Simeon and Anna

I love the story of Simeon and Anna, and while they encounter the infant Jesus just 8 days after his birth, for some reason we don’t put them in our nativity scenes. We put in the Wisemen who could have arrived up to three years after Jesus was born, but we don’t put in Simeon and Anna who worshipped Jesus in the temple about a week after his birth, but maybe we should because their story has a powerful message for us today. As we look ahead to the new year, Simeon and Anna share with us two valuable lessons that we should carry in to 2010.

The first lesson is that if we want to really see Jesus and experience all that God has for us, we have to remain faithful in the little things and follow through on all routine practices of our faith. Both Simeon and Anna were waiting for the Messiah to come – the both wanted to seek the fullness of God. In Luke 2:25-26 it says… Simeon had been told that he was not going to die until he saw the consolation of Israel – he wasn’t going to die without seeing the Messiah, and yet he is not out searching for the Christ to come in some remote area and he’s not sitting on the mountain top waiting for the God to come down riding in on the clouds, he’s right where he always is – he’s in the temple - worship God. Simeon was looking for God to come, but he was looking for God to come in the midst of the everyday routines and practices of his faith.

Too many times we think that we will only experience the presence and the power of God when we are sitting on the mountain top, or on some far away mission trip, and while those times can open us up to God’s presence in new and unexpected way, what Simeon shows us is that God comes to us in all the normal practices of our faith. In fact, the reason Simeon was able to see Jesus at all and the reason he got to hold Jesus in his arms was because he was in church that day! Simeon didn’t miss out on Jesus was because he was in church every day. Simeon was simply being faithful in his worship of God so it was just a normal day when he looked up and saw Mary and Joseph brining in the son of God.

It is in the daily routines of life and faith that we find Jesus, which is why we are told to not stop meeting together. In Hebrews 10:25 it says, let us not neglect meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as we see the Day of God approaching. It is important for us to keep worshipping together and we need to make sure we continue to pray together, study God’ word together and serve together in the new year. It’s important for us to develop healthy habits of faith development and as we make new year’s resolutions, this is a great week to start.

If you don’t have a daily devotion, think about starting one. Use the upper room, use a daily devotional focused on something that interests you, commit yourself to developing the practice because it will be in our daily devotions and our weekly worship and our persistent periods of prayer and our seasonal small groups that we will find Jesus. It is important for us to remain faithful in all these routine practices of our faith, because it will be during these times of worship that God will show up.

This is Anna’s story as well. Anna was even more devout than Simeon because it says she never left the Temple, she worshipped and fasted and prayed night and day. She was not about to miss out on what God was going to do, she was faithful and persistent and her faithfulness paid off because she was there when the Messiah arrived. Now I’m not suggesting that we drop everything and move into the church to live, but I am suggesting that we develop lives where we intentionally and consistently live in Christ. In Acts 17:28 it says that in Christ we live and move and have our being. What would it look like for us to live moment by moment in Christ? What would it look like if day by day we moved in Jesus? What would a life of constant worship and prayer be like for us? We are told to pray continuously and that worship is to be a lifestyle – so how can we commit ourselves to this way of life in the year ahead?

Part of developing this lifestyle is intentionally spending time with God. Back in the fall of 2008 many of us tried the 60/60 experiment where we tried to just think about God once an hour. Some of us set an alarm to go off every hour to remind us to ask God to direct our thoughts and hearts and actions in that moment. Many of us did that for 60 days to try and develop the habit of consistently turning to God and being aware of his presence and leading in our lives.

Let me suggest that the new year might be a great time to commit ourselves anew to the 60/60 experiment, or try what some people call 10 + 10. 10 + 10 is just making the commitment to spend 10 minutes a day reading God’s word and 10 minutes a day in pray. You see, our devotional life doesn’t have to start out big, it’s ok to start small and build. Can we make the commitment to just 20 minutes a day and start living in the presence of God? We can start anywhere in the Bible, but if it’s been a while since you have seriously read or studied the Bible, let me suggest starting with the gospel of Mark. If we will commit ourselves to daily devotions and week times of worship something wonderful will happen because in the midst of this discipline and practice, God will show up. That’s the message of Simeon and Anna; God will show up when we are faithful and commit ourselves to a lifestyle of faithful worship, devotion and prayer.

Now this doesn’t mean that God will show up in profound and life changing moments everyday, think of all the days Simeon and Anna went to the Temple and Jesus wasn’t there. There were many days, literally hundreds if not thousands of days that Jesus was not there, but that doesn’t mean God wasn’t there in quiet ways to love them and give them hope to keep going. We will also experience days of silence and days of questions and days of doubts and fears, but God will be there. God will be there it the silence and questions to love us and give us hope and strength to keep going, but there will also be those days when unexpectedly God will show up in a word, a thought, a feeling or in some situation where we see God’s glory and purpose for our lives.
Simeon and Anna remind us that we need to be faithful in our worship of God, but they also teach us that we need to be open to God doing something new in our lives and we have to be accepting when God comes to us in a new way. I’m not sure that either Simeon or Anna expected the Messiah to be carried into the Temple in the arms of a poor unknown couple. They were looking the king who was going to take the throne of his father David and establish a kingdom that would last forever. You would have thought there would have been more fanfare, an entourage of servants meeting this new kings needs and the needs of his parents, but there was none of that. Mary and Joseph were poor and unknown and most people didn’t even notice them that day.

It’s amazing if you think about it. God first entered His Temple as a human being carried in the arms of a couple so poor that they couldn’t even bring the full offering that was required in the law. God first entered his Temple unannounced and in anonymity, and it was only Simeon and Anna who could see that this child was the Messiah, and the reason they could see God moving in this situation was because their hearts were in tune with God’s and they were open to God working in some new and different way. I wonder if Simeon and Anna could see God coming in this new and unexpected way because their lives of faithful devotion and worship had led them to the words of the Prophet Isaiah who said, I am doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:19)

In Jesus, God certainly was doing a new thing. God was coming in flesh and blood, God was blessing the poor. God did a new thing when Jesus chose fishermen as his disciples and not Pharisees. God did a new thing when he reached out to love sinners and not just saints, and God did a new thing when he rejected a throne and took up a cross. In Jesus God was always doing something new and so as we enter into a new year we have to be willing to not only see God come to us in new and unexpected ways, but we have to be willing to move with God in new and unexpected ways.

Are we willing to be part of something new in 2010? God always wants to move in new ways because our world is always changing and so to reach people with God’s love we have to be always changing. Our message doesn’t change, God’s message in Jesus didn’t change – God was still saying I love you and I want you to love me – the message didn’t change, but the way the message was proclaimed did, and the places where the message was proclaimed and the people to whom it was proclaimed did. God shared his message with the poor and uneducated not the rich and well bred. God spoke on hillsides and lakeshore, not in the Temple and royal city. In Jesus God moved in new ways and in the coming year we have to be willing to move with God in some new ways.

I’m excited to see where God will lead us in this new year. Many people are thinking about what it will mean to spend less, give more and love all and this new way of living has the potential of taking us and the love of Jesus into new places and into new ventures and new adventures of faith. Following Jesus this year will lead us to new places to proclaim God’s love and following Jesus this year will open new doors of mission and ministry for us and our families and our church

Like Simeon and Anna, I’m excited because this morning we are here, we are doing exactly what they did the day Jesus showed up, we are faithfully following the traditions and routines of our faith. We gather to worship and sing and prayer and read and share and give ourselves to God like we do every week, but I hope that as we gather to worship today and every Sunday in the new year, that we will do so ready and waiting to see Jesus in our midst. As we look to the new year, let’s not just look for the Messiah through worship, devotions and prayer, but let us be ready to follow him in new ways and to new places.

What If? Christmas Eve

Have you ever thought what those first few moments must have been like after the angels went back up to heaven? What must it have been like when everything became dark and still and quiet? I wonder which shepherd was the first one to have enough courage to speak up and I wonder what he said? I don’t think the shepherds heard the message of the angels and just got up and ran to Bethlehem. I think it took them some time to just get up. A heavenly host of angels would shake anyone to the core, so after they regained some composure, I think they got together and began to talk about what they had heard and seen and what they were going to do about it. These were not men who were going to be easily swayed. Being a shepherd was a hard job and these were hardened men. They had faced down lions and wolves to protect their sheep. As terrified as they were by the heavenly host, I think they first gathered together and talked about all that had just happened, and I think one of those shepherds must have asked the question – What If?

What if what the angels said is true? What if the Messiah has been born? What if he is right down there in the little town of Bethlehem? What if there is a child lying in a manger? I think it was those question that led the shepherds to go with haste to see if they could find this child wrapped in strips of cloth, and when they found him they not only knew that everything that the angels had said was true, but they also learned that they were the first ones, maybe the only ones to hear about this because when they arrived at the manger, there was no one else there. There were no religious leaders gathered at the stable, there were no priests or scribes or teachers of the law, there were no kings or leaders of nations, it was just them. They suddenly realized that God had come to them above all people and that could only mean one thing – God really did love them and God accepted them as his people and as his children. The Savior was born for them, not for some person far away, not for some holy and righteous person worshipping in the Temple, but for them.

