"Cross-Roads;" 2nd Sunday of Lent sermon by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Jesus said to His disciples in today’s Gospel: ²⁹…“But who do you say that I am?” Peter of course answers in saying that Jesus is the Messiah.  Messiah means literally the Anointed One. Set aside and appointed, consecrated by God for mission, ministry.  As we know, Jesus’ mission was to bear the Cross to indeed make us “right” again with God the Father. Peter and the disciples however, were having a hard time as we know, with what Jesus would continue to challenge and reveal to them…

The Reformation battle-cry that has echoed for over 500 years has been that wonderful epiphany, conversion-fed heart-knowledge that St. Paul would pastorally share in his letter to the Romans. This great realization is our most daunting discipleship challenge: “¹Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.”

For nearly two thousand something years after that statement of “Justification by faith, through Grace;” we have gone to battle either for the Word or honestly… against it.  Human creatures that we are, we still can’t truly come to grips with what Christ has called us to be.  We act more often like Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “To Be, Or not to Be?” That’s been our question we’ve avoided in truly and truthfully answering…  Or when we have thought that we have answered God’s call and commissioning over our lives; we still try to do it on our own terms!

In fact, living more intentionally into or “unto ourselves” (& its gospel…) over and above the Will of God has become a new kind of justification.  Not for the better, mind you, at all but this is where we are. Whoever said discipleship was going to be easy though?  It is a constant SPIRITUAL process of accountability in thought, word and action: reflection, confession, repentance and renewal. We will always be children, period.  This we must humbly remember deeply in our hearts as we struggle to sojourn our way into the world BUT NOT BE of it!

We have made the notion of righteousness on many levels, both a “Pandora’s box” of misunderstanding as well as a limited, confining, “exclusionary” world revolving unto ourselves.  This world revolving around the self has even written up and firmly established itself with “BAD theology.”  BAD is a label, this is human nature to label but what does it entail? BAD theology that is? Most likely a recipe of the following: No (need for) laws, No accountability, No Grace, No-need for redemption, universalized subjugation and lastly No true purpose to be a disciple to anyone or for anyone except the self....  Welcome to the “Modern, Progressive” world!

If we feel that we have “arrived,” I think God must be deeply saddened by our resolve! I started thinking about this after the text study I am in every Saturday morning.  Each and every Saturday, my pastoral peers and I gather and share our week as well as share with each other areas we feel we need each other to grow in and be prayerfully shaped by to be and become even more transformed to live and love for both God and neighbor.

This week in particular I was spiritually challenged not to cave into the temptation of returning graceless behavior in the face of arguing with someone about their perspective on pastoral leadership theology.  As we know all too well sadly in our human response as the “church” in the world, we are all fairly divided. Some divisions as well are fueled by intolerance and prejudice in the “guise of justice…”  All these divisions are man-made brought on upon the adversary’s divisiveness placating our discipleship journeys with convenient “doors” and politically-open “windows.”  I caved in and returned their graceless behavior in the form of graceless sarcasm.

Being screamed at on the phone and hearing all kinds of hateful horrible things about what this person labelled me and “my kind” hurt and frankly pushed those buttons. My graceless response was in the form of erasing their “presence” in one of my ordination pictures.  It was fabulously sarcastic and yes… it did make “me” feel good for a little while… but who did it truly serve? Satan, that’s who!  Why couldn’t I have simply said, I love you my brother but we just have to simply say we agree to disagree, plain and simple and said Good night and God Bless?

Jesus asked His disciples a fairly simple question on one level but on another level it is our lives’ constant challenge:  If we don’t KNOW really who Jesus is in our lives actively, how can we be truly and truthfully living into who we really are?  This is especially if we do hold any sense at all that we have been saved by Grace… if we hold any sense of real faith at all in anything else BEYOND ourselves?!

We are children of God, we were given the breath of life by God the Father, creator of all things seen and unseen. The soul is the unseen aspect of the core of what makes us who we are—SPIRIT. It is the Spirit that gives us life in more ways than one.  The law of the Gospel of Grace is the fruit of our lives lived as children of the New Covenant.  Being gracious, loving compassionate ministers of the Gospel is radical… for we are to crucify our Old Natured ways of doing, thinking and being and humbly be transformed, shaped into the New Nature creations God intended for us to BE.

Wherever you are on your discipleship journey, taking up that cross with an enduring hope that surpasses all understanding from the world around you, IS where God wants you to BE and become for the sake of His Gospel. For our undeserving sakes, Jesus reveals the future of the road He must travel.  As we know from last week, right after that Baptism by John, Jesus travels into the wilderness to be tempted but endures and moves on, forward with God’s plans!

