The Third Advent Candle

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the Highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” Luke 2:13-14

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word! Psalm 103:19-20

But to which of the angel has [God] said,
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I make Your enemies
A footstool for Your feet?”
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:13-15

INTRO: In the summer of 1998, the Real Irish Republican Party detonated a car bomb in a town in Northern Ireland that killed twenty-nine people and injured more than 200

It’s brutality stunned Ireland and Great Britain
• in response to loss of innocent lives, Bono, lead singer of U2, composed a haunting melody and penned the following lines:

(Peace On Earth)
Heaven on Earth, we need it now
I’m sick of all of this hanging around
Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain
I’m sick of hearing again and again
That there’s gonna be peace on Earth
Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on Earth
To tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on Earth
Jesus sing a song you wrote
The words are sticking in my throat
Peace on Earth
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won’t rhyme
So what’s it worth
This peace on Earth Continue reading →

The Second Christmas Candle

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
To little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity. Micah 5:2

INTRO: It isn’t typical for a Christian community as informal as ours to observe the season of Advent

That is, adopting a practice of formally preparing ourselves for Christmas
– but I’m finding an unexpected benefit
– when I feel the pressures of our consumer culture, returning to Advent helps me reorient myself to what matters most

The theme for the second Sunday of Advent, is Bethlehem
– this is the second candle that is lighted in the darkness of winter

We’re going to track a theme in Micah that builds to chapter 5

The way Micah introduces himself is unique among the prophets
– he connects himself with a place – his village, “Micah of Moresheth”
• most common, “the son of”
• Amos tells where he’s from, but links to his profession

With his first words, he calls not only people to hear, but also a place, “earth”
– it is not unusual for God to call the earth and sky as witnesses in his court
• but it is a reference to place in a passage that is full of references to places Continue reading →

Christmas Candles

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel. Genesis 3:15

INTRO: I need your help this morning

When people talk about the “Christian year” (or “church year”) what do they mean?
– the church created a “Christian” calendar that divided the year into seasons
• the Christian year begins with Advent on the first Sunday in December

Christian worship is divided into two primary forms:
– “high” church worship observes a formal, set order (for Episcopalians, The Book of Common Prayer)
• there is a strong emphasis on priests, symbols, sacraments, and rituals
• “free” church worship de-emphasizes these things and claims to have no fixed form
○ however, free churches usually do fall into fixed routines
– the Christian year belongs to the high church tradition (Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, etc.)

What is “Advent”?
– the coming or arrival of Christ – but an arrival that spans time
• a first arrival and a final arrival and, in between, a day-to-day arrival
• some believers who are suffering or dying live with an awareness of his moment-to-moment arrival
– in high churches, each Sunday of Advent a candle is lighted
• Why? Since Jesus’ first coming:

The Light shines in the darkness (Jn. 1:5)
The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light; / And those who were sitting in the land of the shadow of death, / Upon them a Light dawned (Mt. 4:16) Continue reading →

A “Theology of Suffering”

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Hebrews 12:4-11

INTRO: When we meet a person with spiritual depth, we naturally want to learn from him or her

If that person is willing to work with us, we are blessed with a spiritual mentor

Let’s consider the writer of Hebrews as our spiritual mentor
– you sit down with him and he asks a few questions
• he probes your faith, experience of God’s Spirit, and personal concerns
– when you finish, he sits in silence for a long time
• finally, he looks at you, smiles, and says,

“So, you want a stronger, closer relationship with Jesus, and you want to be a better person, and enjoy freedom from sin . . .” he pauses, then says, “but you don’t want the process to hurt or cost you anything”

This is what our passage is about, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful”
– doesn’t that sound like an understatement?

During this last summer’s Olympics, NBC profiled a few of the athletes
– every one of them had daily grueling workout schedules
– training entails suffering Continue reading →

Why Did Jesus Say That?

Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” John 21:22

INTRO: Do you feel you’re clear on the role Jesus plays in your life?

It’s too easy to glibly use words like “Lord,” “Savior,” even “Friend”
– the question isn’t about Jesus’ role in the religious part of your life
• do we leave him waiting in the margin until we need him? — like a ceramic figurine we keep in a closet and pull out in an emergency?
– what about the normal stuff? – the everyday ups and downs?
• Jesus does not want to be assigned to the irrelevant places, events, or decisions of our lives

This last chapter of John is an epilogue – sort of an afterthought
– the first fourteen verses are encapsulated to make a specific point
• John begins and ends this unit by telling us what happens in it — “Jesus manifested Himself”
– this did not happen in a religious context – there were no candles, incense, or religious symbols
• nor did it happen when the disciples had a special spiritual feeling
• it happened on the shoreline of a lake and it is likely they were feeling down
○ they had gone back to their business
○ they returned to where they were the first time they met Jesus
– whatever thoughts we have about Jesus’ role in our lives,
• he feels he belongs in the heart of it
○ where we spend most our time, think most our thoughts  Continue reading →

Why Did Jesus Say That?

