| Sermons in May by the Rev. Dr. Charles K. Hartman |
Background:
- Context: John, writing at the end of the first century. This was a time when the tensions grew between Jews and Christians, attempts to “explain the mystery of the person of Jesus.” His language and theology are rich with imagery and allusion. Here Jesus is identified with the prophetic tradition.
- John uses the word “exousia” (literally “from the essence of”) for Jesus’ capacity to “lay down his life” and “take it up again.” This word is translated “power” in the NRSV and “authority” in the NIV with more of a sense of “right” or privilege” or “command.”
The text: John 10:11-18 NIV
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
The points for reflection…
Responses to the text...questions…feelings…words/images?
- Do we identify with… the “good shepherd” the “sheep” …the “hired hand” …the wolf… the Father? Relationships between characters…?
- What makes a shepherd good?
- Contrast “hired hand” with “shepherd”…
- What does it mean “one flock, and one shepherd” Can everyone fit into one “sheep pen”?
- In what sense was Jesus “authorized” to lay down his life… Could we be “authorized” through him to do likewise?
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A Shepherds Power
Our lesson comes from a section of the Gospel of John in which are reported some of the controversy and argument between the Jews, especially the Pharisees, and Jesus
Preceeding the section on the Good Shepherd is a little exchange about sin and spiritual blindness…
at the end of which Jesus implies paradoxically that the Pharisees are…
because they claim spiritual insight, blind.
Just after our passage, there is a discussion about
whether Jesus is possessed by a Demon or not?
For he seems at times to be able to transcend what might be deemed as humanly possible…but always for a positive outcome for others…!
And Phrase that has been a recurring focus for many years…formative at times
comes just before our the verses we chose this morning for our lesson…
where Jesus claims: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” !!
Here is the promise of the Gospel…the outcome of religion that we all seek!
But its full meaning can only emerge as we understand the context of passage as a part of the struggle for acceptance…for “authority”…which was so much a part of Jesus earthly ministry
It is this struggle into which we are invited each time we read the scriptures
And each time we decide our response
I would recall as we begin this morning, two conversations.
One recently with a recently returned soldier…
A man whose candor about issues of life and death were obviously forged in the cruel realities of war…
…and upon whose remarks I’ve often pondered…
when I ask myself how does a person prepare themselves to make the supreme decision and what is the impact of such a decision on their their subsequent behavior …
How can one be so confident as to willingly, and literally, lay down life itself…
Jesus did…
The other one a some lengthy time ago, at a previous church…a man singularly wise…with a personal “presence” which put you at ease, and invited serious consideration
Our conversation often took root from my own struggles, concerns, issues, at the time..even now…
We spoke about those who opposed wars…those who felt called… those who could, would, and must…in some equally profound way lay down their lives…
Then he went on to talk about how doctors, fire fighters, police, nurses, teachers…all in some ways lay down their lives…
And then he also talked about how family members and friends often take on the heavy burdens of care for a loved one, sacrificing their own agenda, their own happiness, sometimes their own health…
Certainly, it was clear to me…many people, for many reasons lay down their lives in service and support of others
The service is almost always costly, sometimes risky
But it is a decision that people make out of their most profound values
Examples: (from Time’s 100 most influential…May 2010)
What these two conversations do is point us to reflect on
Jesus’ parable
Jesus often taught in parables
He used images and figures that were familiar…like sheep and shepherds which had immediate existential meaning so powerful that the images took on Traditional religious value
The parable invited people in, by passing the simply analytical to engage the emotional imagination and challenge the personal will
As we come this morning to this teaching, we can ask ourselves “With whom do we id?”…We can ask how do we relate to each of these figures in a ever so familiar story…?
The Good Shepherd
Our hero! The one who cares for us, the one who will (has) laid down his life for us…because he understands his role and purpose in life to be the care giver
The GS stands agains the destructive agents in life and engenders our trust, respect and worship
If we extend the figure…the common everyday shepherd becomes the ultimate figure of assuring health and saftety!
