Jesus Calms Chaos

Mark 4:35-41

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

Jesus Calms Chaos

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon

at Batesville Presbyterian Church on June 25, 2006

       We live in a chaotic world. A chaotic world that makes us afraid. We are afraid we are running out of oil. We are afraid of global warming. We are afraid Korea may use a nuclear bomb against us. We are afraid Iran may develop a nuclear bomb. We are afraid to pull our troops out of Iraq. We are afraid not to pull our troops out of Iraq. We are afraid of being outsmarted by another church. We are afraid another church has better facilities. We are afraid we may get fired and find ourselves living on the street. We are afraid we are running out of time. We are afraid of getting old. We are afraid of death.

              We are awash in a sea of fear. And in the midst of our chaos we reach out for the steady hand of Jesus only to discover that Jesus is not standing where we thought he would be.  This happened to Jesus' disciples as they were traveling by boat across a large and deep lake called the Sea of Galilee. When a torrential storm came upon them in the dead of night, instead of being present on deck, ready for action, Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat. The disciples were horrified. This storm was more than they could handle. Even the experienced fishermen on board had never seen a storm so severe. This storm at sea is the setting for a powerful story.

        Let's put ourselves into the story and experience the wonder and power of a chaotic event with Jesus. The waves are banging the side of the boat. Gales of wind sound like a train coming down the tracks. We know we are in deep trouble. We are in over our heads. There is only one hope for us now. Jesus. We must find Jesus. We rummage around in the darkness. Groping here. Peeping there. Stumbling. Falling. Waving. Shouting. Searching for Jesus in the middle of a storm.

        Then, thanks be to God, we finally find Jesus. We are shocked to discover he is asleep. We hate to wake him up. We feel sorry that it seems we only look for him when we are desperate. When our child is sick. When our mother is dying. When we are facing surgery. Yet we cannot help but wake him up. He is our only hope for survival. So we reluctantly touch his shoulder. "Jesus. Master. Wake up." He doesn't budge. We put our fingers on his shoulder and move them. "Jesus. Get up. We're in a storm." He is still sound asleep. Finally, in desperation we put both hands on his shoulders and shake him and cry, "Jesus. Get up! Help! Help! We're dying here!"

        Jesus starts to wake up. He rolls over. He moans, "What?! What?! What do you want?!"

        We say, "Jesus! We're going down!"

        Jesus rolls over on his hands and knees and stretches himself aright in the tossy turvy boat. He tries to stand up but the boat pitches starboard and he falls down. So he starts crawling. Crawling across the floor to the hatch that leads to the deck. We watch him and don't know what to do. He shouldn't go up on that deck because he may get thrown overboard. But we want him up there where the trouble is because he is the only one who may be able to handle the situation. Crawling. He makes it to the deck. He climbs up on the wet surface of the rocking deck. It is dark. Other disciples are stumbling around, hanging on, cursing and crying. Not even aware Jesus is now on deck.

        Fully awake now, Jesus speaks to the wind as if he were addressing a barking dog in the night: "Be quiet! Pipe down." Wind takes note. Train sound stops. Jesus snarls at the storming sea: "Stop it. Settle down!" Sea snorts back then sniffles and settles. We disciples look out at wind and sea as if to say, "Yea, take that!" The boat keeps rocking but not as hard. The waves are settling down. The deck slowly rocks from right to left until it stands still. The wind runs out of breath; the sea becomes smooth as glass.

        Jesus reprimands us: "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all?"

        We are in absolute awe, staggered. "Who is this, anyway?" we ask. "Wind and sea at his beck and call!"

        We put ourselves into the story because this story is our story. It happens to us again and again. Crisis strikes and our memory fails us. Tragedy hits and our courage flees. Each time chaos comes we think this time is not like last time. This time it is different. This time we will not survive. We fear we'll never make up the deficit in the church budget before the end of the year. We'll never find someone to replace a church staff member. How quick we are to disregard the way Jesus has guided our congregation through terrible storms during the past 165 years. Jesus calmed stormy waters in this congregation before the Civil War. He put out the fire when Union troops set our first sanctuary ablaze. Jesus stood with grieving women of this congregation who mourned the loss of father, husband, or son, in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean, Vietnam War and Wars in Iraq. Jesus dried their tears and rode home with them to an empty house. Jesus enabled this congregation to build Batesville Presbyterian Church from four or five different congregations in this community. Jesus calmed the chaos in this congregation during the Civil Rights Movement and even today. Jesus is still here. He hasn't left us. We will find him if we look. Seek and ye shall find.

        Remember the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Remember how howling winds rocked our little boat. The waves which towered some four stories high crashed down on us again and again. The lightening flashed in crazy white patterns against the cloud darkened black night sky. The thunder rolled. We didn't think we would make it. Jesus wasn't on deck. We had to search for him in the darkness. We finally found him. He staggered up on deck. He rebuked the wind and it became calm. He laid down the law to the sea and the waters became smooth as glass. He shut down the storm. We were amazed. We are still amazed when we think about it.

      Jesus calms chaos. He has the power to calm chaos. He has the will to calm chaos. He has the intention to calm chaos. Seek and you will find him. Knock and he will open the door. Ask and he will give it to you. For whoever seeks finds. Whoever knocks, the door is opened unto them. Whoever asks receives. No storm is too strong for Jesus. No wind is too high. No waves are too wild. No tragedy is too severe. No relationship is too broken. No person is too far out of control. The chaos is our lives is not beyond him. Jesus calms chaos. Let's find him. Let's beg for his help. Let's marvel at the miracle. Jesus still calms chaos even today. Jesus calms chaos.

God's Unlikely Choice

1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13

We make hundreds of choices every day. We make simple decisions such as what to eat for breakfast. We make harder choices such which puppy to adopt. According to the Bible, even God has to make choices. Our story today tells us about God's unlikely choice for king of Israel.

We makes our choices based on some kind of yardstick. He comes from money. She's beautiful. Smart as a whip. Fast as lightening. These are phrases of measurement. We keep score. It seems to be part of our fallen human nature. The one who dies with the most toys wins.

Taking this philosophy to the extreme may become dangerous. Already, wealthier people are able to enhance their beauty through plastic surgery. In the next couple of decades procedures to enhance our mental abilities are likely to be legal, available, and possibly expensive. Imagine a world where you can purchase an upgrade to your mental abilities. A world where memory is enhanced, concentration increased, and problem solving ability multiplied.

So called "brain steroids" are widely used on American college campuses. We've heard about high school and professional athletes using steroids to gain a competitive advantage. Some high school and college students now use prescription drugs to increase mental abilities as they cram for exams. According to a story in this week's Washington Post "brain steroids" can be purchased on many campuses for as little as $3 to $5 per pill, though they are often obtained free from friends with legitimate prescriptions, students report.

Students using brain drugs such as adderall and ritalin are often the best students. They want to achieve a 4.0 grade point average instead of a mere 3.8 grade point average. They are, in a sense, the best of us. They mirror our desperation for success. We want to excel. We want to be the smartest and richest and most beautiful people we can be. We want to be recognized, admired and loved by the people we respect. And there is even a spiritual dimension to our desire to excel. For we want God in heaven to notice us and approve of us and say to us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." The craving for God's approval is a good and noble desire. Yet God's measurement is based on a different criterion. God is not impressed with physical beauty. Bank accounts and stock portfolios do not impress the Holy Spirit. Jesus describes God as owning the cattle on a thousand hills. According to our story today, God uses a different yardstick when God judges people. Let's take a look at this remarkable story.

God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint a new king in Israel. This is a dangerous mission for Samuel since the current King Saul is still alive and intends to continue being king. Even so, God orders Samuel to anoint another king from one of the sons of Jesse. Samuel courageously goes and finds Jesse and gets all Jesse's sons to gather for a ritual to anoint a new king of Israel. 

When Jesse's sons arrive, Samuel takes one look at Eliab and thinks, "Here he is! God's anointed!" Samuel's choice of Eliab was made on his first impression. In the intriguing book called "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking," author Malcolm Gladwell argues that our best choices are the ones we make without thinking. Often Gladwell is right. As his book illustrates, our first impressions are often correct. However, that is not true in every case. And it was not true in the case of Samuel anointing a new king of Israel.

