Jesus in the Wilderness

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 4:1-13

at Batesville Presbyterian Church on the

First Sunday of Lent, February 25, 2007

            The wilderness is not somewhere we want to be. The very word, wilderness, conjures us negative synonyms such as waste, badlands, barren, desert, wasteland, wild, wild land, wildness. The wilderness is not a nice place and it is not a safe place. In the scripture, the wilderness is a place of chaos haunted by the devil. The wilderness is not a place that ordinarily comes to mind when we think of places the Holy Spirit may lead us. Yet, we see in our text today that is was the Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness.

            And sure enough, right off the bat, Jesus encounters the devil in the wilderness and for forty days the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness. The devil came at Jesus through his appetites which is the same way he comes after us. Jesus was fasting in the wilderness and when his fast was over he was famished. The devil approaches Jesus and gently puts an innocent thought into his head. The devil merely suggests that if Jesus is really the Son of God he could command a stone to become a loaf of bread. Just an idea. Something to think about. It sounds like a great idea to someone who hasn't eaten in forty days.

            Yet, even in his starving state, Jesus controls his appetite, for he knows his mission as Son of God is not to serve himself but serve others. Jesus knows he is on the earth not to make bread for his physical body to eat but to give his physical body as bread for the world to eat. Jesus first temptation is the devil's attempt to twist his mission from being bread to making bread. Jesus answers the devil, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" Later, on Maundy Thursday, Jesus will serve bread to his disciples and tell them, "This is my body, broken for you." Score one for Jesus.

            But of course the devil is not finished. He's not even discouraged. He is simply relentless and continues the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by taking him up and showing him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world, saying: "They're yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I'm in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they're yours, the whole works." Jesus does not question the devil's authority over the world for Jesus knows in his heart he will one day break the devil's stranglehold over planet earth. And that, Jesus knows, is his mission. Again, he is not here to be served but to pour himself out in service to others. So Jesus refuses the devil's offer, again backing his refusal with a quote from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness." (Luke 4:8, MSG) Jesus now has the momentum against the devil. He's resisted his temptations twice in a row. But the devil comes back again as if nothing has happened.

             For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, "If you are God's Son, jump. It's written, isn't it, that 'he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone'?" (Luke 4:9-11, MSG) Jesus, full of insight, realizes the problem with this suggestion, for by acting on the devil's suggestion Jesus would confront God with the indignity of being put to a test by his own beloved Son. Jesus rebukes the devil, saying, "Yes, and scripture also says, 'Don't you dare tempt the Lord your God.'" (Luke 4:12, MSG)

             That completed the testing in the wildnerness. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity. That opportunity comes later in the form of Judas Iscariot, whom the devil uses to coordinate the crucifixion of Jesus. But there in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he faces the cross, Jesus bests the devil again by resisting the temptation to take the easy way out. Jesus faces the horror of the cross, stares it down, and submits to God's will, knowing that in doing so he will face not only shame and the death of his body but the even more excruciating pain of separation from God when he descends into hell on behalf of us and all humanity.

            Thus ends the story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus passes the test. He keeps the faith. He resists temptation. He thwarts the devil. Jesus has been in the wilderness. Jesus has faced temptation. So when we find ourselves retreating into the wilderness of addiction, sex, or violence, we can know that we are not there in that hellish place alone. For Jesus Christ our Lord has been in that wilderness before. He has faced whatever it is we face. And the best good news of today on this First Sunday of Lent is this: Jesus is with us in the wildnerness. We are not alone.

            Perhaps you've heard this anonymous story but it bears repeating as we begin our Lenten Journey.

 
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints.

Other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life

When I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord, "You promised me, Lord,

That if I followed you, you would walk with me always.

But I noticed that during the most trying periods of my life

There have only been one set of prints in the sand.

Why, When I have needed you most, you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,

"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints

Is when I carried you."

           

            As the great spiritual song says, "Jesus walked this lonesome valley. He had to walk it by himself. Oh, nobody else, could walk it for him. He had to walk it by himself." Jesus had to walk it by himself so that we will never walk alone. Jesus passed his test in the wilderness so he can help us with ours. Jesus knows how to find us in the wilderness because he's been there himself. Jesus walks with us through the wilderness experiences of our lives.

Love Bears the Unbearable

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from 1 Corinthians 13
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on February 18, 2007

            Last week I was surprised to see Kendrick Sledge being interviewed on CNN. I know Kendrick from my time in seminary in Richmond, Virginia, when she was a child and her father, James Sledge, was my best friend in serminary. Kendrick is now a Sophomore at Boston University and there she was on CNN speaking about her experience in an abusive relationship when she was 14 years old and dating a 19 year old boy. She is educating young women on the dangers of abusive relationships and how to get out of them. Kendrick reminds us when we say "love bears the unbearable" we do not intend to encourage women to remain in abusive relationships with men.
            On the other hand, there is much to be said for Saint Augustine's paraphrase of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul writes "love endures all things" and Augustine paraphrases him "love bears the unbearable."   Of course this phrase applies to God's love as demonstrated most clearly in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But my contention is that even us human beings, and especially those of us who call ourselves Christians, can and do emulate Christ in this respect. In our feeble ways, we too are learning and practicing that great truth: "Love bears the unbearable."
            Let's consider a few movies and see what they say about how love bears the unbearable.
            First, let's consider Clint Eastwood's movie, Million Dollar Baby. Here Clint Eastwood plays the role of Frankie Dunn who has trained many a fine fighter in his career as a boxing coach. The most important lesson he conveys to all his protégés is the importance of protecting yourself in the ring. On the personal side, Frankie suffers from a broken relationship with his daughter. Then a young lady by the name of Maggie Fitzgerald walks into his gym and wants him to take her on and teach her to box. Maggie comes from the wrong side of the tracks and has it in her mind that boxing will be her ticket out of the cycle of poverty in which she and her dysfunctional family dwell. Frankie finally agrees to take her on and teaches her the importance of protecting herself in the ring. Maggie follows Frankie's direction and gets on a winning streak that eventually takes her across Europe until one night when she meets a dirty fighter and forgets that most important lesson of all. She forgets to protect herself in the ring. The championship fight ends with Maggie being paralyzed from the neck down. As she gets progressively worse in the hospital, having one leg amputated and then another, she begs Frankie to restore her dignity by helping her to die. Frankie finally grants her wish and helps Maggie die in what he and she considers to be an act of unselfish love. Regardless of our stance on the issue of euthanasia, we have all had some experience with these questions as we struggle with ethical questions in regards to our loved ones. Having a living will is one thing but honoring it on behalf of our parents or spouse teaches us the lesson that love bears the unbearable. Our family relationships teach us that love bears the unbearable.  
            This is a lesson we learn also in our experiences in the church family to which we belong. Living and loving in the context of a church family is a theme explored by a movie called Babette's Feast. Babette is a famous chef in Napoleon's Paris when she has to flee the country due to being caught on the wrong side of a political debate. She flees to Denmark where she takes up residence with a couple of older widow women. These women run a small church of about 20 members that has been continually declining since their father, who had been pastor of the church, died. Babette gets involved with the little church and finds it to be full of bickering, dissension and unrest. One day Babette gets notice she has won the lottery back in France. Shortly thereafter she receives a check worth millions of dollars. She uses the money to throw an elaborate feast and cook up the finest food available on the planet. The conflicted congregation slowly melts into the moment and over the course of Babette's exquisite seven course meal a healing takes place between the members of the congregation. After the feast, the congregation assumes she will be leaving them since she is now rich. Babette says, "What? Leaving? Rich? I don't have any money. I blew it all on that feast! I threw it away for a feast for you all. I'm not going anywhere." Babette is a Christ figure in this movie because, like Christ, Babette does not protect herself in the ring of life. Babette exposes her full heart to a small, dysfunctional, church family. And she gives away a fortune to them expecting nothing in return and even after that she remains with them in solidarity, in love. Here is an image of God's love which is the kind of love that bears the unbearable, brooks even unlovely, unlikable, uninteresting people. The kind of love Babette displays is the kind of extravagant love Jesus practiced. It is a love that goes beyond expectations -- beyond the call of duty -- it is an all encompassing love.
            As a seminary student I visited the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Jerusalem, and I was stunned by one exhibit in particular. It was a large room with a tall ceiling and a glass wall. Behind the glass wall were tiny, wrinkled leather, children's shoes. A whole big room full of antiquated children's shoes. They were the shoes of children killed in Nazi concentration camps such as Ravensbruck. It was in Ravensbruck, that place so tainted by evil, that someone found a poem by an anonymous author.  A brief poem that describes how this voluntary self-empting -- agape, caritas -- can transform even the greatest human evil into something of beauty. Here is the poem:

