Back to Eden; Sermon for January 27th, 2019 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” I must confess I have not been one to practice using that to start my messages though I know many people will feel that they need to begin The Holy Spirit speaking through them with a word of scripture itself. “The medium is the message,” as Marshall McLuhan believed anyway. The Word of God is the message to our hearts to come out of Exile and live into the Gospel as a complete, unified Body.

God has been always speaking, He’s never stopped(!).... especially through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How much have we been listening? You could say that the townspeople of Nazareth didn't like the "afflicting" Jesus was taking upon them with His first sermon. Basically, he tells them of their failure and that God knows what will happen to them next. I don’t think He was speaking to Murphy’s Law either… I saw a funny post the other day on social media which was a cartoon showing congregants complaining about the scriptures to their pastor. It showed congregants grousing about the Book of Numbers saying why do we have to read about a bunch of unhappy people bellyaching about not getting their way in the wilderness? How is this relevant to us? Kind of a “pot-kettle-black” scenario there. We can sure dole out our complaining and our grousing, but God listens, and we keep going on.

Perhaps some of us keep going on, still in Exile, not being settled, still in bondage and never really knowing what freedom is? Are we ever going to find our way back to Eden? The law is supposed to help us see within ourselves what we must begin to do. The law is that uncomfortable mirror that is to discipline our hearts to not operate from the world of the self but live as a child of Grace and promise. Making our way into living truthfully as a child of Grace and promise is very hard in a world that actively wants to control the spirit. Do not quench the Spirit… that is a death work. Those who want to suppress the Spirit believe, if the Spirit is let loose, then the people will not listen to our worldly authority.... If, however, the Spirit is oppressed, then the world can be shaped by empty promises and delusions of grandeur. We can keep pushing the human nature card only so long to say this is our destiny, when we are called to put on Christ, to tap into Grace, live Grace, share Grace in the Unity of the one Spirit, the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I recently bought a cross from Hobby Lobby, which is one of my favorite places for my beading adventures. This cross had the old AA statement or serenity prayer I should say of: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” I found it amazing and incredible to learn that American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, was the one who penned this prayer and in 1951 it was adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs. Reinhold Niebuhr is considered to be the founder of the Christian realist philosophy. Apparently in the early 30s he would use this prayer to begin his sermons when he was a pastor at an Evangelical Church in Massachusetts.  Talk about someone who had his two feet firmly planted on the ground.

When you think of it, the “Serenity prayer” is a great confession and it is finding a way to “settle the self.”  Settling the self to realize where God is alongside you on your journey is listening to God. We can't go back in time and and tell Adam and Eve to wise up and not be tempted for they already wandered off and out of the Garden of Eden into the Wilderness the world. They went out into the wilderness of the world without a thought of really turning back. The path was set and now we live into the tributaries of that original path not just as aspiring saints and wanton sinners, but truly as children of God enlightened by the promise and Hope for a return to Eden, someday. 

It's hard to believe a prayer that is proclaiming our human condition has become an adopted motivation, Word for those suffering from addiction.  They don’t call alcohol spirits for nothing….  I’ve counseled way too many people suffering its debilitating grip upon their lives. One such individual I knew from my art world days actually led the local AA meeting as well as a Poetry venue on Sunday nights.  He found a way out, some are not that lucky, however. A young aspiring poet also a devout Roman Catholic married a young musician in hopes that her love could change him and bring him out of alcoholism’s spell.  She tried and suffered for some seventeen years to ween him away from the stuff.  His fidelity however was in bondage to the bottle.  He could only love his escape away from wife, children and responsibility by daily passing out and vomiting up blood going up the stairwell to their modest 5^th floor apartment. I have always admired her faithfulness and cried with her from a distance. Sometimes some people are truly lost and can’t or are not willing to look for the right road.

There are many things in our current culture that we have become addicted to. it's not merely the world of the self and the dictations of the ego but it is living into the cost of discipleship. Living into the cost of discipleship sometimes the valleys are too long and deep and the mountains too hard to climb… Years ago, when I used to visit a friend at a church office, he was the secretary to. He had an “easy” button from Staples on his desk. I don't know if many people remember that funny campaign where you were supposed to hit it and it would say: “that was easy!” Kind of had the same quality as a magic wand if you ask me, or even like a piece of candy the kind you shouldn't eat. I know several years back, I had to wean myself off of ‘Coffee Nips.’ My one friend Karen was concerned I was going to have no crowns or fillings left in my lower teeth if I kept eating them all day long...