Samuel's first impression was to anoint Eliab as king. But God told Samuel, "Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with his looks and stature. I've already eliminated him from consideration as king. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart." God's judgement goes beneath the surface all the way down into our heart.  God knows our intentions and motivations.

In his ministry, Jesus provides an excellent illustration of how God judges people based on their heart. Jesus enters a house there where he doesn't think he will be found, but he can't escape notice. He is barely inside when a woman who has a disturbed daughter hears where he is. She comes in and kneels at his feet, begging for help. The woman was a Gentile, a Greek, Syro-Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure her daughter.

He said, "Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there's any left over, the dogs get it."

She said, "Of course, Master. But don't dogs under the table get scraps dropped by the children?"

Jesus was impressed. This woman had heart. She was not from the right race, she did not practice the right religion, she may not have been attractive. But she had heart. She had spunk. She was determined. She was humble. Jesus said to her: "You're right! Dogs under the table get scraps dropped by the children. On your way! Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone." She goes home and finds her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for good. Jesus gazed into this woman's heart and responded to her cry for help.

Jesus was called the Son of David because he was literally a descendant of King David. Our story today tells us how God chose David to be King of Israel. The prophet Samuel gathers the sons of Jesse and from them the Lord will choose one to be King of Israel. Samuel's first impression says Eliab should be anointed king. God disagrees and says Eliab is not the one.

Jesse then called up his son Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. Samuel said, "This man isn't God's choice either."

Next Jesse presented Shammah. Samuel said, "No, this man isn't either."
Jesse presented his seven sons to Samuel. Samuel was blunt with Jesse, "God hasn't chosen any of these."

Then he asked Jesse, "Is this it? Are there no more sons?"

"Well, yes, there's the runt. But he's out tending the sheep."

Samuel ordered Jesse, "Go get him. We're not moving from this spot until he's here."
Jesse sent for him. He was brought in, the very picture of health— bright-eyed, good-looking. Even so, David had done nothing to merit being chosen as king. In the story, David utters not one word. David merely appears when he is summoned. God is the main character in this story.

God said, "Up on your feet! Anoint him! This is the one." Our story gives no explanation for why God chose David. The Psalmist will later explain why God chose David to be King of Israel.  

   You love the right
      and hate the wrong.
   And that is why God, your very own God,
      poured fragrant oil on your head,
   Marking you out as king
      from among your dear companions. (Psalm 45:7)

Samuel takes his flask of oil and anoints David as King of Israel, with his brothers standing around watching. The Spirit of God enters David like a rush of wind, God vitally empowers him for the rest of his life.

Samuel leaves and goes home to Ramah. Such is the life of a prophet. We go where God tells us to go and do what God tells us even when doing so is dangerous. Even when doing so means learning to use another yardstick to measure people. Even when we must lay aside our cultural heritage and current worldview and learn a new way of measuring people as God does, according to their heart.

The Bible claims God who uses a different criterion for judgment. God tells Samuel, "Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with looks and stature. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart."
In Matthew 5, Jesus describes how different the world would look if humans judged people according to their hearts. If the world judged people according to their hearts then the meek would be ruling the earth, those who mourn would be finding comfort, and the poor would be inheriting the earth.

Jesus' vision is right in line with the God he calls "Abba," meaning "Daddy." The story of God's choice of David is a story of expectations reversed. The last is made first. God chooses the runt of the litter to serve as king. God looks below the surface. God looks into our heart. Let's judge one another like God judges us, according to our heart. Since we have no x-ray vision this will be difficult. In fact, we may find judging people according to their heart to be beyond our ability as human beings. Perhaps that is why in our story for today God gets to choose the King of Israel. And God chooses David, an unlikely choice.

Resurrection Life

Romans 8:12-17 (MSG)

So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Daddy?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

Resurrection Life
Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at Batesville Presbyterian Church
on  Trinity Sunday, June 11, 2006  

A rich official approached Jesus one day and asked what to do to follow Jesus. One may imagine Jesus' disciples feeling flattered that a rich official wanted to know how to join their cause. Judas, as the money manager of the group, must have been delighted at the prospect. Then imagine the disciples feelings when Jesus told the rich official the cost of discipleship saying, "Sell everything you have and give the money to the poor then come and follow me." The disciples, dumbfounded, may have looked at one another with bulging eyes of disbelief. Not surprisingly, the rich official deferred from such a demanding offer. The price was too high. (Cf. Luke 18:18-30)

Perhaps the rich official was like that ultimate American icon, a self-made man. Perhaps he's made his money the old-fashioned way -- he'd earned it - and so was reluctant to be parted from his dearly beloved assets. We don't know how he got his wealth for the Bible doesn't say. The Bible does say the man was morally pure. Yet the issue between the rich official and Jesus went deeper even than money or morality. The issue went as deep as the mystery of a joyous God who offers resurrection life to any who are willing to die to give up everything to obtain it.

Jesus welcomed the rich official provided he packed light. To paraphrase what Jesus told his disciples before sending them out as missionaries around the countryside, "If you can't fit it in a backpack don't take it with you." Jesus put this requirement on the front end of the deal in his encounter with the rich official.

The problem for the rich official and for all us richer is our difficulty in letting go of possessions. You know what I mean if you've recently moved. There are precious memories associated with our possessions. We have invested ourselves in personal effects. We face a similar challenge when we have to clean out the house of a parent of relative who has died. We have to decide what to do with the matching bedside two-drawer chest in the master bedroom. Physical objects help us feel planted securely in the soil of a particular place.

We all share a human need for shelter and a sense of being loved. We seek security in our investments whether they be financial, physical or spiritual. We crave security especially in our relationships. The blessing and tragedy of family life is the unconditional love we have but sometimes experience and the love we sometimes lose. Our deep need for love goes beyond reason into our very subconsciousness and it is at that deeper level where Jesus meets us. Jesus meets us at the level of our deepest needs for security and unconditional love.

In the sacrament of baptism we enact our need for supportive relationships and God's unconditional love for us. The baptismal ritual reminds us of the give and take of Christian discipleship. Recall these questions for the baptismal candidate.

Do you renounce all evil,
and powers in the world
which defy God's righteousness and love?
I renounce them.

Do you renounce the ways of sin
that separate you from the love of God?
I renounce them.

Do you turn to Jesus Christ
and accept him as your Lord and Savior?
I do.

Will you be Christ's faithful disciple,
obeying his Word and showing his love,
to your life's end?
I will, with God's help.

Confession comes after renunciation and resurrection life comes after death to the old way of life. Even in our baptismal ritual we enact the challenge Jesus presented to the rich official.  The rich official was denied discipleship because he was unwilling to make the necessary renunciations. We all face the choice Jesus gave the rich official. This choice is incorporated into our baptismal liturgy. We say "Yes" to Christ only after saying "No" to the old way of life.

The Apostle Paul understood this concept. In our text for today Paul writes, "So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!" Paul calls our new life in Christ "resurrection life." Resurrection life is what Jesus offered the rich official and resurrection life is what Jesus offers us. And we take it. We take this resurrection life like a poor beggar grabs a $100 bill. We are desperate for a deep experience of God. We are as ready to journey with God into resurrection life as a small child ready to go on vacation with Mommy and Daddy.

Resurrection life is full of joy but it is not a cake walk. All is not fun and games even in Disneyworld. It is hot and humid in the Magic Kingdom and even a ham sandwich for lunch costs about $10. Resurrection life is not constant parades with Mickey and Minnie. Resurrection life is the daily decisions that come so fast we hardly have time to think. Hard choices. Costly choices. Resurrection life is paying our pledge to Christ's church when we'd rather upgrade to a cell phone with broadband service so we can watch ESPN or The Daily Show while we wait in line at the bank.

Resurrection life is not all miracles and glory and it never goes on sale 40% off. Resurrection life is being patient with tedious people and loving those whom we consider unworthy of our affection. Resurrection life is being open to the Spirit and ready to roll whenever and wherever God leads. As Jesus demonstrated in his challenge to the rich official, the price of admission to resurrection life is extraordinarily high. Renunciations come before profession. Good Friday comes before Easter Sunday. Crucifixion comes before resurrection.