Which of course is what Xnty did…Jesus is the Good Shepherd
But the learing intrinsic to the story itself…connects us to the good that all caregivers provide
Sheep
Sheep, as metaphor, require us to understand that sheep are, a resource that is tasty and exploitable
A category of being that is herd-oriented (read peer pressured), and vulnerable to being lost, or eaten
Sheep are those who need to be cared for; the care they receive assures their health, safety and survival
Hired help
Here are the mercenaries…here the hired man respresents those who take up caring giving postitions, but only care for the compensation that they receive
They do not (according to our story this morning) care enough about their wards, to ward of the attack of wolves!
They say in effect: “I don’t get paid enough to take on a wolf!”
They exit quickly when real challenges present themselves…
Wolf
The wolf in many cultures is a symbol of overwhelmingly terrifying wildness (evil?)
Wolf is the predator, the destruction that waits, lurking at the edges of our lives waiting to consume us
Wolf represents what we can not protect ourselves from, but need some intervening higher power to survive
Wolf is also what we are warned not to become…! For then we would be the enemy and adversary of the Good Shepherd!
Father
The Father in this passage is like the one at home who has entrusted his “son” to the operational tasks of the family agribusiness
Not seen directly, His presence might be confusing or thought to be absent
But the Father empowers and authorizes from a distance the actions and operations of the Shepherd
It is the value of The Father’s care/love that motivates and is made present to the sheep in the Shepherds duties to them…the laying down of his life
Let me suggest, we are modal in our relationships to each of the characters…our response to each is different in different situations
Sometimes we would like to be sheep
…cared for, protected, carried home to the sheep pen
Other times we sheer the little critters or even eat one! (Lamb chops!)
We would all like to have hired help
They can do the job for us…take care of the pens, patrol the pastures and put in the long hours of tedious tending
And if they don’t do a good job, we can fire them
Sometimes we don’t mind being hired to do such work…until we get to the point of how much it costs us, to be the Shepherds helper!
When the crisis comes…the help often goes!
We seldom think about ourselves as wolves
We exist high enough on the “food chain” not to be eaten too often (wolves seldom think of themselves as evil!)
But to those from whom we take resource we might be seen as “predator”
Certainly all humans are capable of “wolfishness” of doing things destructive things of exploiting rather than serving!
But its not really a part of our self image…!?
Good Shephed and the Father
We tend to assume they will, because the so state their purposes as caring for us, indeed, care for us
We all like to be cared for…we like someone strong capable with powerful, transcendent, resource to be there just in case
We are not so keen to have them around, however, when they take us back to the pen after a lovely day in the pasture,
When they herd us into the fold, and make us do like all the others and treat us just like one of the sheep, one of the many sheep, disregarding our personal feelings or agenda…
Yea, its good when they protect us but not when we want to looligag around the pasture looking for tender plants to eat.
But finally we come to the last 2 verses…key theological point…and the the big challenge for us today as persons and as members of “church”
God loved Jesus because he is willing to “lay down his life”
It was that love, experienced by Jesus that empowered his will, and authorized him to be be the shepherd that cares profoundly for the flock
As the metaphor of “sheep” reaches the point where it is no longer applicable to us, we realize in this teaching, that God does not want us to be sheep…not hired help…especially not the wolf
God wants us to be like Jesus…Good shepherds, empowered by his love and grace and mercy
It is this life of shepherding, to which Jesus calls us, and authorizes us, empowers us to embrace that we might have “life and life abundantly!”
If we are to have power and authority in this world/life….it is shepherd power that we seek…not politically, not culturally, not economically…(not that these are not involved/engaged) but shepherdly power
…as providers of profound caring engaged interactively with all human communities
…as protectors and feeders and care givers for each other and for the unlovable too
The path to the future, especially for the church, is through that radical caring, “laying down” of lives in all varieties of ways, all focused on the health and security of our fellow human beings….all of them across the planet
The positive future we hope for will happen only when each of us feels God’s authoritization (loving essence) resourcing our deepest decisions
The healthy future for people and planet, only becomes reality when we give of oursevles as Jesus did, laying down our lives…with shepherd power
And then at some time way off in the future…or maybe at the point of some universal crisis much sooner
When we all are so empowered by God’s love
We are all so engaged in shepherding each other, laying down life so that life can be abundant!