This past week also saw some blessings, for the new ministry before my feet may not seem like ministry to some but yet is another growing edge experience God has placed uniquely before me at the cross-roads to experience.  I started working at the flower shop our music minister runs.  Every Thursday and Friday, I am working with God’s beautiful creations flowers of every kind of shape, form and colors…  What has been the ministry here is not only getting to know Debra better but seeing and experiencing her hopes and dreams for ministry in sharing vision and mission together for the future of our community here. She is Church of the Nazarene and I am Lutheran.  So what, that’s what, none of that has come up whatsoever since we have only talked about Jesus, living into faith and loving neighbor.

It doesn’t matter where you are, but it does matter to KNOW whose you are and where He wants you to travel. It is not a journey to complete necessarily on your own, either.  I know I am not yet where I would like to be… I would love to be doing chaplaincy and church planting 24/7! But God has me here and now, for a reason & I have to trust, have confidence in His timing to live into a Grace-shaped Hope. St. Paul says it best: “³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

Jesus’ Words speak to our continual battle: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Indeed what can we give in return for our lives?  If we deny Jesus’ Cross—in more ways than one in the fruit of our lives lived… The only “glory” we will produce is our own destruction and the construction of the adversary, ruler of the world’s throne.

AMEN

March 1^st, 2015; 2^nd Sunday of Lent; Year B: SOLA Lectionary

Sermon By Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 22:23-31; Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 5:1-11 & Mark 8:27-38

http://youtu.be/OmVq38Ct4vA

"Leading the Extra Mile;" Sermon for the 1st Sunday of Lent by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Luther’s “favorite author,” James, actually has the most beautiful verses to drive home today’s Gospel Truth, He says: “¹⁷Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ¹⁸In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.”

Let’s digest these two verses again via the overly ample, Amplified Bible: “¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].¹⁸ And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons & daughters] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].”

What is James, taken in light of both the Old covenant and New covenant connection, being tested with? In regards to Abraham in today’s Old Testament passage from the Book of Genesis; God is the one doing the testing upon Abe’s faithful obedience.  With the New Covenant as well as today’s Gospel; it is Satan doing the testing not only upon Jesus in the wilderness, but in James’ letter where the wilderness is our heart & the turf war—spiritual warfare battle, is between faithful obedience to the Will of God versus submission to the temptations of the Evil One.

The last words to come from one of the Coptic Christian’s martyred lips was: “Jesus!”  A Word, impression, expression and Divine presence to be the seal of Grace upon our lives stories—Jesus! Son of man, Son of God, Fully Divine and Fully human we confess this…  How deeply though, is the journey and sacrifice, we all grow into as disciples of Jesus. 

That brings me to a funny realization I had the other day in thinking about being and truly/ truthfully living into the “E” word—Evangelical.  We must remember, we Lutherans have almost a near aversion or mild ambivalence to taking up the task of being EVANGELICAL all caps, full Monty style. We’d rather hide behind our ‘mighty fortress’ of man-made precedence and earthly expansiveness. But hey, we’re human, this is the reality of human nature across the board!

The other worldliness of the Kingdom of God however, is the first fruits to be born into and be transformed by… this is the Spiritual.  We are physical as well as we are spiritual, this is an existential truth that God has born us to bear.  That’s sounds painful doesn’t it? To bear… we bear burdens, we bear the cost of persevering and suffering the graceless wilderness reality of Satan’s evil all around us on this tiny little sphere (earth) floating in a vast sea of a great and glorious landscape of God’s creations! All of these “shining lights” are evolving, revolving and revealing the magnificence of God’s ALL TOO PRESENT reality: LIFE.

As we know though, when we give birth, it is painful but the Joy it brings into the world is amazing.  God’s Grace is amazing and bearing forth all around us and most importantly within us as that New Nature potential due to the reality of God coming to us through Jesus to bear our sins and BE the light of the world! The whole reality of life is a spiritual evolution and the time of Lent is our spiritual preparation for battle….

The words off the lips of that martyred Coptic Christian were from the voice of that man’s heart crying out the profound truth of what has driven his whole life’s journey: JESUS! Jesus was the healing balm and battle cry for a man to slash out with his last spirited breath before the enemy… the true victor.  This very moment reminded me of my favorite film version of the story of Jesus being Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth from 1977.

As we know, John the Baptist never became a New Covenant figure yet alone a disciple of Jesus but knew deeply where and how God was qualifying and calling him to be used for His plans. In many ways similar to Abe’s story in Genesis, John was obedient and very much an evangelist!  So much so, was John bound and determined to persevere his suffering in Herod’s prison cell, that he was unceasing in his efforts to try to talk Herod out of committing grave sin.  Herod as we know caved into temptation and “silenced” supposedly John’s voice by beheading him much like the ISIS soldier.

