PARABLES OF PRAYER

Sermon Summary, “Parables of Jesus: Prayer” Luke 11:1;5-13: 18:1-8, July 24, 2016

I remember my Mom teaching me to to pray.  I was three or four.  “And take special care of Uncle Dean.”  I was too young to know who God was and as I read these parables, I wonder if it is more important to know how to pray or to know the nature of the God to whom we are praying?  How or who?  As it turns out, Jesus did both.  “Our Father..” Then he teaches us the nature of God.

In the first parable (space necessitates leaving the reading to you), a man knocks on the door of a friend at midnight, begging for bread to show hospitality to a guest and is rebuffed until the friend finally gives in because of his persistence.  In the second, a reluctant secular judge finally gives a poor widow justice, not because of he was just, but because she was a pest.  William Barclay calls these parables of contrast.  God is NOT like that.  In verse Luke 11:13, Jesus says, “how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Holy Spirit.  This is the key.  We do not always get what we ask for and in retrospect, we know how often that would have been harmful to us or to others.  But we always, always receive the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.  It is the nature of God to be present with us, to be available for conversation with every breath we take and every step we make.  For Jesus, prayer was part of him, with every breath.  With every breath we take and every step we make.

God answers our petitions with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  I picture my life as a series of forks in the road, paths that I must choose.  I know this, if I ask the Holy Spirit, I am far more likely to choose the correct path.  Sometimes I’m wrong and end up on the wrong path because of my free will.  Sometimes I end up on the wrong path because of the free will of others (remember he story of Joseph being thrown into prison because of Potiphar’s wife?).  Even on the wrong path, God is with us and will allow us to make the best of it.  Constant communication with every breath we take and every step we make.  I guess that’s what Paul meant when he said, “All things work for Good for those who love God..”  God has given us his Holy Spirit for the asking.

Before finishing, “Uncle Dean,” prayer of intercession, really a prayer of “Thy kingdom come..”  My Uncle Dean could only be safe if the kingdom is breaking through where he is, where he and others around him and creation are within the will of God.  “Thy kingdom come..” is no small prayer. 

PARABLES: ALL IN

Sermon Summary, “Parables of Jesus: All In” Matthew 13:44-46, July 17, 2016

CH Dodd said, “At its simplest the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.”   A metaphor set along side a complex concept to reveal a spiritual truth.  Vivid, Jesus once told of putting manure around a tree for three years.  Strange, mysteries to tease the mind.

Today Jesus tells stories of the Kingdom and asks are we “All in”?  Are we?  At its simplest, the Kingdom is where God rules, where his will is done.  At it’s more complex, Jesus told seven different parables to share the complexities of the Kingdom.  Today, the great worth of the Kingdom.

Important to note that the Kingdom is “Both/And.”  It is both a current and future reality.  It is breaking in now in the presence of Jesus, but it’s not quite yet.  And we know that it is a future reality.  The Gospel of John does not use the term the Kingdom of God, but “Eternal Life.”  Your eternal life begins now and is a future reality. “Those who believe in me will never die.”

The question for today remains “Are we all in?”  Are we?

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

A plowman in a field going about his business stumbles over a treasure, finds of such value that he reburies it, goes and sells all he has and buys the whole field.  First hearers would have said, “The dummy, it was finders keepers.  He didn’t have to buy the field.  The treasure was already his!”  But he had to make sure  he was “all in.”

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; ⁴⁶ on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Now we have a man who not just accidently finds the kingdom of great worth but has been searching his entire life for it and yet, it is of so much more value than he expected that he sold all that he had and bought the one pearl.  He went all in.

I love the song from "Godspell," "Day by Day."  "Day by day, day by day.  O dear Lord, three things I pray: to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly, to follow you more nearly, day by day."  I think that's what it means to be all in, to invest ourselves in the Word of God to see him more clearly; to continually converse with God, prayer, that continuous of conversation to love him more dearly; then to ask what it means to love my neighbor and to discover what it means to follow him more nearly.

Will we find the kingdom of great worth, our eternal life?  Will we make it our business, day by day, by Word, by prayer, by following?

PARABLES: COMMENDING DISHONESTY

Sermon Summary, “Parables of Jesus: Commending Dishonesty” Luke 16:1-13, July 3, 2016

We begin a new series on the parables of Jesus with my least favorite parable.  While most are difficult, Jesus always left a little doubt so that we wrestled with the application, this one may be the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, most ambiguous of all.  And it’s about money.  Maybe that’s why I don’t like it.

Actually, Jesus talked more about money than any other topic save the Kingdom.  Even the lost sheep (a family asset), the lost coin, and the lost son (he squandered his property) were about money.  One of every seven verses in Luke is about money.

But don’t you hate it when others get involved in your finances, when God gets involved in your finances?  I know a family that is deeply in debt but still buys the newest model muscle car each and every year.  It puts stress on them, their family and their marriage.  Maybe that’s why God is interested in our finances.  By the way, another reason is that we make more financial decisions each day than any other kind.  In some ways, our lives are defined by our financial decisions.

