-Doing List” is every bit as important as your “To-Do List.” Do you have a “Stop-Doing List”? Probably not. If you don’t have a Stop-Doing list, then you need to start one. I learned about Stop-Doing lists several years ago from an article in <i>Harvard Business Review</i>. <br />
<br />
Effective companies and organizations plan for and implement abandonment strategies for their products and services and processes every bit as carefully and thoroughly as they plan for and implement their launch strategies. Companies and organizations that survive and thrive understand that sooner or later their products and services and processes will diminish in their effectiveness, will become obsolete, will no longer meet the markets for which they were originally designed. The same is true for churches. Sooner or later the various ways we do worship and ministry and missions will no longer meet the needs for which they were originally designed. If you don’t plan to abandon and replace what you are doing and how you are doing it, sooner or later, it will abandon you. <br />
<br />
It’s so obvious that we shouldn’t even have to say it, but we do. There is a time to abandon the womb and be born. No matter how warm and comfortable it may be in there, it can’t go on forever, can it? There is a time to abandon the only life we know for a life that is still to come. There is a time to abandon high school and your parents and to move on to college—and don’t come back! (Just kidding. Come back anytime; stay as long as you need to. I guess.) There is a time to abandon the house you have been living in and move into assisted living where you get the care that you can no longer provide for yourself. There is a time to abandon “the earthly tent we live in,” as the apostle Paul puts it, to move on to “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (1 Corinthians 5:1). Our abandonment strategy is every bit as important as our launch strategy. <br />
<br />
Start a “Stop-Doing List” today. Every individual and every congregation should have one. Plan for abandonment and replacement. The refiner’s fire of the Stop-Doing List is a reminder of the purifying presence of God among us and around us and in us that burns away the untimely, the unworthy, the useless and wasteful and unnecessary and impure stuff that holds us back as individuals and as a congregation from loving and serving God and from loving and serving our neighbor as we ought. <br />
<br />
Whatever it is in your life, whatever it is in our congregational life together, that needs to be burned away like chaff, like the husk, like the waste material of the wheat, pray this day that the Holy Spirit and fire will refine and purify you. So receive the Holy Spirit, and receive the fire that comes with it. Embrace the constant, continuing, empowering, and purifying presence of God in your life and in our life together. <br />
<br />
Let us pray. <br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2012 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-39336247590236136342012-01-15T14:56:00.000-05:002012-01-15T14:56:32.969-05:00Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice? Nails and Gold and Everything Bold!<strong><em>The Orangeburg Series</em></strong><br />
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</tbody></table>2 Kings 5:1-5; Luke 4:22-30<br />
January 8, 2012 <br />
<br />
<em>NOTE: This sermon is adapted from “Like a Child,” in </em>Building a House for All God’s Children: Diversity Leadership in the Church<em> (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2008), pp.</em> 76-84<em>. </em><br />
<br />
“What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice. That’s what little girls are made of.” These days, we know better than to put much stock in such old-fashioned, gender-biased adages, if for no other reason than the fact that our experience has introduced us to at least some girls and women who are obviously composed of anything but “sugar and spice and everything nice”—all present company excluded, of course. <br />
<br />
Even so, we might be surprised to see in this morning’s Old Testament lesson a girl of an entirely different mettle than in the nursery rhyme. We never learn her name or anything more about her than what we read in 2 Kings 5:2-4. But from what we do learn about her in these three verses, I want to suggest an alternative adage to characterize this <em>na‘ărâ qĕtannâ</em>, this “little girl” from the land of Israel: Nails and gold and everything bold. That’s what this girl is made of. <br />
<br />
There is a cast of powerful people in the fifth chapter of 2 Kings. There is Naaman, the Syrian general. There is the king of Syria and the king of Israel. And there is the prophet Elisha who lives in Samaria, the capital of Israel. It would be all too easy for us to assume that we can learn the most from the most powerful people in the story. But it turns out that it’s the “little girl” from whom we can learn the most. Recognizing that the most important person in the story is the one who appears to be the least powerful person in it is a striking reminder that our assumptions and our expectations and our conventional interpretations frequently limit what we can learn from reading the Bible. <br />
<br />
Perhaps you have read 1 Peter 3:7, which speaks of women as “the weaker sex.” Those three words in 1 Peter 3:7 have created centuries of assumptions and expectations and conventional interpretations in the church and in our culture. But 1 Peter ignores the biblical woman named Deborah who was a judge and a prophet over Israel without whom Barak, the commander of the Israelite army, refused to go to war unless she went with him (Judges 4:4,8). It ignores the biblical woman named Athaliah who was queen over Judah for six years when there was no king in the land (2 Kings 11:3). It ignores the biblical woman named Esther whose cunning and courage saved her people from a massacre (Esther). It ignores the biblical woman named Phoebe whom the apostle Paul refers to as “a deacon of the church” in Romans 16:1. And it ignores the biblical woman named Eve in Genesis 2. <br />
<br />
Genesis 2:7 reads, “God formed a man from the dust of the ground.” The Hebrew verb in that verse is <em>yatzar</em>, “to mold” or “shape” or “form.” It’s what a potter does to make a clay vessel. Contrast that with verse 22, the creation of Eve: “the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man [God] made into a woman.” So the man is made of dust, and the woman is made of bone. Which one might be stronger? Dust or bone? The Bible says men are made of dust and women are made of bone. Who looks like “the weaker sex” now? <br />
<br />
In fact, Bible translators don’t play fair with you or with Eve either one when they use the generic English word “made” to describe the creation of Eve. The Hebrew verb in that verse is <em>banah</em>, and it means “to build” or “to construct.” Eve was not just “made.” Eve was built. Elsewhere in the Bible, houses are built, city walls are built, towers are built, fortresses are built. There is nothing weak about this woman created in Genesis 2. <br />
<br />
So when I say that the little girl in 2 Kings 5 is made of nails and gold and everything bold, you shouldn’t be surprised. Because 1 Peter 3:7 may call women “the weaker sex,” but the rest of the Bible pictures women very differently than 1 Peter does. Nails and gold and everything bold. <br />
<br />
I say, “nails,” because she was “tough as.” Consider what we know about this girl’s situation. She was an Israelite captive who had been carried away from her village by Syrian raiders. Naaman the general must have selected her as part of the spoils of war to give to his wife as a household slave. So when this girl suggests in verse 3 that Naaman could be cured of his disease if he would pay a visit to “the prophet who lives in Samaria,” she reveals an <em>amazing spiritual toughness</em>. In spite of the terror, misfortune and dislocation she has experienced, she has not abandoned her confidence in her God and in the religious institutions of her upbringing. How could her faith be so tenacious as to survive and even thrive as a captive slave in a foreign land instead of a child at home? Tough as nails. <br />
<br />
This “little girl from the land of Israel” models for us the toughness and the tenacity of faith that is required for citizenship in the kingdom of God. The author of the book of Revelation understood what it takes when he wrote, “as a follower of Jesus I am your partner in patiently enduring the suffering that comes to those who belong to his Kingdom” (Revelation 1:9). That’s not the kind of talk we like to hear about citizenship in the kingdom of God. When’s the last time you saw a sign outside a church that read, “Come suffer patiently with us”? <br />
<br />
That’s not a gospel you and I want to hear or to preach, much less to live. We buy the conquering savior who vanquished sin and death and evil, and we sell the suffering servant because we want no part of servanthood or suffering either one. We preach a Christ who conquers, overcomes, protects and defends us against all comers, a national championship Jesus. And then we find ourselves and our theology utterly unprepared for the adversity that eventually comes our way in life when there is no triumph, only travail, when the losses in our lives pile up and the wins are few and far between at best or evidently all in the past. In adversity, our faith slips away like sand through our fingers, and we fall into despair or cynicism, unlike the girl from the land of Israel, who had not sold her soul to a theology of victory and success. Nails, I say, because she was tough as. Nails and gold. <br />
<br />
I say “gold” because she had “a heart of.” Why it ever occurred to this child to be so <em>astonishingly compassionate</em> as to wish that her captor could be cured of his disease we will never know. Perhaps she is an ancient example of what is called the “Stockholm Syndrome” or “capture-bonding,” in which persons who are held hostage, such as prisoners of war, kidnap victims, battered wives and abused children, become emotionally attached and intensely loyal to their captors. Or maybe her circumstances as a household slave in the home of a wealthy and pampered Syrian woman was actually an easier and happier condition than she had known in the home of her rude, impoverished Israelite father who had no good use for a daughter who was no help to him in the fields. Or maybe it was her character. Maybe she was one of those unusually empathetic children you come across from time to time, that child with a sensitivity to others that takes everyone by surprise. <br />
<br />
