Sticks and Stones

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon on James 3:1-12
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on September 17, 2006

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words may never hurt me. As children we were taught to say that when someone said hurtful things to us. As an adult, we realize the words should be changed to reflect the truth. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words may really hurt me. Perhaps our deepest wounds in life come from words spoken about us or against us. For spoken words are perhaps the most powerful force on this planet.

Politicians and preachers recognize the power of words. As we begin the Fall election campaign for Congress we anticipate negative campaigns because that is the nature of current politics. Believe it or not American political races may have been even more vicious in the past. For instance, consider the presidential election of 1828. This was the most Presbyterian election in American history in that both candidates -- John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson -- were pew holders at Second Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. This campaign between two Presbyterians who belonged to the same congregation was one of the bitterest campaigns ever waged in American politics. Slander and character assassination were the order of the day. The personal attacks included lurid lies about Andrew Jackson's mother.

When the votes were counted Andrew Jackson won the campaign, but the viciousness of the fight carried over into his first term in office. Historians have noted that most of Jackson's energy during the first two years of his presidency were given over to fighting vicious rumors against the wife of a friend, Margaret "Peggy" Eaton, wife of John Henry Eaton. Rumor said Mrs. Eaton had been involved with her current husband while married to her previous husband, John Timberlake, who had died under mysterious circumstances while serving overseas in the Navy. Like President Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. Eaton were members of Second Presbyterian Church in Washington. So imagine the heartache that they experienced when they learned that their pastor, Rev. John Campbell, was the source of the rumors. Nor would the pastor deny the rumors even when presented with evidence to the contrary and being confronted first by President Jackson in the White House and later by Mr. and Mrs. Eaton in the pastor's study at the church. Poor Mrs. Eaton. Her pastor was the source of vicious rumors against her.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. (James 3:5-10)

And the tongue can work against the minister as well. A nationally known pastor told a small luncheon group how his daughter had been destroyed by her teacher who intentionally used language to destroy the girl's self-confidence. Unfortunately, the pastor did not realize the nature of the problem until it was too late and the damage was done. The preacher's daughter is now able to hold only a part-time job doing unskilled labor due to the deliberate destruction of her self confidence. The pastor later learned the teacher had deliberately done this to his daughter because she was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister.

We wonder why a pastor would be so vicious as to attack the character of a church member or why a teacher would intentionally damage a student. This does not seem to be rational behavior. We can begin to answer the question by recalling a concept from Psychology 101 as taught in universities across America. There a is a concept called "projection" whereby one person projects onto another person or group of people all the negative traits that the person doing the projecting cannot face in himself or herself. Someone who is obsessed with the behavior and life of the Pope or the General Assembly, a coach or a pastor, may be projecting onto that person or group their own negative feelings about themselves. We feel safer projecting our negative feelings onto someone else rather than recognizing them in ourselves.

Projection causes someone like the pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. in 1828 to single out a woman in his congregation as someone who must be destroyed even to the point of telling lies about her. I think the pastor of Second Church projected onto this congregation member because she belonged to a different faction in the political infighting in the denomination in those days. The Old School versus the New School was the debate and most people today do not even know what they were fighting over. And projection is what caused a teacher to focus on an innocent girl whose father was a Presbyterian minister because the teacher had a bad experience with another Presbyterian minister in her past.

Now we are not here today to talk about psychology so let's turn to the spiritual aspect of the damage we do with our tongues. In verse 12, James mentions a fig tree. "Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs?" When James mentions the fig tree we recall Jesus' dramatic encounter with a fig tree. The day before Jesus had set Jerusalem to talking by lowering the boom on money changers in the temple. That night he lodged outside the city in Bethany. Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, "No more figs from this tree—ever!" The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, "Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?"  (Matt. 21:18-20) Thus did Jesus illustrate the spiritual principle of the destructive power of the spoken word. The more we mature spiritually the more closely we must watch what we say for our words literally have the power to heal or to destroy.

James reminds us of the negative power of words but he also alludes to the positive power for good that words can convey. In our text today James mentions every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature and so reminds us of that the power of the spoken word is a foundational component of creation. In the Genesis account of creation God creates the world with the sound of God's voice. God said, "Let there be light" and there was light. (Gen. 1:3) God's spoken word created the birds, sea creatures, vegetation and finally, human beings. God spoke and created the world. And God said that it was good.

Such a small little part of our body, the tongue, yet it is our primary way of projecting ourselves onto the world. No wonder the number one way to judge the wisdom of a person in the ancient world was how well they were able to control their tongue. As James puts it: "Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check." The tongue is a power instrument for positive or negative energy. Let us use our tongues to produce the positive energies of love. That is the best thing we can do for our own happiness and health and for the happiness and health of the world.

