5-12-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

GO ASK YOUR MOTHER

  Mother’s Day holds a very prominent place in the hearts of most Americans.  The Hallmark card company estimates that 150 million Mother’s Day cards will be sent this year, compared to about 95 million Father’s Day cards.  Americans spend an average of $105.00 on Mother’s Day gifts, while they spend an average of only $90.00 on Father’s Day gifts.  The phone rings more often on Mother’s Day than it does on Father’s Day too, although the statistics do indicate that more collect calls are made on Father’s Day.  I’m not exactly sure what that implies. 

  What do these statistics reveal?  It seems to me as though they reveal that Mom is more popular than Dad.  And why is that?  Perhaps it’s due in part because – when our children come to us with difficult questions – we fathers tend to reply, “Go ask your mother.”  Mom tends to be the primary go-to source for the questions that plague men’s minds…literally!  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

  The scene in the passage I read from the gospel according to John is the Last Supper.  Judas Iscariot has just arisen to go betray the Lord.  Jesus Christ, the consummate teacher – fully aware of the fate about to befall him – continues to instruct his disciples.  And what is the first thing he talks about, in spite of what’s about to transpire?  Jesus speaks of love.  “A new commandment I give you,” he says, “that you love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”

  Love is a familiar theme for Jesus.  Perhaps that’s because love seems to be so difficult for us.  For example, how do we love the unlovable?  How do we love someone we’d really rather strangle?  How do we love the people who make themselves so incredibly difficult to love?  Listen to the following two stories, and try to decide for yourselves which one better expresses love for the unlovable.

  Apartment dwellers in New Zealand now have a brand new weapon to use against noisy neighbors.  It seems a local man has recorded a compact disc that consists of 64 minutes of lawn mower noise.  Thus, if your neighbors have a party that keeps you up really late, what you do is get up at six in the morning, put the lawn mowing C.D. in the stereo, crank up the volume, and go out for breakfast.  The new compact disc offers listeners general lawn mowing sounds, along with special features like the emptying of the grass catcher and the blades clipping stones.

  Believe it or not, this has become a huge seller in New Zealand.  The lawn mower C.D. is actually the creator’s second.  His first was entitled, “Urban Assault,” which consists of a car alarm, a revving motorcycle, and a crying baby.  For some, love consists of what we might call “tough love,” and tough love seems to be all about getting even.  Is this the love of which Jesus speaks?

  Here’s another story that depicts loving the unlovable.  The author is unknown.  I found it in an old newsletter in my files entitled, From the Ranch.  The author writes:

A friend of mine went to the County Clerk’s office to renew her driver’s license.  The clerk said to her, “Do you have a job, or are you just a…”  My friend – fuming – replied, “Of course I have a job!  I’m a mother!”  The clerk replied, “We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation.  ‘Housewife’ pretty much covers it.”

I found myself in the very same situation one day when I was at our town hall.  The clerk was obviously a career woman: poised, efficient, and possessing an impressive-sounding title like, “Town Registrar” or “Official Interrogator.”  She asked me that very same question: “And what is your occupation?”

The words just popped out of my mouth: “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”  The clerk paused; pen frozen in mid-air.  I repeated the title slowly: “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”  The clerk wrote my pompous title in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.  Then she asked, with a measure of suspicion in her voice, “Might I ask just what you do in your field?”

I replied, “I have a continuing program of research in the laboratory and in the field.  I’m working for my Master’s – the whole family – and already have four credits…all daughters.  Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, and I often work 14 hours a day.  But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers, and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money.”

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice.  She completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.  As I later drove into our driveway, buoyed by my glamorous new title, I was greeted by my lab assistants – ages thirteen, seven and three.  Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model – six months old – in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. 

I felt triumphant.  I had scored a beat on bureaucracy.  And I had gone down in the records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to society than “just another…”

  Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: that they love one another.  He gives the very same commandment to us.  Yet we know all-too-well how difficult some people make themselves to love.  So, how do we love them?  Do we love them by getting even?  Or do we love them by instilling a gentle sense of humor?  You be the judge.

  Philip Gulley is the author of a book entitled, For Everything a Season.  In it, he offers an intriguing philosophy as to what love really is.  He writes:

Now I want to tell you a lie.  Hate is an emotion we can’t help.  Hate is a feeling we cannot overcome.  If we hate someone, it’s because we just can’t help ourselves.  We’re human; we have no choice but to hate.  That is a lie.  Unfortunately, it is a lie that many people believe.  They believe this lie in order to excuse their hatred.  After all, if we can’t help but hate – if hate is a feeling we simply cannot help – then hatred is never our fault, is it?

But we can help it.  Hatred is a choice.  We choose to hate, just as we choose to love.  Oh, I know, there are people out there who believe love isn’t a choice…that love is primarily an emotion, a feeling, a stirring in the loins.  Those are the same people who love the idea of love, but seem to be unable to stay in it.  Love is a matter of the will – something we decide to do.  Love, my friends, is a choice. 

  Now that’s a fine definition for those who need a definition of love.  You know, I often say in wedding sermons myself, “Love is so much more than a fickle emotion.  Love...is a state of being.”  And that it is.  Yet perhaps love defies description.  Perhaps love is something that is better witnessed than discussed.

  The following e-mail came to me last January.  I saved it for Mother’s Day because it talks about mothers.  But I think it also reveals true love.  Love may be a choice – love may be a state of being – but love is also something much, much more.  Listen to the following story, and I think you’ll see what I mean.

This is for all the mothers who froze their backsides off on metal bleachers at football games on Friday nights, instead of watching from the car, so that when their kids ask, “Did you see me?” they can say, “Of course I saw you.  I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up sputum laced with Oscar Meyer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, “It’s okay, honey.  Mommy’s here.”

This is for all the mothers of the earthquake in China who fled in the night and can’t find their children.  This is for all the mothers who gave birth to babies they’ll never see.  And mothers who took those babies in and made homes for them.

This is for all the mothers of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and the mother of the murderer.  This is for the mothers of the survivors – and the mothers who sat in front of their T.V.s in horror – hugging their child who just came home from school safely.  This is for all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.  And for all the mothers who don’t.

What makes a good mother anyway?  Is it patience?  Compassion?  The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?  Or is it heart?  Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school for the very first time?  The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread – from bed to crib – at 2:00 a.m. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?  The need to flee from wherever you are to hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, or a baby dying?

So this is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies.  And for all the mothers who wanted to, but just couldn’t.  This is for reading Goodnight, Moon twice a night for a year.  And then reading it again, “Just one more time.”

This is for all the mothers who mess up.  Who yell at their kids in the grocery store, and swat them in frustration, and stomp their feet like a tired two-year-old who wants ice cream before dinner.  This is for all the mothers who taught their daughters to tie their shoelaces before they started school.  And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.  For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green.  Who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won’t stop.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair, and milk stains on their blouses, and diapers in their purses.  This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook dinner, and their daughters to sink a jump shot.  This is for all the mothers whose heads automatically turn when a little voice calls, “Mom?” in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home.

This is for all the mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children’s graves.  This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, and who can’t find the words to reach them.  This is for all the mothers who sent their sons to school with stomach aches, assuring them they’d be just FINE once they got there, only to get a call from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up.  RIGHT AWAY.

This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation.  And mature mothers learning how to let go.  For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.  Single mothers and married mothers.  Mothers with money, mothers without.  This is for you all.  Without precious mothers, children would flounder.  Thank you for being the best mom you could be.  Love is what catches us when we fall.  And we all fall.

  Jesus commanded us to love one another.  We feel the need to define that love.  We say, “Love is a choice.”  We say, “Love is a state of being.”  Yet love is really so much more.  Love is what God is.  Love is what we become when someone means more to us than we mean to ourselves.  If that’s not clear enough…go ask your mother.  Amen.