We can’t get behind the text in front of us to reconstruct her feelings, but what we can see in the text is an astonishing compassion that looks right past differences in nationality and religion and disparities in power and wealth to see the commonality of human suffering and need. And so she said, “I wish that my master could go to the prophet who lives in Samaria! He would cure him of his disease.” That is astonishing compassion on the part of a victim of conquest and coercion. And it is precisely the compassion that is required for citizenship in the Kingdom of God, as Jesus puts it in the sermon on the mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). That’s another piece of the gospel for which it is hard to find a practitioner in these days of religious, political, and national partisanship, polemics and polarization. But we’ve found one in 2 Kings 5. This little girl from the land of Israel exhibits Kingdom-of-God compassion for her enemy and her oppressor. Nails and gold, I say, because she had a heart of. <br />
<br />
Nails and gold and everything bold. I say, “everything bold,” because this girl makes an <em>outrageously bold claim on the grace and mercy of God</em>. We have no idea how she knew that the prophet Elisha and the God of Israel would cure the Syrian general of this disease. Perhaps she had suffered from it herself, or perhaps someone in her family had, or perhaps the reputation of this prophet was so widespread that she needed no personal experience with his gift of healing. However she knew it—or perhaps only believed it or hoped it or prayed it, she was outrageously bold in her offer to Naaman. She invited this foreigner to avail himself of the health and wellbeing that was available in her own community of faith. She invited the wolf into the sheepfold, for heaven’s sake. And when she did, she made an outrageous claim on the grace and mercy of God by suggesting that God would act to heal an enemy of God’s people, that God whom she worshiped was every bit as interested in and concerned for Naaman’s health and wellbeing as for her own. <br />
<br />
Syrians were historic enemies of Israelites, so much so that more than 800 years later the good people of Nazareth in Luke’s gospel became so incensed at Jesus that they wanted to kill him when he reminded them of this passage that contradicted their assumptions and their expectations and their conventional interpretations. A leprous Syrian warrior is healed while Israelite men, women and children are not? They became furious with Jesus when he proclaimed as “the truth” (v 25) an understanding of God that insists that God does not discriminate against people we despise or detest. <br />
<br />
In Luke 6, Jesus says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:32-36). <br />
<br />
In the end, it’s not the sociological imperative—“love your enemies”—that infuriates Jesus’ audience then and now. It’s the theological declarative that angers us most: God is “kind to the ungrateful and the wicked,” Jesus says, and God is merciful to our enemies. As Jesus preaches and teaches it, citizenship in the Kingdom of God requires worshiping and serving a God who loves even people who do not love God, a God who is good even to people who are not. That’s what this “little girl from the land of Israel” understood about God that many of us have not yet been willing to understand or to accept or to live by. Nails and gold and everything bold. That’s what it takes to be a follower of Jesus and to belong to Jesus’ kingdom. <br />
<br />
And as for “the weaker sex”? Only in 1 Peter 3:7. The visionary words of the apostle Paul characterize Jesus’ kingdom this way: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” <br />
<br />
May we never fail to live into and live up to Paul’s vision of Jesus’ kingdom. It’s nails and gold and everything bold. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2012 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-20024751876399973522012-01-01T16:20:00.000-05:002012-01-01T16:20:03.739-05:00New Beginnings<b>The Orangeburg Series</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4aETtxqCEd2iBivdN9tdWm8EgQHdblnpsiu1ghEUdC39vCjSZ9FfhgvG0sTXxiPw4GxUjlOoxrcRRe11wgHEim481cs12SJIGjmq_wEjgpiOrO6y0kpSquSZJs4uUsqnxD4v/s1600/times+square+crowd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4aETtxqCEd2iBivdN9tdWm8EgQHdblnpsiu1ghEUdC39vCjSZ9FfhgvG0sTXxiPw4GxUjlOoxrcRRe11wgHEim481cs12SJIGjmq_wEjgpiOrO6y0kpSquSZJs4uUsqnxD4v/s320/times+square+crowd.jpg" width="320" /></a>John 1:1-18</div>New Year’s Day 2012<br />
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Every year, more than a million people gather in Times Square in New York City for the annual Ball Drop that begins at 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Many millions more watch on television, while others party in the new year in their respective downtowns, hotels, and homes. It’s the most raucous holiday of the year. If you look only at the surface of the New Year’s celebrations and New Year’s dissipations you might not recognize that underneath it all is a deep hunger and thirst in the human soul for a fresh start, a new beginning. <br />
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A couple years ago, a few days before Christmas, I was helping one of my sons change a flat tire on his truck in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. To tell you the truth, I was enjoying myself. I’m not a fan of flat tires, mind you; but once your son leaves home for college, even changing a flat tire together can feel like “quality time” with each other. We weren’t quite finished when we were approached by a man in his late 30s or early 40s asking for a meal. He said he was embarrassed to ask for help, and he didn’t want money. But he said he was an out-of-work construction worker, and he had four mouths to feed; and if I would buy him supper, he would sure be grateful to me. I confess to you that my first thought was “Can’t you see you’re interrupting a father-son thing here? Leave us alone.” Then I thought to myself, “Go scam someone else, man. I don’t have time for this, and your supper is not in my budget.” Not to mention the fact that we were in the parking lot of a burger joint and he wanted dinner for four from the chicken place a half a mile away. Right. <br />
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But it was a couple days before Christmas, and he sure enough looked as though he was down on his luck. And he didn’t ask for cash, and I thought about what I would want somebody to do for my son if he was ever out of work with four mouths to feed. And besides, it had only been about ten days or so since I had preached a sermon about God being in the business of filling the hungry with good things, as the gospel of Luke puts it (Luke 1:53; 6:21). So the next thing I knew, I was standing at the counter of that chicken place buying dinner to go for four. I still don’t know whether I got scammed or whether I actually helped someone; but on the way to the chicken place, the fellow I bought dinner for said this: “I’ll be glad when this year is over. I sure hope next year is better than this one was.” <br />
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Have you ever felt that way at the end of one year and the beginning of the next? At one time or another in our lives, every one of us experiences the deep need to turn the calendar to a new year. Sooner or later, every one of us comes to a place in our lives where we need a fresh start, a new beginning. <br />
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New beginnings are different from New Year’s resolutions. For one thing, the need for a new beginning doesn’t always coincide with a new year. The circumstances of our lives, the conditions of our hearts, and the movement of our souls—not the calendar—determine the timing of our need for a new beginning. For another thing, a new beginning is a fresh start, a clean slate. It’s not just a list of a few new things that you’re going to do or old things you’re going to stop doing. It’s starting all over again. <br />
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On the morning of my father’s funeral, my mother walked into the den of the church parsonage where my parents were living when my father died and asked those of us sitting there, “You know what song I’ve been singing since I woke up this morning?” We didn’t even try to name that tune. She said, “I’ve been singing, ‘I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair.’” Nellie’s song from the Broadway musical, South Pacific. That was more than 25 years ago, and there is still an occasional night when she calls his name in her sleep. But she recognized that morning that she had arrived at a “starting-all-over” moment in her life. A new beginning. <br />
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New beginnings are a lot harder than New Year’s resolutions, but they last a lot longer. New beginnings are also more biblical than New Year’s resolutions. God called Abraham and Sarah out of the Ur of the Chaldees to a new beginning in Canaan. God called the Israelites up out of Egypt to a new beginning in a land of promise. God called the exiles home from Babylon to a new beginning in Jerusalem. God called Peter away from his nets on the Sea of Galilee to a new beginning as an apostle fishing for people. God called Nicodemus away from his life as a Pharisee to a new beginning, “born from above” or “born again.” God called Saul of Tarsus from persecuting the Way to a new beginning as the greatest champion of the Way. <br />
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And then there’s the biblical new beginning in verse 14 of this morning’s gospel lesson: “The Word became flesh and lived among us . . . full of grace and truth.” The Word that was in the beginning, the Word that was with God and the Word that was God, the Word through whom all things were made, the source of all beginnings, began anew when the Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth. That new beginning—the “incarnation,” it’s called in theological jargon—is the ground of all our new beginnings. Incarnational new beginnings—not merely resolutions—are necessarily “full of grace and truth.” <br />
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Grace has to do with letting go of what has been. Grace is about letting go of what has been in order to embrace what yet can be. That’s what God’s grace does: God lets go of our has-been in order to embrace the yet-can-be in us. Let me be very clear about what grace is not. Grace is not a “do-over.” There is no such thing as a do-over. What you’ve done, you’ve done; and what you left undone, you’ve left undone. There is no such thing as a do-over; but there is do better. There is do wiser. There is do new. And in order to do better and wiser and new, you have to let go of what has been: good, bad, or indifferent. Just as by grace God let go of our sin, we must let go of our guilt, our loss, our pain, our grief, our anger, our disappointment—our own or others. Whatever it is about the past that you are dragging with you into the present, you must let that go. Grace is washing what has been out of your hair to start a new day or a new year fresh and clean and anew. That’s what new beginnings take: Grace. <br />
