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Baptism is: As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Luke 3:15-16,21-22 Last week, we thought about Joseph taking Mary and Jesus into Egypt, and the dream that he had and how God gave him a sense of the future. We talked last week about the future at St. Mark's, and how we are striving to be a place of growth, a place of hope, and a place of service. I want to think through Jesus' baptism, our own baptism and the baptisms of the babies and children today -- using those same three words of growth, hope and service. To begin, I'd like to ask a question (to which I already know the answer): Is there anybody in this room today who was not in a church to worship before they were 18? The vast majority here answer "no" to that question. How many in this room, therefore, were worshiping as children in some church somewhere? Look around... does that say anything to us? The best way to come to faith as an adult is to have someone encouraging you in your life spiritually when you are little. It's one of the reasons we baptize our babies -- not the only reason; there are scriptural implications and encouragements to baptize children as well. Today I want us to think about what baptism means for us. It is first and foremost a commitment to spiritual growth. Jesus' own baptism launches him into his ministry. He had already been growing in the nurture of the Lord, we're told in the book of Luke. But it's at that moment of baptism, when the Spirit alights on him in the form of a dove, that we see him move forth into his ministry. It launches that 3-year period of public work and miracles that Jesus does. But more than that, in our own baptisms, especially when children are being baptized, we are saying that as these children grow up, we will prepare them for the life God wants them to lead. We will give them a sense that as they pray, God hears their prayers; we will give them a sense that he will be there to sustain them with his love; and this all takes place in the context of worship and Christian education as you all saw earlier as I asked that question. At baptism, when babies are baptized, parents and godparents are making a statement of faith themselves, and a promise before God, that they will raise those children to know him, love him and follow him. When Clovis, the king of the Franks, was being baptized, the missionary wasn't certain that he was really ready, and that he hadn't grown enough spiritually. On three different occasions, Clovis was asked to respond to the story of the Passion -- that is, of Jesus dying on the cross for him. The first time the reading was made, Clovis thought for a minute and said, "If I had been there, I and my armies would have rescued Jesus from the cross." The missionary responded, "You haven't grown enough, Clovis. You're not ready to be baptized." The second time the reading was made, Clovis thought a bit, and said, "If I'd been there, I would have been comforted his mother, at that impossible time." The missionary again responded, "You're not quite ready yet to be baptized." The third time the reading was made, Clovis said after a great deal of reflection, "If I'd been there, I would have climbed up on the cross with Jesus." The missionary responded, "Clovis, now you understand. Now you're ready." The challenge for all of us is to remember that none of us is ready as infants to be baptized. Yet, at the same time, it's when God calls us to dedicate and offer our children to him. There's a reason for that. I would suggest to you that culture in no way, shape or form at this point will teach your children anything about Christianity. It will teach your children nothing about the love of God. When the Dutch ambassador went to Siam about 150 years ago, he began to try to teach the king of Siam what it was like to live in Holland where he was from. He said to the king, "In my country, the water at certain times of the year becomes hard as stone -- so hard, that an elephant can walk across it." The king, who lived in the tropics all of his life, had no concept of ice. He had no sense of what the ambassador was describing, and he wouldn't believe. That's the place that our children find themselves today. Without church, without that baptism commitment that we all make today, our kids would have no more concept of heaven than the king of Siam understood ice. Why is that? Our culture wants to deceive and lead our kids astray. To name drop for a minute, I had a friend in college, John, whose dad invented the gas grill. His dad had graduated from the Naval Academy in the 1950's and was selling natural gas in the city of Little Rock, and wanted to increase sales, and so he invented the gas grill. I think now about that invention all these years later, and realize that you can buy a gas grill that costs $5,000! Or, you can buy one that costs $1,000. The reality is this: They sell the $5,000 grill so that those of us who buy the $1,000 grill think we got a good deal! That's our culture. Our culture would mislead us that way, at every turn. So we baptize our children with the commitment to grow them in Christ, so that they will know the love of the Lord, and that bedrock reality that he will be there for them forever. Baptism is also a moment of hope, just as St. Mark's is meant to be a place of hope. It's a time of hope for the children and their families as people have expectations about where these kids might go in their lives, and what will happen for them, and all the blessings that are to come. Baptism is not just an end or arrival point; it's really a launching point, or a beginning. We probably all remember the baptism of our children. So today is a moment of hope, for each parent here, and for all of us who believe. In fact, the great promise of the waters of baptism is that whatever comes into our lives, with God there we always have hope. In the 1960's in Guatemala, there was a great draught. There was a great need for water, and it was an impossible moment in the desert. All of the believers in Santa Rosa began to respond. The Roman Catholics had a mass and prayed for rain. The Protestants had a prayer service and prayed for rain. The Pentecostals had a charismatic moment where they were waiting for a word from the Lord. In the charismatic service, a word did come forth, and they were told to dig a well in the back yard of their pastor. Well, a lot of people scoffed and didn't believe, but a few began to work. It was in an impossible place; the back yard was in the side of a hill, and you never build a well on a slope or side of a mountain like that. But they began anyway. As the days went on and nothing happened, fewer and fewer people came to dig. Finally, the workers came to a massive boulder, and that seemed to be the end of the project. But there were a couple who forged ahead. After literally weeks of work, they were able to pull that boulder out -- and as they did, water gushed forth! A stream of water that had never been known before came out. That year, 900 people joined that little Pentecostal church. My sense in all of this would be simply to say that the waters of baptism are a reminder that when our lives are dry, when we are walking through those desert places, the refreshment of Christ is there for each one of us, and for our kids. Baptism is a commitment to growth and a word of hope. Finally, baptism is a call to service. In this service in a few moments, you will be asked if you will support these children in their lives in Christ. You will respond, reading from the Prayer Book, "We will." But if you only read it, and don't do it, you will have failed the test. The real point of the question is to say that all of us need to be involved in one another's lives and especially in bringing up our children to know the love of the Lord. There's a volunteer fire department in Galena out by the Farmhouse, and it reminds me of a true story from Indiana of a man who was a contractor. His friends always asked him to be a part of their volunteer fire department, but he would never do it. He always had an excuse. "I'm too busy," or "I don't have the time," or "I'm away with my work." Until one day (I think you know what happens), his house caught fire. He called, and all of his friends came. The first thing they said, even before they put out the fire, was: "Do you want to be a volunteer fireman now?!" I would just simply say that that is true for all of us! We are all called to serve, but we don't want to wait until the fire is started. Now is the time to decide that you are going to claim your baptism, that you're going to believe. Now's the time that you are going to decide where God is calling you to serve. For some people, it is in the nursery. For other, it's teaching Sunday School. It might be signing up to help with food service for Hesed House or Lazarus House. The point would be this: Our baptism isn't just for our own growth. It isn't just for our own hope. Every baptism is a call by the Lord to serve others. That what happens at Jesus' baptism. Ever after, he is walking through life not for himself, but for you and me. That's good news for each of us today. |
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Rev. Tony Welty