O Lord,
remember not only the men and women of good will
but also those of ill will.

But do not remember all the suffering they inflicted on us
remember the fruits we have bought thanks to this suffering
our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our
courage, our generosity,
the greatness of heart which has grown
out of all this.

And when they come to judgment
let all this fruit which we have born
be their forgiveness.

             What a testament to the human spirit. What a testament to a love that bears all things. Here we see that by continuing to pour oneself out in self-giving love even the darkest evil can be transformed into an act of incredible love.
            I close with the words that were found on a piece of paper in the pocket of a Confederate soldier over a hundred years ago, and though they have been commandeered by politicians and sentimentalists in recent years, I believe that they contain great wisdom:

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health, that I might do grater things;
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have praise;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for –
But everything that I had hoped for."

             What an amazing thing: the things we do not know. One thing we do know. Love bears the unbearable. And with God's help, so shall we. So shall we.

Go Deep

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 5:1-11
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on February 4, 2007

 

            Lake Gennesaret is a beautiful setting for the story today. The lake has a holy aura about it left over from the time when Jesus walked the shores and taught the people sitting in a boat out a little ways on the water. Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into Simon's boat and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.

            While Jesus is teaching from the boat, some fishermen are cleaning their nets on the shore, listening to Jesus teach as they work. These professional fishermen are in the process of cleaning their nets because they have finished working for the night. They have fished all night and caught nothing. As a casual fisherman I've had the experience fishing all day and not catching anything. It is not a pleasant experience. How much worse these professional fishermen must have felt for they have fished all night and caught nothing. They have lost time. They have lost money. They are tired and probably a bit miffed as they go through the laborious task of cleaning their nets.

            When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, "Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch." Jesus, a carpenter by trade, is telling them to take the nets they have just cleaned and go back out in the water and cast their nets out into the deep water and they will catch some fish. This means the nets will get dirty again, full of weeds or whatever dwells in the deep water in Lake Gennesaret. It must have seemed to the fishermen like an irrational suggestion.

            Simon says, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I'll let out the nets."

            Here we see a repeating pattern in the Biblical narrative. God's messenger makes a seemingly irrational suggestion and when people respond unbelievably good things happen. For instance, take Naaman the Syrian who suffered from leprosy. Jesus referred to Naaman in his first sermon and so gave a hint as to the pattern of his coming ministry. Naaman was a Syrian general. That is three strikes against him. First, he is a person of a different religion. Second, he is a citizen of an enemy nation. Third, he is a general in an enemy army. As we like to say in baseball and elsewhere, three strikes and you're out. Yet, the message of both the Old and the New Testament is that God is continually breaking that rule. Far from being out, God considered Naaman to be in, and so when Naaman came to the prophet Elisha, God spoke through Elisha to give Naaman a seemingly irrational suggestion. If you want to be cured of you leprosy, go wash yourself seven times in the River Jordan. Naaman thought this was a ridiculous suggestion and refused to consider it until his servants talked him intro trying what the prophet suggested. The result is that Naaman was cured. This man with three strikes against was cured while others were not. He was cured because he acted on a seemingly unreasonable suggestion from God. It's as if Jesus, in his first sermon, was giving a clue about his upcoming ministry and saying, "Hide and watch. See what happens to the people who respond to my seemingly illogical suggestions."

            This is certainly the case in our story this morning. Jesus has just told some fishermen who had just fished all night and caught nothing to take their clean nets back into the middle of Lake Gennesaret and throw them in the deep water and they'll catch some fish. This is not a rational suggestion. But Simon has already experienced the power of Jesus. He was there when Jesus healed his mother-in-law from a fever. He has seen Jesus cure mentally and emotionally distressed people in Capernaum.

            So Simon acts on Jesus' seemingly ridiculous suggestion. He gets his fishing crew together. They get the boats back out in the middle of the lake. They let out the nets into the deep water. When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. These nets that had caught nothing after fishing all night. These nets that had just been cleaned. These nets were now so full of fish they were bursting at the seams. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. The two boats were simply swamped with fish.

            But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And at this tender moment when Simon's heart was fully open to the mysteriously powerful presence of God in this man, Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

            Let the record show that what Jesus said to Simon about fishing for people came to pass. For we read in the Acts of the Apostles that on the day of Pentecost, Simon Peter preached to a crowd of people in Jerusalem. That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

            All of this followed from such a fragile beginning. Jesus made a seemingly irrational suggestion to Simon and his fishing partners. They did what Jesus suggested and the rest is history. Obedience to God's seemingly unreasonable suggestions is the way into the deep waters of the miraculous power of God. Try it in your own life this week and see what happens. When the Spirit nudges you in a certain direction, respond and go there, act, and do that. When Jesus says to you, "Go deep," don't question why or how, just do it.

Hometown Hill

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 4:21-30

on January 28, 2007 at Batesville Presbyterian Church

 

            Last week we learned a little about Jesus first sermon. We learned Jesus delivered this sermon shortly after his baptism and subsequent temptation by the devil in the desert. We learned he went back to his hometown to teach in his home synagogue on the sabbath. He took the scroll and read from the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor." (Luke 4:18) We heard how Jesus then sat down and began teaching, saying, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your midst." But last week we did not hear the amazing story of what happened next.

            For as his friends and family listened to Jesus' first sermon in his hometown synagogue, at first the people were full of pride in their hometown boy, this Jesus, son of Joseph the carpentar, son of our own Mary, who is an up and coming prophet in the region. But as they listened to Jesus explain his interpretation of the text they became alarmed. For Jesus was saying what none of them wanted to hear. Jesus was saying something to the effect that Israeli's are  not God's only special people. God loves Syrians too and sometimes Syrians demonstrate more faith in God than Israelis do. Jesus reminded his hometown congregation about how the prophet Elijah did not feed a single Israeli widow during that terrible famine that lasted three and a half years but instead Elijah helped a widow from Iraq.