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And truth also. Truth has to do with recognizing in the present that nothing less than a new beginning will do. Tony Compolo tells the story (<em>Let Me Tell You a Story</em>, p. 96) of an old guy in the backwoods of Kentucky who could always be counted on to show up at revival meetings whenever an evangelist came to town. At the end of each service when the invitation was given, he would come down the aisle, get down on his knees, raise his arms to heaven and cry out, “Fill, Jesus! Fill me! Fill me, Jesus!” Then, within a week or two after the revival was over, he would slip back into his old ways of living. But when the next round of revival meetings was held, he would once again show up, walk down the aisle, and pray the same prayer over and over. One time, he was down on his knees yelling to the ceiling, “Fill me! Fill me, Jesus! Fill me, fill me! Fill me, Jesus!” when suddenly from the back of the church a lady called out, “Don’t do it, Lord! He leaks!” The truth is, of course, we all leak. If you only have a small leak, and all you need is a minor tune-up, then making a few New Year’s resolutions will do for you. But if what you need is an overhaul, a rebuild, a restoration, a spiritual “make-over,” if you will, then the truth is, nothing less than a new beginning will do. <br />
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It wasn’t enough for Abraham and Sarah to make a few New Year’s resolutions in Ur of the Chaldees and then a few weeks later just go on with things as they were where they were. It wasn’t enough for the Israelites in Egypt or Babylon, either one, to make a few New Year’s resolutions and keep on living where they were as they were. It wasn’t enough for Nicodemus or for Peter or for Saul to resolve to do a few things a little differently. In every case, it required an entirely new beginning. And truth is what it takes to recognize that the game you have been playing, the life you have been living, the circumstances of the present, are no longer viable as a vehicle to carry you to a healthy, sustainable, and redemptive future in right relationship with God, in right relationship with others, and in right relationship with yourself. Only a new beginning will do. <br />
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When “the Word became flesh and lived among us. . . full of grace and truth,” it opened up to you and to me and to the world the ever-present possibility of a new beginning. The gospel of Jesus Christ is all about new beginnings. The gospel is about “new life,” Paul says in Romans 7:6, and “a new creation,” he says in 2 Corinthians 5:17. The gospel is “new wine,” a “new garment,” a “new covenant” (Luke 5:36-37; 22:20). The gospel is about “a new self,” according to Ephesians 4:24. And God knows, every one of us needs a new self at least once in our lives; and some of us discover once is not enough for us. <br />
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No matter how many New Year’s resolutions we may make, our life remains soiled; our creation is spoiled; our covenant becomes tattered; our garment is torn; our wine becomes tasteless; and our self gets tarnished. The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they are a self-help enterprise. And the problem with “self-help” is that it just doesn’t work. Have you ever thought about why it is that “self-help” books are a billion-dollar business? It’s because self-help doesn’t work. If self-help worked, you could buy one good self-help book, and you’d be done. But have you noticed how those of us who buy self-help books can’t buy just one? It’s like those potato chips: you can’t eat just one. You have to have another and another and another because self-help can’t create a new self. It only nurtures the deep hunger and thirst of the human soul for a new beginning. <br />
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The new beginning that leads to a new self can only come when the hunger and thirst on our inside is met by the nourishment we need from the outside. Think about it. When you are hungry, your body can feed on itself. In the short-term, your body feeds on itself by burning the fat it has stored up in order to keep itself alive and functioning. And when you are hungry, your body can feed on itself by devouring the muscle you have built in order to keep itself alive and functioning. But your body cannot feed on itself forever. Sooner or later, your body must receive nourishment from the outside—protein and carbohydrates and nutrients—that will restore the muscle and replenish the fat reserves that your body can live on but for only so long. Like body, like soul. <br />
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The words of Jesus later in the gospel of John express this biological and spiritual reality when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry” (John 6:35). Jesus said, “those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). How can that be? Never hungry? Never thirsty? We don’t know any condition of the human body or the human soul in this life in which hunger and thirst are permanently satisfied. <br />
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But here’s the thing. It’s not one-and-done. It’s not eat and never eat again. It’s not drink and never drink again. It is the constant, saving presence of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, “God is with us,” feeding our hunger and satisfying our thirst, offering us again and again and again the bread of life and the cup of new life, the spiritual food that nourishes our souls the way physical food nourishes our bodies. New beginnings come from the outside in, not the inside out. <br />
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Look at John 1:12 in this morning’s gospel lesson. There are three biblical steps to a new beginning in John 1:12. “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” I want you to see the three steps in the three verbs in that sentence: received, believed, to become. The first step in a new beginning is to receive—to receive the constant, saving presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, whether it is for the first time or for the hundredth time to receive—the bread of life and the spring of water gushing up to eternal life. It is God’s initiative, not ours, that opens us to the possibility of a new beginning when we open ourselves to God in Jesus Christ to receive God’s constant, saving presence in our life, guiding, sustaining, directing, correcting us on our way. The first step is to receive. <br />
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The second step is to believe. Notice that we don’t receive because we believe. A lot of people have it backwards. A lot of believers and unbelievers alike misrepresent the Christian faith as an act of believing that leads to receiving. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, the Bible could not be more clear that we don’t receive because we believe. We believe because we have received. In Genesis 15:5-6, Abraham received the promise of a future from God: God brought Abraham outside his tent “and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then [God] said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And [Abraham] believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Abraham received, and then he believed. The apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 5:8: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We all received the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ long before any of us believed it. Believing comes from receiving, not the other way around. <br />
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The redemptive new beginning of the Christian faith germinates and takes root and sprouts and grows in the darkness of doubt and sin and guilt and loss and pain and grief and anger and disappointment whenever and wherever we come to the recognition that God has already provided all we need to address the hunger and thirst on our inside, so that when we receive, we believe. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>And when we believe, we become. “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” If grace is about letting go of the past, and truth is about recognizing in the present that nothing less than a new beginning will do, then “the power to become” is the God-given capacity to step into the future of a new beginning with God, in God, for God. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_t_rt4_4-VWoCnQ8a8gm3IBdmwN9u9ZcA3MdVAupCzPg6Q83eLZG_A561r8FFbW3Fy8wlVkQLlECyszRTgBALH4vcjz0KjrAMPgtP9tWWWvVYIT9Al5zOCFX3Bx24UzlOi7-V/s1600/game-over.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_t_rt4_4-VWoCnQ8a8gm3IBdmwN9u9ZcA3MdVAupCzPg6Q83eLZG_A561r8FFbW3Fy8wlVkQLlECyszRTgBALH4vcjz0KjrAMPgtP9tWWWvVYIT9Al5zOCFX3Bx24UzlOi7-V/s1600/game-over.jpg" /></a>Oddly enough, it just might be that the people who understand best what a new beginning is are those folks among us who play video games. In a video game, there comes a point when the screen is filled by the words, “GAME OVER.” If you want to keep on playing, there’s nothing else to do but to start an entirely new game, begin an entirely new life. A new beginning is a “game over”/“start new game” moment. By the mercy of God, revealed in Jesus the Christ, by grace and truth, any new day can begin a brand new year when you decide to receive, to believe, and to become. <br />
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This New Year’s Day can be that day for you. Any day in this new year can be that day for you. The invitation of God in Jesus Christ is open now to you to receive, to believe, and to become. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2011 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net. </span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-83026982412369552882011-10-27T06:55:00.001-04:002011-10-27T06:57:46.399-04:00Tilting the Table: The Care and Feeding of Youth<strong><em>The Orangeburg Series</em></strong><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fbcorangeburg.org/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuWNGdRrwgZdd3nItxWgVXBrVBwgIkcb1wdQilCZ82XVStCRASanZPBubRr94uJG_9iPkzvUVOcMdP1Ng89MI-sO1gUlphAP_Iz4DEJE8KlTYx58fWw8Ti4-2fVxw_xQY8cRS/s1600/FBCO.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the pic to visit the church <br />
Website</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Proverbs 22:6; Luke 2:41-52 <br />
October 23, 2011 <br />
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For most of my adult life, I considered successful parenting to be little more than a crapshoot. It starts as a roll of the dice in the gene pool, and out comes a baby. Sometimes it’s 7 or 11 on the very first roll, and you win. But sometimes it’s 2, 3, or 12, and you “crap out.” (That’s technical terminology for losing on your come-out roll, so don’t get upset with me for thinking I just said something ugly. I didn’t. It’s a technical term.) Sometimes there’s not an immediate win or loss, but you just keep on rolling and rolling—4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10—without winning or losing either one. That’s pretty much how I’ve looked at parenting for most of my adult life. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose; most of the time you just keep on rolling. <br />
