2 Thessalonions 1:2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 3 Dear brothers and sisters,(1 )we always thank God for you, as is right, for we are thankful that your faith is flourishing and you are all growing in love for each other.
Paul's words struck home with me tonight as I think of the past four weeks and the amazing spirit that has been in each service. That spirit is a direct result of God moving hearts and minds to bring individuals and entire families to the Andover campus for times of worship.
We have been singing, reading, and talking about God's grace and it has been apparent that we have been SEEING grace in action. Many of you have commented about feeling at "home" when walking into the sanctuary. Home is about family, it's about unconditional love, it's about a place from which to grow, be nurtured and to nurture others.
It is for all these reasons that I give thanks for you and the beginning of a new family united in love for Christ and a commitment to serve those around us. May God's blessing rest upon you.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Devotional Thought: Give Thanks for You
Friday, October 26, 2007
Greeters and Ushers
We are committed to making people feel welcome and comfortable here at Andover. That all begins with the friendly faces that greet you in the parking lot and at the front doors. It continues with those who help us find seats and assist in the worship service as ushers. If you would like to be a part of this team, please contact Bud Brooks at budbrooks@windstream.net or call the office at 263-3602.
Devotional Thought: God's Grace
Here is another of the lectionary texts for this week taken from Psalm 65.
2 for you answer our prayers, and to you all people will come. 3 Though our hearts are filled with sins, you forgive them all. 4 What joy for those you choose to bring near, those who live in your holy courts. What joys await us inside your holy Temple. 5 You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas. 6 You formed the mountains by your power and armed yourself with mighty strength. 7 You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves and silenced the shouting of the nations. 8 Those who live at the ends of the earth stand in awe of your wonders. From where the sun rises to where it sets, you inspire shouts of joy. 9 You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The rivers of God will not run dry; they provide a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. 10 You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. 11 You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. 12 The wilderness becomes a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy. 13 The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. They all shout and sing for joy!
I encourage you to look through the above text and count all the ways that God works in our world. Can you see how God's grace reaches far into our lives to forgive and to bring hope and joy. When we begin to sense the magnitude of God's care for us, it readjusts our perception. We can know that we are not alone. We can realize that God is truly in control. We can rest in the assurance of God's will for our lives being for good and not destruction.
Does this mean there are no troubles in our lives. Hardly. Living in a fallen world is a proven recipe for times of personal trials and tribulations. But we can take comfort that there is hope for tomorrow. There is a hymn that goes, "I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow." May we rest in the strong arms of God.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
God Working
One of the lectionary readings for this week is Joel 2:23-32 which says:
NIV Joel 2:23 Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he
has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. {23 Or the teacher for
righteousness:} He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as
before. 24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will
overflow with new wine and oil. 25'I will repay you for the years the locusts
have eaten-- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the
locust swarm {25 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for
locusts is uncertain.} --my great army that I sent among you. 26 You will have
plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your
God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. 27
Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that
there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. 28 'And afterward, I
will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my
servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I
will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and
billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to
blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And
everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the
survivors whom the LORD calls.
The text says that God's spirit is poured out upon the earth and that people will know clearly that God is at work through a great display of "wonders in the heavens and on the earth."
It is hard to drive down a road this time of year and not be in amazement of God's handiwork of creation. The brilliant colors that accompany the changing from summer to winter brings home to me that God is mighty and wonderful. I believe that the beauty of this season is a gift from our Creator God to help awaken us to His great love. I also think that God does not limit His actions to the seasons of the year or creation itself. God works overtime in our livesto help us understand that we are loved, cared for, and have a purpose and destiny beyond ourselves. It is our awareness and thankfullness of God's handiwork that brings us one step closer to God. And our awareness is simply a function of our perspective. Do you and I view things through God's eyes or through our human eyes? Do we see and embrace things around us as God inspired and ordained, or do we see them so other way?
Take a moment today and look at the trees around you. Or stop to look at the faces of children playing in a yard. The list can go on and on. I encourage you to take a step back and to look for God in the extraordinary as well as the mundane. God is working, that I believe with all my heart. Will I notice and be blessed or just put my head down and miss it?