“There was a rich man”  (I’ll leave you to read the verses)  who summoned his manger to fire him.  Alarmed the manager became very clever in a time of crisis.  “I know what I’ll do, I’ll indebt my master’s debtors using his money so when I’m fired they will invite me into his home.  I’ll build a bridge to my future.”

Then guess what?  The manager called the sheriff?  No.  He commended the dishonest manager.  “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly...and I tell you, make friends with your accusers b means of dishonest wealth [earthy riches] so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into their eternal homes.”  In other words, build bridges to your eternal home.

The secret to this parable is how God views money.  He views it, all of it, as a tool to eternity.  What if for one week, or one day, or one hour, we viewed our assets as a tool to eternity?  What if we slept on our financial decisions?  Prayed about them?  Asked how our financial decisions contribute to our eternal wealth? A tool to eternity.

I’m reminded of a story of a Nun who had taken a vow of poverty who was wrestling with a decision to buy a computer printer. She finally did.  When asked if she’d won, she said if she ever stopped wrestling with those decisions, she would lose.  So be it with us. 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Sermon Summary, “Life of Meaning: Making a Difference” July 3, 2016

A man tells his Rabbi “I haven’t been able to sleep for three weeks.  A colleague passed away, my age, my neighborhood, our children played together, he sat just a few desks from me.  Last week a new man was hired to sit at desk, his wife decided to move the kids back home.  She’s gone already.  The house is for sale.  It’s as if he never existed.  Rabbi, that will happen to me too.  It will happen to me and a few days later it will be as if I never lived.  Shouldn’t a person’s life be worth more than that?”

We’ve been searching for a life that matters.  Life is the little things, the truly human things we do each and every day: Belong to people; accept pain as a part of life or we’d never dare to hope or love; today, make a difference, make a difference in the life of another and be remembered.

I’ve thought about the people here that make a difference: Ronnie and Sue with Spirit Riders.  I met a girl last Sunday that has been coming to CrossWind ranch for eight years.  A lot can rub off in eight years.   I think of Scout Masters in Columbia who are also great dads.  Of the stories my aunt told about my Mom, teacher her so many things, of a farmer who gathered the young farmers each and every week to talk about farming, of the farm wives who nurtured an Italian war bride who knew nothing about living in America., of a friend of mine in Jeff City, 79 years old, who meets every week with a teenager without an influential adult in his life.

Colin Powell tells us that mentoring in about passing on a 100 generations of knowledge to the next generation.  A 100 generations.  Elisha asked his mentor Elijah for a double portion of his spirit.  Who do you want to inherit a double portion of your spirit?

It could be close to home.  Susanna Wesley spent one hour every week, one-on-one with each of her 10 children to nurture their spiritual life.  It could be in the schools.  Every teacher has someone in her class that needs the presence of a loving adult.  It could be nurturing a child at a swimming hole teaching them knots and talking about life experiences that they will recall years from now.  Who do you intentionally want to inherit a double portion of your spirit?  The difference you make will give your life meaning.  Amen.

LIFE OF MEANING: PAIN

Sermon Summary, “Life of Meaning: Pain” June 26, 2016

We’re in a search for a life of meaning, the truly human things that we need to do everyday to live a life that matters.  Last week we said we need to “Belong to People,” people who are intimately and permanently a part of our lives.  This week, we learn that to live a life of meaning we need to “Accept Pain as a Part of Life,” otherwise we’d never dare to hope or to love.

Lane Graves

Lane Graves.  Two words.  That’s all we need to describe pain as a part of life.  Lane Graves.  Can you imagine?  One second Dad hand in hand with his two year old, splashing his feet in the water, the next second in the jaws of an alligator.  Can you imagine the pain?

Life is not fair.  We need to accept that and teach others to, yet we live in a society that is adverse to pain.  “There is a pill for that.”  Life should be a party.  Not accepting that had lead to alcoholism, pill addiction, a small-town heroin epidemic, suicide of both teens and adults.  “I can’t face tomorrow, so I’ll leave others the pain.”  Yet I believe if asked, Lane Graves’ parents would say “In spite of the pain, we’ll take the love and joy of the two years we had with him.  We’ll accept the pain otherwise how could we have hope and love for our daughter and others.”  

The Teacher, the author of Ecclesiastes sees us as nothing different than the animals (Ecc 2:18-21).  What he misses is that we can choose.  We can choose to love, to hope, to accept the pain of life.  Had he read the scrolls of Job, possibly the oldest manuscripts in the Bible, in which the sages have dealt with the issues of pain and why good people suffer, he would have found that maybe God doesn’t answer the question, maybe there is mystery about life that we need to deal with, as Job says, “things too wonderful for me to know.”  But what he does know is that steadfastness in God is the thing that restores him and allows him to hope and to love again.