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Now, I’m very much aware that the image of a crapshoot for the parenting experience doesn’t line up especially well with the famous biblical proverb of fail-safe parenting, “Bring children up in the way they should go, and when they are grown they will never depart from it.” The problem of course, is that there is no such thing as “fail-safe parenting.” <br />
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Almost every one of us could identify an example of an unexplainable parenting failure: “How did that child from this family turn out so poorly?” “Those parents brought that child up in the way she should go, but she sure departed from it.” Most of us could also identify at least one unexplainable parenting success as in “How did this child turn out so well from that family?” “Those parents did nothing to bring him up in the way he should go, but he found it anyway.” The biblical proverb is not <em>pre</em>scription for fail-safe parenting. There’s no such thing. Instead, it is a <em>de</em>scription of tilting the table, tipping the odds, in a young person’s favor for turning out well. <br />
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Now, you might think that by speaking of “tilting the table” that I’m using yet another unsavory image of a game of chance, and maybe I am. But let me tell you where that image comes from in my family. I first heard it at the dining room table in my maternal grandparents’ home when one evening at dinner I asked for a second helping of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and more gravy, please. And as my grandfather reached for the gravy boat, he said, “Tilt the table toward Jeffrey.” They didn’t tilt it literally, mind you; but here came the meatloaf and the mashed potatoes and the gravy all in my direction. And my grandmother added the green-bean casserole for good measure, even though I hadn’t asked for that. Over the years, I heard the expression many more times, and in retrospect, it was about the time the grandsons hit their preteen and teen years that the table started to tilt toward them. “Tilting the table,” then, is about seeing to it that young people are nourished and fed by what they need to grow into the healthy, strong, and faithful adults that God has created and called them to be. <br />
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What if I told you that it is possible to significantly reduce the likelihood that young people will engage in high-risk behavior such as problem alcohol use, violence, illicit drug use, and sexual activity? What if I told you it’s not a crap-shoot at all, that in fact we can reduce those behaviors among our young people to single-digit incidences—3% on problem alcohol use, 6% on violence, 1% on illicit drug use, 3% on teen sexual activity. Would you be interested? Every one of us would. The handout in this morning’s order of worship provides a blue-print for tilting the table, for tipping the odds, for feeding and nourishing young people with the social and emotional and spiritual diet they need to avoid negative behaviors and engage in positive behaviors such as succeeding in school, maintaining good health, exhibiting leadership, and valuing diversity. <br />
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Search Institute, which produced this free handout has studied more than 2 million young people and children since it was founded in 1990. Search Institute has found that in bringing up youth and children, there are statistically reliable outcomes based on 40 different inputs or “developmental assets,” as they call them. Search Institute research shows that a young person who accumulates 31 or more of these 40 assets reaches a statistical “tipping point,” if you will, toward the avoidance of high-risk behavior and engagement in positive behavior. Unfortunately, the data also show that only 8% of youth and children reach the number of 31 or more that tips them statistically in the right direction. But we can do better than 8%. We can do a lot better than 8%.<br />
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That’s why this morning’s sermon comes with a homework assignment for the adults and the youth among us. What I want you to do is to take this insert home with you. Adults, your assignment is to identify which of these assets you can see that each of your children or your grandchildren or your First Baptist youth and children have available to them as they are growing up. Mark them and count them up. And then begin to identify which assets they don’t have that you might be able to help bring to bear in their lives to get them to 31 or more. I want you to look at how you can do that in your family and in your church, and when you’ve finished in your family and your church, move on to your neighborhood and to Orangeburg at large. <br />
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Youth, I want you to mark on this page which of these assets you have now, and then I want you to circle the ones you don’t have that you could add either by your own effort or by getting other people to help you in order to get to 31 or more. If you want help, sit down with your parents or your grandparents or your minister or your teacher or a friend and talk about which ones you have and which ones you don’t have and which ones together you could add to your assets. <br />
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At <a href="http://www.search-institute.org/">Search Institute's website</a>, each of the 40 developmental assets is accompanied by a link to a pull-down menu titled “Take Action” that suggests practical things you can do to cultivate that asset. We can tilt the table, tip the odds, in favor of our young people avoiding negative behaviors and engaging in positive behaviors.<br />
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Nowhere in the Bible is tilting the table any better illustrated than in this morning’s gospel lesson. The parents of Jesus leave Jerusalem for their home in Nazareth assuming that their preteen son is in the company of family, friends and neighbors who had traveled together from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival. A day’s journey later, we read, they realize that he is nowhere to be found among the villagers from Nazareth. Can’t you just hear the panic and the accusatory tone in the parents’ questions to each other: “I thought he was with you!” “Well, I thought you had him!” “Some father you are, Joseph, losing your own son!” “Me? <em>My</em> son? Holy Mary, Mother of God, how could you not know where he is?” So, in a panic, Mary and Joseph rush back to Jerusalem to find Jesus of all places “in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” <br />
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What mother or father among us has not at least thought the question that Mary asks her son in v 48: “Child, why have you treated us like this?” And what parent hasn’t heard back some variation or another on what sounds like a typical preteen, self-possessed, smart-aleck answer, “Don’t you know I must be about my Father’s business?” If I were Joseph, right about then I’d want to throttle him even if he was the son of God. <br />
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The first thing we should see in this amusing—and for parents, terrifying—little episode in Scripture is that Mary and Joseph are not trying to bring up their youngster all alone. They are bringing him up in the company of a “group of travelers,” verse 44 says, an entourage composed of “relatives and friends.” Mary and Joseph are surrounded in their parenting by people whom they trust enough to know that their child is just as well off with them as with themselves. This morning’s gospel lesson illustrates the point that it takes more than parents to rear a child successfully. <br />
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When I was in high school, my mother would routinely infuriate me on Saturday mornings when she would ask—as though entirely innocently—some question like, “How was your pizza last night?” “Pizza?” I would say. “What pizza?” “At the Village Inn Pizza Parlor. How was your pizza?” “Who told you I was at the Village Inn last night?” And she would always answer, “Oh, a little bird told me.” It’s probably no coincidence that the only kind of hunting I’ve ever done in my life is bird-hunting. Shotgun in hand, I’ve gone after those feathered fiends in retribution for all the surveillance and intelligence they provided my mother. <br />
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Search Institute research shows that a young person who “receives support from three or more nonparent adults” has an asset that contributes to the likelihood that she or he will avoid negative behaviors and engage in positive ones. It’s asset #3 in your handout. It doesn’t say anything about surveillance, but it does say that having at least three supportive nonparent adults in a young person’s life—a teacher or coach who takes a special interest in them, a minister, a choir director, an uncle or aunt, a Sunday School teacher, a mentor—tilts the table in the direction of a positive behavioral outcome for a young person. Never underestimate how important it may be in the life of a young person when you take a supportive interest in a young person’s life as a non-parent adult. Let me put it this way: you have no business grousing and complaining about how bad today’s youth are if you aren’t doing anything about it by supporting, befriending, coaching, teaching, or mentoring a young person or two. <br />
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In this morning’s gospel lesson there are adults who allow a preteen boy to sit with them and listen to them, and they listen to his questions, and they listen to his answers (Luke 2:46-47). You can talk about the miracles in the Bible all you want, but that may be one of the biggest miracles of all time right there: adults who actually spend time with a preteen child not their own talking with him and listening to him. It’s not surprising that Jesus of Nazareth is said to have “increased in wisdom as he increased in years,” surrounded as he was by adult relatives and friends of his parents and by teachers who took an interest in him. <br />
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A second thing that can tilt the table is regular participation in a religious community. Luke 2:41-42 tells us, “Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.” Now, we can’t tell from this passage how involved Mary and Joseph were in the life of the synagogue back home in Nazareth. Luke 4:16 tells us that when Jesus was an adult, it was his weekly “custom” to attend synagogue, so it makes sense to think that Mary and Joseph had taught him that by taking him there weekly when he was young. <br />