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questions answered about spiritual gifts: Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 During this Christmas season, I had a very interesting experience at home. Being the season of Epiphany, which if you remember is a type of awakening or enlightening, I had in my kitchen a "mini-epiphany". It had to do with this set of figures that Cherie and I received when we lived in Texas. Somewhere along the line, we picked up this manger scene from an artist who was from Mexico. Cherie had set out this manger scene in our kitchen, and I walked by one day, and I didn't even notice it. Cherie said, "Did you look at the manger scene?" I replied that I hadn't, so she said go back and look at it. Now traditionally, all of the figures are looking down at the baby Jesus, and the glory that God had revealed in the face of the infant Christ. But this manger scene, with all of these dark-skinned figures, had eyes about as big as saucers looking upwards! As you walk by, it's kind of startling, because they are staring right at you! Cherie wanted to know what I thought of it. I had the same response that she did -- it was as if they were asking, "What are you going to do about this infant Christ?" This artist had added a different twist on things. With this different design, he was asking, what are you going to do about it? I was startled, and it was a funny moment for us, but it was also glorious that this artist had grasped something different. This morning, we have the opportunity to ask the second most important question that many would say is asked of Christians -- the first being, "What are you going to do about the infant Christ?" What are you going to do about the Christ who suffered on the cross on your behalf? The second question is, "What are you going to do about the gifts that he put inside of your heart?" We're going to look at this question together, as we consider the 1 Corinthians passage. What are you going to do with your spiritual gifts? In the church, there are a number of different metaphors to describe the way things generally work -- not the way they were designed to work, but the way they really do. One of them is the 80/20 rule. Some of you may have heard this before. 80% of the activities carried out in the church are done by 20% of the congregation. Another illustration is that of a big giant stadium filled with thousands of people desperately in need of exercise cheering on these 22 people who are desperately in need of rest! That image is oftentimes applied to the church, and in a lot of ways it's so true. That has to do with giftedness. It has to do with our lack of understanding of what our spiritual gifts are all about. This is what St. Paul was saying to the Corinthians. They had written a letter to him asking him about spiritual gifts. It's interesting to note that the Corinthians were largely drawn out of this culture that was incredibly promiscuous and permissive. These were brand new believers, so they had all sorts of questions about how church and the community of faithful were supposed to be. He talked about worship, and the order that he wanted to see there. He came to spiritual gifts, and he said he didn't want them to be uninformed. He wanted them to understand what spiritual gifts were about. St. Paul knew that the Corinthians knew all about passion. They were incredibly passionate people. They had an unbridled passion in fact. They also had a passion that was separate from Christ, before they came to him. They were passionate about all sorts of things. But when they came to Christ, something different happened. When they became believers in him, all of a sudden a fire was lit in their hearts. All of a sudden this gift was born in their hearts. This is the same gift that St. Paul was writing to Timothy about when he told him to fan into flame the gift that God has put into you. "For God did not give you a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline." (2 Tim 1:7) Paul was saying to the Corinthians the same thing he says to us. Fan into flame that spiritual gift that you have because of your belief in Christ. That's what I want to look at with you this morning. The point of spiritual gifts being used in the body is to bring glory to God. They are gifts that he has lent to us, until we return to him. They are to be used to edify the body of believers, also. That happens when believers are serving in the right place, at the right time, for the right reasons. As many of you know, that doesn't happen all the time. In some churches, that doesn't happen at all. There's that 80/20 rule where you have a very tiny number of people who do everything, and then they get fried and burned out, and all of a sudden ministries just stop happening. You have thousands of people in the bleachers, watching these people who are panting for breath, and yet they don't step out into the field to participate. I would submit to you that many, many time it happens because people are uninformed about their spiritual gifts. This morning I want to look at the five questions found in this text. The first one is: What are spiritual gifts, anyway? I want to share with you a definition that comes from the spiritual gifts inventory that we use many times for people. "A spiritual gift is a special ability that's given by God to every believer according to God's design for the common good of the body of Christ." It's an ability that you have - whether you know it or not - that was given to you by God. If you are a believer in Christ, you have a spiritual gift. This is very important to know. This is a gift according to God's design. He's the one who chose how he wanted to gift you. He's the one who placed into you a passion, desire, and personal style. This gift is to be used for the common good of the body of Christ. I will be the first to admit to you that so many times in the church, when we go looking for spiritual gifts, we look for the ones that we need. What I mean by that is, if there's a new ministry that's happening, and someone has come up with an idea that seems to be of God, what I'll do is go look for someone with administrative gifts. I don't really have administrative gifts. I have some, but not enough to carry a ministry all the way through to its completion. For a body like ours, which is very creative and spirit-filled, that can be a problem. What that means is that I'm one of the players in the field asking only those people to come down out of the bleachers that have a certain kind of gift. That's something in the church that we are always challenged by, and that we have to break out of. Spiritual gifts are incredibly diverse. There are about as many gifts as there are people in this room. You have a unique gift. You have passions and desires, and I want to submit to you that usually where our passions are, this is very close to where our giftedness is going to run. If you are passionate about writing, your spiritual gift may have something to do with writing. Maybe it's not serving in an administrative function. Maybe you should be writing something. Not only in this body, but in the wider body, to benefit the body of Christ. You may be an artist. Your blood might get going when you think about painting or color or the way shapes interact together on a canvas. That may be a spiritual gift for you. That may be something that God wants you to use to bless the body of believers. You may have musical gifts, and you may not have an outlet for those yet. But if you have those gifts, God wants you to use those particular gifts, and not to fabricate some that you don't have. Everybody has a gift. Gifts are incredibly diverse, but St. Paul says they are all unified in one source. That means they all come from the Spirit of God. Paul says that all of these work for one in the same Spirit, and he gives to each one as he determines. You have a gift that he wants you to use. Your passions and your spiritual gifts and your personal style are all interconnected. Part of our task in the church is to help you discover what that gift is that you have, and to help you get plugged in somewhere. I would say this to you, which will come up over and over again: Just because we're not doing something that utilizes your gifts, doesn't mean that your gift isn't needed at St. Mark's. That's how new ministries begin. If you have a gift that you don't see operating in the body of St. Mark's, call me or Mark and tell us. We will work with you to make sure and test that with you and see if God might be wanting to do something different than he's been doing up to this point. I encourage you to come forward with that gift, whatever it might be. The second question is: How do I know if I have one? Again, if your fire has been lit by Christ, if you know him as your Lord and your Savior, you do have a gift. You don't have to wonder. You have one. Everybody who is a believer has a gift. To each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Thirdly, how do I go about finding what this gift is, and where should I use it? When should I use it? There are several different ways you can do this. The first is, there are lots of different gifts inventories that we can use here or in other churches. That's a good place to get started. A second method is to try out different ministries. You may have a hunch; you may be passionate about something. Try it, and see. We have this great list of ministries in the church. If you see something on there that's intriguing, either call that person and get involved, or call me or Mark, and we'll help you get involved. It's important to use your gift. The way to tell if your gift is actually a spiritual gift is by confirmation of the body of believers. I've done this before. I think I have a certain spiritual gift, and I take it to the body and they say... "No, you don't. We appreciate you coming forward, but I think your gifts might be better utilized over here." It's a nice way of saying that you don't have that spiritual gift! Somebody else probably does. When we move into a place where we're being blessed, because we are getting fulfilled using that gift, that opens up that door for someone else to be fulfilled by using that gift. When should you use it? Always! If you've been gifted in a certain way, you want to use it all of the time. And again, you may have an ability that you use at work. I have known some people in the church who have an ability to make money. No one would ever say to them, "That may be a spiritual gift for you!" But the people that I've known who've been able to do that recognize that that gift comes from God, and they utilize that gift on God's behalf. That may become a spiritual gift. I say that to you because there is no bounds to spiritual giftedness. God can use anything that we have. We use our giftedness everywhere. Obviously, we want you to use it here at St. Mark's to bless this place! But God may call you somewhere else to use your gifts. He may call you to a national audience. He may call you to a community audience, which is larger than what we are doing at St. Mark's. That's something that we want to help you discern. What happens if I don't use my gift? That's the fourth question. What if I'm uncomfortable? What if I'm bored? What if I have been fried by the church, and I don't want to do anything other than show up? Well, there are some very predictable things that are going to happen to your gifts and your passions. The first one is, your passions are going to subside. For some of you, you may be in that place right now where you don't know what your passions and abilities are. Someone