 

05-05-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

CHRISTIANITY 101: PLAYING TO AN AUDIENCE OF ONE

  There’s a fascinating story that’s been making the rounds on the Internet for quite a while now.   I honestly don’t know if the story is real or if it’s a myth.  In any case, it reveals what I believe to be a profound and insightful truth.  The story is called, “Life Is Like a Cup of Coffee,” and it goes like this. 

  Once upon a time, a group of college alumni – all upwardly mobile and well-established in their careers – got together for a reunion at the home of a beloved, old professor.  The conversation soon turned into a litany of complaints about how stressed out they all were at work, and how their lives had not turned out at all the way they’d envisioned them in college.  The professor then quietly offered his guests some coffee, and the distinguished alumni graciously accepted.

  The professor went out to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee.  When he returned, he brought the coffee…and a varied assortment of cups.  Some of the cups were made of porcelain, some of the cups were made of glass, some of the cups were made of crystal, and some of the cups were made of plastic.  Some of the cups were very exquisite-looking, and some of the cups were really quite plain.  After each of the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor began to speak.

  He said, “I want you all to look around.  Notice that all of the more expensive, nicer-looking cups have been taken…while the plainer, cheaper-looking cups have been left on the tray.  While I suppose it’s only natural for you to want the best for yourselves, that just might be the source of all your problems and your stress.  Rest assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the taste of the coffee.  In most cases, it’s just a bit fancier and more expensive.

  “What all of you really wanted was the coffee, not the cup…but you consciously went for the best of the cups.  Then you even began eyeing each other’s cups in an effort to see who had the best one.  Now consider this.  Life is like a cup of coffee.  The jobs, the money, the position in society…those are merely the cups.  They’re just tools to hold and contain life, and the kind of cup we have does not define – or change – the quality of the life we live.  In fact, sometimes – by concentrating only on the cup – we actually fail to enjoy the coffee.  Savor the coffee, not the cup.  The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything.  The happiest people simply make the best of everything.  Live simply, love generously, speak kindly, and care deeply …because life is a lot like a cup of coffee.”  Perhaps the question for us now is this: How do we get there?  How do we get to the point where we seek not to have the best of everything, but instead seek to make the best of everything?  Keep that thought in mind as we move on. 

  A number of weeks ago, we noted how – each and every day – we make decisions that move us closer to a life of virtue, or closer to a life of ruin.  Though the past may be written in stone, the future is more like wet cement…pliable, soft, and ready to be shaped by the decisions we make.  Our goal is to develop a more godly life narrative.  Our goal is to discover what it means to live a life of virtue.  Our goal is to seek to discern where our deep happiness may truly be found.

  We suggested that our deepest happiness is found in the kingdom of God.  We noted that the kingdom of God is not just something we hope to attain in the future.  As Jesus clearly stated, the kingdom of God is also a present reality.  Thus, the kingdom of God of which we speak is not a place.  The kingdom of God of which we speak is an interactive relationship with God…an interactive relationship that brings us peace of heart and mind.

  We noted how many of us will not even consider a more godly life narrative – many of us will not even begin to seek out an interactive relationship with God – until we encounter a drought in life…until we come up against something that we cannot control.  So what we did was consider a social problem that appears to be beyond human resolution: bullying in the classroom.  We postulated that while we may not be able to resolve all the social ills that surround us, God is able to resolve the un-resolvable.  What we need to do is recognize that fact, and be open to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  That, my friends, is where our own transformation truly begins.

  Then we got a bit more specific as to how we build an interactive relationship with God.  The first thing we aimed at was conquering anger.  We contrasted anger with Sabbath rest.  Anger is a result of our need to control; Sabbath teaches us to trust in God’s strength.  Anger is a result of the narrative that we need to be perfect; Sabbath reminds us that we are forgiven.  Anger is a result of our fear that God has somehow lost sight of us; Sabbath ensures us that God is watching over us at all times.

 Our subsequent goal was to overcome lust; certainly not an easy thing to do.  In the words of one Harry Emerson Fosdick: “Only by a stronger passion can evil passions be expelled,” and, “a soul unoccupied by positive devotion is sure to be occupied by spiritual demons.”  What we sought was what we called the expulsive power of a new affection.  We determined that if our new affection was, in fact, the kingdom of God…then lust would simply lose its grip on us.  Thus, perhaps the solution to our problem here…is prayer.

  The next thing we aimed at overcoming was lying.  What we determined was that as we move further and further into kingdom living – as our hearts become more and more transformed into the likeness and image of Christ – what we need to do is use our tongues to bless and encourage, rather than to harm or humiliate.  We need to learn to build up, rather than tear down.  In short, we use our tongues to speak words that bestow the grace of God upon others.  While that means on the one hand, that we do not lie…it also means that our general tone is one of hope, compassion and kindness.

  Then we talked about learning to live above the law of reciprocity.  The law of reciprocity, of course, is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  Yet as Gandhi once put it, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth makes the whole world blind and toothless.”  Jesus proposed a better way.  He taught us to trust that God, in spite of all odds, can somehow turn that which is evil into good.  Why do we believe this?  Because our new kingdom narrative assures us that the kingdom of God is never in trouble.

  Today our goal is learning to seek not to have the best of everything, but rather, to make the best of everything.  In short, we need to learn how to conquer a little sin we call vainglory.  Vainglory is called the eighth deadly sin in the Eastern Orthodox Church.  In the Western Church we have but seven deadly sins, which are usually described as: wrath, greed, pride, sloth, envy, lust and gluttony.  The Eastern Orthodox Church adds an eighth deadly sin called vainglory.  Vainglory is defined as the need to have others think well of us.  It’s rooted in a basic insecurity that is driven by our need for affirmation from others.  Thus, vainglory can be very subtle…and can often be very hard to detect.

  We saw the perfect illustration of vainglory in the story I told at the beginning of this sermon.  The distinguished alumni visiting their old professor scrambled to acquire the nicest coffee cups, then eyed the cups of their peers in an effort to see who was sipping from the fanciest one.  Such behavior is rooted in the desire to receive the approval of others.  Such behavior is rooted in the need to have more than what someone else has.  And what does that get us?  Nothing but a lot of pain and heartache and stress.  That’s because when we are under the spell of vainglory, we are only as good as our next acquisition.  When we live for the approval of others, we are only as good as our last performance.  

  Outside the kingdom of God, we have no way to determine our intrinsic value other than by what others say about us, or by what we think others think about us.  For example, if we do something incredibly well – and no one even notices – it drives us crazy because we have failed to attain the things we wanted most…those things being: affirmation, adulation, and praise.  We thus begin to suffer from vainglory.  We thus begin to aim our goals in life toward pleasing others.

  Vainglory is a sin that tends to afflict the pious, as well.  For example, many years ago, my family and I were on vacation in Duluth, Minnesota.  It was a sunny Sunday morning, and we’d all gone to church.  Right after the worship service, we went to a restaurant for lunch.  My family and I were all sitting there in our Sunday best.  Others in the restaurant were sitting there in t-shirts and shorts and flip-flops.  I honestly began to feel a little bit superior.  My wife and I actually talked about it later.  She said she’d had the very same feeling.  That, my friends, is vainglory.  That’s what people outside the church are complaining about when they use the phrase, “Holier than thou.”

  John Cassian was a fourth century Christian monk who once wrote, “One who would not be taken in by the vices of the flesh can be all the more vulnerable to vainglory.”  Because they are not defeated by the more carnal sins, they might be tempted to think they are better than others, and that their spiritual lives are superior to those who fail in more obvious ways.  Vainglory is thus a sin that afflicts devout Christians in particular.  Devout Christians pray daily, worship regularly, and study their Bibles diligently.  And in the process, they often come to see themselves as being superior to those who do not.  That, my friends, is the sin of vainglory.

  I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s this sin of vainglory that is killing the Christian Church.  People who are not involved in the life of the church tend to take offense at those who are involved in the life of the church when those people come to view themselves as being somehow superior.  If you think about it, that’s a pretty harsh criticism of the Christian faith.  In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much the opposite of the image we ought to be trying to project.