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday School begins November 4th (9:45-10:45)
Sunday School is the cornerstone of Andover’s discipleship path. Sunday morning provides a good time for groups to meet for study, prayer, and building caring relationships with one another. While indeed ambitious, it is however our earnest hope that each person attending Andover will be regularly involved in a Sunday School class or some other form of small group. So it is with great excitement that Sunday School for all ages begins November 4th at 9:45. Sign-up sheets are in the back of the Sanctuary. If you have questions, please contact Randy Greenup at cgree63189@aol.com or call the church office at 263-3602.
Sermon Manuscript 10/21/07: You can run but you can't hide
Text: Luke 15:1-10
"The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace." quote excerpt from What is So Amazing About Grace from Gordon MacDonald
Simone Weil's book called Gravity and Grace makes the argument that there are two great forces at work in the universe. Gravity allows objects to attract other objects to itself thereby expanding, acquiring and swelling in significance. Grace on the other hand is the only exception to that rule. Grace suspends the natural tendency to accumulate and instead forms us into the selfless image of Christ, devoid of all selfish tendencies and filled with God's love.
So what is this thing called grace? In Scripture the word that is most often translated "grace" is the Greek work charis which means gift. It is God's gift of love, mercy, forgiveness and so much else at work in our lives and the rest of the world. As with any true "gift", it is given without strings attached and without obligation of reciprocation. It is given in hopes that it will be accepted and make a difference in the lives of those it is given to .
Through the works of John Wesley, we Methodists have come to see that God's grace (i.e.. gift) works in our lives in a variety of ways. It works before we believe (Prevenient), it works as we move from being lost to being found (justifying), and it works to grow us from infant Christians into Mother's and Father's of faith(sanctifying)
Today, we will spend out time looking at how grace impacts our lives even when we are not expecting or even particularly wanting it.
A maestro came into a bustling town. Obviously well-trained and brilliant in her craft, she quickly put together a masterful orchestra that played for many of the significant events in the life of the town. At each concert, the maestro made a practice of standing outside of the concert hall engaging in conversation those who would be passing by. More than conversation, the maestro begin inviting all who passed by to play in the orchestra without need for formal training or even practice. You can imagine how the "real" orchestra felt. Threatened and confused, they ended up belittling the new people instead of welcoming them. Rather than embrace the maestro as a visionary and great leader, they condemned her even though it became obvious that these new people were adding something to the music that had been missing for a long time: namely a sense of wonder and awe.
This story sets up the context for our passage this morning. Jesus has been actively speaking to the worst "sinners" of society which deeply offended the religious establishment who would consider themselves "soiled" by these people if they came in contact with them. And we see clearly that Jesus was right at home with these folks. He cared about them and was genuinely interested in their well-being. He was willing to have his reputation "soiled" if it meant the sinners of the day knew they had a place within God's kingdom.
And so he launches into this parable in full earshot of both groups of people. A story that acted as a double-edged swords laying open one side and healing the other. Two parables that had a common pattern of losing, searching, finding, celebrating and then a commentary from Jesus to reinforce the teaching. Two parables that rocked the very foundation that they lived their lives upon.
God cares about people as individuals.
There was a man who had 99 sheep. There was a woman who had 10 coins. And let us not forget the father who had 2 sons. And they all lost one which amounted to varying levels of loss in their personal lives. For the man with a 100 sheep, 1% of someone's net worth for them man is about the daily fluctuations in the Dow Jones Index these days. Up 1, down 1, we continue to sleep well at night. Now the woman, she lost about 1 days wages which does not sound like a whole lot until you realize that she had only 10 days of existence saved up. Losing this one coin was a catastrophic event. But even then, we see but a part of what Jesus was trying to convey. Only after taking the three parables in Chapter 15 into account do we begin to see the rationale behind the ratios Jesus used. Parable #1 = 1/100, Parable #2 = 1/10, and Parable #3 = 1/2. Insignificant to scary to catastrophic losses. They are all met with the same concern from the finder. In essence, Jesus is pounding the pulpit here by saying everyone counts. There are no expendable parts of God's kingdom.
God is concerned about each person on an individual level. For a culture so focused on "society" over the "individual", this must have made a dramatic impact. Today, the impact is lessened thanks to our individualistic society which places emphasis upon the individual over society. It is not God's will to write any one person off or replace them with ten others who are somehow "better", everyone counts, everyone is needed.
God wants to celebrate and not judge.