Then the planetary community will all be imaged as being in one sheep pen, one flock universally in love with one shepherd…all caring for each other
This was John’s eschatological hope and it is ours only when we have Shepherd power!
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| The pulpit at Easter in our 1848 meeting house. |
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Background:
- Context: Paul is writing to the Christian community in Rome very early (~55 CE). It was a time when the Roman government (the immediate context for the Roman Christians) had established peaceful rule. If there was conflict, it was from the Jews. Paul is writing to share a general theory that government is necessary & established by God. Civil obedience was a part of the Christian's duty. This relationship changed by the end of the first century when government was describes as satanic.
- Paul continues to develop his thoughts by describing the higher claim of “love” the expression of which was understood as the obedience to God which God requires. The highest expectation of “love” is the love of neighbor as self, quoted from Lev. by Jesus and made a central point in Paul's introduction of his theology.
The text: Romans 13:1-10 NRSV
1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; 4for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. 6For the Same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, busy with this very thing. 7Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
8Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
The points for reflection…
- Responses to the text...questions…feelings…words/images?
- Do modern people feel that government is instituted by God...God's servants...and so must be obeyed because of conscience?
- Describe the difference between following the law and fulfilling the Law? What is the relationship between “law” and “love”?
- What does “love” mean in the context of the “global village”?
- How does “love” give us authority? ...power? Mother's love?
Love's Authority
Again we find ourselves in the Spring of the year…
…remembering and celebrating a day for Mothers
Since I lost my mother 45 years ago, when I was 18, Mother’s day has been a day of some tension…
At first saddness, then ennui,
now an almost dream like memory of days and places so long ago
It has become a day for me of lost meaning
This was compounded by the fact that I lost the mother of my children now 15 years ago
So with them…there is little to focus on when other’s turn to their mothers and thank them for being mothers
And the day becomes but a reminder of powerful emotions lodged and locked deep within.
The day now takes on an abstraction rendered from memory and meaning engendered in our adolescence…
Yet it is in those submerged feelings that the intersection of our current sermon topic and the celebration of this day exists and energizes our reflection
There are few motivating emotions as deeply powerful as the messages we have received in in our childhood from our mothers
Mother messages of love and care, of compassion and concern are embedded in our pre verbal memory…shaping the way we see the world
And always creating within us, a sense of expectation which calls us to child like obedience
Our mother’s authority in our lives, the very “essence” of her life still operates as a guiding system of values and desires for us in each day we live…whether we are directly and consciously aware of them or not
The scripture we have picked this morning is all about Authority
In the case of Paul’s letter, he is very concerned about the tension between the authority of Government vs the authority of God
Paul shares his advice because his “political theory” begins with the assumption that good government is instituted by God
So Paul is very clear that the young church needs to be seen by the ruling persons, by the government as a community which contributes to the well being of the entire nation
Paul knows from his own experience, as persecutions began intermittently, that if the Government is against a particular group, they will suffer
So Paul suggests that being a good Christian means being a good citizen
Those eternal issues of taxes and other governmental requirements should be dealt with (paid) without complaint
That support of a govenrment that punishes (event to the point of a death penalty) the wrong-doer, will benefit the one who does good
Paul was not a revolutionary or an anarchist…Paul believed in an orderly society that was based in an understanding of God’s intentions expressed in a secular political system
So Paul’s admonition to the Romans, who lived just city blocks from the Emporer was to be exemplary citizens
Owe no one anything…except to love one another…for those who love fulfill the law
Love of neighbor, loving them as we love ourselves, is the standard to which Paul holds the early believers
….because such behavior will render them safe from government interference
and provide an attractive community of which others will desire to be a part
This accomodating attitude shared by Paul did not survive long
After the Neronian persecution…in which Peter and Paul were both executed
The Roman government became monstrous and demonic, the very symbol of Satanic presence in the world.