Perhaps the “Easy” Button is simply an answer to just spinning our wheels and not tapping into the gifts God has given each and every one of us to share along those tributaries of our human Journey? We are the ones to be bringing the serenity, peace and change into the world even when it seems impossible to do so. The Word of the Gospel is to be that wisdom that transforms us to living one day at a time, savoring it but taking on the pathway to peace as Jesus did. In today's Gospel, Jesus is literally delivering His first sermon in His hometown of Nazareth. He starts His message by reading the Prophet Isaiah. “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” We know that this the Living Word of God that is a part of ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’… but do we realize the Spirit of the Lord upon each and every one of us, as that moment in living daily into our baptism? In Jesus case, He was recalling His baptism by John the Baptist and basically proclaiming His messiahship Journey beginning.

We have been anointed by the water and the Word as well as weekly we partake in the body and blood of Christ to revive us and reassure us of our calling to follow and carry the Gospel. Back then the Word was literally carried. It was carried by the voices of many whose hearts did hear God speaking and they were called to share. The beautiful passage we have from Paul this afternoon is his wonderful lesson on what the church is supposed to be. Remember we have to train ourselves to get beyond the steeple and really think about the people. The Word is why we gather to scatter. Yes, we are many members. We have all been uniquely called. We all have been uniquely gifted by the one spirit. There is no place for “one-upmanship” which poor Saint Paul had to deal with in regard to his wayward Corinthians. Like a typical dysfunctional congregation, they were all in competition with one another they had no idea what the word, team, meant and actually would probably correct you and call it something else.  One of the funniest discipleship posters I've seen to date was someone who drew out big block letters for the word team and filled in an eye in the middle of the a. It read as: "See, there is an "I" in team, it's in the a-hole."  A very humorous pun definitely what the Corinthians problem was and what we still face today.

The saying it is a dog-eat-dog world is an old one indeed and perhaps a sad one in regard to how some in our current culture thrive on living into the “anti-Gospel.” That was an interesting conversation Pastor Mary and I had this past text study. BTW she was “supposed” to preach this Sunday, which tells you something about God challenging us all to speak and reflect on His good news even when we feel like we need to take a break sometimes. What we discussed was whether or not we are living in an “anti-Gospel” age. As well as the thought of—are we still living in Exile, and are we still in bondage? Are we more faithfully living into the constructs of our own universe rather than God’s will? The world is in bondage to the love of money and to the love of self. Those who are freed by the Gospel of Christ are going to have an even greater challenge proclaiming the uncomfortable truth, but it must be done.

The prophet Nehemiah has a wonderful final verse that I've seen some of my friends use as their footer verse in their daily emails: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” The people were just returning from Exile and had a grandiose task ahead of them to restore the ruins of Jerusalem back into what they once knew.  The work of the people was inaugurated by hearing the law and being inspired into action. A part of the root word to Grace is rejoicing. Rejoicing is the act of knowing what Joy is. Sort of a gigantic, huge “Pandora’s box” word in regards to where the world is now but in its most simple sense, Joy is peace and Joy is founded in love. Love as we know is the end of the law which the final ministerial task of Jesus Christ would realize for the world to tap into. 

Love is all we need to plug into all the gifts that we were given to share in the world as the body of Christ. Some of us may not be prophets or apostles or teachers or even able to muster up something miraculous but we all have that element of Grace within us that we can tap into. That Grace is the seed of the New Nature, the New creation waiting within us to faithfully reap. We know, at times, wandering through those tributaries out into the wilderness of the world we can gets stuck or feel perhaps like we're living into “Murphy's Law.”  You know what Murphy’s Law is? It is opposite world.  Sometimes it can be cruel or terribly ironic, depends on how deep your valley has become as well as how narrow your path has dwindled to. “There is no good deed that goes unpunished…” that's another statement out there. I was told once that you shouldn't work as hard as you think you need to work in the church, because people won't appreciate it and they'll resent it and they'll resent you(!) What an awful thing for a pastor to hear?! But then I'm sure many of us who have been wounded on the frontlines of shepherding Christ's Church know this is a part of the job description. “Damned if you do, damned if you don't...” well, then, what on Earth shall we do? What have you been called to do?  God is always speaking… Are you really listening?