The people listening knew that God judged the people of Israel time and again. That his judgments were powerful and changed the course of human history. For those who would oppose Israel, the judgments were at times devastating and swift. The understanding they have of God is that he suffer no fools. That he accepts nothing less than our very best at all times. That he is quick to condemn and even quicker to discard and move on.
But here we see a God who cares enough about the individuals that he celebrates. The man and then the woman, and then the father all call people together to celebrate the finding of the sheep, coin and son. For a group who held God in such high awe that they did not even speak or write God's name, this must have been rocked their world. God celebrates when one person comes home? We are important enough to Almighty God that he would stop in his tracks, call others to him and celebrate something in our personal lives?
God does not wish to punish us for coming back from being lost. He does not wish to call together all the saints in heaven and replay the top ten failures in our life. We can be assured that no one wants us back home more than God. He does not stand ready to zap us, but to love us.
God does not wait for us to come home, God chases after us.
The fact that the man with the one lost sheep leaves the others behind (Presumably with another shepherd. Rarely would one shepherd watched a flock the size of 100 without additional help) and sets out to find the one that was lost makes a statement. It is reinforced by the woman who cleans her house from top to bottom in an act of desperation to search for her missing savings. And we saw last week that the father stood on the porch looking and then ran to meet the son. The diligence and extreme measure these individuals went through to secure what was lost spoke volumes to those in attendance that day. God is willing to go to any and all efforts to find you. Jesus is confirming what the Psalmist said in Psalm 139:7-19, "I can never escape from your presence."
The image of God not leaving your well-being to someone else and to be wiling to be on his hands and knees looking are images that are beneath the dignity of Almighty God and beyond their comprehension of who God was and how God related to people.
For us this morning, what powerful images of God's grace working preveniently in a life. That God cares about us as individuals. He truly wants the best for us. God is willing to be abundantly patient and willing to persevere all of our trials and errors. And that God does not stand still and wait for us to come back, but rather chases after us in order to giveus every opportunity to return home. He does not write us off and replace us with ten others more deserving. No, God chases after us wherever we may be. He searches high and low.
How does God do it? Sometimes it may be direct providential intervention that God reaches out and touches our life in a way that we realize he wants us home. Other times, probably most often, God uses people and circumstances to raise our awareness about his love. Maybe someone you work with or play golf with? Maybe it is a new church service being started in your neighborhood?
But how does this apply to us this morning? It applies in so many ways if we are ready to receive it. And the beginning stages of receiving God's grace is facing the reality of our current situation. Are we the "one"? Or are we the "ninety-nine"? Do we know we need God's help, or are we still in the denial phase thinking we can make it on our own? I mean, aren't we here in church. How could we be lost, when we are so obviously present? Listening to a man in a dress preach is the very definition of being found in my view. Would you agree with me, however, that the Pharisees in our text this morning appeared that way as well to the outside world? They did all the right things, showed up for the right causes, made the right statements, and yet we see where they were in just as much need of being found as anyone else.
I want us to drop pretenses a bit for this morning. Actually, I would hope we could be transparent all the time, especially in this place. We have hurts don't we. We have fear in our lives that keep us up at night. We tend to want control in our lives at the cost of all else. We have to appear successful and with it or face our worst nightmare of getting set outside of society. Becoming one of "those" people. In your mind, look around and take stock of who is with you in this room. We all pretty much look the part, act the part, dress the part, and speak the part. We are the 99!? Or are we?
I know about appearances. My life has been about keeping up appearances. I graduated from Texas A&M and immediately set out on a career in business. One problem, God wanted me to do something else. No matter. I figured there would always be time, after getting rich, to serve God. Golf evangelism, that was going to be my calling. So I became an accountant at a moving and storage company. After the Controller left, I was asked to assume his duties and I did with great fervor. I was so proud of my newfound title, "comptroller". I had made it, the rest of my peers were schlepping away at some menial jobs and here I was the accounting department of a $4million business. But it was all a sham. We were hemorrhaging cash at unbelievable rates. We owed the Fed and State govts hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Controller left because he saw the righting on the wall, but me, I was happy to have the title and the notoriety. It eventually was sold and I lost my job. So I went back to school. Because if I couldn't have titles, I at least could have degrees. It wasn't until I had failed about six more times and put the family on the brink of financial, emotional, and spiritual ruin did I finally wake up and realize God was going to chase me for the rest of my life. It was time for me to stop running and allow God to pick me up and take me home. Home for me was this place at this time. I am home which is why in many respects, the rest of this story pains me even more. For you see, we have the propensity to be found, and then slip off again and again.