            I suppose if Jesus had chosen a hymn for the congregation to sing after his first sermon it would have been "God bless the people of every nation" instead of "God bless our home and nation." The hometown congregation was enraged.  They cried: "How dare he sell us short?" They wondered where his loyalties lay, certainly not, they thought, with us. They suddenly did not recognize him anymore. He was not one of them. Even though he had grown up there and played with their kids and worked in their houses he was not one of them.

            Jesus had been away from the community for 40 days and nights and he was no longer one of them. He had spent time in the desert fighting with the devil and he wasn't the same person when he came home. He knew more than he knew before. He knew things about himself and about his family and about everyone he saw. His horizon had expanded and broadened. He clearly saw that God's love and God's grace and God's plan included more than just this, it also included Syrians such as Naaman the Syrian, who received healing grace from God.

            Jesus had crossed a line. The quiet congregation suddenly became a raging mob. They grabbed Jesus and dragged him to the top of the highest hill in town. They were going to throw him off the cliff and kill him but Jesus slipped away. He wasn't that easy to catch and hold onto. Never was. Never will be. Jesus walked away from the hometown crowd and continued his ministry among all God's children. He lasted about three years. Talking this way. Teaching this teaching about God's love. He lasted about three years until he was finally cornered in the Garden of Gethsemane and this time it was the appointed time and Jesus submitted to God's will and he was taken to the hill called Golgotha and there he was crucified, dead and buried.

            We know that is not end of the story. For on the third day God raised him from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. Jesus, you see, was more than his hometown folks could grasp. He is more than we can grasp, too. Perhaps it is better to pray that we may instead be grasped by him. For even when Jesus may not be in our immediate plans, rest assured we are always in his. God never gives up on us. Let's not give us on God. Let's not give up on ourselves.             

            There is hope for us as well. Although God does not love us exclusively, God does love us decicively and if we can ever submit to that or somehow get ourselves attuned to it, we'll learn to replace our resentment with something far sweeter and stronger and more satisfying than the bitter taste of ire. That would be the love of God that includes each one of us along with every person, plant, rock and tree on this and every planet. Let's open ourselves to God's Spirit within. Then we may learn the secret that Jesus learned in the desert. The secret that his hometown never learned. We, too, may discover the secret of the incredibly inclusive and expansive love of God.

Jesus' First Sermon

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 4:14-21

At Batesville Presbyterian Church on January 21, 2007

 

            This week I received an appeal for help from one of our Elders in the form of an email addressed to me and others. Here is an excerpt from that email.

 

Dear friends,

 

This is the story of a grandmother who is raising her three grandchildren. The parents of these children sadly, are both drug addicts and not able to contribute to the welfare of these children.

 

The grandmother has asked for our help and prayers, too. Two of the children are having medical problems due to their unfortunate birth situation. One of the children was so severely malnourished at the time his grandmother took him into her care that he was terribly underweight for his age.

 

Before Christmas, the family's house burned down. They lost everything and had no insurance. Things seem to keep snowballing and they are falling deeper into poverty. Currently, they're living in a one room building out on Nash Road. They have gotten a trailer, but can't move into it because they don't have the money to pay for the $2,200 septic tank and installation. Last night the grandmother called me about her situation. She is only receiving $175 a month for the care of all three children, not to mention the fact that they have lost everything that they own. They have become absolutely destitute and she is desperate for help.

 

They are on food stamps, but this is not enough. As we can only imagine, they need everything. They need appliances - washer, dryer, gas stove, and refrigerator. Also needed are sheets, blankets, and towels.

 

The family needs clothes, too. They all especially need boots to get through the muddy yard. The grandfather wears a men's size 11, the grandmother wears a ladies' size 8, the third grade girl wears a girl's size 3, and the two little brothers wear boy's sizes 10 and 11 in boots.

 

The grandmother called me last night on a prepaid cell phone. They have no house phone, and her own cell phone has been cut off and she owes $300 to get it reconnected.

 

If you or your church could donate to this very needy cause, please let me know - no amount is too small to give. I'm going out to her house either this afternoon or tomorrow to take her some things and talk further with her. To help them, you can give a check to our church labeled "fire victims" or you can write one to the grandmother - Betty Henry - and give it to me.

 

Thanks so much, Molly

 

            That email struck me because of the desperate situation of the family it described. It reminded me of the theme of Jesus' first sermon. His first sermon came shortly after he returned from a period of temptation in the desert. The devil had tempted Jesus to act as a breadmaker, a materialist, a producer of consumer goods. Jesus said no. The devil then tempted Jesus to take upon himself a mantle of glory, authority, and political power. Jesus said no to the devil. The devil finally tempted Jesus to manifest his spiritual power, demonstrate his religious authority, control unseen powers, manipulate angels. Jesus said no to the devil and told him to get lost and the devil left him alone.

            Jesus then made the rounds teaching in the synagogues of Galilee until he returned to Nazareth. There we find him in his childhood synagogue, on the Sabbath day. He stands before his hometown congregation and opens the sacred scroll to the prophet Isaiah. He reads the text. He rolls up the scroll and sits down, as was the custom, to teach the text. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

            Here is the sermon text of Jesus' first sermon in his hometown. From the prophet Isaiah:

 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

           

            Jesus says God has sent him to bring good news to the poor. We should not be surprised that ministering to the poor was the first item on his agenda. After all, his mother, Mary, in her magnificat, her song of elation, praises God for, as she puts it:

 

"He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty."

(Luke 1:52-53)

 

            I suppose we could say Jesus takes after his mother in his compassion for the poor. That is a message we don't hear much from pulpits across America today and I think that is a shame. For today, perhaps more than ever, we need to hear about God's concern for the poor. Yes, it is true, as some are quick to remind us, Jesus did say, "The poor you have always with you," at one point in the gospels. But it equally true that he said we will be judged by God according to the simple criterion of whether we visit prisoners, clothe the naked and feed the hungry. (cf. Matt. 25) If we truly believed what Jesus said, that God will judge us according to whether we feed the hungry, then there would be a waiting line of Christians wanting to work at the Food Pantry. Instead, we have trouble finding volunteers for the Food Pantry.

            Contemporary theologian Jurgen Moltmann challenges the church to return to the model of servant leadership portrayed in the Bible in the book of Acts. To make ourselves known as the people who care and demonstrate our charity by our actions, by what we do and how we do it. In some measure, we are doing that. For instance, the appeal I read to you earlier has had some results. Someone responded and had their business donate a septic tank to this desperate family. They still need many things but people have responded to the request. One of the little known facts about Mississippians is that we respond to specific requests for help. Percentage wise, we give more to charity than most Americans. In that respect, we live what Jesus preached.

            Lord, open our eyes so we may notice the desperate people that live all around us. Open our ears that we may hear their cries for help. Help us, like Jesus, to bring good news to the poor. Isaiah said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor." Jesus said: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." We say, Lord, we also will bring good news to the poor -- not because we want to -- not because it convenient -- not because it is politically correct -- but because Jesus brought good news to the poor, and because we are followers of Jesus, and because he commands us to do it. We will do it. We will respond to Jesus first sermon. We will continue to feed the hungry through the food pantry. We will continue to bring good news to the poor. That is who we are. That is what we do.

Fearless Followers

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Isaiah 43:1-7

at Batesville Presbyterian Church on January 7, 2007

 

            Today some of our deacons and elders are making a passage. They are crossing over into a position of leadership in the church. It would be difficult for me to overemphasize the importance of the role of church officers within our Presbyterian form of government. And it would be hard to overstate the responsibility that these new officers will take upon them for the health and life of the congregation. Deacons and elders in this congregation are simply essential for the survival of the church. The pastor and preacher plays a large role in the life of a congregation and the deacons and the elders play an equally significant role.

