THOUGH TROUBLED

Sermon on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016

Acts 2:1-21 and John 14:8-17, 25-27

TROUBLED. Are you ever troubled?

 

Sometimes we are afraid – for specific reasons: our significant relationship is ending, either broken or death nears; change is approaching and we have no idea what that means or how we will deal with; we have a sense of uneasiness – we can't put our fingers on it, but it's there.

 

TROUBLED. Sometimes there is a sense of randomness to our lives that is beyond both our comprehension and our control. Accidents happen, but then they happen to us or to people we love. Illnesses happen, but then they happen to us or to people we love. Troubled.

 

The disciples know about being troubled. Jesus has just told them that he will be leaving them. Not on a vacation. Not on a study break. No. He will die. More exactly, he will be executed. And now they are troubled. Their hearts are afraid. Their minds race. What's all of this been about? All that he has done. All that he has said. All that he has promised. Is it all going up in smoke? Was it all – one big delusion or worse yet, a lie? THEY ARE TROUBLED!

 

He realizes this. He addresses them directly. He makes a promise – an important promise. His promises are important for two reasons. Firstly, He keeps his promises. And secondly – His promises address actual needs of the people, in this case the disciples.

 

He tells them that even though he is leaving them, that he will not leave them orphaned. God, His Father and their father will send them an advocate. The actual Greek word here translated as Advocate is Paraclete, which means one who will come alongside of them, one who is part of God's own self who will be with them and for them.

 

They so desperately need this Advocate, this Spirit of truth. For they live in difficult times. There is the Empire that they are caught up in, which tells them to be afraid, to do exactly as they are told. But this Advocate that God will send them as Jesus leaves will enable them to overcome their fear, to in the midst of all their experiences know the truth – that God is God, the Ultimate, that they are loved by God and called to love others no matter what, to share the truth of their experience of God in Jesus. They are after all, God's own children.

 

And so are we. And so we too also need this Spirit of truth. We need to know and experience who Jesus is and therefore whom we also are. Because we too are part of an empire, a culture that surrounds us, some of which is good, but some of which is deceptive, spinning truth – having us believe that we have to have this or we have to do that to matter, to belong, to count. It is so tempting to believe that – to get caught up in competition with others as our means of validation, which is all so empty, so delusory. The Spirit leads us through that to the truth of Jesus, God, ourselves and our world.

 

For this Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father sends is the \spirit of truth. He/She will teach us everything we need to know along the way of life. This Advocate sometimes comforts us. At others times this Advocate pushes , giving us wings to move out of our comfort zone. This Advocate reminds us of all that Jesus has said to us opening our eyes and minds for what that means right now. Love God with everything you have. This means trusting God with everything we have – time, talents and possessions – loved ones. Love yourselves. Not easy, but the Spirit guides us. Love your enemies. Impossible, but the Spirit changes impossibility into reality. Don't be afraid! Are you kidding. But the Spirit, this Advocate reminds us, we are not alone. God is present with us. And we hear Jesus' words in the rest of this chapter of John addressed first to the early disciples but also to we who come after them: "I am leaving. Where I am going you cannot go now. But I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am there will be. I will not leave you orphaned."

 

Yes, God sends us a part of God's own self after Jesus has died and been raised. This part of God is beside us, with us, for us. This Advocate, is truthful. He/she speaks in way not designed to hurt us, to grind our noses in our own sin and shortcomings but to help us, to lead us, to see God and others, to love as we are being loved, to forgive as we are being forgiven, to live not just exist. This One coming alongside of us is God's own Self, God's own Spirit, our advocate.

 

It sounds and seems so incredible because it is. After all we are just men and women, teens and children. After all we are just young and old, sometimes trying to get by – afraid, excited, happy, sad, joyful, mourning, forgetful, remembering. We are just mortals, creatures of the earth. But then God approaches in jesus and the Spirit and comes to live WITH US. AND everything and everyone including us changes. When the Spirit comes there is change – death to some things, some parts of ourselves but then , O thanks be to God, new life. Amazing!

