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Today is literally the final Sunday
in the season of Easter. Just what kind of message are we supposed to hear
about this day? Jesus has just ascended this past Thursday. The first images we
get from the Book of Acts, which I decided to spare you from the reading of
this morning, since it's profoundly long, is basically the story of Jesus
Ascension and the beginning of the very first Church Council. Well that maybe
sort of an avant-garde summary but they did draw straws or cast lots to choose
Matthias, since they needed that number 12. Matthias became the new 12th
disciple after Judas’ death. The disciples were not alone, but they were
perhaps nervous in hoping that they can follow Jesus plans for them in moving
forward discipling the world.
Perhaps we can have or find a
similar image such as the chick is being shoved out of the nest and must fly
for the first time. Or when that Chrysalis shell is finally broken free from,
and the butterfly gets to take flight for the first time. Diving off the diving
board into something brand new, and not necessarily looking back, is a very
hard thing for us. It's a very scary thing for us frankly, but we as Disciples
of Christ are called to be strong and know that God has got our back. God has
got our back, because we got a greater purpose ahead of us and if we're not
being motivated enough to move forward, then what are we doing?
If you haven't realized it by now,
things change. Every day is a change. If you think or have the delusion that
you can control that change and keep everything the same, you’re gravely
mistaken. Our human nature does this though, all the time. we want to control
everything that's our little security blanket just like Linus has his. We
cannot control our true destiny, but we could shape it with God's help. Maybe
that sounds like radical words, but we don't own crystal balls, do we? If we
could see the outcome of our mission in advance, would it really satisfy us or
empty us from that initial drive to defining purpose? Those are hard words for
the heart to hear, but God needs us to grow with those words.
The Ascension is very difficult to
preach, on one level, because we already have that thought in our head of: God
is up there and we're down here. The truth, however, takes a lot of faith
and we love being skeptics with being convinced that God cannot be with us
because of how the world is turning, and how things have been going, and how
there seems to be so much peril. The awesomeness of nature sometimes reveals
profound views of death and change. I'm sure several of us have seen the
pictures of Mount Kilauea in Hawaii spewing lava, eating cars and burying
houses very scary. We're also reading about what may be taking place in our own
backyard with the possible reopening of Yucca Mountain. Just hearing a little
bit about that, and that greed seems to be winning the debate of dumping there
once again... it's a frightening thing. We're just burying it away, not even
caring what the consequences are going to be down the road because money has
diluted us into thinking it makes our world go around.
‘Money makes the world go around.’
from that wonderful Musical, ‘Cabaret,’ with Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli, I bet
you can almost hear that song when you think of what happened with Judas. Those
30 pieces of silver weighed so heavily upon his heart, the evil that was done
for no purpose, that he killed himself in the field by hanging himself till he
was dead. They called the field of his death, the field of blood. Death has no
purpose, yet we cater to temporary things all the time, because we like the
easier answers. Judas Iscariot was a radical zealot and Jesus didn't fit the
political, warrior-messiah image, they were looking for, to take down the
Romans. So, evil did entice his heart to choose and plot against Jesus. We
could say on another level, he was helpful to bringing Jesus to the cross. I
think though, even if we didn't have Judas, others would have rose up against Jesus
because of how radical the Gospel truly is.
I just finished a gigantic paper on
apologetics. That sounds like such a funny name doesn't it? If you don't know
what it means, it sounds like are you just studying or class on how to
apologize to people? I’m sorry, I’m so, so Sorry! If this is what you think it
means, I think you need to starting singing the Ricky Nelson song, Garden
party, “You can't please everyone…,” in your head. Apologetics is not
exactly what that sounds like. It's more a way of how we talk about our
faith. It is how we define and defend our faith to others. Defining our faith
to others, sharing, is giving testimony, it is Witness. We have a beautiful snippet
from one of Paul's pastoral letters to the Ephesians. He not only is building
them up and encouraging them by commending them for their wonderful faith, but
he also prays with them. He prays with them and hopes that God will give them a
spirit of wisdom and revelation, as they come to know him. Probably the most
beautiful verse to come next is that he wishes the eyes of their hearts to be enlightened
so that they come to know what the hope is, to which Jesus has called each and every
one of them. If that isn't motivation profoundly with great purpose and mission,
I don't know what else is? What a wonderful way to think about this Sunday just
before Pentecost Sunday! That first church needs its eyes open, that first
church is our hearts.
That first church is the place the
Holy Spirit needs to work in. The entire book of Acts is a gigantic story
of the early church and those early disciples, but most importantly you could
say is the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. We can't see the Holy Spirit we can
only become aware of its work when we live conscientiously considering others.
What do I mean by that? It's the little things we do. It is being motivated beyond
yourself for a greater goal and purpose that is God's to give. This is what
Paul and John are talking about today in our first two lessons here. Paul is
getting us to ascend, rise beyond ourselves you could say, to help us to
realize that we have a great plan that God has given us to live into. The plans
that God has, are much greater than our own, with much more vision and truly
much more life. John needs us to realize that the eternal life of God is
revealed in our bold witness, bold faith in the world.
We can go from one extreme to the
other in liking to be organized, liking to have things planned. For instance,
one of my colleagues is a very spontaneous man… I actually could not tolerate
the planning that he does, because he really doesn't seem to have much of a
plan at all. He likes hopping from one thing to another. That would kind of
drive me crazy. I like to have my little calendar book and I like to have somewhat
of a sense of what's going to be going on. But he just takes off, does
missionary work, works in the Air Force Reserves as well as pastors a truly
tiny country church in the middle of nowhere Illinois. He now just went on
active duty for I believe, a spell of 3 weeks. He just decided to do it! His
congregation is obviously very flexible.... perhaps a little too flexible, I
would think. But we all know people like, that. We all know someone who likes
to the fly by the seat of their pants and see what happens next.