            Thanks be to God, no one person is responsible for everything in Christ's church, for as the Apostle Paul reminds us, we are all members of the body of Christ and each of us has a role to play. If the hand says to leg, "You are not necessary," then the hand does not understand how the body works. If the eye says to the nose, "You don't do much around here," then the eye does not understand how the body works. And if anyone should say to the head, "Let me make that decision," then that person does not understand that Christ is the head of the church.

            These deacons and elders are here today to be ordained and installed because God chose them for this responsibility. As the prophet Isaiah says in our text today: "Thus says the LORD, he who created you ..., he who formed you ...: 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'" We are here today because God has redeemed us and called us by name. As Paul says, "Whether we live or whether we die; we belong to the Lord."

            The story is told of a young fool, a mentally retarded man, went to a Buddist monastery to be enlightened. Some of the young monks told him to go sit in the corner for awhile and then they threw a stone and hit him and said to him, "You've now reached level one of enlightenment." Then they told him to go sit in the other corner and they threw a stone and hit him and said, "You've now reached level two." Then they told him to go sit in the other corner and he did and they threw a stone and hit him and said, "You've now reached level three." Then they told him to go sit in the final corner and he did and they threw a stone and hit him and said, "You've now reached level four." The young monks looked at one another and said and said, "This fool believes us." And the fool looked at the young monks and bowed and said, "Thank you, I'm now enlightened." And he was! The fool's faith had made him enlightened. The only ailment ailing us today is lack of faith. Our lack of faith is expressed as fear. Our fear is what Isaiah addresses in our text today.

            God's message to each of us today is this: "Do not fear." The Lord says: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." We are not in this alone. And our soon to be ordained and installed elders and deacons are not in this alone, either; for God will be with them. When troubles arise in their lives -- sickness, death, uncertainty, insecurity -- God will be with them. When conflicts arise in the church, the Lord will be with them. The great news about taking on the role of leadership in the church is that we have higher powers who are working with and for us in the process of leading the church. God the Father establishes the church, Christ our Lord serves as head of the church, and the Holy Spirit guides and nurtures the church. Thank God we are not in this alone.

            Those who will be ordained as leaders of this congregation are also being ordained as leaders in the church universal, which is the church of all times and places. We are branches on the vine of mother church. Presbyterians have always displayed humility and openness to Christians of other brands and stripes. We know our history. We know that for the first thousand years of the church's history there was but one church and that is the common root to which all Christians belong. We know that God speaks to people in various ways at different times in history. That is why we recognize the need to continually update our Book of Confessions. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is a denomination of some 2 million people across this great United States of America. We are a people of some political and theological diversity. We are a people of some humility. We are part of the larger church, the body of Christ, called the church universal. 

            The Lord says, "Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give .. for you, ... for your life." The calling to serve is a personal calling to each person from God. God's call flows forth from God's love. This call is not a call to be held in greater honor than others. Let us remember today Jesus' saying that when we are invited to a sit-down dinner we should not take the seat of highest honor but the seat of lowest honor. Not because we have low self esteem but because we have high God esteem. We know without God we never would have been invited to dinner in the first place. We are here by invitation and the invitation has come to us from God.

            God's word to each of us this morning is this: "Do not fear." This is the message God gave to the exiles from Israel. Do be afraid! That is the message the angel gave to Mary when he came to tell her she had been chosen to bear the Messiah. Do not fear! That is the message the angels gave the shepherds when they appeared to them proclaiming the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem. Do not be afraid. So said the angel in the empty tomb to Mary and the women when they came looking for Jesus' body after his crucifixion. Do not be afraid. That is God's message to each of us today. Do not fear! You elders and deacons whom God has called to serve as church officers and leaders.

            And we respond with the Psalmist, who says in Psalm 23:

 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

 

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (vs 4-6, KJV)

 

            Let's be fearless followers of Christ. God has called us by name. God has created us for God's glory. God has formed us and made us. We are intimately known and loved by God. We are safer than we have ever dared believe. We are safe in the ultimate sense. We are safe in the eternal sense. And we are safe in the present tense. We are like a mountain that cannot be moved. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) We have reason to be fearless and fearless we shall be.

Little Boy Jesus

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 2:40-52

at Batesville Presbyterian Church on December 31, 2006

 

            Last Sunday we celebrated the birth of Jesus with the full retinue of children dressed as angels, cows and camels. We marked the birth of Jesus with the Advent Candles and sang Christmas carols. Today, on the First Sunday after Christmas, on this last day of 2006, let's look beyond the birth of Jesus and consider the life of little boy Jesus as we consider what became of the baby in the manger.

            The Bible has little to say about little boy Jesus. Yet we do have two stories that shed some light on Jesus' childhood and adolescence. The first story is from the gospel according to Matthew (2:1-12), where we learn that after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, King Herod found some wise men from the East, astrologers, scurrying around Jerusalem asking about the child who had been born king of the Jews, for they had seen his star rising in the East, and they had come to pay him homage. Of course this news sent King Herod into a panic and he immediately called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem with instructions to find this child and let him know when they found him so that he too, could pay him homage. The wise men follow the star and find the holy family but after being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

            After they left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the child and his mother to Egypt for King Herod would search for the child to destroy him. Joseph and the holy family escape into Egypt. When Herod learns he has been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated and sent and killed all the children in a around Bethlehem who were two years old or under. (Mt. 2:16-18) Today, in Cairo, Egypt, there are Coptic Christians who trace their religious ancestry all the way back to the time when their family embraced the holy family during little boy Jesus' exile in Egypt.

            Beyond the fact that little boy Jesus spent his early childhood in Egypt, the Bible has little to tell us except for the remarkable story present in today's gospel reading (Luke 2:40-52) This story, as told in the Gospel according to Luke, occurred when Jesus was twelve years old. By now the holy family has returned to the land of Israel and reside in the town of Nazareth. The story takes place on the family's annual journey to Jerusalem during the Passover celebration. These were occasions of feasting and enjoyment and men brought their families. But even as a child Jesus' religious consciousness is above the ordinary level of consciousness. For even at the tender age of twelve years, his commitment to God supersedes his obligation to his immediate family.

            That is to say, if one were to ask the twelve year old Jesus, "Who's your daddy?" His answer would be: "God." Even as an adult Jesus calls God, "Abba" which in our idiom may be translated as "Daddy." Already, as a child, Jesus knows he has a divine mission for human salvation. Thus, he explains to his parents what he was doing in the temple, saying: "I must be in my Father's house." Little boy Jesus is in the temple teaching because he must be about his Father's business, even if this appears to impair his relationship with his parents, Mary and Joseph. This tendency toward doing the will of God regardless of the consequences will follow Jesus like a shadow until he sweats drops of blood in extreme prayer the Garden of Gethsemane as he faces the cross. There, as an adult, even as here, as a child, Jesus will say yes to God's will, regardless of the consequences.

            This glimpse into the boyhood of Jesus sets the tone for what is to come. As the years pass, the wisdom that Jesus demonstrated in the temple grows and develops. Everyone seems to love him. He dazzled the teachers in the temple. They were amazed at his understanding and his answers. He is lauded by angels, shepherds, Simeon, Anna and many others in Luke's gospel. Later in Luke's gospel (23:21-22), God's expresses pleasure with Jesus when he comes to be baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river and the heavens open and a dove descends upon Jesus, and God's voice booms down from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And of course we know that Jesus did fulfill his mission of opening the door to God's favor for all people and he did it through an act of suffering that is terrible to contemplate.