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Search Institute research shows that being regularly and actively engaged in a religious community is a developmental asset. It’s asset #19 on your handout. More specifically, though, the religious-community asset entails that a “young person spends one or more hours per week in activities in a religious institution.” Notice that the asset says, “spends one or more hours per week.” Not one or two a month. Not one or two a fall or winter or spring or summer. Not one or two a year. That’s not an asset. That’s a flirtation. The research suggests that engagement in a religious community rises to the level of an asset when it reaches “one or more hours [or times] a week.” That’s one of the 31-out-of-40 assets that young people need to tilt the table in a positive direction, and it shows up in Luke 2. <br />
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One more. Look at asset #39: “Sense of purpose: Young person reports that ‘my life has a purpose.’” That brings us back to Jesus’ question to his parents: Did you not know “that I must be about my Father’s business?” as the King James Version translates it. Jesus’ parents did not understand what he meant by that, verse 50 tells us, but Luke 2 suggests that as a youngster, Jesus had a sense of purpose in his life, a sense of a calling on his life. Whether they realized it or not, Jesus’ parents and his synagogue and his relatives and his parents’ friends and his hometown of Nazareth had planted and cultivated in him the seed of a sense of purpose and calling in his life that is one of the 31 out of 40 developmental assets that tip a young person’s life in a positive direction. <br />
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When young people in the youth ministry of First Baptist Orangeburg identify and explore their gifts, when they are introduced to and nurtured in God’s call on their lives, the table is tilted toward them: the spiritual and emotional and psychological equivalents of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy and green-bean casserole—are all coming to them. In fact, no institution or agency in all of contemporary American society provides as many or as wide a range of opportunities for youth to expand and enhance their developmental assets as a church like First Baptist Orangeburg does. Just look down that list of assets and think about at the things we provide and teach through the youth ministry and wider ministries of this church. <br />
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Under “Support,” I’ve already mentioned #3: “Other adult relationships.” Under “Empowerment:” #7: “Community values youth.” #8: “Youth as resources.” #9: “Service to others.” Under “Boundaries and Expectations,” #14: “Adult Role Models.” (Now, I’ve been around churches long enough to know that not every adult in church can be classified as an “adult role model,” but plenty of you can be!) Under “Constructive Use of Time,” #17: “Creative activities” such as children’s choir, #18: “Youth programs” such as Wednesday and Sunday evenings, #19: “Religious community” such as Sunday mornings an hour or more a week. <br />
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Look at the “Positive Values” list. Those are biblical and gospel values, folks: #26: “Caring,” #27: “Equality and social justice,” #28: “Integrity,” #29: “Honesty,” #30: “Responsibility,” #31: “Restraint.” We teach those things in spades around here. Under “Social Competencies,” #33: the “Interpersonal competence” of “empathy, sensitivity, and friendship skills.” #34: “Cultural Competence.” Sarah mentioned that developmental asset as something she had gotten from the student ministry here when she introduced the video: “Young person has knowledge of and comfort with people of different cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds.” #35: “Resistance skills”; #36: “Peaceful conflict resolution.” Under “Positive Identity,” at the very least, #39: “Sense of purpose.” Without even stretching, we can identify 19 out of the 31 assets needed to reach the tipping point that turns young people away from negative behaviors and toward positive behaviors. Through our youth ministry and music ministry and missions ministry and educational ministry, along with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are delivering proven developmental assets to young people. <br />
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Now, remember, even for an entire church, there’s no such thing as fail-safe parenting. And it’s our responsibility as parents to get our young people here where they can develop their assets, whether they want to come or not. When our young people get up on Monday morning and say, “I don’t feel like going to school today,” we parents typically say, “You know, I don’t feel like going to work today either. Let’s just stay home.” That’s what we say on Monday morning, isn’t? So why is that exactly what we say on Sunday morning? Excuse me, that’s not parenting; that’s behaving like a teenager instead of an adult. When we exercise our parental responsibility and see to it that our youngsters are where they need to be, the ministries of First Baptist Orangeburg are delivering multiple developmental assets to them. <br />
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All those years I had it wrong. It’s not a crap-shoot at all. It’s true that there are unexplainable failures and unexplainable successes. But it is also true that you and I and all of us together can tilt the table toward our young people to feed and nourish and cultivate them to grow into the healthy, strong, and faithful adults that God has created and called them to be. Adults, you have your homework assignment. Youth, you have your homework assignment. Take it home with you and do it. It’s passing the meatloaf and the mashed potatoes and gravy and the green-bean casserole. It’s tilting the table toward our youth. Let’s do it so that they too will increase “in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2011 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-7200501340946515642011-10-17T17:30:00.000-04:002011-10-17T17:30:57.070-04:00The Sending Church: A Biblical Mandate<strong><em>The Orangeburg Series</em></strong><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.fbcorangeburg.org/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMAEJ1mK_mx5XZr-8xZ4TA5cTdi0tE3w-lNYuWXuDE3xcvyYTY-QWpVe8MrvaP8aRjojfGbMA-kfWbOrzrdlKtZLeOTcoNYq3NB9Cr9aevB4mltUB7qx-66_Yv1X5dl71IF74i/s1600/FBCO.jpg" /></a>Readers of past posts may recognize sermons in this series. To anyone who may be disappointed to see a "rerun," I apologize. I dare say, however, that for a preacher, revisiting familiar sermonic ground is as delightful an experience as a walk in a familiar wood or a stroll on a favorite beach. (Click on the pic to visit the church's website.)</div><br />
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October 16, 2011<br />
Genesis 12:1-3; Luke 10:1-11,16-20<br />
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There are all kinds of churches in the landscape of American Christianity. There are large churches and small churches. There are country churches and city churches. There are old churches and new churches. There are high-church “smells-and-bells” churches, and there are low-church “meet-and-greet” churches. All kinds of churches. <br />
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Years ago, my friend and my former boss at Furman University, A.V. Huff, Jr., a South Carolina historian by trade and a Methodist minister by calling told me the story of a Furman student who came to him for counsel. The student felt called to the ministry, but he also felt confused about what kind of church he was being called to. He told A.V. that he was wrestling with whether to remain Methodist, as he had grown up, or to become Episcopalian, as he had been introduced to by friends and a favorite professor while at Furman. The young man had done his homework, and he laid out for A.V. the argument that he was having with himself over Methodist and Episcopalian theology and ecclesiology and which was better. <br />
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When he finished his lengthy monologue on the merits of being Methodist and the merits of being Episcopalian, he finally asked A.V., “How do you decide which way to go on a question as important as this one is?” To which A.V. responded, “It’s very simple, actually. You need to decide whether you want to spend the rest of your life going to pot-luck suppers or going to cocktail parties.” There are pot-luck-supper churches and there are cocktail-party churches. There are all kinds of churches in the landscape of American Christianity. <br />
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Not so long ago, it was enough to identify churches by their middle name: First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, St. Andrews United Methodist Church, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, and so on. These days, there are still “middle-name churches,” churches for whom their identity is primarily defined by their denominational brand. The most important thing to those churches is that they are Lutheran, or they are Episcopalian or they are Baptist. It used to be that knowing a church’s middle name was enough to know what kind of church it was. But times have changed. <br />
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The landscape of American Christianity has shifted dramatically over the last 40 years, and among the most dramatic shifts is a decrease in the importance of middle names when people are looking at a church. These days, people choose a church less for its form and more for its function. People are looking less at middle names and more at missions. If we look at functions instead of forms, if we look at missions instead of middle names, we could say that along with “middle-name churches,” there are four other types of churches these days. <br />
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In addition to the middle-name church, there is the “member church.” The primary function of a “member church” is the care and feeding of the people who have signed up to be members. You can always tell a member church by the way the people in it introduce themselves. “Hi, I’m Bob. I’ve been a member here 42 years.” “My name is Alice. I’ve been a member here 11 years.” People in member churches don’t identify themselves by the ministries and the missions they are engaged in through their church. They don’t introduce themselves by saying things such as, “I sing in the choir” [on the praise team], or “I teach children’s Sunday School,” or “I work in the soup kitchen,” or “I volunteer at the FLC.” The most important thing in a member church is how long it’s been since you signed up for the care and feeding of the member church. <br />
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Middle-name churches and member churches have been around for a long time. A third type of church was introduced to the American religious landscape about 40 years ago. It’s called a “seeker church.” The seeker church was originally developed in the 1970s as an evangelistic tool to reach a particular group of people whom observers of American religious life call “seekers.” “Seekers” are people who are seeking spiritual fulfillment but who haven’t found it in middle-name churches or member churches. Seeker churches were designed to attract people with no previous experience in the great and lasting traditions of the Christian faith. Seeker churches were created to provide an “entry-level” Christianity that contemporary unbelievers could understand and be comfortable with. A seeker church is not designed for people who have already found Christ and profess the Christian faith but to attract unbelievers who are still searching. The seeker church. <br />