Opening Act

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon
on Mark 7:31-37 at Batesville Presbyterian Church
on September 10, 2006

Tomorrow we mark the fifth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In the days immediately after the horror, we felt united as Americans in a way I had never experienced. I'll never forget the packed worship services on the Sunday after nine eleven. As a people we were tuned to the frequency of compassion. As I look consider where we are today, we seem to have changed frequencies along the way. We are now operating on the frequency of fear instead of the frequency of compassion. The good news is that Jesus can heal the ears of our heart by tuning the frequency back to the compassion frequency. In order to receive such healing we must open ourselves to the Christ within.

Jesus own ears were tuned to the compassion frequency even as he traveled around the northern coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. Then, as now, these were Gentile cities. Both were heavily bombed by the Israelis in their recent war with Lebanon. As he visited these coastal cities, I wonder if Jesus heard the wind blow on the shores of the Mediterranean. Perhaps he saw a wild flower blooming along the Roman roads he traveled on his way back down to the Sea of Galilee. Somewhere along the way, Jesus encountered a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They begged Jesus to lay his hand on him and heal him. We don't know if they were the deaf man's friends or family or a crowd that was following him. What we do know is that Jesus heard their petitions because his ears were tuned to the compassion frequency.  Jesus took the deaf man aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha', that is, 'Be opened.' And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

Would that we could be healed as well. Would that our ears and tongues were cured so that we could hear and speak with compassion. Of course most of hear well enough with our natural ears. The healing we need has to do with our spiritual ears. The healing we need is an opening of ourselves to hear what I'll call the compassion frequency. A radio can play different frequencies such as A.M. and F.M. Our spiritual ears are also able to tune to different frequencies. For example, we may tune our spiritual ears to the frequency of fear or the frequency of compassion. Sometimes even when we want to change our spiritual frequency we cannot because we are paralyzed by fear. Fear keeps us on a negative frequency. Perfect love casts out fear, giving us the grace to tune our spiritual ears back to the compassion frequency.

Cynthia Bourgeault tells a story about her friend, Hank, who was an old and fierce fisherman in Maine. Shocked describes how his friends felt when they learned tough old Hank had contracted pancreatic cancer. Not long thereafter Hank and Cynthia were engaged in a broad conversation that landed on the subject of fog on the ocean and making passages in zero-visibility conditions. Hank described several techniques for keeping fear at bay and navigating through the fog. Then Cynthia blurted without thinking: "Yes, or else you can just let the fear come up and fall through to the other side ..." And Hank looked at her as if she had pierced him in the side. Over the next few weeks Hank began to die and Cynthia was amazed at how his soul grew large and she could feel the energy of love radiating from him almost as a force field. She says he faced his death with open heart, utterly trusting and utterly serene.

Three days before the end Cynthia went for what turned out to be her last visit with Hank. Hank was curled in bed, his body totally broken yet somehow radiantly powerful. They hugged each other and said farewell. And then his last words to her--so muffled and unexpected that she did not catch them at first: "Are you fearless yet?"
"Not yet, Hank, " she said. "I'm trying."

Then came Hank's last words to Cynthia, words that it took her another ten years to fully understand. Hank said: "Fall ... fearless ... into ... love." (The Wisdom Way of Knowing, 68-71) The Christian life is a process of falling fearless into love. Hank experienced this as a human being at the time of his death and all of nature seems to know this basic truth of life.

Consider the flower. The flower seed is planted into the ground like a dead body. The seed is cracked open and out of it springs forth new life. It grows up through the soil. It opens to the sun and receives energy. It opens to the soil and receives nourishment. It opens to the wind and receives exercise. It opens to the rain and its thirst is quenched. All this opening makes the flower strong. The power of the flower is in its opening. So it is with us. We open our mouths and eat food and drink water and our bodies are nourished. We open our hearts and receive love and our emotional life is nourished. We open our ears and receive truth and our souls are nourished. All this opening makes us strong. For, as the psalmist says, "Our strength comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth." Lord, open us, like a flower, to the softening of your Spirit so we may be strengthened to carry your Word into the world. Give us the courage to fall fearless into love. Grant this grace to our country and grant this grace to us as individuals. The grace to fall fearless into love.

The baptism of Warren, infant child that he is, reminds us of the mystery of human birth. From among the millions and millions of possibilities for human life only one solitary sperm survive a difficult journey and implant an egg. So each of us and every human being from the moment of conception is literally one in a million. In the recently rediscovered Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, "I choose you, one from a  thousand, two from ten-thousand, and you will stand to your own feet having become a single whole." (The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 23) I think Jesus could have said that to this man whom he had just healed. He chose this man, one among many, one among thousands, to heal and make whole. He opened his ears so he could hear. He fixed his tongue so he could speak. The healed man could now stand on his own feet. Jesus had made this man a single whole.