            We don't often see Jesus' degree of wisdom or devotion in a twelve year old child. In fact, we may assume it has never happened at any time since then. We can only grasp at straws when we try to think of a modern parallel to the love and devotion to God displayed by little boy Jesus. Perhaps the closest we can get to it is a poem. I regard this poem in light of a terrible scene I witnessed once upon a time in Jerusalem. There is a exhibit with a glass front wall at the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem. Behind the glass wall is a room full of little wrinkled leather children's shoes. They are the shoes of children who were killed in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany. This poem was found by the body of a dead child in the concentration camp called Ravensbrook during the Nazi era:

 

            O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will

                        but also those of ill will.

 

            But do not remember all the suffering they inflicted on us

                        remember the fruits we have bought thanks to this suffering

                                    our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our courage, our generosity,

                                                the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this.

           

            And when they come to judgement

                        let all this fruit which we have born

                                    be their forgiveness.

 

            This is the loving spirit of little boy Jesus as he demonstrated in his teaching in the temple when he was twelve years old; and this is the forgiving spirit that Jesus demonstrated as he was hanging on the cross, as he said in regard to those who were crucifying him, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Here we see that by continuing to pour oneself out in self-giving love even the darkest evil can be transformed into a scene of incredible love. We can do this ourselves, we can walk this path of self-emptying love, by staying soft instead of hardening our hearts, by not tightening up but by relaxing and letting in the energy of God's love flow into us and spill over into the world, into our families, into the heart of the child in each of us, even the oldest adult. In doing so, we may be more like little boy Jesus, who increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. We may also hear God say of us one day: "You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased."

Blessed Among Women

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 1:39-55

at Batesville Presbyterian Church on December 24, 2006

 

            Imagine the conversation between Mary and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a woman who has been married for many years. She is old enough to be beyond child bearing years. Mary is a recently married woman who is still a teenager. Both of them are kin. Both of them are pregnant. Both of them are ecstatic with joy. Both of them are bearing sons of significance. Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary is pregnant with Jesus Christ. Both of them are blessed among women.

            When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,

 

   You're so blessed among women,

      and the babe in your womb, also blessed!

   And why am I so blessed that

      the mother of my Lord visits me?

   The moment the sound of your

      greeting entered my ears,

   The babe in my womb

      skipped like a lamb for sheer joy. (The Message)

 

            And like the babe in Elizabeth's womb, our heart skips a beat from sheer joy. We get this feeling about this time every year. This feeling that something big is happening in the midst of the little ones among us. We get this feeling when we see the innocent children dressed like donkeys and cows, angels and drummer boys, playing their part in the great play of resurrection life that we reenact every year about this time. And we know that Christmas once again has come.

            So we gather in the church sanctuary on Christmas Eve, having overcome many an obstacle just to sit in these pews for less than an hour's time. Hard to get here with the family to feed at home. Presents to be wrapped. Or unwrapped. Food to cook. Phone calls. Laughter. And a few minutes of silent reflection in the sanctuary. Some carols. Some scriptures. Some dressed up children singing. And we know, once again, it is Christmas.

            So we take some time to sit together in the stillness of this day. We join all the faithful of every time and place in anxious terror and hopeful expectation, looking for a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger. What a relief to know that the child is indeed in the manger. What a joy to see once again that God has indeed been born into human history. How happy we are to have it confirmed: We are not alone. We are not all there is. There is more to existence than material things. Even after we die we get to live again.

            It's all there, wrapped in mystery like the Christ child in the manger. The prospect of human suffering. The reality of death. The celebration of life. Baptism. Death. Resurrection.

            When we find baby Jesus we ponder the miracle with Mary then return to our home like the shepherds glorifying and praising God that in Christ's birth myth became fact.

            The birth of God in human history. We never imagined it would happen this way. But let's not get caught analyzing the hows or whys or wherefores. Let's throw reason to the wind. Get down on our knees. And join the heavenly choir in singing:

 

 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,

            Born to set Thy people free;

 From our fears and sins release us;

            Let us find our rest in Thee.

 

                        Born Thy people to deliver,

            Born a child and yet a King,

Born to reign in us forever,

            Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

 

By Thine own eternal Spirit

            Rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all sufficient merit

            Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

 

            For it is there, at Christ's glorious throne, where we may still find Mary and Elizabeth, blessed among women. There, at the foot of the throne of God, Mary still ponders these things in her heart, ever the mystic mother. And there, by her side, we may imagine, is Elizabeth, the wise old woman whose immortal body shines like the sun and will never fade away. These two women, blesssed among women, point us the way home. Show us the way down the narrow path to salvation. Draw us onward in the inner journey toward the effervescent flaming throne of God that is surrounded by the blazing violet fire of the Holy Spirit. There, at the foot of that throne, is where we want to be on this Christmas Eve.

            Mary and Elizabeth, blessed among women, friends, relatives, strong and loving mothers, show us the way to God's throne, to God's very presence. It is the way that we already know. It is the way that begins with birthing a child in a manger in an obscure town in the Middle East. It is the way that produces one son who lives like a desert hermit and another son who is accused of partying with prostitutes. It is the way that rears one son to be a prophet and another son to be the King of Israel. It is a way of great joy in watching these sons grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. It is a way of great sorrow for Elizabeth when her son, John the Baptist, is beheaded by Herod the Great and his head presented on a platter to a woman of power and questionable morality. It is a way of sorrow for Mary as she stands at the foot a crucifixion scene in which her son plays the role victim while he is mercilessly ridiculed by a crowd of religious leaders and foreign soldiers of the occupation forces.

            Mary and Elizabeth, blessed among women, bless us with the joy that come from watching the children grow. Mary and Elizabeth, blessed among women, help us accept the pain that comes from watching our child suffer. Mary and Elizabeth, help us to experience the joy that comes from transcending all human pain and being reunited with God in this life and in the life to come. Mary and Elizabeth, blessed among women, move on over a little bit and let us sit down beside you — there, where you are, at the foot of the throne of the everliving God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — for there is a Christ-child waiting to be born in our hearts today.

Showing Gratitude for God's Sunrise

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Luke 1:68-79
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on December 10, 2006.

Early Wednesday morning as I was walking my dog, Pal, I noticed across the field a beautiful stream of gleaming sunlight break through an opening the thick dark clouds. The hole through which the sun shone looked like an eye in the sky. It seemed as if the eye of God was looking at me and the energy of the light of God's eye filled my being. I was grateful to God for filling me with God's light. Gratitude is the natural response when you see God's sunrise.

Our Bible story this morning is a story of the coming of God's sunrise. The people of Israel had been dwelling in the darkness of oppression and the misery of domination by the Roman government. They were looking for a savior to free them from Caesar's mighty hand. The family of King David in particular were expecting God's salvation to come to the world through their family. They looked forward to one of their kinfolk leading them to salvation. When that savior was born into their family, they would be grateful for God's sunrise dawning upon their nation.

So it was that into the family of King David in Israel were born two young boys: Jesus and John who would later be known as John the Baptizer. These two little cousins were born to families of faith amidst great expectation for the salvation of their people. Today we will ponder the birth of John the Baptist. The story of the birth of John the Baptist is a story of God's sunrise coming into the world.

