Heaven's Whisper

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Heaven’s Whisper
Let the Children Come - Part 3
Sunday, August 21, 2022
1 Samuel 3:1-21

Then the Lord came and stood there, calling just as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel said, “Speak. Your servant is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:10 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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According to the religious hierarchies of the day, the people who should have heard God's voice in this story were Eli and his sons.  They were the authorities, the ultimate insiders by birth and by vocation.  But they were not the ones God chose.

 Instead, God chose Samuel.  A child.  A boy on the periphery, one whose capacity for openness and wonder was dulled, perhaps, but still recoverable.  A child who wasn't bound by the political interests of his elders.  A child who could tolerate an unfamiliar voice and an uncomfortable message — a message that would upend the very institution he knew best.

Debie Thomas, journeywithjesus.net (Lectionary Essays)

The historian Josephus writes that Samuel was likely around 12 years old when he heard God’s call, and as we might imagine, he was extremely confused.  He had been raised in the home of a priest and knew all of the inner workings of the religious system, but he also had a front row seat to the scandals and brokenness even within the priest’s own family.

The system was so broken, in fact, that the writer says in verse 1 that the word of the Lord was rare in those days.  How tragic, that this 12 year old boy whose mother dedicated his life to the service of God and who quite literally grew up in the church, would not recognize God’s voice and in fact would find himself quite surprised to hear a word from God at all. 

And yet if we consider our own lives, especially among those who have spent most of our lives in church, I wonder if we should not be so surprised after all.  I’ve met people who sat in churches for 80 years who had never heard of Jacob (Abraham’s grandson and the father of the 12 tribes of Israel).  Biblical illiteracy is as common in the church if not more-so than in the culture at large.  We take our identity as God’s people for granted to the point that we no longer actively listen for God’s voice.  It’s almost as if God has already said all there is to say.  We believe the Bible, even if we don’t read it or actually know what it says.  What more do we need?

What if what we need is the open heart, the discerning ear, and the humble yet courageous voice of a child to remind us that God is not finished talking yet?  And maybe, just maybe, God’s word is not as rare as we may think in our world today.  Maybe it is simply being heard by those who choose to ignore it, or those who don’t recognize it, or even worse, those who know it and speak it while we ignore them because they are too young, or too different, too radical, or too unexpected a person to carry the message of God to those of us who think we know better.

A Mother's Heart

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A Mother’s Heart
Let the Children Come - Part 2
Sunday, August 14, 2022
Exodus 1:8-2:10

“When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live.” Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.

 Exodus 1:16-17 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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For the Jew, the Exodus out of slavery in Egypt is the single most defining event in their historic identity as God’s people.  We typically associate the Exodus story with images of God’s power and strength.  We see Moses in the face of Charlton Heston standing over the Red Sea with his staff raised as the waters rise into great protective walls at his command. 

In all the demonstrations of God’s mighty power throughout the Exodus story, I wonder if we miss something very important about the way it all began. 

Just as God’s redemption of the world through Christ did not begin with the power of the resurrection, but with Jesus taking on the weakness of humanity and surrendering himself to death, even death on a cross, so in the same way the Exodus story of deliverance does not begin with Moses’ strength over Pharoah, but with the revolutionary compassion of four unsuspecting women, two Hebrew midwives, a Hebrew mother, and an Egyptian princess with a mother’s heart.

Without Moses, there is no Exodus and without these four women, there is no Moses.  Isn’t it just like God to begin the work of salvation not in a show of power and glory, but in the quiet faithfulness and love of a mother’s heart, not only for her own children, but for every child, no matter the cost.

Shiphrah and Puah knew all to well the cost for defying Pharoah.  If caught saving the lives of male Hebrew babies against Pharoah’s orders, they certainly would have been killed.  But their compassion for the children was greater than their fear of death.

Moses’ mother knew the consequences for allowing a baby boy to live, and yet she not only gave her son a chance at life by floating him down the river, she boldly followed and manipulated the circumstances so that she would not only get to raise her beloved Moses, but that he would also have the full protection and privilege of a member of the royal household.

