Believe It or Not

Text: Acts 9:36-43

This morning as I drove to church, a large spaceship landed in the parking lot of Westbury Methodist Church. A couple of little green creatures with eyes on stalks got out, took some photographs and then flew back off into the galaxy.

You don't believe me, do you? You think that I'm making a joke of some sort, or possibly that I've been overworking and I've lost the plot. There is probably nothing I could say that would convince you that it had happened, even if it had. And that's OK because it didn't.

But it is interesting that you couldn't bring yourself to believe me, and yet if I stand up here and say that a woman was dead and buried for a few days days, but then she came back to life again, nobody says I've lost the plot. For some reason you'll believe that one.

The story of the raising of Tabitha is one of those stories that we wouldn't believe if it wasn't in the Bible. We've never known anyone to be seriously dead and then come back to life and we would never expect it to happen. Most of us would not seriously think of praying for a dead person to be raised back to life. And so we find a story like this rather inplausible. It can't happen now because in our experience it has never happened before.

But plausability is not necessarily a good criteria on which to judge the value of things. There are lots of things that sound implausible until they happen and we get used to them. When Mrs Lightsey was a girl there was no way that you could have made the microwave oven she now cooks with sound plausible to her. And you don't have to be as old as her. When I was ten years old, the most powerful computer at NASA took up about half a building of space. I now have a computer that is far more powerful than that sitting in my pocket. It's called an iPhone. Totally implausible twenty years ago.

What we need to be careful of then, is that we don't write off the story too quickly just because it has never happened before. Lots of wonderful things that happen have never happened before. Maybe God is doing a new thing.

So who was Tabitha? Tabitha was not a cat, nor a witch, nor a genie. She did not have nine lives, nor twitch her nose, nor live in a bottle. Yet she was used by God, mightily, and ended up, in death, being raised to life again by Peter. So I guess you could say she had two lives!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ we gather here this day to witness to our faith and celebrate the life of Dorcus. We come together in grief acknowledging our human loss but seeking help from God. May God search our hearts that in pain we may find comfort, in sorrow hope, and in death resurrection. Who was Dorcus? She was better known to her friends as Tabitha. To some she was just another good seamstress. She was someone who could skillfully weave thread into a useful or even beautiful cover for the human body. A talent that undoubtedly put her in contact with many influential people.

But to her brothers and sisters of Christ she was more. She was one who openly gave of herself to help the other widows in the church. She was one on whom you could call day and night. She was tireless in her acts of mercy and charity and diligent in her witness to all. To us who were one with her in Christ she was not just a person who provided garments for the body. She was one who helped others obtain robes of righteousness for the soul.

Before Jesus died our he promised us that he would go to prepare a place for us. So we are sure that there is laid up for Dorcus a crown of righteousness. We may mourn her now but we will see one another again. Earth to earth, Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Henceforth, says the spirit, they rest from their labors and their deeds follow them. Amen.

These are the kinds of words that Tabitha's friends expected to hear from Peter when he came to them. When she died some of her friends realized that Peter the Apostle was near by. Here was one who had seen the Lord. Peter had broken bread with Jesus and had been give the keys to the kingdom. Here was one who personally knew the Lord that she had served in her life.

So they sent for him to come immediately. When he arrived they told him all about her and her loving service to God and her neighbor. The widows showed him the lovely garments she had made and probably given to them. These were physical demonstrations of her willingness to serve like Jesus.

They expected Peter to offer them some word of comfort. They wanted him to speak a word of grace to heal their broken hearts. They wanted him to give a fitting summary of her life in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They wanted him to put into words their admiration of this woman and the way she had inspired them. This is what they expected from their pastor Peter: a fitting eulogy and funeral service for a Christian saint.

So what did Peter say? He said, "Tabitha, cum." "Tabitha, arise." They were expecting a funeral and Peter gave them a resurrection! My mind can't help but to go back to the Gospels and Jesus raising the daughter of Jarius. You remember the story, Jesus is called to heal the dying daughter of a leader in the synagogue named Jarius. He is delayed and in the mean time the girl dies. When Jesus gets there the people say he is too late. But Jesus said, "She is only sleeping" and then he says, "Child arise," which in Aramaic is "Talitha, cum."

"Talitha, cum"-Child, arise. "Tabitha, cum"-Tabitha, arise. Is it just a coincidence that Peter's words at raising Tabitha are so much like Jesus' words at raising Jarius' daughter? Is it also a coincidence that someone went to get Peter just as someone had gone to get Jesus? It is just a coincidence that Jesus put them all out of the room except a few when he raised Jarius' daughter and likewise Peter put them out of the room when he raise Tabitha? Of course Peter had seen Jesus raise Jarius' daughter, but there is more to it. There is an economy of words in the Bible. The Bible uses just enough words and no more to make its point. Every word has meaning and a purpose.

These similarities between the raising of Jarius' daughter and the raising of Tabitha are no coincidence. These similarities show us that while Peter was saying the words it was Jesus who was speaking through him telling Tabitha to arise. In Peter, God's servant, the life giving power of Jesus was still present. Yes, Jesus had raised Jarius' daughter and Lazarus and others, but Jesus had ascended into heaven. This story demonstrated that even after Jesus had gone to heaven his power was still at work in and through those who believed in him.

So, who was Dorcus? She was a first century Christian who made her living by sewing. She served the Lord well, and sometime around 35 AD she died. A few days later Jesus at work through Peter brought her back to life. But Dorcus is more than an historical figure. She is a symbol of new life. She shows us that in this age Christ is still amongst us giving new life.

Jesus said to Jarius' daughter, "Talitha, cum" - "Child, arise," and she came to life. Through Peter Jesus said to Dorcus, "Tabitha, cum" - "Tabitha, arise," and she came to life. And so Jesus is saying to you today, "Talitha, cum" - "Child, arise." The same life giving power present in Christ and in Peter is present here today. We have all sinned and the wages of sin is death. Jesus is here to bring new life, not only to our bodies at the resurrection, but to the deadness of our souls here and now. To speak a word of resurrection to sin dead souls. To speak a word of life to those in hopeless situations. To say arise to those who have fallen morally and spiritually.

Surrender yourself to the power of God at work in Christ. Ask Jesus to come into you and to resurrect the deadness of your life. Confess your need for him and repent from your attempts to save yourself. Allow him to enter your heart and bring new life into you and make you alive again. Allow yourself to hear Jesus' voice saying to you "Child arise!"

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Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston on April 25, 2010.

I Saw the Light

Text: Acts 9:1-19a

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The headline said "Blasts Rattle Cricket Fans in South India" by Jim
Yardley. At least 15 people were wounded yesterday by two explosions
near a crowded cricket stadium in Bangalore as thousands of spectators
were arriving for a match in India's popular professional league.
The police told Indian news media that the low-intensity explosives
detonated near an outer wall of the stadium. The blasts took place
less than an hour before the scheduled 4 p.m. match in India's Premier
League, during a week when the authorities had warned about a rising
threat of terrorist attacks in India.

