A Study of Isaiah: A Baby Changes Everything

Isaiah 7:10-16

When a baby enters your life, everything changes. All bets are off. A new day has dawned. It all really starts before the baby enters the world. Before the birth of a baby, especially the first child, your calendar fills up quickly with regular doctor visits, setting up the child’s room with the right furniture, colors and theme, the showering of gifts from loved ones and friends, and my personal favorite the childbirth preparation classes. We learned breathing and relaxation techniques, the stages of labor, and so much more. It was truly an experience.

A baby also changes how you travel. Can’t just jump in the car and go anymore. You must place the baby in a 5 point harness car carrier or else you don’t get to leave the hospital. The stereo system you love and enjoy gets moved and replaced by a pack-n-play. Your favorite chair is replaced by a mechanical swing. The crib, changing table, a dresser, child proofing everything, having storage for toys and books, and an eventual high chair in the kitchen: your home is transformed into a “baby cave”; your own Babies-R-Us store. I am amazed at how much additional gear is needed to travel with one little person.

There’s the lack of regular, sound, deep sleep. There’s the constant attention needed to attend to a baby’s needs: changing diapers, getting them dressed, doing laundry, feeding the baby, getting the baby dressed again, getting yourself dressed again, doing more laundry. You get the idea.

And in the end, we do what we have to do when a baby enters our lives. Why? Because we love them more than we imagined we could love anyone. A baby is a sign of God’s creative love and irresistible grace. A baby serves as a sign of God’s love for the world and all creation and at the same time we, the parents, experience the love of God in a whole new way and our lives are changed forever. A baby is a sign of hope in a world of despair; a sign of peace in a world of violence; a sign of joy in a world of unhappiness; a sign of love in a world of hate.

We find ourselves this morning with King Ahaz, the king of Judah, in the middle of a foreign policy crisis, fearful of his two close neighbors to the north, Syria and Israel (vs. 4–6). The prophet has just warned King Ahaz that only faith will rescue the king from this apparent threat (vs. 7–9).

God invites King Ahaz, the king of Judah, to ask for a sign, but he refuses. God wanted him to ask for any kind of a sign because God wanted to prove to Ahaz that He would protect him from the kings of Syria and Ephraim. But Ahaz refused to ask for a sign because he really wanted to ask help from Assyria and continue practicing idolatry. The point of the sign is to underscore God’s intention to do as he promised.

We're always looking for signs, but we don’t always see them or we refuse to see them. We look for them in the mall, when driving in unfamiliar neighborhoods, when looking for a bathroom in a restaurant or when checking into a hotel (where's the fitness room, the swimming pool, the business center?). We look for signs when deplaning and wandering through the airport terminal ("Where do I catch my connecting flight? Where's baggage claim? What carousel number?"), but in the hustle and bustle of a busy airport it’s easy to miss a sign and go in the wrong direction. Or when hiking on a trail in the mountains, following the trail signs when you notice they are worn out, simply missing and difficult to discern. When life isn’t going our way, we look for signs of improvement and growth from God. Noah looked for a sign and God gave him a rainbow in the sky. The Hebrews looked for signs and received manna from heaven in the morning, quails in their camps in the evening, and water from the rock. The shepherds living in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night received a sign that in the city of David they would find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger who is the savior of the world.

The king’s refusal is wrapped up in some form of personal piety. The clever but stubborn refusal of the king evokes from the prophet a hard, devastating oracle (vs. 13–17). The prophet Isaiah puts the royal Ahaz administration on notice. The prophet now refers to Yahweh as “my God.” By implication, this odd pronoun suggests that Yahweh is no longer “your God.” Yahweh has withdrawn from the dynasty. The dynasty wanted autonomy, and now it has it, for the Davidic house no longer is claimed by God. “Therefore” (v. 14), because of the king’s resistance, the prophet announces a “sign”, even though the king has not asked for one. The sign is that a young woman will have a child (v. 14). All the focus in the oracle is on the anticipated baby whose name is Immanuel, “God is with us” (v. 14). The birth and growth of the baby present a time line to the nations: “Before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good” is commonly calculated in terms of childhood development as two years. Before two years, the threat of Syria and Israel will dissolve (v. 16). That’s the good news. The bad news is that with the disappearance of these small kings whom Ahaz so much fears, Yahweh will “bring on you” bad, bad days.

Is it any wonder that we should be looking for signs to guide us on our spiritual journey? That's the way we're wired. And especially at Advent!

What signs are you looking for? Is it a sign to confirm a sense of new calling in your life? Perhaps it’s a sign that comes from a doctor visit or a trusted loved one saying it’s time to change your unhealthy habits or you will die. Or is it simply a word of hope? A feeling of peace? An experience of joy? The power of love? A bright star shining in the east? The Christ child lying in an animal feeding trough?

The sign of the Christ child, the sign of Emmanuel, changes everything. Everything changes when “God is with us”.

The power of the Immanuel sign calls us to live faithfully in God’s promise to always be with us. The Emmanuel sign calls us to have the courage of faith to test that promise when we are challenged by the enemy.

The challenge of the Immanuel sign is stated by the prophet to King Ahaz in v. 9: “If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all”. Stand firm in your faith as we cry out to God, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the son of God appear…come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight…bind all peoples in one heart and mind; bid envy, strife and discord cease; fill the whole world with heaven’s peace. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, God is with us, shall come to thee.”[1]

Get ready! Everything changes when “God is with us”! Amen.

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[1] O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, The Presbyterian Hymnal #9. Latin c. 12^th century, adaptation by Thomas Helmore, 1854.

A Study of Isaiah: A Total Reclamation

Isaiah 35:1-10

Last week’s scripture reading from Isaiah 11 left us with a vision of the natural order transformed; a vision in which natural enemies of the animal kingdom and human beings live together in peace and harmony. Today’s lesson complements that one, but now it is about humanity and the land, especially the wilderness, the Judean desert. God promises to reclaim and transform all of creation and make all things new by the coming of God into our lives.

When the new immigrants to the modern state of Israel began showing up in droves in the late 1940s, they didn't find a promised land flowing with milk and honey, as their ancient Israelite ancestors had discovered in the former land of Canaan some 3,000 years before.

What they found instead was a land full of encroaching sand dunes along a once-fertile coast, malarial swamps and limestone hills bare of rich topsoil that had been swept into the Mediterranean Sea by erosion, turning the regularly blue sea brown as far as the eye could see.

The settlers immediately set out to begin reclaiming the land. During the tenth anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, an international convention brought 485 farmers from 37 countries to see what had been accomplished. Here's how Scientific American described what they saw in 1960:

"They found a nation of two million people, whose numbers had doubled in the decade, principally by immigration. Yet Israel was already an exporter of agricultural produce and had nearly achieved the goal of agricultural self-sufficiency, with an export/import balance in foodstuffs. It had more than doubled its cultivated land, to a million acres. It had drained 44,000 acres of marshland and extended irrigation to 325,000 acres; it had increased many-fold the supply of underground water from wells and was far along on the work of diverting and utilizing the scant surface waters. On vast stretches of uncultivable land it had established new range-cover to support a growing livestock industry and planted 37 million trees in new forests and shelter belts. All this had been accomplished under a national plan that enlisted the devotion of the citizens and the best understanding and technique provided by modern agricultural science."[1]

In the years since, Israel has become the world's expert in making the desert bloom. In the Negev Desert in southern Israel, for example, agricultural specialists have learned how to use brackish underground water to irrigate crops that are genetically altered to grow in a saltwater environment. Israel has exported its technology and expertise to places like sub-Saharan Africa, where famine is being pushed back in some areas because desert sand is being turned into farmland.

The coming of the Messiah will profoundly transform a troubled creation; one that is in pitiful condition, desperately yearning for rescue and incapable of saving itself from itself. If you have ever traveled to Israel, then you know how dry and arid the climate is, especially the further inland you go. The wilderness, that is the desert, is a wound of creation where all life suffers. But rain is promised, for God is coming, and the whole of the discouraged wilderness will blossom and flourish, restored to full function (v.2). God’s power and passion work together to make utter newness possible; it is the transformation and renewal of creation wrought by the coming of God into the world. “He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” (35:4). There will be rushing streams traveling along cracked, dry land; springs well up in the midst of wilderness desolation. God’s intention and purpose is to save and restore. God will make reparations and give good gifts as well as defeat the powers of death. God comes to do good work and eliminate any threats.