I slipped away last week. I have to tell you, and I shouldn't tell you but I am going to, I was deflated after last week. My ego took a big hit. I had wrapped so much up into my preaching being something that would bring you back week after week. I wanted to be that guy. That preacher who always was on and never had an off day. And last week, whether true or not, I felt like I did not connect. I felt like I had let a bunch of people down, and more importantly, I had lost whatever personal achievement I had been striving for. I was embarrassed and felt very inadequate. I don't say this to get your sympathy or anything else except to make this point. God found me this week. He found me in the midst of my depression and self-pity. He found me in the midst of my putting on aires as usual. God found me and I came to realize that this is God's place, His doing, His kingdom. I am but one person who is hoping to be used by God. Nothing more than a beggar pointing, waiving, thrashing about to show others how to find the banquet table that has been prepared for all of us. God does not need my perfection, my talent, my giftedness, God can do just fine with my willingness.
And what about you? Have you been running from God? Hiding from his calling on your life to accept his son as your personal savior? Making a beeline away from any type of commitment that would "change your life". Are you in the midst of putting on pretenses for the sake of others? Or you in a place where you have wondered off out of lack of discipline or excitement of the lifestyle? I just wonder, is it easier to be the 1 who knows how far away they are, or the 99 who think they are close and can't come to grips with the reality of the situation?
All I know is this: God has been chasing you all your life. He has been looking behind every rock you have hid behind. There is not distance that He will not travel to get you and bring you home. Will you make today the day you are found?
Monday, October 15, 2007
Devotional Thought: Written on our Hearts
Lectionary text for Sunday October 21st: Jeremiah 31:27-34
God says that there will come a day when God will make a new covenant that will be carried upon the hearts and minds of his people. No longer will they need an intercessor to hear from God, for God will be with them. The New Testament uses the image of the body as the Temple of God replacing the "temporary" site in Jerusalem with a permanent dwelling place of the God Most High. God is unwilling for you and me to live without relating to Him. It goes completely against God's nature to say that a person is lost without hope. For God spares no energy or effort or circumstance in helping us to see His love and His imprint on our lives.
But do we see or notice it? Are we so busy that the flowers in spring and the meadows in bloom fail to point us toward the One who is behind all of it? Is our life too complex to see the simplicity of a Mother's hug or a friend's handshake as a sign that relationships are possible and the ultimate Relator is waiting for us at our next breath?
May we stop long enough today to sense God's presence. May we stop long enough tomorrow to give that hug or handshake to a person in need of God's presence in their lives. For it is written in our hearts and upon our minds. We are inately aware of God's omnipotent hand at work attempting to draw us closer to Him minute by minute. Will we stop and allow His gravitational pull of love to bring us in?
The Prodigal Father
Sermon Manuscript
Text 15:11-32
Speaking of perspectives, my wife Susan and I have little running difference of opinion on the length of our sons hair. I like it cut using a # 1 guard on the clippers. It cuts the hair very close so that you can see the scalp. The short hair makes grooming a snap and morning so easy for us all. It also gives him a real linebacker, aka Brian Urlacher, look. Sleek, strong, mean! However, my wife thinks he looks like he just came out of San Quentin Maximum Security. The barber I usually take him to has caught on that Susan is not happy with a short cut and refuses to do it anymore. Now this is not one of those things that are right or wrong, well I am right, but don't tell her. But it highlights the fact that we all have perspective in life. And that if you want to sleep in the house, don't have your sons hair cut too short. That little guy is sneaky too. When we get to the barber he tells me, "Dad, I want my hair really short." Then after we get home and he sees that his Mom is angry he says, "Mom, I told Dad I didn't want it this short, but he wouldn't listen." Throws me right under the bus! But the day that he will be driving is coming and I will literally and figuratively hold the keys then.
Rabbi's say that the Scripture is like a precious gem. As we peer into it's truth, we begin to see new things. As the light hits our life (i.e.. experiences, tragedies, joys), we come to the sacred text with new eyes and God is able to show us a fuller and richer meaning at times. That is why we can read a passage many times and yet God speaks to us in new ways through it.