By Saturday night, the police had not yet determined whether the
explosions were acts of terrorism, and no one had claimed
responsibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/world/asia/18india.html

We hear alot about terrorists these days. We wonder what motivates
these individuals to commit such violence. What we don't hear much
about in the media is how governments may also use terrorist acts
against their own citizens. For instance, crucifixion was a state
sponsored terrorist activity in the day of Jesus and the early church.
Crucifixion was a way for the Roman state to use a human body as a
poster that they would nail to a wall and leave there. Attached to the
body of the crucified victim would be a sign saying what crime he or
she had committed. There was no burial in a normal crucifixion. The
naked body of the crucified hanged there like a warning sign saying:
"Don't do this." Our reading this morning is about an individual
terrorist by the name of Saul.

We first meet the terrorist named Saul as he assists in the public
execution of a Christian disciple named Stephen (Acts 7). Stephen had
been commissioned by the apostles to a board of deacons who were
responsible for settling conflicts between the Jewish Christians and
the Greek Christians. The deacons were specifically in charge of
distributing groceries to the widows in the congregation. Stephen
became a sort of spokesman for the deacons and this led to Stephen
being singled out for termination by the leaders of a rival religious
group. Stephen was put on trial and after an eloquent speech against
the rival religious group a riot erupted.

Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned Stephen out. Now in full
stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The
ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to
watch them.

As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my
life." Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear,
"Master, don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. Then he died.

Saul was right there, congratulating the killers. (Acts 7:57-60)

Yes, I suppose we could say that Saul was a terrorist. Saul had a
contract against Christians in Damascus. He was on his way to deliver
the hit when he got hit by a blinding light that knocked him to the
ground and blinded him. Then a voice from heaven says, "I'm Jesus, the
one whose disciples you are terrorizing." Saul wasn't waving his
finger and threatening anyone now. In fact, he was so blind his
compatriots had to lead by the hand into Damascus.
In the next scene we see a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The
Lord spoke to Ananias in a dream and said to him: "Get up." "Get up
and go to Straight Street and find a man named Saul." That sounds like
an easy request the Lord placed on Ananias. But it was not easy
because Ananias knew that Saul was a terrorist. Ananias knew Saul
threatened murder to the disciples of the Lord. Ananias could picture
Saul wagging his finger and threatening both women and men who
followed Jesus saying he would put arrest them and bring to Jerusalem
to face trial. We all know how such trials can end — recall Jesus
trial by Pilate in Jerusalem — they could end in the crucifixion of
the accused. Ananias was terrified to confront the terrorist named
Saul. But God told Ananias in a dream to get up and go confront Saul
for the Lord had chosen Saul for a special mission to the Gentiles and
kings and Saul would learn the true meaning of what it meant to suffer
for the Lord. The Lord said get and go and Ananias got up and went.

Ananias found Saul the terrorist laying blind in a bed in a house in
Damascus. Ananias placed his hands on the terrorist named Saul not to
kill him but to pray for him and said to him: "Brother Saul, the Lord
Jesus, the one who blinded you on the road, sent me so you may see
again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something
like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he saw again and he got up and
was baptized. The Lord Jesus had knocked down and blinded the
terrorist Saul and now the Lord Jesus restored his sight and Saul got
up and was baptized. So was the transformation of a terrorist named
Saul into a Christian apostle named Paul. Paul was baptized and ate a
meal and regained his strength.

The Greek verb anastos which is translated as "get up" or "arise"
occurs three times in the story of Saul's conversion on the road to
Damascus. The third time is when Saul's eyes are healed and he gets us
and is baptized. The second time is when Ananias overcomes his fear
and gets up and goes to meet Saul face to face. The first time anastos
appears is in verse 6 when the voice from heaven, the voice of Jesus,
tells Saul to get up off the ground and enter into the city of
Damascus and listen there for further instructions. Saul was laying on
the ground after getting knocked down to the ground by a heavenly
light that blinded him. Saul fell to the ground — knocked down by
heaven light — and heard Jesus voice say to him: "Get up." And Saul
got up and went into the city of Damascus where he would be
transformed from an anti-Christian terrorist into an apostle of
Christ.

Christ's light struck down Saul and Paul rose up a different person.
He was no longer an anti-Christian terrorist. Now he was ready to
become an apostle of Christ.
Thirty years ago I played quarterback on a high school football team.
I hear Brad Urquhart played wingback for the Princeton University
football team back in the day. The secret to playing football is to
get back up off the ground after you've been knocked down. When you
get knocked down you have to get back up on your feet as quickly as
you can. You can't play football when you are laying on the ground.
You've got to be standing up on your feet to play football. And the
same is true in life. Our challenge in life is to get back up after we
get knocked down. Throughout our lives we will find ourselves over and
again getting knocked down by illness, financial trouble, relational
irritations or any number of challenges. But after we get knocked down
we have to get back up again. You may have noticed that "getting back
up" is a recurring theme in the story of Paul's conversion. "Getting
back up" is an underlying theme in this story.

But friends, there will come a day when we will get knocked down in
such a way that we will not be able to get back up. That day came for
Jesus when he was crucified in a state sponsored Roman terrorist act.
Jesus died on the cross and he could not get back up. They buried him
in a tomb. But on the third day God did for Jesus what he could not do
for himself: God raised him up from the dead! And the good news for us
is that when the time comes that we get knocked down in such a way
that we cannot get up — when the day comes for us that we die — then
God will get us back up and lead us into the kingdom of heaven. Then
we will be received into the arms of God's mercy, into the blessed
rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints
in light. So you and I will one day be able to sing with the apostle
Paul — "I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness. No more
night. Now I am so happy. No sorrow is in sight. Praise the Lord. I
saw the light." And so have you. Let's go share God's light with a
terrified world this week.

Hide it under bushel, no! I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a
bushel, no! I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel, no! I'm
gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.

Peace Be with You

Text: John 20:19-31

Later on that day, after Jesus' crucifixion, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." Then he showed them his hands and side.

The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace be with you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you."

Everything was great now. Jesus had just appeared to the disciples in his resurrection body after his crucifixion. The disciples were joyful except for Thomas who wasn't there when it happened.

Thomas was a disciple of great faith. He had earlier described Jesus as, "My Lord, and my God." Not teacher. Not Lord. Not Messiah. But God! It is the only place where Jesus is called God without qualification of any kind. It is uttered with conviction as if Thomas was simply recognizing a fact. You are my Lord and my God! These are certainly not the words of a doubter.

Yet Thomas was not with the other disciples when the resurrected Christ appeared to them. The other disciples told him, "We saw the Master." But he said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it." Here Thomas doubts not only Jesus but the testimony of the other disciples.