The authority of Government and of God became conflicted
…and the church has struggled with the issue ever since
Some still suggesting that a Government and a church that were partners would be best
Others supporting a position that separates government from the institutions of faith
So we are left to decide
Is the government “god's servant” …or the antichrist
The Pauline appeal is for an orderly society in which government is necessary control to human behavior
But as history has demonstrated, governments do not always act as “God’s servant” and in fact becomes as evil as the devil itself
Now the question is does God appoint us as his agents…or is that still a governmental job…!???
Let’s go back to Paul who ups the ante in this context
The claim is simple:
It is God’s Law of love: to love neighbor as self which is supreme
Jesus himself taught this!
Jesus quoted the old testament, that old set of laws in which this divine value was embedded centuries and centuries before his time
Jesus took from the very roots of the Jewish faith this silver bullet: Love your neighbor as you love yourself
When asked “who is my neighbor”
Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan…the story of how an enemy and adversary cared compassionately for one who he should have despised and disregarded
But here in this commandment this all encompassing command we have the summary of all that God expects us to do
While it is simply stated…the command to love neighbor as self is profoundly complex to achieve
It can be an overwhelming challenge!
The demands of following this simple rule will take all of our physical, emotional, social resource to fulfill
But…if Paul is right…it is this command: to love neighbor as self that contains the purpose and power of all the God inspired authority
I think Paul was trying to tell those early Roman Xns: you are authorized by God, through Jesus, to change the world…by loving those with whom you live, respecting and honoring those who deserve respect and honor
Today we celebrate and understand mother love
For there is no clearer example of agape love than a mother’s love
Mother love is love that gives sacrificially for the child
A Mother’s love is love that embeds in her child the values and expectations that will most benefit that child throughout his/her life
Mother love is clearer to us than love of neighbor because it seems natural for a mother to love her child…
but somewhat unnatural for us to love those who are not biologically related
Today we could be much more inclined to understand a mother’s love as divinely instituted than governmental love (the very juxtapostion of the word’s startle us!)
In the past 45 years, our government has asked us to do things that are not very loving for all our global neighbors
The rules of love and fair treatment that I was taught by my mother, seemed to be in conflict with the rules and expectations of my government
I have struggled over these years to justify and correlate both sets of demands, I still find myself more inclined to follow my mother’s teaching than my governments
…because what my mother taught me from the very earliest time was more like what Jesus taught than what my government taught
That love, the respectful, honorable, responsible, welfare enhancing treatment of all other people was the basic value in human relationships that transcended any set of human rules
She embedded in the deepest levels of my psche that “Doing no wrong to others was the maxim that should benefit me throughout life as well as benefit those to whom we were also responsible
What I find now in my heart and mind is the centrality of love as ethic and experience
That when the government is clearly operating out of his human power, a corrupted and corrupting power, that the Church must be seen more as mother
A place , a community of intimate, open caring
That as the society around us becomes more concern with self preservation, we who are in the church must be more visible doing loving things, and teaching the equality of neighbor love to all who feel the need to be authorized not by government but by God
Our world is still as cruel as the world was in Paul’s time
While Paul’s optimism about Government was a product of his time and culture, we now, after living in a nation with real religious freedom, know that Government is susceptible to human faults
Few today claim divine right for kings or parliaments
We all still agree that Good Government is necessary for the welfare of all people, so that things may be done “decently and in order” and the needs of all may be fulfilled…
We are now pretty sure that government alone will not achieve such an outcome!
That if a really just society, in which all humans are equally loved, is to be…we need to operate as God’s servants by fulfilling God’s law, God’s expectations, by loving our neighbors as we love ourselves!