Rosemary and I met with friends this past week we hadn’t seen for 20 years.  Ken and Stephanie had a baby diagnosed with meningitis when just five months old requiring care for a lifetime.  It changed the trajectory of their lives.  Stephanie says when everything was stripped away was when she came face to face with God, and that was when she saw the marginalized through the her daughter.  And through seeing the marginalized, Stephanie was called to ministry as a Chaplain.

Ken and Stephanie know that God did not cause their daughter’s illness or their pain, but God was there to walk through the pain, to allow them accept the pain, and to live with hope and love.  Amen.

LIFE OF MEANING: CHIMP(S)

Sermon Summary, “Life of Meaning: Chimp(s)” June 19, 2016

Ever been to the zoo?  You may find clues to a life of meaning at the Chimp cage.  Picture a cage with a single chimp, then another with two or more.  An observer might day, “One chimpanzee is no chimpanzee.”  Chimps need one another to be chimps.

I have to admit to choosing lonely professions.  The military is highly competitive and frequent moves make it difficult to make close friends.  My Uncle chose an Air Force career and to this day his trusted friends are the ones he made 65 years ago at Annapolis.  I can say that my best friend remains by college best friend.  We need to cultivate friends.

We need friends to talk to confide in to work things out.  And different friends give us  a different perspective.  I have an acquaintance, Greg,  who in testimony tells that it was his Christian small group that saved his marriage.  Another who was head over heels in love and told his Dad, his best friend, that he was leaving his wife.  It was the only way he could be happy.  His Dad told him “You have no right to be happy.  Now get your butt back home and put your marriage back together.”  Guess what?  He did and he was happy.  Intimate friends can enrich your lives and yes, they can also change the direction of your lives.

John Wesley knew that we needed others, friends, to share with and to keep us accountable.  If you were a Methodist, you were part of a small group.  For young people, by gender.  Young men and woman have different problems.  Would my friend Greg above have mentions marriage issues in mixed company? 

As we age, our circle of friends diminishes.  On other fried we can rely on is Jesus.  We can share everything with Jesus.  And why not, he knows everything already!  The Bible has much to say about friends.  Jesus had friends, twelve, and an inner circle of close friends, Peter, James and John.  “Jesus wept” as he approached the tomb of his friend Lazarus. The overarching theme of the Bible is love. Love requires friends.

Who do you have a cup of coffee with?  Are you cultivating your friendships?  Be intentional.  How about with Jesus?  Schedule a coffee time with him, ask him about his life events, baptism, temptations.  Have him ask you about your thoughts, too.

What does it take to be truly human?  The first thig is to Belong to People, a few people that are intimately and permanent part of your lives.  A life without such people might be rich in other terms, but in human terms it is no life at all.  Belong to people.

LEGACY OR LIFE OF MEANING

Sermon Summary, “Legacy or Life of Meaning?” June 12, 2016

Too often we equate a life of meaning with legacy or greatness: Monumental achievements, writing great books, winning great prizes, scaling mountains.  Great achievements, winning medals may be fine, but do they provide a life of meaning?  Thirty years ago I read a book by Rabbi Harold Kushner which he based on the Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon, who had accumulated more wealth than anyone else, built greater buildings, owned more horses, had more wives and concubines than anyone else, ever, yet in the final analysis he found it all vain, “vanity and chasing after the wind.”  Not treasure, not pleasure, not wisdom, not great works, not sexual conquest, “there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”  (Ecc 2:11b)

Kushner concluded that “it was not immortal deeds that give life meaning, but a lot of little ones, what we do every day.  The challenge is not to rise above the level of everyday life by superhuman effort.  The challenge is to find something truly human to do every day of our lives.”Jesus taught his disciples (and us) something similar: “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mk 9:35)

So our task the next three weeks is to search out those truly human things that can give our lives meaning. 

Dorothy and Family.  And Yes, That's "Dorothy Beer"

First a story:  Two weeks ago Rosemary and I attended a surprise 80th birthday party.  It was a surprise on serval levels.  It was not her birthday, and it was not her party.  It was her grandson’s high school graduation party.  Her family was there, and friends, and the town.  The big party was really for Dorothy, a farm wife who had never gone to college, had never written a book, or a poem, had seen the Black Hills but never had climbed them, had never done any of the things that we associate with greatness, but I would suggest she has done all the things Jesus said provided meaning.  She had been married our of high school and had given herself to the family and community since.  After her last child was in school, she got a job in the Soil Conservation office.  If she hadn’t known everyone in the entire county before, she did now.  But that wasn’t all.  After retiring at the age of 65, she got a job cooking at the Senior Center, standing in the serving line conversing with all that came through.  Every day was a day of service.  Every conversation was a truly human conversation.  Everyone knew, really knew Dorothy.

As the party discussions went on, I reflected on church that morning, the front two pews filled with her family, her daughter playing, her grandchildren around her.  She had attended that little church from the time she was a toddler.  This is where she had learned that doing great things didn’t matter, that loving and caring and serving mattered, and that it was truly human things that gave life meaning.  This church is where she learned it, and she lives it. So may we learn it and live it too.