We may well wonder what Jesus response to such a bold question will be? Jesus has earlier said: "Ask and you shall receive," but was he talking about asking questions that seem almost sacrilegious? Let's look at the rest of the story for more information.

Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you."

Then he focused his attention on Thomas. Jesus did not blame Thomas for doubting. So often the church's handling of doubt is to couple it with disbelief and squash it. But Jesus never condemned Thomas. Perhaps he understood that once Thomas worked through his doubts, he would be one of the surest disciples in all Christendom.

Any person who places himself beyond doubt, places himself above Christ himself. On the cross Jesus cried out, "Father, why have you forsaken me?" At a given time in history, even Jesus had doubts.

Many Christians think the great believers of the faith never doubted. They know about the faith of the famous Christian leaders, but not about their inner struggles. We sing Martin Luther's great hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," and we suppose he never questioned his faith, but he once wrote, "For more than a week, Christ was wholly lost. I was shaken by desperation and blasphemy against God." The founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, John Knox, wrote of a time when his soul knew "anger, wrath and indignation, which is conceived against God, calling all his promises in doubt." In our own time, Mother Teresa was plagued by doubt for much of her adult life and seldom experienced the peace of Christ but she was still used by God in her life of service to the poor.

I think doubt is a normal part of the spiritual life. In a sense, doubt serves as the fertilizer of faith. My experience has been whenever I have doubts about God or Jesus or the Bible they may lead to a period of disorientation but I come out on the other end with a stronger, surer faith. So I have come to see doubt as a necessary part of faith.

Jesus took seriously Thomas's doubt and in answering him challenged him to come as close to Jesus as he dared. Jesus said to Thomas: "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe."

Thomas said, "My Master! My God!"

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." (John 20:19-30)

Like Thomas, we must move beyond doubt to faith. It is all right to doubt, but in our discipleship we should move beyond doubt. Jesus admonished Thomas, "Stop doubting and believe." Unbelief is a normal part of the spiritual life cycle but it is not healthy to get stuck in unbelief. In the early days of John Wesley's ministry he was racked with doubts and uncertainties. So he went to his old friend and mentor Peter Bohler and laid his soul bare. Bohler told Wesley: "Preach faith till you have it, and then, because you have it, you will preach faith." In other words, act as though you have already moved beyond doubt to faith and because you are acting it out it will eventually come to you.

A little boy, growing up in a community where his father served as a Methodist minister was outside playing. He was doing all of the things that a little boy does. He was climbing trees. He was swinging on the swing set and jumping out. He was rolling and playing with his dog. His mother called him for dinner and all of the family gathered at the table. His mother looked at him and said, "Young man, let me see your hands."

There was some rubbing of his hands on his blue jeans before he held his hands up. His mother looked at them and asked, "How many times do I have to tell you that you must wash your hands before you eat? When your hands are dirty, they have germs all over them and you could get sick. After we say the blessing, I want you to march back to the bathroom and wash your hands."

Everyone at the table bowed their heads and the father said the blessing. Then, the little boy got up and headed out of the kitchen. He stopped, then turned and looked at his mother and said, "Jesus and germs! Jesus and germs! That's all I ever hear around here and I haven't seen a one of them."

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

As a friend poetically put it: "By and by, from the stumble comes the agile, in the fumble lives the catch, the letting go is giving back." (Gari Hatch 04-05-2010) Letting go of our faith is giving it over to God. As many people do, I experienced doubt while I was in college. I gave my doubt over to God, saying, "You handle this, I don't know the answers anymore." As I look back at it now, giving my doubt to God was an act of faith. Over time, God gave me back my faith and it was a more mature and nuanced and subtle faith. I think doubt may lead to greater authenticity in our lives.

The letting go of our faith is giving it back to God and God will take it and bless it and give it back to us. Ginger Smith describes the missional life as "Letting people see, letting people touch, even smell the stench of your sin; all the while communicating the seemingly unfathomable grace of a loving God. This is living a missional life." (Ginger Smith, Online: http://faithwalking.blogspot.com/2010/04/doing-missions-or-living-missionally.html) Jesus meets us wherever we are in our faith journey and invites us to come as close to him as we dare.

Wherever we are in our spiritual lives today, Jesus has a word for us. Whether we are living through a period of great faith or struggling through a time of terrible doubt, Jesus has a word for us today. Jesus message to us is the same one he gave to the disciples who believed and the disciple who had doubted. Here is what Jesus wants to say to you and to me today: "Peace be with you." May you experience the peace of Christ that passes all understanding and all doubt.

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Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston on April 11, 2010

An Exercise in Humility

Text: Philippians 2:5-11

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy had been finger painting while his father was at church. When he saw the palm branch in his hand he asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, dad?" "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today." The little boy replied, "Aw Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!"

Today, on the first day of Holy Week, we celebrate Palm Sunday. Imagine what it would have been like to be present on that first Palm Sunday when Jesus showed up. The clothes are in the washer. The dishes are in the sink. Yet you hear that parade a comin'. And you don't have time to think. You run outside to catch the sight. You see a man upon a colt. You run back inside your house. You grab a palm branch and a coat. You run and lay them on the street and cheer as he rides by. You know he has come to save you but you don't know exactly why. You notice as he approaches, right there upon his face, is something quite startling, an emotion hard to trace. And then when he gets right up close you see it with your own eyes, why, this man is crying and there are tears upon his face. You don't know why he would be what with all the people who stand and cheer. Yet in his heart Christ knows they soon will stand and jeer.

On his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus suspected he was riding a donkey to his own funeral. So it is that today is called not only Palm Sunday, a day of celebration, but also Passion Sunday, a day to remember Christ's suffering.

Our scripture today is not your usual Palm Sunday text. Rather, it is a selection from Paul's letter to the Church in Phillipi. In this text Paul quotes an ancient hymn of the church. And in this text Paul helps us understand Christ's motivation on Palm Sunday and throughout Holy Week. In our scripture today the Apostle Paul reminds us of Christ's humble service to humanity. Paul describes Christ as follows:

"When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process." (Phil. 2:7)

Christ exercised humility. Humility is not a popular concept in our culture. We view ourselves as strong and self-sufficient. We like to think we can make it on our own. We hold in high esteem the self-made man. Humility is often laughed at in our culture, leaving people with the notion that meekness equals weakness. Yet Paul recommends we follow Christ's example of humble service.

What is Christian humility? Perhaps first we should say what humility is not. Humility is not putting ourselves down or downplaying our skills and abilities. Humility is not a denial of our gifts. We are not to look down on ourselves or put ourselves down. That is not humility.

Rather, Christ is our model of true humility. Christ displayed humility by resisting the temptation to follow an easier calling. Christ humbled himself by refusing to deny his authentic self. Christ humbled himself by claiming his mission from God which was to give himself away to humanity. Humility does not forbid us taking an interest in our own affairs. It simply condemns a selfish preoccupation that ignores or prevents interest in the life of others. Humility finds the good in others. Humility finds the Christ in others.

