Sunday Sermon Notes 9.27.09

What weighs down your heart?

It doesn't take long for us to realize how hard life can be, how harsh it can be. There's not much we can do about it - it's just the way the world is. And our response to this hardness, this harshness is what often contributes to a weighed-down heart.

How do people typically deal with the hard harshness of life? Some people are partyers, they live for the weekends. Wild-living is their way of reacting to a hard life. Some people become drunks and addicts - they seek to escape the harshness of life through a bottle or a needle or porn. And others become anxious, depressed, worried, listless - life's hardness prompts all sorts of fears in them. And maybe you can add to this general list - there are lots of ways for life's harshness to break people down, to weigh down their hearts, to bury their souls.

Jesus is very much aware of how hard and harsh life can be. And in this instruction to his disciples, he's trying to prepare them for coming events - preparing them to respond to harsh hardness in a way that elevates the heart, not way it down.

Here's the scenario: Jesus has come to Jerusalem as it's rightful king; he's spent the last year or so traveling to the city - healing people, feeding them, instructing them, caring for them. He's done nothing but good, spoke truth to power, empowered the marginalized, infused dignity into the down-and-out. He's poured out into his people only love.

But being wise, brilliant, discerning, etc. he also can see where political, economic, religious forces are sweeping his city. Despite Jesus' work in Israel, he can forsee the day - within a generation - when Rome will send in the siege-works to demolish Jerusalem. The people Jesus sought to save will pick up the sword against Rome, will rebel against the Empire, will call for blood - and it will be their doom. It is breaks the heart of Jesus - these are his people, his kingdom, and they are headed for desolation.

However - many people have listened to Jesus, they have come to trust him, they believe what he says about reality, and they are willing to follow his way of living in this hard and harsh world. So Jesus gives them instructions on how to endure the next generation, and how to survive the siege of Jerusalem when it happens. Jesus' followers will have to deal with persecution because of their allegiance to Jesus and their compassion for others. And when Rome comes to strike down the rebels, Jesus tells his followers to flee - head for the hills.

But Jesus cautions his followers - the next decades will not be easy; be careful or your hearts will get weighed down with the hard reality of life. Beware of dissipation - of debauchary, of wild living. Beware of drunkeness. Beware of anxiety. When life is harsh, respond in love. When life is hard, respond in trust. Love your enemies. Trust the way of God.

For us - we have maybe confessed trust in God, received forgiveness of our sins through Jesus, but still have a weighed down heart. We maybe deal with the harshness of life through occasional partying, or with some kind of addiction, or with anxiety. When we become aware of how we are responding destructively to the hardness of life - instead of condemning ourselves, it can be a wake up call.

Do you want to give up the party life? Do you want to give up the addictions? Do you want to give up the anxiety and depression? Then take your weighed-down heart and give more of it to God. Talk through with Him what is making your heart heavy - and be as honest and probing as you can. Do everything in your power to get wisdom on what is really going on. Do what it takes to get help and strength to keep hoping and trusting the way of Jesus.

There is nothing wrong with having a weighed-down heart; it's what you do with it that can either force you further along the path of desolation or open up a new opportunity for redemption and restoration.

It's your choice... everyday it's your choice. Choose the way of Jesus everyday.

Sunday Sermon Notes 9.20.09

Would you rule the world any different?

If all of a sudden you were bumped up another notch in the management chain of where you work - now you're given more authority and more responsibilities - would you be any different (any better?) than the person you just replaced?

It comes pretty natural to us to complain about whoever is the "boss" of us at work. It's easy to point out the things we'd do different if we were in charge. But what if you actually were given the chance to be in charge - would you do a better job at spending the money, making the schedule, handling conflict, giving promotions, handing out discipline, hiring and firing, etc?

Sometimes we like to think that if just given a chance, if just given some more authority, some more responsibilities, we could really make a difference in our workplace (or church, or whatever organization you are part of). We like to think that we could do a better job than "those" already in charge, and if we just had a shot at it, we could really make a difference.

But what about right now? What about the authority and responsibilities you do have now? What are you doing with the power and influence you do have for good and for God? Maybe the real issue is not what you would do with more power and influence, authority and power, but what you are doing right now with what you do have. If you're not doing much with what you have right now, what makes you think you'd do a better job with more?

You have authority over you - and you are responsible for yourself. How are you doing with that authority and responsibility - are you using yourself for good and for God now in a purposeful, meaningful way? You have power and influence over members of your family, over your friends, over your coworkers, over your neighbors, etc. How are you using that power and influence for good and for God? Are you working to be a blessing to them, or are you usually trying to find a way to use them for your own gain?

Jesus, in the three stories recorded back to back to back in Luke, are attempts by Jesus to point out how the religious and economic leaders of the nation were misusing their authority and responsibilities, their power and influence. He then makes a point to reveal how he uses his authority and responsibility, his power and influence. Who do you want to emulate?

The religious authorities use the Scriptures to support their nationalistic and violent desires for independence from Rome. Jesus undermines both their interpretation and their authority (and thus their power and influence). The religious leaders are also very much involved in the economy of the nation. They also seek honor, to climb the social-status ladder, and to gain prestige. Jesus reveals these arrogant and greedy motives for what they are - that is not how leaders are to use their authority and responsibilities.

And then Jesus points out the contrast between what the wealthy give to God and what a poor widow gives to God. The rich give out of their abundance - a strategic move, calculated to not hurt their bottomline. The widow gave everything she had, revealing her trust in God's willingness to provide for her. God wants leaders to use their authority and responsibility to lift up the widows, not devour their houses. God wants everyone to use their power and influence for the good of their neighbors and for God.

Whatever you have - give it all over for the work of God in this world. Don't make everything about you. Make a difference for good and for God in your world with the authority and responsibilities you currently have. It's more than enough.

Sunday Sermon Notes 9.06.09

Ever wonder what is wrong with the world?

Ever wonder what is wrong with your family?
Ever wonder what is wrong with you?

Usually the more simple the answer, the closer you are to the truth. Even for very complex situations, it is always most helpful to look for the simple line of cause and effect. So, here's my attempt to give a simple answer to a very complex crisis: the world is the way it is because we reap what we sow.

It won't take long to come up with exceptions to this simple explanation, but that doesn't undermine the credibility of the answer. The idea isn't necessarily a negative one either, but rather a source of hope for when we make the sacrifice day in and out to do the right thing.

When you look at the lives of the people around you, or when you take a long hard look within yourself, and seek to find answers to how you got to where you are, I think that the idea of "you reap what you sow" will provide the most helpful truth.

Think about it like this: the better you can connect the dots between your current circumstances and your previous choices, the better position you have for determining your future circumstances. If you like where you are, then with your new knowledge gained through reflection, you can keep on making the same wise choices. If you don't like where you are in life, then you can start making different, better choices.

But how do you convince people of this? How do you convince yourself of this? We know from experience that most people don't want to change. They want their circumstances to change without changing or improving their choices and actions. They want to reap something better without sowing anything different.

Let's imagine you're a very smart person. You're also skilled, people-savvy, been around the block so to speak, and you have a good grasp on history. And you're very wealthy as well as ethical. And you're a king. Or queen. And you care about your people. And it so happens that your people are heading towards dark path. With all your resources, how do you convince your people to change what they are sowing, lest they reap the dark rewards of rebellion?

This is the position Jesus finds himself in on that last Sunday before he is crucified. He has entered Jerusalem as their king, and yet he stops to weep over the city. He has spent the past few years teaching, healing, pleading, training, helping hundreds and thousands of men and women - trying to help them sow something different in order to reap something better. And yet the city will reject him and his way. Jesus came to save Israel from political suicide and military devastation. Yet with all of his resources, he was unable to save the nation. His efforts led to his execution by the people in power. Kind of a discouraging story...