Today I want to suggest that if we really want to live in a world that is just and fair, that is secure and prosperous, there is only one law that we must follow
It is that law my mother taught me, a law she learned from the scriptures: love your neighbor as yourself
For us to be a part of the creation of a new world, to give birth to a just and honorable society, it is the church which must present itself to the world around as loving…accepting…nurturing…serving…comforting…encouraging…all those mother-love qualities of which God is so fond!
For us to be a part of a new social structure, that supercedes the authorities of any government, we need to be authorized lovers, visibly acting out that which prevents wrong to neighbor and encourages the intimate bonds of divine affection
For us to be a part of the church as it is to be in the future, if it is to be, we must forge authentic and powerful behaviors from this teaching from Jesus through Paul
For us to be good children (of our mothers and of God) we must go forth each day to our places of play and work as God’s agents/servants, doing what we do by Love’s authority!
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Background:
- Context: Deuteronomy is one of the five books of Moses (Penteteuch) and the name means “second law.” It is an affirmation of the original covenant God made with Israel. It is a reinterpretation of Exodus in the light of later historical developments. It is given in the form of addresses by Moses.
- The central teaching of Deuteronomy has to do with the worship of the Lord in a central sanctuary…this is to avoid the syncretism of mixing Canaanite religious. The central sanctuary was the Jerusalem temple, built long after the Exodus. It was rediscovered ~621 BC and was the basis for Josiah’s religious reform.
- This passage adds to the Penteteuch the element of God’s choice in the matter of Israel and bases the relationship primarily in God’s love them.
The text: Deuteronomy 4:32-40 NRSV
32For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? 33Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? 34Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. 36From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire. 37And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today. 39So acknowledge today and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
The points for reflection…
Responses to the text...questions…feelings…words/images?
- When did God speak from fire as referenced in this passage?
- Do we have to worry about “syncretism” now?
- Can we identify God’s “displays of power”?
- Do we ever speak “from fire”? Do we still feel chosen?
God's Firepower
Fire!
It is the very stuff of Promethean myth!
The ability to make fire changed the human situation and separated humans from the animals
There is not one of us that does not in everyday use fire
We cook our food
Drive our automobiles
Light our homes
Warm our families
Without fire, humans would not, could not progress from the primitive to the the technologically advanced society we now take for granted!
Fire is power
The power to create and destroy
The power to dominate or defend
The power to survive and to secure well-being
Fire is both reality and symbol
Maybe it was a lightening strike that brought fire down from the gods
But some clever human stuck in a stick
and discovered that fire could carried from one place to another
And then as that clever early person communicated the capture, fire become a power to change the surrounding world into a better, more habitable place
And myths were created…and the very mention of “fire” carried meaning and authority far beyond the campfire or candle
It should not surprise us then than in our lesson this morning, the very voice of God is associated with fire
There are two allusions to other OT stories embedded in our text today
The first that critical moment when Moses, out tending sheep, encounter the great “I AM” communicating to him from a bush that flamed…but was not consumed
The power of the ineffable, power of the transcendent and holy appeared in uncommon fire
And revealed the Godself to a particular people, choosing them as sacred possession…and example
This story is the became the foundation for the faith of Israel and the key to understanding the radical monothesism that challenged all other religious systems!
…and is the basis for our faith today
The second is the story of the Exodus
That escape from slavery, initiated and sustained by the Godself
In a firey column by night and a pillar of smoke by day, God led the Hebrew children from Egypt to the promised land
God-Fire was the easily understood power to lead and command
The fire was the indication of God’s presence and affectionate relationship for those who were incredibly chosen
So it is not surprising that when we get to the NT, that the presence of GodSpirit is again associated with fire
This time the fire is represented (in Acts) as tongues of flame dancing above the heads of the early believers gathered in Jerusalem
The Spirit falls in flames of creative power to meld many diverse people into one body, the church
The wind and flames of Pentecost, we remember today so that the power of the early congregations can still reside in our hearts and minds
The day of Pentecost reminds us that God empowers the chosen people by putting Godspirit on them, in them, speaking to them out of fire
That power that sent the missionaries across the globe, facing all manners of dangers, and persecutions, and giving them the power to persuade jaded minds, skeptical minds that God, the great I AM, the God of the fathers, the God of the Exodus, the God who was in Jesus, is and will always be the God of omnipotence who is for our “well-being”
It is this power that the church in our day, seems elusive or lacking
The first theme that we found in our lesson today had to do with creation
The faith of ancient Israel was in the Creator God, the God who created human beings!