Jesus challenges us to give up whatever holds us back from living the resurrection life. Pray about this and see if the Spirit shows you the price of discipleship in your own walk with Christ. Count the cost. Run the numbers. Resurrection life is worth the investment. With God's help, we will get what's coming to us -- an unbelievable inheritance. As Paul reminds us, we go through exactly what Christ goes through. The agony of the cross precedes the glory of the resurrection life. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! Resurrection life. It is not cheap. It is not easy. But it is available. Let's live the resurrection life today.

Spirit Signs

Acts 2:1-8 (The Message)

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Spirit Signs

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on June 4, 2006

Language moved to the center of the political stage in America this week. Perhaps you didn't even notice the little insert in the Senate's immigration bill that would make English the official language of the United States. NPR commentator Daniel Schorr wonders why all of a sudden we need to officially establish English as our official language. He notes studies that demonstrate the Latin American immigrants walking our streets today are learning English more quickly than German immigrants of an earlier generation. While making English the official language the Senate did not provide additional funding for teaching English as Second Language in spite of the fact there are thousands of immigrants waiting in line to learn the English language.

Language matters. That is the message the Senate wants to send to the immigrants and voters back home. The Bible would certainly agree. Not necessarily with the Senate's immigration bill. But the Bible acknowledges the importance of language. You can see it in our text today in Acts 2. Language plays a crucial role on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit
emboldened and enabled the disciples to speak the languages of people from all over the world. When they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. The people heard the Spirit speaking their own language and the fire of the Spirit burned within them. When people hear the Spirit speaking to them in a language they can understand people change. It happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. It happened again some 1600 years later in Whittenburg, Germany during the Protestant Reformation.

One of the key developments in the Protestant Reformation was the publication of the Bible in the language of the people. The invention of the printing press made that possible for the first time. Before the printing press the only way to copy the Bible was by hand. This was a time intensive process and there were few copies of the Bible. Before the Reformation the average person never once saw a Bible written in a language they could read. When they finally read the Bible in their own language the Spirit set the continent of Europe on fire with the power of the Spirit. As Presbyterians we trace our history back to the Protestant Reformation and we are certainly people of the Bible, the written Word.

On the day of Pentecost the Spirit spoke in a way more powerful than even the written word. The Spirit spoke in the language of the people with a human voice on the day of Pentecost. People from over 15 different countries heard the disciples speaking to them in their own language. The result was rather dramatic. Peter stepped forth and preached to the crowd gathered in Jerusalem and 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. Pentecost was a powerful group experience of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Presbyterians get a chance to experience how the disciples felt on the day of Pentecost. We get that chance every other year at the opening worship service of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). I have attended three of these worship services and found them to be a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit in action. This year's General Assembly begins later this month in Birmingham, Alabama. One of our church members, Ginnie Monteith, is a Youth Advisory Delegate to this year's General Assembly.

Liturgical dancers, under the direction of Kathryn Sparks, brought color and movement to the opening worship celebration at the 216th General Assembly in Richmond, Virginia.
Photo by David P. Young

Perhaps Ginny will attend the Ecumenical Service of Worship at the General Assembly. If so, she will witness a Presbyterian version of the day of Pentecost. Judging from past experience this worship service may look something like this as you look down to the ground level from high your seat high up in a coliseum. First come the liturgical dancers waving batons with long red streamers to signify the entrance of the Holy Spirit. Then comes the multitude of banner bearers with a banner from each presbytery across the United States. These are followed by many ministers of Word and Sacrament in their various robes and stoles and elder representatives who will be serving the sacrament of the Lord's Supper during the service. The sermon is always interesting because someone stands near the preacher and interprets the sermon in sign language for the hearing impaired. The highlight of the service comes after the sermon when a host of missionaries who will be commissioned to service all over the world, taking the message of the Spirit to the people in their own language in a modern day Presbyterian version of the day of Pentecost. The visual and auditory signs of the opening worship service of the Assembly reinforce the theme of diversity and inclusiveness, which is a priority for our denomination and which was the sign of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

The Spirit spoke to people in more than 15 different languages on Pentecost. The folks in Jerusalem on Pentecost day couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!" (Acts 2:6-12, MSG)

We recognize the importance of communicating to people in their own language so we give away Spanish language Bibles in Honduras. Our mission to Honduras is our own version of a very Presbyterian tradition of sending missionaries into the world to share the gospel with people in their own languages. This is still happening today.

Even today we have Presbyterian Mission Workers such as Kara VanderKamp who serves in Niger. In a recent letter Kara shared some of what she is doing on our behalf. Here is part of her letter from May 9, 2006.

Dear Friends and Family:
The sun burns the head and then it burns the heart.
This is the Hausa saying that Alio, my language teacher, told me when
we were discussing the impact that the sun and heat have on people.
(Hausa is a language and people group in Niger.) We are now in the
midst of the hot season, and I was telling him how the extreme heat is
affecting the way I relate to people. I'm not very proud of it, but I
find myself becoming irritated more easily and quickly. And I'm
apparently not the only person who is feeling the heat! In general,
people seem to be tired and on edge.
Despite the heat, life goes on.

That is Kara's story and that is our story as well. Despite the heat, life goes on. Whatever heat may come from this General Assembly life will go on. And thanks to our Presbyterian missionaries such as Kara VaderKamp, we are sharing the Spirit in the Hausa language in Niger and all across the world. The Spirit the language of the people wherever the people may be. Let us speak the language of the Spirit which is the language of love.

We will continue to speak the spiritual language of love in the native tongues of every person in every land. Painting pictures with our words. Calling forth the best from every person. Saying no to gossip. Saying yes to spirit signs. That is the way forward. That is the road we walk together as Presbyterians and as Christians.

Our Connectional Church

Ephesians 1:15-23

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Our Connectional Church
Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at Batesville Presbyterian Church on May 28, 2006

Each of the dozen new members who are joining today, the dandy dozen, are joining the church today because one of you invited them to attend worship at Bateville Presbyterian Church. Of course there were reasons they came back again. Someone spoke to them after the service and made them feel welcome here. They had already become active in the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship. They have connections in this congregation with family and friends. What we can almost certainly say is that none of them joined the church because of our publicity. They did not read about us in the newspaper. They did not see our church on a billboard. They did not see us on TV or hear about us on the radio. They are joining our church because they have experienced the connectional nature of our church.

We are a connectional church in the way we are connected to the Bible. As Presbyterians, we trace our heritage all the way back to Adam and Eve by virtue of our connection to the Bible which is God's word to us. In the stories of the Bible we find our own story. We recognize ourselves in the faith that Abraham and Sarah demonstrated when they left everything they knew to go to a new land God had promised them. Centuries later our spiritual ancestors would leave all they knew in Scotland to travel to a New World called America and establish there the Presbyterian Church.

Some of our new members have made a similar pilgrimage except their pilgrimage took them from their home in Batesville to another place and now they are returning home again. They grew up in this church and moved away for many years and now are returning to membership here. Others came to the youth group because a friend invited them and they had a good experience there and have been coming here ever since. Some of the new members have a member of the family or close friend who is already an active member here. Each of the new members, like each of us all, come here bearing their past history and looking forward to the future in service together with this congregation. Several of them join by transfer of letter from another congregation. Some of them, like some of us, come from different Christian denominations. They are already members of the Body of Christ and now they are joining this particular congregation. Others are joining by profession of faith and baptism so they are just now officially coming into the body of Christ.

Regardless of our past affiliations, baptism marks our entrance in the church universal. Throughout Christian history baptism has enjoyed a variety of meanings. One of the meanings of baptism that traces back to the second century is the understanding of baptism as enlightenment. Notice the symbolism during baptism. The pastsor and the baptismal candidate gather around the font. The pastor's hand moves down into the water in the font and then up to pour the water on the head of the person being baptized. Notice the down and up vertical motion of the baptismal ritual. It reminds us of the vertical nature of baptism which connects us humans with the same Christ who created the universe, achieved our salvation and is seated at the right hand of God up in the heavenly places.