Let us not forget that God is truly with us and in saying that, prayer does build us up. Just before I went to go interview for a chaplaincy opportunity out in Pahrump, I had some dear friends pray over me. Hearing those prayers, being in the company with dear friends was bringing peace to my soul as well as being “Church.” They were sharing their gift of Prayer to lift my spirits up for the unknown road ahead. The opportunity was for chaplaincy in a prison. I have been involved in prison ministry before in Illinois through Kairos Outside. What a lovely thought that this ministry was founded on the idea of “God's time,” Kairos. All in God's time will the wisdom, peace and fortitude will be revealed to finding Eden, once again.  We may be a people wandering those pathways forever, but perhaps all we really need to do is look down and see the ground we’re standing upon to realize that firm foundation of Christ being our Rock and Redeemer. Perhaps upon these pathways that we tread, the wisdom of God will reveal itself slowly as it was intended to, and then we will know the Kingdom of God, here and now and that Eden is our potential(!)

Let us Pray,

Loving and Gracious Lord Jesus

Continue to shape my heart

Grant me the Grace to accept things that's I can't change

Bless me with the courage to persevere and realizing change

In things that I can change and most importantly

May your love and peace grant me the wisdom

To know the difference in the world

AMEN

January 27^th, 2019; 3^rd Sunday after the Epiphany; Year C; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 19:1-14; Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:16-30

 The link below is to this sermon's delivery at the Grace Hub at 12:30pm

https://youtu.be/GsevTxt2CHs

'A Beautiful Righteousness;' Sermon for January 20th, 2019 by Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Every person is a dream and an idea of God. What a wonderful thought! What a wonderful hope! What a wonderful promise of what flourishing for humanity through God's eyes truly means! This Sunday in particular, we have beautiful scriptures. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is enacting His first great sign of water into wine, saving the wedding party at Cana. In Corinthians, we have good old Saint Paul dealing with his wayward congregation speaking beautiful words of what spiritual gifts truly are. The voice beginning it all comes from Isaiah speaking of that torch, a burning torch shining out like the dawn into the dark places of the world bringing the light of God and His glory.

I was told that 1968 wasn't necessarily a great year... though I think it’s great 😊…  The world was in an upheaval, in turmoil over Vietnam. There were protests and riots against a transition in culture: flower power or the silent Generation's regularity in "Tradition." The other war that was going on in the world would be led by the prophetic voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He would be leading a great spiritual quest to see restorative justice for all people to have equal civil rights. I don't know how many people realize how strongly Dr. Martin Luther King was influenced by Martin Luther and the whole of the Protestant Reformation. Both Luther’s wanted to re-form peoples’ thinking. Back in 1968, the world was polarized by the color of the skin. Today we are polarized by pretty much everything. “Everything” has now become coupled with carrying a torch for something coupled with agenda, not necessarily with grace or with promise.

I love that saying, carrying a torch, being a torchbearer. When we picture ourselves as Disciples of Christ, we see and know in our hearts that obedience. This is a willingness that has us pick up our own crosses to follow with His great purpose and His will alone. Relationships are a funny and complex thing though, just like marriages, they are going to have some covenantal aspects that are faithfully lived into and others that we will find turmoil within ourselves. This inward turmoil hampers us from beginning to recognize not only the signs and glory of the Cross but the signs and glory of the Gospel in our everyday world, that we are called to transform from.

St Paul was, as I have mentioned before, in other messages, truly a rebel with a cause. His cause was Jesus Christ. His cause was the truth of the Gospel. Truth be told about the Corinthians, they were definitely a challenging dysfunctional congregation and I'm probably holding back with kind words here. Some similarities could be made to the postmodern Church in regard to what flavors of Christianity do people feel attracted to? The culture of the church have been lost in battle to the cultures of the world. We are no longer truly flourishing as God's Children of Grace and promise. We are becoming weary and grasping at straws at the life that perhaps is ebbing away from us as we speak… because of our will and agenda over and above God's.