might ask you what gets your blood going, and what conversation would keep you up all night talking? You may be in a place where you say, "I don't know." It may have been a long time since you've felt passionate about anything. That's one of the things that happens when we disengage from using our gifts for God's purposes. The second thing that happens is that our gift that God lit and put into us smolders. All of the sudden, where there was once a flame, there is now just smoke. Now we see this gift, where there's evidence that there's something there but there's no flame. It's gone because we don't use it anymore. That's what happens. Then your effectiveness will diminish. You may feel yourself withdrawing from the parish and from the body of Christ. You become less effective than when you were engaged. Finally, the body of believers suffers when you disengage and your passions aren't being used. We all suffer. St. Paul said that to the Corinthians. When one of us suffers, we all suffer. When one of us rejoices, we all rejoice together. That's a picture of real unity. It's important to use that gift. Finally, what do I do next? How do I go about realizing what my passions and gifts are? The first thing to make sure of is that you actually believe. If you think back to what St. Paul said to the Corinthians, he didn't say that everyone on earth has a spiritual gift. He said those who believe have been blessed with a spiritual gift. That's where we start. If you don't know what your passions are, the first place to check is your faith. Do I really believe that Christ Jesus is the Lord and Savior? You may have sat in church your entire life, and gone through the Book of Common Prayer, and yet never actually made that claim for yourself. That's the place to start. You can pray: Christ Jesus, be the Lord and Savior of my life. Set my heart on fire with your Spirit. Secondly, pray for God's Spirit to reveal in your heart what that gift is. He'll do it. The third thing is to find an outlet for your giftedness. Again, I can tell you, that if you are gifted in a certain way that no one else is gifted, then there's a hole in the life of this parish. There's something that's running not as well as it should be, because you're not there. We all suffer when you disengage. We all rejoice when you rejoice. I want to give you this image of an onion. Many times are giftedness will be like an onion, where there are gifts and passions in there, but there are layers that need to be peeled off before you realize what they might be. I have encountered this in my own life. I always knew from a young age that I had musical gifts, but I got into some really terrible stuff musically when I was 13 and 14. I had this musical ability, but the dark music I was into was not glorifying God. It was only once I got to the point of being in an authentic, real spiritual community that people said to me, "You should be using that musical gift." I responded that I didn't want to. I thought of it as a dark place that I didn't want to go back to. Some lady came up to me and said, "Can I pray for you, and for the release of God's gifts in you?" I said, "No." But Cherie was there, and said "Yes!" So this group came around me and prayed, and there were very specific things that lifted off of me. It's the only way I can describe it to you. It was like peeling an onion. Layers of things had to come off, before I could see that gift belonging to God. For a lot of us, that's the same way that it is with our passions. We may have hurts. We may have fears that are covering up those things that we love to do. We may have old tapes that run through our heads. "I know you want to do that, but you shouldn't. You're not good at that. No one's going to like you. People are going to laugh if you try to move into that gift." But like an onion, we begin to peel those off in the context of a Christian community, and that passion is going to come to fruition. That passion and that gift will come alive. When you're in the right place, and you're serving for the right reasons, at the right time, I promise you that you are going to be blessed by God. You are going to come alive, and your passions are going to thrive when you use that gift. I want to encourage you to do that. God is going to be glorified, and Christ's body of believers are going to be edified by your service. I promise you that. I'm going to leave you this morning with two invitations: The first one is, if you're not sure what your passions are, if you're not sure what your gifts are, there are several things you can do. During communion, we have a prayer desk at the back of the room. Stop by and ask the prayer ministers if they would pray for God to reveal to your heart what your giftedness is. The prayer desk is out of the way, so no one is going to be glaring into the back of your head while you're there! It's a safe place. Go and have someone pray for you. The second thing you can do is come Wednesday mornings at 7:00 and join us in the Chapel for Eucharist, during which we can pray for you. I invite you to come there. Even if you come just once, and ask for prayer and laying on of hands, that God would reveal your gifts to you. We would love to do that. Finally, call me or call the church and say you want to find out what your gifts are. I would be delighted to help you do that. That's one of my passions, to see your passions. Finally, for the second invitation that I have for you, I want to return to that most important question we can ask. Every once in awhile we have an opportunity to do something truly significant in our lives. I want to invite you this morning to do that here. You may be saying today, "You know, I've never made Christ my own. I've never asked him to come into my heart. I've never asked him to be my Lord and my Savior." I want to invite you this morning to do that. In a few minutes, I will ask us all to close our eyes and bow our heads while I pray. I'm going to say a prayer of acceptance. For any of you who have never made that prayer for yourself, I'm going to ask you to stand up where you are. Nobody is going to be looking at you. Stand up and claim that gift for yourself. Before you can realize your spiritual gift, you need to know that you belong to Christ, and he's going to open your heart and mind.
Bow your heads with me as I pray this prayer. If you've
never made that confession of faith, make this prayer your own, as I pray
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Rev. Mark Tusken
Spiritual gifts: What's yours, and how are you using it? Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 Epiphany is that moment in the church year that is a moment of "Aha!" and a moment of revelation. We read Corinthians partly because the church there was discovering who it was and what it was meant to be. I want us to think through who we are, and who God calls us to be. To do that, I first want to tell a true story about Ron Majers, the newsman on Channel 7. He talks about how he started his work as a young t.v. reporter out in Oregon as the early morning news guy, reading the news headlines for 5 minutes. He has a 4-year old daughter. One day there is a knock at his door, and Ron opens the door and sees it is the young neighbor boy, Bobby. Bobby asks, "Can Erin come out and play?" Ron says sure, and goes to get his daughter. As he turns and starts to walk away, Bobby the 4-year old says, "I know who you are!" It made Ron stop in his tracks. He thought to himself, "Think of the power and control I have... even 4-year olds know who I am!" Then Bobby continued, "I know who you are... you're the guy who makes Captain. Kangaroo late!" There's a great reality in that story. If all the world's a stage, we think we are at the center of that world. That was one of the challenges for the church in Corinth. Each believer there had a sense of their own God-given importance; or at least, they were struggling with the idea that all that they knew and believed was what everyone ought to know and believe. When you read between the lines, you see that at the beginning of the book, Paul is writing an answer to some of their questions. He says, "I have heard from Chloe's people that their are divisions among you. I know some of you think you're important because I taught you. Some of you think you are important because Peter taught you. Some of you think you are important because Apollos taught you." Then Paul has to tell him that that's not the body of Christ. Now, there are lots of ways that we begin to think of ourselves as self-important. God was very much at work in the church in Corinth. There were people who were being healed, there were needs being met, more believers were being brought in to the fold as they were hearing of the love of God. There was a lot happening in Corinth. But, each person in the church began to think that their ministry or their work or their gifts from God were more important than the others. So Paul has to write and say, "You've got to think of yourselves as the body of Christ, just as you would think of your own body." Now, you boys and girls, when you think about your own body, I wonder what your favorite part is. It might be your legs, because you can run. Is it your eyes, because you can see? Just imagine this... if you only had eyes, you wouldn't be able to run at recess. If you only had ears, you wouldn't be able to see your video games! Paul is making a point to grown-ups, that we all need to understand. To be a complete person means that we don't just have hands, and we don't just have feet. We need to have our whole selves. He is saying to the people in Corinth something very similar. He says, "Don't make the mistake of thinking that the role that God has given you to serve the church is the role that everyone should have." That would cripple the body of Christ, if we all had the same gifts, and we were all used the same way, or if we all followed one teacher. Paul talks about the different gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12, he lists the different ways in which people minister. He talks in Romans 12 about different gifts. He says that some people are given a gift of the miraculous, that as they pray, wondrous things happen. Some people are given the gift of healing. Some people are given the gift of generosity, and are able to give beyond what others might be able to give. It's fascinating to me the overlap of one gift between 