Jesus wants to say that to us, too, each one of us. "I choose you, one from a thousand, two from ten-thousand, and you will stand to your own feet having become a single whole." That is God's desire for each of us--become a single whole. United within and without. Healthy in body, mind and soul. Wealthy in love and rich in relationships. Secure and safe. The Christian life is a continual opening to the Christ within. 'Ephphatha', that is, 'Be opened.'

Sowing the Seeds of Happiness

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from James 1:17-27

on September 3, 2006 at Batesville Presbyterian Church

           

            Thich Nhat Hanh, in his book, Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames , talks about "watering the seeds of happiness." He suggests the importance of watering the seeds of happiness especially in our family relationships, husband and wife, parent and child. We water the seeds of happiness when we value and compliment the positive aspects of those whom we love. Instead of trying to change them we love them as they are and bring out the best in them. We encourage the good in one another. We emphasize what they excel at. Promote the positive within them.

            This is what Mrs. Young did for me when I was a student in her 5th grade math class, and this is what she did for me when I visited her home, and this is what she did for me when she led my youth group at church. She watered the seeds of happiness in me. Mrs. Young is the mother of a good friend. She recently died and as I conducted her funeral I remembered the ways Mrs. Young had watered the seeds of happiness in me.

            I remember the 5th grade classroom where she taught. It was a clean, well organized room. And she came to class to do business. She wasn't marking time on the pay clock. She meant for math to be learned and I must say that I learned in her classroom.

            Mrs. Young will always be associated in my mind with my home church where she and her family were active in the church. She helped rear me in the faith. She and her husband, led the Sunday night Training Union class for the youth when I was in the youth group. The Young's were good youth leaders. They kept us straight. They put up with us. I always felt safe when they were in charge because I knew things would not get out of hand. I wouldn't have to do anything too stupid or embarrass myself in front of the gang as long as Mr. and Mrs. Young were in charge because there wasn't going to be any kind of radical silliness going on in the room. Mrs. Young watered the seeds of happiness in me through her leadership in the youth group at church.

            She also watered the seeds of happiness in me when I visited her home to play with her son, Phil, a close friend. This play was always educational for me because Phil is smarter than I am and I usually learned something new when I visited Phil. Mrs. Young had the good sense to make presence known when I arrived at the house and then to generally stay out of the way so Phil could educate me on the symphonies of Beethoven or the finer points about what made Napoleon the greatest general in the history of warfare. And of course there were the war games we played, usually created by Phil which meant that half way through the game, just when I was getting my momentum going and had finally figured out how to beat him and made my big move Phil would nearly always say with a contrived, disappointed look on his face, "You can't do that."

            "What? What do you mean you can't do that? I'm doing it!"

            "No. You can't do that. That's against the rules."

            The best thing about making up your own games is that you get to write the rules and if they're not working for you can always change them if you need to. Seriously, I was never going to beat Phil in a strategy game and I knew and he knew it too. That's why he was always happy to see me come over. My friendship with Mrs. Young's son watered the seeds of happiness in me.

We water the seeds of happiness in our children, our friends, and even among people whom we've never met.

            The writer of the epistle of James wants us to water the seeds of happiness in others even God waters the seeds of our own happiness. I love Eugene Peterson's translation of James 1:21,  "In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life." God waters the seeds of happiness by landscaping up with the divine Word, making a salvation-garden of our lives.

            We sometimes make the mistake of limiting God. Sometimes we in the church put religion in a box. Some of us got this message from the church when we were growing up: Jesus is nice and he wants us to be nice too. How surprised we are then when later in life we find the Holy Spirit moving us to acts of charity beyond our wildest imagination.

            That is what happened to Rev. Rick Warren. Rick is the pastor of a mega-church in California and the author of a book called The Purpose Driven Life that has sold over 20 million copies. One of his passions is training pastors and one of his wife's passions is working for healing the millions of women and children in Africa who are victims of AIDS. Mr. and Mrs. Warren recently went to South Africa where she was attending a conference on AIDS and he was training pastors. After his seminar, Rick took a tour out into the bush country and visited a small church of less than 100 members. This congregation was so poor they met in a run-down tent. They had none of the material things we associate with a successful church. And in that run-down tent this small congregation was taking care of 20 AIDS orphans. I saw Rick Warren tell this story on the Charlie Rose Show. Rev. Warren said that one little side-trip to a small church out in the bush country had changed his life and his ministry. He was completely humbled to learn that this poor little church that took full-time responsibility for the care and education of 20 AIDS orphans. This poor, tiny church in rural South Africa was doing more the loveless and homeless of the world than Warren's 20,000 member church in prosperous Southern California. Rev. Warren returned to his church in California and set about organizing his 20,000 member congregation to water the seeds of happiness among AIDS victims around the world. We never know how God may use once we open up our lives to the Holy Spirit and allow God to begin watering the seeds of happiness in others.