Tonight I want us to enter into this Christmas story and ask ourselves that same question: What if. What if it really was God lying in the manger that night? What if God really did come to us in flesh and blood? What if it really was God in human frailty and humility reaching out to the world with that little gentle hand? What if? What does it mean for us 2000 years later?
Well it means the same thing tonight that it did on that first night; it means that God has come to be with us for one reason and only one reason – because God loves us. God comes to make himself available to us so that we can come to him. The little hand reaching of the manger is an invitation for us to come and enter into a relationship with the living and loving God.

That’s really what Jesus is all about. Jesus is God coming to us in human form so that through Him we can not only learn what it means to live for God, but so that we can also make our way back to God. The bible says that our sin has separated us from God and that on our own there is nothing we can do about it. We can’t live that perfect and holy life that would make us acceptable to God, the bible says no one is perfect, no not one, but we can approach God because 33 years after Jesus was laid in a manger he was laid out on the cross and that little hand that reached out of the manger was nailed to that cross. It is the death of Jesus that takes away our sin. God comes in flesh and blood to take on our sin and to die our death so that we might be forgiven and so that we can live with God forever. It is only through Jesus Christ that a way has been opened up for us to enter into a relationship with God, and that is the gift of love and grace that God offers us this night. God offers to us through Jesus a relationship that can change our lives. Will we reach out and take hold of that hand? Will we allow the love of God to forgive us and fill us with all the hope and the joy and the power that our lives need?

What if? What if there really is forgiveness and grace in that little child who was laid in a manger? What if the cross of Jesus really does take away our sin? Have we accepted this gift and have we allowed God’s grace to heal us. The forgiveness that God offers means that we don’t have to walk around in guilt and shame for what we have done or what we have not done. God does not hold our sin against us. Psalm 103:12 says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our sin from us. So in God’s eyes and in God’s heart our sin simply isn’t there – it’s been wiped away, and if that’s true then our sin and failures have no power over us. We can rise above it all and experience the fullness of life God wants for us. The grace of God means that we can forgive ourselves and experience a freedom that brings peace and joy. One of the carols we sing this season of the year goes, God rest ye merry gentleman, let nothing you dismay, remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray, o tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, o tidings of comfort and joy. It is comfort and joy that God offers us because there is new life that is waiting for us in the hand of our savior. What if there really is forgiveness and grace in Jesus Christ?

We will never know unless like the shepherds we are willing to check it out. At some point those shepherds got themselves up and went to find the baby, tonight we don’t need to go to Bethlehem to find Jesus because he is right here, all we have to do is reach out to him in the silence of our hearts and ask him to forgive us and to set us free and to help us live that new life. If you have never asked Jesus to forgive you and bring you this new and abundant life, then do it now and experience the best gift you could ever receive, the gift of freedom, love and life.

If you have never asked Jesus to forgive you, or if you need to do it again, simply do it now: "Lord God, thank you for coming into this world in the person of Jesus, and thank for the forgiveness and grace you offer. Forgive me of my sin, and help me to receive the gift of love and life that you offer, for I ask this in Jesus name. AMEN"

Now here’s the thing, God coming to us in flesh and blood doesn’t just mean that we have a savior who forgives us, it also means that we have to follow the example of Jesus and bring his transforming light and love into our world. So let’s ask this question What if one more time. What if we could come together as one body and follow the example of Jesus? What if we lived the way God called us to live and what if we loved the way God called us to love? What if tonight and in the days to come, we were the hands of Jesus in the world? What if?

If we trust in God and do this, I’ll tell you what would happen; our world would change. There would be more hunger or thirst because there would not be a needy person among us. In Acts 2 we get a picture of what life in the early church was all about when people came together as one and followed Jesus. These were people passionately committed to following the example of Christ and they gave all they had to God and to anyone who was in need and because they gave more and loved all – there was no one who was hungry or thirsty. Everyone had shelter and clothes. Everyone was taken care of and loved.

What if we came together as the body of Christ and followed the example of Jesus? How would our lives and family and community change? For the past month we have been asking ourselves this very question and we have been talking about making three basic changes that would not only change our lives but would change our world. We have been talking about Spending Less, Giving More and Loving all. What if we really did this? What if every day we really did spend less on ourselves and were better stewards of all that God has giving us. What if we really did spend our money in ways that helped people? What if we gave more of our selves and our time and resources to the things that mattered most in life, and what if we loved everyone in the process? What would change? I’ll tell you what would change – we would! If we lived this way, not just for a day, or for a month, but everyday of every month for the rest of our lives – our lives would change. I am convinced that we would experience more peace and purpose and power, and because we would be changed – our community and world would change.

I’m excited to say tonight that these changes have already started to take place. God has started something here at Faith Church. I know many of you have made changes this Christmas season and it hasn’t been easy, but it has been worthwhile. Look at the Christmas trees in the lobby – every ornament you see is a gift of time or money given to the Christmas Dinner, or to our ministry with children and youth, or to the work we do to help others in our community or world. These gifts are not only going to change the lives of others, but they are changing us.

It’s not too late to change your life. It’s not too late to give a gift that can change you and the world around you. Tomorrow, come and give some time and help serve at the Christmas Dinner. If you are still in need of a gift to give to someone (and I know some of you are and you are thinking, OK, what is still open now?), think about making an online donation to a charity in that person’s name and give a gift that can change the lives of those in need.

What if we were willing to give more of gifts of our time? What if we gave all we had to God and to those in need? That’s the gift God offers tonight. The gift of Jesus is the gift of God’s very self and it is a gift of love that meets our need for forgiveness and new life. God offers us a gift tonight that can change us. What if we accept that gift? What if we share that gift? What if?

Advent Conspiracy ~ Love All

After telling the terrified shepherds to fear not, the message of the angels was, I bring you good news of great that will be for all the people. All the people. The gift that God was giving to the world wasn’t just for the chosen people of Israel; it was for everyone. God’s loves all. In John 3:16 it says, for God so loved the world (not a few but all), God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, and in giving Jesus to Mary and Joseph on that night in Bethlehem and then surrounding Jesus with the shepherds and then later on with the Magi, God was making a statement to the world. God not only says but God shows us in the Nativity that he really does love all. God loves the world and everyone in it from the least to the greatest, from the north to the south, God loves all, and that’s the messages we see clearly see in every manger scene there is because in every one of them we see gathered at the feet of Jesus – the world.

It all starts with Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph are two faithful children of Israel, they each come from the line of David and they are called righteous and holy, and it is because they are righteous that God chose them to be the parents of Jesus, but Mary and Joseph are also poor and that tells us that the love of God wasn’t just for some it was for everyone. You see, at the time Jesus was born, the understanding was that if you were rich you were blessed and loved by God, and if you were poor, then there was something wrong with you - you were not as highly favored. But when the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and says, Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you, we begin to see that God really does love all. Mary and Joseph were highly favored by God and by choosing this poor couple God was making a statement that his love and grace were for all people, but God’s statement doesn’t end with Mary and Joseph because gathered at the manger were also some shepherds.

Of all the people that the angels could have gone to that night to proclaimed that the Messiah had come and God’s love had entered into the world in some new way – God chose shepherds. This time God didn’t choose the righteous but the unrighteous, the outcast. At this time in history, shepherds did not have a good reputation among the people of Israel. Their job working with the sheep made the ceremonial unclean, which meant that they could not worship in the Temple. Living on the hillsides of Bethlehem meant they were separated from the community for long periods of time so there were often seen as social outcasts, and they were known for not always telling the truth. In fact, in a court of law, shepherds were not allowed to give testimony because it was believed that they just could not be counted on to tell the truth.

I am always struck by the irony of this situation. The first people to hear and then tell the news of God coming to this world in human form, the first people to see and share the good news of the Savior’s birth were not the religious leaders that people would have trusted and believed, but shepherds, notorious liars that no one trusted and no one believed. This tells us something about God – it tells us that God not only has a wonderful sense of humor, but more importantly that God loves everyone. God loves the outcast and the poor as much as God loves the leaders and teachers and the rich. God’s love is deep and wide, and God’s love reaches all people.

Now if the story ended there we might think that God only loved his chosen people, the people of Israel. Mary and Joseph were Jewish, the shepherds were most likely Jewish; so we might read this and think that God only came to love and save His chosen people, but the story of the Nativity doesn’t end there. In the gospel of Matthew we hear about the Magi or the Wisemen who journey from the East. These were not Jewish men, they were foreigners living in a land far away, and yet through the star God placed in the sky, God revealed to them that the King of the Jews – His Son the Savior, had been born. The Magi were not only foreigners, but they were also wealthy; we know they had riches because they gave expensive gifts to Jesus, but we also know they had some resources because it would have taken some financial resources to make their long journey.