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. That one gift is the gift of speaking in tongues. You'll have to talk to your Pentecostal friends about that! The point would be simply this: First, if you believe - as Tony was saying last week - God has given you a spiritual gift. And, if you believe, and you use that gift, it's not for the building up of yourself, but for the good of others. Do you choir members think you have the gift of singing? I think you do! That helps us with our worship. Church is always more fun for me, when you children are here with us. A church without children, I believe, isn't really a church. God intends for all of us to come together if we're going to really be like Jesus. There's a couple of questions I'd like to ask to all of us today. The first one is: What is your gift? I was looking in the brochure for the Women's Retreat, and the woman who will be leading the retreat lists her gifts. Fr. Tony and I were talking about gifts of the Spirit, and he said something very helpful for me. I had given him a book to read, and he said, "Mark, this is your generation! This is baby boomer material!" If the whole church were baby boomers, we wouldn't get it all. So it helps to have "gen x-er" perspective, too! If I'm going to help the people of the church discover what God wants them to do, I have to talk to the 40-year olds in a different way than I talk to the 30-year olds. I've got to talk in a completely different way to you boys and girls. It's crucial, Paul says, for us to discover our gift, and then begin to use it. We really stop the reading short today. There is a list there, following our reading. Some are prophets, some are teachers. What's your gift? Have you been given the gift of encouragement? I always try to surround myself with people who have the gift of encouragement. Fr. Ted, at the end of the annual meeting, came up to me and said that it was really a great meeting, and I appreciated that. He said, "You run a tight ship!" You see, God gives us all different roles and responsibilities. For me, Ted becomes an encourager. All of us are given a gift. It will be exciting for me to discover how that material that relates to my generation can be changed in such a way that it relates to another generation. In the end, Paul says, if you only the eyes (or the "boomers"), you don't have a church. If you only have the ears (the "gen x-ers"), you don't have a church. A couple of years ago, I went to a meeting sponsored by the Diocese that talked about church growth. I think it's always important to listen to some of those ideas. This expert told us that within our churches, there are usually about 5 different kinds of people who come to church. There are some people who are "Word-oriented". They want to study the scriptures, and they want to grow through that study. There are others who are "service-oriented". They want to be at the soup kitchens; they want to meet the needs of other people in their parish family. There are others who are "fellowship-oriented". Every chance there is a potluck, they are there for it. There are yet others who are "worship-oriented," who are at church to worship in the beauty of the holiness and to enjoy the art and music. And there are yet others who come to church for the connectedness they experience for their children. At this meeting, it was suggested that most of the time you fall into one of those categories. The people who are Word-oriented and are thinking about their faith and living that out in their hearts don't spend too much time with those who are fellowship-oriented. They don't think the same. My sense would be, that Paul would say to us that you have to know yourself. You have to know what gifts God has given you. You have to know what challenges you face. You have to know how God is going to use you, and then the real challenge is to make sure that you're not with other birds of the same feather. That's not easy! I don't mean to hurt you boys and girls' feelings, so please hear this in the right way. There are some grown-ups who think that children shouldn't be in church. Does that shock you? It shocks me! They have forgotten what it's like to be a boy or girl. One of the reasons it's important to have kids in church, just like little Bobby was to Ron Majers, they are able to speak the truth in ways that the rest of us don't hear. So in this passage today, Paul is saying, "What's your gift?" He is also telling us to remind ourselves again and again, that you are in a dangerous place if you are only with a bunch of hands, or a bunch of feet. Then, he answers the most important question: If we're not all cut from the same bolt of cloth, because we don't think the same way or don't have the same gifts or don't come from the same generation, then what is it that unites us? Here's his answer: "Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit" You know what that says to me? That says the one thing that we all have in common in this room. It's our baptism. Now watch this, boys and girls -- turn around and take a look. How many in this room have been baptized? How many people in this room have not been baptized? I want you to understand something. At the time Paul is writing this and talking about our baptism, there's no tract available that explains the 4 spiritual laws and how to come to Christ. There hasn't yet been a church council that has come together and given them a creed to follow. When Paul is writing this, there has not really been anything for people to sign on to. The one thing they had, was a sense that there was a man who wasn't just a man. He came and he lived among us, and everywhere he went, people were astounded at the difference he made in their lives. You know how many people Jesus baptized? Zero. My sense would be, that there is a reason for that. His work wasn't about baptizing. His work was to live among us, teach us, and then die for us, and then come back to life. When Paul was writing this, that's all that anybody knew. They knew that Jesus could change their lives. They knew that he was dead, and now was alive again. They knew that whatever he had, they needed and wanted. That's what made them the body of Christ. That's a challenge for all of us. If you're like me, and I'm one of these Word-oriented guys, I want it all planned out real carefully. Or, if you're fellowship-oriented, you might want to have pot-lucks every day of the week. But in the end, here's what matters. Have you been baptized? I don't mean just being sprinkled, and just going through the motions. Have you been at that place, like the people Paul's writing to, where your whole world has changed because you believe? It makes a difference forever in their lives. I would just close again with a couple of questions, and one last observation. What's your gift? How are you going to bless others with that gift? And then this caveat emptor, or buyer beware: All of us need to be reminded, as Ron Majers was. We're just the reason why Captain Kangaroo is late! For most of us, the only impact we will ever make of any lasting value comes from the gift that God gives us, that we then give away. What gifts has God given you, that you can give away? |
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Rev. Mark Tusken
 What has the Lord created you to do? The word of the LORD came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD." Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." Jeremiah 1:4-10 In the passage for today, we find God calling Jeremiah into his ministry. God speaks to him, and says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. The call for all of us is to ask the question: Am I willing to risk to discover God's plan for my life? You see, everything is turned upside down for Jeremiah, after he receives that word. This lesson was read at my ordination, and also at Tony's ordination, and it's my own birthday today. You have to reflect on that scriptural reality that before you were created in the womb, God had a plan for your life and mine. What happens to Jeremiah happens to all of us. He begins to offer various excuses: "I'm only a child." Or, "I'm only a youth," it says in some translations. We might put it this way: "I'm too young for you to use me, God." Whenever we are challenged by him to walk in a certain way, the first response in our own human frailty is to look at all the reasons why he can't mean me. Here's the list that I jotted down. If Jeremiah says, "I'm only a boy," some of us might say: "I'm too old," or, "I'm too busy," or, "I'm too tired," or, "I'm too poor," "too rich," "too weak,""too comfortable," "too scared," "too slow," "too sick." See, we all have our excuses. We all want to shrink back when God speaks that word in our hearts. "I have a plan for you," says the Lord. It doesn't happen just to Jeremiah, and you and me. Throughout the scriptures, we see Moses shrinking back when God calls him. "I'm only a shepherd," he responded, "and I stutter at that." Gideon, who is called to deliver his people from the Mideonites, says, "You can't mean me; I'm only the youngest son." Saul has an interesting excuse. He says to David, "You're just a kid. What can you do with a slingshot against a giant?" David himself, when he's presented with the opportunity of becoming a prince of Judah and marrying the king's daughter, says, "I'm too poor and I have no reputation." We read today in our gospel reading about the widow of Zarephath, when Elijah comes asking for food. She says, "I only have a little meal left, and a little oil in a jar." We all have excuses when God says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and had a plan for you." Jesus says to the disciples, "I want you to feed this 5,000." What do they say in response? "We only have 5 loaves and 2 fishes." We all have excuses. It's not bad enough that we make excuses for ourselves; look what everyone else does to us! Jesus going home to Nazareth -- what do the people say? "He's only Joseph's son; only a carpenter. We knew him as a boy. What could he possibly offer?" Jesus replied, "A prophet is without honor at home." From within, we offer excuses; from without, people tell us we can't be the person God intends to use. It's always a challenge, and we shrink back. Let me ask you this: What's your excuse, when God speaks in your heart? God answers Jeremiah's excuse, when he says, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy,' for you shall go to