"Impounding If;" Sermon for Reformation Sunday 2016 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, boom, boom, boom…. the trembling, sweating hands of a troubled German monk begins to drive nails along with a solitary piece of paper into the hardened doors of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on October 31^st, 1517. That solitary piece of paper was the "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences", which came to be known as the Ninety-five Theses. The Protestant Reformation essentially sees its genesis at this very knocking upon those cathedral doors.  Some 499 years later we are to contemplate that “impounding if…”

Truth be told Reformation Sunday as well as Christ the King Sunday are my absolute favorite Sundays to preach on for the magnitude and efficacy of the Gospel is once again gratefully forged upon our hearts as the TRUTH of what it’s all about.  If you can’t handle the Truth… Then you will have a ‘hard’ time living into being a disciple of Christ as an ongoing advocate for His Gospel.  But just like the somewhat needling, gnawing speech given by Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan R. Jessup to Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, to wake up and smell the coffee—We, “Can’t handle the Truth!”

Jesus Words to the disciples are pretty cut and dry: ^31b…“If you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  Those solitary nails needed to attempt to pierce through those hardened doors… of that enclosed and quiet place, with shaded windows like the nails of the cross which pierced our sins to set us free! These are difficult things to continually reflect upon but that is the nature of realizing, struggling with re-forming our hearts to be and become freely responsible servants of Christ.

That impounding “if” holds all of our doubts and anxieties, for if we choose to keep that door closed we are truly in bondage to sin and cannot or will not free ourselves purely out of our own deceptive and shallow sense of righteousness!  The heart is that uncontrolled source of our literal life as well as it IS where “church” begins. The TRUTH is made manifest through the works of our hands and feet for Christ Alone, through His Word Alone, by His Grace, ever so-efficient(!) Alone— do we allow the Gospel to be written upon our hearts?  Do we finally allow those doors to be pierced through to OPEN to the Gospel or not?  The ball is in your court— Are you ready to play?

This past week, I have been buried alive in a very good way, in ministry.  Every square inch of my days have been filled and blessed for I have just officially started as a volunteer chaplain at Ballard Respiratory and Rehabilitation facility in Des Plaines, Illinois.  I am partially doing this as a fulfillment of my 3^rd CPE Unit alongside and around the crevices of time I am serving in care through Visiting Angels and my 2 church plants… A nice 50 hour a week schedule but one I wouldn’t give up for anything! Just the other day, thinking about that knock upon the door, I came into a woman’s room to hear probably what every pastor dreams of, being welcomed by someone’s complete and utter need. 

The woman was just getting off of the phone and with tears in her eyes pleaded for me to come in and spend some time with her.  She wanted prayers, she requested an anointing and even wanted me to read her something from the scriptures.  Thankfully I always have my ‘For All the Saints’ Devotional set in my daily book bag.  When we were done, she asked before I could ask, if I was going to be able to visit her regularly.  What every pastor dreams about, am I right?!  It is not only what affirms the pastor and their efforts to care for others, but thinking about the bigger picture metaphorically that is—isn’t this what God wants?  God wants us to open the doors to our hearts and allow him in, in order to work through us!  God wants us to realize just what those nails piercing into the wood of the cross mean for our everyday lives—His GRACE has set us free!

Luther was a tormented pastor to the all too human reality of church in the 16^th century…  Where many had strayed from God’s Word and were creating a whole new system of justifying their “indulgences,” over and above God’s redeeming, freeing Grace!  How horrible, how evil!  The inconvenient truth however, still needs to be told: We are not intellectual victors of righteousness today, but are in even more bondage to sin, death and the power of evil some 5 centuries later.  The Lord is at the door knocking away… are we listening?  Is He knocking on the door like Sheldon (from the Big Bang Theory) on Penny’s door dressed as the ‘Flash,’ some 33,000 times?  Well, we hope not!  We need to hope for, strive to open that door even if it is pounding upon our conscience to resist and say— go away! 