After the vertical movement of the water coming up from the font and down on the head we see the horizontal movement of the newly baptized moving out in the congregation. If a child is being baptized the pastor carries the child out into the congregation saying, "See here the love of God that we should be called children which indeed we are." If the baptized person is an older child or adult then we may invite the congregation to come forward and welcome him or her into the church after the worship service. Whether it is a baby walked down the aisle into the congregation or the congregation coming forward after the service the movement is a horizontal movement.

Notice the cruciform movement in the baptismal liturgy from vertical to horizontal. The movement of baptism is shaped like a cross. The cruciform movement of baptism brings to mind Paul's commendation of the church in Ephesus. Paul praised the church in Ephesus for their vertical movement of faith in Jesus Christ and for their horizontal movement of love toward all the saints. We Christians live at the intersection of the vertical plane of faith in Christ and the horizontal plane of love toward the church.

The enlightenment that comes with baptism washes our spiritual eyes so we perceive the world in a different way. After our baptism we the church is no longer peripheral to the world but the world is peripheral to the church. After the water of baptism washes us clean we see the world with new eyes and we see our selves with new eyes as well. We see our place in the world within the fellowship of the church. This is not something you will find advertised on a television commercial or as a pop-up advertisement on a web page. Big business does not make any money off this deal. Baptism is a counter cultural event. It is claiming an alternative identity within the community of faith.

And our baptism is not merely into a particular congregation but into the body of Christ in the church universal. As Christians we are part of the church universal—the church of all times and places. We are part of the church in Palestine in the year 25 A.D. We are part of the church in India in the year 1200 A.D. We are part of the church in Iraq in 2006. This abstract concept of the body of Christ was brought home to me through a story someone told me in my study here at the church several years ago.

You may recall when Moderator Ken Hall preached here on January 27, 2002. In his role as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Ken Hall had traveled the world. He came Batesville to preach after having served as the keynote speaker at our presbytery's Tapestry event. Before the service when we were putting on our robes in my study, Ken shared with me a fascinating story about being in a Christian church in Baghdad, Iraq one Sunday. As he looked around the sanctuary there he was startled to see hanging on the wall a Presbyterian Cross. Presbyterian missionaries had played a role in the establishment of that congregation many years ago and today a Presbyterian Cross hangs on the wall in that Christian church in Baghdad. That is a powerful image of the connectional nature of our church. Presbyterians have a rich history of missionary work and our mission work has born fruit even in Baghdad, Iraq.

By virtue of our baptism we belong to a connectional church. We are connected to Batesville Prebyterian Church by friends and family. We are connected to the Presbyterian Church (USA) through the Presbytery of Saint Andrew. We are connected through the Prsbyterian Church (USA) to the church universal. These connections lead to one source, Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church universal and the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Batesville Presbyterian Church. Thanks be to God for our connectional church. May it nurture our faith in Christ, enhance our love for one another, and energize our service of Christ in the world.

A Bigger Table and a Deeper Font

Acts 10:44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

A Bigger Table and a Deeper Font
Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon on May 21, 2006 at Batesville Presbyterian Church.

Batesville Presbyterian Church is a combination of congregations from three different denominations: The Southern Presbyterian Church, the Northern Presbyterian and the Cumberland Presbyterian Churches of Batesville. These three congregations combined over a course of 75 years or so and together formed what we know today as the Batesville Presbyterian Church. That is why I say this is an inclusive congregation. We have always been about opening our doors and allowing others to join us in Christ's mission. We opened our doors to some friends from the Long Creek Presbyterian Church and from the Courtland Presbyterian Church. They were welcome here. We've opened our hearts to former Baptists and Methodists and Catholics and persons who joined here by profession of faith who had never before belonged to a church. So I put us on the side of the Apostle Paul and Peter and the Holy Spirit. Batesvile Presbyterian Church has a history of being an inclusive congregation.

And we will continue to be an inclusive church. Next Sunday we will welcome a dozen new members into our congregation. They will join us in worship and in mission. They will eat with us at the church picnics and they will feed the hungry with us through the Food Pantry. Jesus was very much into feasts. The feasts that Jesus celebrated served as living parables of the diverse community of faith that formed around him. The feasts Jesus celebrated included sinners and tax collectors, fishermen and women, a diverse group of people. They showed that Jesus was calling out a new Israel, a new church, a new group of people. These feasts culminated in Jesus last Supper with his disciples when he said, "This is my body, broken for you ... This is my blood, shed for you ... Do this in remembrance of me." As Presbyterians, we put no fence around the Lord's Table except one. You must be a baptized believer to partake in the Lord's Supper. We get this emphasis on baptism from the Bible. We see it even in our text this morning, a scripture that tells how the Holy Spirit resolved an ongoing argument in the early church.

There was an argument in the early church about the requirements for membership and the argument continues to this day both in church and in society. The question of citizenship is in the national news these days as politicians in Washington ponder the fate of millions of illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. Last Wednesday, the Senate followed the House's lead and voted 83-16 to build 370 miles of fence in areas "most often used by smugglers and illegal aliens" as determined by federal officials. America is struggling with the issue of the requirements of citizenship.

The early church also had a conflict over the requirements for membership in the church. Some leaders of the church such as Peter thought the church should fence off the Lord's table. Only those Christians who had been circumcised should be allowed to partake of the Lord's Supper. On the other side stood the Apostle Paul who argued against fencing off the table from the uncircumcised. Finally, the Holy Spirit was the deciding factor in the question of the requirements for membership in Christ's church as described in Acts chapter 10.

Peter and six Jewish Christians, "the circumcised believers" as Luke calls them (Acts 10:45), had come with Peter to Caesarea. Peter was preaching to the uncircumcised Gentiles. During his sermon the Holy Spirit moved upon the Gentile audience. Peter heard the Gentiles begin praising God. He became convinced these Gentiles had been touched by the Holy Spirit in a real and meaningful way. Now this was not supposed to happen. In Peter's way of thinking, the Holy Spirit was not supposed to move in the lives of uncircumcised Gentiles. Of course, Peter had been wrong before and perhaps he recalled the time when Jesus spoke to the disciples about his impending suffering and death in Jerusalem and Peter had said to Jesus: "This must not happen." And Jesus responded: "Peter, get out of my way. You have no idea how God works." (Matt 16:21-23)

Peter was not going to cross the Holy Spirit like he had crossed Jesus. Since they had already been baptized by the Holy Spirit Philip laid aside the requirement of circumcision for membership and baptized the uncircumcised Gentiles with water. The Holy Spirit got Peter's attention that day and the Holy Spirit wants to get our attention as well. The Holy Spirit gave Peter a new revelation that day and the Holy Spirit wants to give us a revelation as well. The Holy Spirit broadened Peter's vision of the church that day and the Holy Spirit wants to expand our vision of the church today.


I remember one time when the Holy Spirit expanded my vision of the church. I was standing in line with some other American seminary students. We were waiting to gain entrance into the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. As we waited our turn to enter I noticed a contingency of African men dressed in what appeared to be traditional African garb with brightly colored scarves and hats. I wondered what they were doing here outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As it turns out, I learned they own the place. That's right. The Ethiopian Church is part owner and operator of the Church of Holy Sepulchre. We are talking about perhaps the most sacred church building in all of Christendom. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, said to be built upon the very rocky hill called Golgotha, the place of the skull, the place where Jesus was crucified. It also is said to contain the place where Jesus was reportedly buried (the sepulchre). The church has been an important pilgrimage destination since the 4th century. And this church is co-owned and operated by several Christian denominations some of which I had never even heard of. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is jointly owned and operated by the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Coptic Orthodox Church , Syriac Orthodox Church, and yes, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. So the Africans were there because this is their church. They were not mere tourists like the other American seminarians and me. I found this to be a humbling revelation. They work there. They live there. They own the place. The other American seminarians and I — we were the outsiders at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We were the chief Gentiles among all the Gentile Christians gathered there.