So what we see here is that God didn’t just come for the poor, God didn’t just come for the righteous people of Israel, and God didn’t just come for those on the outside of society – the Nativity, the birth of Jesus and the people who first worshipped and welcomed him are rich and poor, old and young, those on the inside of society and those on the outside, Jew and Gentile. This says something to us; it says that God’s love is for all people and the people of all nations. God didn’t just come to his own, God didn’t just come to those who were faithful and already members of a church – God came for all. God loves all.

God loves every person around the world, rich, poor, black white, Muslim, Jew, oppressed and free, atheist and alienated – God loves everyone with a depth of love that we can not begin to understand, but for a moment let’s not think about all the people around the world that God loves, let’s just think about one person, ourselves. When we say that God loves all it also means that God loves us. It means that God loves me and you. No matter who we are today, or what we have done or where we are in life – God loves us with more power and grace than we can possibly imagine. Too many of us go through life thinking that we are not worthy of God’s love and grace, or we think that there is no possible way God could care about me or want to be part of my life and yet nothing - nothing - could be further from the truth. God loves all and so the first thing this means is that God loves us.

Even the message of the angels makes that clear. After they angels say they have good news of great joy for all the people, their next message is, for unto YOU is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. God came to love and save you and me. God’s love for us not only means that God came to save us, it means that God has a purpose and plan for our lives. It means that God cares about what we are going through and that God will give us the strength and the patience and the power to go through all that we have to in life. God’s love doesn’t mean that everything will be perfect and we will have no problems, but it does mean that God is always with us to offer help and support, and if we will open ourselves up – it also means the people of God will always be with us to offer love and support.

So if there is only message you hear this season, let it be this, God loves you. Jesus came as a child in Bethlehem for you. He came to walk with you, and talk with you in life. He came to offer you grace and peace and power for your life. So allow the child of Bethlehem to reach out and touch your heart and life and bring you the healing, the peace or the purpose you are looking for.

When we say God loves all – it does mean first and foremost that God loves you and me, but it also means that God loves the entire world and every single person in this world. There is simply no person beyond the reach of God’s love and grace. God loves and cares for all and so the call for us as followers of Jesus is to also love all. Do we love all people: rich, poor, black, white, Muslim, Jew, democrat, republican, oppressed, free, atheist, alienated, lost or rebellious? Do we love them all? And what does it mean to love them all? Does it just mean we think nice thoughts about them and wish them well? In James 2:16 it says, If one of you says to a brother or sister in need, “Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? What good is it indeed? That is not love. Love is not a feeling or well meaning words, love is action. While John 3:16 says, God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life, 1 John 3:17 says, How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Love has to be put into action. Love has to reach out and help someone, it can’t just be something we say or think about – it has to be something we do and the first thing we need to do is reach out to those who are lost and lonely around us and offer them friendship and support. Isn’t that what God did? God put his love into action by sending us Jesus who reached out to build a relationship with those around him and that relationship brought grace and peace. Jesus came and reached out to build a relationship with us and that relationship brings us life and so we have to love people in such a way that relationships are established and strengthened. This means our love for others needs to be seen in how we forgive one another, and how we place the needs and hopes and dreams of others before our own. That’s the first step in loving all, but it is not the last step.

Loving all also means helping those in need around the world. Loving those who are cold and hungry isn’t saying, Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed,” and then doing nothing to help them, Many times love calls for us to offer food and clothing and medicine and clean water. As followers of Jesus, we are called to give our resources to those who are physically in need and that call comes from Jesus who said, we are go feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick and oppressed. All through his life Jesus made it clear that we are to care for the needs of those around us.

Look at Mark 6:35-37

Everyone could see the need of the people – they were hungry, so Jesus said – you feed them. The disciples wanted to send the people away so they could take care of themselves. They said to Jesus, look we simply can’t feed them all and Jesus said, Yes you can – you feed them. I think God is still telling us that we can meet the needs of people around us and around the world. I think God is still telling us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide homes for the homeless, water for the thirsty and to care for those who are sick and hurting and lonely.

Now the good news is that we will feed the hungry here on Christmas Day and we won’t just offer them food, we will also offer them relationship. Some people say that the people who deliver our Christmas dinners are the only people they will see on Christmas Day, if that doesn’t move you to sign up to help deliver meals, nothing will. Some people will spend the day alone without even a phone from family or friends, so we are clearly offering more than food, we are offering the love of God, but the question that has returned to my mind this week is this; while we are feeding the hungry here, what about those who are hungry all across Africa who won’t have churches to go to share in a Christmas dinner, who will feed them?. There will be several church dinners in our community on Christmas Day, but who will be feeding the children of Uganda and the orphans of the Sudan? Who will feed the families who have no place to go on Christmas Day and every other day of the year because they are refugees fleeing from famine or disease or war? How is God calling us to feed them or provide them with water, or medicine, or safety and love? You see, the question is not if God is calling us to love them in practical ways that how will help them, Jesus said pretty clearly – you feed them – you take care of them, so the question is how will we - love all?

What can we do? The answer is a lot, we can do a lot to help those in need both here and around the world, we have so many resources to offer. We have time, money, faith, prayers, and physical labor, we have a lot to offer, so the deeper question, the question that cuts to our heart is this, what will we chose to do? This Christmas, how will we love all? What choices will we make today and in the year ahead to spend less and give more and love all. If we are going to enter into this Christmas story, then like God who sent Jesus to Mary, Joseph, shepherds and Wisemen, then we need to figure out how today and everyday how to love all.

Advent Conspiracy ~ Give More

There are not a lot of gifts that I remember getting as a child, it’s not that I didn’t get a lot, it’s just I don’t remember any of them. I didn’t get a red rider BB gun or a bicycle when I was young, and I never got that new car with the big red bow when I was 16. While there is no gift I remember receiving as a child, there is one gift I remember giving and that was little pewter turtle pin that I gave my Mom. I was maybe 8 or 9 years old and my Mom left me in a gift shop to buy her a gift while she went to the grocery store (this was back in the days when in a small town you could leave your child in a store while you went down the street to shop). All the money I had was in a little black change purse that had the zipper along the top. The gift I picked out was that little pewter turtle pin and the woman got it out of the cabinet and to an 8 year old boy – it was the best gift you could give your mom because it was jewelry but it was also a turtle. So she told how much it was and I opened my little change purse and emptied it out. We counted out the money together and I didn’t have enough. I was a few dollars short and I was devastated. The woman behind the counter could tell I was heartbroken so she said, don’t worry about it, I’ll make up the difference.

Obviously to this day I remember that gift. I can picture the pin, the store, the woman behind the counter, the little black change purse, everything. I can’t tell you what I got for Christmas that year, but I know what I gave because what I gave required me to give everything I had. It’s the only gift I ever gave that cost me everything and then some and isn’t that what this Christmas story is all about – giving more than we ever thought we could, giving all we have and then still needing more? Think about all the characters in this Christmas story: Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Magi even the baby Jesus – they all gave more than they ever thought they could, and yet everything they gave still wasn’t enough – each one needed more. Mary and Joseph gave all they had to give and yet they needed the help of God to bring their child into the world and they needed God to help them make the long journey to Bethlehem and then find them a place to deliver their child.

The shepherds gave their time and even jeopardized their jobs by leaving sheep in the fields to go and find the child that the angels told them about, but they also needed more. They first needed those heaven sent angels to tell them about the child, and how to find him. They needed the spirit of God to give them boldness and courage to share the good news about what they found. And the Magi gave more then they had ever planned on giving. They gave their time to make a long journey. They had to finance that journey with their own resources and the trip took longer than they planned because once they arrived in Jerusalem they were told they now had to travel to Bethlehem, and then after their visit with Mary, Joseph and Jesus, they were told to return home by another way. So they gave their all, their time, energy, resources, they gave up their safety and security to travel through dangers deserted areas, they went longer and farther then they planned. They gave more than they thought they ever could, but they also needed the help of God. They needed a star to guide them, they needed religious leaders to tell them where the child was to be born, and they needed an angel to tell them to return home by another road so that both they and Jesus would be safe. They gave their all – but still needed help.

So one of the things we see in common among all these characters is that they gave. They each gave more then they ever thought they could, they gave everything they had, but they also needed the help of God. But God himself also gives. God gave his all in Jesus, but even God needed the help of others. God needed Mary and Joseph to say yes. God needed Mary and Joseph to follow through on their commitment to the very end. So the real spirit of Christmas isn’t in getting gifts – it’s in giving and giving more than we ever thought we could. Christmas is about giving more, but not more gifts bought at Wal-Mart or Target, more gifts of our selves.

The real spirit of Christmas is about giving more of our time, energy, love and help. We need to give more of ourselves to God in worship, we need to give more of ourselves to our family so we can strengthen those all important bonds of love, we need to give more of ourselves to our friends who enrich our lives and offer us support, and we need to give more of ourselves to the people of God and to God’s people around the world. We need to give more of ourselves to our neighbors and those in need all around us. Simply put, we need to give more.