Has anything more marvelous or wonderful ever been done?
It was our God that did that!
Being faith to a creator God, allows us to gain access to the creative power of that God, our God
A power that can make us aflame with passionate intensity
A power that can authorize us to engage the world around us to do the things that our Creator God asks us to do…commands us to do
The power at Pentecost created a living organism…the church…the body of Christ and empowered it to create God’s kingdom on earth
The power to create on community, one body, one faithful organization that is made up of people who may not speak the same language, but understand the power given to bring love and justice, equal care and respect into a world torn by hatreds and oppression
It is the power of the creative GodSpirit that we so need today
Let’s reflect
If we really had the “fire power” of faith…
If we really had the fire of Godspirit, burning in our bellies…
If we really could allow God to speak to our towns, our friends, our families out of the fire…
Would people drive by our little white church without noticiing us?
Would we have a deficit?
Would we wonder why only 40 our of our ~120 members show up regularly at any one time for worship to sit quietly while the preacher prattles on ?
There are churches…
ummm…Pentecostal churches whose members raise their hand, shout out their acclamations and go forth to tell others about their faith
There are congregations that see the needs around them and create new ways of responding to those very human needs of feeding, clothing, and educating the marginalized
There are churches that grow and sustain that growth by enthusiastic participation in worship, learning and service
Do they have something we are denied?
God’s power was very present in this church when it gathered itself illegally
When people braved social scorn and broke the restrictive rules of a faith that demanded complete conformity
Our forebearers broke with the oppressive past when they said…we won’t restrict access to the Lord’s table, all who name Jesus as savior are welcome
Our founders exhibited incredible power when they insisted that before Baptism each person should be able to articulate that inward experience, that heart rending, life changing God-creative-power of grace
It is no wonder the early Baptists were called “incendiaries of the commonwealth” for the radical change they brought
Baptists from Obadiah Holmes to Dr. Martin Luther King have been empowered to stand up for their faith and changed human society
The power of our faith is real
The power of God to use us for the “well-being” of the whole creation is available to us…if…
…if we can hear God speaking out of the fire!
As a small member congregation, as a venerable Baptist community, we must caution ourselves from giving in to the sense that we are powerless
Jesus began the faith with 12 persons and the holy Spirit
We have 10 times that many people…
…but do we have the Holy Spirit?
We all respond to the many voices that tell us what to do
To our employers that call us to work
To our teachers, who call us to study
To our government that demands we pay taxes
To our parents and ancestors who give us “should messages” that linger long in our subconscious minds, to continually shape our behaviors
To our friends and colleagues who might ask “Why do you go to church?”
But the voice we really need to hear, above all other voices…is the the voice of God speaking out of fire
39So acknowledge today and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
There is no better day than Pentecost to examine ourselves and ask ourselves
Are we aflame with the power of faith?
Are we on fire for Jesus?
Are we filled to the overflowing with a passion for being the church?
Are we empowered by our faith to bring well-being to others?
Are we authorized to speak for the Creator God by the Spirit dancing like a flame above our heads?
Can we with the ancient authors of Deuteronomy say:
From heaven he made [us] hear his voice to discipline [us]. On earth he showed [us] his great fire, while [we] heard his words coming out of the fire.
If we can…
Challenges will melt
Great deeds will be done
And the church, even our congregation, will again be seen as the Firepower of God in this place
Amen
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