But note Jesus' attitude towards those who rejected him: he wept for them. He knew that the seeds of their rebellion against God and their hardness towards the poor and oppressed would lead to a harvest of destruction at the hands of the Roman army. Jesus wept for all those who refused to sow something different. He wept for all of those who would get caught up in a hailstorm of swords because they refused to believe the truth about their coming consequences.

And also note that Jesus never gave up on trying to help his fellow citizens sow something different.

So for you: if you know that you need to start sowing something better because you want to reap something different, do it! It'll be hard, and you'll have to press on, but don't give up on yourself. And if you have people in your life whom you know need to sow something different, plunge yourself into that task. Of course it will be difficult, but like Jesus we ought not to give up on our fellow citizens.

Here's a line from Jesus' cry over Jerusalem: "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace..."

If you knew what would bring you peace today, would you do it?

If you knew what you needed to do today in order to reap peace tomorrow, would you do it?

Would you? Do it.

Sunday Sermon Notes 6.07.09

God is... Magnificent!

At Anchor we've started off June by joining in the OnePrayer series - over 1,600 churches around the world!  OnePrayer is a movement of churches coming together to serve, share and give as part of the Church.  Anchor is all about that!

Last year for the preaching themes, we prayed: God, make us...

This year, the preaching theme centers on: God is...

One of the ways that the OnePrayer series connects churches is through video-sermons.  Preachers from all over the world videorecord a sermon and submit it to the website.  Then other churches can download it and show a video-sermon of a preacher from some other part of the nation or world.  Cool idea.  We did three of them last year, and it went over okay.  The upside is that it's a neat way to connect the congregation to other good teachers.  The downside is that the preacher goes on for more than thirty minutes on the video - you've got to be really really, really good to do that.  Unfortunately the ones I previewed for this year didn't pass the test.  Maybe we'll find some that do, yet.

The first sermon was inspired by U2's masterpiece Magnificent.  Haven't heard it yet? Check it out at YouTube.  Great song about worship - about how a husband and wife want their life together to be one of worship of The Magnificent.  The song inspired me...and it prompted me to develop a sermon about God being The Magnificent.

The obvious text was Mary's Song - traditionally titled the Magnificant (because in Latin the first word is magnificant).  Interestingly, Psalm 34, in my opinion, is a foundational song for what Mary created.  I read through both songs for clues for why David and Mary magnified the LORD.  

Here's my summary: 

God is...Magnificent because he is 

Beauty-Full, Strength-Full, Mercy-Full, and Remember-Full.

God is Magnificent when he is Beauty-Full.  What are the times when you walk outside into Creation and gasp - when you sigh in relief, when you stare in wonder, when you soak up the sunrise or sunset -and then you breath out a prayer of praise and thanks to God?  It's in moments when we notice the world saturated in magnificent beauty that we see the magnificence of God.  

Sure enough it is easy to see what is ugly and defiled in the world.  Rivers polluted and forests hacked, mountains stripped and fields gouged.  It's easy to see what's wrong in the world, to miss the beauty because of what's been battered.  And yet what is most beautiful in the world is not seen in Creation alone, but within each Human.  God made us Imago Dei - in his image. We are made in is magnificent image - to look into the eyes of another man or woman is to look upon beauty-fullness.  Except that most women and men I know refuse to look in the mirror and see beauty.  They keep choosing to see what is wrong.  But if we are crafted in Imago Dei, then we have the option of seeing in ourselves and one another The Magnificent.

God is...Magnificent when he is Strength-full, Mighty-Full, when he is Capable.  When God comes through, when he helps us turn a corner, nail down a victory, start again, push through to the other side - then we praise God, thank him, and magnify Him.  How many times have you needed help from the outside - when you were too tired or confused to do the next right thing.  And so God comes to you - in the guise of a friend or stranger - and makes possible a new way forward.  When we go over these moments, we see the magnificence of God - we don't deserve those miracles, and we can't barter for them - they are gifts that God loves to give.

Scriptures repeatedly refer to the power of a seed as a picture for the power of God.  Take whatever seed you want - a peach core, a wheat grain, a mustard seed.  There is latent power and capability in that tiny little pod.  It gets put in the ground, it gets watered, it gets fueled, and then out if sprouts a seedling, and then it stretches high, it bends with the wind, and then it increases in firmness and height and it's leaves soak up sunshine; some power is at work bringing out of that seed something that is new and yet natural.  And at the right time a harvest is made possible - all from that little seed.  And so God's power is at work in you - you are the seed, your deeds are the seeds, your attitude and choices are seeds from which God will take and plant and fuel and bring forth from it more than we could possibly imagine or hope for.  

God is Magnificent when he is Mercy-Full.  When God gives you a break, when he helps you let go of your sins, when he helps you replace despair with hope, when he helps you yank out the root of bitterness and fill the space with shalom - that is worth uttering prayers of praise.  When God brings people into your life who forgive you, who make amends to you, who guide you into freedom from past guilt and shame, when you find opportunities to give mercy - when we think about it - that's a beautiful moment to magnify the Lord.  God is merciful to us, and we best value that mercy when we give out mercy to others in response.  To those who see this at work in their homes and schools, in churches and workplaces - it's magnificent!

God is...Magnificent because he is Remember-full.  God never forgets us, never abandons us, never leaves us alone.  God is loyal, he is faithful, he is persevering, he is patient, he endures.  God thinks of you - a citizen of the world he created and loves - and continues to work to help you receive mercy and give it.  He remembers you - and for those of you who have chosen to follow the way of Jesus - he remembers your sins no more.  When he remembers you - and he does it very often - he does not remember someone who is a failure, prone to mistakes, a flop - he remembers you as one made in his Imago Dei - every deed and word a seed for his work as the Great Farmer!

When God thinks of you, he thinks of you as you are according to his reality, his perspective on the world.  He remembers you according to his great mercy and might - he seeks to redeem and restore all people - his interest is not in reminding you of your sins, but of reminding you of his gifts of grace and new opportunities.  When God thinks of you, he is interested in helping you work through the consequences of your actions, which are seeds for him to do a new thing.  How magnificent is that?

Psalm 34 has become a central song for me - in where I am at in my journey.  Maybe it can be for you also - a song inspired by a Magnificent God at work in his Magnificent World.

Sunday Sermon Notes 5.24.09

Be The Anchor!

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Luke 11v13 [TNIV]

Be the Anchor: Go in the Same Spirit

You want to be strong for someone? You want to give/be hope for another? Then be the Anchor.
You need someone to be strong for you - to pour strength and hope into you? Find an Anchor.

The past bunch of weeks we've been exploring ways to be an Anchor, and to let Jesus be our Anchor. This message wraps up this series with this final thought: the Same Spirit that made Jesus an Anchor in his day is the Same Spirit that can make us an Anchor in our day.

Wherever we go in life, as a follower of Jesus, God wants us to go in the Same Spirit which he placed upon/within Jesus. And when you think about how hard it can be at times to do/say/think/go the way of Jesus in everyday life, the need for that Same Spirit becomes obvious. Jesus tries to make it clear: when you ask for the Same Spirit, God will be glad to give it. It's almost as if the whole point of the Lord's Prayer is to direct us toward the need and availability of the Same Spirit.

When you need the right word to say...or the strength to keep your mouth shut so you don't say the wrong thing; when you need inspiration to get up and do the right thing...or a prick of the conscience to avoid doing the wrong deed. When you need direction, revelation, reminders - the Same Spirit that shaped the way of Jesus will shape your way. Everyday.

A lot of Christians don't know much about the Holy Spirit, the Same Spirit that was at work in the days of David and Daniel and the Disciples. The Apostle John spends some time teaching about the Spirit, but Luke spends lots of words telling stories about what Jesus did through the Spirit.