Giving more is the next step in the Advent conspiracy and while on the surface it may seem like a contradiction to last weeks step of spending less, it really isn’t. When we say we need to spend less, it’s spending less money on those gifts that a month from now, a year from now or 10 years from now we will have forgotten and giving more of those gifts of time, energy and resources that will make a lasting difference in the lives of our family, friends and world. If you think about it, the very best we can give is the gift of ourselves. Beyond any gift you can wrap up in a box, the gift we all want from others is their time, attention and love, and that was the gift given in Bethlehem so long ago.

God didn’t send us a gift that needed to be unwrapped. God didn’t send a gift you could put in a box, God gave a gift wrapped in flesh and blood – God gave the gift of his time, attention and love in the person of Jesus. Look at John 1:1-4, 14. So God and the word are one and that word – God – became flesh in the person of Jesus. We call this the incarnation – God coming to us in human form. God gave the gift of himself in Jesus. But Jesus wasn’t just the gift of God in human form, through Jesus God gave us the gift of forgiveness which not only restored our relationship with God, but opened the door for restoration and healing in all relationships. Through Jesus, God gave the gift of joy and laughter that lifted people’s hearts and lives. Jesus was always being criticized for having too much fun, and I am convinced that one of the reasons such large crowds followed him was because people wanted to be around Jesus, not because of what he could do for them, or what he would give them, but because Jesus love and joy just lifted people up.

By coming to us in the person of Jesus, God shows us that the greatest gift we can give to anyone in this season is the gift of our selves, our time, our energy, our joy and our love. In fact, if we want to give a true Christmas gift, a gift that reflects the original Christmas gift given in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, we need to give of ourselves, so let’s give more of that gift, let’s give more of ourselves.

So how do we give the gift of our presence? In the bulletin there are some wonderfully creative ideas on how to give the gift of relationship. How about the gift of a movie night with your family or friends once a month for the entire year? A box of popcorn doesn’t cost much and if you buy it from the scouts you are supporting our own youth, and Dick Snyder reminded me that you can check out movies from the library for free, so it’s one way we can spend less and yet give more. What about giving a coupon to spend the day with your child or spouse or a friend doing what they want to do. What about giving our time to the children and youth of the church in prayer or service? We could be a prayer partner for a youth, or read stories to our children. We can also give more of ourselves in missions and help people in our community who are in need, or help a service agency like Habitat or Paws that meet the needs we have right here in Centre County. And of course there are still ways to give our time to the Christmas Dinner and build relationships with those we will serve and those we will serve with.

In the Advent Conspiracy book there is a wonderful story of a young man who gave his father a pound of coffee with the stipulation that he had to drink that coffee while they were together talking and sharing. In the days it took to drink that coffee, the father and son got reacquainted and a relationship was healed. How can we give ourselves in ways that relationships can be healed and strengthened? How could this kind of gift save a marriage or transform a family. The one thing it will require from us is time, our most valuable commodity, are we willing to give more of that gift?

Giving more may also mean giving more or even giving all of our money to those who are in real need. You can give these gifts through the church and help our children, youth and missions, or you can give these gifts through different missions and ministries that provide resources for those in need around the world. When you give more than you ever thought you could – you enter into the Christmas story. When you spend all you have in giving yourself to others – you will remember those gifts for a lifetime.

As we give more of ourselves in relationship and in gifts that make a real difference, we also need to remember that no matter how much we give, those gifts won’t accomplish anything alone – they need the spirit and presence of God to go with them. Even Jesus needed the spirit and presence of God to go with him. Jesus was God in the flesh, but it says that at the baptism of Jesus the spirit of God descended on him like a dove. The spirit of God was with Jesus daily and it was the constant indwelling of God that gave Jesus the strength and power to do all that God asked him to do.

No matter how much we give, we still need the strength of God’s spirit to help make our gifts transformational. We need God going with us as we give ourselves to others. We need God using our gift of time and energy in mission and ministry to make a difference in the lives of others. On our own, we will just serve a meal on Christmas Day, but with the spirit of God working in us and through us, we will offer hope and peace and a love that will change the lives of others. On our own, we will just read a story to kids, but with God working in us and through us we become those shepherds who share the life changing message a Savior’s love and grace.

Giving more is good, giving more of ourselves is good, giving all we have is good, but the message of this nativity story is that giving all we have is still not enough, we still need God giving through us. So as we give more, let us ask God to give more of himself through us so that together we can change peoples hearts and lives and transform the world around us.

Advent Conspiracy ~ Spend Less

The circumstances around the birth of Jesus did not come about by chance. God worked through the Emperor Augustus to call a census so that Joseph and Mary would have to make a journey to Bethlehem. You see, Jesus needed to be born in Bethlehem because according to the prophet Micah, Bethlehem was where the Messiah was to be born (Micah 5:2-5). There are no coincidences here. Did you notice that this passage also talks about the Messiah in terms of a Shepherd, and to whom did the angels first go to proclaim the good news of great joy that the Savior had been born? Shepherds. So again we see that nothing came about by chance. The location, the first worshippers, it was all according to God’s plan. God had this moment planned out for centuries, some think God planned this moment from before the beginning of time. So nothing took God by surprise, which means God planned to have Jesus born in a stable and laid in a manger. God knew that there would be no room in the inn and that was the way God wanted it.

Since it is God making the arraignments here, Jesus could have been into the opulence of a palace. God could have chosen for Jesus to be born in the finest Inn surrounded by servants, washed with purist of water and wrapped in the most expensive of linens. And then after the child was born, Mary and Joseph could have dined on the richest of foods surrounded by the leaders and rulers of the day, but that was not what God chose. God chose simplicity. God chose poverty. So why do we choose to celebrate this event with all the elaborate excess of today? Why do we chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus by giving more than we can afford, eating more than what is good for us, and giving in to all the excess that we see in the world around us. God turned away from the world to come in simplicity so why do we worship God in this season by turning away from simplicity toward the greed and excess of the world? In so many ways it doesn’t make sense.

Of all the steps in the Advent Conspiracy journey, this is by far the hardest one because it directly confronts what the world tells us this season is all about. If we listen to the world around us, if we listen to the advertisers and the retailers, they tells us that Christmas is all about getting what we want. For the past few years I have watched my niece and nephew sit down on Thanksgiving day and go through all the Christmas Ads. They go through the stack and make their lists of what they want. They already have more clothes, games, books and toys then they could ever need, but that’s not the point, this season isn’t about what we need, it’s about what we want. How many times are we asked, what do you want for Christmas? Even if we don’t want or need a thing, people still want to know what they can give us. There is a part of me that wants to shout – nothing. I don’t need anything and I don’t want anything because that is not what this season is all about. Jesus was born in a stable – God chose poverty and simplicity so why don’t we? No really, why don’t we? This Christmas why don’t we choose to honor Jesus and worship God by making the same choices God did? Let’s choose simplicity and this Christmas let’s spend less.

Now again, please understand that spending less doesn’t mean spending nothing. It is good to give gifts to one another. While God chose to come in simplicity and poverty, the gift he gave, the gift of Jesus was generous. So spending less doesn’t’ mean we spend nothing, it means we spend less. But even spending less is open to interpretation. What does it mean to spend less? Less than what? Less than last year? Less then what we planned to spend? Less than what the average American will spend on Christmas, which is $1,000? What does it mean for us to spend less?

The truth is that it will mean different things to different people. What I want to propose is this, can we ask ourselves what it will mean for us to spend less, and then can we take some time to listen to what God says? Spending less might be a journey of just one less gift a year for many years until our celebration and worship really honors Jesus. Spending less might mean giving nothing to those people who have everything because, well, they have everything. Spending less may mean not giving a gift to someone who has everything but instead giving a gift in their name to someone who has nothing.
When I was thinking about the Advent Conspiracy as a message for us as a church during this season, I had to ask myself how I was going to implement these steps in my own life. What was it going to mean for me to spend less and give more? When I asked myself that question, there was one thing that came to me over and over again. For me to spend less meant that what I give to my parents this year was going to have to change. I can say this now because my parents aren’t here today, and don’t tell them this because it will ruin the surprise, but for many years now my sister and I have given my parents the fruit of the month. When we asked ourselves a number of years ago what to get someone who had everything and really didn’t need anything, we came up with the idea of fruit of the month because we know that they love fruit and so they would eat it and enjoy it. So for many years now we have done this, but when I started asking God what it was going to mean for me to spend less and give more, God said pretty clearly I needed to buy one less gift and that gift was the fruit of the month for my parents.

So my sister and talked about this and my sister had wanted to make this change a few years ago, but I was the one who dragged my feet. I didn’t want my parents to be disappointed. I didn’t want my parents to feel unappreciated, but my sister finally said, Andy, think about it, we are having a pineapple or 6 pears delivered to their house once a month – how does that honor Jesus? They can buy fruit anytime they want and it would be so much cheaper, so let’s take that money and buy an animal for a village through the Heifer project. They will appreciate that gift even more.