all whom I send you." In the Hebrew, it's emphatic. It's not a suggestion or an option, it's a command. The shall almost makes it softer than it really is. God says, "Jeremiah, you can't shrink back. I've created you for this moment." What was the moment? Israel was at a turning point. The Assyrian empire was crumbling, and it's a great moment when they can move out of the oppression of the Assyrians -- if they'll rely on God. Instead, they begin to politicize the moment. They make alliances, form pacts, and all of it fails. The Babylonians arrive, and Jeremiah's word of prophecy becomes a word of doom in a sense. He has to say, "Jerusalem itself will fall. We will entire into exile as a people." What's the context of your life? Where were you born? More importantly, what's the context of your life right now? What would God have you do? Who would the Lord have you to be? Those are hard questions, but God answers Jeremiah's excuse. "You, only you, shall go where I send you," God says. Jeremiah is the one God needs. I'd say that for all of us. You are the one he needs. I'm the one he needs. It only takes one, because he created you for that moment and for that work. "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." Only one person; you. Only one family; yours. Only one congregation; ours. Only one town or village; here and now. Only one state; a state of expectation that God can use you. Only one nation, under God. There's only one world that needs his love, through you and me. So the question again is: What has the Lord God created to do? A friend reminded me this week, as we were having a conversation, that it was this time about three years ago that she and her husband were thinking of making a move. It was a move out of secular work into ministry. You would think that's exactly what God would have us all to do. I don't want you leaving this place today thinking that's necessarily what God would say. That wasn't the case for this friend and her husband. In fact, she said again that it was clear to her that God intended for them to be right here, right now. Often, God doesn't move us away when he calls us. Jeremiah never left Israel. The real challenge is to ask the question: What are our divine orders? For me, it's holy orders. For some of you, it's working in the office. Others, in the classroom, or the home. Where has God called you? What did he create you for? Part of the challenge is to recognize that when God calls us -- and he calls every single one of us here -- it's to recognize that that call becomes everything in our lives. It changes our perspective. Now, I was thinking this week of a story told at a college commencement that I think captures what Jeremiah grappled with, and we all have to grapple with, when it comes to living a life that's totally committed. It's the story of two men who are working on a hot day in the midst of a railroad yard. They were toiling with those heavy 8-pound sledge hammers, and they were driving spikes into the rails. They are stripped to the waist, because they are so hot, and it's the most miserable of work. All of a sudden, while they are there in the rail yard, a train comes through with one engine and only one private rail car. As the car comes along, a man in the car leans out and says, "Charlie?! Is that you?" The man with the sledge hammer looks up and says, "John? I haven't seen you in 25 years!" The man in the rail car invites him in for a talk. The worker puts on his shirt and tries to make himself presentable, and he goes into the car, and they talk for a 1/2 hour. Then he comes back out, and they wave their good-byes and the train makes its way down the track again. The two workers begin driving spikes again. The man working with Charlie asks, "How do you know that guy?" Charlie responds, "25 years ago, we were driving spikes together in this yard." The other man said, "What happened? You're still driving spikes, and he's president of the railroad!" Charlie reflected for a minute, and said, "I came to work for $1.25 an hour, but he came to work for the railroad." I think that's the challenge for all of us. What are we here for? What difference does it make in our lives, that you were born in a certain time and place, and God created you for a certain work? Jeremiah discovered his. The challenge for all of us is to discover ours. One of the things we are going to do later in the service on this day, is to have a time of prayer for our kids. The children are going to come up and have communion with us, and we're going to pray for them. On tomorrow, we have the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple -- that moment when his parents gave him back to God. The challenge for all of us is to give ourselves back to the Lord, and also our families. And so we have the question: What are you here for? God's answer is, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." When we shrink back, gracious Lord, let us have the strength that comes from your Holy Spirit, to answer your call, to serve where you would lead, we pray this in Jesus' Name, Amen. |
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Rev. Mark Tusken
The Resurrection Principle I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you--unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 We're in the midst of Epiphany, which I've called this year a "season of discovery." We've used this time to discover where St. Mark's will be headed this year. We've talked about St. Mark's as being a place of growth and service; we've talked about the role of the Holy Spirit in strengthening us and giving us various gifts and what that means when we discover his work in our lives. We talked last week about discovering that God has a plan for each of our lives. God says to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." He says that to each of us today. This week we come in 1 Corinthians 15 to discover really one of the most important principles in the scriptures -- the "resurrection principle." Paul will say to us next week, that if Jesus hasn't been raised, if the resurrection isn't real, then our preaching has been useless, and your faith or your trust in God is worth nothing. The reason we're here hinges on the resurrection that Paul describes to us today in our reading, and the discovery of that resurrection principle in our own lives. In the New Testament, there are 27 resurrection appearances. Jesus appeared at the empty tomb on Resurrection Sunday in Jerusalem. That's given to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden that same day. That's given to us in Mark chapter 16 and John chapter 20. He appeared to other women in Jerusalem on that Resurrection Sunday (Mt 28). He appeared to two people on the road to Emmaus on Resurrection Sunday (Mk 16, Luke 24). He appeared to Peter on that first day, alone (Luke 24, 1 Cor 15). He appeared to ten disciples in the upper room on that first day (Luke 24, John 20). He appeared to the eleven disciples in the upper room a week later, with Thomas there (Mk 16, John 20, 1 Cor 15). He appeared to seven disciples who were fishing at the Sea of Galilee some time later (John 21). He appeared to the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee some time later (Mt 28, Mk 16). He appeared to more than 500 people at one time (1 Cor 15). He appeared to James (1 Cor 15). He appeared to his disciples at the ascension, 40 days after the resurrection (Luke 24, Acts 1). He appeared to Paul, some time later, on the road to Damascus (1 Cor 15, Acts 9, 22, 26). The resurrection principle: Our very lives hinge upon that truth that Jesus was dead, and then was raised. If Christ has not been raised, Paul says, our preaching is useless, and your trust in God and faith is in vain. I want to look at those four verbs today. First, Paul says, "I proclaimed to you" in the reading today. There is a message for us. That message leads to us receiving that truth that Paul talks about. There's a process here. It reminds me of a piece of poetry that I've probably offered to you before, because it's important to me: "For the want of a nail, a shoe was lost. For the want of a shoe, a horse was lost. For the want of a horse, a rider was lost. For the want of a rider, a leader was lost. For the want of a leader, a battle was lost. For the want of a battle, a war was lost. And all for the want of a nail." You see, there's a process that evolves along life's way. That would certainly be true, Paul would say, for we who believe. Someone had to offer us the truth. Someone had to share with us that Jesus was dead, and is now raised and is alive. We couldn't just know that without the preacher. Paul writes it this way, in Romans chapter 9: "How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him, whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher?" Paul says, I preached, and you received. There's a content. Paul would say to us today, "I delivered to you as a first importance, what I received. That Christ Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again." That's the content. Some of you today may be here as visitors. I would suggest this to everyone in the room: If you're ever visiting a church, you have the privilege of asking the preacher, "Do you believe in the resurrection?" I don't mean that there is just some flowery idea that Jesus merely lives on in our memories. The grave was empty; Jesus was alive. That's the content to our faith. Paul says, if there is no resurrection, there's no reason for you and I to be sitting here today. Do you believe that? Then he says that those in Corinth believed. He says, "You received what I preached." There's a story of a fellow who received what I preached a couple of years ago, who discovered the resurrection principle for his life. His name is Ken Spangler, and he was visiting for the first time at the 8:00 service at our church in Montgomery. He was sitting towards the back, and as I began to preach, I told a story about a man who was planning to move to a town, and his wife was refusing to move with him. She just wasn't going to go. As I was telling that story, I saw that this visitor, who I didn't know, began to weep. I didn't think the sermon was that bad...! After the service, he came up to me and said, "I've got to talk to you. That story is my story." I don't remember if we talked that afternoon, or a week later, but Ken and I got together and this is what had happened for him. He was a corporate