God has come in the person of Jesus Christ to reclaim us as his own; for we like sheep have gone astray, we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6). It’s an extreme makeover for our lives guaranteed to transform and reclaim us. He addresses those with “weak hands” and “feeble knees” (v. 3) as well as those with “fearful hearts” (v.4). It includes all those whose lives are overwhelmed by fear, timidity, vulnerability, lack of courage, lack of capacity to live a full life: essentially anything that prevents you from living effectively and joyously. Nothing that is skewed and distorted will remain as is: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dumb sing (vs. 5-6a; cf. Luke 7:22)! People are given back their lives. Humanity returns to its original state.

God is in the middle of this tremendous reclamation project through the work and person of Jesus Christ; a project designed for the reclamation of the whole world; a reclamation project that was initiated in Israel but would soon be shared everywhere; a reclamation project that not just restores the land, but the people, too. God will provide a road in the desert, a way home for all those who have been far away and separated from God.

In his life, death and resurrection, Jesus lived out God's project and taught his disciples to do the same. He called the project the kingdom of God and proclaimed it as the already-and-not-yet completion of the restoration of God's people and God's good creation. And, he promised to return and complete that work, ushering in a new creation where all of God's people will be at home.

Advent reminds us again and again of the promises that only Jesus can fulfill. The season also invites us to think about how we can participate in God's total reclamation project for his creation. Jesus gathered the disciples around himself and taught them to do the very same things that he had done, training them to be workers for God's kingdom. We know that the kingdom isn't all the way here yet and won't be until Jesus returns, but in the meantime we are called to make the world around us look more and more like his kingdom so that when it comes it won't be such a culture shock!

If we take that mission seriously, we can begin to see some of the ways we can take on God's project every day:

- We engage in projects that care for the basic needs of people through good stewardship of the earth's resources. We can help those in desert areas find clean drinking water and discover ways to promote sustainable food production.

- We look for ways to be involved in the lives of those who are physically limited and often pushed to the margins of society. Jesus spent time with those people and validated them, and so should we.

- We create a "Holy Way" for people to come to know Christ and his kingdom through ministries of evangelism and hospitality (Isaiah 35:8).

- We determine every day to help people attain "joy and gladness" and make "sorrow and sighing" flee away (v. 10). [2]

If you've ever been to Israel you know that some of that desert-grown produce is some of the tastiest in the world. It takes skill and persistence in order to grow great fruit in places where it shouldn't be possible to do it.

It takes skill and persistence to grow God's kingdom in the world as well. The text is a healing alternative to the church’s despair and our modern sense that no real newness is possible. Isaiah invites us out of our comfort zones to affirm that God does what the world thinks is not possible. Advent is getting ready for that impossibility which will permit us to dance and sing and march and thank and drink and eat --- and live! May we join him in making this promise a reality!

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[1] "50 years ago: The reclamation of a man-made desert." Scientific American Website, February 23, 2010. scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=reclamation-of-man-made-desert. Retrieved December 10, 2013.

[2] Bob Kaylor, Senior Writer and Senior Minister of the Park City United Methodist Church in Park City, Utah.

A Study of Isaiah: Keep Your Fork!

Isaiah 11:1-10

There is a sensation on You Tube called Kid President. Kid President is a young, African-American boy who makes videos about what a Kid President would be and do. In one particular video, Kid President asks, “What if YOU were Kid President for a day?” inviting viewers to tell what they’d change about the world. Their responses are priceless. They include:

· “Make college more affordable and create more scholarships.”

· “Reduce, reuse and recycle.”

· “Update the public on the first day of every month to show them how I've been improving this country.”

· “Stop bullying because it's bad and its being mean to people.”

· “We would treat everyone with respect.”

· “Make peace between countries.”

· “There would be a law that says you'd have to dance instead of walk.”

· “We'd make the world more awesome.”

What would YOU do if you were Kid President for a day? What would you say? All these responses were optimistic, forward-thinking, looking toward building a brighter future. The responses were filled with hope of a better day to come; believing that the best was yet to come.

Today's Scripture lesson is a prophecy of Isaiah, composed at a time in which the dynasty of King David, the son of Jesse, has been reduced in a matter of speaking to a mere stump; they were a shadow of their former selves. The people of Israel are cowering in fear of their Assyrian neighbors, who are as cruel to God's people as the Egyptians had been many generations earlier. In the middle of this frightening and violent time, God promises to launch a new political initiative, a peace so pervasive and widespread, it bypasses the genetic hard-wiring of nature itself, allowing the wolf and lamb to share their personal space without either temptation or intimidation.

But how will it appear?

This new regime comes from a simple shoot - from a bud, a sprout, a young leaf. Not from a warrior king or a conquering army, but from a fragile sprout. We know this shoot to be Jesus the Christ, the one born as a vulnerable baby in a manger in Bethlehem, the city of David. He doesn't come to us at Bethlehem as a Messiah with unlimited military might, even though legions of angels are at his disposal. Rather than scorching the earth with firepower, these angels are instead singing on Christmas night, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward all." The initial creation of the kingdom of God introduces the Prince of Peace, one who has "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2). He comes as a righteous king who is willing to protect the poor and the marginalized, especially widows and orphans. It was believed throughout the Ancient Near East that once the ideal king inaugurates a righteous society, peace and harmony will spread throughout creation. It’s the Peaceable Kingdom that comes and takes hold. This is what the prophet is foretelling.

In fact there is a famous painting entitled, “The Peaceable Kingdom” painted by an American painter Edward Hicks. Hicks painted over a hundred versions of his now-famous Peaceable Kingdom between 1820 and his death. The theme of this painting was undoubtedly attractive to Hicks and fellow Quakers not only for its appealing imagery but also for its message of peace: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." The Rev. Dr. David G. Buttrick makes this astute observation about Edward Hicks' primitive painting. He asks whether anyone has noticed that there's something left out. In the Holy City, there will be no more churches -- no temples, no spires, no pulpits, no preachers, no squeaky chairs in the fellowship hall, no solemn Bible study circles. The dream gets better all the time, doesn't it? Think of it, the church is the only organization on earth that cheerfully announces its own demise; we know we haven't got forever. Of course, we forget the fact. We go on building thick-walled churches as if we had forever. But we don't; we are not permanent. In God's great plan we're headed for a phaseout. For who will need churches when God is near or at hand, or need preachers when everyone will know the Lord!

A new day is dawning.

This new day disrupts all that is old and destructive. To receive this new possibility requires a decision on our part that is both daring and costly. It is daring because we will not know how to act in a genuine, just community. It is costly because we benefit from and are comfortable with old, deathly patterns of life. We are invited and warned that we must make concrete decisions to reorder our life in ways appropriate to God’s new intention and vision for the world.

God’s life-giving, future-creating, world-forming, despair-ending power can create something new out of nothing. This “spirit of God” is inscrutable, irresistible, beyond human control, management, or predictability. The poem announces that the spirit has come to blow over the stump. The spirit signals new possibilities, while the stump closes out all futures. The situation is urgent. Some believe the hopeless stump can defeat the spirit of God.

The poet, however, knows otherwise! The spirit will prevail! That little “shoot” will be invaded and occupied by the spirit, and therefore massively transformed. The authorizing of the new king by God’s powerful spirit will make the king an advocate of good, fair, and equitable judgment. The spirit that will blow over the new governance is marked by wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, and knowledge and fear of God (v. 2).

The primary responsibilities of king in the ancient world are making decisions about social power and social goods. The new king, powered by the spirit, will not be open to bribes (“what his eyes see”) or convinced by propaganda (“what his ears hear”) (v. 3). He will, rather, be the kind of judge who will attend to the needs of the “meek” and the “poor,” that is, the socially powerless, not the socially powerful.

In our own time, we are learning, a little at a time, that human acts of injustice wreak havoc with the created order (climate change and environmental destruction). Conversely, acts of human justice permit creation to function in a healthy, fruitful way. The newness of human justice (vv. 4–5) leads to the newness of creation (vv 6-9); restored and reconciled, one in which the brutality is tamed and the death is overcome. The oldest of enemies—wolf-lamb, leopard-kid, calf-lion, cow-bear, lion-ox—are made friends. We thought it not possible, but the spirit makes it so. A child is mentioned three times here: “a little child” (v. 6), “the nursing child,” “the weaned child” (v. 8). The little child may be the new shoot of Jesse who will preside over new creation. More broadly, “the little child” bespeaks the birth of a new innocence in which trust, gentleness, and friendship are possible and appropriate. The world will be ordered, so that the fragile and vulnerable can have their say and live their lives, too.