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A fourth type of church is the “disciple church.” Disciple churches are designed primarily to teach and equip—or “disciple”—people who have already found Christ. Disciple churches focus on turning people who have professed the Christian faith into people who understand and live by the Christian faith that they have professed. The worship of disciple churches is designed to nurture believers in traditions that are centuries old, to turn believers into followers of Jesus. Disciple churches are essentially “program” churches. They offer “programs” in Christian Education and Spiritual Formation and Faith Development, Bible studies and book studies and denominational studies and all manner of things to help people who have professed faith to understand their faith and live by their faith. The disciple church. <br />
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There is a fifth type of church in the American landscape that I’m going to call the “sending church.” The biblical mandate for the “sending church” is found, among other places, in the mission of the seventy in the tenth chapter of the gospel according to Luke. If you look at the beginning of Luke 10, what you see first are verbs of sending and going. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus “sent them,” <em>apesteilen</em> in Greek. The English word “apostle,” which means “one who is sent” on a mission on behalf of someone else, comes from the same root word as the verb <em>apesteilen</em>, Jesus sent them. In verse 2, Jesus says to the 70, “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers,” “send out,” <em>ekbale</em> in Greek. <em>Ekbale</em> means to “throw,” “to cast,” to sling ’em out there. Then in verse 3, Jesus says, “Go on!” “Go!” “Scram!” And then he says, “I am sending you,” <em>apostello</em>. It’s the “apostle”-word again, one who is sent on a mission on behalf of someone else. Four times in three verses: “send,” “throw,” “go,” “send.” It doesn’t look as though Jesus is trying to draw a crowd or maintain a crowd; it looks as though Jesus is in the business of sending a crowd. <br />
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In fact, sending looks to be the business of God from the book of Genesis on. In Genesis 12:1, the call of Abraham, “the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go!’” “‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” God whom we worship and serve has always been a sending God. Do you remember last Sunday’s OT lesson from Isaiah 6:1-8, our model for the drama of worship, in which God asks, “Whom shall I send? And who will go?” Those of you who were in the Bible study on the book of Exodus last Wednesday evening will remember God saying to Moses at the burning bush, “I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10). God whom we worship and serve has always been a sending God. <br />
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So it stands to reason that if First Baptist Orangeburg is in the business, as it were, of “building a community that glorifies God and reflects Jesus Christ,” as the mission statement of this congregation says, then we, too, must be in the business of sending. Not just middle-naming. Not just membering. Not just seeking. Not just discipling. But sending also. <br />
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I want us to look this morning at the “mission of the seventy” in Luke 10 as a biblical mandate for a sending church. The first thing to see about this biblical mandate is that a sending church has <em>a global vision of its mission</em>. Why are there “70”? Why not 64? Why not 36? Why not 120? Why 70? Over the centuries of Christian interpretation of the gospel of Luke, there have been a variety of proposals to explain the number 70. Here’s the one I think fits Luke’s gospel best. Way back in Genesis 10 after the great flood, we read that the descendants of Noah spread abroad “in their lands, with their own language, by their families, in their nations” (Genesis 10:5,20,31). “These are the families of Noah’s sons,” says Genesis 10:32, “according to their genealogies, in their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.” And guess how many families there are in Genesis 10? That’s right: 70. The number 70 in Luke 10 points back to all the families of the earth in Genesis 10. <br />
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Now look at what the Lord says to Abram in Genesis 12:3 when God calls and sends Abram: “In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Abraham is sent to bless and to be a blessing to “all the families of the earth.” Now look at what Jesus tells the seventy that they are to do first when they go out. “Whatever house you enter,” Jesus says, “first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” Speak shalom to it, Jesus says (Luke 10:5). Before you know anything about the household, good, bad, or indifferent, says Jesus, pronounce a blessing upon it: “The peace of God be to this house!” Just like the mission of Abraham who was to be a blessing to all the families of the earth, the mission of the followers of Jesus is to pronounce a blessing on every household to which they come: “The peace of God be with you.” The sending of the seventy, like the sending Abraham, is a global vision of blessing to all the families of the earth. That’s the global vision of a sending church that is mandated in Luke 10. <br />
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The second thing to see about this biblical mandate is that a sending church has a <em>holistic vision of the gospel</em>. A holistic vision. In verse 9, Jesus instructs the seventy to do two things: cure the sick and proclaim the gospel. Jesus says, “cure the sick who are there” and then Jesus says, say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” Jesus tells his followers to meet both the physical needs—cure the sick—and meet the spiritual needs—proclaim the good news—both of them. Not just one of them. Both of them. <em>That’s the great both/and of Jesus</em>. The sending church <em>both</em> proclaims the gospel <em>and</em> feeds the hungry, gives a drink to thirsty, clothes the naked, welcomes the stranger, cares for sick, and visits the imprisoned (Matthew 25:31-46). The great both/and of Jesus, is the holistic vision of the sending church mandated in Luke 10. <br />
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This morning while the offering was being collected, we saw a video that highlights the missions efforts of this church. It highlighted ways in which this congregation responds to Jesus’ mandate in Luke 10 to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people outside these four walls. That’s missions. The root meaning of our English word “mission” is “to send.” Instead of coming from the Greek verb <em>apostello</em> as in apostle, it comes from the Latin verb <em>mittere</em>, “to send,” and the Latin noun <em>missio</em>, “the act of sending”; and it’s exactly the word that is used in the Vulgate, the great Latin translation of Luke 10: “I am sending you.” “I am giving you a mission,” Jesus says. If Luke 10 is any indication, being sent—missions—is at the heart of the church. Show me a church without a heart for missions, and I’ll show you a church on life support. Show me a church without a heartbeat for missions, and I’ll show you a church without a pulse. <br />
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There’s nothing wrong with being proud our middle name, and there is every good reason to teach and to learn and to cultivate in the world this congregation’s great old General Baptist understanding of the gospel that is grounded in John 3:16, that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever [whosoever, mind you!] believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Our middle name says, “whosoever will,” and that’s a part of our mission. Taking good care of the members of this congregation is a good thing. We come together to be “mutually encouraged by each other’s faith,” as Paul says in Romans 1:12, and to “encourage one another and build up each other,” as he says in 1 Thessalonians 5:11. Care for our members is a part of our mission. Certain parts of this congregation’s worship and its ministry are specifically designed to communicate to seekers—unbelievers—and engage them in the gospel of Jesus Christ in ways they can understand and connect to. That’s a good thing. It’s part of our mission. Various programs of this church are designed to disciple: to teach, to equip, and to empower believers to understand and live the faith that we profess. That’s a part of our mission. <br />
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But Luke 10 reminds us on this morning of missions emphasis that following Jesus means not just gathering here and drawing people in but being sent out into the world to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ by addressing both physical and spiritual needs of people to whom God sends us. Jesus said, “I am sending you out.” “Go!” “Go on!” “Scram!” “Get out there!” <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2011 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-72531989451229141692011-10-09T17:15:00.000-04:002011-10-09T17:15:46.582-04:00Showing Up: Worship as the First Work of the Faithful<b><i>The Orangeburg Series</i></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.fbcorangeburg.org/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwrfrF15CCCGISdU_Bt_4smHhqHrbDivlpIbjspsdVQ6XDGbfa12kC7vDyySxVPVi6690rt0SgCrVDC-P96_KtmX0Lp4ygWceeQluQ3NOgr6TycUR-HNT5YIxC8xKKx3H1D7yA/s320/FBCO.jpg" target="_blank" width="200" /></a><em>Readers of past posts may recognize sermons in this series. To anyone who may be disappointed to see a "rerun," I apologize. I dare say, however, that for a preacher, revisiting familiar sermonic ground is as delightful an experience as a walk in a familiar wood or a stroll on a favorite beach. </em></div><br />
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<br />
October 9, 2011 <br />
Isaiah 6:1-8; Romans 12:1-2<br />
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One book in the New Testament has been responsible for more revolutions, reformations, revivals, and conversions than any other book in the history of the Christian faith. <br />
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For example, in September of the year 386, a young professor of rhetoric at the university of Milan sat despondently in a garden. Through tears of frustration at his confusion over the character and quality his life—or the lack thereof—he read the verses, “Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, nor in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” The young professor wrote this about his encounter with those verses: “No further would I read, nor had I any need; instantly, at the end of this sentence, a clear light flooded my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.” His name was Augustine, and he went on from that experience in the garden to became the first great theologian of the Christian faith—and a saint, no less. <br />