  Jesus addresses the sin of vainglory in the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew.  He says, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue, so that they may be praised by others…But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret…And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogue and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others…But whenever you pray, go into your room, shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

  There’s more, but I think you get the picture.  Jesus is addressing the sin of vainglory here.  Do not do your good deeds in order to be seen by others, or to impress others.  Do your good deeds in secret, and your Father will reward you in secret.  Jesus is not speaking against devotional practices here; he is speaking against the ways in which they are being practiced.  In other words, Jesus is not so much concerned about the method…as he is concerned about the motive. 

  What is our motive?  Why do we take part in devotional activities?  I think the fourth century theologian John Chrysostom lends some insight here.  He once wrote, “Why do we pray?  We pray not to instruct God, but to prevail with God; to be made intimate with him by continuance in supplication; to be humbled…and to be reminded of our sin.”  In short, our devotional activities are aimed at attaining intimacy with God.  If they are aimed at impressing others, they are all for naught…for we come to suffer from the sin of vainglory.  Thus, in the kingdom of God, we are not playing to an audience of many.  We are playing to an audience of one; and that one…is God.

  Ladies and gentlemen, I firmly believe that if all of us could come to live our lives that way – not playing to an audience of many, but playing to an audience of one – many of the world’s problems would simply go away.  If everyone lived their lives with the primary goal of pleasing God, there would be no more pride; there would be no more envy; there would be no more violence; there would be no more crime.  Instead of needing to have the best of everything, we would thus be freed to make the best of everything.  I think that in the long run, we’d find ourselves to be a whole lot happier.  And truth be told, isn’t that what we really want?  Amen.

 

 

04-28-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

CHRISTIANITY 101: LIVING ABOVE THE LAW OF RECIPROCITY

  The Boston Marathon is an annual event that is always held on Patriot’s Day, which falls on the third Monday in April.  Begun in 1897, the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest marathon, and it attracts about half a million spectators every year.  This year, there were 26,839 people registered to run the Boston Marathon.  It’s a fabulous event that challenges the will and inspires the utmost in human endurance.

  On Monday, April 15^th, this year’s Boston Marathon began like any other.  Officials actually swept the area twice for bombs, finding nothing…so people were allowed to come and go freely.  Then at 2:49 p.m. – about two hours after the winner had finished the race, but with more than 5700 runners still on the course – two bombs detonated on Boylston Street near the finish line.  Three people were killed and 282 people were injured, some critically.  One of the people killed was a 29-year-old female restaurant manager, one was a 23-year-old female grad student, and one was an eight-year-old boy. 

  The bombs were placed in pressure cookers.  When they went off, many victims suffered lower leg injuries and shrapnel wounds.  Doctors described removing ball-bearing-type metallic beads a little larger than BBs, and small carpentry nails about an inch long.  One might be led to believe that – out of ignorance or out of malice – these bombs were intended to maim more than they were intended to kill.  And perhaps that makes what happened even worse.

  The FBI took over the investigation and soon released photos and videos of the two suspects.  They were identified – with help from the public – as a pair of Muslim brothers from Chechnya.  Shortly after the release of the photos, the suspects killed an MIT police officer, carjacked an SUV, and engaged in a shootout with police in Watertown.  The older brother was killed, while the younger brother escaped on foot.  He was eventually captured, cowering in the hull of a boat, badly wounded but still alive.

  If you’re like me, as you watched these events unfold, you became more and more incensed.  Sixty years ago, the fact that they were Russian might have invoked our ire.  Today, the fact that they are Muslim is what seems to upset us most.  Many of us have just about had it with these Muslim fanatics.  We want them stopped, and we want them stopped now!  When they hit us, we want to hit them back harder: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…what we call the law of reciprocity.  Yet as disciples of Jesus Christ, is that really the appropriate way for us to respond?  Is that really the appropriate way for us to feel?  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

  A number of weeks ago, we noted how – each and every day – we make decisions that move us closer to a life of virtue, or closer to a life of ruin.  Though the past may be written in stone, the future is more like wet cement…pliable, soft, and ready to be shaped by the decisions we make.  Our goal is to develop a more godly life narrative.  Our goal is to discover what it means to live a life of virtue.  Our goal is to seek to discern where our deep happiness may truly be found.

  We suggested that our deepest happiness is found in the kingdom of God.  We noted that the kingdom of God is not just something we hope to attain the future.  As Jesus clearly stated, the kingdom of God is also a present reality.  Thus, the kingdom of God of which we speak is not a place.  The kingdom of God of which we speak is an interactive relationship with God…an interactive relationship that brings us peace of heart and mind.

  We noted how many of us will not even consider a more godly life narrative – many of us will not even begin to seek out an interactive relationship with God – until we encounter a drought in life…until we come up against something that we cannot control.  So what we did was consider a social problem that appears to be beyond human resolution: bullying in the classroom.  We postulated that while we may not be able to resolve all the social ills that surround us, God is able to resolve the un-resolvable.  What we need to do is recognize that fact, and be open to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  That, my friends, is where our own transformation truly begins.

 Then we got a bit more specific on how we build an interactive relationship with God.  The first thing we aimed at was conquering anger.  We contrasted anger with Sabbath rest.  Anger is a result of our need to control; Sabbath teaches us to trust in God’s strength.  Anger is a result of the narrative that we need to be perfect; Sabbath teaches us that we are forgiven.  Anger is a result of our fear that God has lost sight of us; Sabbath ensures us that God is watching over us at all times. 

  Our subsequent goal was to overcome lust; certainly not an easy thing to do.  In the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, “Only by a stronger passion can evil passions be expelled,” and, “a soul unoccupied by positive devotion is sure to be occupied by spiritual demons.”  What we sought was what we called the expulsive power of a new affection.  We determined that if our new affection was, in fact, the kingdom of God…then lust would simply lose its grip on us.          Thus, perhaps the solution to our problem here…is prayer.

  Then next thing we aimed at was overcoming lying.  What we determined was that as we move further into kingdom living – as our hearts become more and more transformed into the likeness and image of Christ – what we need to do is use our tongues to bless and encourage, rather than to harm or humiliate.  We need to learn to build up, rather than tear down.  In short, we use our tongues to speak words that bestow the grace of God upon others.  While that means, on the one hand, that we do not lie…it also means that our general tone is one of compassion and kindness.

  Today our goal is to learn to live above the law of reciprocity.  In the kingdom of this world, people often feel disempowered, vulnerable, or exposed.  The easiest way to deal with such an insecurity is to do what you can to reverse it.  Do you feel like a 98-pound weakling?  Go to the gym and build some muscle.  Do you feel vulnerable financially?  Do what you can to build your portfolio.  Do you feel as though you’ve been treated unfairly by others?  Fight back; take them to court; assert your rights.  The dominant narrative here is: If someone hits you, you hit them back harder.  When faced with injustice – whether it be public humiliation, unfair treatment or intentional harm – our natural inclination is to demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  That’s what the law of reciprocity is.  Of course, as Gandhi once put it, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…makes the whole world blind and toothless.”

  Jesus addresses the law of reciprocity in the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew.  He does so by turning conventional wisdom on its ear.  Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer.  If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.  And if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.  Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

  Let’s try to take this statement apart.  First of all, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’”  The people who were listening to Jesus would have more than just heard this statement.  It was in the Torah!  Read Leviticus 24, verses 19 and 20.  It’s in our Old Testament as well.

  Jesus is trying to tell us that in the kingdom of God, there is a better way than the law of reciprocity.  He cites four specific examples.  The first one has to do with turning the other cheek.  Two thousand years ago, it was common to see a master slapping a slave on any city street.  Since the right hand was used for slapping, to slap someone on the right cheek was to give them the back of your hand. 

  Usually when this happened, a slave would cower in submission.  Unfortunately, that allowed the abuse to continue.  Oh, a slave could hit his master back, but there were grave consequences for doing so.  Jesus presents a stunning, new idea: offer the left cheek instead.  This would leave the striker wondering what to do next.  Don’t do it smugly; do it sincerely.  It should completely diffuse the situation.