And Pharoah’s daughter knew full well her father’s hatred of the Hebrew slaves, and yet her compassion for this child floating in the river was greater than the murderous racism of her extremely powerful family.  The daughter of Pharoah came to love this foreign child as her own.

It is not the power of an eternal king or authoritarian judge or even an overprotective father that saves, but the mother heart of a God who loves her children no matter the cost.

Like A Child

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Like a Child
Let the Children Come - Part 1
Sunday, August 7, 2022
Mark 10:13-15, Matthew 18:1-5

Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.

 Matthew 18:5 (The Message)

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Can I be honest?

I didn’t really like being a child. I’m not sure I was ever really good at it.

Even in my earliest memories I hated kids games, I hated the silliness, I hated arts and crafts projects., especially ones that involved paint, glue, and worst of all, glitter! I hated having to run outside, especially in the heat. And most of all I hated having to dress up as a clown for a circus themed Vacation Bible School at a church that wasn’t even my own. The only saving grace was that at that church nobody knew who I was.

Most of the time I would much rather sit down with an adult over a game of chess or read a book in my room by myself than hang out with other kids.

So if I’m really being honest, today’s teaching from Jesus is tough for me.

No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they become like a little child?

What!?!?

I have spent my whole life trying to be seen as an adult. Even as a younger or almost middle aged adult, it seems some people will always treat me like a child. The last thing I want is to actually be like a child again. I never even liked it the first time around.

There is one part of childhood, however, that I cling to dearly, and hope I never outgrow. It’s the need to question everything, to keep exploring and to get lost in wonder and amazement. It’s the hunger for learning and the thirst for wisdom and understanding. The one thing I loved about being a child is the one thing so many children seem to hate… school. I love learning so much I keep finding new ways to stay in school. I just finished my Doctorate Degree from Duke and I’m still wondering what other educational opportunities I can find to keep exploring, learning, growing, and becoming more of who God created me to be.

I find it interesting that when people say you should have the “faith of a child”, what they often mean is, “Don’t question, just accept what we tell you. Don’t doubt, just believe,” or as I was taught more explicitly, “be seen and not heard.” As a child you don’t have an opinion, at least not one that matters to anyone. Funny that as an adult, and even as a well educated pastor, I find that to most people my opinions still don’t matter much, no matter how well informed.

Those who say that having childlike faith means not asking questions or expressing doubts or opinions clearly haven’t been around a lot of children. One of my favorite things about my 8 year old daughter is the questions she asks. In fairness, she asks a lot of silly questions too. She’s a lot better at being a kid than I ever was. But she is also wise beyond her years and she asks the kinds of questions so many adults are afraid to ask. Questions about who God is and about the nature of humanity and why people do the things they do. Questions about the differences between people and the ways people believe and disagree on so many issues. She asks the kinds of questions that quite frankly would make us all better human beings, less angry and judgmental and more empathetic and understanding, if we would only be open enough to ask and bold enough to hear someone else’s answer.

I can’t help but wonder, and hope, that this is at least part of what Jesus means when he says we must become like children.

Never stop being curious. Don’t lose your sense of wonder. Keep exploring. Keep asking questions. Keep learning. Keep growing. The mysteries of God’s love are endless so if you ever think you know enough, remember… you are still just a child. Have a teachable spirit. You can never know it all. Dive deep into the mysteries of the universe, the mysteries of life, the mysteries of the human mind and soul, the mysteries of grace, and the mystery of the Eternal One.

Maybe I missed the point. Maybe I am just supposed to be silent, obedient, have no opinions or thoughts of my own, and be seen and not heard the way children are so often treated in this world.

But I really hope not. I hope with all my heart that Jesus is inviting us to childlike wonder, to joy, to eyes and hearts wide open to beauty, to mystery, and to love.