The invitation to you and I is to want the Same Spirit to go with us into every conversation, every scenario, every dark place, every interesting opportunity. This Same Spirit makes good possible in an enduring and redemptive way. This Same Spirit, if you want Him, gives energy and insight, inspiration and direction for furthering God's work in you and through you. Who wouldn't want that?

Sunday Sermon Notes - 05.17.09

Be The Anchor! Keep Praying...

"So I say to you:
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives;
those who seek find;
and to those who knock, the door will be opened.
Luke 11v9-10 [TNIV]

Prayer is so easy. Anybody can do it. Prayer is so easy - it's as easy as asking your dad for some dinner, it as easy as knocking on your neighbor's door for a cup of sugar. It's that easy!

The LORD's Prayer - which Jesus gave his disciples per their request on how to pray - is a really easy prayer to pray. It's short, it has a rhythm to it, and it's kind of catchy. Jesus doesn't have an interest in making prayer hard or boring or irrelevant. Jesus wants us to pray often, to ask, seek, and knock without inhibition.

Jesus gives two little illustrations about how easy prayer can be. He tells of a man who has a friend on a journey coming to spend the night; the man doesn't have enough bread to properly host the friend, so he goes to his neighbor's house and knocks to get what he needs. Unlike the neighbor who grumps but complies with the man, God will gladly give us as much as we need. The other little story is of a boy asking his father for a fish and egg for dinner - what dad, when given that everyday kind of request, would turn around and give a snake or scorpion instead? Outrageous! And Jesus makes the point that God knows how to give good gifts to his children even more than we do.

Jesus wants us to go to God in prayer - go ahead and knock, go ahead and ask, go ahead and seek an answer. It's easy. Prayer is easy. We're the ones who make it hard. We don't like to wait. We don't want to have to trust God - we want immediate assurance that our prayers will be answered satisfactorily. We don't like having to ask God for stuff - we want him to take care of bad things BEFORE they happen. We don't like to be in pain or trouble - we want God to bring about relief right away! We don't like inconvenience. We don't like having to work through the consequences of our own behaviors and habits. When God doesn't answer our prayers the way we expected, we get irritated. We're the ones that make prayer hard.

When it comes to making prayer easy, working your way through the LORD's Prayer is an act of faith. When you don't know what to pray, pray what Jesus suggested. When you don't know who to pray for, pray through the prayer Jesus taught you. When you're tired, overwhelmed, despairing, unfocused - pause, and then pray through the LORD's Prayer. And then do it again. And again. As many times as you want or need to in order to focus.

And to hear. Hear what the LORD is saying to you, what he wants you to focus on in praying. Clearly it's not about how long the prayer is, or how often you say it that will get your prayer answered. The prayer is about listening for what God wants you to do next, about getting guidance and assurance, but also about maturing your faith and trust. In praying to God, using the LORD's Prayer, will you trust God to hear you, to direct your next steps, and provide direction eventually...even if the silence lasts too long?

If the LORD's Prayer is a little too long for you, there are three other little prayers you can pray that stem from the prayer Jesus taught us. So for those times when you feel the urge to pray, you can utter one of these three very short prayers:

Thanks!

Help...

Why?

These three short prayers don't require any memorization, but they do require some trust. Most of us dwell on the negative too much. When things aren't going the way we want, change the mood, turn the tide by saying Thanks to God for some of the good stuff in your life. There will always be something to complain about, so instead of feeling sorry for yourself, feel grateful. When something goes awry, when something happens to you or someone you care about, something that is not good, but you don't know what to do or ask for, Help is a good prayer. Of course, if you are going to ask for Help, it's wise to then pause and listen for what God wants you to say/do next. As complicated as life is, there are many, many times where we want to know Why? As most of us know, God rarely gives us the answer we want. But he is ready to give us the answer we need, if we will again listen and wait.

Prayer is easy. You can do it. You need it. Other people need you to do it. You can say Thanks! You can ask for Help. You can seek for Why? You can pray the way Jesus taught us. It's so easy. Do it today!

Sunday Sermon Notes - 05.10.09

Be The Anchor: Pray

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.
When he finished, one of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.' "
Luke 11v1-4 [TNIV]

It's hard to pray. But it's a good hard. It's good for us to pray, and it's good for those for whom we're praying. But it's hard to keep praying - too many distractions, difficult to stay focused, we get sleepy, we wonder whether God is listening or if our prayers matter. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very good at praying. I try, but I give up too easily - praying is hard work! It takes energy, it takes focus, it takes time, it takes heart, it takes patience, it takes listening, it takes hoping, it takes work.

I've found myself resorting to saying the Lord's Prayer a lot. Usually several times a day. Maybe like you, you find yourselves in a situation, or reflecting on a conversation or experience...you want to pray about it/the person, but not sure what to say. Or I get angry, I get worried, I get irritated, I get impatient, I get despairing, etc. - and I feel the Spirit tugging...but I don't know what to say to God...so I work my way through the Lord's Prayer. Or when I want to hear from God...I work my way through the Lord's prayer - working to hear what He's saying to me through His words.

The Lord's Prayer is concise and recorded differently in two different gospels - with this effect: the Lord's Prayer is not a magic incantation that must be phrased perfectly in order for it to work; the Lord's Prayer avoids the impulse for us to speak many words hoping to get God's attention or favor. The Lord's Prayer is about ideas, about truths, about insight into what God cares about and what he is always doing in the world whether we pray or not. When I - you - pray the Lord's Prayer, we connect with what God cares about most...which is vital, since we are praying in order to share with God what we care about most.

Sometimes prayer can get stale because our prayers are usually pretty self-centered. Even if we pray for others, somehow the prayer is about us. Not always, but we can get that way. The Lord's Prayer is implicitly God centered - about him as our good and great Father who cares for us in ways we cannot fully grasp; it is about him working to feed everyone, about him working to reconcile everyone, about him working to overcome evil with good for everyone. When we begin to care more about these things in our life and in our world, we will find more of our prayers being answered. But then, it's not really about whether our prayers get answered, it's really more about are we joining in on what God is doing...what he wants to do in us and through us.

God works through people. Christ is the head, we are the body, and the Spirit is God in us. God answers prayer through people. When we pray to God, he works to answer it through somebody. Maybe it's you. You are the answer to prayer! When you pray for God to intervene in someone's life, to do something good for somebody, to protect, help, etc. - it is very likely that God has in mind for you to help make that answer happen. Prayer takes on a very personal, unselfish dimension when we pray for others with the intent of helping fulfill our own request.

Prayer is not so much about us getting God to do what we want him to do for us or others. Prayer is about connecting with what God is already doing...and what he would like to do in us and through us unto others. The Lord's Prayer reveals to us God's heart and ways: in essence we already know what God wants for us - what we're looking for is wisdom on what that means for us here and now. If we emerge into this way of praying, prayer becomes easier and harder...what used to make prayer hard is no longer the case: we're not bored with praying anymore. Now we're scared about what might happen next in our life if we give more of ourselves to being the answer to our own prayers and to God's way/work in the world.

How would your prayer life changed if you quit praying for a good day, safety, and quick recovery in the hospital for people that you know who are ill or hurt. What else would you pray for? What else do you care about? What are other people going through that requires not only prayer but your personal intervention? Or are your prayers about God making your life more convenient, more pleasurable, more successful? What if prayer is about getting a more messy life, a more complicated life, a more confusing life? What if prayer was not about life working out the way you dream, but about dealing with reality and what God is needing you to do next with the people around you?

...your kingdom come...in me...through me ...in this life...and the one to come...

Be the Anchor: Pray!

Be the Pray-er...

Be The Answer to Your Prayers...

Sunday Sermon Notes - 05.03.09

Be the Anchor!