For all we know, Herod could’ve been using John the Baptist’s beheading as propaganda to further his cause to rule with “perfect” obedience from his subjects….  The ISIS acts are very much in the same vein, to rule with terror, paranoia and other ugly fruits of the Evil One’s plans for domination. We don’t really hear about John the Baptist’s beheading in today’s Gospel but it is alluded to.  On that same note, we haven’t heard much about the activities of ISIS except for the one’s the media’s allowed to reveal strategically that is…

These are events, places and people revealing all too clearly and profoundly just how successful evil can become in the world when we are not living deeply into our accountability to growing, harboring the reality of Grace as children of God—implanted with that New Nature capacity to Go that extra mile in loving God and neighbor.  That extra mile is that “radical” role we are called by and for faith through Grace to BEAR. My love for Jesus, my Lord and Savior is NOT an ideology… it is the fruit of the Good News impact on my soul—that invisible, non-material, abstract “entity” of the spiritual realm of who we all really are!

Life is spirit at the very core—that Spirit is Christ to whom we owe our lives in faithful, gracious response to, plain and simple. We have to stop turning away from this reality, hiding it away in our intellectual idolatries, sophistries of worldly temptations.  We have not “arrived” nor will we truly ever, for we must remember as St. Paul said that we all fall short of the Glory of God, period. We are however, all called to spiritually mature which is hard for the Old Adam and the Old Eve to bear. We are both aspiring saints as well as wanton sinners.  Truth be told as well, we really CAN’T have our cake and eat it too… though we always continue to try, to our own destruction and others’ detriment.

We need our hearts to deeply embrace the Psalmist’s song: “⁴Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. ⁵Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.” The Psalmist continues: “⁹He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. ¹⁰All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.”

Keeping the faith is all Jesus beckons us through His Grace to prayerfully, spiritually adhere to. While the road becomes ever more burdened with the Evil One’s traps, pits, glass ceilings and temptations; we are all called to press on. We will have moments where the sword of the enemy will cut down our spirits, seemingly truncating our efforts to either his victory of utter despair and sadness or for Christ.  Christ will be the victor, where our tears remind and shape us through our Baptism and the pain felt in our hearts is quieted by a profound, joyous hope…

We need to look out at that wilderness of the world as spiritual soldiers for the Gospel… and say to ourselves:  Do I want to be a part of growing the graceless wilderness, reality of HELL that the Evil One, who is real btw… or DO I want to live for Christ and be and become a New Nature driven Child of Grace growing the reality of the Kingdom of God? I chose Christ.

AMEN

1^st Sunday in Lent; February 22^nd, 2015; Year B; SOLA Lectionary;

Sermon By: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 25:1-10; Genesis 22:1-18; James 1:12-18; Mark 1:9-15

http://youtu.be/cfSeRUmIHug

"Glory Bound;" Transfiguration of Our Lord sermon by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

How do we come to understand Christ's transfiguration? What does it mean to a battered group of modern Christians struggling to still be FAITHFUL to the Word of life within a growing graceless wilderness? If we don't venture there....how will we ever truly know? The root word in the Greek for transfigure is metamorphosis which literally means “changing form in keeping with inner reality.”

The glory of God coming into our world as Jesus and this revelation—unveiling of His Divine plans in, with and through Christ is that aspect of Grace we are still growing to understand.  The wisdom of this moment however is only realized in facing and unveiling the New Nature capacity we have within us as children of Grace to tap into.

As disciples of Jesus changing form must begin with developing and opening up the receptors of our hearts to develop heart knowledge first.  If we recall, the heart is both the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives within the true church’s walls and windows, being the soul (Who we spiritually are!).  “Church” begins here and is what Jesus intended to be developed from to eventually grow through our hands and feet. 

It is here that we are to grow a Godly faith with Godly goals that reflect NOT our will but the Lord’s. St. Paul says this in another passage to his wayward Corinthians: “¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” Essentially Paul is saying that the Glory of God is our acceptance and faithful transformation into being New Nature-bound citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Who we spiritually are is better understood for the disciple as whose we spiritually belong to.  Belonging is that hard road for us all venturing out into faithfully living into the priesthood of all believers. Realizing profoundly your particular place, your gifts and knowing deeply what you need to DO, be and become for the Love of God and neighbor is a lifetime’s journey. It takes being shaped prayerfully in knowing who loves us and why we must love as Paul says: “⁵For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as slaves for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

There are so many people in the world in our sphere of history that lived into that radical call from God contrary to how the world would expect them to.  These individuals didn’t lose heart but lived over and above their challenges to shine in the world, be and become salt and light for the sake of the Gospel and most importantly for the Glory of God.