 

Finally, both to those early disciples and to we later would-be disciples there is the promise Jesus also offers in speaking of the Advocate, God's own Spirit given to us, peace. This isn't peace in the sense of no hostilities or no unknowns or no uncertainties, some kind of floating experience like that when one has had too much wine. The truth is when we are following Jesus there is often opposition from without and within. There are forces both within and beyond ourselves that want to push us back from seeing the truth of God and ourselves, forces that would have us shut down, shut up, close our eyes. But these forces are not a match for God and God's Spirit the Advocate who is with us, working among us and even in the face of such forces, whether they acknowledge that or not. The Advocate brings a peace that passes understanding to us, among us even as our minds race, our hearts thump and our stomachs churn.  

 

So, Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled". These are words from our Lord to his earliest followers even as he faced death head on. Be not afraid. Woprds from our risen Lord to his earliest disciples hiding behind doors when they hadn't yet realized that he was alive, no longer dead. Dear children, words from the risen Lord through the Spirit of God to St. Paul, as he was writing to the early Christians in Rome.

 

My dear people, we have an advocate, God's own Spirit. This is God's promise to us – one that is bestowed first in our baptism. It is because of this Spirit of god that we have heard and hear God speaking to us. It is through the Spirit that we have been washed , die and rise. It is because of God's Spirit that you have come to worship today. And it is through this Spirit of God that we can live with hope and love, with new beginnings – that we can face death not with despair or resignation but trust.

 

Finally it is because of this Spirit, this Advocate alongside of us, with us and for us that we are called to testify, to be witnesses in word and deed to the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We do not need to be afraid. Our hearts do not need to be troubled. Believe in God and God's Son, Jesus the Christ – for the Spirit calls us, gathers us and enlightens us.

 

Thanks be to God! Hear the Spirit even now! Amen.

             

 

Up, Up, But Not Away

"UP, UP" but NOT AWAY

Ascension of our Lord, May 8, 2016 (also marked as Mother's Day)

Acts 1:1-11 with Luke 24:44-53 in b.g.

 

There are times when it would be helpful to have an unmistakeable sign from God. Times like - when you are facing a major decision: Should you move or not? Should you accept that new job? When something horrible is happening to  you or those you love, what should you do or say to your son or daughter, your husband or wife, your friend or neighbor? Wouldn't it be great to know for sure, to have God show us exactly what to do?

 

I remember a congregation that was just starting to grow. But they were "stuck" in an old building. So, they had begun to explore options regarding their meeting space. They really longed for a newer, larger building. But they felt that the costs for such a building at that stage of their life were prohibitive. Then one day the local funeral home called their church office, offering to buy their old building above market price. The very next week a local Mennonite congregation offered to sell them their existing building, which was significantly larger and much newer than the building they were in now, at below market price. Now the congregation had to decide what they should it do. Who was God calling them to be in that time and place? Were they up for the challenge, the risk? During the ensuing discussions, one member stood up and announced, "If God would just give us an unmistakeable sign!" I laugh every time I think about that.

 

But when it's "our" decision, "our" money, "our" time, "our" future – our homes that we are putting up as collateral – such decisions require a faith that is willing to trust God into the unknown and take significant risk.

 

I am concerned that there may be times when we don't yearn, when we don't look for any sign, any direction beyond ourselves and our own understanding to make important decisions. We may only examine the monetary question. Or, we may only look at what we want or what may be easier for us without considering the impact of such choices upon others, without intentionally asking God for direction. We might even think that because we have worked hard, we deserve whatever "it" is. But, what does it mean to follow Jesus, the One who loves us and the world more than we can comprehend? (Pause)

 

Today we meet two groups of people: the apostles, those earliest people sent out by Jesus and the disciples in Luke's Gospel. In Luke's account it is Easter Sunday. It is that day when the disciples are just beginning to realize that Jesus who most certainly has been killed is now alive! They have been traumatized and are filled with fear. But now this risen Jesus seeks to move them beyond their fear to new life, both for themselves and for the world.