Be the one who Listens!

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10v38-42 (TNIV)

A really interesting story that is NOT about the different personalities of two sisters clashing over Jesus. A homely story that is NOT about the tension between the task-oriented and the relationship-oriented. It's entirely possible that Martha has an outgoing personality with a task-oriented bent to her. And Mary may have a laid-back personality and also be very relationship-oriented. But the story is beyond those dimensions.

Note that Martha is the one that invites Jesus into her home. To offer hospitality was central to their culture, and thus the more honored the guest the more honor for the home that hosted. It's possible that Martha was seeking to host Jesus, not only for the sake of honoring Jesus, but garnering honor for herself as well. Mary, it is worth noting, probably had no interest in hosting Jesus for an elaborate feast. This becomes clear when, amidst the flurry of preparations (slaughtering the calf, prepping the meats and bread and dishes, cleaning the home, etc) Mary sits at the feet of Jesus.

It's possible that Mary would have helped Martha out had the guest been someone else other than Jesus. It's likely that Jesus was a brilliant story-teller, able to tell tales and recount past events with mesmerizing effects. Mary couldn't tear herself away from Jesus - he was too funny, to wise, to enjoyable to leave alone. And this made Martha really angry. Here she was, wearing herself out getting this feast ready to honor Jesus, and Mary just sits there. And Jesus allows it! Martha loses her cool and brings shame on herself. She accuses Jesus of playing favorites, of disregarding her, and being selfish. She even commands him to do her bidding.

The feast is pretty much a lost cause at this point. Martha has brought dishonor upon herself, she has shamed her guest, and put a chasm between her and her sister. But notice what Jesus does in response to this outburst - he is very gentle with her, but very direct: "Martha, Martha - you are worried and upset about many things...."

What you are worried and upset about these days?
How is your worry and anger tainting other areas of your life?

Worry and anger cannot be contained - it contaminates all the other areas of your life. Worry and anger kept Martha focused on herself, her intentions, her heart, her plans, her goals, her work to honor herself and use others to get what she wanted. Martha was worried that her plans to honor herself were not going to go as she wanted, thus she got angry at the people she wanted to use because they wouldn't go along with her plan. All of this kept her from listening to Jesus. And all of this prompted her to tear Mary away from listening to Jesus. And Jesus wouldn't allow for it.

When we get worried and angry it is really hard to focus and listen to Jesus. We know already what worries us, what upsets us. The dance has gotten kind of predictable at this point. One of the ways to resist the inevitable worry and anger is to pause in the moment, focus on the Way of Jesus, and listen to Him - he can bring good out of your outbursts...if you'll listen. Make a decisive break - exert your freewill and refuse to let the powerful emotions of worry and anger sweep you away. Let Jesus be your anchor - listen to him.

If you're going to be an anchor to your neighbor, you need to listen. It's really hard to be an anchor for another when you're life is wracked by worry and anger. Determine to resist worry and anger by listening hard to the wisdom and way of Jesus. His way leads to a better way. 

Be the Anchor: Listen!

Sunday Sermon Notes - 04.26.09

Be The Anchor!

Be The Neighbor!

Be the One Who Goes & Does Mercy!

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Luke 10v36-37

The story of the good Samaritan is pretty famous. A lot of people know the gist of the story: a man gets beat up and left for dead alongside the road. A priest comes down the road, sees the half-dead man and walks by on the other side. A temple-worker comes down, same deal. And then a Samaritan comes down the road, sees the guy, bandages the guy up, takes him to a hotel and pays for room and board. Everybody knows that the Samaritans and Jews hated each other for racial and religious reasons. So it was a pretty shocking and disturbing story that Jesus told.

So what's the application? Stop and help people along the road? Be a do-gooder? Name rescue helicopter's after the Samaritan? Is the story about emergency situations? Is it about one time disaster relief? Probably not...

If you read Luke's version of the story carefully, you'll note that the expert in the law asks a very interesting question to get the whole story going: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Or: what must I do to go to heaven when I die? That's the simple translation into our vernacular. Jesus returns the question with a question. The law-expert answers Jesus by citing the Shema and the Neighbor Law. Jesus announces that the man answered correctly: "Do this and you will live."

Jesus just explained how to go to heaven when we die: Love God will all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself. Essentially Jesus is saying, if you love God and your neighbor in this life, you'll love life in the age to come. If you don't love God and your neighbor in this life, you'll not want to inherit eternal life. You don't want to go to heaven when you die if you don't love God or your neighbor in this life, since the point of being in heaven is being with God and your neighbors. If you don't love God now, during this brief life, how is it you'll want to love God for eternity?

The expert in the law discerns that Jesus has just made it harder to get into heaven, so he asks a follow up question: who is my neighbor?He's hoping that Jesus will narrow down the list, thus making it easier to gain assurance that heaven will be home after death. But here's the flip side of the question: the expert wants to know who he DOESN'T have to love and still get into heaven. Jesus, being the brilliant guy that he is, sees what is going on and gives the story of the good Samaritan as the answer to the question: who is my neighbor?

But then Jesus does this really interesting twist: instead of the neighbor being the recipient of love (as stated in Leviticus 19v18), the neighbor is the one who does the loving. Jesus rephrases the command like this: Be the neighbor who loves. After telling the Samaritan story, Jesus asks the lawyer who was the neighbor to the beat up guy. According to the Leviticus verse, Jesus should have asked: who was the one who loved the beat up neighbor.

Here's the thing: God is merciful to the wicked and the kind, we are to be merciful just as our Father is merciful. God has become our neighbor, through Jesus he has moved into our neighborhood. Just as Jesus is the neighbor who loves, so we are to be the neighbor who loves. When we see a need, when we see a need for mercy, when we see an opportunity to do mercy, we are to do it. We are to be the neighbor. We are to be creative, intelligent, enduring in our work to be merciful just like our Father is merciful...to us. Obviously we'll need God's Spirit to help us figure out how to do this in the moment to moment stuff of life...but that's kind of the point.

If you want to be an anchor for your family and friends: be the neighbor who does mercy. Everytime. Everywhere. At home. At work. At school. At church. If you want to go to heaven when you die, be merciful. Don't make excuses, just do it. Don't let your exhaustion, your busyness, your distractions, your prejudices, your anxieties keep you out of heaven, don't let them stop you from doing mercy when you see a need for it. In those moments when you want to pass by on the other side for "legitimate" reasons, trust God's Spirit to help you figure out what He wants you to do in that moment. Trust him to know you, your situation, your capabilities, and that he will help you know what to do.

This week: Be The Anchor - Be the Neighbor who goes and does Mercy!

Sunday Sermon Notes - 04.19.09

Be The Anchor!

Our church community takes its name from an obscure verse in the letter to the Hebrews (6v19) - We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It's a great verse with great implications!

On a basic level, an anchor keeps you firm and secure in harbor - whether you're home or at your point of destination, an anchor will keep you where you need to be. An anchor also keeps you from drifting - whether you're resisting the wind and water currents or getting some rest before resuming travel - an anchor can keep you from getting off course when you're taking a break. Lastly, an anchor provides counterbalance for when you're working on the ship. So whether at home, at rest, or at work, an anchor provides a level of stability necessary to finish the journey.

Drawing on those ideas of an anchor, the author of the letter to Hebrews makes a simple analogy: not only is hope like an anchor for the soul...Jesus is the hope of our soul. Jesus is to be our anchor.

But Jesus also sends us out to be anchors to others. He seeks to inspire us and challenge us to be the anchor. In Luke 9v1-6 Jesus ends out twelve of his disciples to do the work he had been doing: healing, teaching, forgiving, restoring, welcoming, inspiring, challenging. In Luke 10 Jesus sends out seventy-two of his disciples to do the same work. And in Luke 24 Jesus sends all of his disciples out. The disciple/students become apostle/sent-ones. Jesus becomes there anchor, only to help them become an anchor - in his name.

