Archives for 2012

a sermon on Mark 1:29-39 for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone on February 5, 2012

We weren’t sure what was going on, but we started following him anyway. This man named Jesus had stopped me and my brother Andrew one day as we were tossing our nets into the sea. He invited us to cast our nets aside and come with him to start fishing for people. There was something so compelling about him and his presence that we dropped our nets and followed him.

All that was only a few days ago, really, but we’ve been through a lot since then. First, as we walked along the shore that day, we watched as Jesus invited two other fishermen to join us. We had known James and John – they worked with their father in the family fishing business on the same sea as Andrew and me – so it was good to have some people we knew along with us on the way. The next few days went by more or less as we expected. We met up with Jesus and talked about the scriptures and our lives as we walked along the shore and across the countryside.

But then the Sabbath came. We went with Jesus to the synagogue in Capernaum, where he stood up and started teaching as the people gathered there. It was amazing! Everyone listened so closely as he taught – just like us, they were trying to figure out what was going on with this incredible teacher – and it was clear that he was doing more than just reciting the scriptures and assuming that everyone understood.

Then a man stepped up and started shouting at him: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.” Many of the locals recognized this man, who was known for these kinds of outbursts and the evil spirits that provoked them. Jesus told the spirit to be quiet and instructed it to come out of the man, and after he shook and screamed a bit more, the man was quiet after the spirit left him. Everyone was astonished at this, and word started to spread about this powerful new teacher in Galilee. We weren’t sure what was going on, but we kept following him.

That afternoon after the synagogue the four of us who were following Jesus went to my house. My mother-in-law would normally have been the one to host the feast, but she was in bed, sick with a fever. Jesus got word of this, and just as he had healed the man with the evil spirit in the synagogue, he healed my mother-in-law, too. She felt well enough right away to resume her usual chores, and she was especially attentive to Jesus, showing him the proper hospitality and demonstrating the real and immediate power of his healing touch.

After we ate, as the sun set that night, bringing the sabbath to an end, a crowd appeared at our house. People were bringing sick friends and relatives to experience Jesus’ healing touch, and others came just to watch the spectacle. After this long sabbath day, he healed many with diseases and cast out a few more demons.

It was quickly becoming clear that this man who had stopped on the seashore and invited us to follow him was far more than we had originally suspected. While we had known from the very beginning that there was something special about this man Jesus, his teaching was just so compelling. If that wasn’t enough, the way he healed people along the way suggested that he had real power to make things different in the world.

Every day, I have gotten more and more astonished at what is going on – and I’m less and less sure why we are with him. What does this powerful, deeply religious man want to do with us, four quiet fishermen from a village in Galilee? He ought to be out looking for more important folks to go with him – but he keeps saying he wants us. We may not be sure what is going on, but for now at least, we’ll keep following him.

Now if all this wasn’t enough, that next morning we assumed that Jesus would want to sleep in a bit before making his way back into our village – he sure had seemed pretty tired after all that healing and casting out demons the night before! When we got up and started to look for him, though, we found that he had slipped out of the house already! We got a little concerned – he’s not from around here, and we didn’t think he knew his way around the area – so we started looking for him. Plus, there were already more people making their way to our house, hoping for his healing power to work for them too. We found him out in a deserted place outside of town, quietly praying and meditating. We told him about all the people waiting for him back at our house in Capernaum, but he wanted nothing to do with them – he told us, “Let’s head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there too.” As usual, his mind was made up – we were moving on, heading away from our hometown, not quite sure of our next steps, but somehow ready to follow where he was leading. We weren’t sure what was going on, but as usual, we kept following him.

I for one have yet to figure out my role in all this. I’m not a healer, a teacher, or an exorcist – I’m a fisherman – so I can’t take a leading role in what Jesus is doing around here. I’m not as good a cook as my mother-in-law, so I can’t just stand by on the sidelines making sure everyone feels welcome and is well-fed. And I’m no good with directions in general, let alone when Jesus is setting the itinerary, so I just don’t know where we are going next!

Yet I keep following him. The example he sets as we walk together really matters to me. He treats people with kindness, compassion, and gentleness, like no one else I’ve known. He stays grounded and connected – it’s not about him but about something greater than his own personality and presence. Plus, there’s just something special about this journey that we share. I’m meeting the people of my town again, learning more about them, listening to them and their needs more closely, recognizing that they are more than their jobs or their infirmities or anything else that I’ve learned or assumed about them over the years. I’m seeing more of the world too –I’ve never really left Capernaum much, but I figure with Jesus setting the itinerary, we might just travel a bit!

But most of all, Jesus is challenging me to think differently about everything along the way. While he’s transforming people’s lives in very direct ways by healing them or casting out demons, I’m starting to wonder how I might transform the world. Now I’ve always been a bit of an idealist, wishing that things would be different, but I’ve struggled to figure out what to do about it.