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With the service this week being geared toward children, we did not have a formal sermon to share. Feel free to enjoy a video of the full Back to School Worship Experience below…

Treasures in Heaven

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Treasures in Heaven
Burning Questions: Week 5
Sunday, July 31, 2022
Luke 12:13-34, Matthew 6:24

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

 Matthew 6:24 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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John Wesley’s Three Rules
for Faithful Stewardship of Money

 (excerpts from “Use of Money”, a sermon by John Wesley)

I. “Gain all you can.”  We ought to gain all we can gain, without buying gold too dear, without paying more for it than it is worth. But this it is certain we ought not to do; we ought not to gain money at the expense of life, nor (which is in effect the same thing) at the expense of our health… We are, Secondly, to gain all we can without hurting our mind any more than our body... We are. Thirdly, to gain all we can without hurting our neighbour… Gain all you can, by common sense, by using in your business all the understanding which God has given you.

II. “Save all you can.”  Having gained all you can, by honest wisdom and unwearied diligence, the second rule of Christian prudence is," Save all you can."… Do not waste any part of so precious a talent merely in gratifying the desires of the flesh; in procuring the pleasures of sense of whatever kind… or in gratifying the desire of the eye... Lay out nothing to gratify the pride of life, to gain the admiration or praise of others.

III.  “Give all you can.”  But let not anyone imagine that one has done anything, barely by going thus far, by "gaining and saving all he can," if one were to stop here. All this is nothing, if one go not forward, if one does not point all this at a farther end. Nor, indeed, can anyone properly be said to save anything, if one only lays it up. You may as well throw your money into the sea, as bury it in the earth…  If, therefore, you would indeed "make yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness," add the Third rule to the two preceding. Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then "give all you can."… As you yourself are not your own, but God’s, such is, likewise, all that you enjoy. Such is your soul and your body, not your own, but God's. And so is your substance in particular. And God has told you, in the most clear and express terms, how you are to employ it for him, in such a manner, that it may be all an holy sacrifice, acceptable through Christ Jesus. 

No more sloth! Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might! No more waste! Cut off every expense which fashion, caprice, or flesh and blood demand! No more covetousness! But employ whatever God has entrusted you with, in doing good, all possible good, in every possible kind and degree to the household of faith, to all people! This is no small part of "the wisdom of the just." Give all ye have, as well as all ye are, a spiritual sacrifice to Him who withheld not from you his Son, his only Son: So "laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that ye may attain eternal life!"

Questions for Self-Examination:

• How am I guarding against greed instead of obsessing over fairness?

• How does my awareness of my own mortality affect my relationship with money? 

• What makes me feel secure or insecure.

• In what ways do I acknowledge that even my hard-earned, well-earned, self-earned wealth comes from God and belongs to God. 

• How am I prioritizing my connection with others over personal gain

• How often do I dialog with God about my financial resources instead of relying solely on my own planning?

Return of the King

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Return of the King
Burning Questions: Week 3
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Matthew 12:38-40, Matthew 24:35-42, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too, will be the coming of the Son of Man.

 Matthew 24:35-42

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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Popular modern teachings on the end times center around ideas of “rapture” and escape from this world.  There’s only one problem.  Until the late 1800’s, nobody in any Christian denomination had thought of such a theology. 

Consider Matthew 24:35-42.  The idea is that those who are not prepared for the return of Christ will be “left behind” when the “rapture” comes, while true believers are caught up into heaven.  The misunderstanding here is in the passage itself.  Jesus says it will be as it was in the days of Noah.  Those who were “left behind” included Noah and his family on the ark.  The rest were “swept away” in the flood.  If it is truly like the days of Noah, then we should want to be left behind and not swept away in the flood.  To be left means to be rescued or “saved.”