We are looking at a very familiar story today. One that we have heard many times from the pulpit, read many books with this plot line, and seen many renditions upon TV and the movies. There is a cottage industry of entertainment that surrounds this story. So, it would be easy for us to simply look past it in some way. The parables Jesus told were meant to make a central point or theme. They were useful because they connected with the people of his day by using everyday examples. But we have to be careful, the parables were not intended to create intricate systematic theologies. Therefore, if taken too far, they become dangerously absurd.
And so it is we enter this passage in gospel of Luke's 15th chapter. The story of the Prodigal ______? The prodigal son is the subheading most bible's place on this section. Prodigal meaning lavishness characterized by being wasteful. Meaning that it is so extravagant that it goes beyond the point of necessity. But what if the sons were not the focus of Jesus' parable? What if, instead of the sons, the focus was the father of the sons. It is no stretch to think that this is true. For instance, the first line of the parable was "there was a man who had two sons." That gives us every indication that the story is about a father. Look at the parables that precede this one, which we will look at more closely next week. A man has a hundred sheep; and a woman has ten silver coins are the headings. And what does the sub-title say? Parable of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin. But neither of these stories focus upon the action of the sheep or coin. They focus upon the action of the finder.
So let's look at this Scripture through the eyes of the finder father and see what is there for us to see. Turn to Luke 15 with me. And as you do, let me make a quick side-note or two. I realize very well that many of our theologies about God being a Heavenly Father come from the relationship we have with our own father. If it was good and life-giving, we have no problems with the concept of a heavenly father. If however, our earthly father was not a positive influence or even if he was/is a destructive influence, many have big problems with the concept of God being a heavenly father. The father Jesus presents in the parable can't be justifiably compared to any earthly father. We are fallen individuals in need of God's help.
Two sons and a farm large enough to need laborers and overseers, the father was surely blessed. In this agrarian economy, land and the ability to produce goods was chief among industries. In the pecking order of society, this father was indeed at the top. Not only was the farm large, he was also blessed by having sons to pass on his name and an asset which was productive and life sustaining for both his family and others. During this day and time, sons were coveted and looked upon as gifts from God. These two sons had grown to be contributing members of the household. It would have been the custom for them to work on the farm and thereby continue to support the family throughout the generations.
And so the story begins. The younger son, often equated in Middle Easter literature, as "lazy and irresponsible" asks that his father divide the estate and pay him out. This father who gave him life, brought him to manhood, and provided a livelihood for this son and any family he may have was told, "this is not enough." In terms of this culture, the younger asked for a division of property that only took place upon the death of the patriarch. He was telling his father, "You are dead to me." Rather than exerting his authority as patriarch which would have been his privilege, the father allows the younger son to have his way and therefore revoked the customs of the day, revoked the family unity, and honoring his request to be out of the family.
What happens next is right out of some Hollywood movie. Through a life of fast or loose or prodigious living, the younger son loses it all. Blows his entire inheritance. Trades lifetime security for a moment of pleasure. Mortgages his future for his present. And it is time to pay the piper. Unable to support himself any longer which was compounded by a great famine in the land, he must subject himself to a Gentile farmer who asks him to feed the pigs. The dreaded and most dirty of all animals according to the Jewish eating customs. Have you seen the show "The World's Dirtiest Jobs", this would have been a scene out of that show. Not only was the younger son dirty on the outside, but he was also considered unclean by the moral codes of the day. He was untouchable, unwanted, and unapproachable. Thrown out into the fields and thrown out by the world.
Verse 17 says that he finally came to his senses. But was it about how he had hurt his father and family? Was it out of a repentant heart and yearning to make things right? No. He was hungry and figured there was at least food for him if he could figure out a way to get back in his father's somewhat good graces. Notice, the text never says that his sorrow made him turn, it was his stomach. And so a man, so low in life's economy that begging and pleading for a meal is a step up goes back to his fathers house. He has not pride to swallow anymore. Nothing to lose at all.
And what about the older son of this father. Don't miss verse 31 which says, "all that I have is yours." Because the younger received his inheritance, the older received his too. Had to be that way in the custom of the day. And it wouldn't have been 50/50, the older would have received a double portion of the inheritance. The split would have been more like 66/33. So he now "holds the keys to the entire kingdom" and is the head of the family. He benefited from the younger son's actions big time. And instead of opening up his arms to his lost brother's return, he turns his back on his father and the son. Verse 30 says that "when this son of yours", which indicates he has not taken anyone back and has disassociated himself with the entire family.