So this year, again don’t tell my parents, but this year we are not sending them fruit every month, instead we are sending a water buffalo to a needy village in their name, and the truth is that this will mean more to my parents than a pineapple in March or pears in February and the water-buffalo will change the life of a community. That’s what it means for me to spend less, I don’t know what it will mean for you, but I do know this, if you ask God how you are to honor Jesus by choosing simplicity and poverty over greed and excess, He will tell you, and then he will show you how to do it.
Spending less might simply be buying one less gift this year. Spending less might mean making sure that what we do buy is responsible and ethical. Do the gifts we buy honor Jesus? Do the movies and games and music we give to our children honor the values of God’s kingdom? Do the clothes we give reflect the values we want to promote? Are the gifts we give made in ways that are just or do they use child labor? Does our spending help people or simply line the pockets of multinational corporations? There are ways we can give gifts that promote economic justice. For example the Lutheran Church sells Equal Exchange coffee, tea, nuts and chocolate. The money from these products goes directly to the people who produce them and so our money makes a greater impact in the lives of people and communities that are struggling. So spending less might not mean giving fewer gifts, maybe it means making sure the gifts we give honor God and change lives.

Spending less might mean supporting local businesses and local families? I have to say that since I have moved to Bellefonte one of the greatest blessings to me has been Mussers Dairy. I was visiting with Joan Musser in the hospital after her fall a year ago and I learned that her family had a dairy farm and they had a farm store, so I went to just see what it was all about and to be supportive, but that visit changed my life, or least my milk buying habits. I no longer buy milk anywhere other than Musser’s dairy (and no I am not being paid for this advertisement). It not only is great milk, but I am happy to support a local family. We are fortunate to live in an area where we can support local merchants and farmers. You want fresh eggs, see the Groves whose free range chickens are producing more than they can handle.

Spending less might mean buying recycled gifts so that our spending is helping the environment. Or maybe it’s buying second hand gifts. Can we shop at the Faith Centre first and not only save some money and help the environment but also help people? Shopping at the Faith Center supports their mission and ministry in our community, which mean the hungry are fed, people are helped, and those who are lonely have a place to go. Spending less doesn’t have to mean fewer gifts; it can also mean spending our money in ways that honor Jesus.

As you ask yourself what it will mean for you and your family to spend less, I hope you will also share your ideas with one another because we can learn from one another how to spend in ways that truly honor God. I heard someone last week say they only give three gifts to one another because Jesus received three gifts from the Wiseman. For many people that might be a radical change, and it may be a goal to work towards with our children, but how exciting that people are trying to enter into the gospel story in ways that honor God.

Whatever choices we make this season, however God may call us to spend less, my hope is that we will take seriously the choice that God made when he entered this world and turn away from the excess and greed that we see all around us this time of year and choose simplicity. Can we enter into this ancient story and live in ways that reflect the heart of God and the values of God’s kingdom?

Advent Conspiracy ~ God is with us

I don’t know about you but sometimes the whole Christmas season leaves me feeling a little bit like Charlie Brown, who said, I just don’t understand Christmas. Instead of feeling happy, I feel sort of let down. Sometimes this entire season leaves me feeling just a little let down. It’s not the music, decorations or food – I love all that. It’s not the times we gather together for worship or fellowship – I love that. It’s not the message of God coming to be with us in Jesus because there is simply no greater story to tell. For me, I think it’s that when January comes and all the decorations are put away, nothing has really changed, and there is a part of me that wants our celebration of Christ’s birth to literally change the world.

The first Christmas changed the world, it changed everything, but can our celebration of Christ’s birth change the world in which we live? I have to hold out hope that it can, but our celebration of Christmas will only change the world if our celebration of Christ first changes us. Today I want to invite you to join me on a journey that can not only change how we celebrate the gift of Jesus; it can change us and if it can change us, it can church the world around us. The journey really only has three steps, but they are not simple because they challenge our very idea about what Christmas is all about, those 3 steps are to spend less, give more and love all. While we will explore these steps in more detail in the weeks to come, we need to know what they are today so they can shape our priorities and our decisions making in the days to come.

So are we willing to spend less in this holiday season? Now before you get too concerned, I am not saying spend nothing. Giving gifts is fun and important for many reason, but can we make the decision today to simply spend less. Can we buy one less gift this season, and then maybe take that money to help someone in need. Spending less can do three important things. #1, it will keep us out of deeper debt which is important for many of us, #2, it will remind us that Christmas really is not about what we find under the tree, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, it’s about God coming to live with us and with us, and it’s about living life the way Jesus taught us and showed us, and #3, spending less frees resources that we can then share with those who are in need and it is that simple act of sharing that can change lives.

You see, spending less leads right into the second step which is to give more. Now we are not talking about giving more gifts we are talking about giving more of ourselves. Can we give more of our time, love, prayers, talents, energy and resources to the work that matters most to God. This fall we learned that relationships are the most important thing to God. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The most important thing to God is relationship, so are we willing to give more of ourselves to God and to others to build and strengthen those relationships. Can we get involved in the ministry of Faith Church and get to know one another right here, and can we get involved in the work of the church in our community to get to know those around us? Can we give more to make sure Faith Church has an effective ministry today and a vital future tomorrow? As you have heard, today we have the opportunity to give to the Christmas dinner which will help feed families all across our community. Can we give our time, or money, or maybe our talents at baking pies and desserts, to help make this dinner an event that will people’s lives?

In the weeks to come we will also learn about opportunities to give ourselves to the work we do with Children and Youth. There will be opportunities for us to give our time as well as our money to our next generation. The real hope is that the gift of ourselves t our children and youth will help build stronger relationships one another and that together we will grow closer to God. We will also be able to give more of ourselves to the mission work we do through Faith Church. We will learn about opportunities to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide homes for the homeless, justice for the oppressed and comfort for those who are lonely and afflicted. If we will give more of ourselves to outreach and missions we will not just change the lives of others, but our lives will change. So in this season can we give more?
The third step is to love all. Think of the people who first worshipped Jesus. A poor peasant girl, a carpenter and some dirty shepherd were the first people gathered at the manger to worship Jesus. A while later some well educated foreign dignitaries, the Wisemen, arrived to worship the one who had born King of the Jews. The birth of Jesus screams out one message loud and clear – God loves all, from the weak and poor, to the rich and powerful. Jew and Gentile, black and white, all people, and so the call for us as followers of Jesus is to love all, not just a few, not just those we like or those who look like us, but all people in all places at all times.

So that’s it: spend less, give more,and love all. Three steps that can change the world, but only if we will first let these six words change us, and these words will only change us if we understand that as we spend less, give more and love all – God is with us. What really changes us and the world around us isn’t that we buy one less gift, or volunteer our time at the Faith Centre and reach out in love to others, what changes us is that we do these things with the power and grace of God working in us and through us.

God desperately wants to change the world around us, but God’s plan is to do this through us. Again, think back to that first Christmas. God changed the world through the birth of Jesus, but Jesus only entered into this world because two people allowed God to first work in their lives. If we will allow God to work in our lives, like Mary and Joseph, then through us, God can, and I believe God will, change our world. So let’s look at how God worked in Mary and Joseph and see how we can enter into this ancient story of God’s power and presence and love.

Luke 1:26-38

For Mary to say yes to God, it took incredible courage because she had no idea how Joseph might respond. She didn’t know if Joseph would understand what God was doing; she didn’t know if Joseph would stand by her side, or if he would cast her aside. It took real courage for Mary to say Yes to God’s plan and it was through that courage that God was able to accomplish his will and come to live with us.

So it is our courage in saying Yes to God that can change the world. Every time we have the courage to not think about what is good for us but focus on God’s will and say yes to God’s plan, God has the opportunity to not only shape our lives, but the world around us. But it takes courage to say Yes because we don’t know how the people around us might respond. Just making the decision to buy fewer gifts this season may not be understood by our family, friends and neighbors. People may accuse us of being a scrooge, or simply not caring. It takes courage to stand firm in what we hear God asking us to do, but if we will say yes, not only will our lives change, but through us God as the opportunity to change the lives of others and that’s what changes the world.

It was a quiet moment, in a small town, when a young girl said yes, and that courageous decision changed her life and changed our world forever. Can we enter into that same story today? It’s a quiet moment, this is a small town and if we will say yes to Gods will and if we will agree with God’s plan, this might be the very moment when our lives will change. This might be the very moment when God will start working through us to change the world around us. In this moment of quiet worship, will we say yes to God and begin a journey of walking in the light of God’s love and power?

Saying yes to God will most likely cause us to change our plans, so are we willing to make those changes? When Joseph was called by God to change his plans, he did. When Joseph heard that Mary was pregnant, he wanted to end the relationship quietly, but God had other plans. Matthew 1:19-24. Joseph’s original decision to dismiss Mary quietly was a very gracious thing to do. Joseph could have made Mary’s pregnancy a public issue, he could have disgraced Mary, or even have her put to death, but he didn’t. Once God explained what was going on and that the child to be born was indeed from God, Joseph was willing to change his plans. The call of God literally changed Joseph’s life, and because Joseph was willing to make those changes, the world changed.