The story begins with John's father, Zachariah, who worked as a priest in the temple. Let's set the scene. An angel announces to a priest, Zechariah, that he and his wife will have a son. Zechariah laughs at the divine messenger because his wife is too old to conceive a child. As punishment for his lack of faith the angel makes Zechariah mute so that he cannot speak from the next nine months until his son is born.

Finally, Zechariah's son is born and he is brought by his family to his circumcision and his naming ritual. The family and friends gathered for this happy occasion expect the child will be named Zechariah, Jr. or some other family name. But Zachariah's wife says the child will be named John. Zechariah is asked what he wants the child named and he writes on a piece of paper: "John." Then the Lord opens Zechariah's mouth and he breaks forth in a song that is a blessing, a berakah in Hebrew or a benedictus in Latin, the official language of the ruling class.

Now Zechariah takes center stage and breaks forth into song about the birth of his son, John, a child who will come to be known as John the Baptist, the messenger who prepares the way for Jesus Christ. Zechariah's song begins in Latin Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel ("Blessed be the Lord God of Israel"). Thus it is called "The Benedictus" which in Latin means "the blessing."

Listen to Zechariah's blessing upon the naming and circumcision of his son, John, and see if you can feel the sense of gratitude with which it is delivered:

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way,
one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.

Zachariah was so grateful for the birth of his son. For this child represented more to his father than just the long awaited birth of his firstborn son. This child represented to his father, the temple priest, God's sunrise shining on the people Israel. Zachariah's gratitude was the gratitude of a father for the birth of a son and the gratitude of a priest for the coming of a prophet who would herald the savior Jesus Christ, who was also coming into the world.

Zachariah's son, John, was not the savior. As John would later say of himself, "There is one who comes after me. He is the savior who was promised. I am not worthy to untie his sandal. I baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John the Baptist knew that Jesus was God's sunrise, God's smile, God's loving forgiveness, spread upon the earth like sunlight from the morning sun.

Gratitude is the key that unlocks the  experience of God's sunrise in our lives. We have much to be grateful for today as individuals and as a congregation. We are grateful to those who serve our congregation with dedication, effectiveness and humility. In particular we are grateful for our church secretary, Marilyn Elliott, who will now be moving on to bless another church with her loving service. We are grateful to those who bless our community such as Robin and Michael Fair who have brought us such pride through their work with the young people on the South Panola football team.

Advent is a season of preparation for God's sunrise in our deepest heart. Yes, Advent is a time for gratitude and we are most grateful for the birth of God's Son, Jesus Christ, who is God's true sunshine that breaks upon us and gives us hope and joy. We come this morning to express our gratitude to those who serve us well. We come to say thanks to Marilyn and Michael and their families. We come to worship God and give thanks. We express our gratitude also through our giving and Advent is certainly the time of year to be giving to the church so that we can pay our bills and meet our responsibilities and continue to serve the God who brings sunshine into our lives.

When we express gratitude we experience God's Sunrise breaking in upon us. May God's Sunrise shine a light into the darkness of our sin, revealing those areas of our heart where we experience lack of awareness. May God's Sunrise shine a light into the darkness of our despair, showing us that we are not alone but that at the center of the universe is the beating heart of God's love which draws us into the light of God's love. May God's Sunrise shine a light on those sitting in the shadow death, illuminating their sorrow and drawing them back onto the path of life.
  
Then may God show us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. One step at a time is all the light God gives us. We can't see where the path ends. We can't see where the path will take us next year or even next month. But we can see enough light to take one more step. One more step down the path of peace. That is all God asks us to take. One more step. One more step.
  
We can't jump ahead on this path. We can't solve all the problems of the world in one fell swoop. We can't feed every hungry person. We can't cloth every naked person. We can't give a Christmas toy to every child who has none. But God doesn't ask us to meet every need. God just asks us to take one more step down the path of peace. One more step, give a coat. One more step, give a toy. Give a coat or a toy as a sign of God's coming kingdom. God's kingdom isn't here yet. But it has come in some measure in the coming of Jesus Christ and it will come even more when Jesus comes again. In the meantime, let us take one more step, just one more step down the path of peace.

Our task and our joy is to be presenting God' sunrise through our attitudes and actions. Like Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist, we are bringing God's sunrise into the world through our worship, singing, ringing and service of God in the world. God's Sunrise shines on us and through us. We are showing God's sunrise every moment of every day. Our very being functions as a holographic mirror of God's sunrise.

We are grateful for God's sunrise. We are grateful for women and men like Elizabeth and Zechariah who rear their children in the faith. We are grateful for prophets such as John the Baptist, who pave the way for God's sunrise. We are grateful that God's sunrise breaks through the darkness of our unawareness, mindlessness, and carelessness. God's sunrise comes to us and enlightens our lives. We are grateful for God's Sunrise in the form of Jesus Christ. God's sunrise will shine in our hearts as we show gratitude for all God's blessings and especially as we show gratitude for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ into our world and into our hearts.

Now or Never

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon on Luke 21:25-36
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on December 3, 2006.

       A young man wanted to attain spiritual enlightenment so he joined a Zen Buddhist monastery. The rules of the monastery were very strict. The young man's teacher put him in an intense training program as if he were a spiritual athlete, the young man was made to study and meditate for hours every day. Furthermore, the young student was to be silent 24 hours a day and 364 days a year. He was allowed to speak to his spiritual teacher only once a year and even then he was allowed to say only five words.

       At the end of his first year of study and silence the young student finally got to see his teacher. After careful consideration, the student's chose to say, as his five allotted words, "The food here is terrible." His spiritual teacher did not respond and the student returned to his little room for another year of solitude and study. The food did not improve.

       At the end of his second year the student eagerly visited his teacher and spurted out his allotted five words, saying, "My bed it too hard." His teacher did not respond and the student returned to his tiny room for another hard year of silent study. His bed remained hard.

       The third year was very grim for the student and when it finally ended he had his conference with his teacher and he told the teacher, "This regiment is impossible. I can't take it any more! I quit!"

       His teacher replied: "I'm not surprised to hear you say that. All you've done since you got here is complain."

       Imagine limiting yourself to only five words per year and then getting a chance to speak to someone you admire and tell them your five words. Imagine how alive you would feel when you finally got your chance to speak your words. Think of how focused in the moment you would feel. Your hands would be tingling from nervous excitement. Your heart would be aching for the opportunity to finally communicate what you have been thinking for the past twelve months. You would come to that moment with a great sense of anticipation and laser like focus. Extraordinarily gifted athletes and musicians speak of playing in "the zone." You would be in that zone when you came to speak to your teacher. The sense of aliveness you would feel in that moment is what Jesus experienced in every moment of his life and that is what he wants us to experience.

       The young Zen student sought enlightenment. I have recently come to an enlightenment of my own. As if a light had been turned on in my mind, I now understand that I have spent a great part of my life living in unreality. By that I mean I have lived much of my life in a make believe place called "the future." I was rarely able to enjoy the present because I was thinking about the future. However good the present moment may have been I often threw it away and instead put my attention on all the possible problems I imagined I may encounter in the future.