Jesus was telling this story in a society that was based upon a culture of shame. Shame, or more exactly the avoidance of shame was the motive that kept the society in line. Our western culture is built upon justice. The fact that you can be locked away keeps a majority of society's nose clean. But in Jesus day, just as it is in much of the Eastern part of the world, shame was the motive that kept society in line. If you lost your standing in the society, it was not returned to you.
And that was what made this story so powerful for those listening to Jesus. The father's love for his sons superseded whatever shame they may have caused him. He refused to disassociate himself with those who were bringing him shame and heartache. In fact, he was willing to bear shame in order to show his love and provide an avenue for them to come back into relationship.
And this story shows that no amount of shame can run the father off. For instance, this father bore shame as he divided his estate pre-death. That just simply didn't happen that a patriarch would give up his legacy and authority to anyone prior to death. He bore his shame as a son pronounced him prematurely dead. The acts of the younger son brought great shame to the father as the one who had raised this child. The shame continued as it becomes apparent that the father stood on the porch and looked for the younger son to return. It was shameful for the father to run in public, much less run after a son who had brought such grief upon him. It was shameful for the father to touch the son, much less embrace and kiss him. By these acts, the father shared in the younger son's uncleanness. It was shameful that the meal was prepared and the son was being adorned with gifts that were not earned nor were they actually his anymore. It was shameful for the father to run into a field after the elder son and beg him to come into the house. He bore more shame when he was rejected by the very own who was carrying his namesake and responsible for his livelihood. And the ultimate shame was being declared non-family by the second son in the same manner as the first. And yet he remained steadfast and faithful to the very end.
Do we dare miss the image of the father's love causing him shame? Do we dare call this love weak? Do we dare ask what difference did it make? Do we dare say this theology is risky? The father's love is unconditional. It is given without merit. We want rewards, the father wants relationship. The father's love is weak in worldly terms. No matter what the offense, he loved first and worried about consequences later. We want justice, the father wants relationship. The father's love did make a difference. It allowed one to return and be restored. The text said he went from a stage of death to life. And it so offended another that he turned away completely. We want predictable results, the father wants relationship. The father's love was risky. What was to prevent the younger son from repeating his actions over and over again? What was to prevent the older son from throwing them all off the farm because of his disappointment? You see, we want guarantees, the father wants relationships.
The father love was complete. The father's love was strong enough to bear whatever shame this world would have in order to give both son's the space to come home. The father bears the shame so that the sons can live without it. The father is willing to be subjected to any and all types of social shame for the benefit of his beloved children.
And isn't that exactly what Jesus did for us on the Cross. Stripped bare and killed outside Jerusalem on a garbage heap for the entire world to see. He was shamed so that we can have the opportunity to leave ours in the past. When our perspective changes to focus on the father's love, God's love, it no longer matters what our past has been. When we focus on God's love, we no longer need to have all the answers to life. When we focus on God's love, we no longer need the perfect time or reason or circumstance to come back home. All we must realize is God's amazing grace is available for each of us. We are hungry, and God will provide.
Surprised by GRACE: Stories From an Unashamed Savior. Join me over the next five weeks as we continue exploring how our heavenly father loves us and how our acceptance of his love changes us.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Devotional Thought: Bloom Where Planted
(Jeremiah 29: 1-7)1 Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. 2 This was after King Jehoiachin,(1 )the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah, and all the craftsmen had been deported from Jerusalem. 3 He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah's ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. This is what Jeremiah's letter said: 4 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5 "Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food you produce. 6 Marry, and have children. Then find spouses for them, and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray to the LORD for that city where you are held captive, for if Babylon has peace, so will you."
The Jeremiah passage is one of the lectionary passages for the week ending October 14th. In it, God speaks to the nation of Israel through Jeremiah. King Nebuchadnezzar had taken much of the ruling party to Babylon where they stayed in exile. God's message to the Jews in exile was a simple one: bloom where you are planted. "Build homes", God says, "and plan to stay. Plant gardens and eat the food they produce."