100. S. Lewis, the great English theologian, writes,

     "Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind. Pride is spiritual cancer; it eats up the very possibility of love or contentment or even common sense." Pride, you see, isn't just a flaw on the surface of life that mars a man's other virtues. It is the BASIC SIN that underlies ALL evil. The eternal words, "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble." And here is the principle: pride is the basic sin, because it brings a resistance that stops our growth toward God; and humility is the primary virtue, because it brings receptivity of grace and growth.

During the confirmation class, we talked about sin with a capital S and sin with a little s. Little s sins include lying, cheating, and stealing. Big S sins come from thinking we do not need God. Pride is a Big S sin.

Saint Francis of Assisi had a simple formula for keeping himself humble. When people began to praise his virtue, he used to have a fellow monk sit down with him in his cell and tell him, candidly, everything that was wrong with him. We might observe that if Saint Francis had been married, his wife would have taken care of that task gladly. But, seriously, a good home of kindly, critical people is one of the best devices for keeping us humble, love that is truth, not flattery, where we care enough to cure each other.

The late, great Leonard Bernstein was once asked, "What was the most difficult position to fill in the orchestra?" He thought for a while and replied, "The position of the second violin." It seems that everyone prefers the prestige of the first violin. However, for the musical sound to be complete there is a need for the second violin.

There once was a young painter who had purchased his master teacher''s painting brush. He now would be a master painter himself. After he completed his first painting with the master''s brush, he took it to the curator of a famous museum. The man said, "You don''t need the master''s brush, you need the master''s spirit and mind." To be a servant of the Lord, you need His spirit and His mind.

You want to imitate Christ? Paul wanted to, and he had a struggle with it, because he knew his weakness, his pride. He said to the Philippians and to himself, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being God himself, did not grasp at the prerogatives of his divine nature, but humbled himself and became a man: And being formed in fashion as a man, he humbled himself further, and became obedient unto death, not only to death, but obedient to the death of the vilest criminal - death upon the cross. Wherefore, God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name."

Dr. John Killinger of Samford University shares the story of a woman from the Shenandoah Valley who was painting at her easel in the woods one day when she was struck by rifle shots. When she came to she was in a hospital room, her body suspended above the bed in a sling.

She had lost so much blood and was in such a state of shock that the doctors were afraid to operate immediately to remove the bullets; they waited nearly a week to see if her condition would stabilize. Most of the time she lay hovering between life and death, in a state of semi-consciousness.

There was one important thing she remembered. People from the church she belonged to--though she did not attend regularly--cared for her. They came in shifts and sat in the room with her, praying for her.

She could not speak, and they did not know she was aware of their presence. Later she said, "I lay there in my sling blissfully aware of their coming and going. I felt as if I were gathered up in a cocoon of love. It did not matter if I lived or died. I was part of the beloved community."

That woman showed humility by receiving the support of her church family. Sometimes it is harder to receive than to give. Receiving with grace is a sign of humility.

Let this mind be in you. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you, in due time."

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Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church on March 28, 2010.

Let's Not Pretend

Text: John 12:1-8

In our gospel reading today, Mary presents a sensuous gift to Jesus as a way of offering thanks for Jesus' resurrection of her brother, Lazarus. She wets Jesus' feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them, and anoints them with them with very expensive perfume. Like a pouting child Judas Iscariot objects by pretending he would have preferred that the perfume had been sold and the profits given to the poor – maybe even a street person. That sounds good but Judas didn't mean it. Judas was what used to be known as an Indian giver. In today's lection, John could have been soft on Judas, saying he was "ethically challenged" or lacked "honesty enhancement," but he didn't. He called Judas a thief—exactly what he was. No need to pretend otherwise.

Judas' pretended concern was an attempt to cover his pilfering. As the Gospel narrator points out, it was pure pretense. Judas was greedy, it was a fatal flaw in his character and let to his terrible act of treachery. Instead of kissing Jesus' feet in thanksgiving like Mary, Judas will kiss Jesus cheek so the Roman guards know which one to arrest—the ultimate act of betrayal. The stingy spirit expressed by Judas is as small and mean as Mary's was expansive and giving. It's okay to be extravagant in our generosity. That's what Mary was doing. It was a beautiful act of sacrificial generosity.

Some years ago, there was a small tribe of Native Americans who lived in the state of Mississippi. They lived along the banks of a very swift and dangerous river. The current was so strong that if somebody accidentally fell in, they would likely be swept away to their death downstream. One day this tribe was attacked by another hostile Indian tribe. They found themselves literally with their backs up against the treacherous river. They were greatly outnumbered. Their only chance for escape was to cross the current, which would mean sure death for the children, the elderly, the weak, and the ill and the injured and likely death for many of the strong.
The leaders of the tribe huddled up to devise a plan. The logical thing, the reasonable thing, the expedient thing, the sensible thing was to leave the weak ones behind. They were going to be killed anyway why risk losing the strong in a futile effort to save the others? That was the rational answer but they couldn't do it! Instead, they chose to be extravagant in their generosity and they decided that those who were strong would pick up the weaker ones and put them on their shoulders. So, the little children, the elderly, those who were ill or wounded, were all carried on the backs of the stronger. With great fear, they waded out into the rapid waters of the river and they were met with a great surprise. To their astonishment, they discovered that the weight on their shoulders enabled them to keep their footing through the treacherous current and to make it safely to the other side. Their own extravagant generosity saved them. What they did was not the reasonable thing to do, but it was the right thing to do. The point is: If we who are strong and comfortable and well-fed, will reach out in generosity and help somebody in need, we will be surprised to discover that the life we save may also be our own.

In words and action, Jesus taught us that sometimes it's O.K. to be extravagant in our generosity. Speaking of generosity, I heard about a woman who was a "reverse tither." She lived on ten percent of her income and gave away 90% to worthy causes to her church and to religious schools and colleges, and orphanages and hospitals. She was extravagant in her generosity and she was one of the happiest persons you'll ever meet.