       Other people, perhaps you are one of them, err in the opposite direction. They live their lives in the past. Alabama Coach Mike Shula was having a terrible week after losing to Mississippi State in football this season. The Alabama fans and supporters were questioning  the young coach about losing the game and he was having trouble putting the game behind him. He needed to put the game behind him so he could focus on the upcoming game. In desperation, Coach Mike finally called on his father seeking advice and his father, legendary Coach Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins, told his son, "You can't change the score." Those are words of wisdom for those of us who have trouble letting go of the past. You can't change the score. Whatever it is from the past that keeps you from living in the present -- let it go. You can't change the score.

       Our challenge is to live our lives neither in the future nor in the past but in the present moment. Our state championship football team just ended their fourth consecutive season with a 15-0 record. They accomplished this amazing feat by playing their season one day, one practice, one game at a time. That is the secret to success. Focus on the present moment. What are you lacking in this moment? Nothing. We lack nothing in the present moment. Focus on the present moment. Whatever you are doing do it with all your attention. If you are driving, drive. If you are walking, walk. If you are praying, pray. Only this. Nothing more. That is what Jesus is teaching us this morning.

     As Jesus puts it: "Be alert at all times." Let's begin this practice this morning as we partake of the Lord's Supper. Let us eat this bread and drink this cup fully awake to the presence of Christ in this sacrament. Let us focus our attention like a laser beam on this single moment as a sign of our intention to live each moment in the present tense. As it was for Jesus, so it is with us, it's now or never. We can't change the score. The past is gone and the future is beyond our grasp. All we have is this present moment. We begin the Christmas season with the intention to live each moment in "the zone," wide awake, in the moment, fully open to God. It's now or never. Those are the only two options we ever have. We choose now. We choose now. We choose Christ right now.

Daniel's Vision

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

at Batesville Presbyterian Church on November 26, 2006

Daniel describes judgement day in the celestial courtroom. An angel brings out a magnificent throne and sets it in place. Then another throne is brought out and set in place. Soon to follow was another throne and another throne after that until finally four thrones are placed in a circle. The thrones are set in place and the elders take their seats. Yet they are not the focal point of this vision. The interplay of light and shadows pulls our eye elsewhere until we notice there in the middle of the circle stands another throne. This one is different from the others. It is ablaze with fire. The throne in the center has wheels like a war chariot. The wheels, like the chariot itself, are burning fire. And as we watch we see an Ancient One take his throne; his clothing is white as snow, and the hair of his head is like pure wool. The color white has always symbolized holiness. God, the Holy One of Israel, as we might expect is dressed in a clean white robe. Even the Lord God's hair communicates holiness for it is white like wool. This Holy one of Israel, He is able to take His seat on the flaming throne of justice.

Now Daniel looks around the celestial courtroom and notices the attendants of the Lord. In his vision, Daniel saw that thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. They are God's holy angels and ten thousand times ten thousands, one hundred million angels await God's command. When the verdict is read, when judgment is pronounced, the angels will carry out the sentence. What a glow of heavenly light there must have been surrounding the twenty-four thrones and the Ancient of Days. What a vision of power. It leaves us flabbergasted.

The scene is now set and the action begins. The court is seated and the books are opened. Envision the Lord God putting a hand on the cover of a book and slowly the book is opened. The book contains the irrefutable evidence of peoples' lives. Not a word has been unheard not a thought has been left unrecorded. Now the vision turns from awe into fear. An awesome God, seated in a flaming chariot, surrounded by powerful angels and he has the unedited book of people's lives. That book will be opened. The evidence will be presented. It will be admitted. Based on that evidence an eternal, non-pardonable, irrevocable verdict will be rendered. At this point we may feel a sense of fear arising in the pit of our stomach. None of us wants to be judged and especially not by God. If that was the final thing Daniel had to say we would leave here in fear and trembling because there is none of us who is perfect. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Just when we are falling into fearful despair another character appears in the vision.

This one looks like a human being and we recognize this person as Jesus Christ our Lord.

When we see Jesus in the celestial courtroom we immediately remember another vision of Jesus before a throne. There are two characters in this vision. There is Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea. And there is Jesus Christ, described in the previous vision as "one like a human being."

Pilate walks back into the palace and calls for Jesus. He says, "Are you the 'King of the Jews'?"

Jesus answers, "Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?"

Pilate says, "Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?"

"My kingdom," says Jesus, "is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here."

Then Pilate says, "So, are you a king or not?"

Jesus answers, "You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice." (John 18:36-37, MSG & NRSV)

We see Jesus on trial before a Roman Governor. And the eternal judge, Jesus, will be tried and sentenced and crucified for our sins so that when we stand before Jesus and he sits on the throne of judgement, and the book of our life is opened, and Jesus calls our name, and we dare to glance up into his eyes, we will see there only love. Only love. And we will walk away free men and free women. The good news of the gospel is that the cards are stacked in our favor. When it comes to judgement day, the Lord God is dealing from a stacked deck and the cards are stacked in our favor. Our judge is named Redeemer!

Here at the end of the church year, after living through another cycle of hearing the story of Jesus' life, of being taught by him in miracle and parable, we come to the end of another cycle of the liturgical year. After another year of living our lives, burying our dead, baptizing our babies, struggling and thriving, we bring all of the year's experiences to the climax of this day. We lay it all back at the feet of Jesus, the one who stood trial for us so that when we are judged in the celestial courtroom we will stand a chance. Thanks to Jesus, our King and our Redeemer, we stand a chance we stand before the judgement seat of God.

A Temple in Transition

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Mark 13:1-8
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on November 19, 2006

Stand on the Mount of Olives and look toward the city of Jerusalem. See the ancient stone wall surrounding the city. See the gold dome of the Muslim mosque called the Dome of the Rock that sits on the temple mount and dominates the skyline. Walk down the hill and across the valley, through the stone gates into the city of Jerusalem and find your way to the temple mount. See Orthodox Jews wearing their black suits with beards and black hats, swaying back and forth in their seats as they quietly sing the Psalms before the Wailing Wall which are the only stones left standing from the time of Solomon's Temple when many of the Psalms were written. Walk to the narrow passageway that leads up to the temple mount where the magnificent temple stood in Jesus' day. Notice the young Israeli guards swarming around the area like bumble bees with their submachine guns loaded. Walk up onto the temple mount and see the splendid golden dome and intricate design of the round Dome of Rock. Enter that mosque and there in the middle is a large stone where Mohammed is said to have ascended into heaven riding on a mighty steed.

What you will not see on the temple mount today is the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem that stood on this spot during Jesus' lifetime. Herod had begun remodeling this temple 20 years before Jesus was born and it was finally completed it 64 years after Jesus death. So throughout his entire life, the temple in Jerusalem was a work in progress. It was a temple in transition. This temple was 20 acres of white marble with some single stones 37 feet long several tons heavy. This magnificent temple was destroyed and burned to the ground by the Roman army when they stamped out the Jewish Maccabean Revolt only 6 years after the temple was completed. This magnificent temple was the inspiration for our scripture reading today. As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to Jesus, 'Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!' Then Jesus asked him, 'Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.'

Later, as they are sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking at the temple from a distance, the disciples ask when the destruction of the temple will occur. Jesus replies in apocalyptic language of death and destruction that applies as well to us as it did to them. In the 20th century 180 million people were killed in war. That equals nearly 5,000 per day. So every day during the previous 100 years, a group of people roughly equal to the population of Batesville were killed in war. Every single day. For 100 years. This is death on a scale we can hardly fathom. Jesus tells his disciples there will be wars and rumors of war.