In effect, God was saying to stop looking forward solely to tomorrow and start living for today. Stop wishing things were different, and see the beauty of what is right in front of you. Don't plan your life around what "might be", but rather live your life in "what is".
Now that doesn't mean we don't hope for a bright future. That we don't yearn for a day where our troubles will go away. But it does mean that today's reality is just as important, in whatever manner it exists, as tomorrow's possibility. In fact, might it be that what we do faithfully today will be used by God to bring about our future?
Monday, October 8, 2007
Picture from the First Service
First Service Video Clip
A great big thanks to Ernie Stamper for this video compilation. To activate, click once on the arrow in the middle of the picture and then click once on the arrow at the bottom left hand corner.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
First Service at Andover Update
Today was a historic day in the life of First Church Andover as we celebrated morning worship and Holy Communion for the first time. A special debt of gratitude to the many people who were involved in readying the building over the past three plus months. The facility has undergone a major facelift and we have many people to thank for it.
The remodeling phase is just about complete and we turn our attention to the reason First Church exists. Our mission is to invite, equip and deploy faithful followers of Jesus Christ. We do this through a variety of ways as we worship, pray, study, and serve as a congregation.
It was wonderful to see many of you today and hope you will make a point to come back next Sunday. If you were unable to make morning worship today, we want to make sure to invite you to services next Sunday at 11:00am.
We will be starting a sermon series entitled SURPRISED BY GRACE: Stories From an Unashamed Savior. This series takes an in-depth look at several of Jesus' parables with a hope to understand the depths of God's love for us all.
A couple of dates to note: 1.) Sunday School for all ages begins on November 4th from 9:45 - 10:45. 2.) Small group ministry begins on January 6th.
Sermon Manuscript: Your Story
There are several ways to start a conversation that are truly attention grabbers. For instance, I got a ticket today. I won the lottery. I saved $100 on my car insurance. The Beatle's are getting back together. Elvis was spotted. You are probably thinking, "what a day!" These are all statements that solicit a similar effect: you want to know the story. You can't but help to think about what I was doing when I got a ticket, or why is the minister playing lotto, or I didn't know you even had a car. Some of you might never have known that the Beatle's broke up or that Elvis was dead. But in the end, our interest is piqued and we yearn to know as Paul Harvey says, "the rest of the story."
I am not sure about you, but my favorite time to go to Sam's wholesale club is on a Saturday morning. Let me explain myself a bit. You see on Saturday mornings, the store is filled with friendly people offering samples of items. Literally, the family can go and have a great lunch if you plan it right. The key is to take your kids and have them go down the aisles multiple times asking for the handout. Marshall, go down that aisle and get another snausage for your Mom and little Melisa ask the nice lady for another piece of cheesecake. It is good to have kids! But as good as the samples are, they don't fully satisfy your hunger but rather are items to get you to buy the full package, take it home and ingest it while watching football on the couch.
So it is with the first Scripture we read this morning, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." It describes the entirety of Scripture in one sentence and begs the full story to be discovered. Who is this God that had a Son? What about everlasting life? Perish from what? What do we need to believe about him? And the questions go on and on only to be fulfilled by a more complete understanding of the story that comes from the entirety of Scripture.
Since you will want to leave by at least three o-clock today, I will not survey the Bible from front to back. I instead want us to look at the passage in Luke 22 to try to come to a fuller understanding of the what is widely regarded as the greatest story ever told. Today is the first step of a long journey through Scripture that I plan to lead us on. If you are looking for all the answers, I will go ahead and apologize now for I have more questions than answers for you. But if you believe, like I do, that those who seek will find, those who knock the door will be answered, and those who ask will receive, then you know that answers come not from someone telling you what to believe, but rather when we come together and grapple with Scripture and are open to answers old and new.
Let me set the stage for a moment. Jesus is in an upper room in Jerusalem with his twelve apostles (the people he personally chose to invest himself in during three years of ministry.) They are all Jewish men who have been with Jesus day and night and have seen many great signs and wonders: miracles of healing, wise teaching, lives being transformed by the forgiveness of sins. They sit in this room to remember the most important story for the Jews: the Passover. This is when God directed the Jewish people who were slaves in Egypt to kill an unblemished lamb and smear the blood over the doorpost. The angel of death would then passover all homes that had been so marked. All the other homes would suffer the loss of all firstborn sons and livestock. This was the defining event which convinced Pharaoh to let the Israelites go from captivity. And God, wanting the Jews to never forget this event, instituted a Passover celebration which was an intricate meal meant to tell the story so that it would never be forgotten.