Which a lot like visiting “cold turkey” into hospital rooms is what you most often hear…  “I’m busy, I’m not religious, I’m an atheist, I’m not of your faith, not interested (which is another way of politely saying go away)…” and so on.  Out of a handful of doors knocked upon, there is an open heart with listening ears needing to hear and KNOW God’s presence is WITH them in their time of need, in their desperation to heal! People don’t realize more often than not, how the spiritual needs to be healed alongside their physical ailments… The person I’m caring for through Visiting Angels suffering from cancer continually needs to indirectly hear of God’s hope and promise… as a carrier and servant of Christ, I’m still knocking on that door.  Grace is a listening presence in more ways than one! This is living into your faith, speaking for myself, as a freely responsible, responding servant to the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  Where are you on your journey?  Who do you hear at the door?

Life isn’t easy probably it’s a lot like being a Cubs player or better yet even, a Cubs’ fan! Never been inclined to sports mind you, but you do have to admire the Chicago “Cubs’ fan.”  You have to admire their “die-hard” loyalty to a perpetually ailing team!  Their actions or support however uses the same energy and intentionality of having faith.  Faith is needing, living hope and BELIEVING in the promise of better things to come!  Faith is the wonderful act of harboring belief which defines purpose and ultimately accumulates into a final goal and destination.  That final goal, destination is the Kingdom of God where the everlasting Gospel is received, believed, incorporated spiritually into that 1^st church, the heart and gracefully, gratefully shared through the hands and feet of the disciple outwardly towards neighbor. 

The Gospel IS that inconvenient TRUTH knocking on, piercing through those indifferent doors of the Kingdom of the world…  It cannot and must not be imprisoned to a book or a building with shaded glasses….  IT must be freed!  Willingly as a natural law lived outwardly from the heart for all to see, hear and come to know. The Book of Revelation’s lesson for this particular Reformation Sunday really didn’t have too much to say more than to get out there and spread that everlasting Word.  Jeremiah as the Old Testament prophet and echoing voice to that of Jesus says much more about the Word.  For the days have surely come, where we are currently pressing hard against those doors to keep God away, and our self-righteous agendas/ delusions alive in graceless works, only to produce withered fruits of peril and impending revolution!

We’ve got to fling open those doors like Penny to Sheldon and perhaps yell back, lash out with our sins—realizing them to hopefully reflect upon them, confess the reality of hope and promise ALWAYS there for us and finally repent and renew to set us truly free!  Out of a love we will never fully understand or mirror its glory, the gift of the cross—its everlasting Grace… but we can and are most able to live into real “progress” by letting God IN and allowing His Holy Spirit to truly work through us—a most divine righteousness from a freely responsible, freely open heart.

Look at someone who was considered an insignificant failure by his father and more or less considered to be a dime-a-dozen monk, Martin Luther was technically a nobody till he couldn’t stand that nagging knock upon the doors of his heart to stand up for something that truly matters…  He never intended to have all that happened to happen, but it did.  The church did reform but still has a lot of work to do…  Its human nature though, the moment you think you’ve arrived and “solved” you will fail.  Being children of Grace and Promise isn’t easy, but just like the ‘Cub’s fan,’ we must persevere for a great purpose, hope and life to come.

Let us pray,

Gracious and Loving Lord Jesus,

May we open those doors of our hearts

To Your presence

May those nails driven, heard, upon that cross

Re-form and shape us to lived genuinely justified

In Your ever-lasting Gospel of Grace

As long as we live, love and serve You and our neighbor

AMEN

October 30th, 2016; Reformation Sunday; Year C; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon By: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 46; Revelation 14:6-7 & Jeremiah 31:31-34;  Romans 3:19–28; John 8:31–36

The link below is to this sermon's delivery at the Grace Hub's House Church Service at 8am
https://youtu.be/YW0dVS-qGTs

Potentially Eden; Sermon for Sunday October 23rd, 2016 by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me is a wonderful statement of complete trust and confidence, not only in God but in the self to DO, BE and become all that God needs you to be in order to fulfill His will and purposes—this is what I would call our “Eden-Potential.”  For we do have the potential to do many things in this one solitary earthly life.  Tapping into through the right frame of mind and heart is a whole other story however…