The problem with modern versions of End Times Theology, Brian McLaren writes, is that they are

 ...desperate, escapist and globally hopeless…. The world is going down the toilet, they say. There is no hope.  It’s all going to burn.  So we should jump into the life rafts and paddle away like mad away from the sinking ship.  We should retreat into our  Christian enclaves, listen to Christian radio, watch Christian TV, pray, study the Bible, tell drivers what we believe with bumper-stickers that say, ‘in case of rapture, this vehicle will self-destruct,’ keep our contact with the world at a minimum, concentrate on our personal righteousness, and anticipate heaven, a supernatural life beyond history - instead of anticipating the just society [of the Kingdom of God fully manifest on Earth as it is in Heaven].

The overarching movement of scripture is toward restoration and re-creation, not destruction, toward a call to building the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven rather than escaping to some other heavenly realm.  Christ will indeed return, and as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, we have a hope of being caught up with Christ.   But the early writers and hearers of this text would never have considered being caught up to go to another place.  Rather, they had in mind a common military image of going out to meet the King who is coming to rescue their city.  Then together they return to take back the city and restore the throne to it’s rightful ruler.  Christ did not conquer death only to be run out of creation by some devil in the end, taking only a few chosen ones with him.  When Christ returns, he will rule a new heaven and a new earth as one, and he has made us heirs of this kingdom.  More than that, he has given us the responsibility to start building it here and now.

… on earth, as it is in heaven.

Nothing Can Eat God

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Nothing Can Eat God
Burning Questions: Week 2
Sunday, July 10, 2022
Romans 1:20-25, Colossians 1:15-17, Psalm 19:1

Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made. So humans are without excuse. 

Romans 1:20 (CEB)

 Heaven is declaring God’s glory;
    the sky is proclaiming his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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Ninth Century Irish theologian John Scotus Eriugena describes the entire physical universe in sacramental terms.  Just as God is present in the bread and wine, so “God is in all things, the essence of life.”  In summarizing Eriugena’s homilies, Phillip Newell says that “Christ moves among us in two shoes… one shoe being that of creation, the other that of the Scriptures.”  Scripture and creation are seen as two books of revelation, both declaring the glory and character of God.

Many modern Christians have become obsessed with the so-called contradictions between science and scripture.  Scripture offers only 6,000 years of history in contrast to the 4.5 billion years scientific study has revealed.  If dinosaurs existed, for example, some argue that they must have walked side by side with humans, perhaps even sailing with Noah on the ark.  The fossil record clearly does not align with the biblical timeline.  So we argue about which is more reliable, scripture, or science, and for Christians, scripture will almost always win.

The problem is that scripture is not a science book.  It’s not even a history book.  It is the story of God’s working among God’s people.  Biblical writers could not have accounted for the fossil record anymore than they could have proclaimed a round earth revolving around the sun, a scientific fact that few will debate.

Science is the study of how creation works.  It tells us nothing about questions of meaning and why we exist.  If science is the study of creation and creation proclaims the glory of God, then why are Christians so afraid of science?  Science can show us how creation evolved over billions of years and how humanity, along with all creation, continues to evolve.  Yet it always leaves open the possibility that God is the source of creation and that all things are held together in the Divine being (Colossians 1:17). Any question about the existence or non-existence of God falls into categories of philosophy and theology, never science.

If we are worried that studying God’s creation can challenge the existence or nature of the Creator, we must examine the strength of our faith.  Can we really trust our lives and our eternity to a God who could so easily be disproven by those who study the inner workings of the very world God created?  If God is real, no scientific discovery can change that reality.  If anything, science, or the study of creation, only deepens our awe and wonder at the beauty, creativity and love of our creator. 

Nothing in creation can threaten the creator. 

Nothing science can discover is big enough to eat God.

The Eternal Dance

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The Eternal Dance
Trinity Sunday
Sunday, June 12, 2022
John 16:12-16

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.”

John 16:12-13 (The Message)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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Why does the Trinity matter?  Who cares if God is three or one or one-hundred?  Why have we spent thousands of years of church history struggling to figure this out.  God is God! Isn't that enough?