I think God wants us to be a little
more responsible with how we start our journeys each day. He doesn't want us to
become anxious and lament the past, and on that same note, he doesn't want us
to be planning so far ahead or trying to control the future, that we lose our
sense of grounding in mission and purpose. Listen to those words again, we need
to not lose our sense of being grounded in mission and purpose. We are opening still
"under construction..." next Sunday at our very new church home. Yes,
there's probably going to be a lot of plaster dust everywhere and other things
we can't control, because we are a work in progress. Each and every one of us
is a work-in-progress. The minute we stop believing in that and knowing that is
the truth of being a child of God, of His Grace and Promise… that is when the
evil one helps us to lose our grounding, vision and hope in the future.
This is where looking back into the
past should teach us those painful lessons. These were things that weren't necessarily
better and we certainly didn't have the eyes of our hearts fully open to see
what God needs us to do. The cold stone reality is that the church is in the
muck, in the midst of the world. Whether or not that is the true reality, it
doesn't mean we have to be thinking and operating completely in tune with the
world. In fact, we need to be in tune with God. God is the boss here,
neither one of us, none of us are the controllers of the other. God is the one
that is to be leading. The one thing we never do outgrow, due to the love of
God, that is beyond our understanding, is that we are His children. We will
always be God's children just as we are our parents’ children. What a beautiful
day coincidentally, that this last Sunday in Easter falls upon Mother's Day.
A few people have brought in some
flowers this morning in special honor or remembrance of the women in our life
who not only helped to bring us into the world but helped to love and guide us
as what parents are to be. In nature, I don't know what's going on... for
mother nature has certainly been having her way with the Earth lately. It's a funny
thought, I think, to imagine the world as God's “gigantic Rubik's Cube…” but
that seems to be what the earthen plates are to be. They are continually moving
and changing, whether there may be an earthquake, there's plates we can't even
fathom way underneath the crust, that are moving in some form or fashion.
Creation is fascinating, it is more than amazing! It's actually, a wonderful
image for us thinking of God's hands like gigantic “Allstate hands” cupping the
Earth, you're in good hands, right? What's really more important though,
and it is hard for us, but this is that little thing that you have to keep reaping
that mustard seed of faith, that God is with us.
The Living Word of God is the Bible.
It is here, we are to hear the voice of God through Jesus lips. It is through
the Living Word that the Spirit of God moves our hearts to respond to Jesus
appeal to us to be motivated for a greater purpose and goal. We are equipped
with the qualities of mind, heart and character necessary for the task. This is
what the gospel this morning is trying to reach out to the disciples to hear.
Jesus needs the disciples to realize what they were given. He needs them to
hear the truth. It is through this truth, He needs to sanctify them into mission.
He needs them to basically begin that walk. They got to start walking and
talking with that Gospel. They need to go out into the streets, and they need
to be bold about it. I believe, though, that sometimes we get scared about
being witnesses to much of anything. It's like standing in that long line for
the roller coaster that you really don't want to go on, but your friend is
cajoling you to take that risk. After about an hour wait, now you're at the
front of the line… Do you get dragged on kicking and screaming? Or do you get on,
take that terror and turn it into something else, turn it into something
productive.
I believe turning that negative
energy into something positive, is the beginning of realizing change. This is
realizing the change, that you can't really control anyway, (though you think
you can) and this is realizing, in a profoundly beautiful way indirectly what
God's purposes are for us in finding establishing that great foundation of
faith to live into a full life with Christ in your hearts. Returning to that
idea of being planned or not being planned…. Sometimes, the things we really
want, we are not able to even come close to getting. We can keep trying, or we
can be encouraged by the love of God powering our strength, our faith, to DO
change. Trying is a word that fits our problematic human nature. Doing and
being are God's verbs for us getting out of that nest, cracking open that
Chrysalis shell and diving off the diving board... all the while trusting in
his providence to save us, lead us.
I'll leave you with one last image,
one last story for you to think about. Just imagine someone that you may know
in your life, who's never faced their demons. They've never made the effort to
go out and seek help. They have problems with addiction. They barely can hold
down a job because they don't want to be controlled by anything. They feel
completely alone and are feeling out of control in their own lives. They live
into their despair. Looking out a window that they cannot really see from, yet
alone can really see through. They have erased purpose in their lives because
they have no faith. They have no faith in themselves yet alone, in someone
called God. We need to pray for those who are in this place. We need to pray
for our world that is hungering and thirsting for restorative justice that God
can only aid us to complete.
You were born into this world by
loving parents you have left the womb, and you have grown up. You are still
growing though, and you are still changing. Look to your heavenly parent, look
to the Holy Spirit, who is working within you as we speak, let this be your
guide. We don't need to cast lots or draw straws on what we're going to do next.
We need to have the faith to know that we can. We need to come to know God,
then we will find truly our great mission and purpose.
Let us pray,
Gracious God
You are our guide, we are in Your
hands.
Your plans for us, we will realize
when we stop fighting our faith and grow our faith.
Help us to see the truth through Your
Words
Help us to be a light and guide and
witness to others
Of Your wonderful Gospel’s mission
for the world.
Grant us a spirit of wisdom to DO
and BE
All things through You who gives us
strength. Amen
May
13th, 2018; Year B; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon
by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins, OSST
Hybrid:
Psalm 47, Psalm 1; Acts 1:1-26; Ephesians 1:15-23; 1 John 5:9-15; John 17:6-19
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church
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