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Fast-forward to the early 1500s. An Augustinian monk and university professor was reading the same New Testament book and struggling with a particular expression in it: the “righteousness of God.” He wrote, “Night and day I pondered until . . . I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, [God] justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before ‘the righteousness of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage . . . became to me a gateway to heaven.” From reading this book, Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of the history of the Christian church. <br />
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One more example. Two hundred years after Luther, on an evening in May in 1738, an Englishman in his 30s sat in a church on Aldersgate Street in London and listened to the Preface to Luther’s commentary on this book read out loud. He wrote in his journal about that evening: “About a quarter before nine, while [Luther’s Preface] was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken my sins away, even mine; and saved me from the law of sin and death.” From this “Aldersgate conversion” in which his “heart felt strangely warmed,” John Wesley went on to found the Christian movement that became the Methodist church, and once again this one book was responsible for a revolutionary new course in Christian faith and practice. <br />
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It is no wonder that the great British New Testament scholar F.F. Bruce wrote in the introduction to his commentary, “There is no telling what may happen when people begin to study the Epistle to the Romans.” Paul’s letter to the Romans is responsible for more revolutions, reformations, revivals, and conversions than any other book in the history of the Christian faith. <br />
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This morning, we’re only looking at two verses from Romans, but as we saw in the case of Augustine, it only took two verses to put a university professor on the road to sainthood! So “there is no telling what may happen,” even if we read only two verses. Romans 12:1-2 mark a new beginning in the book. In chapters 1-11, the apostle Paul lays out great ideas of the Christian faith: the righteousness of God, justification by faith, the nature of sin, the nature of grace, the nature of the gospel, the work of Jesus Christ in salvation, and many more. But in Romans 12:1-2, Paul turns from great ideas to great and faithful living in the light of those great ideas. After all, what good are great ideas if you don’t put them into practice? That’s what Paul calls us to do beginning in Romans 12:1: put the faith we profess into practice. <br />
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According to Paul, putting the faith we profess into practice begins with worship. “I appeal to . . . you, brothers and sisters, . . . to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” So the first work of the faithful is worship. We gather in this place in the morning of every first day of the week to worship God, because in our work-week, as it were, our first work is worship. <br />
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Maybe you’ve heard the conventional wisdom that “90% of success is just showing up.” “90% of success is just showing up.” I have to admit that I usually consider that statement not conventional wisdom but conventional stupidity. It takes a whole lot more to succeed than just showing up. But this morning, at the risk of attracting the ire of preachers and pastors and teachers and employers the world over, I’m going to endorse the conventional stupidity that “90% of success is just showing up.” <br />
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Here’s why. First, if you don’t show up, you can’t possibly succeed, so “just showing up” is in fact the foundation for success. Second, the first thing the apostle Paul says when he turns from talking about great theological ideas to talk about great and faithful living is “<em>prez</em>-ent your bodies.” <em>Prez</em>-ent. Be there. Now, I know as well as you do that the correct pronunciation is “pre-<em>zent</em>.” But you cannot pre-<em>zent</em> anything if you are not <em>prez</em>-ent. <br />
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When it comes to worship, the common stupidity turns out to be pretty wise. 90% is <em>prez</em>-enting “your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Congratulations. You are 90% there just by being here. If you are listening on the radio because you can’t get here, you are 90% here by being there where you can participate by hearing. But none of us, no matter where we are, is where we need to be yet. <br />
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But before we move on from where we are to where we need to be, let’s take a moment to look at here. I cannot tell you how important it is to see and to understand that according to Paul we don’t come to worship “to get something out of it.” We come to worship to give something to God. The something we come to worship to give to God is ourselves: “present your body as a living sacrifice . . . to God.” If you came to worship this morning in order to get something out of it, then you came here putting yourself ahead of God, and that’s idolatry. When God said in the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before me,” that includes the god of self who comes to worship thinking that worship is about what I get out of it instead of about what I give to God first, foremost, and forever. <br />
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In a famous description of worship that I’m sure you’ve heard before but that we can’t hear often enough, the great Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard characterized worship as a play on a stage with actors, prompters, and an audience. The actors in the drama of worship are everyone in the congregation gathered to “exalt God” as the mission statement of this congregation says of worship. You are the actors in worship <em>prez</em>-enting and pre-z<em>ent</em>ing “your bodies as living sacrifices . . . to God.” That’s what you are doing right now. The leaders in worship—the preacher, the praise team or the choir, the deacons, the ushers, whoever reads Scripture or leads in prayer—are all merely prompters, people whose job is to prompt you the actors as you act out your part and deliver your lines for the audience who is God. The music that is sung or played in worship is not sung or played for us as though we were the audience. It is sung and played as an offering to God who is the audience. The sermon is not offered to you for your approval or disapproval. The sermon is offered to God for God’s approval or disapproval and as a prompt—a prompt for you to respond to God by offering yourself to God.<br />
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Look at the drama of worship in Isaiah 6 that we heard read this morning. If you have a Bible with you, open it to Isaiah 6. In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah is present for worship in the temple in Jerusalem—Isaiah has done his 90%. But the more import presence than the presence of Isaiah in the temple is the presence of God: Isaiah “saw the Lord, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up,” verse 1 says. The audience—God—is present, and the drama of worship begins in v 3 with the praise of God in a Hebrew praise chorus: <em>qadosh qadosh qadosh adonai tzebaoth melo’ kol ha’aretz kebodo</em>, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” That song of praise wasn’t sung for Isaiah; Isaiah wasn’t the audience. It was sung for God; God is the audience and the object of praise in worship. <br />
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The praise of God in verse 3 is followed by a confession of sin in verse 5: “Woe is me,” says Isaiah, “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” Any time we catch even the slightest glimpse of the holiness and the glory of God we cannot help but recognize our own unholiness. But by God’s mercy and by God’s grace, “If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” as 1 John 1:9 says. And so the confession of sin in Isaiah 6:5 is followed by the forgiveness of sin in verse 8: “your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out,” Isaiah is told. <br />
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After praise and confession and forgiveness, worship continues with a word from God, in this case, a question that is a call: “Whom shall I send, and who will go?” comes the word. And worship is not complete until the worshippers respond: “Here am I! Send me!” Isaiah answers in response to the word that he has heard. Praise. Confession of sin. Assurance of forgiveness. Proclamation of the word. Response to the word. That’s the movement of the drama of worship, and 90% of it is getting yourself here on stage to play your part for God. Congratulations! But even if showing up is 90% of success, it’s only 90% of success; and the other 10% makes all the difference. <br />
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Look at verse 2 of Romans 12: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” The other 10% is being changed by God, being “transformed,” being renewed, being revolutionized, being reformed, being revived, being converted. Did you come here to be changed today? Did you come here to be transformed, renewed, revolutionized, reformed, revived, converted? I did. I walked into this room to offer myself to God—that’s the 90%—and I walked into this room to be transformed, re-formed, re-newed, revived, converted by God—that’s the 10%, the difference that makes a difference in my life and yours. <br />
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When we give ourselves over to God as a living sacrifice, God never fails to give our selves back to us, changed, converted, revived, renewed, re-formed, transformed, in the direction of God’s will, which Paul defines as “what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Remember what F.F. Bruce said: “There is no telling what may happen when people begin to study the Epistle to the Romans”? Well, there’s also no telling what may happen when people begin to worship, when people begin to <em>prez</em>-ent and pre-<em>zent</em> themselves, body and mind, “as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.” Because when we do, God changes us. <br />