lawyer from the east coast, and he was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to come and work for Red Blount and his massive, world-wide engineering corporation as the chief counsel. Red Blount, some of you may remember, was the Postmaster General during the Nixon era. It was a marvelous opportunity for Ken, but his wife wouldn't come. It was somewhat of a sign of the estrangement in their lives, but Ken believed in the resurrection principle. He began to pray for his wife Colleen, and to make a long story short, they were able to work through that difficult time in their lives. Ken still believes in the resurrection principle. He called me a couple of months ago, and he is fighting for his life in a battle with cancer. I think of that blessing that Colleen is there with him, and that he and she have experienced the power of the resurrection principle in their lives. I preach; you receive. Think about the devotions for Lent: I've asked some of you to write a little devotion for Lent. We're going to copy those into a booklet, and whoever would like to may take one, and each day of Lent you'll have some thought from someone from St. Mark's. It's been a marvelous experience. What's caught me by surprise -- although maybe it shouldn't have -- is that the reflections are not very theological. Instead it is, again and again, something like "I was in a tough place; I began to pray; God gave me this promise from the Bible; and I saw him at work in my life." Or one person in their devotion said it this way: Every time I read of the transfiguration, I begin to weep. There's just that sense that if we proclaim the truth, and you receive that truth, then the resurrection principle comes to life in your own soul, and you see God at work. That's the promise that Paul makes to us. It's not automatic, though. Before he goes to Corinth and meets his friends, he spends time in Athens. There's a marvelous situation in which he makes the proclamation, and he writes, "After making the proclamation, some of them sneered." They didn't believe; they didn't want to hear it. For the Greeks, there was no concept of bodily resurrection. They didn't want that. They thought that the best there was, was here and now, so be an Epicurean. Or maybe, you can hold on and be stoic and maybe your soul would exist into eternity. They had no sense of a bodily resurrection. Paul in Athens says, Jesus was dead; he was raised to life; but some of them sneered. But others said, "We would like to talk with you further about this idea of resurrection." Paul preached; they listened. I proclaim; you receive. Then Paul says, "You stand in that truth." I believe all of us have times and places in our lives that that becomes a reality, when life's road gets steep. All we can do is trust in the resurrection principle. That's what happened to Paul himself when he was in Corinth. There was a lot of pressure coming against him. He had a lot of worries. The church wasn't going very well. The message he was proclaiming wasn't always being received. One night, he has a dream. Jesus speaks to him. Now, some of you have "red-letter" Bibles, in which the words of Jesus are printed in red. In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there are a lot of red-letter passages. But if you look carefully, in the rest of the Bible, there are a few other times when Jesus speaks. While Paul is in Corinth, in the midst of all of his worries, Jesus speaks. The resurrection principle is alive to Paul. Jesus says, "Do not be afraid. I am with you." That's the word of hope that we all need to have at one point or another in our lives. We really have a choice. I've seen this even this past week in a wonderful way. For 2,000 years, people have read the Bible with the a priori assumption that it has truth, that God has revealed reality to us through these scriptures. It's our responsibility to pass that truth on, one to another. That's the way we've read the Bible for the past 2,000 years. But within modernity, there's a second way that many people have begun to read the Bible. I would just tell you candidly, that I reject this way. But they would say that you come to the scriptures existentially, and you only incorporate into your life those parts of the Bible that ring true for you. Those are the two ways you can read it. You can take it as a delivered truth, that you've received them -- Paul said "I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received". That's the way to read scriptures, and that's the way Paul passed on the truth. Or, you can start with yourself. The problem is this: When you start with yourself, you never can discover the resurrection principle, because the resurrection principle begins with God. So that's the challenge for all of us, whether you agree with it or not. In fact, I'd encourage you all to read the article called "The Episcopalian Preference," by Philip Turner. You will not be disappointed. That's the choice before us. Where will we stand? What will we believe? What is truth? Finally, Paul says that not only did he preach, and they received, and you stand, but "you are being saved through this truth." There's an ongoing process there. I think so often when we think of eternal life and salvation, we think, "When I take my last breath, that's when salvation starts, because that's when I'm in heaven." But that's not the New Testament concept at all. Instead, the New Testament would say that when you and I believe, we receive eternal life as a gift from God, and that begins at that moment of belief and goes on forever. Paul in Athens said it this way: "There is a God in whom we live and move and have our being." I like that thought. There's a process that's stressed there. In whom we live today, and in whom we move tomorrow, and in whom we have our being forever. You are being saved, and eternal life starts now. People often ask me, "Can I lose my salvation?" I always say to look at the scriptures. It says that when you believe you have eternal life. It starts, and then goes on forever. If you could lose it, would it be forever? No. And so, you are being saved. I would close with this: Lee Strobel wrote an entire book about resurrection, and in it he interviewed a theologian, Gary Habermas, a professor of theology and philosophy, who has written several articles and books on this principle we've talked about today. Strobel expected to hear a lot of theology -- and he did hear some of that, but mostly Habermas related an incredibly personal moment in his own life. He talked about his wife Debbie dying. Strobel writes, "He went into a reflective mood, in which he referred to the death of his wife in 1995 of stomach cancer. Habermas said, 'I sat on our porch, looking off to the side at nothing in particular. My wife was upstairs dying. Except for a few weeks, she was home through it all. It was an awful time.' He turned and looked straight at me. 'But do you know what was amazing? My students would call me and say, 'At a time like this, aren't you glad about the resurrection?' As sober as these circumstances were, I had to smile for two reasons. First, my students were trying to cheer me up with my own teaching! And second, it worked! As I would sit there, I'd picture Job who went through all that terrible stuff and asked questions of God. Then God turned the tables on him, and asked him a few questions. I knew if God were to come to me, I'd ask only one question: Lord, why is Debbie up there in bed? And I think God would respond gently by saying, 'Gary, did I raise my Son?' I'd say, 'Come on, Lord; I've written seven books on that topic -- of course he was raised from the dead! I want to know about Debbie!' I think he'd keep coming back to the same question, 'Did I raise my Son from the dead?', until I got his point. The resurrection says that if Jesus raised 2,000 years ago, there's an answer to Debbie's death in 1995. And do you know what? If the resurrection would get me through that, it would get me through anything. It was good for A.D. 30, and it's good for 1995, it's good for 1998, it's good for 2004, it's good beyond that. I believe that with all my heart. If there's a resurrection, there's a heaven. If Jesus was raised, Debbie was raised, and I will be too, some day, and then I'll see them both.' " Paul says, I preached, and you received, the resurrection principle. Lord, help us to receive your truth. Help us to come to that place where our lives so depend upon you and your truth, and that we'd stand in you, our God in whom we live and move and have our being, Amen. |
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Rev. Tony Welty
People, like a tree, need to be:
Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse-- who can understand it? I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings. Jeremiah 17:5-10 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful! Their delight is in the law of the LORD, and they meditate on his law day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper. It is not so with the wicked; they are like chaff which the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, nor the sinner in the council of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked is doomed. Psalm 1:1-6 This morning I want to spend some time with you looking at some of the imagery found in our Old Testament reading for today, and also some imagery that's offered to us in the Psalms. Both of these passages offer the image of the tree planted by water, which has to do with trust and faith -- and specifically, where we put our trust and faith. When all of you were coming here this morning, you exhibited a tremendous amount of trust and faith, just as I did. Every day of our lives, we trust that other people are not going to run their cars into us at a 4-way stop sign. We have faith that when other people come to a stop light, they are actually going to stop when it's red, and go when it's green. Every time we hop into an airplane to go somewhere, we have faith that the company on whose plane we are flying made wise hiring decisions when hiring pilots and mechanics. We put a tremendous amount of faith in the mechanics of the aircraft. Every day, we put our faith in something. We are putting our trust somewhere. When it comes to relationships, we exhibit a tremendous amount of faith and trust, because we trust other people. We lay our hearts out there to our spouses and loved ones and friends. We entrust