            We can being watering the seeds of happiness by doing what James suggests: "Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear." (James 5:19) Learning to listen is a vital first step. Learning to lead with our ears. Learning to control our tongues is also necessary. Someone has said "Silence is God's first language" and we should learn to speak that language well. Converting our anger into positive energy for spiritual transformation is another step along the way. In a recent sermon, I spoke about the power of the "Welcome Prayer" to transform anger into quantum spiritual growth. We welcome God into our anger and work it out that way.

            Let's follow the program James lays out in our reading today and we will learn to sow the seeds of happiness. "Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear." Let's use our ears for listening and so begin watering the seeds of happiness in others. Let's use our tongue for blessing, encouraging and laughter to water the seeds of happiness in others. And let's let anger straggle along in the rear. We never know where such sowing may lead. James makes it very simple for to understand, saying: "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight." (James 1:27) Sowing the seeds of happiness is about more than being nice. It is an intentional form of spreading God's love in a dry and thirsty world. Let's water the seeds of happiness in others as a demonstration that our religion is real.

We Are With You, Lord

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon on John 6:56-69
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on August 27, 2006

A student came to a great Buddhist teacher and asked if he would teach him the great mysteries of the faith. The teacher asked the student to tell him about himself while he made them a cup of green tea. The student began telling about himself and the list of his accomplishments all about his spiritual experiences and as he was talking he noticed that the teacher was pouring the green tea into a cup and the cup was full but the teacher was still pouring tea so the tea was spilling over the tabletop and onto the floor so the student said, "Teacher, the tea, the tea, the cup is full and you are spilling the tea."

The wise teacher replied, "Yes, the cup is too full to hold any more tea and so you are too full to hold my teaching. There is no more room in your head." And the student left full of the sad understanding that he was too full of himself to harbor any new instruction.

Once there was a great teacher by the name of Jesus of Nazareth. He was a real person called "Jesus of Nazareth" because Jesus was his first name and he had grown up in the village of Nazareth. When he became an adult and took on the role of mishal, full-time wisdom teacher, he made his home in Capernaum, a village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (Matt 4:13). Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen living in the village. Matthew the tax collector also resided here. Visit Capernaum today and you may still walk through the ruins of the ancient synagogue where Jesus preached. The synagogue made of stone is about half the size of our Fellowship Hall, our original sanctuary. Strange and wonderful things happened in the synagogue in Capernaum.

For instance, once when he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath day, Jesus was confronted by a man with an unclean spirit, who cried out: 'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.'   Jesus shut him up: "Quiet! Get out of him!" The unclean spirit threw the man into spasms, protesting loudly—and got out. (Mark 1:21-27). And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, 'What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.'      

In this same synagogue in Capernaum Jesus gave a teaching that would send some students packing. Jesus told his students: "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." ( http://www.bibleplaces.com/capernaum.htm) Now if this sounds strange to us imagine how weird it must have sounded to his disciples. We are supported by 2000 years of Christian theological about the meaning of the Lord's Supper. We have the Bible and 20/20 hindsight. We know how the story ends. Jesus' disciples had none of these advantages. And some them simply could not believe that this man, Jesus, could be all that he claimed. Things were getting too weird and some of the disciples checked out of the Capernaum hotel and went back to their former lives. 

It must have been a terrible disappointment to Jesus when some of his students left. We wonder how his voice sounded when Jesus asked the twelve disciples, "Do you also wish to go away?" The question driving them away is the question that Christians have had to answer for themselves in every generation: "Who is Jesus really?"

In the modern era, Jesus has been understood from one end of the spectrum to the other. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Some Christians during the Nazi regime in Germany tried to turn Jesus, a Palestinian Jew, into an Aryan superhero. Karl Barth recognized the danger and wrote "The Theological Declaration of Barmen" as reminder that the true Christ is the one revealed in scripture and not the one Hitler's henchmen were foisting upon the church. More recently, theologians such as Gustavo Gutierrez who labor among the destitute of Latin America have spoken of God's "preferential option for the poor" and see in Jesus as an ally in the struggle for justice for the poor.