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I don’t happen to know what kind of change needs to happen in your life this morning. Maybe you are like Augustine, disappointed or despondent in the character and quality of your life, and you need an entirely new direction, a fresh new start. What you need this morning is for “clear light” to flood your “heart and all the darkness of doubt” to vanish away. Maybe you are like Luther, struggling with something that just doesn’t makes sense to you. And what you need is to feel yourself “reborn . . . so that the very thing that is filling you with confusion or pain or anger or hate can become to you “a gateway to heaven.” Maybe you are like Wesley, needing your heart to feel “strangely warmed” by the assurance that Christ has taken your sins away, even yours.” Maybe the change that needs to happen in your life this morning is not Augustine’s or Luther’s or Wesley’s or anyone else’s, and maybe only you and God know what it is. You are 90% of the way there just by being here. <br />
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Open yourself now to the other 10%, and ask God here and now for the revolution, the transformation, the reformation, the renewal, the revival, or the conversion that you need. 90% of success is showing up. The other 10% is opening up: opening yourself up to God to be changed today and every Lord’s Day in worship. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2011 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35292307.post-81879792257358234942011-10-03T15:23:00.005-04:002011-10-03T17:36:13.341-04:00Bread of Life<em><strong>The Orangeburg Series </strong></em><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvWO2juXS05teY0Wx0WQusVd84tM9cgIi0te7KtgvZqtMrQ3m3AK1ZA4Orqm7hRSniWln51bB7xBnZDgpBVumLeb2YVmkVABaE54BROxcDR3bEeO8RnpusR89WKLyfyE3kuvil/s1600/FBCO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvWO2juXS05teY0Wx0WQusVd84tM9cgIi0te7KtgvZqtMrQ3m3AK1ZA4Orqm7hRSniWln51bB7xBnZDgpBVumLeb2YVmkVABaE54BROxcDR3bEeO8RnpusR89WKLyfyE3kuvil/s1600/FBCO.jpg" /></a><em>Readers of past posts may recognize sermons in this series. To anyone who may be disappointed to see a "rerun," I apologize. I dare say, however, that for a preacher, revisiting familiar sermonic ground is as delightful an experience as a walk in a familiar wood or a stroll on a favorite beach. </em></div><br />
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October 2, 2011 <br />
John 6:22-35,47-51<br />
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Have you ever been hungry? Have you ever experienced that gnawing feeling eating at you because you haven’t eaten? Every one of us has been hungry at one time or another. Some people are hungry on a regular basis. According to the most recent comprehensive <a href="http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts.aspx">study of hunger in America</a>, “one in six Americans. . . . cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days.” Fifty 50 million Americans—33 million adults and 17 million children experience hunger regularly. <br />
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In the New Testament, all four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—tell us that one part of Jesus’ earthly ministry was feeding the hungry. Again and again in the gospels, Jesus is said to have had compassion for the people he saw. He had compassion for people who were sick (Matthew 14:14) and compassion for people who were blind (Matthew 20:34) and compassion for people who were grieving (Luke 7:13) and compassion for people who were “harassed and helpless” (Matthew 9:36); and he had compassion, we are told, for people who were hungry (Matthew 15:32; Mark 8:2), and he fed them. <br />
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The good folk of First Baptist Orangeburg who gather on Thursdays to prepare and serve a hot meal to anyone in need, “anyone” numbering anywhere 125 to 175 people a week, are continuing the ministry of Jesus by feeding the hungry. And so do the good folk of First Baptist Orangeburg who gather in this space at 8:45 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings for the worship of God. “One does not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4), Jesus said, quoting the book of Deuteronomy (8:3). Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6): blessed are those who hunger and thirst for right relationship with God and right relationship with the people around them. <br />
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You see, Jesus recognized that there is a spiritual hunger and there is a spiritual thirst that are every bit as real and powerful as physical hunger and physical thirst. And that’s why the meal-plan at First Baptist Orangeburg offers physical food on Wednesday evenings and Thursdays afternoons and spiritual food on Sundays. <br />
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In chapter 6 of the gospel according to John, the day after Jesus satisfied the physical hunger of a large crowd of people who were following him, the conversation turns from physical bread to spiritual bread. In verse 27, Jesus says to those who have come looking for him on the day after the feeding, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” “For the bread of God,” Jesus says, “is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Those who had come looking for him “said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’” (vv 33-35).<br />
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As is always the case in the gospel of John, a conversation about something physical shifted gears to become a conversation about something spiritual. So, have you ever been spiritually hungry? Have you ever experienced that gnawing feeling eating at you because you haven’t been fed, because you haven’t eaten? Maybe you’re hungry now, and not just because you didn’t eat breakfast this morning, but because you are hungering and thirsting for something deeper than food and more satisfying than a drink. If so, you’ve come to the right place. <br />
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This table is set for those who hunger and thirst. On this table is the bread of life for you. On this table is the cup of new life for you. Just as this congregation prepares a meal and sets a table for “anyone in need” for the physically hungry in this community on Thursdays, so also this congregation prepares a meal and sets a table for “anyone in need” for the spiritually hungry in this community on Sundays. It’s the bread of life for you and for the world. <br />
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The legendary preacher Fred Craddock tells the story of the first church he served as pastor in the hills of east Tennessee, not far from a sleepy little hamlet called Oak Ridge. In the 1940s, when Craddock was pastor there, Oak Ridge, TN, suddenly became one of the leading centers of work on the Manhattan Project, the now famous code name for the U.S. government’s operation to develop the atomic bomb. Almost overnight, says Craddock, “that little bitty town became a booming city. Every hill and every valley and every shady grove had recreational vehicles and trucks and things like that. People came in from everywhere and pitched tents, lived in wagons. Hard hats from everywhere, with their families and children paddling around in the mud in those trailer parks, lived in everything temporary to work.” <br />
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The church Craddock pastored met in a beautiful little white frame building over a hundred years old. “It had beautifully decorated chimneys, kerosene lamps all around the walls, and every pew in this little church was hand hewn from a giant poplar tree.” After church one Sunday morning, Craddock asked the leaders of the congregation to stay, and he said to them, “We need to launch a calling campaign and an invitational campaign in all those trailer parks to invite those people to church.” “Oh, I don’t know,” one leader said. “I don’t think they’d fit in here.” Another said, “They’re just here temporarily, just construction people. They’ll be leaving pretty soon.” “Well, we ought to invite them, make them feel at home,” Craddock said. They debated the matter, he says, and time ran out. They said they’d come and vote the next Sunday. <br />
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The next Sunday, they all sat down after the service. “I move,” said one of them, “that in order to be a member of this church, you must own property in this county.” Someone else said, “I second that.” It passed. I voted against it, Craddock says, but they reminded me that I was just a kid preacher and I didn’t have a vote.” <br />
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Decades later, after Craddock and his wife Nettie retired to north Georgia, they took a ride one morning north to Tennessee to see if they could find that little church for which Craddock still held such fond and painful memories. The roads had changed. The interstate now goes through that part of the country, so he had a hard time finding the way, but he finally did. He found the state road, the county road, and the little gravel road. Then there, back among the pines, was that little building shining white. The parking lot was full—motorcycles and trucks and cars packed in there. And out front, there was a great big sign: Barbecue, all you can eat. It was a restaurant, so they went inside. <br />
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The pews were pushed against a wall. There were electric lights, and the old pump organ was pushed over into the corner. There were aluminum and plastic tables, and people sitting there eating barbecued pork and chicken and ribs—all kinds of people, lots of different people from lots of different walks of life and lots of different places. In the course of the meal together, Craddock said quietly to his wife Nettie, “It’s a good thing this is not still a church; otherwise these people couldn’t be in here.” <br />
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The church is not a private dining club in which the food and drink are prepared for property-owners only, members only The meal plan of this congregation is the banquet of God in Luke 14 to which everyone is invited, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind— physically and spiritually alike. <br />
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Whatever your grief, whatever your fear, whatever your loss, whatever your need, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). That’s nothing less than a promise of God, and that’s why if you come here with a gnawing feeling eating at you, you have come to the right place. Because here is the bread of life prepared for you. Here is the cup of new life prepared for you. <br />
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We’re going to pass it around. We’re going to share it with each other. And we’re going to go from this place to share with the world the good news that when you hunger and thirst, there is bread of life for you and a cup of new life for you. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Let’s eat and drink together. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copyrighted © 2011 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.</span>Jeff Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16608103319153981486noreply@blogger.com0