ourselves to them, hoping and trusting that they are not going to injure us or harm us in some way. Trust and faith happen every day. Just yesterday morning, I was at the grocery store with my 4 kids. Cheri is taking a class on Saturday mornings, so it was just the five of us. We have developed this ritual where we completely destroy the kitchen for breakfast, and then we try to put it back together and do something for lunch for when Cheri comes home. My 13-year old had an idea of what we could do for lunch yesterday, and it entailed going to the store. So, we all piled into the car and we went to the store. We found everything that we needed, and we proceeded to the checkout line. My 13-year old was standing next to me; my 7-year old was underneath the basket; my 10-year old was in front of the basket; and my 2-year old was right in front of me in the basket. As we went forward in the checkout lane, my 2-year old reached over towards all of the "stuff" next to the lane. She grabbed a pack of gum, and before you could count to 3, she had unwrapped it and stuck it in her mouth! It wasn't really a big deal to me, but my other three kids were astonished. Their jaws dropped wide open. "Dad, are you gonna let her have that?!" I said, "Of course... am I going to wrap it up and put it back?" So, she was chewing this massive piece of strawberry Bubilicious, and my kids berated me relentlessly all the way out to the car. "I can't believe you're doing this! I can't believe you're letting her have it!" As we loaded the groceries up, my daughter said, "Look, Dad; at least take 1/2 of the gum out of her mouth." So I took half of it out. I strapped my 2-year old in the car, but my other kids continued to go nuts. My 13-year old continued, "Dad, don't you realize that 2-year olds should never have anything small enough to fit inside the tube of a roll of toilet paper?" I replied, "Sure, but it's a small piece of gum -- it's going to be okay." My 10-year old spoke up and said, "This is just not safe. This is wrong!" But I started for home. You would have thought she was chewing a piece of glass or something! The kicker was when my 10-year old countered with: "You know what, fine. In 10 minutes you're going to be down to three kids!!" At that point I was thinking to myself, "I had no idea this was such a big deal for them!" But for them, it was an issue of trust. All they knew, in their worldview, was what their Mom had said, which was "2-year olds never chew gum." That's the person they trust the most in the world! The second person they trust most in the world was betraying that trust! They were wondering, why are you allowing this to happen? When we got home, and I asked my 2-year old to give me the gum, and she spit it out and I put it in the trash, and all was well. But, all of us learned something about trust -- I certainly did. I assure you, I'll never do that again! For my children, already at a very young age, they have begun to see what we see in the Old Testament. We see the principle that our faith and our trust is only as valid as the object in which we put that faith and trust. My kids are beginning to see that they need discernment. They are beginning to see that their trust is imperfect because I'm imperfect. I'm thankful that my 2-year old didn't choke on that gum. They were right; it was possible. I could see that in their faces. It was an issue of trust for them. It's the same thing with us. We come to this passage from Jeremiah, and God is drawing a sharp contrast between those people who turn their faces towards him and trust him, and those people who turn their faces away from him and don't trust him. He says, "Cursed are those who put their trust in man." God is the only perfect object in which we can trust and have faith in. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, for they will be like a tree planted by streams of water. They will never wither; they will always be fruitful, no matter what is happening in their lives, because they will have a perfect trust. Not because they are perfect -- but because God is perfect. It's a very striking image that God draws for us. I realize that at the same time for a lot of us, the ancient culture of Israel is inaccessible. What I mean by that is that it's hard for us to visualize how barren that landscape actually is. I've never been there, but I know some of you have, so you have more of a frame of reference of what this image would look like. For those of us who don't have that frame of reference, I want to offer you a different and more contemporary way of thinking about this flourishing tree. It's found in a story that I came across about a missionary who was laboring in Chile. This missionary was a pastor to a group of people who were extremely poor, with absolutely no money. All they had were crops and things they could use to barter with. Yet, this missionary had been there for some years, opening up the scriptures to them and teaching them what God had to say to his people. He had begun to see how their faith was growing and developing. One day, as clear as I'm speaking to you now, the Lord said to him, "You have not declared my whole truth to these people." Of course, because he was a faithful man, he was shocked. "Lord, I've told them everything!" he replied. He had told them about salvation by grace, justification by faith, forgiveness of sins, baptism in the Holy Spirit, about the history of the church, about Jesus and holy living and the second coming. He wondered what he had left out. Again, he heard the Lord say very clearly to him, "You have not declared my tithe to them." Of all things for this missionary to say to that group of people, that was the most outlandish and made absolutely no sense. What good is a tithe for people who don't have anything to give? He made another objection. "Lord, I don't understand. I've taught them about everything, but they don't have anything to give to you." Again the Lord said to him, "You must declare my tithe." Here was the crux of the issue for this missionary pastor: He could be obedient to God's voice, or he could choose to go with his own common sense, and to put his trust and faith in the strength of man. But he was obedient, so the next day he went with a very happy heart and stepped into the pulpit, and declared to them God's word. He said, "My beloved brethren, God has shown me that I haven't been faithful in declaring to you his whole counsel. There's something that you have not been doing that I must tell you. You have not been tithing to the Lord." Of course, the word "tithing" meant nothing to them, so he spent an hour walking through the scriptures and telling them everything about what God has to say about his tithe. He even shared with them the portions from Malachi, when God says, "Push me in this. Test me and see if this is not true. See if I will not open up the floodgates of blessing and pour so much blessing out on you, that you won't know what to do with it all." The next Sunday, when the pastor came in, he saw that the people of that village had filled the altar area with gifts that he could hardly celebrate the Eucharist. He was overwhelmed. It happened over and over again, for weeks and months. That one small act of faith lead to great blessing to his people. Before long, a drought came along. The missionary thought to himself, "I've asked these people to give, and now the crops will dry up." The drought came -- but something happened. There was a miraculous event that occurred. As the crops around them failed, this one tiny village flourished, more so than they ever had. Everything that they had touched had turned supernaturally into a bounty of healthful and flavorful produce. This miraculous event followed from this one man's faith, and hearing the word of God and sharing that with God's people. The reason I tell you this story is to draw the parallel between the image of a real living person and the image of a tree. There are three reasons why they are similar. The first one is: the missionary pastor was connected. He was connected to God. He prayed. He was silent. He listened. He read the word of God. He was connected just the same way a tree is connected to the soil. If there's no connection, you can't hear. The second way is that he was receptive. He was connected to God and was listening to what God had to say, the same way a tree is. It's roots dig into the ground and search for water, because they are looking for something to receive. He was faithful and obedient to what he heard. God said, I want you to do this, even though it didn't make any sense to him. He knew something about God's character through his word. And he knew something about what God had done in the past, by what he has said to us in his word. It's the same way with a tree. A tree finds water with its roots, and draws it up into the whole tree. There's no stopping to ask questions -- it just does it. The whole tree is nourished. And finally, both this missionary pastor and a tree planted by streams of water are fruitful. No matter what's happening in our circumstances, there is fruit that is produced. It all happened because the missionary was faithful and obedient to God's word and voice. He was able to be obedient because he was receptive, listening for God's voice. He was able to be receptive because he was connected to God. He was listening and paying attention. That image is one for all of us. I want to leave you with the idea and reality that just like that tree, which grows, we are works in progress. Trees don't start out being full-grown; they start very small. As the roots grow deeper into the ground, the tree also grows above the ground. It's the same with us. This passage is about truth in God's imagery; it's also a passage about grace. God has grace for all of us. We aren't born as a mature tree. We grow in our faith and our trust. Each time we come to God, and we are connected to him, we are listening to his voice, and he brings us to that place where we have a choice to make, whether we are going to be obedient or not. That's an area and opportunity for growth for each one of us. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were known as the prophets of individual responsibility -- not a popular concept these days! But that's what it is about. What are we going to do with those times when God brings us to a place of choosing? Are we going to trust in him, and have a perfect trust, or are we going to trust in common sense and the strength of man, and turn to our own understanding? That's what we're left with today. Thomas à Kempis was a great saint in the church, and he said this about trust: "Oh, how great peace and quietness would he possess who should cut off all vain anxiety and place all his confidence in God." That, I would submit to you, is the image of that tree planted by streams of water. No matter what happens, God is faithful and God is trustworthy. Dear Lord, thank you again for this opportunity to gather in your name, to worship you and praise you. I ask that for each one of us, as we leave here this morning, you would infuse us with a new level of trust. Help us to see you clearly working in our lives. Help us, Lord, to be like that tree, planted by a stream of water, always healthy, always growing in your grace, and always rooted and grounded in your love. We pray this in Jesus' name, and by the power of your Spirit, Amen. |