  Then Jesus says, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.”  In Jesus’ day, the poor were often at the mercy of the rich.  Many people were so poor that they had nothing to offer as collateral for a loan except the clothes on their backs.  A lender could ask for the money he had loaned to be repaid at any time, and if the borrower could not pay, the lender could take his tunic.  That would leave the poor person with only his outer coat.  Jesus says to offer that as well.  Why?  Because the guiding principal of the kingdom is love.  If someone takes something from us, our natural reaction is to cling to it.  Those who understand God’s abundant provision are able to take a different approach.  We say, “You want my shirt?  Here, you can have my coat as well.”  In the kingdom of God, we are never in a position of scarcity.  Thus, we can afford to freely give of our possessions. 

  Jesus then adds, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”  Two thousand years ago, a Roman soldier could force a Jew to carry his luggage.  That such a privilege not be abused, the Roman government actually enacted a law that made it illegal for a soldier to force a Jew to carry his bags any more than a mile.  Jesus asks his disciples to do the unthinkable: carry the bags another mile.  Why?  Because the guiding principal in the kingdom of God is love, and love seeks the good of another.  That, my friends, is literally what it means to go the extra mile.

  Finally Jesus says, “Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”  This one’s really hard.  One time I put a transient person up in a motel room using what we call the Lindley Fund.  Then I gave him twenty dollars out of my own pocket because he said he hadn’t had anything to eat.  Believe it or not, I got a call from the motel clerk later on that day.  He said, “Did you give so-and-so money?”  I said, “Yes.  He said he needed something to eat.”  The motel clerk then said, “I just wanted you to know that he came back to the motel carrying a twelve-pack of beer and a carton of cigarettes!” 

  At that point, what could I do?  My philosophy on those kinds of things is this: I do what I feel I am called to do as a Christian.  If someone’s pulling the wool over my eyes, I figure they’ll have to answer for that themselves one day.  At least I know I did the right thing…and I can sleep at night.

  In each of the aforementioned situations, Jesus asks his disciples to do the unnatural; to do the unthinkable.  Yet we are in a unique position when we abide in the kingdom of God.  We believe the kingdom of God is unshakable.  We believe the kingdom of God is never in trouble.  And because of that belief, we can be bold enough to actually do the unthinkable.

  Are you familiar with the story of the patriarch Joseph?  Joseph was the 11^th born son of Jacob.  Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons and gave him what the Bible calls a coat of many colors.  Broadway changed the name of it to the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  One day Jacob sent Joseph out to check on his older brothers who were tending the sheep.  When he told them of a dream he’d had where they all bowed down to him, they were outraged.  They sold him to a group of Midianite merchants, smeared blood all over his coat of many colors, and told their father that he’d been killed by a wild animal.

  The Midianite merchants later sold Joseph to a military captain in Egypt named Potiphar.  When Potiphar’s wife took a liking to Joseph and Joseph refused to commit adultery, she accused him of molesting her.  This landed Joseph in prison.  Yet Joseph had the unique ability to interpret dreams.  When none other than Pharaoh himself had a perplexing dream, Joseph was called upon to interpret it for him, and essentially saved the nation of Egypt from a famine.  This got Joseph promoted to second-in-command of all of Egypt. 

  Eventually the famine in the land was so severe that Joseph’s brothers had to come to Egypt to beg for food.  They appeared before Joseph, but they did not recognize him as their brother.  When he revealed to them who he was, they trembled in fear and begged his forgiveness.  Joseph said in essence, “Fear not.  For what you intended for evil, God intended for good.”  Joseph forgave them, and they essentially lived happily ever after.  Joseph had gone from riches, to rags, to riches again…and in Joseph’s mind, it was all God’s doing.

  That’s what kingdom living looks like, and that’s how we live beyond the law of reciprocity.  We trust that God – in spite of the odds – can somehow turn that which is evil into good.  Why?  Because our new kingdom narrative assures us that the kingdom of God…is never in trouble.  Amen.

 

04-21-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

R. B. N. S.

  Once upon a time, there were three ministers who were gathered together for coffee.  Much to their chagrin, they discovered that they all suffered from the very same problem.  They all had bats in their belfries…bats in the belfries of their churches, that is.  The first minister said, “I tried shooting the bats with a B.B. gun, but those bats were so quick, I just couldn’t hit them.   All I accomplished was to put a few holes in my stained glass windows.  My bats are still there.”

  The second minister said, “I tried trapping the bats alive.  Then I drove five miles out into the country before I let them go.  And wouldn’t you know it?  Those doggone bats beat me back to the church!  My bats are still there, as well.” 

  The third minister said, “I used to have bats in the belfry of my church too, but not anymore.”  The other ministers said, “How on earth did you get rid of them?”  The third minister said, “It was really quite simple.  I baptized them, I confirmed them…and I haven’t seen them since!” 

  Although we may wish it were not so, sadly…that story reveals a great deal of truth.  Out of a typical confirmation class, only about a third of them will remain active in the church throughout their high school years, and even fewer will remain active in the church throughout adulthood.  We live in a changing world; one that would appear to prioritize its relationship with God less and less all the time.

  The Pew Forum on Religion recently conducted a survey of faith in America today that seems to back that theory up.  What they discovered is that one-fifth of the general public – and one-third of adults under the age of thirty – are religiously unaffiliated today.   In other words, they have no part of the institutional church.   That number represents the highest percentage in the history of the survey.

  Yet lest we think the news is all bad, consider this.  In a recent book entitled, God Is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America, editor-in-chief Frank Newport makes the case that religion is as alive and well in America today as it has ever been.  In fact, Gallup Poll research projects that religion may become even more significant in the years that lie ahead.  Newport writes, and I quote, “We may even be on the cusp of a religious renaissance.” 

  While the research appears to be conflicting, here’s what seems to be happening.  Religion as we have known it for the last one hundred years may in fact be dying, but this death is not the result of the rise of outspoken atheists like Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens.  The Pew Forum research indicates that those who identify themselves as “atheists” or “agnostics” have grown by less than five percent over the course of last ten years.  On the other hand, the religiously unaffiliated – those whom we refer to these days as the “nones” (that’s n-o-n-e-s, not n-u-n-s) – the “nones” have risen by twenty percent.  Although the Gallup poll projects a rise in religious interest, it notes also that: “Increasingly, Americans do not have a religious identity, or they identify with broad religious labels…rather than with specific denominations.” 

  We live in an era called post-modernism where people are open to various forms of spirituality.  These forms tend not to resemble organized religion.  The Pew Forum research found that many of the forty-six million unaffiliated adults are in some way religious or spiritual.  Two-thirds of them indicate that they do believe in God.  They refer to themselves as what we call S.B.N.R.  S.B.N.R., of course, is an acronym that means: Spiritual…But Not Religious.

  We are seeing a sharp rise in people who are religiously unaffiliated, while also seeing a sharp rise in interest in God.  Thus, when we ask the question: “Is faith in God dead or alive?” perhaps the answer is, “Yes.”  Yes, faith in God as we have known it may be dying, but faith in God in general is still very much alive.  Thus, the solution to our problem is not contemporary music in worship or the gospel of prosperity…far from it.  Worship as entertainment is not the answer.

  Harvey Cox is a professor at the Harvard Divinity School and the author of a book called, The Future of Faith.  In it, he makes the point that our society is undergoing a major transformation regarding human experience of the divine.  Cox believes we are moving from an era we might call, “The Age of Belief” to an era we might call, “The Age of the Spirit.”  The Age of Belief was characterized by an emphasis on creeds and doctrines; it was an era where like-minded people gathered on Sunday mornings with others who shared similar beliefs.  The Age of the Spirit is a little bit different.  The Age of the Spirit is characterized as non-dogmatic, non-institutional, and non-hierarchical.  These people are likely to be far less ordered – yet perhaps a bit more open – to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.