My hope is that when we hear the call of God in this Advent season, we will also change our plans. If we are going to spend less, give more and love all, some things are going to have to change. Spending less will require us to make some fundament changes about how we live not just in these next four weeks, but through the rest of our lies. We need to look at and evaluate our priorities. Giving more will also call us to change our priorities so that our lives can reflect the life and heart of Jesus. Not thinking of ourselves first but finding ways to help others and love others each and every day is a new of thinking and living and it will require us to change direction.

Will we be open to God changing our plans, priorities and passions this season? Can we begin some new traditions with our families where together we work to make a difference in our community, or in a community in Sierra Leone, the Sudan or South Dakota? If every family connected to Faith Church made some changes so that we spent less and gave more and loved all, I am convinced that Bellefonte would look different, Centre County would look different and our world would look different, but we have to be willing to make some changes, and those changes need to start today.

God can change the world by changing us, and we are changed when we enter into this ancient story and find the courage to say Yes to God and change our plans, but there is one more place where we can enter into this story and experience the presence and power of God, and that is through the shepherds of Bethlehem. After the shepherds heard that a savior had been born, they went to find the child, and after they found him, they celebrated. Luke 2:17-20.

After the Shepherds found Jesus they celebrated his birth and it was their celebration, their worship, that changed people’s hearts and lives. Our celebration of Jesus can still change the hearts and lives of others so we need to celebrate the coming of Emmanuel – God with us – and we have lots of opportunities to do that in the weeks to come. There is the Christmas musical in a few short weeks, there is a worship celebration we are hosting at the Marion Walker Middle School in Zion, and of course there are our candlelight services on Christmas Eve. Each celebration gives us the opportunity to not only celebrate the gift of Jesus, but it gives us the opportunity to invite others to celebrate the gift of Jesus as well and maybe it will be that celebration which will change their lives.

This Advent and Christmas season can be different if we will enter the story and have the courage to spend less, be willing to change our plans so we can give more, and celebrate the birth of Jesus by loving and inviting everyone to celebrate with us. We can not let this season pass us by in whirlwind of activity, we can’t arrive in January wondering what it was all about and feeling a little bit let down, we need to accept the light of Christ into our lives and allow God to dwell deep within us. So let’s enter into this ancient story and together take this advent journey and allow the presence of the living God to change us and through us to change the world.

Thanksigiving ~ The Chair

Mstislav Rostropovich is widely recognized as one of the greatest cellist of the 20th century and many consider him one of the greatest cellists of all time. Rostropovich lived in the Soviet Union all his life and during the height of the cold war he spoke out passionately for human rights and artistic freedom. The more he spoke out, however, the more his own rights and freedoms were curtailed by the Soviet government. His concerts, foreign tours and recording projects were all canceled and the state-run media imposed a black-out of his name and all his activities. Finally the state gave him an exit visa so he could perform in Paris, but once his concert was over the government refused to allow him to return. In 1978, the soviet government stripped Rostropovich of citizenship and informed him that he and his wife could never return home.

On Nov. 9, 1989, 20 years ago this month, Rostropovich heard that the Berlin Wall was coming down and the communist regime in East Germany was falling apart. His heart was full of gratitude because he knew with the whole Eastern bloc coming undone, his exile from Russia would soon be over and he would be able to return home. As news of the Berlin wall coming down spread, Rostropovich thought about how he might be able to express his thanks and gratitude for this great moment, so he came up with a plan. He caught the first plane he could to Berlin, jumped into a cab and told the driver to take him to the wall. When he arrived at the wall it his intention was to play his cello, but when he got there he realized that he suddenly had to worry about something he had never had to worry about before: a chair. You can't play the cello without a chair and in every concert or rehearsal he had played the chair had always been provided for him. Never before in his life did Rostropovich have to worry about a chair, but now he had to find one. So he began knocking on doors of homes close to where the cab had let him off and finally a German family produced a small kitchen chair and Rostropovich was able to sit in that chair in front of the wall and play his cello.

What Rostropovich played that day, was a piece of music he had never recorded. He played a Bach cello suite and when asked why he chose that particular piece, he said, I chose Bach to say thank you to the great God. Bach is known as a sacred composer who often expressed his faith and trust in God through music, and so Rostropovich chose that specific composer as his way of thanking God for the changes that were about to take place. I don’t know if Rostropovich had Psalm 65 in mind, but look at verse 8, those living far away fear your wonders (or they are in awe of your power and strength) and as morning dawns and evening fades (or when a new day is coming – when there is a new beginning) you, God, call forth songs of joy. In the new day of freedom that was coming for Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, God called Rostropovich to come forth with songs of joy and a Bach cello suite was the song he chose.

Before his death in 2007, Rostropovich was able to return to Russia and he held several concerts in his homeland. This month we have celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and as we think about that historic event and the testimony of this amazing musician, I want us to think about one simple thing, the chair. In this season of thanksgiving, this chair reminds us of all the things in life that we take for granted, but shouldn’t. Rostropovich had always taken for granted that there would be a chair to sit on when he wanted to play the cello. As the wall was coming down, not only did Rostropovich give thanks to a great God, but he began to give thanks for all the people who helped provide for him and take care of him throughout his life. Sometimes it’s when things aren’t there when we need them, or when they are suddenly taken away, that we realize just how important they are.

I wonder if that’s how the Pilgrims felt during the first year they struggled to survive in this new land. When they left their home in England in search of freedom, I wonder if they knew how hard it was going to be? In England they had everything they needed, life may not have been easy at times, but they had homes and food and clothes and doctors and a secure and stable life. They had what they needed, but when they arrived here, they had nothing. I’m sure there were times that first year when they realized just how much they had taken for granted when they lived back in England, in this new world they didn’t even have a chair. The first year for the Pilgrims was a difficult one. For every home they built, they dug 7 graves. Life was so fragile that I’m sure they didn’t take anything for granted and at that first harvest they stopped to gave thanks to a great God for all the simple things that he had provided, like food, shelter, the help of the natives, and a chair to sit on.

My fear is that because we have so much around us all the time that it becomes easy for us to take many things for granted, so maybe this chair can help remind us of all the things God has given us for which we need to stop and give thanks. If we go back to Psalm 65 we begin to see some of the things God has given us that we should never take for granted. Psalm 65:2 says, you who hear our prayers. Too often I think we take for granted that God hears our prayers. Think about it, every time we cry out to God – God is there. Whenever we are in need – God is there. Every single word we pray God hears and we can’t take that for granted.

If we read through the gospels we find many stories of people crying out to Jesus. There was the blind beggar who cries out Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me – and Jesus hears him and has mercy on him. Jesus heals the man and restores his sight. There are the 10 lepers who cry out to Jesus for healing and Jesus hear them and heals them. Jesus even hears those who cry out in the silence and the desperation of their hearts. There was a woman who had been sick for 10 years and in her desperation she silently reached out her hand to touch the hem of Jesus robe and while she doesn’t make a sound, Jesus hears the cry of her heart and heals her. God hears us – every word we cry out to him in our hearts – God hears and God responds according to his will and purpose and plan.

God not only hears us, but God forgives us. Look at Psalm 65:3. What I like about this verse is that it doesn’t say, when we sin (singular) that God forgives us, it’s when we are overwhelmed by sins (plural) that God forgives us. God knows that our failures and sins are going to be many in life. God knows that daily we will fall short of what he wants for us, and yet when we are overwhelmed by all of this sin, God forgives us. God’s love and grace is always there and we can not take that for granted. Everyday we need to give thanks to a great and gracious God.

So the chair can remind us that God is always with us to listen and forgive and as it says in v. 5, draw us close to him, but the chair can also remind us of all the people God places in our lives to help us. Rostropovich took for granted the people who always provided for him a chair, but on that day he was thankful for a German family who gave him a chair. I wonder how often we take for granted those people who love, serve and care for us on a regular basis. As we gather with family and friends this coming week I hope we will take the time to give thanks for those closest to us who offer so much love and support, but there are so many other people that help and support us that too often we overlook. Too often we take for granted firefighters, police officers, emergency service personnel, doctors, nurses, teachers, the list goes on and on. There are so many people in our community that work hard to serve and protect us and too often we take them for granted, we just assume they will be there when we need them. Again, what a great time of year to stop and simply say thank you to all those who help us.

On Friday I was in the bank and in case you didn’t know, last week was bank teller appreciation week. At first I thought that seemed to be stretching things a little bit, but then I thought about how at the branch I use the tellers have always been nice to me, they have answered my questions when I had a problem and never made me feel bad if something I did went wrong, so when I got to the counter I made sure I took a moment to say thank you and let them know what a good job I thought they always did. The teller’s face turned all red and she got a big smile and said I was only the second person who had said thank you. We need to do a better job at appreciating those people who serve us. Even if it is there job to serve us, it means so much for people to hear those two words.

Can we send a note with our children to the schools thanking the teacher or custodian or principal for a job well done? Can we send a note to a doctor or nurse who helped us through a difficult time? Can we say thank you to those in our community who volunteer time and energy to help serve and protect us? I’m thankful that as part of our Christmas dinner we do try to remember and give thanks for the firefighters, police and emergency service workers in our community by making sure they have a dinner on Christmas day. And let me just say right now to all of you (because in some way or another all of you will help I know) thank you for working so hard and giving so much to feed so many on Christmas Day. You are not taken for granted, I and many many others appreciate all that you do in Jesus name.