Millions of people around the world and in our country are mourning the loss of Nelson Mandela. In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela tells of a place he came to during his 27 years in prison. He wrote, “It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred; he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.”[1] Upon his release from prison, Mandela did the impossible. Instead of getting even or taking revenge against his enemy, he worked toward reconciliation and peace between the blacks and whites of South Africa. He loved his enemy and showed what living a life of grace was all about. Such efforts ended the system of apartheid, of legalized separation of the races, and brought about peace, justice and reconciliation to a war-torn country. A new day had dawned.

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things in order, she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.
"There's one more thing," she said excitedly.
"What's that?" came the Pastor's reply.
"This is very important," the young woman continued. "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.
"That surprises you, doesn't it?" the young woman asked.
"Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the Pastor.
The young woman explained. "In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming...like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie; something wonderful, and with substance!"

So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder "What's with the fork?" Then I want you to tell them: "Keep your fork ..the best is yet to come."

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, "What's with the fork?" And over and over he smiled.

During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.

May we continue to keep our fork, trusting in the hope and peace of a better day; believing that the best is yet to come.






[1] Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994), 544.

A Study of Isaiah: What The Future Holds

Isaiah 2:1-5

Welcome to Advent! After traveling these many Sundays in our ordinary time, we are suddenly interrupted by a time of great expectancy, patient waiting and diligent preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus and his promise he will come again. The term Advent is taken from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming". It is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the second coming of Christ. In this season, we find ourselves on the brink of something utterly new, something long yearned for but beyond our capacity to act. We are invited to wake up; to wake up from our dulled endurance and domesticated expectations, as one commentator puts it, to consider our life fresh and new in light of the new things God is about to do. Are you ready for the ride?

So during this Advent season as we prepare for birth of the Christ child and his coming again, we will look at what will be but is not yet: the hope for justice, peace, and well-being for all people. We will examine several texts from the prophet Isaiah: our text today from Isaiah 2. Next Sunday we will move on to Isaiah 11:1-10, followed by Isaiah 35 vv. 1-10, then back to Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9 on Christmas Eve. One of the first things you should know about Isaiah if you don’t know already is that there is more than one Isaiah. Scholars agree that the book of Isaiah as it appears in the Bible is actually a composite work; a product of different prophets who ministered at different periods in the history of Israel. The first section commonly referred to as First Isaiah, consists of chapters 1-39, written in the 8th century BC in Jerusalem before the Babylonian exile. Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55, was written in the 6th century BC during the Babylonian exile and the possibly Third Isaiah, chapters 56-66, was written around 539 BC in Judah post-Babylonian exile. Our focus for the next several weeks will be on First Isaiah.

First Isaiah was attached to the Judean royal court, and his long career of approximately 44 years spanned the kingships of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, all kings of the southern kingdom of Judah, of which Jerusalem was the capital city. Writing amid the threat of war and exile, Isaiah reveals God’s ultimate vision of peace and hope not only for the people of Judah and Jerusalem but for all nations. Isaiah’s vision of the new heaven and the new earth is the fullest version of this idea in the OT and will significantly influence later writings on the subject, especially in the New Testament.

Isaiah’s vision of what the end times will be sees people from all nations of the earth streaming toward Jerusalem and its center point — the mountain of God, Mount Moriah, the place where the temple stood, the Temple Mount (2:1-2). While not the highest point in the city, the temple mount represented God’s dwelling place among the people and, in Isaiah’s vision, would be the focal point of worship for all the peoples of the earth, not just the nation of Judah. God’s vision of the future thus breaks down the barriers that separate people from one another and offers an opportunity for all people to learn God’s ways and “walk in his paths” (2:3).

In a world that’s becoming increasingly polarized, Isaiah’s vision tells us that, in the end, he’s invited all people into his dwelling place. Not all may choose to come, but those who seek God’s instruction and want to be in his presence are welcome, regardless of the differences they may have had before. God will be the one who judges between the nations and “shall arbitrate for many peoples” (2:4) so that all receive and offer justice and peace. Isaiah invites us to imagine a world where boundaries have been erased and all become one in God’s presence.

The apostle Paul would later tell his readers that, in Christ, this was already beginning to happen — that in Christ the distinctions between male and female, Jew and Greek, slave and free (we might add Democrat and Republican, high church and low church, emerging and traditional) no longer matter. What matters is that in the end “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” that Christ is Lord (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10). In the meantime, we should be looking to connect with others who may be different from us, recognizing that we all have a place in God’s kingdom.

Isaiah’s vision also offers what the life of people who are redeemed by God’s grace will look like. God’s judgment would be corrective, and God’s grace would be redemptive and restorative. The Babylonian exile wouldn’t destroy Judah and Jerusalem forever but would bring them to a place of understanding and repentance, enabling them to see God’s ultimate salvation — not only for themselves but for all the nations (2:2). God would forgive their sin and offer them a chance at a new life of peace and prosperity in his coming kingdom. In the same way, God reminds us that our failures aren’t final when we repent and ask his forgiveness for our waywardness. God’s grace and forgiveness are all the more redemptive because we remember where we’d be if God actually gave us what we deserved. Judgment and grace act together to keep us focused on God’s future.

Our concern today must be with that future. The words “and yet” are two of professor and political activist Elie Wiesel’s favorite words, for they are “applicable to every situation, be it happy or bleak. The sun is rising? And yet it will set. A night of anguish? And yet it, too, will pass. The important thing is to shun resignation, to refuse to wallow in sterile fatalism.” Isaiah’s vision is an act of imagination that looks beyond present dismay through the eyes of God, to see what will be that is not yet. This is the function of promise in the life of faith and therefore of Advent. In Advent faith sees what will be that is not yet. This vision comes in two parts. On the one hand, the promise is very sure, as sure as the intent of God. On the other hand, the poet does not know when. It is the nature of faithful promise to trust the one who promises and therefore not to need a timetable. The promise proceeds by making a sharp contrast between what is and what will be; Jerusalem in Isaiah’s time was not the powerful, metropolitan city it once was. Jerusalem lived, flourished and suffered at the will of the great world powers. It is against their current shabbiness that First Isaiah imagines a majestic future for the city. A future based on the return of God’s presence in the Temple, one that would draw the peoples of all nations together to accept Israel’s Torah or “teachings” as their bond for well-being.

When the nations of the world accept the Torah, God will be established as the judge for all disputes big and small. God has equal authority with the disputing parties to help settle their differences. To use war as a mode of national policy is no longer needed. Thus, we hear a description of an alternative economy and the dismantling of weapons of war. As the instruments of death are dismantled, there is the production of instruments of life. Human energies and public resources are reassigned; the economy is transformed; the earth is transformed, from a battleground to fertile garden. It is what will be but is not yet.

What God is trying to say to us is we must look beyond our present situation, to see what God intends for us; to see outside our circumstances to the purpose and good God has yet to fulfill. Like the blind man with mud covering his eyes who had to go the pool of Siloam and wash, we, too, stand in the circumstances of what will be but is not yet. The blind man continues to be blind after his encounter with Jesus. He needs to find the Pool of Siloam while he is still blind and trust in Jesus that his promises are true. It's not easy to understand about God’s promises are true of what will be but is not yet. We live in a world that can be so cold; a world that steals the souls of man. A world where cloudy skies rain down on all our dreams where we wrestle with fear and doubt; a world where wars are raging, lives are scattered, innocence is lost and hopes are shattered. A world where the old are forgotten and the children are forsaken.[1]

Sometimes it's hard, but we must believe that there's a better place. There’s a better place where our God waits. There is a better place where every tear will be wiped away. The darkness will be gone and the weak shall be strong; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (2:4) Hold on to your faith because there will come a day.[2]

How long will it take for that day to come? How long will sin blind our hearts? How long? Not long. Because truth crushed to earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because one day soon every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord of all. How long? Not long. Because Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; he is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. Glory Alleluia! Glory Alleluia! Glory Alleluia! His truth is marching on.[3] He is coming! He is coming! Amen.

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[1] “There Will Come a Day” performed by Faith Hill, written by Aimee Mayo, William Luther, Diane Eve Warren.  Copyright Silverkiss Music, Universal Music – Careers, Realsongs.  www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/faithhill/therewillcomeaday

[2] Ibid.

[3] Battle Hymn of the Republic, written by Julia Ward Howe, 1861.