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Rev. Mark Tusken
The problems with building shrines:
About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. Luke 9:28-36 I want to think for a moment about saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. That's what happens with Peter this morning. Before we get to his statement, I'll share with you one of those great faux pas that comes from history. When Columbus was discovering the new land, history records what he said when he first met with the natives. He probably knelt down in the sand, and offered prayers of thanksgiving. He had been greeted by people from the West Indies, and he stretched out his hand to them, and said, "Do you have any of this?" In his hand, was gold ore and dust. That seemed to be all he really cared about. It was the wrong thing said at the wrong time. That would also be the case with Peter today. This is a great moment of worship, recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. It was a moment that impacted the disciples' lives. Peter just began to "blab on." It was something he was wont to do -- perhaps, at times, it's something that you might feel that I am wont to do! We all sometimes come to those places when we don't know what to do, so we just begin to speak. Peter is overcome by this moment, seeing Jesus change before his eyes, and seeing Elijah and Moses. He begins to say, "It sure is a good thing we're here... let's build three shelters and shrines for you! We'll just encapsulate this holy moment and stay here forever!" I want us to think about what he said, and the problem with it, because there is a problem with building shrines, when you get caught up in that place of wanting to build a shelter to hold on to something. Three wrong things happen: You can't be there; you won't live there; you don't plan for the future. First, if you're caught up in building a shrine to the past, you create a great problem, because you can't live in the past. Maybe that's what Peter was thinking: "20 years in the future, I'll still be able to hold on to this place." Have you ever known someone who was only living in the past? I see it when I walk into a pastor's study or office, and all of the books on the shelves are from 20 years ago. If we ask what they've read lately, a blank look comes across their faces. Or you may sometimes meet someone who can only say what God did in their life long, long ago. You can't live in the past. That's what Peter was in effect suggesting, to build a shrine and stay there forever. There was an old theory about Alzheimer's Disease, which has mostly been discredited at this point, due to the discoveries relating to the chemistry involved. The old theory was that when someone had something very dramatic happen in their life, either good or bad, it so impacted them that as they grew old, they stayed stuck in that place. When you met them, they felt that they were still 5 years old, or 25 years old. The theory has been discredited, but the theory behind it is very much true for those persons who want to go through life living in some moment in their past. It's a very dangerous place to be. You can't live in the past. Now, at St. Mark's, I don't think we have that problem. One of the ways that I would suggest God is very much at work in our lives today is to take a look at the Lenten Devotional booklet written by our fellow parishioners. These booklets are located out in the narthex. The reading begin with this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, and carry through to Holy Saturday. I just sent a brief memo out to a few people to write a brief devotion based on a favorite verse, and it was astounding to me to see the reply. Maybe it's because I'm the proud "spiritual father," but I think these are magnificent! Each word and reflection shows a living relationship with Christ. These aren't people who are living in the past; these are your friends and family members who have been transfigured by the living God. I hope you'll pick one of these booklets up. There are enough for each family to take one home and use it as part of your devotions for Lent. You can't live in the past. You can learn from the past, and we're all challenged to learn from the past, but you can't live in the past. A second problem with building shrines relates around this: When you are busy building a shrine, or dusting it off and keeping it pure and pristine, you won't live in the future. There's a description of our lives today by Paul Grunshow, that goes like this: Many of us live with a turnpike mentality, that we walk through life with tunnel vision. You can get on the interstate, put on the cruise control, and drive with your knees, and the scenery never changes. That's a picture of how some people live in the present. They've got this tunnel vision, and the scenery never changes. They're only existing. They're not living. People who are about erecting shrines or maintaining monuments are not alive. It was a moment of light up there on the holy mountain, but if Peter had stayed there, he would have surely died. Life is meant to be a challenge; it's not meant to be boring. But it's also confusing. Thomas Merton wrote a wonderful prayer that I'd like to share with you, about really living, and making sure we're not caught in some sort of tunnel. "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone." - Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude" © Abbey of Gethsemani That's real life. The road gets steep; our way is not very clear. But it's a moment of trust that takes us forward. If you're building a shrine, you won't live in the present. The challenge for all of us is to focus on what's right now. Jesus said it this way: "Don't worry about tomorrow; today has enough concerns of its own." There's a third challenge for all of us, when we come to that place where we are stuck in that place of building or maintaining a shrine, or wanting to hold on to some part of a monument. When you are in that place, not only are you living in the past, and you can't live in the future, but you don't plan for the future. Look at the context here. Jesus is meeting with Moses and Elijah: "Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure." That word in the Greek is exodus. They were speaking of what would happen next in Jesus' life and ministry. As wondrous as that moment was on that hill, and as tremendous and life-changing that it was, the real concern wasn't what was happening then and there. The real concern was Jesus' exodus, his moving on to Jerusalem, and what he was about to accomplish there. Part of living today is having a hope and a plan and a goal for tomorrow. Even Jesus on the holy mountain was thinking about the future. As Yogi Berra said, "The future ain't what it used to be." If you are caught up in building a shrine, you will miss what God has for you tomorrow. Harvey Penick, the golf instructor, wrote several books that contain some great wisdom, even if you aren't a golfer. He tells a story of giving a certain lady, who was on the LPGA, some golf instruction. He was giving her her lesson right up until the time she was supposed to play. He had one more thing to show her, but it was her tee time. She looked at him and said, "Mr. Penick, I have to go play now!" It made Harvey Penick really mad. He replied, "It's not that you have to play now; it's that you get to go play now!" That's what real life is. It's not that you have to go into tomorrow; it's that God gives it to you as a gift. For Peter at that moment on that hill, holy as it was, if he stayed right there, he would have missed everything that God had for him. It's a dangerous place to be, if you don't plan for the future. Some of you know that when I was in high school, there was a scripture from the Proverbs that struck me. It was antiquated at the time, but it still had great meaning for me. "Regard the ant, you sluggard..." "The ants store up their food in the summer." There's a sense in which all creation has a sense that there is something beyond today. There's a breath tomorrow, and there's eternity one day. If you're busy building a shrine, you won't plan for the future. There's on last thing in this passage that captures all of our hearts. There is the hope and promise, that as we spend time with Christ, we too might be changed. If you're building a shrine, if you're stuck some place, you'll never change. An old line that I've probably said more times than I should, goes like this: "If nothing changes, nothing changes." On that mountain, if Peter had built those booths, if he had put up those shelters, nothing would have changed, and I don't believe that we'd be here today. The challenge for all of us in the story of the Transfiguration is to discover the principle of change. It's summarized in one phrase, spoken by God from the cloud: "This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to him." At that point, you won't live in the past, and you won't be stuck in the present. When you listen to him, you'll have a plan for the future. Gracious Lord, each one of us in this room knows that there are those times and places where, like Peter, we've said the wrong thing, or we've entered into a place that we which we haven't come to. For those places, we need your forgiveness. For those words misspoken, we need your hope. We ask, Lord, that you would surely transfigure us, change us, more and more into the person you have created us to be. In Jesus' name, Amen. |