Just the other day in preparing towards this message, I read something like 40 pages of Luther’s commentary on the Book of Genesis chapter 4. Mind you, working my way through 16^th century language did require an Excedrin chaser afterwards but proved to be very fruitful in looking, contemplating the meaning of the reality of how we are truly both saint and sinner.  Yes, one of the battle cry dogma statements of the Protestant Reformation soon to be celebrated a week from now, devised of a wonderful reconciliation of just what we are through the lens of the Gospel.  We are more than able to become freely obedient to the Gospel’s calling to love and serve God and neighbor through our faith.  We also can and do fall into temptation….

The story of Cain and Abel holds a strong and timeless parallel to the reality of the Old Nature and the Hope, Promise and eventual choice of the New Nature through Christ Jesus our great propitiation, Redeemer.  I must confess I am not one to usually reflect or sermonize around an Old Testament text but in connection to today’s Gospel; I believe it is essential to think about the reality of sin or in this case: “Pride goeth before a fall…”

Cain is considered the first ‘child of man’ born into what we have come to call ‘original sin.’  What we must remember and is important about that very first story of our human attempt to make right with God, is that this was the whole of the Old Testament’s goal in general—making “right” with God.  How do we make “right,” our relationship to God?  Cain, the first child of the twins of Abel and himself, from Adam and Eve, definitely was proud of himself being the “first,” as well as felt a certain sense of righteousness to be attached to this “privileged” role…  In many ways, he mirrored the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable who tried to conscientiously please God but not really at all from a place of genuine trust, faith in God’s promise…  He basically thought he could simply earn his way.

From what we hear in St. Paul’s last witness and lesson to his protégé Timothy, it wasn’t about himself at all more than for the true glory and promise of the Gospel for all the world to share.  Paul laid down his life for the sake of the Gospel—out of a beautiful faith that lived into the Grace, Christ Jesus “en-abled” him with to DO and BE all that he could be.  Think about this for a moment—a pun: Can and Able, Cain and Abel. 

In first hearing the verb can, it holds a solid sense of affirmation, commitment…  The other side of that could be that it is too self-assured and possibly could be heard or experienced as being arrogant or prideful.  In regards to the verb, able, just how it sounds for example in saying I am able to do or be, implies that there is a sense of humility and dependence that has now made this possible.  That is why I started with that wonderful favorite verse of mine, from Philippians 4: “I can do all things through Christ, who indeed strengthens me.”  Here St. Paul has these two words indirectly contrasted to one another.  The only reason why he feels he can now do all things that were once before impossible, is because Christ has made his heart able to trust in the promise and hope of the Kingdom of God (FAITH) to be truly confident and humbled to DO it!

The ability to be able to live in God’s righteousness comes from Christ—His gift of Grace gave us faith.  Living into that faith however is wading past and over the many stumbling blocks to sin. The great sin in question, for both Cain and the Pharisee, was pride.  Pride created a whole other mess of sins since it is fueled by a sense of greed around the self and complemented by a sense of indifference or self-righteousness that doesn’t rely on God and cannot love or care for neighbor.  In Cain’s case, his pride and sense of privilege created a self-righteousness that made him become jealous to the point of hating his brother Abel, since God saw Abel’s genuine faith and realization of who he was.

That realization connects once again very well to the few remaining verses in today’s Gospel where Jesus tries to enlighten not only the disciples but all who were listening, that a child is naturally obedient and trusting in its beginning journey into life.  This natural obedience and trusting nature realizes its humble role in God’s plan as truly being children of Grace and Promise.  Jesus Words we must hear prayerfully: “Let the little children come to me, (He says), and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

In the story of Cain and Abel, the Old Testament “punishing parent” God does place his mark upon Cain for his sins but as well extends grace to him in the form of not allowing anyone to kill him… Hence the mark of the beginning notion of that we all have the capacity to sin (our temptation to feed the Old Nature) and we have the capacity to ask, pray for God’s forgiveness with a genuine faith (our journey to reap the New Nature).  Abel, before his murder, was humbly seeking God’s forgiveness, to make “right” with Him.  The Tax collector’s heartfelt confession that he knows he’s a sinner and asks, prays for God’s mercy genuinely realizes his role that he is indeed a child of Grace and Promise.  The tax collector realizes, as we all need to continually remind ourselves, on our faith journeys, that all we are in the here and now of this world, is due to Christ—His Grace has set us free!