  Here’s how I would describe it if I were to attempt to put this theory into my own words.  In days gone by, people wanted to know all about God.  Today it seems as though people want to know God.  Again, in days gone by, people wanted to know all about God.  Today it seems as though people want to know God.  Do you see the dramatic difference?

  Let me try to explain how we got into this predicament in the first place.  The Age of Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, began in the 17^th century in Europe.  Closely tied to the Age of Enlightenment was the Scientific Revolution.  Science and its discoveries overturned many traditional beliefs, and introduced new perspectives on nature and humanity’s place in the grand scheme of things.  Thus, when it came to religion, the Bible was demythologized.  The Bible became a textbook to be studied, examined and understood…as opposed to a gift from God that studied, examined and understood us. 

  In short, the mystery of the Bible was summarily removed.  As Max Weber once put it in a lecture at Munich University, “If you want to be part of the modern world, grow up and bear the burden of disenchantment.”  For many, many years, people have done just that.  The highest praise given to a modern person was that he or she was rational or scientific.  The deepest insult given to a modern person was that he or she was, “spiritual…but of no earthly good.”

  Christians – in particular, mainline Protestant Christians – quickly became products of the Age of Enlightenment.  They worked hard to harmonize faith with this era by making it a rational and scientific enterprise.  Christianity, during the period of the Age of Belief, emphasized the rational “truths” of the faith.  Moreover, many Christian scholars worked hard to make Christianity a scientifically valid system of belief.  By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, much of the mystery of faith was gone.  And in the process we became what we might call: R.B.N.S.  R.B.N.S. is an acronym that I made up for this sermon.  It means: Religious…But Not Spiritual.

  Today we suffer from what a seminary professor by the name of Cheryl Johns calls: E.D.D.  E.D.D. stands for Enchantment Deficit Disorder.  Symptoms of Enchantment Deficit Disorder include a loss of a sense of wonder, and a skepticism of anything that smacks of the supernatural or the miraculous.  Enchantment Deficit Disorder has left a generation of young people searching for the wondrous, for the miraculous, for the holy, and for the spiritual.

  The Spiritual But Not Religious can be characterized as being open and hungry for personal spiritual experiences.  In short, they long for enchantment.  Consider the popularity of books and movies like: The Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter, or the Twilight series.  I think they reveal how deep their hunger for enchantment really is.  Why else would an otherwise sophisticated, modern-day person read about hobbits and witches and vampires and werewolves?  People long for the places where the veil between this world and the world of the Spirit becomes transparent.

  A lot of people asked me recently if I was going to watch that T.V. show on the history of the Bible.  I said, “No, I don’t like those T.V. shows on the Bible.  They tend to demythologize or disenchant.  My philosophy is: ‘Never destroy a person’s ideology unless you can replace it with a better one.’”  What do I mean by destroying ideologies?

  There is a long-running T.V. show called, Ancient Mysteries of the Bible.  In a show about the Exodus, they tried to present archaeological evidence that suggested that Moses led the Hebrew people across the Reed Sea, not the Red Sea.  The Reed Sea was a much shallower lake to the north that – due to certain wind currents – frequently parted on its own.  In short, they were trying to explain away some of the mystery or enchantment of the Bible.  And all they managed to accomplish was to shatter a lot of people’s ideologies.  What does that accomplish?

  Now listen to this.  Further archaeological study reveals that the Red Sea is very deep, but there is a shelf that splits it that is not nearly so deep.  What’s more, archaeologists have now found evidence of ancient Egyptian chariot wheels and spears and armor on that shelf.  How do you suppose that got there?  Archaeological study initially shattered our ideology.  Yet further archaeological study suggests that our ideology may have been right all along.

  Now don’t get me wrong.  I am not advocating the cessation of archaeological research.  Nor am I blessing the realm of the Spiritual But Not Religious.  In my humble opinion, the Spiritual But Not Religious tend to turn to God only when they want something from him.  What I am advocating is that we learn to move beyond the realm of the Religious But Not Spiritual.  We need to learn to be open to wonder.  We need to learn to be open to enchantment.  We need to learn to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit of God. 

  It all begins with how we view the Bible.  Is the Bible simply a textbook to be studied, examined and understood?  Or is the Bible a gift from God that studies, examines and understands us?  Read it sometime…and be open to the mystery and the wonder and the enchantment of God revealed within its pages.  You may even find yourself becoming spiritual in the process.  Amen.

 

04-07-2013 Sermon by Rev. Larry Peters

 

JESUS APPEARS TO THE DISCIPLES

Rev. Larry Peters

April 7, 2013

 

Psalm 118:14-17

Acts 5:27-32

John 20:19-31

 

  What kind of a day is the Sunday after Easter?  The mood and the events of Holy Week have both a depth and an excitement.  There is a flurry of activities, and a wide range of emotions.  We go from the tragedy of the Crucifixion to the triumph of the Resurrection.  And then what?  A lot of people seem to be at a loss as to what to do after Easter.  The palm branches are gone.  The lilies are gone.  Some of the people who were with us last Sunday have gone.  What is the significance of Easter, and how does it affect us as the church?  We should want to find out.

  I think that Jesus wanted to find out what was going on in the church when he came to visit the disciples.  The Bible tells us that it was evening on that day.  The scripture reading today is a continuation of the events that happened on the day of the Lord’s Resurrection and leads to today, the Sunday after Easter.  Therefore, I would like to continue following the message we received last Sunday including some important points presented by Rev. Jensen.  First of all, do we genuinely believe in the Resurrection?  How has it changed us?  How has it impacted and shaped our faith?  All this is important to us because, as we heard last week, “faith in the Resurrection is what distinguishes Christianity from everything else.  The essence of the Christian faith is faith in the Resurrection.”

  We need to begin to understand just how great the importance of the Lord’s Resurrection is to us!  We need to understand the difference this makes; what the Resurrection means.  It means that everything is different now!  Everything has changed!  What kind of day is today?  It is a new day, different from days previous.  The events of this week are a change from what happened last week.  But we need to see how those events have changed us, shaped us, made a difference in who we are and what we are to become as we move forward to live each new day.

  What are the great events that have happened that distinguish the Christian faith from everything else?  Death has been conquered!  Jesus is alive!  Jesus has been given all authority!  Jesus is in charge!  How does this make a difference to us?  What does this mean?  It means that we are to rejoice in the Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  We give thanks that we have new life in Christ’s name!  This new life and promise enables us to live differently than before!  We have a great work to do!  We have a great story to tell!  And we need not live in fear anymore!

  But when the Risen Lord Jesus came to visit the disciples he found them behind closed, locked doors because they were afraid.  The moment Jesus was arrested, they fled.  They once were disciples of Jesus, bound together by a common leader and a common mission.  It was Jesus who called them together, Jesus who bound them together, Jesus who taught them, ate with them, walked mile after mile with them – together.  But now that Jesus was gone, the only common thing among them was fear.  Fear dominated them.

  There was much to be afraid of.  They had seen Jesus arrested, beaten, nailed to the cross and there he died.  They were afraid that the ones who did that to Jesus could do it to them as well.  Crucifixion was a particularly cruel way to put someone to death, and the point of hanging someone on the cross wasn’t just to kill the person, but to do so in a way that would intimidate everyone.  It was meant to send a signal, loud and clear.  The primary purpose of crucifixion wasn’t just to put someone to death, it was to produce fear.  The disciples got the message.

  So there they were, gathered together behind closed and locked doors.  Nothing was getting in.  Nothing was getting out.  I want you to get this point.  This was the early church.  They were without hope, and therefore unable to offer hope to anyone else.  The disciples didn’t know it yet, but they were about to get a new message.  This is the joyful, life-giving, life-changing message of the Resurrection!

  The strange thing is that the disciples had heard this message before.  When Mary Magdalene and the other women first returned from the empty tomb with the good news of the Lord’s Resurrection; “The disciples thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).  And later, a report came from two disciples who said they had seen Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  The other disciples “would not believe it” (Mark 16:13).  And in Matthew’s Gospel, at the moment just before Jesus ascends into heaven, “those who gathered around Jesus saw him and worshiped him; but still some doubted” (28:17).