That “Rebel-with-a-Cause” intensity that St Paul would have, not only with the Corinthians, but with his many churches, helped him to be our first pastor, our first theologian. Jesus is Lord is the first Creed literally. Paul certainly was pushing the envelope with nearly getting himself killed by Roman emperors. They were gods and no one dared to say anything else or call anyone else Lord. Daring to speak rejoicing in a beautiful righteousness came Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A Republican, Baptist minister who pushed the envelope with “afflicting the comfortable” about civil rights. Much like John the Baptist to Herod, many of Dr. Martin Luther King's speeches, I'm sure, grated upon the minds and the hardened hearts of those not willing to open their eyes to the change that they must do.

Perhaps as a human culture, we don't harbor enough humility to see ourselves as those empty vessels created by clay of the Earth as the first Adam and Eve were, by the hands of God, loved by God, and filled with God's profound Grace and peace. The irony of the title of an era in human history's thought, the quote Age of Enlightenment, did more damage profoundly then we can realize to being grounded by the spirit and allowing the spirit of God to work through us building a solid foundation. This is a solid foundation that is not only an ethic of flourishing as a civilization of God but to be glory in God's eyes as children of love, living into Grace. Children faithfully covenantal to the promise, hope of a new world ahead.

Amid all the things I have been in turmoil with these past few weeks, I did find a little nugget of time to look at the whole of Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963 speech: ‘I Have a Dream.’ On the second page of this speech he says: “…we must refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” When I heard that in my heart, I recalled Joan Baez’ version of ‘We Shall Overcome.’ A very simple protest march song sung with a hauntingly beautiful voice. Her voice almost sounds as if it could be the voice of the Holy Spirit reaching down to the people in the world and beseeching them to seek peace and the agenda of God, not of the world. It is almost as if this entire speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. is speaking to us to begin to recognize and reconcile ourselves to the glory and grace of the Journey of the cross that Christ would make on our behalf.

Our lovely gospel snippet we have this afternoon from St John is this amazing beginning Miracle or sign from Jesus, at of all things, a wedding banquet in Cana of Galilee. It seems almost like a “first-century Seinfeld episode” in the sense of Jesus' mother Mary complaining to Him about the dwindling supplies: “… well do something, the wine is running out!” and He sort of says… “well, I guess so …okay…” but it's so much more than that. It is so much more than that and it always has been that way for John, the Gospel writer. That man like Saint Paul experienced a profound connection with the Holy Spirit in who they are through Christ and how they have realized, recognized the Gospel’s work in their very lives. For John, his whole mission was for the world to see the profound reality of who is Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who is fully human and fully divine. It is this same Jesus who bore the impossible task of bearing a cross of torture and death, taking with it the sins of the world and resurrecting some three days later to transform the world forever.

Transforming the world forever and ever… Perhaps it is the Gospel's ultimate purpose? Perhaps it is truly the mission of God in His idea of every person is a dream of His? Perhaps what we mistook as an era of “enlightenment” is really an era of digression going back to Adam and Eve with that apple to the forbidden tree of knowledge that God had not guided us through to accept and understand.  What people fail to realize sometimes, or perhaps often, I should say, is not only how radical the Gospel Christ Jesus is but how truly unpopular its message challenges us to hear. What do I mean by that? This is certainly not a prosperity Gospel, in the sense, of the way the world understands prosperity. This is certainly not a Gospel carrying a torch for the world of the self. This is a Gospel that challenges us to realize every aspect of that manifestation of the Spirit. A manifestation given to each and every one of us, as St. Paul says, for the common good. For the common good means blessed to be a blessing to others. It means being-the-attitude of Christ where miracles can happen when we realize how much we can be filled was the good news and continue to share that good news.

Much like the prophet Isaiah, preaching against a real oppression, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to a hostile crowd. To this hostile crowd, he continues by saying: “… now is the time to make Justice a reality for all of God's children.” Beyond what we know of the civil rights movement, Justice has not necessarily been completely served today. This is apparent in many aspects of how we love our neighbor, how we care for the world and how we help to transform the world through God's Word. I've said this before, I'm not necessarily a fan of the term, social justice. Why? Because I think it has become a couched idea or re-invention of works righteousness especially for a very too focused “me-generation” world. Restorative justice is a much more accurate term to what God is calling us to do in the world naturally. This is justice without our own agendas but with His purpose alone in mind. The radical Gospel of Jesus Christ is not an exclusionary document of dead words apologetics, war-mongering and even evil intentions. Humanity has done a very good job in adding their own footnotes or revisions to the truth, the radical truth of what God's Word is to be for us.