Christ sat upon the mercy seat to become the libation to feed and free our souls from the bondage of sin, death and the power of evil. This is the victory and glory of the cross.  This is not a victory and glory that we should ever take in vain or advantage of, yet alone become indifferent to…. But sadly we have in one form or another.  We have turned our hearts away from God when we blur the boundaries of righteousness for our own sakes and not for love of God and neighbor.

We must look upon the world these days with hopeful eyes…  It’s a tall order in the midst of so many things that seem to be giving way to justifying the self over and above God and allowing sin to reign lawlessly and with an oppressive grip upon the conscience of the world…  The other day, I read a very say article about the great, barrier reef that stretches miles upon miles in the ocean, has now officially been declared “dead” by marine biologists.  They declared it bleached and deadened by the trauma and abuses of the natural resources either pilfered or dumped upon by oil and energy profiteers.  It reminded me of the horrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a couple of years ago.  They filmed something like hours upon hours of the pipeline burst gushing gallons of filth into God’s creation…  Sometimes watching stuff like this would bring one to tears.

What we forget which again, goes back to the very beginning, the earth, seas, and all its creatures were made out of love, out of a beginning Grace, something we all share.  We have raped and murdered for the sake of our “will” over and above God’s. The crimes committed maybe justified in saying that we need cheap fuel… but the bigger picture beyond this illustration is that we justify ourselves all the time and even create laws that suppress and persecute those of genuine faith.  This is what the movement of political correctness has done.  It’s not politically correct to be pro-life, to necessarily be a Christian for that matter.  It’s not politically correct to not be polarized and labelled by your suspected political leanings. It’s not politically correct to “dare” disagree with people who feel that they are justified, ratified and impervious to others because of their self-righteous personal agendas…

These are harsh words to hear but then you must question—if you are here gathered in this place and genuinely follow Jesus as His child of Grace and Promise, why then are you not outraged by where the world is going? Are we truly willing and able to go out into the world to carry the Gospel above the solidifying Kingdom of this world and its’ ruler of empty promises? Or are we succumbing to the torrent of evil crushing us under its burden to die like Abel, or Paul who was awaiting his eventual execution by the Romans? If we define ourselves as righteous by our own accord, we deny ourselves of meaningful purpose that God has given us through creation and the gift of Christ Jesus’ Grace.  We can do, be and become all that God hopes for us to.  Our saint sinner selves are able to defeat sin, death and the power of evil through Christ—this is the libation of FAITH.

Let us Pray,

Gracious and loving Lord Jesus,

Help us to learn and know

That we truly are Your children of Grace and Promise

Help us to trust you, to hear you and not become idolaters of the self.

Help us to be able to tap into that New Nature potential

This New Nature Potential is our New Eden—the Kingdom of God

May Your Divine Righteousness keep us and teach us

As long as we live—

AMEN

October 23rd, 2016; Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 25; Year C; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 5; Genesis 4:1-15; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-17

Today's sermon is dedicated to my colleagues, Reverend Debra Hamilton Atkinson & Mark Goldsworthy.  May God Bless you both in your new roles in Ministry.  Keep on fighting the Good Fight!

The link below is to this sermon's delivery at a special Saturday evening vespers at the Grace Hub:
https://youtu.be/xaPGtq_OAfw

Fateful Persistence; Sermon for Sunday October 16th, 2016 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

In discerning the New Nature; we most often find ourselves struggling with God but it is His Living and Transformative Word that is, and does become, our plumb line to follow. God is truly a voice that continues to be speaking; our listening and doing is a whole other matter for us however… What is your life’s witness to the Gospel? Proclamation is a two-way street, for our lives are what sometimes speaks the loudest, bemoans more often and persists over and above our words!