King of the Hill, Top of the Heap

Colossians 1:11-20

There is nothing that says you are the king of the hill or the top of the heap then when you are literally made the center of the world. So says a medieval map, the Ebstorf mappamundi, drawn in 13th century Saxony. This map depicts the Christian worldview at the time within the body of a crucified Christ. Christ literally covers this map and holds it all together. Christ’s head is in the East, at the top of the map, the direction of Paradise. His hands mark the northern and southern limits of the known world, and his feet are at Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. In the middle of the map we see Jerusalem, the spiritual center of Christendom, located at Christ’s navel. Europe is in the bottom left quadrant of the map, Africa in the bottom right, and Asia dominates the upper half. It is both a sacred object glorifying the Body of Christ and also a tourist map of the strange and wonderful places that formed the background of medieval storytelling. The original map was 12 feet by 12 feet, painted on 30 goatskins sewn together. This mappa mundi was found in a convent in the city of Ebstrof in northern Germany in 1843. Sadly, the original was destroyed 70 years ago, during the World War II bombing of Hanover in 1943. All that survives is a set of black-and-white photographs and several color facsimiles.

The original mappa mundi is lost, but not our belief in the Son of God who holds all things together. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes that Christ "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created" (Colossians 1:15-16).

For Paul, Jesus is not simply a Galilean peasant who grew up to be a religious leader. No, he is "the image of the invisible God," the human face of our divine Lord. He is "the firstborn of all creation," the one who joins with God as being created "at the beginning of [God's] work" (Proverbs 8:22).

He is the One in whom "all things in heaven and on earth were created." We hear this echoed in the gospel of John, in which we are told that all things came into being through the Word of God, "and without him not one thing came into being" (John 1:3).

Image of God. Firstborn of God. Creative power of God. The Christ who is being described to the Colossians is not small and insignificant, meek and mild. The Christ being described is the Christ who can spread his arms across a mappa mundi of the Christian world and hold together the north and the south. "All things have been created through him and for him," says Paul. "He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). Nothing in all creation is beyond the powerful grasp of the eternal Son of God.

The amazing thing about this ancient set of verses is that it puts us in touch with one of the oldest sets of beliefs about Jesus. The letter to the Colossians is telling us that Christ "himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (v. 17). Not just some things. All things. In fact, to emphasize this point, Paul repeats the word "all" eight times in these ten verses of Scripture. In Christ, all things hold together.

This unifying power of Jesus was one of the oldest of Christian beliefs, and it has become one of the most controversial of claims today. In his New York Times bestseller called Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, pastor and author Rob Bell says that the insistence of the first Christians was that when you saw Jesus -- a first-century Jewish rabbi -- you were seeing God in skin and bones, flesh and blood. "Jesus, for these first Christians, was the ultimate exposing of what God has been up to all along."

No big surprise there. But what was God's mission, as revealed in Jesus Christ? "Unity," says Rob Bell. "Unity. To all things. God is putting the world back together, and God is doing this through Jesus."

Perhaps you’ve heard by now about our brothers and sisters in Christ at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas. They have our presbytery tied up in a civil legal case that’s hurting all involved more than it is helping. The Highland Park congregation held a congregational meeting to vote whether or not to stay in the PCUSA and they voted to leave us. Is this what it means to be the body of Christ in the world? Such behavior pulls people apart. It drives wedges between the various parts of the body of Christ. Have they forgotten that, “He (Jesus) himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body and we are the parts.” The eye can’t say to the arm, “I don’t need you.” Or the arm to head, “I don’t need you”. We cannot afford to continue to allow our differences to control us and pull us apart as God’s people in a time when maintaining the unity of the body of Christ is so badly needed.

The discovery of a medieval map of the world featuring Jesus at the center of the map invites us to put Jesus at the center of our "map," that is, our world. This leads us to wonder what would Jesus be replacing? A web search of what priorities people value reveals that men have different priorities than women, husbands than wives, teenagers than adults and so on. For example, one site said that the top ten priorities in a man's life are: sex, sleeping, food, work, sports, activities (playing video games, cars, friends, motorcycles, etc), making money, family, new electronic devices, wife/girlfriend.

This list certainly does not describe the priorities of many, perhaps not even most, men, but certainly some. But that's not the point. The focus here is: Just what, or Who, has our attention? To whom are we listening? Whom do we try to please? Whom do we serve? Who is at the center of our "map"? May it be Christ!

May we allow Christ to be the center of our “map”, the center of our world so we may be a part of the awesome work Christ is doing in the world; so he might come to have first place in each of our lives. Amen.

The Steward's Reward

Isaiah 65:17-25

Today’s lesson is about God’s joyful promise to us. Our verses for today proclaim God’s promise is to obedient believers. Obedient believers obey God’s will by practicing authentic stewardship; caring for God’s gifts knowing they are on loan to us to build up the Kingdom of God.

Our scripture text takes us back to around the year 475 B.C. The women and men who lived in Jerusalem at this time were not to be envied. Two generations had passed since their ancestors, with much rejoicing, had left from Babylon to repopulate the city of David. Those days were exciting as well as frightening. Their prophets had spoken of how Yahweh would lead the people home from exile as all creation rejoiced (Isa. 40:1–11) and had spun visions of a glorious new Temple set within a sparkling city (Ezek. 40—48). These images must have danced in the heads of the returning Jews, yet other Jews chose to remain within the safe precincts of Babylon. Their unwillingness to return served as a reminder of the sorry state of the ruined city to which a remnant were returning. There was still a lot of distance between the vision and the reality!

That was a half a century ago, yet the brick-and-mortar Jerusalem was little changed. There was a restored Temple, but it was shabby when compared with the great edifice of Solomon, which had stood on the same spot before the Babylonian invasion. There were as yet no city walls, and tons of rubble remained where houses and markets had once been packed with crowds of people. You can hardly blame those who returned, who once had a new hope of new Jerusalem, for doubting the grand promises of yesteryear.

In this despairing situation, however, certain individuals began to raise their heads. Certain individuals began to sing the old songs of joy and hope, but in a new key. They came to realize that God’s ancient promises had been true all along, but in a far grander way than anyone had realized. Women and men had thought about the new Jerusalem in only tangible terms—the city of bricks and stones their ancestors had inhabited since the days of David. They began to understand that this was not quite right. The new Jerusalem that Yahweh had in mind far transcended the new Jerusalem of the merchants and traders and families who called the city of David home. Yes, that Jerusalem had been restored—somewhat, at least. But God’s eye was on another Jerusalem also—a Jerusalem not of bricks and mortar, but of the human heart.

Our reward as stewards, as is the reward for the returning, obedient exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem, is the opportunity to have our hearts, minds and spirits re-created in order to live in God’s new creation caring for God’s gifts to us. As God is about to “create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight,” the people’s response in Isaiah 65 is pure joy. When all is said and done, in the end we as God’s stewards will experience joy ourselves and thus become stewards of joy. This joy from God is meant to be a blessing to us. We hear about it throughout the New Testament. Matthew writes of the wise men, “When they saw that the star had stopped (over Jesus’ birthplace), they were overwhelmed with joy” (Matthew 2:10). Joy is a gift from on high. Jesus tells his disciples, “I have said these things to you so that MY joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). The writer of 1 John confesses, “We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:4). Even Paul expresses his gift of joy by writing: “Yes, you are our glory and joy!” (1 Thessalonians 2:20).

As often as we appeal to joy, we also know full well the reality that little in church life reflects the joy we proclaim. Those things Isaiah states as passing away – death, plunder, vain labor – still remain today. It seems perhaps as if we have misplaced our joy.

Isaiah reminds us today of God’s promise to obedient stewards and believers. We must be willing to recognize this in order to develop into a faithful steward. We must be willing to recognize that God owns everything because God is the creator of everything. To live in that knowledge is to live a life of joy. Where is the joy in your life?

On February 12, 1996, The Los Angeles Times reported that David Suna and John Tu sold 80 percent of their company, Kingston Technology Corp., the world’s largest manufacturer of computer memory products at the time, for $1.5 billion dollars. The two men decided to share their windfall with their employees. The average bonus payment their workers received was just over $75,000.00. Mr. Suna summarized their decision: “To share our success with everybody is the most joy we can have.” For Mr. Suna and Mr. Tu, their success was more than material in nature. The joy they experienced in sharing their success was their beautiful reward.

John 9 includes a story about Jesus healing a man born blind. After the man is healed, everyone the man encounters cross-examines him. Here is a man who has been healed of a life-long disability, yet all anybody wants to know is the gory details: When? How? Why? John’s account draws out not a single ounce of joy from those who should be jumping with delight at this man’s good fortune. Nobody – no neighbors, parents or religious authorities – offer any congratulations or joy for what has happened in the life of this man who once was blind but now he sees. Is this the story of the church today? Do we rejoice whenever we can? Have we lost our way?