  The point here is that Thomas was not the first, nor will he be the last to express some doubt or unreadiness to believe in the Resurrection.  For these disciples, hand chosen by Jesus himself, it took the very real presence of the Risen Lord in their midst for them to believe.  This is why Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe” (John 20:29).

  In the days after Easter, when our Lord Jesus Christ has risen and ascended, it is now our job as the church to make him known to others.  For them to come to believe, we must be real in our witness to the very real and Risen Lord Jesus Christ!  In other words, unless we, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit working in and through us, are able to convince others of the reality of Jesus Christ – they will not believe. 

  It is an awesome responsibility.  And it may seem, at times, a task too much for us.  But it is for this purpose that our Lord calls us and commissions us – to be the church.  It is why he died, and why he is Risen – to cleanse us of our impurities and to make us righteous in God’s sight.  By the work of God on our behalf, we have what it takes to witness to the Risen Lord and to share this Good News with others.  And we can live in the peace of knowing that when we follow Christ, we are making a difference.

  Jesus comes to offer that peace.  Jesus came and stood among the disciples and said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19).  I can imagine that those disciples were very startled, can’t you?  Jesus will sometimes enter our lives at a time, or a place, or in a way that we least expect.  We may have in our minds a picture of Jesus standing at the door and knocking; but in this case he comes in unannounced.  Jesus will certainly welcome our invitation to come in, but he is not dependent upon it.  Therefore, be ready at all times.  The Risen Lord has the authority to come as he chooses.  Even if one is unwilling to receive him, a friend or a family member may be praying for that person.  Be ready for Christ to enter in.  As death cannot hold him, neither can a lock in any door.  It is interesting to note here that when Jesus appears again to the disciples the following week (today) the doors were closed, but no mention of them being locked.  The proof of the Resurrection is that something changed, and evidence of all things that will be changed.  As we pointed out to us last week, “the Resurrection gives light in order for us to see who we are and what we can become.”

  The disciples who gathered together in fear were about to be changed.  Where they may have seen themselves as a poor example of the church, our Lord God saw in them what they could become.  Rev. Jensen said last week that “we tend to be so afraid of what is outside of us that we lose our inner selves.”  Jesus comes to show us that we are no longer to be held captive by fear; we are free to be all that God intends for us to be.

  Those first disciples knew what they feared most.  We also know what we fear.  Some are announced in the headlines: a faltering economy, crime and violence, wars and rumors of wars.  Other fears are more personal, more private: a bad medical report, a broken marriage, a career that crashes.  We feel fear when there’s no money to pay on the mortgage, or when our child is having trouble at school, or with some other issue.  These are but a few of our fears.

  These fears are with us.  It is not that fear is simply swept away; rather we are released from fear when something more powerful overrides it.  For example, when a soldier faces enemy fire to save another who is wounded, it is not because he does not fear for his own life – but a stronger love for his friend takes over.  Our Lord God so loves us that he willingly gave his life to save us from our sins.  Yes, the fear is there; but it no longer dominates because there is a greater work to be done.  As Rev. Jensen said last week; “Jesus was not afraid to do what needed to be done; and so we can now be unafraid to go out and do that good that we know needs to be done.”

  The birthday of the church wasn’t just at Pentecost  according to John’s Gospel.  We see it also at this moment when Jesus enters in.  He calms fears.  He gives his peace.  Jesus gives proof that he is real by showing them the wounds in his hands and side.  The disciples are changed in an instant.  They believe, and they rejoice!  Once more Jesus calls them together, binds them together with a common purpose.  He sends them forth with a mission.  At this moment his followers are transformed from disciples (ones who are taught) into apostles (ones who are sent).  Jesus breathes on them the Holy Spirit.  They receive new life!  They are commissioned and empowered to go out into the world bearing the Good News of peace and forgiveness to all people.  No more closed and locked doors.  People have to come in.  Good news has to get out.  A church is born!

  Now, in light of all this, is it possible that there can be any complacency or indifference with us the church in these days following Easter?  Really, just thing about it:

We are blessed!

We are empowered!

We are convinced, motivated, inspired, and equipped!

We go!  And we tell others about the very real way that we have come to know the very real, Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  And because we believe, our witness will be real!  Amen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

03-24-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

CHRISTIANITY 101: NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

  Let me preface the story I’m about to tell you by saying that I am married to the only woman in the world who would have stayed married to me for the last 26 years.  I know, I know…as hard as it may be for some of you to believe, I am not the easiest person in the world to live with.    For example, about two years ago, my wife got her hair cut very, very short.  Everyone told her how cute it was – how cute it made her look – but I didn’t like it at all.  So, when she asked me how I liked her hair cut, I told her the truth.  I told her in no uncertain terms that I did not like it.

  Not long after that, we were at a high school volleyball game, sitting in the bleachers with the other parents.  You know how it is when your kids play sports.  You get pretty close to the parents of the other athletes.  So my wife and I are sitting there with some of our closest friends.  And all the mothers are gushing over my wife’s new haircut.  My wife then says to all those mothers, “Brian doesn’t like it.”  And every single one of those mothers immediately lit into me.  “How can you say you don’t like her haircut?  It’s not your hair!”  To which I replied, “Yes, but I still have to look at it!”  In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the best thing to say.  And of course, all of the fathers are there, each one wearing a smirk on his face, pretending to watch the game, knowing better than to try to enter the fray…the cowards!

  Sitting right in front of us was the grandmother of one of the boys.  Let’s call her Mary Ellen.  Mary Ellen is a very attractive older woman – very classy and very wise – whose husband died about ten years ago.  Desperately trying to dig my way out of the hole I was in, I asked, “Mary Ellen, if you’d come home with a new haircut and your husband didn’t like it, would you want him to tell you the truth, or would you want him to lie?”  She said, “Oh, I’d want him to lie!”

Alas, there was no way out for me.  I had no alternative but to sit there and lick my wounds.  What’s more, I suspect I’ll hear it from a few more women after church.  Oh well, it won’t be the first time, and it probably won’t be the last!  I believe it was Shakespeare who first said, “Honesty is the best policy.”  The question now is, “Is honesty really the best policy?”  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

  A number of weeks ago, we noted how – each and every day – we make decisions that move us closer to a life of virtue, or closer to a life of ruin.  Though the past may be written in stone, the future is more like wet cement…pliable, soft, and ready to be shaped by the decisions we make.  Our goal is to develop a more godly life narrative.  Our goal is to discover what it means to live a life of virtue.  Our goal is to seek to discern where our deep happiness may truly be found.

  We suggested that our deepest happiness is found in the kingdom of God.  We noted that the kingdom of God is not just something we hope to attain in the future.  As Jesus clearly stated, the kingdom of God is also a present reality.  Thus, the kingdom of God of which we speak is not a place.  The kingdom of God of which we speak is an interactive relationship with God…an interactive relationship that brings us peace of heart and mind.

  We noted how many of us will not even consider a more godly life narrative – many of us will not even begin to seek out an interactive relationship with God – until we encounter a drought in life…until we come up against something that we cannot control.  So what we did was consider a social problem that appears to be beyond human resolution: bullying in the classroom.  We postulated that while we may not be able to resolve all the social ills that surround us, God is able to resolve the un-resolvable.  What we need to do is recognize that fact, and be open to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  That, my friends, is where our own transformation begins.

  Then we got more specific on how we build an interactive relationship with God.  The first thing we aimed at was conquering anger.  We contrasted anger with Sabbath rest.  Anger is a result of our need to control; Sabbath teaches us to trust in God’s strength.  Anger is a result of the narrative that we need to be perfect; Sabbath teaches us that we are forgiven.  Anger is a result of our fear that God has lost sight of us; Sabbath ensures us that God is watching over us at all times.