"Who is Jesus to me?" In the final analysis this is a personal question. Each of us must answer the question of whom Jesus will be to us.

"Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." This image of eating and drinking Christ is at the heart of the Christian sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It is a basic question of nourishment. Jesus says "I am the bread of life" and the bread image does move us much, we who live in a world where there are reportedly more people overweight than people starving. We live in a land of abundance and we are not completely convinced we need the bread Jesus offers us. If we don't have a taste for that spiritual bread then Jesus' next question to us is this: "Do you also want to leave?"

We have often heard the word repent interpreted as if it means we are to be sorry for our sins but that is not what the Greek word metanoi, which we interpret repent, literally means. To repent is not to feel guilty for what we done or not done. Neither does metanoi mean to turn our lives around and go in a different direction. The literal meaning of the word metanoi is meta which means beyond and noi which means mind. So metanoi, to repent, literally means to move beyond our mind.

Move beyond your mind. Venture beyond your ego. That is what the Buddhist teacher was saying to the student when he kept pouring the green tea into a cup that was already full. The student's mind was full. There was nothing the teacher could add to it. The only thing left to fill would have been the student's heart. The student did not understand the teacher and walked away. And we can only imagine the joy he left on the table when he walked out the door.      

Jesus, the divine human teacher, challenges us to repent, to metanoi, to move beyond our mind, to engage life with the intelligence of our heart. This is not an invitation to a romantic feeling. It is an invitation to an altered consciousness. A new way of seeing the world. To move with the Spirit into a realm of intuitive knowing, the kind of knowing we sometimes feel in our very bones. The kind of heart knowing that Peter had for Jesus. The kind of knowing that goes beyond the knowing of the mind and enters the realm of the heart.

"Do you also want to leave?" We hardly know how to answer Jesus. Thankfully, Peter speaks for us, saying to Jesus for us: "Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life." We are with you, Lord. We're not always sure where you are leading us but we are with you. We are not sure what you are trying to do in us but we are with you, Lord. We are not sure what you are trying to do through us but we are with you, Lord. Even so, Lord, stay with us. Abide with us. Show us the way and we will follow you — one day at a time — always living in the now — into a new way of perceiving God, ourselves and the world. Then we will open our minds and open our hearts and open our mouths and join with both Simon Peter and the demon possessed man whom Jesus cured in the synagogue in Capernaum, confessing to Jesus, "We have come to know that you ... are the Holy One of God."

Love Trumps Fear

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Psalm 111
on August 20, 2006 at Batesville Presbyterian Church

We know plenty about fear and all of it is bad. Fear has a profoundly negative effect on our world. So how strange it sounds to our ears when we hear from the Psalmist: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." That sense of dissonance begins to disappear when we learn that the term "fear of the Lord" is a technical term that means we are to "respect" and admire and feel a positive attraction, a fascination, for God.

A positive attractive to the Lord was the drawing card for a woman with an illness that made her bleed. She came seeking help from Jesus. When she found him he was surrounded by a large crowd. The woman's desire to be healed was so strong that she touched his garment and she was healed. The garment of the Lord is an allegory for the liturgy that surrounds the Lord in our worship. We approach the Lord with desire and through our worship liturgy we are able to touch the Lord and so be healed. Rather than discouraging us, the Lord cheerfully invites us to come, saying, "Come unto me all you who are weary and I will give you rest." Our healing comes from the Lord. We can touch the Lord's garment through our hymns, our prayers, and our affirmations of faith. We can touch the Lord's garment and we can be healed. The "fear of the Lord" refers to our desire to touch the Lord and to be healed. We praise God in the church and it is in the worshipping community among the people of God that we learn that love trumps fear. We learn that love transcends fear by studying the works of God, by touching the Lord in our liturgy and in our relationships with God's people.

We seek a relationship to the Lord because, like the Psalmist, we too are fascinated by the works of the Lord, God's wonderful deeds. We sing with the psalmist about the wonderful works of our gracious and merciful Lord. The Lord provides for our physical needs and keeps covenant with us. God shows us the power of God's works. The works of God's hands are faithful and just; they are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, performed with faithfulness and uprightness. God sent redemption to God's people, God commanded God's covenant forever. Again and again, the Psalmist reminds us of God's faithfulness to the covenant. Then we get the final thought and it sounds out of touch with what we have just heard: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Joan Chittister defines "fear of the lord" as "holy astonishment, complete wonder and awe at what God does in my life and the life of everyone around me."