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:5-6

INTRO: This was Jesus’ last conversation with his disciples and, as you can imagine, it went long

– it started in the upper room and continued all the way to the Garden of Gethsemane
– at the point where we enter it, the disciples are getting frustrated with Jesus

He had told them, “Where I am going, you cannot come” (13:33)
– he had mentioned this before and each time he was evasive and enigmatic about where he was going
– this led to all kinds of speculation (7:34-35; 8:21-22)

Well, Jesus’ statement makes no sense to Peter, so he asks, “Where are you going?”
– all Jesus says is, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow Me later” (13:36)
– for three years, Peter had followed Jesus — from north to south, up mountains and across rivers
• he had even followed him back to Jerusalem, despite the danger there
– so he asks, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? What makes this time so different? I’m ready to lay down my life for You”

Peter didn’t realize he had stumbled upon the heart of the problem Continue reading →

Why Did Jesus Say That?

Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.” John 11:7-10

INTRO: This last week, I’ve spent my spare time immersed in a book I was asked to read

The author begins by taking us into her first counseling appointment
– until that point, it had taken all her strength to hold her life and family together
• then she learned her son was facing a serious health crisis
• she had no reserves to deal with it and therefore  became miserable and lost
– in successive appointments, she revealed the horrors of childhood and adolescence
• she divulged things she had never told anyone
• in the process of exposing her wounds, she occasionally hit a wall
○ she was unable to keep talking – got confused, stumbled around
○ but her counselor encouraged her to look behind each of these doors
– every time she did, she discovered another important insight about herself
• with each discovery, she grew
• gradually, she became less miserable and life began to make more sense

Much of our misery, discontent, and irritability stem from mental roadblocks and wrong ideas we hold unconsciously
– some of these could be resolved, simply by bringing them into the light
• it’s the stuff that remains in darkness that gives us most trouble
• seeing things in the light, is to understand them better Continue reading →

Why Did Jesus Say That?

For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative; I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father John 10:17-18

INTRO: In another week, our government will ask us to cast our vote in the presidential election

If we can get past our pet issues and campaign promises, in a quiet moment we might ask ourselves
“Of the two main candidates, which one really knows and cares about me?”
– like the pressure I feel when I come home to a stack of bills on the counter?
• or when my friend or child can’t find job that pays enough to cover rent?
• and I don’t make enough to be able to help?

Of course, the election is not about me
– and neither is it about the millions of people like me
• its about economics, national policies, foreign affairs, and giant corporations
– still, the candidates are trying to make it sound like the election is about me
• but neither candidate has any idea of what my life is like
• their children will never face trying to support a family of five on $15.00 an hour
• they’ll never feel the pressures that their signature will place on me

As for myself, I represent a class of spiritual leaders
-do we have a better understanding or greater empathy for the average person? Continue reading →

Why Did Jesus Say That?

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind” John 9:39

INTRO: Barbara’s mom used to say,
“I’m a black and white person. I’m not one of those mercy people.”
– it was true, that she tended to have a narrow, rigid standard regarding right and wrong
– but it wasn’t completely true
• there was too much of Jesus in her — at times the mercy she showed others was remarkable

The tension in this story is between “right and wrong” people and the “mercy” Person
– the question raised here is, Can the Pharisee’s religion accommodate Jesus?

The Pharisees depicted in the gospels are a caricature

What we usually encounter are the worst examples
– there are exceptions, like Nicodemus – but they’re rare

Why do the gospels paint these pictures of the Pharisees and include them in Jesus’ story?
– they perfectly reveal what humans normally do with religion
• reduce it to moral rules, then use those rules to justify selves and condemn others Continue reading →

Why Did Jesus Say That?

And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” John 8:23

INTRO: Chapter 8 begins with a story almost everyone loves
Jesus is sitting in the temple teaching, when a woman is dragged in
– she committed adultery and had been “caught in the act”
• they asked Jesus to render a verdict against her
– at first he ignored them – then he wrote (or drew) on the ground
• finally he sat up, and spoke the famous line, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7)
– after they filed out, he asked the woman,

“Where are they? Did no one condemn you” and she had answered, “No one, Lord,” He said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

This story is connected with the rest of the chapter in several ways:

1. It ties a ribbon around the chapter (inclusio) – the theme of stoning, here and in v. 59
2. It introduces the theme of sin (important here and in chapter 9)
3. Jesus is pressured into assuming the role of being a judge — then he is judged, but quickly turns the tables and becomes the judge
4. Less obvious is the up and down theme in this chapter (above/below) when Jesus “stooped down” and “straightened up”
   – when down, he ignored them – sitting up, he answered them
   – Jesus does not belong to what is down or below and his answers come from above (v. 26) Continue reading →