 

In the Acts account 40 days have passed since that first Easter. During that time Jesus has been eating with the disciples, teaching them about who He is as the Christ. But now the time has arrived. He must leave them. He must go to be with His Father and their Father, the Creator of the universe. 

 

He tells them that now they must do something difficult. They must wait for the Spirit to come upon them. The task Jesus to which Jesus calls them is DAUNTING. He calls them to be his witnesses in Jerusalem where they already are and in the surrounding areas of Jerusalem. He also calls them to be his witnesses in Samaria, a place that was inhabited by people that the disciples felt were their enemies. Finally beyond that Jesus tells them that they will be his witnesses to the "ends of the earth" to places they haven't even known about, yet. Jesus promises them that soon they will be gifted with the Spirit which somehow will lend them a power beyond their understanding. (Pause)

 

Do you ever think of yourself as a witness of Jesus?

 

Being a witness means that we share with others what we have seen, heard and know to be true and important. The sharing of any and all good news is done with both joy and expectation. Imagine that today you were to win five million dollars. Whom would you call or visit? How would you share your good news with those people? Would you be generous with those you love and know and perhaps even with some people you haven't met yet, people in need?

 

Or, as you have been particularly blessed with a friendship, another who loves you, a child or grandchild – would you tell anyone? Would such a great blessing affect the way you treat others and this creation? (Pause)

 

We are deeply blessed and impacted by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In Him we know that death, our own approaching death and the deaths of others, no longer have the final nor the lasting word. In Jesus, we know that despite our shortcomings, our fear, our hatred, our apathy, our misunderstanding, even fear and jealousy of others, there can be, there is new life, forgiveness and new beginnings with God and others. In Jesus we begin to realize that the powers which seek to perpetuate themselves by wreaking all kinds of havoc upon people and creation ARE NOT ULTIMATE. Only God is ultimate and good. So it is that we can pray to God, "Your kingdom come! Your will be done."

 

This is part of what's so amazing. Jesus promises the early apostles that God's Spirit will come upon them. And The Spirit does. They then become his witnesses in word and deed, to those close to them and to those far away. But such witnessing is not easy. Somehow, there is frequent opposition to such witness from both within ourselves and beyond ourselves. YET SUCH WITNESSING IS GOOD. SUCH WITNESSING TO THE LOVE, HOLINESS, MERCY AND JUSTICE OF GOD IN CHRIST FILLS US AND OTHERS WITH WONDER. The new life we have in God, the profound love of Christ transforms us and others. It cannot be quashed.

 

Today we celebrate the ascension of our Lord. We no longer live with a cosmology that views reality as contained in a 3 tiered universe. Many of us no longer think of God as somehow "up" there, while hell or separation from God is somehow "down" there. However, the ascension of our Lord points to a reality that is not limited by the prior cosmological understanding of those early witnesses to Jesus. Instead, the ascension of our Lord points us to the reality that Jesus is united with God the Creator. Somehow, they are one! The Ascension of our Lord also points us to the true source of any power we experience to embody the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The power to so love, to give a clear and steady witness against all odds to the love and victory of Jesus over death and evil as imperfect as we are here and now, such power comes from God's own Spirit.

 

Take heart dear people. This Holy Spirit is not something we earn, deserve or ever figure out .This Spirit washes over us as a gift. This Spirit then drives us, woos us, nudges us, cajoles and embraces us with the love and forgiveness of God, with the power of God to live our lives not solely or even primarily for ourselves but instead to carry God's creative and redeeming Word, (i.e. Christ) wherever we live, move and have our being. 

 

What a call this is! What a task! What a life to live!

 

May God move us beyond our fear, beyond whatever walls we erect, whatever doors we lock. May God move us beyond looking to "heaven" or anywhere that prevents us from moving out, from bearing witness here and now. May God move us to daily live with hope, forgiveness and love with all whom we encounter. These are the gifts and dream of the suffering and risen Christ. (pause)

 

I close with a prayer from Teresa of Avila( 1515-1582)

God of love, help us to remember that Christ has no body now on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours are the eyes to see the needs of the world. Ours are the hands with which to bless everyone now. Ours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Amen.