My revelation when I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is that there are Christians of whom I knew not who have big responsibilities in important places in the Kingdom of God. This religion called "Christianity" is more inclusive than I had ever imagined. I belong to it but I don't own it and I don't even know the half of it. I serve here at the bidding of the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit says someone belongs here too, even if it be someone of whom I may not approve, I'm going to do like Peter. I'm going to call for the water. I'm going to baptize them in the name of Jesus Christ. And then we're all going to sit down and eat. And I hope you will join us at the table. Let's think of a name to call this party we'll have. Let's make it a theme party. We don't have be original, let's call it what the Bible calls it: The Messianic Banquet. And we'll invite everyone we know. And lots of people we've never met will be there. People from different cultures. Even Koreans, Iranians Mexicans and illegal immigrants. People of different colors who speak languages other than English. Jesus himself will host the party and he will sit at the head of the table and serve the bread and the wine. Everyone is welcome at this party — even people like you and even people like me. We will need a bigger table for the Messianic Feast. A bigger table to seat the great multitude of people from every tribe and nation. A bigger table to feed them with the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper.

This vision of a big feast in the kingdom of heaven is as old as the Bible so it is not a new concept to us. Some of us sang the song in Vacation Bible School when we were children. "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." Jesus loves the little children. Even the Gentile children such as us. Even the uncircumcised children. Jesus was a carpenter but we never hear about him building one single fence. Jesus was a carpenter and he seemed more interested in building bigger tables and deeper fonts. Bigger tables to feed more people and bigger fonts to baptize more people.

Batesville Presbyterian Church will continue to be an inclusive congregation. We will continue to grow and baptize believers. We will continue to eat the bread and drink the wine. We will continue to worship God and proclaim the gospel. We will continue to reach out in mission to this community and to the world. And if we grow so much that we need a bigger table and a deeper font, well, we may just have to remodel the place. Some folks already think we could use a good carpenter around here. A carpenter who knows how to tear down walls to make room for more people. A carpenter who knows how to build a bigger table and a deeper font. A carpenter like the one from Nazareth.

Seeker, Spirit, Speaker

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Acts 8:26-40
on May 14, 2006 at Batesville Presbyterian Church.

We don't often hear from angels who speak to us. In fact, if a Presbyterian ministerial candidate told her Committee on Preparation for Ministry that an angel had spoken to her and directed her to speak to someone else it is possible that she would be referred to a psychiatrist for testing and counseling. Yet our Bible story today begins with the Spirit sending an angel of the Lord to speak to Philip.

Angels are messengers in the Bible and Philip is a messenger in our Bible story today. So the word goes from our angel messenger to a human messenger. And the message from the angel to the human messenger is that Philip is to speak to a spiritual seeker who is unnamed but clearly identified as an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Queen of Ethiopians. This eunuch is in charge of the Queen's entire treasury. An important man. So we have so far the seeker who is the eunuch and the speaker who is Philip. Let's start with the eunuch.

The eunuch is described as an Ethiopian, whom we may assume to be an African. Since he was a eunuch he could not be a Jew or a proselyte to Judaism. The eunuch is a court official of Candace which is the title given to the queen of Meroe, a Nubian realm along the upper Nile. So the eunuch position is one of considerable power.

The eunuch has been to Jerusalem to worship God in the Jewish temple and he is now traveling home by chariot and he is reading as he rides in the chariot. Reading was what people then did during travel since neither the miniature DVD player nor the Game Boy Advance system had yet been invented. The eunuch was open to the Holy Spirit and was ready to receive guidance. He had a questioning spirit.

A questioning spirit is often a sign of spiritual activity. We need to remember that as we anticipate the upcoming release of The DaVinci Code film this week. The film, like the book of the same name, suggests Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children and some of Jesus' descendants are alive today, sequestered away in Southern France. The movie is a fiction but it raises serious questions about the historical Jesus. As Christians we are to be ready to hear such questions and rather than be offended by them we may interpret them as possible signs of a questioning spirit which is a signal the Holy Spirit may be active in the questioner. The spirit was certainly active in the eunuch's heart and mind and the eunuch had  a questioning spirit.

And the Spirit was active in Philips life as well. The Spirit speaks to Philip through an angel and tells Philip to head South from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a wilderness road. The Spirit often sends messengers first to the wilderness to test and purify them. For example, the Spirit sent Jesus to the wilderness immediately after his baptism. To the wilderness to be tested by the devil. The Spirit calls us to be messengers like Jesus and like Philip. And like them, the Spirit sometimes sends us out into a spiritual wilderness to be tested and purified. Sometimes the Spirit uses a person who is bullying us around at school or work or a person who acts as a thorn in our flesh. The Spirit uses such persons to grow in us the fruit of the Spirit: Patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. The Spirit works in mysterious ways in our lives and in the life of the eunuch in our Bible story today. The Spirit often uses other people, even strangers, to teach us spiritual truths about Jesus. Notice how the Spirit speaks to the eunuch through a stranger named Philip. The Spirit finds a way to communicate with spiritual seekers such as the eunuch.

And thank goodness for the speakers that listen to the Spirit and speak to the seekers. Speakers such as Philip. The Spirit told Philip, "Climb into the eunuch's chariot." What a strange suggestion the Spirit gives Philip. The Spirit's suggestions often sound strange but if we obey the Spirit then miracles may happen before our very eyes. The Spirit told Philip, "Climb into the eunuch's chariot. "Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?"

He answered, "How can I without some help?" and invited Philip into the chariot with him. The passage he was reading was this:

As a sheep led to slaughter,
and quiet as a lamb being sheared,
He was silent, saying nothing.
He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial.
But who now can count his kin
since he's been taken from the earth?

It sounds like a riddle from The DaVinci Code. The eunuch questioned the Bible not because he lacked faith but because he sincerely wanted to know. The eunuch needed the Spirit's help in understanding the Bible and so do we. The Spirit speaks to us through the Bible. The Spirit spoke to the eunuch through the Bible. And the Spirit used Philip to interpret the Bible to the eunuch.

The eunuch said, "Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?" Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.
As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, "Here's water. Why can't I be baptized?" He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn't mind. He had what he'd come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be. (Translation from The Message) The Spirit connected with the eunuch, a seeker, by means of Philip, a speaker.

Seekers are all around us. The teenager who has questions about science is a seeker. The college student who has questions about God is a seeker. The mother who questions why her child has died is a seeker. Seekers are all around us. They surround us. We must learn to listen to the Spirit. Listen like Philip did. Develop our spiritual ears. For the Spirit will not speak to us with audible words or sounds. Not usually anyway. Sometimes the Spirit may speak to us through a song, a hymn, a familiar voice, or a character speaking in a film. But often the Spirit speaks silently. We feel an urge to speak to someone we haven't talked to in years and that urge may be the Spirit. By the Spirit I mean the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit that came into the gathered disciples on the Day of Pentecost. Our spiritual guide. Our comforter. Our teacher. The third person of the Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So we end where we began, with the Spirit. The Spirit that urges us to speak in Jesus' name to certain people at certain times. The Spirit works to draw people to Christ. The Spirit asks us to cooperate in this process. We cannot save anyone and we are not responsible for the salvation of anyone. But we are called by Christ to cooperate with the Spirit as Philip did. To speak when the Spirit urges.

Friends, we live in a broken world. People are hurting out there. People have questions about Jesus. People have questions because the Spirit is working in their lives. Let us not be afraid to speak for Jesus. We may not be Biblical scholars. We may not be eloquent speakers. We may not even know what to say. But if we open our mouths in faith the Spirit will speak through us.

So let's be like Philip. Let's employ our tongues in the service of Christ. To speak to someone when the Spirit urges us. The results may be immediate and astounding as with Philip. More likely, we may never witness the results.  Doesn't matter.  We'll leave the results to the Spirit. All that really matters is that we met a seeker.  We heard an questioning spirit.  We tried to speak a healing word.  Thanks be to the Spirit who gives us words. Thanks be to God.

Amen.

The Secret of the Shepherd

Psalm 23
(King James Version)

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

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.

The Secret of the Shepherd
A sermon for Easter 4B
Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at Batesville Presbyterian Church on May 7, 2006

My granddaddy kept cows on his land in Harrisville, Mississippi. To get to the cow pasture you walked through the small back yard and then through a narrow gate into the expansive pastures ringed with large pin oak trees. Beyond the trees was a creek with a brown mud bed. I walked into the cow pastures with Granddaddy and followed him as he made his rounds. He knew each cow by name. "Good evening, Sandy. Hope you had a pleasant day," He'd say. "Hey now, Brownie, did you behave today? There's little Stump," he said to me as he pointed to a little calf. "Just born three days ago. Hasn't missed a meal since then." I was listening to my granddaddy and looking at his cows. And in the back of my mind I was repeating a psalm I had recently memorized. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want ..."