In his book entitled Clowning in Rome, Henri Nouwen compares the Christian life with the clowns Nouwen encountered in Rome. Nouwen compares the clowns to the way that Christians are to be in the world. The clowns did not take themselves too seriously, yet they offered themselves to all those who watched as reminders of life’s joy and hilarity. Perhaps all of us can be stewards of the joy God offers us as reminders of life’s gift and blessedness.

We must all remember that, according to author C.S. Lewis, “Joy bursts in on our lives when we go about doing the good at hand and not trying to manipulate things and times to achieve joy.” How often do we try to manufacture scenarios in order to experience joy? How often do we simply allow the joy of the Lord to burst into our lives and into the life of this church?

This reminds me of a story of a pastor who was leading worship at a leper colony on the island of Tobago while on a short-term mission trip to this island. A certain woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around. The pastor recounted, “It was the most hideous face I had ever seen. The woman’s nose and ears were entirely gone. She lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, ‘Can we sing “Count Your Many Blessings”?’” Overcome with emotion, the pastor left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, “I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again.” “Yes I will,” the pastor replied, “but I’ll never sing it the same way ever again.” Joy had captured his heart.

God calls us to be stewards of His resources and by doing so we express the joy of our salvation found in Jesus Christ. We receive joy from becoming a part of God’s kingdom on earth. We receive joy when we build houses and inhabit them; plant vineyards and eat their fruit. We receive joy when we live and rejoice forever in what God is creating; a new Jerusalem where the sound of weeping and cries of distress will be no more. The Jerusalem of the new creation will be like a new Eden, its inhabitants blessed with long life, abundant food, and a joyful closeness in their relationship with God. Only through this communion between the divine and humanity can the community of the faithful offer to the world its unique gifts of joy, hope, and love that will not be broken until that day when, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw with the ox; but the serpent – its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.” (Isaiah 65:25) Amen.

The Ultimate Tax Return

Luke 19:1-10

The late Johnny Cash is known internationally as the greatest country singer of all time. In fact, more than forty years after his debut on Sun Records (with Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis), Johnny Cash was still used by a number of companies as a “spokesman” for their products. In the early days, however, Cash found that his rise to stardom brought more than fame and fortune. It brought problems. While he was rising in the charts, with gold records being added to his collection, his personal life was falling apart. Show business pressures soon drove him to take pep pills, and soon he was addicted. His first arrest came in 1965, when he was caught holding more than one thousand pills. He went from a healthy 200 pounds to 140 pounds. The side effects of the drugs he took caused him to have a severe car accident in which he sustained several broken bones and a concussion. Then on May 9, 1971, Johnny Cash sat in a pew of a small church in his hometown. The pastor finished his sermon and appealed to the congregation to come to the Lord and make things right with God. Johnny Cash stood up and walked up to the wooden alter that day and surrendered.

For Johnny Cash, seeking his own fame and fortune did not fulfill him. He wasn’t happy. In fact, all of it made him difficult to be around when the drugs took over. He ostracized himself from his friends and even his family. He forfeited his soul for the sake of fame and fortune. Something was missing. Something wasn’t right. He was looking for something more.

I.

Zacchaeus found himself in similar straits. As an ambitious young man, he went to the big city to gain his fortune and happiness. As a tax collector for the Roman Empire, Zacchaeus did indeed gain great fame and fortune. He worked hard every day to collect the most taxes he could. He was the first one in the office in the morning and the last one to leave at night. He was obsessed with getting rich and was drunk with the power that comes from working as a tax collector.

This is where we find Jesus. He is making his final trip to Jerusalem from the Galilee. He traveled the main trading route that ran parallel to the Jordan River to Jericho and beyond. Jericho stood at a major crossroads. It commanded both the route to Jerusalem and the crossing of the Jordan River which gave access to the lands east of the Jordan. And because of their location, Jericho was a very wealthy, powerful and important town. It had a great palm forest and world-famous balsam groves which perfumed the air for miles around. It had many gardens of roses which were known far and wide. It was called "The City of Palms".

Because of the great wealth the town generated, it was also heavily taxed by the Roman Empire. The Romans outsourced the tax collecting to local entrepreneurs like Zacchaeus. Each tax collector had a certain amount to collect for Rome and anything above and beyond that was for the tax collector. Tax collectors could collect as much as they wanted, as long as Rome received their part. Because of this tax collectors became very wealthy.

Now Zaccheaus had worked his way up and had gained favor with Rome. So much so that he became the chief tax collector for that region. Not only did he get rich from collecting taxes, but he also had tax collectors working for him, from whom he possibly received a cut of what they collected. Zaccheaus finds himself at the top of the heap, king of the hill, the big kahuna, Big Poppi. He is on top of the world. He has all this great wealth at his disposal. Imagine the parties he could have, the fine clothes he wore and the rich food he ate, a condo in Jerusalem, vacations to the Mediterranean coast, a bigger house and nicer cars. He's the top dog in one of the wealthiest cities around and loving' it. Or is he?

There is a problem here.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, in Jericho liked Zacchaeus.

He had reached the top of his profession, and he was the most hated man in Jericho. He gained the whole world, but had forfeited his soul. His graft and greed had filled his pockets at the expense of his own countrymen. With Zacchaeus in charge, he and his fellow tax collectors became wealthier while the poor and the outcast had next to nothing. The people of his district watched as Zacchaeus’ house became more lavishly decorated, as more slaves ran about at his bidding, as he purchased whatever his heart desired. Everyone knew that this was their money and they he had no right to it; everyone knew that there was nothing they could do about it.

That is until Jesus came through the town. He saw straight through the layers of graft and greed, of callous contempt for his fellow citizens. And after that everything changed.

II.

Zacchaeus was wealthy, but he was not happy. He was lonely. He had chosen the path in life that isolated him from others. Wealth and power can do that to us. He’s alone and he’s hurting and is looking for answers. More and more we as a society experience isolation and aloneness to the point that it takes a toll on our spiritual well-being. Mother Teresa once said, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer. It’s the feeling of being uncared for, unwanted, of being deserted and alone”. We were created not to be self-reliant creatures, but rather to be in relationship with a community. So many people in our lives and in our town are searching for something more, something true, and something that provides answers and poses challenging questions. Zacchaeus heard about this Jesus character who was friends with tax collectors and sinners. Perhaps, Zacchaeus wondered, he would have a moment to have a word with him to get answers. He was searching after the love of God.

III.

Zacchaeus is determined to see Jesus and would let nothing stop him. How do we stand up for what we believe in the face of so many who mock it and have contempt for Christ? What are we looking for when we come to worship on Sunday mornings? For Zacchaeus to walk through crowds of people is a courageous thing to do. How many residents would take the opportunity to kick, nudge, or push the little tax collector. It was certainly an opportunity to get back at Zacchaeus and the crowd took great delight in it. He’d be black and blue by the time he rounded the corner from his neighborhood. And on this day, because he was short, he couldn’t see what was happening and the crowd took great pleasure in making sure of that. So he ran ahead and climbed a tree so he could see as if he were a little child. Things were not easy for Zacchaeus but the little man had the courage of desperation. Zacchaeus had gone up a tree seeking Jesus, but it was Jesus who came seeking Zacchaeus. "The Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost," says Jesus, and showing up in the house of this tiny tax collector demonstrated to everyone in the crowd that those who are lost, hurting, and alone were the ones Jesus was and is seeking. The salvation that Jesus offers changes Zacchaeus' life through and through, and, as a result, it benefits those around him.

IV.

Zacchaeus took steps to show all the community that he was a changed man. When Jesus announced that he would stay that day at his house, and when he discovered that he had found a new and wonderful friend, Zacchaeus immediately made his decision. His restitution went far beyond what was legally necessary. He decided to give half of his goods to the poor; the other half he did not intend to keep to himself but used to make restitution for the frauds of which he was guilty. The law of Moses states that if a robbery is a deliberate act of destruction, then a four-fold restitution was necessary (Exodus 22:1). If it was an ordinary robbery and the stolen good were not restorable, double the value had to be paid (Exodus 22:4,7). If a voluntary confession was made and voluntary restitution offered, the value of the original goods had to be paid, plus one-fifth (Leviticus 6:5; Numbers 5:7). Zacchaeus was determined to do far more than the law demanded. He showed by his deeds that he was a changed man. Actions speak louder than words. A testimony is worth nothing unless it is backed up by actions that demonstrate ones sincerity. It is not merely the changing of ones words Jesus is demanding, but a changed life; a life transformed from the inside out by the grace and love of God in Christ. And when Zacchaeus is saved, the whole community benefits.