We - as followers of Jesus, are expected to be sent-ones. If Jesus is our anchor, he is expecting us to be the anchor to someone else. We might feel like we are under-qualified (we are), we are not perfect enough (we aren't), that we don't have enough time (poor excuse) or that we don't know what to do (not good enough...). Jesus is the one that makes it possible to be an anchor to others. Only when we have experiences to draw on - of Jesus being our anchor - can we be prepared to be an anchor to others.

Here's the thing: God works by his Spirit through people. For the people in your life who need Jesus, odds are you are the one who needs to be Jesus to them. They need you to be the anchor. You might feel like you want to pass on that task - but this is the only task. To be a Christian is to be accused of being a "little Christ" - would anyone accuse you of that? Who can accuse you of helping others find healing and restoration, of being led to forgiveness and peace, of finding hope and faith and love?

God has called you to follow Jesus so that he can make you an anchor. This week - wherever you go, whomever you are with - ask God to help you be the anchor.

Sunday Sermon Notes - 03.08.09

Jesus, Sin, and the Paralyzed Man

Luke knows how to tell a story well.  This particular one has several layers of intrigue and tension to it - as well as some humor.  At least I think so!

To put this account in it's co-text: Jesus up to this point has done many healings amidst crowds of people.  He is well known across the nation.  He's done a lot of teaching - proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God - but he's not yet taken the next step: forgiving sins.  And that is what he initiates in this story of the Paralyzed Man.

Let's call him Bob.  Bob the Paralyzed Man.  We don't know whether he was severely crippled from an accident, born a paraplegic, or paralyzed due to a disease.  We do know that he had at least two friends who were willing to haul him to Jesus.  One has to wonder how it is that this man in this condition had friends willing to do this.  Being paralyzed, he would been likely cruelly impoverished, a beggar, completely dependent on others with nothing much to give back.  Nonetheless he had two friends who had compassion on him, were committed to him, and courageous enough to creep through the crowds and get to Jesus.

Imagine hauling a man on a flimsy cot, a man with no ability to balance himself.  Through a rough and raucous crowd, up onto the roof of a craggy house, lowered with ropes (where'd they get ropes from?) down in front of Jesus.  You can imagine the excitement of the paralyzed man at having survived his friends attempt to get him to Jesus!  You can imagine the excitement of the friends finally getting Bob the paralyzed man to drop right in front of Jesus!  With Jesus' track record, everyone - Bob, the friends, the crowd, the Pharisees and lawyers - is expecting a healing!  We expect Jesus to laugh, and cry out: "Friend, I see your faith - you are... healed!"  

But that's not what he says.  The place is abuzz with seeing Bob lowered from the roof, the place is already electric with the prior healings having taken place, and Jesus is then so anticlimatic: "Friend", he shouts out, "your sins are...forgiven."  

What?  Sins forgiven?  No! No, no, no...I want healed!  Heal me!  Ack!  This isn't supposed to happen!  We went through all of this to get healed, not forgiven of sins. What's Jesus doing?

Interestingly, it's not the paralyzed man who is recorded as protesting the forgiving, but the Pharisees and Torah-teachers.  They correctly state: only God can forgive sins.  If only they could see with faith...

Jesus uses this moment (he is so brilliant...he knows how to get a crowds attention: always expect the unexpected!) to reveal his next strategy: I'm here to forgive sins.  The healings - they establish my authority from God - and now I'm using that authority to heal people of their sins.  

We want God to heal us of our physical ailments, our economic woes, our relational trials: but do we want his forgiveness of our sins?  Will we come to him for the real healing?  God cares about our bodies, our homes, our families, our vocations, all the stuff of earth.  But God also knows that it is sin that is at work in us, enslaving us, wrecking and cracking up our lives.  And so if we want healed, restored, renewed, we must begin with forgiveness of our sins.

As a follower of Jesus, in what way are you furthering the good news of forgiveness of sins?  Who in your life do you need to teach how to forgive others?  Who in your life could benefit from receiving forgiveness of sins from God?  

As the paralyzed man, what needs healed in your life?  Are you willing to receive forgiveness from God as the starting point for that healing?  Or will you protest and refuse to see the sins at work in you?

In the Luke story, it's possible that the paralyzed man was healed the moment his sins were forgiven.  Jesus saw his faith, his trust, his openness and rewarded it with forgiveness and healing.  As the man lay there, the effects of the healing began their work, the Pharisees argued with Jesus.  Jesus answered them with both his words and actions - by the time the Torah-teachers were done talking, the paralyzed man was ready to stand up and go home.

The starting place for healing of hearts and homes, of souls and cities is in repentance of sins for forgiveness from God.  This then prompts us to forgive those who sin against us.  To not confess sins, to not repent is to become full of a sin which paralyzes our abilities to give mercy, to act justly, to walk humbly.  A quick look around will show you how many paralyzed people there are in our lives.  

Be a friend and help the paralyzed walk again.  

Set them free by teaching them how to receive forgiveness from God and how to forgive others. 

Sunday Sermon Notes - 03.01.09

Jesus, Sin, and Simon the Fisherman.

As Luke tells the story, Jesus is intent on "catching" Simon Peter.  And Jesus intends to use Simon to "catch" others.  Jesus initiates his "catching Simon" plan by coming to Simon's hometown of Capernaum.  Once there he begins to teach with authority in the synagogue, cast out evil spirits, and thus attract quite a crowd.  Just before dinner Jesus makes a bee-line for Simon's home, the crowd in tow, and heals his mother-in-law of a fever.  She gets up, gushes out gracious hospitality, and then after the meal, during the cool of the day, even more people came to Simon's house to have their friends healed.

Jesus definitely had Simon's attention.

The next day Jesus shows up at Simon's boat - his home away from home.  Another crowd is there, listening to him teach.  Jesus asks to borrow Simon's boat as a floating pulpit, to which Simon agrees.  Once in Simon's boat, and finished with his sermon, challenges Simon to take the boat out fishing again.  Simon used nets, which worked best at night.  Simon protested Jesus' apparent ignorance, but there was something about Jesus that prompted him to go along with him.

As the boat slugged into shore with it's huge load of netted fish, Simon falls to his knees and acknowledges his unworthiness of this gift.  He cries out to Jesus, "Go away from me LORD; for I am a sinful man!"  

This is a very different reaction than the village of Nazareth or the town of Capernaum gave to Jesus.  Both of those places wanted Jesus to do stuff for them, and then some more stuff, and then more.  At no point is there record that any of the people in Nazareth or Capernaum reflected on who Jesus was or what this meant for them - beyond personal benefit.  But Simon - he had a very different reaction.

What's our reaction to the good stuff that God gives us?  Are we like Jesus' hometown? Simon's hometown?  Are we interested in what God can do for us - is it all about us?  At what point have you received good gifts from God, and your response was like Simon Peter's: I'm not worthy.

For many of us, we think that the good gifts we receive from God are for us.  They are, but they are not.  The good gifts are for us, but they are also for others.  God pours good gifts into us, usually from others, so that he can pour them into others through us.  So when we receive good gifts from God, thank Him, and then go on our way, we really miss the point and reveal where our heart is towards the LORD.  

When we receive good gifts from God, realize they are good and that they are an undeserved gift, and when we respond to God in humble gratitude, then we are in a position to receive more good gifts - but not for our sake, but for the sake of others.  

Jesus poured good into Simon so that Simon could be used of God as a source of blessings for others.  God used Simon to "catch" many more people for the kingdom.  Simon used to catch fish, which meant death for the fish and life for the one who consumed it.  But now Simon was going to catch people, and rescue them from death and point them in the direction of a new life.