In a city church the pastor was confronted for the umpteenth time with the presence of a street person. A woman. At the end of the day. A busy day. He was heading home. But he was dedicated. It was not within his power to dismiss her, all bent and worn, war-wounded from the city front. She wanted a handout. That much was clear. But maybe she needed more, a place to sleep, perhaps. And were the shelters full? He knew they were. He was tired and wanted to go home. But he took seriously his calling and her presence as God's child needing a Christ-like touch. If only he could, he prayed silently and quickly. If only he could mediate such a touch. How many times he had prayed such prayers. How many times did it seem that they fell on deaf ears. If only once he could see result, some decisive and long-lasting life change. He greeted her. She looked at him, said she wanted the minister. He was trying to remember how much he had in his wallet; he would like to giver her at least a ten; he was hoping she would not need a place to stay as his resources were depleted, and the regular shelters he knew were full. All this flashed through his mind as she told him what she wanted. "Pray for me." Said she wasn't hungry. Said she had a place to stay. Said she had a bag full of "stuff." "Pray for me." He never saw her again after that day. Her only request was "pray for me." Physical appearance aside, she wanted prayer. She wanted anointing. She wanted a rich, fragrant spiritual blessing to drench her head to toe. "The poor you always have with you," the Master taught. And the Christ we won't have if we forget the fact of the Spirit. The most decisive work is done when a desperate life is drenched in the presence of Christ, by God's grace, in the Spirit with eternal hope. In this case it was through a simple prayer.

What about you--do you need a spiritual blessing? Do you need a prayer? Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead--that's why Mary anointed his feet--it was an act of thanksgiving. Christ has the power to renew your life. Don't pretend that prayer is meaningless. Don't pretend that you are so insignificant that Christ has no miracle for your life. God loves you. Surrender your heart to the love of Christ. Let the Spirit of Christ anoint your life with a fragrant spiritual blessing. Open your eyes and see how Christ has blessed you. Then walk on in thanksgiving for what God has done.

A third grader went home and told her mother she was in love with a classmate and was going to marry him. "That's fine," said her mother, going along with the gag. "Does he have a job?"

The little girl replied, "Oh yes. He erases the blackboard in our class."

Don't pretend that your job is unimportant. God has called you to serve God in the world. That means you are called to live a Christian life where you work--in the home, in the office, on the factory floor, in the school-house, on the farm, on the open road. Wherever we work, we represent Christ to the people around us. When they look at us, they see Christ. Don't pretend your job is unimportant. God has put you where you are for a purpose: To serve God where you live and where you work.

A group of children, confined to a basement play area on a rainy day, decided to "play church." One child was the preacher, another the organist, a couple kids were ushers, and the rest served as the congregation. One little guy said, "What about Jesus? Shouldn't Jesus be in church?" The rest agreed and the child who made the point was made "Jesus."

"What do I do?" he asked. "How do I play Jesus?"

He was told by some of the older children that they would tie him up to one of the support posts in the basement, pretending that it was the Cross. Then the others would call him names, throw things at him, and be mean to him in other ways. The little boy thought about that a minute and then said. "I don't want to play Jesus; let's just play church." As the Lenten season draws to a close and we confront once again the Crucifixion of Jesus, we are reminded of the cross each of us is asked to take up and bear in the name of Christ. To leave out the Cross is just to play church. Let's not pretend otherwise.

Next Sunday we will enter into Holy Week. It is a week when Jesus demonstrated the greatest generosity possible. As he himself put it: "No greater love hath a man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend." Now, that's the kind of generosity Christ wants from us. Christianity is not an easy religion. This is not a child's game we are playing. Real lives are at stake. Real sacrifices are required. Let's not pretend otherwise.

- - -

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas on March 21, 2010.

The Sin You Can't Keep a Lid On

Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

The Director of Christian Education was reading this story of the
Prodigal Son to her class, clearly emphasizing the resentment the
older brother expressed at the return of his brother. When she was
finished telling the story, she asked the class, "Now who was really
sad that the prodigal son had come home?" After a few minutes of
silence, one little boy raised his hand and confidently stated, "The
fatted calf." Well, that may be true but we're not going to talk about
the fatted calf this morning. Istead, we are going to talk about the
elder brother.

Sir Noel Patton was a renowned artist. He was known for his exquisite
and beautiful paintings of birds and flowers and children at play. But
in each of his paintings he would always put in the very corner some
grotesque object, such as a serpent, or an eel. This is what Christ
the master painter has done with this portrait. We see this loving
scene of the father and the prodigal in one another's embrace. But in
the very corner of the painting we see the grotesque face of the elder
as he is watching what is happening.

You see, Christ is trying to tell us that there are really two
prodigals in this story. There is the sin of the younger son is that
plain for all to see. Then there is the sin of the elder brother. His
sins are more subtle but nonetheless real. His is the sin of
resentment.

Some say the mind is like a computer. When the elder brother heard
about the party planned for his brother, the prodigal son, that did
not compute. After all, his younger had blown it. He had wasted his
inheritance chasing prostitutes, embarrassed the family name, hurt the
family business. When his younger brother returned home, the elder
brother resented the way his younger brother was received. Why did the
elder brother take offense? It was the party that was so offensive.
The older brother has a point, of course. Let the penitent come home.
Both Judaism and Christianity provide for the return of sinners, but
to bread and water, not to the fatted calf; to sackcloth, not a new
robe; to ashes, not jewelry; to kneeling, not dancing; to tears, not
merriment. The elder brother resented that party. His resentment
created a war against his brother in his mind.

The history of resentment, says Leo Madow, professor at the Medical
College of Pennsylvania, is the history of Humankind. If we really
feel steamed about something (as we rightly express it), we can go
from zero pressure to over 500 lbs. per square inch within a short
time. The target can be a friend, a spouse, a child, a neighbor, a
co-worker—even the person who promised to fix the vacuum cleaner. It
can be a 43-year-old woman we know of, with two children, whose
husband left her for another woman, and now she faces the full
financial support of the family. She's resentful. Or a woman who
resents her husband's boss and company so much it is destroying what
could be one of the better homes around. Or a person with a chronic
illness, now facing the prospect their condition will never get
better. Or a person nearing retirement, watching their retirement go
up in smoke because of bad investments by the fund trustees. Or a high
school student who didn't make the team ... or cheerleader ... or
first chair band ... or the leading role in the school play.
Resentment. You can't keep a lid on it.

Resentment pops up early in the Bible—with the two sons of Adam and
Eve. Cain and Abel are a prototype of the two brothers in today's
parable. Cain resented Abel because Abel received more favorable
treatment. His offering was acceptable to the Lord and Cain's wasn't.
Resentment was kindled (as the Bible puts it) in Cain, until it
exploded and he summoned his brother out into a field and killed him.
Murder is the ultimate destructive manifestation of resentment.

Robert A. Schuller, young Robert, tells of getting into an argument
with his older sister when he was eight. "You're a pig!" he screamed
when she refused to give him one of his own toys. Their dad,
television preacher Robert H. Schuller, heard what was going on. He
came into the room and said to young Bob, "Robert, don't you ever call
your sister a pig again."

"But, Dad, she is!" he objected.

"If you call her a pig, Robert, you're calling me a pig, too!" said
the older Schuller. Young Bob had to think about that for a while. He
certainly didn't think his dad was a pig. His father could tell that
he didn't fully understand what he was saying. "Robert, if your sister
is a pig, then I'm a pig. She is my child! I can't have a pig for a
child unless I'm a pig. When you insult your sister, you're insulting
me, too. When you mock or belittle yourself, you're doing the same
thing to me. You're my son.