I had a sense of wonder and awe as I arrived in a basement room at Sacred Heart Monastery on the first day of a centering prayer retreat this Summer. There were 22 ecumenical retreatants and only four of us were ordained ministers. Centering prayer is a prayer of profound silence and silence is what we all expected as we sat in a large circle and began our first 20 minute prayer session together. But the silence was rudely interrupted shortly after we began when someone quickly scraped their sandaled feet against in a sound that solicited a similar response as someone scratching their fingernails down a chalkboard. I had to take a peek and see who it was and was surprised to see it was one of the ministers in the group. He looked like Walter Mattheau and breathed like Darth Vader. The next several days required each of us to learn to deal with the distraction of the loud prayer in our midst. Some of us wanted to kick him out of the retreat. He was that distracting. Others, including the retreat leader, insisted we must let him continue with us because he was in a fragile emotional state as he was grieving the recent death of a close friend. In the end, the Walter Mattheau slash Darth Vader minister stayed and by the end of the retreat was an accepted part of the group. As I think back on that retreat I realize that each of the retreatants in effect made a covenant with one another before the retreat that no matter who showed up we would accept them and pray with them. In the end, some of us may have lost some quality prayer time but we kept our unspoken covenant with one another.

In the Presbyterian Church we make a more formal covenant that includes vows taken in a public worship service. It happens each year when we install elders and deacons. As part of that ritual the church officers take vows. I took similar vows when I became an ordained minister in 1994. One of the vows taken by deacons, elders and ministers is a vow to remain faithful to the Presbyterian Church (USA), the denomination into which we are ordained. We make these vows in front of God and this congregation. Beware of any minister, elder, deacon or church member who encourages you to consider breaking your vows to this denomination. As for me, I have no desire or intention of breaking the vows I made to the PC(USA). I am not interested in serving with church officers who entertain the notion of breaking the vows they have made.

This is why I am so pleased that our church officers have not gotten caught up in the latest round of hand wringing and big talk that predictably followed the last meeting of the General Assembly this Summer. Such talk distracts us from the mission of our church which is to be an inclusive church that is constantly opening our hearts to new members and to new ways of serving Christ together in this community.
Unfortunately, there are a few congregations in our presbytery who have been led astray by their pastors and who are now facing painful divisions within their fellowship. I will never lead this congregation toward division. I will never lead this congregation to break the vows we have made to the Presbyterian Church (USA). I will never do this because I have too much respect for God, for you and for myself. Such respect is one characteristic of "the fear of the Lord" that is the beginning of wisdom.
God never gives up on us and we should never give up on one another. The demands of love are rigorous. There is no question that by taking vows to remain faithful to a particular denomination we are restricting ourselves. Love is about restrictions. When we make marriage vows we are restricting ourselves as well. We are saying, "This one and no other." Love makes stringent demands and offers lots of opportunity for the hard work of patience, endurance and forbearance.

Mutual forbearance is characteristic of the Presbyterian tradition. Mutual forbearance means we stick it out with one another even during times of disagreement or turmoil. Mutual forbearance means we focus on the 80% of things we agree upon instead of the 20% of things we don't agree upon. Our disagreements in the Presbyterian Church, the 20% on which we are conflicted, are not essential matters. We believe in the sovereignty of God. We believe in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. These are essentials. On these we agree. That is what matters. The other 20%, the non essentials upon which we disagree, these call for mutual forbearance.

I resonate with Paul's vision for the church in Ephesians 5:18-20 where he writes, "Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts; giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." That is what we are doing today and what we do each Sunday when we gather for worship. One of our elders at the last Session meeting shared an idea he got when he had several out of town family members here for the baptism of his granddaughter. He suggested we make a CD of our choir and sale it and give the money to the youth group. These are the kinds of positive ideas we can build on.

My vision for Batesville Presbyterian Church is nothing fancy or glamorous. I envision a future of singing together, giving thanks to God and working together with respect for one another and for God. Let's keep the covenant we have made. Let's bear with one another. As the Psalmist so eloquently puts it: "Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation." We praise the Lord with all our heart in the congregation. That is enough for the Psalmist and that is enough for us as well.

The Welcome Prayer

Be angry but do not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and do not make room for the devil.
Ephesians 4:26-27

Some of us are brought up in homes in which it is considered inappropriate to express anger. In contrast to what some of us learned at home, Jesus expressed anger on more than one occasion. When Peter said to Jesus in regard to the cross, "This must happen to you!" Jesus responded in what I imagine was an angry tone of voice: "Get behind me, Satan." Another time Jesus was angry at the money changers in the temple. In his anger he threw stuff around in the temple. Of course, there are good theological reasons that Jesus acted this way, but these do not dismiss the reality of his anger. And with Jesus, when the situation is over, so is the emotional response. His emotions were appropriate responses to the present moment with its particular contents. Jesus practiced the seemingly impossible admonition we read in our text today, "Be angry but do not sin." Jesus did that and so can we.