More and more we are experiencing upheaval in nature. Hurricane Katrina recently wreaked havoc on our neighbors on the Gulf Coast. Just this week there was a 8.0 earthquake in Japan. The Darfur region of Africa continues to bleed and starve day by day. Earthquakes and famines. The whole world seems to be coming apart at the seams. We hear from scientists that there are holes in the ozone layer. Even Evangelical Christians are now concerned about the environment. As Thomas Friedman says about America, "Green is the new red, white and blue." That green signifies our need and desire to develop alternative energy sources that are cleaner and do less damage than the ones we have now. Envision our round blue earth as a temple and sometimes it seems as if the temple is being destroyed. Jesus says all these tumultuous events are but the beginning of the birth pangs. Paul will extend this image of birth pangs, saying, "The whole creation groans as it awaits rebirth." The temple of planet earth is in transition.

Jesus uses temple in 3 senses and in each case the temple is in transition. There is the temple in Jerusalem; the temple of the earth and the temple of our bodies. He said once, "Destroy this temple and in 3 days I will rebuild it." Those who heard it thought he was referring to the temple complex in Jerusalem but he was referring to the temple of his body. The Apostle Paul extends this image to include each of us saying, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." There is one thing we know with certainty and that is that death always precedes resurrection. That is true for any kind of temple. Every temple is in transition.

Now don't be led astray by Jesus' apocalyptic language. Apocalyptic language is poetic, not scientific. Jesus is not providing a road map to the future. This is not an a.b.c. timetable of the last days but more a paint by the numbers portrait of the death and destruction that precedes the resurrection of any kind of temple. A retired First Grade teacher tells story of one of her First Grade students who was very proud of the watercolor finger painting he made during class one day. The next day the boy was frowning so hard the teacher noticed and asked him what was wrong. "You've got my picture upside down," said the little boy. That's what Jesus would say to some modern writers who want to factualize the artistic portrait of destruction Jesus paints in our text. "You've got my picture upside down."

Someone said a picture is worth a thousand words. That is the idea behind the spiritual practice of drawing and coloring a mandela. Mandala means mirror in the ancient Sanskrit language from whence it comes. A mandala is a  symbolic circular design that serves as a reflection of our spiritual journey at a particular point in time; similar to a photograph of what is going on in the inner spectrum of our consciousness if such a photograph were possible to take. Each mandala corresponds to a number from 1 - 12 in a circular design that correspond to the numbers on a clock. Each number on the dial signifies a different place in a person's spiritual development. Mandala #5 denotes destruction, completion of a cycle of growth, death. Mandala #6 means rebirth, a new cycle is beginning, resurrection. Jesus is speaking in our text today about Mandala #5, the mandala of death and destruction. This is a painful place to be. If you ever find yourself painting mandala #5 you will be coming from a painful place in your spiritual journey. But take heart, because after the mandala of destruction comes the mandala of new life, more thorough integration, resurrection, the beginning of a new cycle.

We are not painting a mandala today but we are participating in an act of representation. Our pledge cards serve as a type of measurement of where we are in the cycle of our spiritual development. Use this pledge process as a mandala, a mirror into your own soul, a photograph of where you are on your spiritual journey at this particular moment. Know that where you are today is not necessarily where you were this time last year or where you will be this time next year. For each of us is a temple of God in transition from one stage of spiritual growth to another like the minute hand on an old fashioned clock on the wall that passes each number on the dial in a never ending circle of life. If you find yourself today at mandala #5, feeling like your world is coming to an end; take heart, you will not remain in the graveyard of the soul. For after the mandala of death comes the mandala of resurrection. You will be born again to new life in Christ.

Giving

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Mark 12:38-44
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on November 12, 2006

Survey the New Testament and you will find Jesus and money mentioned 30 times in the gospels. The references begin with Jesus birth when Wise Men from the East presented gold to baby Jesus and perhaps were granted the blessed opportunity to hold him and kiss his tiny head. The references to money end when Judas Iscariot receives gold for betraying Jesus with a kiss. Money was an essential ingredient in Jesus' life and teaching.

Consider, for instance, the story of the widow's mite. The disciples and Jesus are in the temple in Jerusalem. They are in the part of the temple called the court of women. A crowd of people are standing in line waiting to put their offering in a trumpet shaped receptacle at the treasury. The scene looks similar to how it will look next week when you are standing in line waiting to put your pledge card in an offering plate on top of the communion table. Now Jesus does something extraordinary. He sits down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Remember that next week when you walk forward to put your pledge down. Jesus sat down in the temple in Jerusalem and watched what people were putting in the offering plate. He saw some rich people put in large sums of money. Then a poor window came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Suddenly Jesus jumped up and in his excitement he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." In short, the widow threw it all away and it made Jesus' day.

It made his day because Jesus practiced the same spiritual path as this widow. He practiced the path of kenosis, the path of self-emptying love. Jesus practiced self-emptying love from the moment of his conception in Mary's womb. In his life, Jesus horrified the prim and proper by dining with prostitutes and sinners, telling parables about extravagant giving; by teaching always and everywhere, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth." John's disciples disapproved of him for drinking and banqueting; the Pharisees disapproved of him for healing on the sabbath. But he went his way, giving himself fully into life and death, losing himself, squandering himself, "gambling away every gift God bestows." Finally, Jesus practiced kenosis , self-emptying love, when he humbled himself and became unto death, even death on a cross. (For a fuller discussion of kenosis see Cythia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, pp 83-88)

There is another woman in the gospels who practiced the path of kenosis, the path of self-emptying love. Once, when Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, while he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head. Some of the guests became furious among themselves. "That's criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year's wages and handed out to the poor." They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her. But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly."(Mark 14:3-9, The Message)

A modern movie, Babette's Feast, illustrates the principle of kenosis . Babette is a famous chef in Napoleon's Paris when she has to flee the country due to being caught on the wrong side of a political debate. She flees to Denmark where she takes up residence with a couple of older widow women. These women run a small church of about 20 members that has been continually declining since their father, who had been pastor of the church, died. Babette gets involved with the little church and finds it to be full of bickering, dissension and unrest. One day Babette gets notice she has won the lottery back in France. Shortly thereafter she receives a check for one million dollars. She uses the money to throw an elaborate feast and cook up the finest food available on the planet. The conflicted congregation slowly melts into the moment and over the course of Babette's exquisite seven course meal a healing takes place between the members of the congregation. After the feast, the congregation assumes she will be leaving them since she is now rich. Babette says, "What? Leaving? Rich? I don't have any money. I blew it all on that feast I threw for you all. I'm not going anywhere." Thus does Babette practice the path of kenosis, self-emptying love, throwing it all away in service of others. This is the kind of extravagant giving Jesus practiced. Giving that is way beyond expectations. Beyond the call of duty. All encompassing giving. Time and talents and money. Cheerful giving. Radical giving.

We will each have the opportunity to bring the gospel to bear on our money in the coming wee. You will receive a letter from the church this week. The letter explores our stewardship theme, Noah's Ark, and asks for your commitment via the enclosed pledge card. As you consider your response to Christ's invitation to give, remember the widow in the temple. As you fill out your pledge card and bring it next Sunday for our stewardship dedication. Pray about your giving this week. Ponder the story of the widow in the temple. Remember the story Babette's Feast. Remember that hymn we sometimes sing, "Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe." Then you'll know what to give. It will be very clear to you.