As we remember and give thanks for the people who help us, we can’t just think about the people who support us here and now, what about all the people in the past who have helped us get to where we are today? Stop and think about what you are sitting on right now? Rostropovich took for granted his chair, do we take for granted the pews that are always here for us? Do we take for granted this church that so many people over so many years have worked hard to provide for us? Actually, many of you were probably here when the original church was built, or when 20 years ago these pews were put in. If you were here then, let me say, “Thank You.”

As we give thanks for those who have provided for us, we need to ask ourselves, am I willing to give and serve and sacrifice so that there can be a chair here for the next generation? We have the opportunity in the months and really the years to come to help put a new roof on the building, and pay off our mortgage which will be a blessing to the generations who follow us. My hope is that 20 years from today there will be a pastor standing right here saying that the congregation gathered for Thanksgiving that year can’t take for granted those who went before them, but that they need to stop and give thanks for a congregation that 20 years ago said, we are going to put a new roof on the building, and we are going to put in a new Heating and AC system, and we are going to pay off the mortgage so our children and grandchildren will have a place of worship and ministry, and just a place to experience life and faith together. My other hope is that many of you will also be here 20 years from today actively involved in the life and mission and ministry of Faith Church.

So the chair reminds us that we can not take for granted all the love and grace that God has given us and all the people God has given us, but the chair also reminds us not to take for granted the world in which God has placed us. If we look at Psalm 65:9-13 we see all the things God gives us for which we need to give thanks. God provides water for the land. He sends showers to soften the earth so food will grow. God blesses the crops and brings forth the harvest, a harvest which we will share in this coming week, and because of the water, grain and livestock that God provides, we are able to experience not just the feast of Thanksgiving, but all the joy of life. Everywhere we turn in this world we can see something for which we can give thanks; the question is will we take the time to thank God? Will we take the time in the middle of family, food, football and the frenzy of this season to simply stop and give thanks to God, the one who created and gives us everything?

Do you know that the number one command of scripture isn’t to love God or love our neighbor – it is to remember. Over and over again God calls us to remember who he is and what he has done and the reason God calls us to remember so many times is because God knows that in the midst of all the busy-ness of life, we will forget and will take for granted all that he has given us. So this thanksgiving, take an empty chair and put it at your table as a reminder to give thanks to a great God for all that he has done, and allow the empty chair to remind you of all the people who have shaped your life and continue to love, serve and care for you, and allow the empty chair to be a reminder that the God who created the heavens and the earth is still the God who listens to us, forgives us and draws us close to him.

All Saints Day 2009

Today is the day many churches celebrate All Saints Day. It’s a tradition that goes back to the soxth century and it began as a day to remember and honor those who had been martyred or killed because they held tightly to their faith in Jesus Christ. For the first 500 years of Christianity there were severe persecutions by the Roman government and many people were killed for the faith and the stories of these faithful men and women inspired others and their lives and their faith were remembered and celebrated. Through the years, All Saint’s Day has become a day where we not only remember those saints from the ancient past, but it’s also a day for us to give thanks and remember all those men and women of faith who have died in the past year. Just as we heard Paul in his letter to the Corinthians gives thanks for the men and women of faith who encouraged and blessed him, so should we thank God for those who have gone before us because it has been God’s grace flowing through them that has encouraged and inspired us. God kept them strong until the end and today we know that they stand blameless before Christ Jesus in the fullness of God’s glory.

The first time I remember celebrating All Saints Day was my first year as a pastor in Altoona. It was the tradition in that church to read the names of all the church members who died in the previous year and ring a bell after each name. Just a week or so before that Sunday my own Grandmother had died and so as we prepared for that All Saint’s Day, I began to ask myself that all important question… what does it men to be a saint? What’s interesting is that I ask myself that question each year as All Saints Day approaches. I always thought about saints as those men and women who lived extraordinary lives of faith long ago. They were the people who persevered through great hardships and endured horrible persecution in an effort to remain faithful to Jesus. I always thought about saints as those people who are referred to in Hebrews 11:33-39a.
While these people certainly are saints, is this what it means to be a saint? Are saints only those extraordinary men and women of faith, or is a saint something else.

When we look at how the Bible defines a saint, we see something very different. When Paul’s writes to the churches in Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae, he addresses each letter to the saints and the faithful brothers and sisters in each city or region. For Paul, saints weren’t those who were living extraordinary lives of faith – they were the people who simply believed in Jesus as the Christ. Saints were those who trusted in Jesus for forgiveness, salvation and new life. They were the men and women who walked day after day trusting in the power of God’s Holy Spirit to help them and to change them. Perhaps it is Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that best explains what it means to be a saint. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul says, to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other translations say, those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints, so a great definition of being a saint is someone who is sanctified in Christ Jesus and calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So if a saint is someone who is sanctified in Christ Jesus, what does it mean to be sanctified? Sanctification means to be purified from sin, or to be washed clean, but let’s be clear that we do not purify ourselves. On our own we can not wipe away our sin or wash ourselves clean, that’s why Paul says that we are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Sanctification is a process where we trust God to forgive us or cleanse us from our sin, and then trust the Holy Spirit to free us from the bondage to sin so that we can live a new God-centered life. I think sanctification is best symbolized in baptism. We go under into the waters of baptism and are washed clean. Paul talks about sanctification as this process of cleansing in 1 Cor. 6:11. What Paul says so clearly here is that we are washed clean and forgiven not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us, it is Jesus who forgives us, so it is Jesus who sanctifies or cleanses us.

1 John 1:7 says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. It is the blood of Jesus shed on the cross that forgives us because it is the death of Jesus that God accepts on our behalf.
You see, our sin separates us from God and the Bible says the wages of sin is death, but instead of demanding our death, God accepts the death of Jesus for us and so it is Jesus blood shed on the cross that forgives us and begins this process of sanctification, but sanctification isn’t just being cleansed or forgiven – it also involves living a new life. Go back to baptism, we are cleansed and forgiven in those waters, but then we come up out of those waters to live a new life. We don’t become clean just so we can go out and get dirty again – we are cleansed so we can live a new life and that new life is only made possible through the grace and power of God.

Too often when we think of God’s grace we only think about the forgiveness that is ours through Jesus and we forget that God’s grace also equips us to live a new life of faith right here and now. While it is the blood of Jesus that forgives us, it is the resurrection of Jesus that tells us that we can go forth in power to live a new life. The waters of baptism wash us clean, but we then rise up to live a new and holy life. Forgiveness and new life have always gone hand in hand. In Lev. 11:44 God says sanctify yourselves and be holy. Forgiveness leads to new life. Sanctification is the first step, but then we have to go on and be holy. Now being holy doesn’t mean being perfect, but it does mean going forth to live a life that is centered on and draws upon the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of God.

1 Peter 1:13-16. Again we are called here to be holy, and we see that this holy life is a life of discipline, obedience and action, but the holiness doesn’t come from within. Holiness doesn’t come from just trying harder; it grows and develops in us as we allow the grace of God to work within us. Holiness comes when we trust God’s grace to help us become all that we want to be and all that God wants us to be. Again, too often we only think of God’s grace as the love that forgives, but God’s grace is also the power that changes. It’s God’s grace that gives us the power to overcome anxiety and addiction, doubt and despair, hopelessness and heartache. God’s grace is a powerful force that will change our lives and lead is in a new direction if we will allow it to.
One of the most beloved songs of the church is Amazing Grace and I don’t know about you, but when I sing it I tend to think about just the first part of that first verse. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I think about God’s grace just in terms of forgiveness and salvation, but the song goes on to talk a lot about the transformation that takes place in our lives when we allow God’s grace to have its way in us. It is God’s grace that opens our blind eyes so that we can see the truth of who we are and how we are living and who God wants us to be. It’s God’s grace that leads us through dangers, toils and snares and gives us the strength to not just face our problems but to overcome them It’s God’s grace that gives us patience as we wait for problems to be resolved and it’s God’s grace that will lead us home, and that’s not just the home in heaven that God prepared for us through Jesus Christ, it’s a home – or a life of faith that can be lived today and tomorrow and the next day. God’s grace isn’t just here to forgive us; it is here to change us, to sanctify us and help us live a new Christ-centered life.

So a saint isn’t someone who is extraordinary, a saint is someone who allows God’s grace to help them look more and more like Jesus. A saint is someone who asks for God’s amazing grace to cleanse them, and then accepts God’s grace to change them. A saint isn’t someone who has super powers or a superior faith, but someone who simply calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s really all that is needed for sainthood today, all we need to do is call on the name of Jesus Christ and trust in the power of God’s grace to cleanse us and help us live a holy life.