Welcome anger. Welcome anger. Welcome anger. I never thought I would be saying it but that is what I'm saying these days. Don't get me wrong. I'm not welcoming anger. The "welcome" is an invitation the presence of God within me. When I say "anger" in the welcome prayer, I am naming of an emotion that I am experiencing in the present moment. So when I say, "Welcome, anger," I am welcoming God, welcoming the Holy Spirit, inside my body to mix with my feelings of anger until the feelings are transformed into energy for spiritual renewal.

Cynthia Bourgeault describes how the welcoming prayer works in her book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. First we focus and sink in. To focus means to feel an emotion as a sensation in your body. We know how to feel a pain in our bodies such a sore tooth. We can also learn to feel anger in our body. We feel our jaw clench. Our stomach is in knots. Our breath gets shorter. Stay present to these feelings as they happen. You've got to pay attention here because if you've been brought up in a family where it was inappropriate to express anger, you may be able to whisk it away into your unconscious so quickly you never even register that you are angry. Then the unrecognized anger goes right back down into your body, where it becomes more sludge in the pipes blocking the free flow of your being. Keep a firm grounding in physical sensation, feel your anger, focus on the feelings and sink into them.

Now comes the strange advice. Sitting there, stewing in the upset of your anger, begin to say, ever so gently, "Welcome, anger." Common sense tells us to get rid of feelings of anger. But by welcoming it instead, you create an atmosphere of inner hospitality.
There is a wonderful fantasy novel by Ursula LeGuin called A Wizard of Earthsea. A young wizard named Ged is training to become a sorcerer. One day, horsing around with his friends, he inadvertently conjures up a minor demon. The demon proceeds to haunt him throughout the book. As he grows in power and influence, it grows right along with him. Gradually it turns very dark and begins to stalk him; he flees in terror. He runs to a city by the sea, but it follows him there. He hires a boat and rows out into the sea, but it follows him there. Finally he jumps into the water, but the thing is till right on his back. Finally, with all escape routes blocked, he does the only thing left to him: He turns to the demon and embraces it. At which point it vanishes, integrated back inside him as the shadow he is finally willing to own.

Ged's experience of liberation illustrates the power in the Welcoming process. By embracing the thing you once defended yourself against or ran from, you are actually disarming it, removing its power to hurt you.

A couple of important qualifications are in order here. First of all, what you are welcoming is the physical or psychological content of the moment only, not a general blanket condoning of a situation. For instance, a woman who just learned she had colon cancer said, "I tried to work with Welcoming Prayer but colon cancer is a hard thing to welcome." Again, you can spot her error. What was on her plate in that moment was not cancer, but the fear of cancer. That was the situation she needed to be working with. It was not "Welcome, cancer," but "Welcome, fear." Welcoming a feeling is the second movement in the welcoming prayer. We feel an emotion rising. We sink in and focus on the feeling. We welcome God into the feeling. And then we let go.

Letting go is the third step in the welcome prayer but don't get to this step too quickly. The real work in the Welcoming Prayer is actually accomplished in the first two steps. Stay with them--sort of life kneading a charley horse in your leg--going back and forth between "focusing" and "welcoming" until the knot begins to dissolve of its own accord. When you are ready to let go, you simply say something like "I let go of my anger," or, if you prefer, "I give my anger to God."

Mary Mrozowski is the founding genius behind the Welcoming Prayer. Mary was a New Yorker with an "in your face" kind of pizzazz. Mary practiced the welcoming prayer in her own life with emotions ranging from anger to pain. For instance, on her long-awaited first trip to Italy, her expectations were suddenly turned completely upside down when a car hurtling out of control ran up on the sidewalk, slammed into her, and pinned her against a wall. In the midst of intense pain and a madhouse of confusion, she was able to keep saying, "Welcome, pain, welcome pain, welcome pain," and to recite the litany, "I let go my desire to change the situation." Her calm was not only amazing but actually contagious; the crowd began to calm down. The Welcome Prayer helped Mary to survive that terrible accident.

The welcome prayer provides opportunities for quantum spiritual growth by working with common emotions such as anger, fear, pride or pain. Again, there are three steps to the Welcome Prayer. First, we become aware of an emotion rising within us and we focus on the feeling it brings. We determine which emotion we are feeling. Name it. Now welcome God into the feeling. If the feeling is anger, say, "Welcome anger. Welcome anger. Welcome anger." Stay with the emotion you are feeling--sort of life kneading a charley horse in your leg--going back and forth between "focusing" and "welcoming" until the knot begins to dissolve of its own accord. When you are ready to let go of the feeling, say something like "I let go of my anger," or, if you prefer, "I give my anger to God." The Welcome Prayer is a spiritual technique that helps us fulfill Paul's admonition: "Be angry but do not sin."