As a child I memorized Psalm 23 ... "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." And I came to know Jesus as the good shepherd of the sheep. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. So we sang at church school and Vacation Bible School. I understood myself and the other children as persons who were loved by Jesus. Jesus took care of us. Jesus protected us from harm. Jesus fed us with spiritual food and drink. But I didn't understand then that the other children and I, the spiritual sheep, were also an investment. We, God's children, all of us, are, in a sense, God's investment. God made the payment for our salvation through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed our good shepherd. What I did not comprehend as a child is that I was an investment. Christ had made an investment in me.

Think of Jesus initial investment in his twelve disciples. Contrary to the message of the recently uncovered Gospel of Judas, I think Judas was a washout. Judas was in a sense a bad investment. But all in all Jesus did very well in terms of return on investment in his disciples. For those first dozen disciples have multiplied into an estimated 2.1 billion adherents alive on planet earth today, making Christianity the world's largest religion. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChristianIty]

And the estimated 2.1 billion Christians alive today do not include a multitude of Christians who have lived in other times and other places in our world over the past 2000 years. According to my calculations, if we estimate there have been 3 billion Christians since Jesus ascended into heaven 2000 years ago, and we divide those 3 billion Christians by the original 12 disciples whom Jesus shepherded while on this earth, then Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has realized a return of over 250 million percent return on investment. These are amazing returns.

But the real power of Christianity is not in the macro-economics but in the micro-economics. The real power of Christianity is the way the Holy Spirit works in the hearts and minds of each Christian. Changing us for the good. Making us more compassionate. Making us less self-centered. Making us more focused on the common good. We hear a great deal from some quarters about the harmful effects the Christian religion has had over the history of humanity but I must politely disagree. Christianity has a positive force for humanity for the past 2000 years. Yes, we have sinned. The Crusades were inexcusable. The Conquistadors and their missionaries brought deadly pestilence to the native peoples. But the overall effect of the Christian faith has been overwhelmingly positive throughout human history.

Speaking of God's economy, we are God's investment, dear people. God has adopted into God's own family. Someone once asked me why Psalm 23 is so often said at funerals. It is true that the 23rd Psalm is a common reading at funerals. Perhaps we turn to the 23rd Psalm because it familiar to us from our childhood. Or we may use it because of the way it own up to the reality of death. "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 they staff they comfort me." But overarching image of Psalm 23 is the image of a wandering journey with the Lord through the green pasture of life on this good earth. We are Christ's sheep and Christ walks through life with us, managing us like a stock broker manages his client's investment. Keeping a close eye out to make sure we are growing and increasing in all good things.

Jesus Christ, our Great Shepherd, challenged us to follow his example and we are doing that. For in a sense, our graduating seniors, whom we are sending off today, are our sheep, our investment. Seniors, you have been fed by your parents, clothed with love by your congregation, nurtured by your teachers, prodded by your coaches. Not just because we love you ... but also because you are an investment.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, made an initial investment in his twelve disciples. He taught them about God, showed them how to live, loved them with all his heart, invested himself in them. Then he let them go. And they did remarkably well. Today there are over 2.1 billion Christians. Each of them is a return on Jesus' initial investment in his twelve disciples. Perhaps we should examine the balance sheet of our lives. Find out how we are adding to God's bottom line. Discover ways we may be having a negative impact on God's profitability.

We are God's investment. God made the payment for our salvation through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd. Let us live as sheep live. Secure in the love of our Good Shepherd. Safe. Warm. Fed. Loved. And let us not consider it a crime when the time comes for us to be sheared. For us to contribute. For us to give something back to the Good Shepherd for the excellent care he provides.

Stewardship is something we do in the Fall with our money and in the Spring with our time and talents survey. Stewardship is something we do every year, every month, every week, every day, every minute, every second. Every single choice we make has implications for our stewardship. Let us learn the secret of the shepherd which is the secret of letting go. Letting go of pride. Letting go of control. Letting go of money. Stewardship is the secret of the shepherd. We know it. We live it. We give it.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Beginning in Batesville

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." (New Revised Standard Version)

~*~

Beginning in Batesville

A single mother with a child has been standing in line for several hours in the summer heat. She finally gets to the handout counter where a middle-aged woman from Illinois gives her a packet that contains a comb, diapers, toothpaste, toothbrush, hand wipes, soap and a hand cloth. The single mother does not know that the packet was put together by a Presbyterian in Batesville, Mississippi. She does not realize that the woman handing her the package is a Presbyterian volunteer from Illinois who is staying in a tent village provided by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance through the One Great Hour of Sharing offering received by Presbyterian congregations all across the United States. All the single woman knows is that she and her three year old daughter will fall asleep under the stars feeling clean where they live in D'Iberville, Mississippi. This will be the first night in three weeks she will fall asleep feeling clean since Hurricane Katrina took away their home. The year is 2006 and the social gospel is still at work through Batesville Presbyterian Church and other Christians around the world.

Jesus told his disciples, "If I go to my Father then you will do the works that I have done and greater works than these shall you." And we wonder how the disciples will be able to heal the sick like Jesus does; and how the disciples will be able to raise the dead like Jesus does; and how the disciples will be able to preach the good news with authority like Jesus does. And we read in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament story after story about how they did it. Peter, the disciple who had betrayed Jesus three times on the night of his trial before Pilate, preaches to a crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and 3000 people are converted to the faith.

They were meeting in a well-lighted upper room. A young man named Eutychus was sitting in an open window. As Paul went on and on, Eutychus fell sound asleep and toppled out the third-story window. When they picked him up, he was dead. Paul went down, stretched himself on him, and hugged him hard. "No more crying," he said. "There's life in him yet." (Acts 20:-10, MSG)

Those who put their trust in the Master were added right and left, men and women both. They even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on stretchers and bedrolls, hoping they would be touched by Peter's shadow when he walked by. They came from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, throngs of them, bringing the sick and bedeviled. And they all were healed. (Acts 5:14-16, MSG) The social gospel at work in the lives of Jesus' disciples.

As Mississippians we are blessed here with a sense of place. We have deep roots here. We are grounded here in a way that is deeper than some other Americans in other places. My father tells the story of Sister Josie Andrews. Sister Andrews was a leader of the women's group at the Puckett Baptist Church in Puckett, Mississippi, where my father was reared. Puckett is in Rankin County just south and east of Jackson. Any time the brothers and sisters of Puckett Baptist Church would have a fellowship dinner, a dinner on the grounds as they called it, they would always call on Sister Josie Andrews to say the blessing. And every time Sister Josie said the blessing she would go at it hard and long in her talk with the Lord. And even though the content of her prayer would change each time it always ended the same way. Sister Josie always signed off her blessings like this: "Sister Josie Andrews, Route 3, Box 261a, Puckett, Mississippi." Sister Josie had a sense of place. She knew where she lived and she reminded the Lord of her exact address every time she prayed. We have a sense of place here and that is good.

We know the mindset and we practice it in the church. Our lives revolve around this sanctuary. We come here week after week to worship God. We bring our children here to be reared in the Christian faith. We baptize our babies here, marry off our daughters here, funeralize our dead here. Right here in this place. This is where it happens. God meets us here. The Spirit moves here. Our lives are somehow made right here in this place.

And Jesus takes that concept and turns it upside down. The risen Christ told his disciples they were to do like he did, proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins ... beginning from Jerusalem. And going out from Jerusalem. Out. Out. Out from here! Out from Jerusalem. Into the world. And so Christ says to us in regard to this sanctuary. "I am sending you out from this place to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins ... go and heal the sick, raise the dead, and proclaim the good news. Out. Out of this sanctuary. Out of our comfort zone. Out into the wild and needy world. To bear witness for Christ at the Piggly Wiggly store, at the high school, the daycare center, in our neighborhood, and throughout the world.