"The same thing is true for you and God or for your brothers and
sisters in the human race and God. When you belittle yourself, you're
belittling God. When you insult your neighbor, you're insulting God."
Young Robert said he never forgot that lesson.

It's a lesson all of us need to learn. Can't we all get along? We can
if each of us will open our hearts to the love of Jesus Christ.
(ChristianGlobe Illustrations, Robert A. Schuller, Getting through
What Your Going Through, quoted by King Duncan, ChristianGlobe
Networks, Inc.)

Pete Richards was a lonely and bitter man. His life had started out in
such a promising way. Despite his growing up in a poor family in New
York City, Pete Richards was a shining star on the basketball court.
God had given him a gift that Pete used to get a full scholarship to a
big eastern university. While in college, Pete Richards not only made
his team a winner, but he established himself as a fine student with a
very promising career ahead of him in business.

And then came Viet Nam. Because Pete had been in the ROTC in college,
he graduated with a Second Lieutenant's commission, and after just six
months of additional training, Pete found himself in the jungles of
Viet Nam responsible for a rifle company. One night while on patrol,
Pete Richards' dreams were suddenly shattered by a land mine.
Miraculously, he survived, but it meant the loss of both legs, and
nearly 18 months in a veteran's hospital.

For Pete Richards, there would be no more basketball, no promising
career on Wall Street, and as far as he could see, no more life worth
living. He became withdrawn from even his family and friends, and it
was clear that each day, the bitterness in his soul was taking his
life.

Too proud to take the assistance offered to him by his family, Pete
became one of the hundreds of faceless men on the streets of New York
asking passersby for a handout. He had found a great spot just outside
the steps leading into St. Thomas' Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue.
After all, he reasoned, those rich churchgoers owe me something for my
time in Viet Nam.

It was on a day when Pete was feeling particularly sorry for himself,
that a young man about Pete's age stopped by his wheelchair, and said,
"Hi! Mind if I sit down by you for a while?" "It's a free country,"
said Pete, "suit yourself." The stranger introduced himself as Dan
Ferris, and Pete was startled when he took out a thermos of coffee and
some deli sandwiches, and offered them to the hapless man in the
wheelchair. At first, Pete refused the kindness, but he was really
hungry, and the food mellowed him so that he and Dan began to talk.
Pete actually enjoyed their conversation about growing up in the City,
their experiences in college, and the nightmare they shared in Viet
Nam.

The next day, Dan was back with more sandwiches and coffee. Slowly, he
began to gain Pete's confidence, and their meeting by the steps of the
church became a daily ritual. One day, Dan told Pete about a friend of
his who was starting a course to train people to use computers. He
asked if Pete would be interested. At first, Pete's old bitterness and
resentment put up a wall of resistance, but Dan's loving insistence
finally won out. The next day, Dan came to Pete's single room, helped
him get shaved and dressed, and they set off for the computer school.

Pete Richards turned out to be a computer genius, and today he lives a
fruitful and productive life. No matter where he goes, Pete never
tires of telling anyone who will listen about a man he met on Fifth
Avenue whose love gave him back his life. "(56 Stories For Preaching,
CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, 1993, 1-5567-3636-3)

In this parable, Christ challenges us to reach out to those who are
lost in the sin of resentment. And if we should find ourselves
torturing ourselves with resentment like the elder brother in the
parable, Christ challenges us to LET IT GO.

Warning, Remembrance and Hope in God

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Radio preacher and best-selling author Chuck Swindoll once spoke to a group of pastors. He told about a man who was mountain climbing in the Sierra Mountains of California. In one particularly difficult section of his climb, he pulled himself on to a ledge only to find a six foot timber rattlesnake looking at him with his mouth open and tail rattling. The man froze. The rattler struck. The man moved so that the snake's fangs barely missed grazing his neck. Still, the snake's fangs got caught in the man's pullover sweater. He could feel beside his neck the snake trying to get loose, so the man reached back to grab the rattler's head.

Unfortunately, this caused him to lose his balance and fall back, rolling down an incline with the six foot rattler still attached to his sweater. His progress came to a halt on a ledge against a little bush. Finding himself leaning over a precipice with a large rattlesnake wrapped around his head, he got a death grip on the snake's head and began to squeeze. He said later he could feel the hot venom dripping down his neck from the snake's fangs that were still caught in his pullover. He squeezed for a long time until he was sure the snake wasn't moving anymore. Keeping his death grip on the snake's head, he began to work the fangs out of his pullover. He unwound the snake from his head and kept squeezing. He squeezed so hard that his hands seized up and he was forced to walk down the mountain with the snake still in his grip. When he got back to camp, his buddies had to pry his fingers off the snake.

After telling this story Swindoll looked around at this group of pastors and said, "There are some of you pastors right here who are feeling the hot venom on your neck right now. You have played with sin, and it is about to take you down." (1. Tommy Nelson, The 12 Essentials of Godly Success (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), p. 76.)

That's powerful storytelling. You might think a group of pastors would not need to be reminded of the power of sin. You would be wrong. To be a human being is to be tempted.

In today's lesson from I Corinthians, St. Paul is speaking to people who are, for the most part, recent converts to Christ. They have come out of a decadent culture, much like our own. He is reminding them of how easy it is to slip back into the old ways. He takes them back to the story of the Exodus from Egypt. While Moses was on the mountain the people slipped back into the idolatry and sexual immorality that had been part of their life in Egypt. Their backsliding, according to Exodus 32, offended God and their punishment was severe. Paul writes, "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. We should not commit sexual immorality," Paul continues, "as some of them did and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us . . . ."

Strong stuff just like Swindoll's story about the snake. Still, many of us need to heed the warning.

To be human is to be tempted to sin. Even Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, though without sinning. If the only perfect man who ever lived could be tempted, none of us is exempt.

At the zoo in Forth Worth, Texas is a building where tropical birds are kept. The hallway where the people walk is dark; the birds are in lighted cases of glass. All along each side of the building is a long case that looks like a tropical rain forest. It has a miniature waterfall, a pool, trees, and all sorts of plants. Among the trees and rocky ledges the small, brightly colored birds fly. As people watch this, they eventually become aware that there is no glass between them and the birds. They could reach in and touch the birds if they chose. Why don't the birds fly out? A sign above the cage explains that the birds are afraid of darkness, and when it gets dark, they go to sleep. They love the light and will not deliberately fly from the light into the darkness.

That's a major difference between tropical birds and humans. Given the right circumstances we will wander into the darkness. (http://www.stmarkshudson.org/sermons/2008/03/03/ephesians-5-8-14/.)

No one is immune to temptation. Paul writes, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to [humanity] . . ." Paul was writing to church people who had gotten the idea that because of their commitment to Christ, they were somehow immune to the temptations that vex the rest of humanity.