Let God "catch" you and use you as a vessel for much good.  Let him pour the good into you, and then let him pour it out of you unto others.

Or is it all about you?

Sunday Sermon Notes - 02.08.09

Listen.

That's still the word for me lately. And for Anchor.

Listen and Understand.

Listen to Advice.

And now: Listen to the Cry.

It's clear from the Scriptures that God listens to the Cry. The Psalms are full of the Cry:

For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no one to help.
He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
[Psalm 72v12-13]

The Exodus was initiated by God as a response to the cry of the Israelites in bondage. God listens to the cry.

The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians.... And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
[Exodus 3v7-8a, 9]

We know that Jesus listens to the cry. And because Jesus listens to the cry, we ought to as well. Out of all the stories in Luke about Jesus listening to the cry, there is one that stands out for it's tenderness and compassion: The Widow of Nain.

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.
As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.
When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!"
The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.
[Luke 7v11-17]

Jesus listened to the cry of the widow, and he did something about it. When we listen to the cry of those around us, we are to do something about it. Though we are not Jesus, we can still turn to Jesus for wisdom and direction for what to do with the cry. The question is not centered on what do we do with the cry that we listened to, but what does Jesus want to do with the cry that we listened to; what does Jesus want to do through us?

We have a hard enough time crying out to the LORD on behalf of ourselves and those we love; how much more harder to listen to the cries of even more people. Yet...the world is full of pain, of cries, and of Christians who won't listen. Don't be a follower of Jesus who refuses to listen to the cry.

If you are a follower who doesn't cry out to the LORD for mercy and wisdom, start crying out.

If you are a follower who doesn't listen to the cries of others, start listening. And then start crying out to the LORD on their behalf.

God has come to help his people indeed (the new Exodus)! He came through the human Jesus of Nazareth (the new Moses), and now he comes through the human Church (the new Israel)! We are the body of Christ, we are his hands and ears in this pain-wracked world. If we won't hold others and listen to their cry as Jesus, how will they know that God hears their cry?

Consider the power of listening; consider the healing power of listening to the cry.

You want to make a difference in this jaded world? Listen to the cry.

You want to see God do more miracles? Listen to the cry. And then cry out to the LORD.

Sunday Sermon Notes - 01.11.09

He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
~ Luke 3v3

The good news of the gospel of God is that your life can change - it must change.

For so many of us, we see our lives getting into ruts and routines, we repeat the same bad behaviors, and the habits get harder and harder to halt. And yet, into our very messed up lives, God comes with a message of hope: REPENT! Receive Forgiveness of your Sins! Get freedom from your old ways and get direction for the new way!

Sin is a word we don't use that much anymore, but it may be useful to bring it back into our everyday life. Sin, as you read about it in all the stories of the Bible, is that action which results in division and cracks in relationships. Sin corrupts, it wrecks, it ruins, it perverts, it twists, it stains, it sours, it pulls apart, it rends, it comes between and embitters.

Sin is pervasive, if you take time to listen to the stories of the people you know. Most people have plenty of relationships that are infected with sin. So what is the remedy? What is the course of healing? How do we break free from the grip of sin and start out on a new way?

Sin must first be named, and then it must be rejected. Sin seems right at first, but it leads to death of what is good and right. You've got to see the tentacles of sin in your life and be ready to get rid of them. Once you confess the truth about your sin-full-ness, and repent of your guiltiness, then you are ready to receive the forgiveness God has already extended to you.

And once you are forgiven, you stand ready to start doing what is right under the direction of the Spirit. The only way to live a life which brings good out of sin is to walk with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God will give you promptings throughout the day of right and good things to do that help further your freedom from sin, help others break free from sin, and add healing to the world.

It's interesting to note that when the crowds asked John what to do now that they had confessed and repented of their sins, they were instructed to notice people who were hungry and cold and remedy the situation. When they were in a position to cheat and lie, instead they were to be honest and truth-full. When they came across a situation where they could exploit someone else and advance themselves at the expense of someone else - well, they were to choose peace instead of envy.

Everyday acts of goodness: noticing the needs of others and doing something about it, choosing honesty and rejecting greed would go along ways in our culture - as it did back then - to free people from sin, and bring more healing to more people along the way.

REPENT!

Receive Forgiveness of Sins!

Produce Fruit in Keeping with Repentance.

Be the Good News of God.

Sunday Sermon Notes - 01.04.09

And as Jesus grew up, he increased in wisdom and in favor with God and people.
~ Luke 2v52 (TNIV).

As we look to make some new changes this new year, and as we look to Jesus for direction for this new year, we'd do well to ponder Luke's summary statement of Jesus' young life. It's worth noting that what we want for our life is what was true of Jesus'. When you take into account all of the changes we'd like to see in our life, most of the worthy changes could be summed up in the categories of wisdom and favor. We want more wisdom, we want more favor. I suppose, as we think to the year ahead, if want more wisdom and favor like Jesus had, we'd do well to follow his Way.

Jesus' life was one of integrity: before he showed us how to increase in wisdom and favor, he did it first. Consider the changes you want to see in other people's life. You could probably sum up most of those changes under the categories of wisdom and favor. In being like Jesus, we must first increase in wisdom and favor if we want others to increase in wisdom and favor.

To sum it up in a phrase: Be the change you wish to see in the world (a paraphrase of Ghandi).

Or - another way to put it: Be the Jesus you wish to see in the world. As you increase in wisdom and favor, it will overflow into the lives of others around you. But you can't pour out what is not being poured in. As you follow the way of Jesus, you will be going the way of wisdom and favor, you will have it poured into you so that as you live wisely and favorably, it can be poured out.

As you look to make changes this year, consider the task of reconciliation. If you are going to go the way of Jesus, this is his major task - one which requires much wisdom and favor. Maybe, as you grow in wisdom and favor this year, you'll be convicted to right your wrongs; to make up for your mistakes, to fix what you broke. Or, maybe you'll commit to working through the consequences of your sins.

Make this new year count: be the Jesus you wish to see in your home, your church, your neighborhood, your school, your workplace, your world.

Sunday Sermon Notes 12.21.08

I really like watching Charlie Brown's Christmas special each winter. We both are annoyed by the commercialism of Christmas. Even a simple reading of the Christmas story undermines the modern experiences of the Christmas season. A close reading of the story clashes with our current attitudes about what constitutes a good Christmas.

The first Christmas was not only a time of great hardship, but also of great humiliation.

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid.
I'm here to announce a great and joyful event
that is meant for everybody, worldwide:
A Savior has just been born in David's town,
a Savior who is Messiah and Master.
This is what you're to look for:
a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises: 


Glory to God in the heavenly heights, 

Peace to all men and women
on earth who please him.

As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!
Luke 2v8-20 (The Message)

To have your first guest be scoundrely, stinky sheepherders was a great humiliation. The first guests should have been family members, friends, neighbors. Sheepherders were despised, mistrusted, and the dregs of society. It was no honor to have them shouting praises and proclaiming the news around town.

To be born in a setting where you are required to lay your newborn baby in a manger is a humiliating setting. Instead of giving birth in a warm home surrounded by attentive midwives, Mary must trust Joseph to deliver the baby, and together they must both clean up the mess, care for the newborn, and recover from the exhaustion, alone. A very humbling situation.

To be rejected by family for being "sinners", to be in hiding from Herod - being descendants of the daring King David, to be far from home because of the will of the Caesar, this is all a very humiliating set of circumstances.

Interestingly for many of us, we too have our own stories of humiliation. We have our secrets, that if found out, would be very humiliating. We have current life circumstances that are humbling, and we resent them. We've humiliated others, we've maybe snickered at the humiliation of others, and maybe we've looked the other way when we come across the humbled. Instead of letting humiliation bring out the best in us, we let it make us shamed and angry.