After just these few days with Jesus, though, I’m starting to think that I can do actual things that will be steps along the way to something new. I may not be able to touch someone and bring her healing, but I can talk about changing hearts and lives to prepare for God’s kingdom. I might not be able to cast out a man’s demons, but I can encourage people to cast out the things that get in the way of what God is doing here and now. These are little things – they aren’t nearly as exciting or grand as what Jesus does, and I certainly won’t ever be as compelling as he is – yet I think they might actually make a difference along the way, especially if other people get the message and join in. I’m not entirely sure what is going on, but I know I’m going to keep following him – do you want to join me?

a sermon on Psalm 111 for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
preached on January 29, 2012, at the First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone

Why do we come here? What brings us together every Sunday? Plenty of people spend their Sunday mornings in bed, enjoying a quiet and slow start to the day, with a cup of coffee and the voluminous Sunday Times, embodying the truest sense of sabbath rest in these very busy times.

Yet we gather together here instead, for some reason forgoing a restful morning on the one potentially restful day of the week for many of us, spending an hour singing sometimes strange hymns and listening to someone go on and on about a two-thousand-year-old book.

This is very strange to many people in these days. It used to be when you moved to a new place you sought out a doctor, a barber or hairdresser, and a church, but now church is optional, and coming together is pretty rare.

So for many in our world, the psalm this morning seems especially confounding. It talks about coming together to give thanks to God. Now thanksgiving is an understandable thing, but in our society it belongs on the fourth Thursday in November – the rest of the year, you’d think that everything that we have is completely and totally of our own doing. And the “together” part – giving thanks “in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation,” as the psalmist puts it – this doesn’t make sense at all. In this day and age, thanksgiving is our own private matter, something that belongs to me and me alone, maybe with a family role sometimes, but never discussed in public. As usual, though, the psalmist insists that the way of the masses is not the way of the people of God. For the people of God, thanksgiving is an everyday task, one that is at its best when others can join us along the way, when we do it together.

There’s more that’s unusual about this way of life, though. The psalmist insists that God is at hand in everything, not just in the thanksgiving of the congregation of the people. According to the psalmist, God is present and at work in creation, doing majestic and glorious deeds that shine from age to age. God’s mercy and compassion extend to all people, not just in abstract ways but in bringing real justice and peace and in providing for those who are in need. God’s presence and life extend beyond every imaginable boundary, and God’s power overcomes every human limit to show God’s love for God’s people. The God of this psalm is trustworthy, honest, and true, bringing a new way of life into the world and sealing God’s love forever and ever.

This incredible way of God that the psalmist describes is so different from our human ways, not just on Sunday morning but each and every day. For the psalmist, good things are not our own doing but are solely of God’s doing. The beauty and wonder of creation – even those things created by human hands – is from God alone. Mercy, compassion, justice, peace, and love are not optional things in this way of life, to be done when they are convenient or to our advantage, but rather are the way that God lives – and so should be the way that we live, too.

As usual, in offering praise to God, the psalmist helps us to see a little clearer picture of the way of life that God intends for us and our world. Even though the psalmist speaks for himself in these words, the life of praise and newness he describes is only possible “in the congregation of the upright” – in the times when we come together.

This seems like a fitting thing for us today as we prepare to spend some time together this afternoon talking about the life of our congregation. When we gather, we come together not just because we usually like each other as people but because we have a special purpose for our life together, because here we begin our faithful response to God in praise and thanksgiving and here we seek to embody God’s new way of life in our world. When we gather, we are reminded that our life together is not centered in some building constructed by human hands but in the grace of God who gathers us and transforms us more and more into the people God is calling us to be. When we gather, we find that the life we share together here is important not so much because of the history that comes before us but because here we are strengthened for the living of our faith in these days and beyond.

The institution of this place is less important than what we accomplish together. As one of my friends put it so well recently,

What matters most to me about church is that there is an opportunity for people to gather – in some way, shape, and form – around the Jesus that can known through the Gospels and in the company of the Spirit that can be known by who-knows-how.

So as we go into this time of business this afternoon, as we consider some of the earthly things that we must think about as we share this life in this place, as we discuss the sale of the manse that has served as the home of your pastor for the last fifteen years, I hope and pray that these earthly, administrative things will not overwhelm what is really important: that we come together to live the life of praise and thanksgiving that the psalmist describes, that we come together to share hope and love for all people, that we come together to witness to justice and peace in our common life and our individual lives, that we come together to share our joys and our sorrows along the journey, and that we come together to trust God, who gives us everything we need to make it through the day so that together we might share in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ our Lord.

So may we praise the Lord together and give thanks to God with our whole hearts each and every day as we journey together into the new life and light that has already come into our midst through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God! Amen.

a sermon on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 and Mark 1:14-20
preached on January 22, 2012, at the First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone

Timing is everything. If Jesus had walked by the sea on some other day – or even just an hour or a few minutes earlier! – he may not have encountered Simon and Andrew there. Sure, he may have met some other fishermen at work there, but I doubt they would have been as receptive to what Jesus had to say to them.