A Facebook friend posted a photo of an exotic monkey in a small cage. Here is what he wrote about the photo. "Some 20+ years ago, while visiting St. Thomas (one of the US Virgin Islands), a local offered to give my group a private tour of some of the island's hidden treasures. One of the places he took us was a building courtyard filled with makeshift cages housing large primates, cats and reptiles. At the time, I thought it was really cool to see such wild animals up close. It wasn't until I was much older (and hopefully a little wiser) that I realized that he had taken us to a facility that was part of an illegal, black-market ring trafficking exotic animals." That is the way temptation works on us. It seems cool at the time but it entraps us as the traffickers trapped that monkey. This is true for both Christians and non-Christians.

We are all tempted. We are all tested. No one is exempt. Yet, Paul tells us, "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." -1 Cor 10:13

Thomas Keating tells a story about how such monkeys are trapped. He says a monkey in the forest came across some sweet meat inside a trap. The trap was set so that the monkey could get his hand inside the trap and grab the meat but he could not withdraw his hand from the trap as long as he held on to the meat. While holding the meat with his hand inside the trap the monkey became aware of a several hunters coming toward him. The monkey could let go of the sweet meat and withdraw his hand from the trap and escape the hunters but he could not bring himself to let go of the sweet meat that so tempted him. Soon the monkey was easily trapped and became sweet meat for the hunters as was the custom in their culture. So it is with us and sin. When we can't let go of the sin that entraps us we may soon find that we have lost it all. No wonder Jesus taught us when we pray to say, "Lead us not into temptation." That ought to be part of every believer's prayer.

The secret to resisting temptation is to stay connected to God and to stay connected to other believers. Besides making us want to run from God, sin also makes us want to isolate ourselves from other believers. In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: "Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more disastrous is this isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person."

Leadership expert John Maxwell put it this way, "Sin pushes the person out of the community of believers, and being away from other Christians prevents us from receiving the benefit of accountability. It's a vicious cycle. As the saying goes, prayer prevents us from sin, and sin prevents us from prayer. If you're harboring sin in your life, confess it now and receive God's forgive­ness. Clear away what's preventing you from connecting with God." (Partners In Prayer, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996, pp. 53-54.)

Kent Crockett, in The 911 Handbook, puts it like this: "The alcoholic never dreamed he would end up in the gutter when he took his first drink. But he could remember saying, 'One drink never hurt anyone.'

"The man who cheated on his wife never dreamed he would lose his wife and children because of yielding for one fleeting moment. But he could remember thinking, 'Who will ever know?'

"The fish who took the bait never dreamed a hook was inside and he would end up in a frying pan. But he couldn't see the man standing on the shore with a fishing pole at the other end of the line." (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997, pp. 32-33.)

Some of you will think that, in the words of the old joke, "I've quit preaching and gone to meddling." But families are being torn apart, lives are being ruined and even being lost by the oldest vices known to humanity. And it doesn't have to be. Flee from temptation. Stay connected to God and your church family. Much is at stake, perhaps even your very soul.

There is a way out of sin. Confess it. Repent. Take another path. This is possible no matter what sin you my face. As Paul puts it in our text today: "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." (1 Cor 10:13) As the old children's song says, "I am weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so."

--
Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from 1 Cor 10:1-13 on March 7, 2010 at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas.

Stay on Track

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

I love maps. One of my favorite maps is an upside down map of the world. It was made upside down to remind the viewer that when looking at planet earth from outer space there is no such thing as north or south. North and south are mere perspectives that help orient us inhabitants of planet earth who are stuck here by the force of gravity or God's will or perhaps both. We humans have a strong impulse to locate ourselves in the universe. Sometimes we use statistics to determine where we are on the map. Presbyterians rely on statistics to determine where we are are on the map and how we are doing.

This is the time of year when each congregation must turn in the Annual Statistical Report to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The statistics say we have a older congregation. We have 138 members over 65 years. We have 120 members between ages 45 and 65 years. We have 34 members under age 45 years. Nearly half of our members are older than 65 years. We have a mature congregation. This is true of very many Presbyterian congregations. While we benefit from the acquired wisdom and reliable support of the older members, we also look to the future with a sense of concern.

In the Houston Belief paper last Thursday, Kate Shellnut discussed "Five facts about race and faith: Houston's struggle for church diversity." She notes Lakewood Church with 43,000 attendees is a third white, a third black and a third Hispanic, and says megachurches are more likely to be diverse because minority groups find comfort in the large number of fellow members. She also lauds the diversity of Willcrest Baptist with more than 40 nationalities represented. Its congregation has gone from nearly entirely white back in the early '90s to a mixed, multiracial ministry with an active program for international missions. Shellnut says a decade ago, just 7 percent of all religious congregations in America could be considered diverse. Attending diverse churches has the greatest effect on white people, who tend to change their general views on race relations, immigration and interracial marriage as a result.

I think we do a good job of including all races in the leadership of this congregation. With 290 active members, we need just a couple more black or Hispanic members to reach the 20% required to be termed a "diverse congregation." Here at St. John's we have 236 white members, 50 black members and 6 Hispanic members. We have several African nations represented in our membership inlcuding Cameroon, Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda.

Paul was keeping track of a congregation he had started in the city of Philippi. He wrote them a letter to thank them for their support of his ministry and to tell them he was sending them his colleague in ministry, Epaphroditus. That letter is now know to us as the book of Philippians in our New Testament.

Phillippians gets its name from the city of Philippi. Lets map the city of Philippi as it was in the days of the Apostle Paul nearly 2000 years ago. Philippi was a city in Macedonia just across the Mediterranean Sea north of Africa and east of Italy. Philippi in Paul's day was a city of 10,000 people. Agriculture was the chief business and especially the production of grain and wine. There was no significant Jewish population there. The most influential group were the Italian aristocracy. The city flourished under Roman administration, discipline and culture. As a Roman colony Philippi enjoyed special privileges such as not having to pay taxes to Caesar. Latin was the official language and the cult of the emperor had a strong presence in the city. The mixed population of Philippi meant that various religious cults would have been practiced in the city, alongside the official cult of the emperor. So Paul's reference to Jesus as "Lord" in his letter to the Philippians may have been intended as a deliberate challenge to the loyalty they were expected to give to the Roman emperor as Lord.

Both Paul and the Philippian congregation had been through some tough times together and had developed some inside jokes. Paul may have been making an inside joke in Philippians 3:20 when he writes: "We're citizens of high heaven!" Citizenship had been a big issue when Paul was starting the church in Philippi. While preaching in the city Paul had been accosted by a fortune telling woman possessed by an evil spirit. Paul cast the evil spirit out of the woman and thereafter she was no good in telling fortunes. Her owner claimed Paul had damaged his merchandise (the fortune teller whom he owned) and had Paul thrown in jail. While in jail in Philippi Paul demanded his civil rights as a Roman citizen which included entitlement to a just trial. In his later letter to Philippi Paul refers to his citizenship being in heaven. We can almost hear the congregation muttering, "That's not what you said when you were in jail here — you claimed then to be a citizen of Rome!"