  Last week our goal was to overcome lust; not an easy thing to do.  In the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, “Only by a stronger passion can evil passions be expelled,” and, “a soul unoccupied by positive devotion is sure to be occupied by spiritual demons.”  What we sought was what we called the expulsive power of a new affection.  We determined that if our new affection was, in fact, the kingdom of God…then lust would simply lose its grip on us.     Perhaps the solution to our problem…is prayer.

  Today our goal is to try to overcome lying.  Robert Feldman is the author of a book entitled, The Liar in Your Life.  In it, he notes that new acquaintances will lie to each other about three times in the course of a ten-minute conversation.  What’s more, his research reveals that we are lied to about every five minutes, or an average of about two hundred times a day.  More often than not, the lies to which we are exposed are not venomous, but rather, ways to make social interactions go more smoothly.  People lie to be agreeable, or to make us feel better about ourselves.  We call those kinds of lies little white lies.  And there’s nothing wrong with a little white lie every now and again…or is there?

  Last Wednesday afternoon, I went to Erie to see someone in the hospital.  On the way home, since my oldest son had told me that my bushy sideburns made me look like Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, I decided to get a haircut.  I stopped at a place called Famous Hair just off of Peach Street.

  The girl who cut my hair was just bubbling with personality.  It turns out, she was from Cambridge Springs.  At one point in our conversation, she was telling me about how she and her family bail hay for a neighbor.  I said, “You bail hay?  I’ve bailed hay before.  That’s the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life!”  She said, “Sure, I bail hay.  I’m a country girl.”

  Then she added, “I even used to raise pigs.  In fact, that’s why I quit eating pork.”  I said, “What does raising pigs have to do with the fact that you quit eating pork?”  She said, “I used to raise a new pig every year.  Then my parents would tell me that they’d given the pig away.  But what they really did was butcher it!  When I found out I was eating the pigs I’d raised, I was devastated!  That’s why I quit eating pork.” 

  I said to her, “Hey, my sermon this Sunday is on lying.  Can I use that story?”  She said, “Sure.”  You see, her parents had told her a little white lie.  And little white lies are okay, aren’t they?  Apparently, in one little girl’s case, a little white lie had some rather devastating consequences.  It ultimately came to affect the level of trust she had in her parents.

  Some lies, of course, are not so innocent. Some people lie to build themselves up.  Some people lie to gain some kind of advantage over us.  Some people lie to cheat us out of what we’ve worked a lifetime to earn.  Those kinds of lies can scar us for life.  A time-honored adage says that honesty is the best policy.  Thus, the question is: Is honesty really the best policy?

  Jesus addressed that issue in the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew.  He said, “You have heard it said, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’  But I say to you, ‘Do not swear at all, either by heaven or by earth.’  Let your word be, ‘Yes, yes,’ or ‘No, no.’  Anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

  Years ago, some Quakers got into trouble in court when they refused to take the oath.  You know, “Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”  They thought Jesus was speaking against taking such oaths in general.  I really don’t think that’s the point.  The nature of Jesus’ words was not that we should never take an oath, but that all of our speech should be honest, genuine, trustworthy and true.  When we say, “Yes,” we should mean, “Yes;” when we say, “No,” we should mean, “No.”  In Jesus’ mind, I suspect, honesty is, in fact, the best policy.

  What is it that incites us to stretch the truth?  There appear to be two main culprits.  The first one is fear; the second one is desire.  In other words, we fear what will happen if we do tell the truth, so we lie.  Or, we hope to gain some kind of advantage for ourselves, so we lie.  The primary reasons a person lies are fear and desire.

  Lying is defined as a false statement – made knowingly – with a blatant intent to deceive another person.  Thus, perhaps we could go so far as to say that lying is not so much about the correctness or the incorrectness of what a person says.  Lying is really about the intentions of the heart.  And if our hearts are not pure, we are a long ways off from the kingdom of God.

  As the Apostle Paul once wrote in the book of Ephesians, “Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head…into Christ Jesus, our Lord.”  “Speaking the truth in love,” Paul says; “Speaking the truth in love.”  Perhaps the question now is: What does it mean to love?

  The best definition for love I have ever encountered in my life is this: To love someone is to will what’s best for them.  Lying is the opposite of love, because lying has to do with willing what’s best for us.  To love someone is to will what’s best for them.  Thus, to will what’s best for another person has necessarily to do with telling the truth.  Honesty is, in fact, the best policy.     I might add at this point, however, that willing what’s best for someone sometimes does mean telling the unvarnished truth.  And, sometimes willing what’s best for someone may mean withholding the truth…or at least withholding our opinions.  I’d probably have done a lot better by my wife a few years back had I simply kept my mouth shut.  Oh well, live and learn, I guess.

  What it all comes down to is what’s in our hearts.  Telling the truth is a wonderful start.  Yet as we move further into kingdom living – as our hearts become more and more transformed into the likeness and image of Christ – what we really need to do is use our tongues to bless and encourage, rather than to harm or humiliate.  We need to learn to build up, rather than tear down.

Mary Ann Bird, in a book entitled The Whisper Test, tells a story of the power of encouraging words in her life.  She writes:

I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it.  I was born with multiple birth defects: deaf in one ear, a cleft palate, a disfigured face, a crooked nose and lopsided feet.  When I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked.  When someone would ask, “What happened to your lip?” I’d tell them that I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass.  Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different.  I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.

There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored.  Mrs. Leonard was her name.  She was short, round and happy; a sparkling lady.  Every student in her class wanted to be noticed by her and to be the teacher’s pet.  Then came the day of the dreaded hearing test.  The teacher would call each child to her desk, and the child would cover first one ear, then the other.  The teacher would whisper something to the child like, “The sky is blue,” or, “Do you have new shoes?”  This was the whisper test.  If the teacher’s phrase was heard and repeated, the child passed the test.

I knew from years past that if I cheated, I could pass the test.  So I would secretly cup my hand over my good ear to hear what she would say.  As I cupped my hand over my ear, Mrs. Leonard leaned forward to whisper.  Mrs. Leonard did not say to me, “The sky is blue,” or, “Do you have new shoes?”  What she whispered was words that only God could have put in her mouth; those seven words that came to change my life.  What she whispered was, “I wish you were my little girl.”

  Nothing about Mary Ann Bird’s circumstances changed that day.  She remained disfigured, deaf in one ear, and the object of her classmates’ painful ridicule.  But everything else changed for her that day.  She began to understand herself as loved and lovable, and dared to envision a future not constrained by her circumstances, but a future that could transcend them.  Following in the footsteps of the teacher who set her free, Mary Ann Bird became an acclaimed teacher herself, known far and wide for her compassion and her kindness. 

  What it all comes down to is what’s in our hearts.  Do we lie, or do we tell the truth?  Do we tear others down, or do we build them up?  God gave us tongues to speak, in part, that we might bestow grace upon others.  Thus, from this point forward, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…so help you God?  Amen.

 

03-17-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

CHRISTIANITY 101: TURKISH DELIGHT

  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a children’s book long before it became a movie.  Written by a man named C.S. Lewis, there are some highly significant theological themes hidden between the lines.  The story takes place during World War II when four siblings – Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy – are evacuated from London.  They are sent to live with Professor Kirke, who lives in a house in the English countryside. 

  While the four children are exploring the house, Lucy looks into a wardrobe and discovers a doorway that leads to a magical place called Narnia.  It’s a land of talking animals and mythical beings that has been ruled by the evil White Witch for one hundred years.  Lucy enters the land of Narnia and is quite amazed at what she sees.  After considerable effort, she finally convinces her brother Edmund to enter the land of Narnia as well.  Lost, freezing, hungry and thirsty, Edmund encounters the White Witch himself.  Knowing an ancient legend that four children are destined to rule the land of Narnia, the White Witch knows she must destroy them.  Her plan is to use Edmund to lure them into a trap.  After giving him something to drink, the White Witch says to Edmund:

  “It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating.  What would you like best to eat?”  To which Edmund replies, “Turkish Delight, please, Your Majesty.”  The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with a green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight.  Each piece was sweet and light to the very center, and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.  He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.