V.

Jesus came looking for people who were lost. Indeed, we've all been “up a tree” ever since that day in the garden when our spiritual ancestors went looking for something other than God (Genesis 3). Jesus has come to invite us down, to offer us a new life, to live lives that reflect the kind of healing, wholeness and salvation his kingdom brings. And once we have encountered Jesus, once we have accepted his invitation, then we are to invite others to lives that are firmly grounded in his grace.

Who do you know who's lost right now? Maybe it's that single mom in your neighborhood who is trying to hold down a job and care for a couple of kids. Maybe it's that elderly person who sits alone in McDonald’s and whom no one notices. Perhaps it's that guy at work who struggles with an addiction, or the kid who has been abandoned by his parents. Chances are there are lots of people around you every day who are lost and need to be found.

We often feel that what we have to offer is insignificant, that it doesn’t add up to much, and that it doesn’t make an impact. So we hoard what we have, we hold tight, we clutch to our possessions, our family, our friends and our assets with an incredible grip. But it’s simply not true. We have all received the ultimate tax refund in the saving grace of Jesus Christ. We have the Good News to share with others and we are to use are resources to make this a reality.

Can we be the church that follows Jesus' example, and invites them to dinner, to a conversation, to a new way of life? Oh, it's still a major social faux pas to invite ourselves to dinner at their house. Only Jesus can get away with that! But every one of us has the opportunity to invest ourselves in someone else's life, offering them the kind of grace and love that Jesus has offered us. And when we invest ourselves in others, that investment often translates to fruit that benefits not just us as an individual and as a church, but it benefits the whole community. When the lost and lonely begin to come through our doors, we begin to see the kingdom of God at hand.

Looking Back

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

When I was in college, we had a huge gym for basketball and other indoor sports with permanent rows of seats on each side of the court. For a small Division III college, Memorial Hall could easily seat 4000 people. Each side had three sets of stairs that ran from the floor to the very top row. Just for fun, we would run up and down these sets of stairs. A full set consisted of running up and down all six staircases. It was a great workout!

I hadn’t really thought about this in a long time, until I came across a certain web site dedicated to the sport of (wait for it) professional stair climbing! Holy Cow! Professional stair climbing: are you kidding me? Most of us can surmise what this sport is all about just by the name itself. Unbeknownst to me, there are stair climbing races held throughout the world in some of the tallest buildings in the world. It is described as one of the most grueling sports out there. According to the web site, “stair climbing burns about twice as many calories than any other sport or activity. Because it is a grueling sport, stair climbing requires less time to do the same intensity of a workout. For example, if you run 30 minutes per day, the same workout intensity could be achieved with 15 minutes of stair climbing.” There was a race recently in Jacksonville, Florida where runners participated in a groundbreaking 24-hour endurance event where the climbers repeatedly scrambled up the Bank of America Tower's 42 floors. By the time they were finished, they had logged 123,480 steps and 5,880 floors -- the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest two and a half times. And you thought walking up a few flights of stairs on occasion was tough!

Point is, running vertical can be tough, but it's also a great way for all of us to achieve good health, a sense of satisfaction and a stronger desire to keep moving. It can help us keep going in the race of life.

You get the sense from reading Paul's letter to Timothy that he's climbed too many steps to count as he traveled all over the Roman world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul had certainly had his own share of injuries from a myriad of beatings and imprisonments. But now, as he stands at the pinnacle of his life as an apostle, Paul looks back and realizes that the race was all worth it.

"I have fought the good fight,” Paul writes. “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

One way to take stock of our lives is to look back to our past; to the path that led us to where we are today. We can see where we’ve failed and where we’ve succeeded. We can see the joyful times and the sad times. We can see where, when and how God has been involved in our lives. This act of reflection enables us to measure what kind of stewards we are with God’s blessings.

For Paul, the race was always about focusing on Christ. In Philippians 3:14 he puts it like this: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call in Jesus Christ." To the Colossian Christians he writes, "So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1, emphasis added). Paul spent most of his life traveling long distances, but he was always looking toward a higher calling and a prize worth racing toward step by step. Looking back, he has a clear view of every step he and God have traveled together. Indeed, it was the focus on the prize awaiting him at the top of those steps that kept him going, along with the constant steps of the Lord beside him, giving him "strength," rescuing him from "the lion's mouth," and saving him for "[God's] heavenly kingdom" (vv. 17-18).

As Paul looks back, he offers encouragement to the one who must look ahead: his young protégé Timothy. The text implies that Timothy will be the one to pick up the baton Paul is passing to him and continue the long journey of following Christ. He encourages Timothy to "continue in what you have learned and firmly believed" (3:14). There will be opposition from those who want to take the shortcut or the easy way (4:1-4) but, Paul says, "As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully" (4:5).

In other words, he commands Timothy and each of us today to practice what we preach as we move forward in our journey with Christ. We must demonstrate through our actions to all whom we encounter what we confess with our lips. In order for each of us to have any kind of credibility as a Christian, we must make certain our own house is in order. Do we say one thing and do another? Do we promise the sun, moon and the stars but it always falls through? Do we praise and worship God in Christ on Sundays but forget about him the rest of the week? Do we commit our finances to God and don’t follow through? The most influential stewardship witness we can make is to be good stewards ourselves. Paul is encouraging Timothy to be a good steward of his leadership role; to use it wisely, to be a positive example of what it means to be a steward of God in Christ. We must say what we mean and mean what we say. We must live our faith every day of the week, not just on Sundays. We must meet our financial commitments to our church so trust can be forged and confidence can be shaped in our relationship with God and one another.

In other words, it’s all about finishing well. The point of every race is to finish. Some will finish faster and stronger than others, but everyone who undertakes a race does so to do their best. We know that stair climbing is becoming more popular because it's something anyone can do. In fact, tower running is never about racing directly against your opponent. All tower runners compete against themselves and the clock, doing their best to finish the race in their own best time. Following Jesus is about doing the best we can, too. It's not about comparing ourselves to others, but encouraging each other to follow the road that has been laid out before us; to do the best we can in running the race to achieve the prize -- the eternal calling of God in Christ.

This is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Believe it and live it. Amen.

Outplay, Outlast, Outdo

Luke 18:1-8

Persistence pays off.  If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.  Hall of Fame hockey player Wayne Gretzky, the all-time leading scorer in NHL history, shared the comment of an early coach who was frustrated with Wayne’s lack of scoring.  The coach told him, “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you never take.”  Former Prime Minister of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher is quoted saying, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”  That’s persistence.

I read an interview with a venture capitalist who said that he rarely sees a poorly presented business plan, less than five percent of the proposals his firm reviews ever receive investment capital.  Of those five percent, less than one in ten meet their projections.  This can be discouraging because it requires hard work, extra hours, research, follow-up – and still only one venture out of two hundred ever pays off.  But, he says, when the one deal pays off, the rewards are enough to make all of the effort worth it.  Persistence truly does literally pay off.

Jesus’ discussion of the end times and coming judgment in our scripture today naturally raises the issue of trials and perseverance.  He tells a parable about a widow who through perseverance receives justice from and uncaring, unjust judge. 

We must keep in mind that in Jesus’ day, in first century Palestine, widows were the most vulnerable and helpless members of society.  They could not inherit their husband’s property.  There was no Social Security or Medicare, Medicaid or food stamps. They were left to fend for themselves whatever money, food and shelter they could find.   She had no clout in the community.  She didn’t know the mayor of the city or any of the county commissioners who might pull strings for her to get her case on the docket with the judge.  All she could do was to go back time and time again and hound the judge.  She showed up regularly at the gates of the city where the judge held court, and pursued him on the streets and in the shops.  She would not let him rest until he granted her justice.  At first, the judge is indifferent to the widow’s request, but then he is compelled to reconsider because she refuses to take “no” for an answer. He finally relents, saying to himself, “Though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”  Her persistence pays off.

But persistence, especially when it comes to prayer, is not easy.  When Jesus tells his disciples the parable about a widow’s persistence, he notes that the story is “about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.”  The widow serves as a reminder in tough time and moments of despair to keep on praying.  Prayer is not a last resort when all else fails, when all the best laid plans and programs and power plays have failed; prayer is the first and primary task of Christians.  The widow’s prayerful pursuit of justice became an expression of deep faith, the kind that Jesus seeks. 