For more information see "The Welcoming Prayer" written by Cynthia Bourgeault in the book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 2004, pg. 135-152.

Everlasting Bread

Everlasting Bread
John 6:24-35

       Last Thursday I went to Kroger to buy some groceries. One thing I needed was a loaf of bread. There were several types of bread from which to choose. I picked one called "Baker's Inn: Sliced Bakery Bread." It is 100% whole wheat. I put in the shopping cart, paid for it at the check-out stand and took it home. Last night I ate a piece of bread with my soup. The bread tasted good.
         It is hard for me, as a well fed American, to understand the importance of bread unless I turn on a TV and watch what is going on in some parts of the world today. I wonder how much a loaf of bread would cost today in bombed-out South Beirut, Lebanon. A simple loaf of bread in certain parts of the world means life itself.
         The Bible recognizes the importance of bread. The key event in the Old Testament was the Exodus event--the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land. A drought in the land of Israel had led to famine. There was no bread in the land. This lack of bread led the people of Israel to Egypt where there was a surplus of bread. Later, when Moses led the Jewish slaves to freedom in the Promised Land they were facing starvation in the wilderness and God rained down bread from heaven in the form of manna. Manna. Daily bread from God. Daily bread is no joking matter to a starving person. But for well fed people like us an obsession for bread can sometimes seem humorous and perhaps even enlightening.
       There is a bit of Jewish humor that goes like this: An old man goes to a diner every day for lunch. He always orders the soup du jour. One day the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The old man replies, "It was good, but you could give a little more bread. Two slices of bread is not enough." So the next day the manager tells the waitress
to give him four slices of bread. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asks. "It was good, but you could give a little more bread," comes the reply. So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him eight slices of bread. "How was your meal today, sir?" the manager asks. "Good, but you could give a little more bread," comes the reply. So . . . the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him a whole loaf of bread, 16 slices with his soup. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asks, when he comes to pay. "It was good, but you could give just a little more bread," comes the reply once again.
         The manager is now obsessed with seeing this customer satisfied with his meal, so he goes to the bakery, and orders a six-foot-long loaf of bread. When the man comes in as usual the next day, the waitress and the manager cut the loaf in half, butter the entire length of each half, and lay it out along the counter, right next to his bowl of soup. The old man sits down, and devours both his bowl of soup, and both halves of the six-foot-long loaf of bread. The manager now thinks he will get the answer he is looking for, and when the old man comes up to pay for his meal, the manager asks in the usual way: "How was
your meal TODAY, sir?" The old man replies: "It was good as usual, but I see you are back to serving only two slices of bread!"
     Bread. Daily bread. Manna. This was on the mind of the Jewish crowd that found Jesus in Capernaum. Like the old man in the diner, they wanted some more bread. But Jesus does not respond to them like the manager of the diner responded to the hungry old man. Instead of feeling responsible to give them a memorable dining experience Jesus puts the responsibility back on the crowd as he challenges the crowd to make a deeper commitment to him.
         The crowd waffles: "Show us what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with
bread in the desert. They called it manna. It says so in the Scriptures: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' Show us what you can do. Got any manna for us today?'"
         Jesus responds, "Forget the manna. Let's get real. The significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave them bread from heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world."
         They jumped at that: "Master, give us this bread, now and forever!"
         Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever."
         We are hungry like the crowd that came to Jesus seeking bread. We are starving for security and stability. We are starving for affection and esteem. We are starving
for power and control. We go to great lengths to satisfy our hunger. War. Lust. Greed. Like the old man in the diner who never gets enough bread for lunch we never get enough. We try to satisfy our hunger in various ways. We seek to make the best grades, die with the most toys, or even attend church more than our neighbor. All the while we are grasping for bread that will never satisfy our deepest hunger, the mother of all hungers, which is the hunger for God's approval, God's peace, God's love. Our problem is not a lack of bread but a lack of the experience of God's love.
     There is only one bread that can satisfy our deepest hunger -- the hunger for God. That bread is Jesus Christ our Lord. The one who referred to himself as the Bread of Life. This is my body, broken for you. The body of Christ. The bread of salvation. Feed us, Lord, for we are hungry for an experience of God. Feed us Lord, for we are hungry for you. Feed us, Lord, with the Bread of Life -- everlasting bread. And then we shall feel fully accepted and loved by God just as we are in this present moment. This everlasting bread is eternal life. It is available right now. Jesus offers it to us. Let's eat.

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.