Jesus, too, had a strong sense of place. As a Jew his world revolved around the holy city of Jerusalem. Even after Jesus had ascended into heaven the work of the early church flowed out of Jerusalem. Again, we see Jesus turning things upside down. For before Jesus' arrival everything had flowed into Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the temple, the place where every Jew looked as a place of national pride, spiritual strength and solidarity. Three times a year each Jew would make a journey to Jerusalem to worship in the temple there. Everything revolved around Jerusalem. And Jesus took the Jewish sense of identity, their sense of place, and turned it around on them. Jesus told his disciples that up until now Jerusalem has been the place to which we all come to. But from now on Jerusalem will be the place from which we go out into the world in mission. That movement — not to Jerusalem but from Jerusalem — is the same movement the risen Christ is calling on us to make today.

And we are doing it. We are going out into the world in the name of the risen Christ. We are going out into Panola County when we open our church doors to the Panola County Food Pantry every Tuesday. We are going out into the world in the name of the risen Christ. We are going to the Mississippi Gulf Coast by purchasing hymnals for the Pascagoula Presbyterian Church. We are going out into the world in the name of the risen Christ. We are going out to the world when we send some of our own members on missionary trips to Honduras to distribute Bibles and provide dental help to the people there. We are going out into the world in the name of the risen Christ. We are witnesses of these things.

We are moving beyond our own comfort zone. We are moving outside the walls of this lovely sanctuary. We are moving beyond Church Street in Batesville. We are moving on. Beginning from Batesville. We are moving on.

Our body has to undergo a transformation in order to be habitable in our next destination which is the kingdom of heaven. But until we get to the kingdom of heaven we are to work to bring the kingdom of heaven here on earth. This way of thinking is part of the prayer our Lord taught us to pray. "Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Think about the Lord's prayer. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Our job on this earth is to work to bring the kingdom of heaven into play on planet earth. It is a job that we are unlikely to complete in our lifetime. Yet this is our mandate. This is our great commission from the risen Christ.

We fulfill this prayer in a thousand different ways. We fulfill it through giving money to missions. We fulfill it through offering use of our church facilities to various community organizations. We fulfill it through going to exotic places such as Honduras and sharing the gospel there. We do good things all over the place in Jesus name. And what sets us apart in our good works is not so much the quality or quality of what we do but it in the one in whose name we do it.

Like Jesus disciples, we have experienced the risen Christ and we do our good works in his name. Whenever we serve a person in need we are serving the risen Christ. Jesus personalized our service to the world in Matthew 25 when he says,

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'

We see the same sort of theme in our reading today in Luke 24. The risen Christ appears to the disciples and invites them to look at his hands and feet. "Touch me," he tells them. "For a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And then he showed them his nail scarred hands and feet. The disciples were blown away, thinking, "This is too good to be true! He is alive!" Jesus says in his best Southern drawl: "Y'all got anything to eat around here?" Feed me! The risen Christ wants something to eat. And friends, he is still hungry today. He is hungry and he wants us to feed him. And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. The disciples literally fed the risen Christ. And so do we.

Let's keep feeding the risen Christ by feeding the hungry. Let's keep a roof over the risen Christ's head by giving the homeless a place to live. Let's give some relief to the shivering Christ by clothing the kids who don't own one single coat. Let's encourage the risen Christ by visiting the sick. Let's give hope to the risen Christ by calling on those in prison.

We are good here. Batesville is a good place. This is our home. This is our sanctuary. Even more than drawing people in here — Jesus wants us to go out to where the people are. Even more than giving to meet our church budget — Jesus challenges us to give more to a needy world. Batesville may be our Jerusalem. But Jesus challenges us to move out beyond our base. Out into the wild world. Working to bring the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Reaching the risen Christ by reaching out to others. Beginning now. Beginning in Batesville. Continuing in Biloxi, Baltimore, Beijing and Bangalore. Ending when the kingdom of heaven finally comes to this good earth.

Thanks be to God.
Amen.

Declare Forgiveness

John 20:19-31 (NRSV)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Declare Forgiveness

A sermon preached by Dr. Jon Burnham
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on April 23, 2006.

I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Saying that is one of the highlights of the service for me each week. It is such a relief that get it out in the open. After we've just confessed to sin on behalf of all humanity. Then to hear the blessed words ... I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. And the pastor is not the only one who gets to declare forgiveness. God calls each baptized Christian to declare forgiveness.

More than once someone has confessed to me that they have not done all the sins in the prayer of confession. So they wonder if they are being hypocritical by asking forgiveness for something they haven't done. I do not dispute the fact that some of the sins for which we ask forgiveness are sins that we have never committed. But I know someone, somewhere did commit that offense against and his or her neighbor. As Presbyterians, we understand that during the prayer of confession we are praying on behalf of all humans. We are like priests confessing sin on behalf of all humanity. Perhaps you've heard the term "priesthood of all believers." We believe each baptized Christian is a priest of God. So the prayer of confession is when all the gathered priests of God, all the baptized Christians gathered in a sanctuary on a Sunday, confess sin on behalf of the entire human race. We confess the sin of all humanity because human beings are sinful.

We are sinful in thought, word and deed. Jesus once told some Pharisees who were very careful never to sin by breaking any law that they didn't have to break the law in order to sin. You are as you think, said Jesus. You don't have to commit adultery with a woman in order to sin. Just imagining being with a woman other than your wife is sin enough in itself. You don't have to kill someone to be considered a sinner in God's eyes, Jesus said. Your mere anger toward another person is considered sin in God's eyes. So according to Jesus' viewpoint we are all sinners. We sin in thought, word and deed. We, as individual human beings, are sinners.

But that is not the end of sin. Sin is like the bird flu we keep hearing about. It spreads from one continent to the next, from one species to the next, and we aren't sure how to stop it. Sin is like that. It spreads from one continent to the next and one person to the next and we don't know how to stop it. We can't stop the spread of sin and we can't keep from getting the infection. And sometimes groups of people commit sin. Nazi Germany sinned, as a nation, against the Jewish people. The South African government sinned against black citizens of that nation through a policy called apartheid. We won't name examples of our own nation's sins but we know there are many. True, there are Christians in our country whose national and political loyalties causes them to overlook or deny our nation's moral failures.  Its injustices.  But we know better.  The realities of collective sin cannot be denied.

There is some good news here. There is some good news about sin. The good news is that Jesus practiced forgiveness of sins. You can see it in our text today. Just three days after he had been crucified on what we now call Good Friday, Christ arose from the dead on that first Easter morning. According to John's Gospel, it was Mary Magdalene who first encountered the risen Christ. And she told the other disciples who were huddled up in a safe house that she had seen the risen Christ. That night, the other disciples got the proof. For the risen Christ appeared to them. And what did the risen Christ say? Did he say, as he had reason to say, "What in the world have you people been doing for the last three days? I was taken captive in the Garden of Gethsemane and you all ran away like a bunch of scared chickens. Then I was tried by Pontius Pilate and you were nowhere to be found. I was nailed to a cross between two thieves and a few of you showed up to cry about it. Is that the best you could do?" No, the risen Christ did not "dress down" the disciples. Instead, the risen Christ built up the disciples. The first word the risen
Christ spoke to the scared disciples was not "Why!" It was "peace." Peace. Peace be with you.

Jesus comes to the disciples and offers the peace that comes from forgiveness. You may have felt that kind of peace before. It's the good feeling you get after an argument with your spouse, one that was your fault, and you ask for forgiveness and she or he says okay. That feeling of peace you get then is the kind of peace the disciples felt on that first Easter evening with the risen Christ.

But even beyond peace the risen Christ gives his disciples another gift.  The Holy Spirit. He breathes Holy Spirit onto them and into them. The comforter. Guide. Deliverer. Teacher. The gift that keeps on giving. The Holy Spirit. Which is the spirit of Jesus Christ. The risen Christ, in effect, gives the disciples his own spirit. He gives them the greatest gift they could ever get. This is three days after they fell asleep while he prayed in the garden. Three days after they denied ever knowing him. Three days after their betrayal. The risen Christ comes to the disciples and he gives himself to them in a deep and real and spiritually mystical way. Now that, my friends, is forgiveness. And that is Jesus. And that is the risen Christ. And that is what we are to declare.