Persistence is one of those chair legs to the formation of the Christian’s journey. We can choose to either be faithful or unfaithful. Our fate to a certain extent, is painted in by how we make our way down God’s road for us. Fate can be one of those kinds of words that harbor a sense of pain and suffering as well as challenging us to cling to hope. Hope is the anchor of Faith. Hopelessness, however, creates godlessness. Godless figures in the world’s past once said that religion or organized faith is the opiate to the masses… This was atheist dictator, Carl Marx who founded the “utopian” solution to the problems of the world being the development of socialism or the communist manifesto. The 1984 Monty Python movie Brazil holds an ironic quote to fit this “delusion of utopia,” throughout the film, being: “We’re all in it together…”

For the faithful, persevering Christian—God is our redeemer, our heavenly parent and our true helper as we struggle our way into this world with a Gospel Hope, that is not from this world—it is of the Kingdom of God. The Lord is certainly “no Band-Aid” or “opiate” to our daily battle of choosing to live into that New Life the Gospel is calling us to! Being a witness with the Word is living your life with Christ at the very center… This is a spirituality of Love. While the idolatries and manifestos of humanity drift by, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and always.  We are all called and commissioned to persist in a life of faith, this is the most beautiful fate of the disciple, a member of the Body of Christ, family of faith, can harbor for “We are all in it together”… but for a much greater purpose!

This past week, I started reading a wonderful book about the Benedictine’s various orders and lifestyles of those seeking to do spiritual formation as an Oblate in a community. Oblate is a term for a lay person or outside pastor from many different denominations who want to experience this kind of spiritual formation activity. The title of the book takes you truly back down to earth in the reality many of us face: ‘How to be a Monastic and Not Leave Your Day Job: An Invitation to Oblate Life (Voices from the Monastery)’ by Brother Benet Tvedten.  How do we live an intentional life of faith with so much on our plates? We are constantly, daily drawn out to feel that we have the whole of our lives segmented and controlled by simply surviving the parameters of the world over and above God’s…

The book goes on to share many wonderful insights such as the thought of moderation and balance, soul work is Benedictine spirituality. I would go further to say this is not just a Benedictine discovery more than it is the truth to all Christianity. The Christian’s life needs to be balanced by living in moderation and centered in a holistic well-being of your soul. The book further discusses that following the ‘Rule as an Oblate of St. Benedict’ is a method of seeking God through what is familiar and by rather ordinary means. I would say once again, removing the titles and human distinctions, seeking God and living for God in our everyday lives is being an active member of the priesthood of all believers. If we take control of our lives, if we are intentional and careful in how we spend the hours of each day as a priceless gift from God, if we discipline ourselves to live in a balanced and grateful way, we will create from our witness, the best possible life—the purpose God has in store for us.

The reality of our Sunday morning experiences as “church” needs to move beyond that broken impression that it is a Sunday only gathering to scatter—living as faithfully persisting witnesses of the Gospel to the world in which we live.  Every day should be lived in a Sunday frame of mind.  What do I mean by that? Both St. Paul’s lovely teaching message to his protégé Timothy and Jesus’ life parable to the disciples, and “ear-shot” Pharisees, is that we are called and commissioned to prayerfully persevere, be strong in a weary world that we cannot afford to lose heart in!  Injustice and evil reign only when we become indifferent to persevering towards realizing that greater purpose for our lives as painted by God.  The wonderful New Nature life is what living into Grace through faith, gives us, leads us to see, experience as God’s justice in the world we are prayerfully to be accountable to!

The monastic culture has amazing things to teach all of us.  It is a powerful witness to the Truth of the Gospels—discipline for the Disciple. It is a way of life, not be considered a series of pious rules or exercises. It is a lifestyle that takes persistence and dedication. It takes a listening heart’s commitment to the human community—remember, we are all children of Grace and Promise. Discipleship asks a great deal more of us than being a method or way of living faith. It asks for a prayerful “attitude of gratitude” and a way of relating that takes the “me out of myself” and places one into the mind of God for humanity’s sake.  Spiritual formation is your intentional choice to be willingly shaped for God. You make this choice truly out of a love for both God and neighbor.