And so here they are, awaiting a ritual meal they had participated in many times. Jesus addresses them by saying he is excited about sharing this meal with them before he must suffer. The apostle's must have been puzzled. Suffer? What a minute Jesus, you have been talking about your Kingdom being at hand. In fact, James and John, two brothers, had just previously asked if they could be placed into positions of significance in the upcoming administration. Jesus came to take over and vanquish the Roman empire. He was the Messiah and the Messiah did not come to suffer but to conquer. Surely they must have simply misheard or misunderstood. Strange, but they had heard Jesus say similar things before and had chosen to not pay attention or give them credence.
During the meal, Jesus took a loaf of bread. He broke it, looked at them and said these words which must have haunted them for days. He said, this is my body which is broken for you. Take and eat, each of you. I can almost hear Peter, the man of action, thinking now. Jesus, your body will not be broken. And it definitely will not be broken for me. Why just last week we rode into Jerusalem in the midst of a great parade given just for you. And you then showed your authority and strength by going to the temple and clearing out all the people selling goods. Suffer? Broken? Hardly! I wonder if the fumes from the lights are causing him to be delusional?
And after the supper, he took what many believe to be the third cup, the cup that signified redemption based upon the text in Exodus 6:6-7. And he looked at them and said these words. This cup represents the new covenant which will be convened with my blood being poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. I can hear Matthew's mind racing to the scriptures of the prophet Jeremiah who said, God will make a new covenant with his people Israel. He will take the written law and write it on the minds of the people put it deep in each heart. Could Jesus be setting up the new covenant at this time? If so, could the end time be far behind? Will God's people rise again and be the powerful nation they once were under King David and Solomon?
Even those closest to Jesus were missing the point. And it hasn't stopped since. Brian McLaren writes in his book, "The Secret Message of Jesus"
"What if Jesus of Nazareth was right - more right and right in different ways, than we have ever realized. What if Jesus had a message that truly could change the world, but we're prone to miss the point of it? What if many have carried on a religion that faithfully celebrates Jesus in ritual and art, teaches about Jesus in sermons and books, sings about Jesus in songs and hymns, and theorizes about Jesus in seminaries and classrooms…but somewhere along the way missed rich and radical treasures hidden in the essential message of Jesus?"
So much insight to be gleaned from this narrative. But you know what? Have we missed the forest for all the trees? The best stories are the ones we can identify with. They are real to our life and not simply words on a page or a silver screen. The problem with personalizing the story is that we begin to pick and choose what we want to see and hear from it.
How do we fit into this picture of selfless giving and undeserved charity? It is not by mistake that you are here today. Just like the apostles in the upper room, each of us is here as part of a spiritual journey we are on and we are hoping for something from God to take us to that next step. Some of us are like James and John, the sons of thunder. We are hoping for a better place in life with our careers, or families, or in society.
Others are like Peter, ready to defend the faith even if we don't have all the facts or our actions are not in sync with God's will. We are impetuous and think we have it all figured out. We know which direction we are heading and just hope that God will see it our way. We have tugged on our bootstraps and are bound and determined to make it on our own.
And still others of us have many more questions than answers. Can God love me after all that I have done? Will God's people accept me? Will I ever be able to accept myself? God says he is all-powerful, but my life has been full of tragedy and bad stuff. Where is God?
And to all of us, Jesus says these words. Will you accept them today, maybe for the thousandth time or just maybe for the first. This is my body which is given for you. This is the new covenant made by my blood being shed for you and all others for the forgiveness of your sins.
For you see, in the beginning, there was, and is, and will be a God who loved you so much that He sent his only son Jesus. Not to conquer you, but to come alongside and show you what true love really is and to invite you to partake of a relationship with the creator of the universe. He did this by laying down his life as a ransom for your life. Pure and simple, his life for yours. And, as simplistic as it may seem, believing that Jesus did these things for you is the key to finding eternal, abundant, joyful and peaceful life regardless of our past. You and I neither deserve or it have done anything for it, it is a free gift given to all of humanity. And as with any true gift, it is our to freely accept or reject.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
First Service Herald Leader Article
http://lexingtonherald.com/158/story/195576.html