We cannot understand the Three-One God rationally, but the Trinity shows us that for all eternity, God is a relational being and exists forever in a state of perfect love and harmony among Father, Son, and Spirit.  When John writes that "God is love," he is not speaking in the abstract.  God truly exists in a relationship of perfect love.

Here are just a few implications:

• Creation:  Humanity was created because love naturally seeks to reproduce itself, to love more persons and also to be loved by them.  This is a core reason why human parents desire to have children, despite the physical and emotional pain they know will result.

• Relationships: It explains why humans desire relationship and why as God says, "It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18).  If we are made in the Divine Image, than our need for relationship is part of the image of God.

• Sin & Evil: It explains the existence of sin and evil.  God did not arbitrarily choose to give us free will so that we would rebel and unleash thousands upon thousands of years of destruction upon his creation.  Rather, because God is love and created us in the Divine image to be in a loving relationship with Father, Son and Spirit and with one another, God could not have created us without the freedom to choose.  Love is not truly love if it is forced.  If you knew your spouse or your parents or your children could not possibly choose to reject you, would you really believe their love was real?  Their love for you is defined by the fact that they choose to love you, and your love for them is also love freely given.

• Salvation: It explains the nature of salvation, because Jesus said that we should abide in him or be one with him as he is one with the Father (John 14:9-12, 15:1-11 ;17:21-22).  God's entire purpose in redemption is to restore us to the perfect harmonious relationship we shared with Father, Son and Spirit in the Garden of Eden.

The Trinity is not a math problem to solve.  The Three-One God is a dance to be danced, a song to be heard and sung and played, a masterpiece of beauty to be enjoyed, a life to be lived and a love to be loved. 

We may not ever fully understand it, but the Three-One God is inviting each of us to join the Eternal Dance.  Will you accept God’s invitation?

Scattered

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Scattered
Church - Part 4
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Acts 8:1-5, 26-40; Acts 1:6-11

At that time, the church in Jerusalem began to be subjected to vicious harassment. Everyone except the apostles was scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria…

…Those who had been scattered moved on, preaching the good news along the way.

Acts 8:1, 4 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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In Acts 8:1, following the death of Stephen, we find that most of the church, except for the apostles, began to scatter throughout the regions of Judea and even into Samaria.  This was the catalyst they needed to fulfill Jesus’ final command: “Go!”

It’s interesting that they never actually intended to do this.  They seemed comfortable in Jerusalem and so long as they were comfortable they had no reason to go elsewhere.  They never planned any mission trips to Samaria… they didn’t even send money to help the poor in starving towns around the world.  Their fulfillment of the Great Commission came not by planning and sending, but by persecution, fear, and running away. 

The Word Jesus proclaimed was finally on the move, even if it required fleeing for their lives, but to their credit these persecuted disciples did not flee by leaving their faith behind.  Instead they moved into new territories with the same boldness that led to their persecution in Jerusalem.

“The blood of the martyrs,” Tertullian wrote in the 2nd century, “is the seed of the church.”  And they scattered that seed everywhere they went, along the way, without a second thought.

Much more can be said of the apostles’ preaching in Samaria and of Phillip’s continued ministry, particularly as he meets a royal servant on the road and through him, ends up sending the gospel even to the far reaches of Ethiopia… in some ways, to the end of the earth.  But for now it is enough to understand that the struggles we face as Christians should not drive us further into our protective church shaped bubble, but rather should propel us out into the world to continue spreading the Good News of God’s grace in all the world.

We must also realize that we will not always get it right and that even when we do get it right, it may not always be interpreted or understood the right way.  Finally, we see in these early Samaritan encounters that we are not the first ones to take Christ into our world.  God is already at work and many people are already searching.  Our primary task in evangelism is to see where God is at work and help others realize God’s presence in their midst.

As Bishop Ken Carter often says:

“Go now in peace to serve God and your neighbor in all that you do.  Bear witness to the love of God in this world, so that those to whom love is a stranger will find in you generous friends.”