As pastor, I think it is very important to be “well-read.” Being well-read however is seeing a humbling perspective of “knowledge is power.”  I have been thinking about that often lately, not only because I am in an Order for my own spiritual formation, but I have recently begun another unit of what is known as “CPE.”  CPE is clinical pastoral education.  All pastors in formation either during seminary, or after, have experienced completing a unit of this kind of education.  It’s very important for it fine-tune’s the pastor’s heart to be ever more open to guiding their flock.  Knowledge and experiences should always be seen through a humble perspective for that is what truly teaches and shapes your future.

Faith is both a learning experience as well as a lifetime’s journey of shaping, forming the Heart for God’s purposes, mission. I think it is easy for us to get lost in the genuine purposes for education on growing in our faith.  When you think once more in another perspective, our work together as the “church,” is a group learning and growing process.  Every single day of our lives tells a story of where we are on our faith journeys.  The empty promises of the Evil One working through greed, indifference, try to tear down our spiritual formation. This is done even to the point of persecution, through politics and consumerist agendas that blind us to the TRUTH of persevering those enduring Words of faith—as the fate of the Disciple of Christ.

Being an “evangelist,” is not to be pigeon-holed to one defining role or label.  Being Evangelical is an aspect I consider myself to be!  Boy, has that word become attached to many understandings that people have declared in a negative way….  Do people think however about Jesus’ disciples or St. Paul and his fellow church planters?  They were certainly evangelical in the sense of fatefully living an active witness to the world about God and what should be our reality of being and purpose in this one earthly life!  We are to consider living our lives as never placing a period where, perhaps God has truly placed a comma.

The unethical, unscrupulous judge in Jesus’ lesson who lived by his own motto of having no fear (or love) of God yet alone respecting (and loving) his neighbor will never see his life define any genuine purpose outside of himself… For what purpose is he moving towards?  It is a dead-life that feels it has learned all it needs to and sees no relevance beyond itself.  The Living Word of God as exampled, written of Jesus Christ is very much alive and ever so full of purpose!  The poor persistent widow is that voice of God still speaking in our hearts to grow and go with the Good News! No matter where you are on that spiritual formation journey of your faith, never forget whose you are and the promise which gives us light.

I’ll leave you with one last story.  In the beginning days after my conversion, I became actively involved in Cursillos.  Cursillos are mini spiritual formation retreats that more or less act like a short-course on Christianity.  They were and still are powerful experiences.  A few more years down the road, I would serve on Kairos Outside retreats as well.  These retreats were for family members of incarcerated individuals.  All of the talks for this retreat were centered around perseverance and spiritual empowerment.  Cursillos are more or less for developing and empowering Christian leadership.  Both types of retreats and service address faith, learning and perseverance but as well address the particular path one is currently forming upon. The key here to all is how willing are you to grow for love of Christ and your neighbor?  How willing are you to GO with the Good News in, with and throughout your daily lives?

It doesn’t matter what you choose to do whether it be devotionals, Bible studies, retreats, spiritual Orders and so on.  What really matters is does it help your faith—does it truly strengthen your fate?  Striving for faith-filled fate isn’t fatal but promising, enduring onwards as those beautiful Words of Hope—The Gospel of New Life—Jesus Christ the Lord.

AMEN

Let us Pray,

Gracious and Loving God,

Continue to teach us as we need to grow in order to go with Your Gospel

Help us persevere against the empty temptations of the Evil One to lead us astray

No matter what we have chosen to assist in feeding us Your Gospel Truth

Please remind our hearts to listen to Your still speaking voice

As long as we live.

AMEN

October 16th, 2016; Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 24; Year C; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 121; Genesis 32:22-30;  2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5; Luke 18:1-8

Below is a link to this sermon's delivery at the Grace Hub House church at 8am:
https://youtu.be/uBTtPmImmI0