  While he was eating the Queen kept asking him questions.  At first Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one’s mouth full, but soon he forgot about that and thought only of trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the Queen should be so inquisitive.  She got him to tell her that he had one brother and two sisters, and that one of his sisters had already been to Narnia.  She seemed especially interested in the fact that there were four of them, and kept on coming back to it.  “You are sure there are just four of you?” she asked.  And Edmund, with his mouth full of Turkish Delight, kept on saying, “Yes, I told you that before,” and forgetting to call her “Your Majesty,” but she didn’t seem to mind now.

  At last the Turkish Delight was all finished, and Edmund was looking very hard at the empty box, wishing she would ask him if he would like some more.  Probably the Queen knew quite well what he was thinking; for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and that anyone who once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even – if they were allowed – go on eating it until they killed themselves. 

  But she did not offer him any more.  Instead, she said to him, “Son of Adam, I should so much like to see your brother and your two sisters.  Will you bring them to me?”  “I’ll try,” said Edmund, still looking at the empty box. 

  “Because if you did come again – bringing them with you, of course – I’d be able to give you some more Turkish Delight.  I can’t do it now; the magic will only work once.  In my own house, it would be another matter.”  “Why can’t we go to your house now?” said Edmund. 

  “It is a lovely place, my house,” said the Queen.  “I am sure you would like it.  There are whole rooms full of Turkish Delight, and what’s more, I have no children of my own.  I want a nice boy whom I could bring up as a Prince and who would be King of Narnia when I am gone.  While he was Prince he would wear a gold crown and eat Turkish Delight all day long; and you are the cleverest and handsomest young man I’ve ever met.  I think I would like to make you the Prince – some day…when you bring the others to visit me.” 

  “Why not now?” said Edmund.  His face had become very red and his mouth and fingers were sticky.  He did not look either clever or handsome…whatever the Queen might say.

  Turkish Delight is highly enticing, yet it somehow fails to satisfy.  The more one has of it, the more one wants.  One can never get enough of it because one develops an insatiable craving for it.  What do you suppose C.S. Lewis really had in mind when he described this Turkish Delight?  What else is highly enticing, yet somehow fails to satisfy?  Could C.S. Lewis be referring to sin?  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

  A number of weeks ago, we noted how – each and every day – we make decisions that move us closer to a life of virtue, or closer to a life of ruin.  Though the past may be written in stone, the future is more like wet cement…pliable, soft, and ready to be shaped by the decisions we make.  Our goal is to develop a more godly life narrative.  Our goal is to discover what it means to live a life of virtue.  Our goal is to seek to discern where our deep happiness may truly be found.

  We suggested that our deepest happiness is found in the kingdom of God.  We noted that the kingdom of God is not just something we hope to attain in the future.  As Jesus clearly stated, the kingdom of God is also a present reality.  Thus, the kingdom of God of which we speak is not a place.  The kingdom of God of which we speak is an interactive relationship with God…an interactive relationship that brings us peace of heart and mind.

  We noted how many of us will not even consider a more godly life narrative – many of us will not even begin to seek out an interactive relationship with God – until we encounter a drought in life…until we come up against something that we cannot control.  So what we did was consider a social problem that appears to be beyond human resolution: bullying in the classroom.  We postulated that while we may not be able to resolve all the social ills that surround us, God is able to resolve the un-resolvable.  What we need to do is recognize that fact, and be open to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  That, my friends, is where our own transformation begins.

  Then we got more specific on how we build an interactive relationship with God.  The first thing we aimed at was conquering anger.  We contrasted anger with Sabbath rest.  Anger is a result of our need to control; Sabbath teaches us to trust in God’s strength.  Anger is a result of the narrative that we need to be perfect; Sabbath teaches us that we are forgiven.  Anger is a result of our fear that God has lost sight of us; Sabbath ensures us that God is watching over us at all times.

  Our goal is to build an interactive relationship with God.  Last week we tackled anger.  Today, we take on lust.  What was it we said about Turkish Delight candy?  We said that it was highly enticing, yet it somehow fails to satisfy.  Could not the very same thing be said of lust?  To build an interactive relationship with God, we must learn to conquer lust.  The question now is: How?

  In the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew, Jesus addresses the topic of lust.  He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust had already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  Some of you are old enough to remember that this is the sin to which Jimmy Carter once confessed.  So let’s take a look at what lust really is.

  The Greek word translated “lust” here is epithumia.  It literally means desire, longing, or craving.  Thus, in this context, perhaps we could say that lust does not refer to healthy sexual attraction.  Lust, rather, refers to objectifying another person for one’s own gratification.  It fails to see another person as a human being created in the image of God.  Perhaps we could go so far as to say that epithumia does not refer to the first look, but to the second.  The first look may be simple attraction – appreciating the wonders of God’s good creation – but the second look…is leering.  Lust does not value a person; lust only values parts of a person.  Are you with me?

  Lust is alive and well in our society today.  The mantra these days seems to be: Sex sells.  Over fourteen thousand sexual references are made by television advertisers every year.  The average person will view over one hundred thousand of those references in his or her lifetime.  If a group of men drink the right beer, beautiful women will be magically drawn to average-looking guys.  If a woman wears the right perfume, the man of her dreams will mysteriously appear on the back of a white horse in a foggy field.  In an age of tolerance, we have become desensitized.

  What difference does it make?  I’ll tell you what difference it makes.  It has cheapened our relationships, sullied our souls, and produced some rather dire consequences.  For example, conventional wisdom these days dictates that a man and a woman are in bed together by the third date.  A few years back, there was a woman living in Cleveland who grew up in the First Presbyterian Church in Meadville, Pennsylvania.  She was on her third date with this guy and at the end of the evening, he began to pressure her to spend the night at his apartment.  When she refused, he said, “What’s the deal?  I took you to dinner, I took you dancing…you owe me!”  She clung to her values, and she never saw that guy again.

  What’s more, I am absolutely convinced that it’s lust that plays a major role in the spiraling divorce rate.  The typical couple is in bed together by the third date, and the sex is good.  Then they move in together, and the sex is still good.  Then they get married, and the sex is still good.  Then five or six years down the road – when the thrill wears off a little bit – they discover that they are married to someone whom: a) they don’t really know, and b) they don’t really like!  Don’t think for a minute that lust is just a little thing and that it doesn’t really matter.

  So how do we get beyond it?  How do we conquer the sin of lust?  First of all, I think we have to really want to change.  More often than not, the people who struggle with lust don’t really want to change.  They merely dislike the consequences of failure…the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment.  Thus, they end up trying to resolve the issue by sheer will power, and find themselves failing, time and again.  Promises, pledges and resolutions are no match for a heart that secretly cherishes sin.  Thus, first of all, we have to really want to change.

  Second, I think that in order to conquer one passion, we have to replace it with a better passion.  In the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, “Only by a stronger passion can evil passions be expelled, and a soul unoccupied by positive devotion is sure to be occupied by spiritual demons.”  The safety of Jesus Christ himself in the presence of temptation lay in his complete and positive devotion to his mission: there was no unoccupied room in his soul where evil could find a home.  He knew what one biblical commentator called, “The expulsive power of a new affection.”

  For example, when Ulysses passed the Isle of Sirens in ancient Greek lore, he had himself tied to the mast and had his ears stopped up with wax that he might not hear the sirens singing.  This is a perfect picture of how many attempt to conquer the allure of sin.  They do it by sheer will power.  When Orpheus passed the Isle of Sirens, he sat on the deck of the ship – indifferent – for you see, he too was a musician.  The fact of the matter was: he could make melody so much more beautiful than the Sirens that their alluring songs to him were mere discords.  That, my friends, is the expulsive power of a new affection.  You see, lust is really all about hunger.  If our genuine hunger – if our new affection – is the kingdom of God, then lust will simply lose its grip on us.  Thus, I believe the solution to our problem…is prayer.  Amen.