So what about the ruthless judge?

One of the primary tasks of a judge in Jesus’ day was to see that the vulnerable people in society were protected, especially the widow, the orphan and the alien.  They administered justice to those who need it most, to those in the community who were completely dependent on him.  Although this judge knows his role as God’s representative, he has a well-deserved and perhaps a well-earned reputation of being corrupt.  He had no conscience and was impervious to shame.  The only way he could be reached was by the peskiness of the widow, who refused to give him a moment’s peace until he granted her justice.

When you stop and think for a moment, if this woman’s persistence resulted in justice granted from an evil judge, how much more will our persistent prayers be answered by our loving, heavenly Father.  Even the ruthless judge does the unexpected thing in response to a powerless widow and grants justice.  God can be counted on to defend and uphold the oppressed.  God will not turn a deaf ear to our prayers.

Sometimes it is not as easy as it looks.  In her book The Writing Life, Annie Dilliard tells of a skywriter named Rahm.  She watched from the ground as he made soaring loops and barrel rolls and filled the sky with word-shaped clouds; he seemed the most carefree person in the world from her perspective.  But when she later rode with him, she saw that in the air Rahm was not carefree at all, he was all business.  He was totally focused as he concentrated intently on clicking switches and wrestling with the joy stick as thrilled the crowds below.  Persistence in prayer is more difficult than it looks and Jesus knows how challenging it can be.

Remember what he prayed for in the Garden of Gethsemane?  “In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.” (Luke 22:44)  As stewards of God’s blessings, it is important to recognize that Jesus’ intent in this parable about the persistent widow was all about diligence.  Diligence or persistence is a requisite faith trait for each of God’s stewards.  It is easy to give emotionally, even impulsively, to causes that tug at our heartstrings.  But like prayer, sustained, consistent systematic giving is a difficult path to follow and stick with, but one that we are all called to travel.

Prayer is hard work, although many people see prayer as a quick fix to solve our daily problems.  How many of us have prayed at one time in our lives, “O Lord, let me find a parking space near the door of my office building.”  or “O God, protect my investment portfolio from the instability of the stock market.”  Or we may even try to bargin with God and pray, “O God, if you help me just this one time to get home safely, I promise I will go to church every Sunday for the rest of my life.”  What Jesus is offering us through this parable about prayer is that prayer is a way of life.  It’s not a one-time, shot in the dark for a good laugh kind of experience.  Prayer is a way of life and so is faithful stewardship.

Jesus also knows how tempting it is to quit and give up, whether it’s managing our God-given resources or our prayer life.  Back to Jesus in Gethsemane, we hear Jesus’s temptation revealed, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matt. 26:39).  When life gets tough and difficult, we are prone to succumb to the evil forces all around us, whether it’s about praying or giving.  When we are ready give in and quit, offering heartfelt prayers to God takes the focus off of ourselves and our circumstances and shifts to squarely on God where it belongs.  For in the real world we recognize that persistence is the key to an effective life. 

Whether we are learning to play the piano or entering school as an adult, persistence is the key.  Whether we are overcoming an addiction or digging out of financial debt, persistence is the key.  When I think about what persistence can do, I think about people like Thomas Edison.  Did you know that Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”  Persistence is the key.

When I think about what persistence can do, I think about the life of Abraham Lincoln.  Here’s a guy who was born into poverty and faced defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business, suffered a nervous breakdown and was bedridden for six months. He could have quit many times, but he didn’t quit and became one of the greatest presidents our nation has ever known.  Persistence is the key.

When I think about what persistence can do, I think about Walt Disney, who was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He even went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.  Persistence is the key.

When I consider what persistence can do, the name of the Scottish Presbyterian Reformer John Knox comes to mind.  John Knox constantly carried the burden for his native land on his heart.  Night after night he prayed on the wooden floor of his hideout refuge from Queen Mary.  When his wife pleaded with him to get some sleep, he answered, “How can I sleep when my land is not saved?”  Payne reports that often Knox would pray all night in agonizing tones, “Lord, give me Scotland or I die!” God shook Scotland; God gave him Scotland.  Persistence is the key.

For Jesus the point of this parable is not that persistent prayer promises any of us what we desire.  Rather, it teaches us that prayer offsets cowardly resignation.  Prayer is a continual and persistent hurling of petitions against long periods of silence.  The life of prayer is asking, seeking, knocking and waiting, with trust sometimes fainting and sometimes growing angry.  I’ve heard it said that until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, with your knuckles bleeding, you do not really know what prayer is.

Jesus commands us to pray always and not to lose heart.  Believe, trust and have confidence that our God hears our prayers and determines what the answer will be.  Persistent prayer pays off.  What more could we want?

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

If I had been one of the exiles torn from my beloved Jerusalem and forced to live in Babylon, I am not sure I would have neither welcomed nor appreciated Jeremiah’s letter. I probably would have still been waking up at night with nightmares fed by memories of the Babylonian invasion and the long forced march to a strange and foreign land. Those unforgettable images would haunt me night and day: the city’s walls under siege, the screams of neighbors as soldiers killed them, my eyes filling with tears as I and others were marched out of our devastated, fallen city, with a heavy emptiness expanding in my heart as I hiked on mile after mile toward a place I detested with all my being.

These exiles are no doubt despondent about losing everything they held dear: their temple, their homes, their way of life. They are now aliens in a strange land, with strange customs, laws and traditions. Their hope is gone. They have lost faith. They want to go back to the way things were, the way things used to be. This is the audience Jeremiah is addressing in our text this morning. And what is Jeremiah’s message? The past is past. You are to live in the here and now. You are called to be faithful where God plants you.

Today’s lesson consists of a portion of the first of two letters sent by the prophet Jeremiah from Jerusalem to the Israelite exiles in Babylon in about the year 594 B.C. Jeremiah’s letter is addressed to “the remaining elders ... the priests, the prophets, and all the people” in exile in Babylon (v. 1). Jeremiah’s letter is intended to counter the unrealistic and potentially harmful counsel of the false prophets, and in order to have any kind of impact on the people, Jeremiah will need to influence the people’s recognized leaders. Jeremiah’s advice to the exiles is for them to undertake all those mundane projects and activities — building houses, planting gardens, arranging marriages (among themselves, not with their captors, v. 6) — that constitute a settled existence.

In other words, God tells the Israelites to stay put and get comfy. Do not resist the captivity you find yourself in for it will not end soon. Don’t be afraid to make a new home in a strange, new land.

Jeremiah’s offer is intended to be encouragement for a people who have lost everything they knew; to not just survive where they are but to go and thrive right where they are.

But we all know people who are never quite satisfied with their situation in life. At presbytery meetings I can hear laypeople say that if they just had a different pastor, their church would thrive. It is ironic that in pastor’s groups some pastors imply that if they only had a better church, then their gifts and graces would shine. In both cases overactive imaginations avoid a truthful assessment of reality. All of us play the “if only” game: “If only I had gone to a different school…”, “If only I made more money…”, “If only I had chosen a different career path…” This game allows us to avoid dealing directly with our reality.

What should be our attitude toward our present circumstances? In the 1995 film Mr. Holland’s Opus, Glenn Holland, a musician and composer, takes a teaching job to pay the rent while, in his 'spare time', he can strive to achieve his true goal - composing one memorable piece of music to leave his mark on the world. Teaching was to be a side bar in his life with his primary focus on writing his symphony. He approaches his teaching job as temporary; as a way to make ends meet and support his family while pursuing his true interest. As Mr. Holland discovers 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans' and the joy of sharing his contagious passion for music with his students becomes his new definition of success through his 30 year teaching career. His students are his symphony; his mark on the world. Mr. Holland learns to live in the here and now and bloom where he was planted. In the same way, God calls us as stewards and as his disciples to bloom where we are planted.

I remember when I first arrived here in Kilgore I was having lunch with Ronnie Spradlin when I noticed a bracelet on his wrist. On the bracelet were the letters K.I.I.K. I asked him what the letters represented. The letters stand for Keep it in Kilgore. Ronnie explained that it is a push to encourage the citizens of Kilgore to shop locally and do business with local businesses and stores. By doing so, we are investing in our local community and its economy. It builds up our tax base, draws in industry, helps create better schools and a stronger community. In a day and age of fast food chains, corporate franchises and big box stores, such a message as this is radical and ground-breaking. When we K.I.I.K. it, we show our desire as a community to bloom where we are planted.