This Christmas, maybe the best gift you can give is yourself - a you that lets God use our own humiliation for something really good. Maybe we need to forgive those who have humiliated us, maybe we need to repent of the humiliation we've caused others. Maybe we need to let go of our shame, our fear of being discovered.

God in Jesus faced great humiliation at Christmas, as was just pointed out. He grew up in humbling circumstances, Nazareth was not an honorable place to grow up. Jesus ministered to the humiliated: tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes and cripples. Jesus died a terribly humiliating death upon the cross, everything about his trial, torture and abandonment was a great humiliation. Yet God raised him from the dead, and used all that humiliation to bless and rescue and reconcile and restore.

God can take your humiliation and bring good out of it, if you will let him. Surrender your secrets to him. Tell a trusted friend your secret, don't keep it to yourself, let it out and be free. Repent of your shamefull deeds, and then move forward to make right what was wronged. Forgive those who humbled you, and be free, and move forward to be used by God to bless and rescue and reconcile and restore.

That is the true meaning of Christmas.

Sunday Sermon Notes 12.14.08

What will you do different this Christmas?
People tend to get into a rut with their lives, getting into habits and comfortable ways of doing things, understanding things. Yet they want different results. They want their Christmas' to be different, but they don't do anything different when it comes to reading and understanding the Christmas story, and they rarely do anything different about their schedules or attitudes when it comes to the Christmas season.

Read the text carefully - do something different and read it slowly, don't assume you understand what you read, ask some questions about the text...

About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
Luke 2v1-7 (The Message)

Note that the very first Christmas was full of hardships. As you read through the text, what were some of the hardships you were able to identify?
* the hardship of being under the harsh rule of Caesar Augustus (and his cruel and paranoid puppet-king Herod the Great)
* the hardship of registering for the census (which was used for oppressive taxation and military conscription purposes)
* the hardship of trusting Mary's account of why she is pregnant
* the hardship of accepting Mary as his own - overcoming the objections of his family (and maybe hers?)
* the hardship of finding a welcoming place to stay in Bethlehem
* the hardship of delivering the baby in such a unwelcoming conditions
* the hardship of avoiding being noticed by King Herod's henchman (Joseph being of the famous line of King David...)
* the hardship of facing the future alone and rejected

As hard as the times were for Joseph and Mary, they made some good and right decisions. Mary kept her cool when no one believed her. Joseph trusted Mary and accepted her, protected her, cared for her. Joseph and Mary obeyed the command to register for the census despite potential risk to their well-being. Joseph and Mary sought to stay obedient to the commands the LORD had given to them.

Like Joseph and Mary, you likely have your own hardships you are going through this Christmas season. (Maybe you don't, but odds are there is somebody you care about that is going through a hard time...). What are some of the hardships you are going through?
* relational hardships?
* financial hardships?
* workplace hardships?
* school hardships?
* emotional hardships like depression?
* spiritual hardships like loneliness?
* mental hardships like boredom?
* etc...

In light of the specific hardships you are going through...what are some good and right decisions you know you ought to make - even though it is really hard to do so?
* forgiveness?
* reconciliation?
* learning to listen?
* admitting you were wrong?
* trading selfishness for love?
* cutting up the credit card?
* making immediate actions steps to eliminate your out of control debt?
* be a friend?
* work hard (while avoiding all cheating, lying, slacking, and conniving..)?

Odds are you know what the right thing to do is in the midst of the hardships...you just need some encouragement to do the right thing. Joseph and Mary were alone, rejected, and yet they chose the right thing. Part of the stems from their long-term work of building character, they had made it a habit of choosing wisely in the past when it was easy. The habit of choosing rightly in the easy times makes it possible for you to choose wisely in the hard times.

This Christmas is a time for you to reconsider your habits and attitudes - and take action to do something different.
Make it a point to fix what is broken, to repair what is cracked.
The windshield of my Chevy Malibu has a long, ragged crack running alongside the passenger side. It started off from a small pebble smashing a small chunk out of the windshield, but month by month, left untended, it cracked up the window. Now it sits there as a constant reminder of what happens when you leave cracks untended. Now it will be more expensive and more work to restore the window. But it can be restored.

Whether it is your heart or your husband's, whether is your soul or your son's, whatever is cracked can be restored - that is what God is doing in this world. But to restore it, one must admit there is a crack, and one must admit one's responsiblity for the crack, and then one must actually be willing and desiring to restore the crack and remove it. I don't mind the crack in my windshield, so I don't plan on fixing it anytime soon. But it really annoys my wife and any other passenger who has to stare through the crack. I don't care enough about my passengers to actually fix the crack. I'm not bragging, just being honest.

This Christmas, do something different...restore what is cracked.

Sunday Sermon Notes 12.07.08

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not much of a poetry-reader. I try. I've even written a few poems of my own. My friend Jeremie Solak is a poet, and he's inspired me to enjoy poetry. I like songs, which is pretty much poetry set to music. But once the music is removed, and all that left is the words, something makes it harder to appreciate what is being communicated. And since the Bible is not set to music, sometimes it is hard to catch what God is trying to speak to us, since most of the Bible is poetry.

Zecheriah's poem is a song - actually a prayer (a prophesy too!) - which we read without the foot-stomping, hand-slapping, body-swaying which would've been part of the original utterance. And so it's easy to skip over his song/prayer/poem. Don't! It's the heart of the gospel, the foundation for what Jesus will do as recorded by Luke. The song-poem catches the essence of what God has been doing in the world through Israel, and it points us forward to what God is going to do through Israel in the present. Of course if you don't know the OT very well, it will be too easy to miss all the connections Zecheriah is making with Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Malachai and others.

To help us connect with this song-prayer, ask yourself this question: what do you really want for Christmas? Really? To be serious for a moment: if you could ask God to intervene in the world, what would you want God to do?

To ask the question a different way: what are you praying for this Christmas season? At this time when we seek to keep Jesus at the center of CHRISTmas, what are you praying for God to do in this world for the good of others and the world? Zecheriah's song reveals to us what he was praying for with all his heart and mind, what he was praying for that would be a blessing to his people and the world.

Then Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, 


Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; 

he came and set his people free. 

He set the power of salvation
in the center of our lives, 

and in the very house of David his servant, 

Just as he promised long ago 

through the preaching of his holy prophets: 

Deliverance from our enemies 

and every hateful hand; 


Mercy to our fathers, 

as he remembers to do what he said he'd do, 

What he swore to our father Abraham— 

a clean rescue from the enemy camp, 

So we can worship him without a care in the world, 

made holy before him as long as we live. 



And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest," 

will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways, 

Present the offer of salvation to his people, 

the forgiveness of their sins. 

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, 

God's Sunrise will break in upon us, 

Shining on those in the darkness, 

those sitting in the shadow of death, 

Then showing us the way,
one foot at a time, 

down the path of peace.
Luke 1v67-79 [The Message]

The song/prayer/prophesy of Zechariah is about God's restoration of Israel, and the world - God is always at work in the world going about his restoration of all things - and Zechariah is thrilled that he and his son will be part of it in a huge way. If you were to re-read this song/prayer, what themes of restoration would you find in it that describe what God is/will do?

It's important for us as disciples of Jesus to catch the significance of Zechariah's song - it was an important song to Jesus, and it should be to us. The song shaped Jesus' life, it was a foundation for what he would do and say in his ministry. Thus we would expect to make some connections between the stories and teachings of Jesus and what we read about in Zechariah's prayer. We'd think of Jesus' rescue of Levi from the treasonous and corrupt world of oppresive tax collectors; we'd think of Jesus' deliverance of children, women, and men from evil spirits, evil thoughts, evil attitudes and practices; we'd think of Jesus forgiving sins and healing hearts/minds of those that would trust him; we'd think of Jesus instructing his followers on how to be peacemakers, how to reconcile and make peace with neighbors, strangers, and enemies.