We are to declare the forgiveness of Christ. As if we still haven't gotten it -- as if we may be dull of understanding -- John's Gospel immediately gives us another account that demonstrates the forgiveness of the risen Christ. It is the story of a disciple named Thomas. This story takes place one week after the risen, forgiving Christ, appears to the disciples. Thomas wasn't there when the risen Christ appears to the other disciples. And Thomas is not buying their story. It sounds too good to be true. Thomas thinks he knows better. He won't be taken in. He's thinks he's smarter than the average disciple. So he tells the other disciples, the ones who have seen the risen Christ, "Listen, until I have seen his nail scarred hands and put my hand in his sword pierced side, I don't believe it." Well, the risen Christ must have gotten word about Thomas, so one week later he appears to Thomas. And notice how Jesus responds to Thomas. Instead of renouncing his lack of faith, instead of accusing him of doubt, instead of insulting him for requiring evidence for himself, the risen Christ focuses his attention on Thomas and says: "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe." The risen Christ offers himself, exposes himself, and challenges Thomas to believe.

Thomas said, "My Master! My God!" I wonder if Thomas was more astounded by the fact that Christ was indeed risen or by the fact that the risen Christ forgave his doubt and accepted him as he was.

Jesus said, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing."

And that, my friends, is where we enter the story. We do not get to see the risen Christ with our own eyes on this side of heaven. But we do get to experience the risen Christ in a myriad of other ways. Through the Holy Spirit. Our conscience. Our spiritual sense. We get to experience the risen Christ when we barely survive an accident that could have killed us. We get to experience the risen Christ when we witness the birthing of a baby.  We get to experience the risen Christ in many ways the disciples never could because the risen Christ is with us through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus walked this earth with his disciples there were times when the disciples were not with Jesus and he was not with them. There were times, such as the time when the risen Christ appeared to the disciples, when all of them were not there. There were times when one of them, such as Thomas, was not present and so did not experience Christ. But now, through the power of the Holy Spirit, whose presence covers this globe like the oxygen we breathe, every Christian has access to the risen Christ 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The risen Christ is present to each of us in a way he could not be when he walked the earth in human flesh. The risen Christ is with us always and every moment of every day. Even to the end of the earth.

The risen Christ is all about forgiveness. And the risen Christ has commissioned us to declare forgiveness to all God's creation. Everything broken will be put back together again. Everything twisted and tied up in a knot will be unloosed by the loving hands of our divine creator. Everything that is cracked wide open will be glued back together, or better yet, transformed into something greater than it was before. That is true for us. That is true for all humanity. We declare forgiveness. We speak it. We breathe it. This is real and eternal life in the way the risen Christ personally revealed it. We'll give it away. It's too good to keep it to ourselves. Declare forgiveness. This the truth that shoves us forward and takes us places we never thought we would go. Declare forgiveness. This is the truth that shows us miracles we never thought were possible. Declare forgiveness.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Relationship and Resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

There is an old Arab parable about a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to the market one day. Before very long, the servant returned, white and trembling with fear. There was great agitation in his voice as he said: "Master, down in the market place I was jostled by someone in the crowd. When I turned around, I saw that it was Death who had jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Master," he said, "please lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to avoid Death. I will ride to Samara and there I will hide, and Death will be
unable to find me."

The merchant lent his horse and the servant galloped away in a great hurry. Later, the merchant went down to the market place and saw Death standing in the crowd. He went over to Death and asked: "Why did you frighten my servant this morning? Why did you make a threatening gesture?"

"That was not a threatening gesture," Death replied. "It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him here in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samara." (Five Minutes After Death, on-line sermon by Robert L. Allen)

Each of us has an appointment in Samara. We all realize that death is a realistic fact that comes to everyone. It comes to the king in his palace ... to the beggar beside the road ... and to the animal hiding in its hole. But what happens to us after death? Are we like candles blown out in
the wind? What happens to us after this life?

We talked about heaven during the Confirmation Class. In fact, the course began with a simulation game. One person got to sit in a special seat called the "throne of God" and pretend he or she was God. The rest of us got to ask God questions. It felt good when I got to pretend to be God. But I was relieved when I got to get off the "hot seat" and stop answering those hard questions. Hard questions such as why do some teenagers die in a car wreck? Why do some babies die during childbirth? Hard questions with no easy answers. Especially the
questions about death.

Today's words to us by the apostle Paul do not pretend to answer these hard questions. But they do put all such questions within the context of our Easter affirmation. Paul is talking about the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. He gives us a litany of people to whom Christ appeared after he died. Paul says the risen Christ appeared to Cephas ... then to the twelve ... then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time ... then he appeared to James
... then to the apostles ... and last of all, the risen Christ appeared also to me.

Thank God for that little phrase: Also to me. That is the key phrase for our Confirmation Class, and for us as well.That is the key phrase for us as well, because, it is good to know that Christ appeared to Cephas ... and I'm glad to know that Christ appeared to the twelve disciples ... I'm sure they needed some reassurance after all they'd been through. And I'm astounded to learn that the risen Christ appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time
... and I'm not surprised to hear the risen Christ wanted to spend some time with his brother, James, before he ascended into heaven.

This is encouraging and uplifting information. But Christianity is not primarily about information. Even when that information is about the risen Christ. No. Christianity is about a relationship with the risen Christ. So the key part of our text today is when Paul says the risen Christ appeared also to me.

Friends, let me be candid with you. I have experienced those words of Paul. The risen Christ has appeared also to me. I have experienced the risen Christ on more than one occasion. I've had that feeling you get when you know someone else is present even though you can't see them with your eyes. I've had that feeling. The certainty I sometimes get that the risen Christ is present as I sing a hymn or listen to the organ during worship. Those are some also to me moments. Or how about those moments during morning prayer when I sit in quiet solitude listening for Christ to speak and he says nothing but I feel his love warm my heart and that says everything. So yes, friends, Christ has appeared also to me. And here is our Easter affirmation. Christ has
appeared also to you.

One of the things we notice about the appearances of the risen Christ is that it takes awhile for the people to realize that they are communicating with the risen Christ. Take Mary Magdalene. She searches Jesus' tomb three days after his death and she cannot find the body.

Suddenly she sees someone with her in the tomb and she thinks it is the gardener. The gardener asks her: "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him." Jesus said, "Mary." Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!" Mary Magdalene didn't recognize the risen Jesus at first. But when he spoke her name she realized who he was.

How often has there been a stranger in our lives. Someone we gradually got to know. Someone who taught us more than we knew. Someone who showed us the way to God. Then, at some point, our eyes are opened and we realize that the risen Christ has visited us through
this person.

That was certainly Paul's experience of the risen Christ. Saul, that was his real name, back when he was terrorizing the Christians. Saul was on his way to Damascus to stir up trouble against the Christians there. Suddenly, as he traveled on the road, he saw a blinding light brighter than the sun. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?" He
said, "Who are you, Master?"

"I am Jesus, the One you're hunting down. I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you'll be told what to do next." And over the course of time Saul was changed to Paul and he is the same Paul who writes in our text today that Jesus appeared also to me.

The risen Christ appears to us and we often do not even know it is him. Sometimes the veil is lifted and we recognize the risen Christ in the eyes of a stranger, a teacher, a lover, a friend. Sometimes the risen Christ appears to us through a tree, a flower, or a creek. Sometimes through a movie, a play, a work of art. Yes, my friends, it is true. The risen Christ appeared to the twelve disciples, and more than 500 disciples at one time, to Paul .... and also to me. And also
to you.

We have experienced the risen Christ and that experience helps us stand up to death. We can now look death in the eye and says, "Death, you have been overrated; your power has been
overestimated; your influence has been miscalculated. You can't squelch my ultimate identity; you can't destroy what is essentially me; you can't kidnap me from God. From you I will not
run. Do to me what is yours to do, because you will not be my undoing. Death, where is your victory? Grave, where is your sting?"

As Paul puts it elsewhere: "I'm absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Rom 8:38-39, MSG)

Yes, the risen Christ has appeared to many Christians throughout the ages. And also to me. And also to you. And also to our Confirmation Class members. A Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with the risen Christ. Our personal relationship with the risen Christ inspires us and helps us make sense out of life on this earth. And our personal relationship with the risen Christ gives us hope as we face the reality of our own death. For whether we live or
whether we die we belong to the Lord.

Thanks be to God.
Amen.