Jeremiah’s message was a radically practical and innovative. He told the Jews that rather than resisting, resenting or rejecting their circumstances. They are to embrace it. There is a great story I heard told once about two farmers who badly needed rain, but only one of them prepared his fields to receive it. The other did nothing but wallow in self-pity and complain about the lack of rain. Which one of these farmers strived to bloom where he was planted? God says through Jeremiah that we are where we are supposed to be for a reason that’s part of a larger, divine plan, so we need to put the past behind us, trust in the living God, put down roots, become productive and be good stewards of the gifts and resources we have been blessed with.

We will miss much of the past, but whining and pining about it will not make it reappear. Instead, Jeremiah challenges the Jews in captivity, and us, to embrace the place where God has us and find ways to be faithful in our living, so that others might ask about our inspiration, our resolve and our trust, and thereby be drawn into a relationship with God.

True Riches

1 Timothy 6:6-19

It is amazing the amount of attention the Bible gives to material possessions. It warns about the delusions that wealth brings; how we humans make idols of our dollars. The Bible also directs our attention over and over again to the poor and the destitute. It asks brazen questions about how we earn and spend our income. So brash is the Bible about material possessions that any preacher who tries to reflect on this will be accused of “talking too much about money.”

I have heard this complaint before.

I was in the grocery store one day back in Philadelphia where I encountered a woman from my former congregation who I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was awkward for both of us because she and her kids had suddenly stopped attending church and I never learned exactly why.

After we exchanged pleasantries, I said, “We miss you. Is there anything that our church can do for you?”

The woman replied, “Yes, there is. You could stop asking for money all the time.”

I didn't know what to say. She had caught me by surprise and I didn’t have time to organize a reply. But I kept thinking about it. She was right: the church is always asking for money, but how would the church fund all the ministries and missions it is engaged in?

Some people do grow weary of being asked to give, but perhaps they would prefer the sort of church where the members aren’t asked for money. Instead, they take turns doing everything in the church, including cleaning the building, providing the music, preparing the bulletin, doing the preaching and teaching, and spending a year each in the mission field (because they have no money to give to missions). In winter, they dress warmly for worship because they don’t run the furnace and in summer, well, the bulletin would serve the dual purpose of bulletin and personal cooling device. They offer no child care, no children’s church and no youth ministry.

Quite frankly, a church that needs no money wouldn’t be much of a church at all. I’m glad to be part of a church that always needs money. It means we’re doing something, going somewhere, making a difference. What kind of church would the church be if it wasn’t always reaching out to help others in need? And the local church is, I would argue, the best place to open our pocketbooks.

We should recognize, however, that this isn’t the whole response. The argument that the church should be asking for money because of all the good stuff it does has merit, but any worthy charity can make that case. The church isn’t simply a charity with a religious sheen on it. Christians aren’t simply do-gooders who also pray. We should give not only to do good for others but also because it’s necessary for our own spiritual well-being. It’s part of the way we love God with all our heart, soul and mind.

The apostle Paul gets at this in the first letter to Timothy, when he addresses the negative impact money can have on our souls. Those who want to be rich and desire to be wealthy bring misery upon themselves and others. One of the early church fathers, John Chrysostom, describes the love of money as, “a plague that so seizes all, some more, some less, but all in a degree. Like a fire catching a wood, that desolates and destroys all around, this passion has laid waste the world…desires are thorns, and as when one touches thorns, in goes his hand, and gets him wounds, so he that falls into these lusts will be wounded by them, and pierce his soul with griefs…But since the love of money is a matter that is willed, not fated, its cure lies in a rebirth of willing, for did not our own choice cause it, and will not the same choice avail to extinguish it?”

We deceive ourselves when we yearn for carefree security that we try to imagine riches and wealth will bring us. This promise is constantly held out to us throughout our culture – winning the lottery, cutting the big business deal, the get rich Ponzi schemes, and the countless ploys for wealth constantly being fed to us through the media. St. Augustine described the irony of one who “by lusting after something more, is made less” (On the Trinity, XII.9, NPNF 1 III, 160). We are caught in the snare like a fish caught in a net.

Our folly for the desire for wealth creates a host of idols that keep us away from God, that essentially take God’s proper place in our lives. The temptation we face each day is tremendous. Perhaps the supreme temptation that any of us as believers face is trying to fit in. We crave acceptance and approval no matter what our age may be. Paul shares with Timothy that food and clothing are necessary. But the world grabs hold and yanks us into a fierce competition to look like one another. In striving for more and better, we become more and more like those around us who have “gained the whole world and forfeited their life” (Mark 8:36). Whether it’s wearing the right brand and style of clothing at school or buying a new truck with all the bells and whistles, when we allow ourselves to be preoccupied with these temptations, we hurt our relationships with others, ourselves and God. As the character Lou Mannheim said in the film Wall Street, “The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don’t want to do.” Because money and possessions become idols we lust after; desires we long for.

In verse eleven, the text shift gears. In verses 11-16, Paul presents a positive challenge to Timothy in contrast to his many warnings on wealth. Paul reminds him that Christians are empowered to resist greed because of their grounding in their faith. The challenge Paul lays out represents the life of faithfulness as a dynamic and vigorous engagement in the pursuit of what is good. We don’t do this on our own or by our own initiative. We cannot secure our own personal salvation. That has been done for us in Jesus Christ since God loved us first. Any pursuit of the good, of what is holy, of what is righteous, follows God’s initial action.

Beginning in verse seventeen, Paul shifts back to addressing those within and outside the Christian community, sharing ways the wealthy need to live; how the wealthy are to use their wealth to further the Kingdom of God so they will not be corrupted by their wealth. We, the wealthy ones of the world, are to be rich in good deeds, for that is where our true riches will be.

True riches are found in serving God, drawing closer to God through our merciful service to the poor. Paul tells them not to allow their wealth to make them “haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.” Rather, Paul says, they should set their hope “on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” And lest they miss the point, he spells it out: “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”

Notice he doesn’t say they should be generous and ready to share because that’s good for others, though no doubt Paul would agree with that. No, he says they should be “rich in good works, generous, and ready to share” because by so doing they “take hold of the life that really is life.” They should be generous because it’s one of the things that makes them, the givers, spiritually healthy.

At a church in a very dangerous neighborhood in New York City, a Puerto Rican woman, after getting baptized, came to the pastor with an urgent request. She didn’t speak a word of English, but through her interpreter she said, “I want to do something for God, please.”

“I don’t know what you can do,” the pastor responded.

“Please, let me do something,” she said in Spanish.

“Okay, I’ll put you on a bus. Ride a different bus every week and just love the kids.”

So every week she rode a different bus – there were fifty of them – and loved the children. She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap, and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: “I love you. Jesus loves you.”

The boy didn’t speak. He came to Sunday School every week with his sister and sat on the woman’s lap, but he never made a sound. Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday school and all the way home, “I love and Jesus loves you.”

One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, “I – I love you, too.” Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug.

That was 2:30pm Saturday afternoon. At 6:30pm that night, the boy was found dead in a garbage bag under a fire escape. His mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash.

“I love you and Jesus loves you.” Those were some of the last words he heard in his short life – from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English. She brought the grace and love of God to a young boy who never asked for new toys, but probably would have liked one; new clothes, but probably could have used some; or anything else in the world, except love, the one thing money can’t buy.

Money will buy a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation – a passport to everywhere but heaven.

To be truly rich is to be ready to distribute and share what we have with the needy. I remind myself of this, along with our Session and Deacons, through a prayer by St. Ignatius Loyola that says, “Teach us, Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward other than that of knowing we do your will.”

What treasure do you have to share with others? We know the best things in life are free: loving family and friends, the satisfaction we get from helping others, and the blessing of good health. As stewards we trust that God provides and because of that trust we are free to create a legacy that cannot be consumed, destroyed or used up, but one that will grow, flourish and last for generations to come.

Generosity is a spiritual discipline, which means it’s one practice that helps us avoid developing a superficial faith. In fact, when we present the offering plates to God after the collection has been taken, the gist of our offertory prayer should be, “No matter what else we say or do here this morning, O Lord, this tells you what we really think of you.”

So yes, the church is always asking for money. But it’s also always asking you to pray, read the Bible, confess your sins, do good deeds and attend worship. All those things are good for our souls and help us go deeper into our faith. Thus, one blessing of attending church is that it provides us with an opportunity to give generously, for our own good.