So if we are going to let Zechariah's prayer become our prayer, like Jesus did, then we'd want our life, our story to begin to be influenced by it as Jesus' was. Who are people in our world/neighborhood/sphere of influence that need rescued out of destructive habits/attitudes/thoughts/actions? Who are people in our place of work/school who need to be given an alternative to the evil the see around them? Who do you know that needs to be forgiven? Who do you know that needs help to forgive? Who needs healing? Anyone you know that needs help in making reconciliation a reality? Anybody need more peace?

There are lots of prayers we could be offering up to the LORD this Christmas season. There are lots of things we want for ourselves and the world. But like Zechariah, and Jesus, maybe we ought to consider what God wants us to want. Not that we are incapable of getting our wants right, but often it seems that our wants become too self-centered, too small, too narrow. This Christmas, pray that God would reveal to you what you ought to want this Christmas season.

More than material possessions, more than modern convenience, more than increased leisure - may God whet our appetites for evermore peace in our homes, mercy in our workplace, justice in our courts, truth in our schools, righteousness in our churches, generosity in our neighborhoods, love in our world. May God reveal to you what you can do everyday to contribute to his ongoing work to restore all things as they are meant to be. This is what God cares about, this is what Jesus has come to do, and this is what his Spirit is trying to do in and through us. And God wants to use you to guide others into the paths of peace.

Sunday Sermon Notes 11.30.08

Growing up in a Protestant Christian church, we didn't pay much attention to Mary, except that she was the mother of Jesus and the young wife of Joseph. Other than the fact that she gave birth to the baby, we pretty much skipped her song in the Christmas story. I don't know why, maybe we were a little skittish about coming across too Catholic. Pity. Mary is quite the character. And her song is quite powerful.

And Mary said, 


I'm bursting with God-news; 

I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me,
and look what happened— 

I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me
will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy,
set apart from all others. 


His mercy flows in wave after wave 

on those who are in awe before him. 

He bared his arm and showed his strength, 

scattered the bluffing braggarts. 

He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud. 

The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.

He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
he remembered and piled on the mercies,
piled them high. 

It's exactly what he promised, 

beginning with Abraham and right up to now.
Luke 1v46-55 (The Message)

We understand the stories and teachings of Jesus to be the heart of the Gospel, the Good News about what God is doing in the world. To give the word "gospel" a simple definition, I'm using this one from Scot McKnight:
The Gospel is - The work of God to restore us
to God and to others
for the good of others and the world.

With this kind of definition, it is worth asking: What’s the work of God that Mary is celebrating in her song? God has announced to Mary what he is going to do in her and through her as part of his ongoing work to restore his world. That what she's singing about, God's continued restoration of Israel - through her. And thus we get a glimpse into what kind of stories and teachings Luke is going to stitch together - he's given us the outline of his gospel in Mary's song. Well part of the outline, Zechariah's song is the other outline; Mary's song is about Jesus as King, Zechariah's song is about Jesus as Priest and Prophet. Mary's song is triumphant, she is confidant that Jesus will be the kind of king that rules with all the wisdom, justice and mercy we all hope for.

So, based on this song, what kind of stories and teachings should we expect from Jesus? The theme of reversal comes up alot in the stories and teachings of Jesus. So does healing the poor (to be sick was to be poor), feeding the multitudes, demonstrating power that rivaled the Herod's and Caesars, and showing mercy to the sinners, outcasts, marginalized, and trampled. Thus, there is one more question to ask: Based on this song, what kind of work should we be doing?

Especially at Christmastime, when we remember the "reason for the season", when we seek to keep "Christ in Christmas", you'd think we'd keep close to our heart Mary's song, which spells out for us the reason and the identity of the Christ. To live out the true spirit of Christmas, we'd look at the situations around us that need to be reversed. We'd start noticing the unnoticed, we'd start having mercy on the marginalized, we'd help out with getting healing to the hurting, we'd feed the famished, and use our power to make right the wrongs of our neighborhood and world.

All this seems a bit ambitious, but it's what the Spirit of Christ is all about, and it is what the Spirit wants to do in us, this Christmas and every day. We obviously can't accomplish this work of God by ourself, to restore the world is going to require some miracles. Which is what Christmas is all about. But before we can sing and live Mary's song, we have to speak with her heart: "I am the LORD's servant, may it be to me as you have said."

Sunday Sermon Notes 11.23.08

This sermon kicks off one of many from the Gospel according to Luke. At Anchor we are going to read through Luke in a year, about a chapter every two weeks or so. It's not really about reading some chunk of the Bible, but about reflectively walking our way through the stories and teachings of Jesus. If we're to be life-long students of Jesus, then the more we learn his stories and teachings the more we can live them out - and become like our teacher. Of course the point is not to be a student who mostly has lots of knowledge in the head, it's about having a lot of His wisdom, courage, righteousness, mercy in our hearts and hands.

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives.

Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.
Luke 1v1-4 (The Message)

Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven.
Acts 1v1 (The Message)

The first text we reflectively walk through is Luke's prologue to his narrative of all the things that Jesus began to do and teach. In ancient texts, a lot like today, the authors try to clarify what they are seeking to accomplish through their writings through their introductory paragraph. We know that Luke wrote this gospel, as well as the book, the Acts of the Apostles. Luke-Acts is one story, one narrative about the work of God through Jesus and the local church - a work that began long ago and which will go on for a long time yet.

Since the Luke-Acts narrative is a story about the work of God - it's worth noting what the big picture is concerning this written account. Literally, gospel means good news. Narratively, according to Luke-Acts (and the rest of the Scriptures), the Gospel is:
The work of God to restore us
in the context of community to God and to others
for the good of others and the world.
(see Scot McKnight: Embracing Grace)

Luke acknowledges that many people before him had been passing on the stories of God and the teachings of Jesus - but he was going to write it all down so that Theophilus could regain some of his confidence in what he had been taught concerning the life and events of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is where so many of us can connect with Luke and Theophilus: we have our doubts about the reliability of the stories, we wonder about the realisticness of Jesus' teachings, and we wonder whether what we've been taught really matters. Luke's answer: Yes! The stories are trustworthy, the teachings are transformative, and all that God has done in the world with and through Jesus matters.

Luke is a brilliant writer, and the man he is writing about is brilliant himself, and so is God the Father, the Son, and Spirit. This means that they write in such a way that simple men and women like me can read the stories and teachings and be changed; it also means that brilliant men and women like you can read the stories and teachings and be changed. Everyone can be inspired, invigorated, injected with a new life through the Scriptures - but we have to apply all our heart, mind, soul and strength to the task. If we briefly skim through the stories and teachings, we deny ourselves the opportunity to be confronted and conformed by the Scriptures.

The brilliant story that Luke has revealed through his literary craft - a story rooted in historical veracity, eyewitness accounts, and oral traditions - has to do with the ongoing work of God to gather together a community of men and women in whom and through whom he wants to fix what is wrong in the world. God started with Adam and Eve, but their Fall has been an ongoing descent of humanity. God also began the restoration process with Adam and Eve, forgiving them, being reconciled to them, and using them still to bless the world. God's intent is to restore all humanity and this whole world - the heavens and the earth, and this is what his work has been about since the days of Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, John, Jesus, Peter, Paul and you.

There's more to the story, but restoration is the heart of the Gospel and the Scriptures. Jesus is the God-Man who comes to show us the Way of restoration in this life and the Next. In light of the brokeness and lonliness and despair of our world, this Way of Restoration is certainly good news. Welcome to the Gospel according to Luke...