Glory is that “Pandora’s box” word that our human nature/ Old Nature can see as either entirely ego-driven, works righteousness or socialized/ individualized justice OR through an unnatural, radical perspective being New Nature driven alone.  Being and becoming New Nature driven is the process of sanctification—a lifetime’s journey which will always fall short on some level but should be strived for nevertheless!

Our lives are to be lived spiritually shaped by the cross and glory of Christ alone, through faith & grace alone and guided, nurtured by the Living Word alone.  This is where the ruler of the Kingdom of this world works against this Godly process.  He works into our hearts to either inhibit us from change or to help us begin our path into the graceless wilderness to truly become spiritually lost… and struggling this is our spiritual warfare battlefield. Losing this battle, however, is death.

Death can begin spiritually when one becomes weary. Despair is the heart becoming lost. The Evil One loves to do his best work here. Losing heart can be beyond losing momentum but feeling the bars of the prison you have placed yourself behind. These bars have no time limit or are set up during any time of your life during the struggling challenges you face. Looking into that mirror goes beyond being "ok...." Where does your heart lie?

I want to live into my New Nature truly and truthfully but if I become weary how can I? Here's the pain of being human, being, becoming a disciple of Jesus in a precarious world! The wilderness of the world does have the capacity to change but it has to begin through you, NOT necessarily for you but for the true Glory of God—GRACE.  Grace as a New Nature manifestation, be(ing-the-)attitude plain and truly simple.

Coming to be discipled by the meaning and purpose of Christ’s transfiguration is that enlightenment that goes far beyond stretching ourselves into God’s plans but unveiling the Kingdom of Grace which is the glory of God’s plans for the world. We may not ever become Mother Theresa’s or Dr. King’s or others like them who operated from a radical, New-Natured perspective but that is because we are individually, God’s own treasures to tap into and grow from as members of the priesthood of all believers.  

Our lives’ stories impart the miraculous ways God works through us for His Glory.  It may be difficult to see this shining before us however when we are distracted by the peril, evil and idolatries of the world.  It may be difficult to feel the warmth of the light of God’s Grace shining in your heart if you are despairing, weighted down, burdened.  There will always be, as well, some people casting a dark light of doubt upon the motives of a heart growing and transforming for the Lord’s use.

We have standards of measurements, limits, restrictions, exclusions to levy upon one another since we want to be in control, “have” the glory.  If you have no capacity for humble servitude, and would rather hide within the fortress of intellectual, theological or doctrinal “delusions of grandeur…” You do not serve anyone except yourself.  Change becomes manipulation, politics and other ugly fruits born within the graceless wilderness to none other than Satan’s glory alone! The ramifications and consequences of this is what we are imprisoned with today.

I believe I have used this metaphor before but it is the most powerful image for one to think about in regards to reflecting upon where they are spiritually on their discipleship journey.  Just imagine for a moment, a Chrysalis cocoon only a step away from its complete metamorphosis into the butterfly…  What if that shell became solid and impenetrable? Obviously the creature would never break forth and die. Now imagine this Chrysalis shell is the walls of your heart.

How can we grow as those charged with continuing to carry and care for the Gospel of Jesus if our hearts are hardened and veiled with our own needs and “glory?” The truth is that we can’t.  We strip the Gospel of Grace and its Glory away from those perishing from spiritual starvation! Plain and simple!

In the on-going sad story of what has been happening at a friend’s church, he shared with me that a number of parishioners are considering leaving.  Many of these individuals were the remaining faithful and dedicated left after their pastor retired. The latest session the interim had them “sit through” was, as I was told, a condescending lecture of what they must do and so on and that she is not a Shepherd only a facilitator. 

She also mentioned to them that: Christ is not only not Divine but more or less just a social justice activist for our example; but to “believe in whatever you feel comfortable in believing in, this is why we gather.” I’m sorry… but YIKES!! I don’t believe this pastor has or could understand this passage: “¹Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. ²We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

This is just one example of many “places of belief” that are perishing away into the cultural ideology of a world shaped by sin (& potential evil) not by grace.  If we don’t step up to the challenge of unveiling the TRUTH of the Gospel of Grace for the Glory of the Lord as disciples of Jesus; we will succumb to the fate of being, becoming those trapped future Butterflies crying and despairing in vain…

AMEN

February 15^th, 2015; The Transfiguration of Our Lord; Year B; SOLA Lectionary;

Sermon by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 50:1-6; Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Cor. 3:12-18; 4:1-6 & Mark 9:2-9

http://youtu.be/vFEXUJIxa5Y