The only way we can be faithful disciples who live into a restorative justice is by tapping into all of the gifts God has given us each individually and use those alongside working together in unity to see it happen. This was, in many senses, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's dream. He hoped that we would stop looking at colors of people and start seeing the full person, start seeing the whole person without a label upon the head, without coaching them into a category or a box. We've not been too successful perhaps, but we do look upon our African American brothers and sisters with a more equality today than we had before. Now we judge the world and others continually and have brand-new categories of oppression and discrimination, and for some, it becomes their form of self-righteous Justice. The death work we have as politics in the world currently is seeking to build a new Empire around control and around suppression of real prosperity.

The Holy Gospel of Christ Jesus Our Lord is not one that is speaking to the Unholy Trinity of I, Me, Mine. It is not for the “me-generation” except to have the “me-generation” die to the self and rise as a new generation looking beyond themselves with the Light of Christ, to be a light, to be a blessing to others.  A beautiful righteousness is one that does not keep silent and one that keeps running forward as if it were in a race against time to help the world begin to turn for the better. I was joking with Pastor Mary in our text study this week about the challenges churches experience with taking action. I likened some mindsets to thinking of a bunch of older citizens donned in Marathon clothes running in slow motion with their slowly dimming torch towards the finish line. The slower the motion became; the more Church committees and teams and councils would debate whether or not something should be tabled or whether or not wait and see if the pastor will do the work instead. Now this is just a little unhealthy dynamic that happens within some congregations, not all.... It does make you think about our attitude to being active within that lifestyle of Grace that Christ Jesus gave us to willingly live into?

All people are called by God. What the world deems as ordinary can become extraordinary and we have many people throughout human history who have been extra-ordinary in their discipleship tasks to love and care for neighbor. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a great heroic figure during the oppression and evil that was taking place during World War II. Some may say he lost the battle with being executed, but in fact his voice lives on in how we are given to think about the cost of discipleship and our motives of faith. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave rise and influence to many figures throughout the civil rights era to look into and create deliberating vision for all of God's creatures to look upon one another to live with one another without a bias and hatred. as we know from the pages of history, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The bullet was to put down and silence his voice, but it wasn't.

That Living Word of God, that voice within us that comes from a beautiful righteousness, that motivates us can never die it is from Christ. Christ Jesus is perpetually resurrecting within us each and every time we reap that New Nature and we begin to live beyond ourselves with a greater goal and purpose to be flourishing, to be a new creation. I don't know who we have in the midst of us today as a prophetic voice with the Gospel at the center of their cause, for speaking of restorative justice.... Perhaps television and radio news and whoever else, who feels or thinks they are in charge, are suppressing their voices purely with politics and darkness. In another day or two, there will be what they call the super blood moon over Nevada. We don't know if we’ll be able to see it because we might have more of those crazy rain storms, we've been having an intense clouds which is not normal for here.

Some of us could see the signs and things of the world in a dark way. The prophet Joel alluded to the apocalypse because of the blood red moon… but we are called to something greater than that. What is happening in the world in the here and now, is crying out for us to don that armor of Christ and be Faith-filled soldiers, servants with His good news. Perhaps our own lives, as Paul was trying to open up the eyes of the Corinthians to see, our own lives, the gifts God has given each and every one of us. Realizing these gifts can and will make a difference the moment we see beyond ourselves and look towards something truly beautiful.

Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and it is for the most part observed. There will be a quiet across some public offices. Some people have a day off to reflect while others will work on things that they would like to see happen as change in the world. Be that voice that never stop speaking! Be that love that truly does restore your neighbor. Be that witness of God's grace and promise— you can do it, we are all extra-ordinary. 

Let us Pray

Loving and Gracious Lord Jesus

We thank You for leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We thank You for his wonderful witness and work in the world

To help people to recognize their biases and evil.

Let us not fear change in the world

Let us embrace changing the world!

As we are truly an idea and a vision, dream of God’s

His children of Grace and promise.

We lived this prayer and pray for the future in Your most Holy Name. Amen

The Second Sunday After the Epiphany; January 20^th, 2019, Year C; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 128; Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11

The link below is to this sermon was delivered at the Grace Hub at 12:30pm:

 https://youtu.be/fbwl2xe9oME