Timing was the biggest part of Jesus’ message, after all – he was making his way around Galilee, following in the footsteps of John the Baptist, proclaiming, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” (CEB)

Jesus and John the Baptist were not alone in suggesting that this was a unique time – we know from the history of that era in other sources beyond the Bible that there were plenty of people talking like this. It was a time of uncertainty and change and transition, with plenty of hope among those who wanted things to be different and much at stake for those who already had the power and were now threatened by the chance of something new. John the Baptist had already been put in jail along with countless other troublemakers, and surely anyone who followed after him risked a similar fate at the hands of the powerful leaders. Yet here in this time Jesus appears, wandering the Galilean countryside, suggesting that a change in the heart would bring real change to all of life, saying that this was the time for things to be different.

So it must have been the right time for Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Jesus stopped as he made his way along the coast of the Sea of Galilee. As Simon and Andrew were tossing their nets into the lake, Jesus invited them to join him and start fishing for people. Then a little further along, Jesus called out to James and John as they were mending the nets on their father’s boat. For some reason, all four of these men dropped what they were doing to join Jesus on his way.

The gospel of Mark says absolutely nothing about why they welcomed Jesus’ call. Maybe they had just been so unsuccessful at fishing that they wanted to try something new, to “fish for people,” as Jesus suggested. Maybe they were former followers of John the Baptist or some other teacher who had worked in their region before. Maybe they were religious people who had been looking for a new teacher with a new message. Maybe there was something special and compelling about this strange man who spoke to them with such authority and presence. Maybe they were just crazy enough to try something new. Or maybe it was just the perfect time for some combination of these or other things. Whatever the reason or reasons, these four fishermen responded to Jesus’ call. They dropped their nets, leaving their boats and families and coworkers behind, strangely ready for something new not just in their lives but in and for all the world. The time must have been right.

For some two thousand years, people have been thinking that the time is right – that it is time for God to do something new, time for everything to change, time to leave everything behind and follow Jesus. For two thousand years, people have been expecting something new to come – but it really hasn’t. Sure, people have been following Jesus all this time, and there have been some changes to things along the way, but the real, dramatic, powerful changes? They sure still seem to be a long way off. Yet Jesus kept saying, “Now is the time!” The apostle Paul said, “The present form of this world is passing away.” From their witness and countless others, we know there is something new yet still ahead – but we don’t know when it is coming. The time is not yet right.

But maybe this is the year… Some people have said that 2012 is the year when it all will come to an end. This is a pretty normal thing, you know – a self-taught biblical scholar named Harold Camping predicted the end of the world twice last year, and other Christians make a regular habit of trying to align current world events with supposed signs in the Bible to determine when the world will end. But this year there’s also the strange threat from another tradition, as the Mayan calendar of the native peoples of Mexico ends later this year. So what if 2012 is the end of the world? Would it make any difference for us? Would we be more likely to drop our nets as Simon and Andrew and James and John did? Would we live like Paul suggests to the Corinthians, with “those who have wives [being] as though they had none” and “those who deal with the world [being] as though they had no dealings with it”?

I think the reality of the call of God is that we are called to a new way of life each and every day, no matter how close or how far we are from the end of things. We are called to work with God to bring the world one day closer to the way that God intends. We are called to prepare ourselves for the time when all things will be made new. And we are called to welcome and enable and bring about change in the world that we have, here and now, in this time and place. So the time is right to live in this way, to follow in the footsteps of Simon, Andrew, James, and John, to walk with Jesus along the way to new life, to trust that there is something more in store for us and our world at a time that we do not yet know.

In this time and this place, I believe that God is calling us in this congregation to a new way of thinking and a new way of living. God is calling us to proclaim within and especially beyond these walls those words of Jesus: “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” God is calling us to live the immediate and transformative reality of God’s new life in our world. God is calling us to drop our nets and leave our boats behind so that we can respond to God’s call with openness, honesty, and hope.

So God is calling us in this time to join in these new things – to be about something more than we are now, to leave our heavy nets and leaky boats behind – so that we can have the freedom to see something new, to imagine that our future can be something more than our past, to dream that God might call us to do something more than just gather here on Sunday mornings. This is the time to do this important work, the time to change our hearts and lives, the time to trust God and follow where Jesus leads us, the time to set aside our nets and our boats, our assumptions and our expectations, and go in a new direction, for God has called us and wants and needs us to go wherever God may lead.

It wasn’t easy for the disciples to drop their nets or leave their boats, and it won’t be easy for us to follow in that same way, either. Still, the God of boldness calls us to be a part of something more than what we have been before so that all things might be made new.

May God give us the strength and the courage to know that the time is right and to walk in God’s incredible new life, now and always, until we know God’s glory in all its fullness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.