And that’s what communion is all about. We don’t gather at this table trusting in our own ability to cleanse ourselves from sin, and we don’t gather here because we are so good at living a holy life, We gather here specifically because we know that we can’t. As saints, we gather here to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ask God to forgive us and as saints we ask God for the grace to strengthen us. This is a meal of the saints, not just because we are gathered here with all the saints who have gone before us, but because it is through the bread and the cup that God’s amazing grace forgives us and then empowers us. So let us come to the table and with all the saints around the throne and let us call upon the name of the Lord, our Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ.

Relationship Principles of Jesus ~ The Greatest are the Servants

I was blessed to grow up in a home where every summer for several years there were four generations living under the same roof. For several years we lived in my Grandmother’s beach house in CT and every summer my Grandmother and Great-grandmother would come and live with us. One of the most vivid memories I have of my Great-grandmother is sitting on the porch with her and playing cards. While my Grandmother played cards to win and she taught us all how to be somewhat competitive, my Great-grandmother didn’t care about winning at all– for her it was all about the time spent together. In fact, what I remember most about my Great-grandmother is playing Old Maid because when we played cards with her we could see every card in her hand reflected in her glasses, so it was easy to not pick the old maid and win the game. I’m sure she knew we were cheating, but she didn’t care, in fact she would often make it even easier for us by sticking the old maid up in her hand and encouraging us to pick that card – which of course we never did. When the game was over and she was the old maid again, she would simply smile and want to play another game. For my Great-grandmother it wasn’t about the cards – it was about the relationship and it was about helping her great grandchildren feel like winners, and let me tell you, when you are in K, first and second grade, nothing feels better than winning a game of cards, even old maid.

What my Great-grandmother was living out was a powerful relationship principle taught to us by Jesus. She knew that relationships would be the strongest and healthiest when we are willing to be humble and serve one another. There is a lot of misunderstandings when it comes to defining humility because we often see it as a sign of weakness – but it is not. Humility is simply lifting up the value and worth we see in others. The best definition of humility comes from Philippians 2:3-4, do nothing out of vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Humility is not putting us down, it’s not thinking less of ourselves - it’s simply thinking more of others. Humility is considering others as better than we are and then turning that consideration, that thought, into action. Genuine humility will lead to service because if we really see others as being better than we are, we will want to lift them up and love them in practical ways that will meet their needs. My Great grandmother didn’t think less of herself, she just thought more of us and so winning didn’t mean anything to her, but seeing us win, seeing us happy and laughing and feeling confident meant everything.

Jesus teaches this relationship principle to his disciples in Mark 10:35-45. As Jesus is walking along the road with his disciples, James and John come close and draw Jesus aside to ask him if they can sit at his right and left hand when he comes into power. What they want are special places of honor above the other disciples. Now what do you think happens when the other disciples hear about this? They get angry of course, (10:41). The reason they get angry is that they also want the places of honor and prestige. So look at what happens to relationships when people try to elevate themselves above others, relationships are strained and in time can be broken. If we are only looking out for our own self interest and what is good for us and what will make us feel superior to others, relationships will be damaged and ultimately destroyed, so Jesus steps in to teach them this relationship principle, Mark 10:43b-45.

This principle isn’t just a faith principle, we aren’t to be humble servants just to be good followers of Jesus, this is a relationship principle. The way to build and grow healthy relationship and the way to keep relationships strong is to be humble and serve one another. In Ephesians 5:21 Paul calls people to submit to one another out of reverence to Christ. Submitting to one another means placing the needs of others before our own, its humble service and it builds relationships. Jesus knew that they way to hold his team together was by teaching them to stop thinking about themselves and only working for what was good for them and start thinking about how to serve and help each other. Relationships will experience healing and they will grow stronger if we will stop thinking about what is good for us and start serving others.
Jesus didn’t just teach this principle of humility and service, it was how he ordered and lived his entire life. It was THE principle which guided who he was and everything he did. Look at Philippians 2:6-8. This passage is known as the Christ hymn and it is thought to be one of the earliest sayings of the church, which means it needs to be one of the guiding principles for us today. When it says that we are to have the same mind as that of Christ Jesus, it means we are to have the same attitude and live by the same principles that guided Jesus, and what we see here is a life of humility and service. Although Jesus was God himself, he did not think of himself first, he thought about others and how he could help them, and the way Jesus was going to do that was to empty himself of his divine nature, become a man and walk in this world.

And when God entered into this world as a man he did not demand any rights, privileges or power, he lived a life that constantly thought about others first, Jesus humbled himself and became a servant. The depth of his service wasn’t just seen in how he fed the hungry, made the lame to walk, the blind to see and brought healing to anyone and everyone who came to him, his humility and service was seen most powerfully when he became obedient to death, even death on a cross. It is the cross which stands as the ultimate symbol of humility and service. Jesus chose to humble himself and he chose a path of service. Jesus didn’t think of himself first or what was good for him, he thought about others and at every turn he chose to serve others. He served by teaching, feeding, loving, healing, forgiving and setting people free. That is the example of humble service that is set before us and we don’t follow it just because it is what we do are to do as followers of Jesus, we follow this path because it is the way that leads to stronger and healthier relationships. Humility and service will strengthen relationships and remember, relationships are the most important things in life and we should be doing all we can to make them stronger.

Every relationship in life can be strengthened if we will be willing to humble ourselves and serve. Think about how marriages can be transformed if husbands and wives will set aside their own wants and needs in order to care for and lift up each other. This is what Paul means when in Ephesians he says, wives submit to your husbands and husbands love your wives. Remember the call to love is a call to submit AND serve AND sacrifice for the other. The lives of our children can be significantly improved if we will place their needs before our own and serve them in loving ways. This doesn’t mean we give our children everything – sometimes the loving thing to do is to not buy them material possessions but give them our presence, our time and guidance and love. Maybe the loving thing to do is set aside time to play a game of cards and let our children know they are valued and loved. Relationships at work and in our community can be healed and transformed if we will serve and lift up those around us. Our world can be a place of life, love, justice and joy if we would all be willing to humble ourselves and life lives of service.

Today’s a great day to hear this message of humility and service because the crop walk is great opportunity for us to learn humility and service. The crop walk reminds us that there are deep needs in our world that we can help meet if we are willing to think of others more highly than ourselves. Sometimes it is hearing the truth of injustice that humbles me, and so I need to be reminded of some harsh realities of the world today, like:
· 16,000 children die of hunger related causes every day, that’s one child every 5 seconds, which means since we have been here in worship over 500 children have died due to hunger & poverty.
· To provide basic health and nutrition for the world’s poorest countries would cost $13 billion- which is what the US and European spend on perfume each year. Each year the US alone spends $20Billion on ice cream. Think about it, what we spend on ice cream each year could solve the world’s hunger problem!

I am humbled when I hear these statistics, but the question is will I do something about it? Will I turn my humility into service? Will I serve and give to those in need around me?
If we were truly humble servants following the example of Jesus, we would reorder our lives so that more food and resources would go to those in need. As we think about becoming more humble servants and changing our lives to serve others in ways that will truly lift them, the one thing we will need is a deep and abiding faith and trust in God. The only way we can let go of our self interest and serve others the way Jesus did is if we believe to our very core that God not only has our best interest at heart but that God will work to meet our every need. It is our faith and trust in God that helps move us from being demanding in this world to being dependant upon God, and it is faith and trust that move us from condemning others to lifting them up. If we trust God to have our best interest at heart and if we trust God to care for us in all ways and in all places, then we will be able to stop striving for all that we need and start serving the needs of those around us, and as that happens, something else will happen – relationships will improve. Families will be strengthened, communities will grow strong and our world will experience more peace, justice, joy and love.

As we seek to live lives of humble service I want to share one last thought. A lot of times we think that lives of humility and service have to be void of competition and greatness. That is simply not true. Go back to Mark 10:43, Jesus does not condemn the disciples for wanting to be the greatest – he just says they are going about it the wrong way. The way to be great is not through self-promotion; it’s by being humble and serving others. The desire to be great and to live a life of significance and greatness is a fundamental part of who we are. Think about it, we have been created in the image of God and God is great (I learned that in the very first prayer I learned, God is great, God is good…), so inherent in us is a desire to be great – but while the world tells us the way to achieve greatness is through personal fame, glory, position and power, Jesus says the path to real greatness, God’s greatness, is humility, service and sacrifice. The greatest are the servants so we need to strive to be a servant.
If you are a competitive person, great – strive be the best servant there is. In Romans 12:10 (NRSV) it says love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor. I like the NRSV because it says it’s ok to be competitive, outdo one another – see if you can top each other, not in an effort of self promotion, but in order to love as Jesus loves. Here’s where some ambition and competition can be a good thing. Pour yourself into honoring those around you. Follow the example of Jesus and give all that you have to serve those God has placed in your life and on your heart.

Getting back to the relationships in our lives, if there is a relationship that we need to our want to improve then we need to find real ways to serve that person. If we want to improve our church then we need to outdo one another in showing honor. We need to find ways to lift one another up through our words and our actions. If we want to see transformation in our community and world, let us do it the same way Jesus did, by not thinking about what is good for us and what will benefit us, but what will help others. The greatest are the servants, and greatness will come to our relationships when we do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but consider others as better than ourselves.