Paul says our citizenship is in heaven but Paul's vision of heaven is broader than just a place we go after we die. Paul envisions heaven as something that will be brought down to earth. Paul sees God's salvation in Christ as encompassing everything in creation that was lost when Adam sinned. This includes the ground that was cursed, the trees, the animal kingdom and humans. Even 2000 years ago, Paul presents a holistic view of salvation.

Paul believes planet earth is still on God's map and God is charting a course toward salvation for our entire planet. God is not abandoning space ship earth but God is still working to transform this planet and to restore what was lost when sin entered the world. God is still active on our planet working for the salvation of everything that exists.

And we are to work with God for the salvation of the world. Teresa of Avila said: "Christ has no body on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion is to look out to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now." God is working for the salvation of all creation and calls us to work with Him on this grand project.

Presbyterians are very intentional about keeping track of our membership. I appreciate when you will help me, as your pastor, keep track of who needs my attention by telling me when we have people in the hospital or people who need to be added to the prayer list. It is vital that we keep track of one another spritually, emotionally, and health wise. In this congregation, we do a good job of keeping track of one another in those respects. Paul admonishes the Church in Phillippi: "Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal." Maybe Presbyterians get their penchant for statistics from the Apostle Paul.

Paul says God's map of the universe includes the salvation of the entire planet earth. Let's broaden our map of God's salvation to include planet earth and the entire universe. Let's chart a course for how we can cooperate with God in achieving the salvation of all creation. So let's keep track of one another and stay on track as we cooperate with God's plan of salvation for all creation. That was Paul's invitation and challenge to the church he founded in Philippi 2000 years ago. And this is Christ's invitation and challenge to St. John's Presbyterian Church today.

We keep track of one another by weeping with the one who weeps and laughing with the one who laughs. Paul's message to the church members in Philippi is Christ's message to this congregation: "My dear, dear friends! I love you so much. I do want the very best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don't waver. Stay on track, steady in God." Christ wants us to keep track of one another and to stay on track.

---

Pastor Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church on 28 February, 2010 (2nd Sunday in Lent, Year C)

The Creator's Benefits Plan

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Romans 10:8b-13

at St. John's Presbyterian Church on February 21, 2010

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Rom. 10:8b-13

But what does it say? "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."

12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

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More and more people are losing their jobs in this poor economy. When they lose their jobs they lose their benefits, including health care. The politicians in Washington have been having a health care debate. In our text today, the Apostle Paul talks about the Creator's benefits plan. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." In that one word, "saved," Paul describes the creator's benefits plan. Our challenge is how best to share the Creator's Benefits Plan with others.

Paul feels obligated to preach to Gentiles (Rom. 1:14). Jesus describes salvation in a parable in which servants compel people to come to a banquet (Luke 14:23). The life of faith compels us to love others. Grace is so extraordinary; it has been known to compel people to do extraordinary things, to do things that fill one with dread, to go to places one would rather not go—like church.

In this church we do not focus so much on whether we are saved. We consider that to be God's business. Our business is to serve. We are saved to serve. Serve is what we do well here at St. John's. We have more effective outreach programs and projects per member than any other church I have known. Where we fall short in this church is in the area of making disciples by sharing our faith.

When you find something that brings pleasure into your life, you want to share it. A new place to eat, a good place to buy clothes, an excellent movie. We share with our friends that which improves our lives. So it is with our faith. When we have the love, joy and peace of Christ residing in our heart, we want to share it. And that is how the Christian community continues to expand. Word-of-mouth. We can do all the advertising in the world, but research shows that two-thirds to three-fourths of all new church members in this country responded because a friend or family member invited them. In fast growing churches, the range is two-thirds to seven-eighths, and in very rapidly growing churches invitations from friends or family members account for more than 90 percent of new members. (Schaller, September 3, 1975). " George G. Hunter, III, TO SPREAD THE POWER, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1987).)  Perhaps we fall short in sharing the faith because it is not a priority in our lives.

I read about an executive hirer, a "head-hunter" who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms, who once said, "When I get an executive that I'm trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm him. I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he's all relaxed. Then, when I think I've got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, "What's your purpose in life?" It's amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.

He continued, "Well, I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then I leaned up and said, 'What's your purpose in life, Bob?' And he said, without blinking an eye, 'To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.' For the first time in my career I was speechless." Too many of us are speechless when it comes to sharing our faith.

One way we can share our faith is by showing hospitality to visitors. Our Evangelism Committee has been having a discussion about how to do that. We talk about how we can be a more friendly congregation. The assumption is that if our church was more friendly then we would be growing in our membership and mission and spiritual life together.

Mark Galli recently wrote an article in Chrisitanity Today titled: "Should Churches Be as Friendly as Bars?" http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/februaryweb-only/17.41.0.html  He notes, after home, churches still rank as the "friendliest place in town." Then come restaurants and bars, followed by grocery stores and coffee shops.

Gallis says we all recognize how much cultural clout the church has lost in the last century. The reasons for that are broad and complex, but he wonders if one reason is that too many churches strive to be perceived as friendly.

Think of any vital, critical institution in our country, and the representatives of that institution. Are we primarily looking for friendliness in our bank teller? In our senator? In our therapist? In our oncologist? It's a bonus if they are nice, but what we really want from the emergency room or Congress or our bank is an institution that is competent and which takes us seriously.

Gallis suggests that the culture no longer takes the church seriously because we don't take ourselves seriously? Could it be that the more we strive to be as friendly as a bar, the more we'll be viewed as seriously as people view a bar?

Galli interviewed The Message translator and spiritual theologian Eugene Peterson a few years ago. They were talking about the extraordinary efforts some churches make to be user-friendly, to be accessible, to be warm and inviting. Peterson said that he believes that visitors don't come to church to be entertained or to have people fawn over them. More than anything, he said, people want leaders in the church to take them seriously.

More than anything, they want to meet with other people who also struggle with life's deepest questions. They want to be with people who also know they are loved by a God who died for them. They want to join a company whom the Father in Heaven steadily draws closer to himself. They want to join a company of the committed who want to do more than be entertained at church or meet people in bars, who want to give themselves to a hurting world, even if it hurts.

When you belong to the fellowship of Christ, to the company of the committed, comfort is not the word that will describe your life.

Maintaining a sense of belonging is not easy. You will find yourself worshiping with people who irritate you, people with whom you disagree, people you find difficult to forgive at times. But the very reason you put up with their flaws and stupidities, and they with yours, is that you both belong to a family you cannot escape.

Furthermore, you don't really belong to a group until people feel free enough to tell you what they really think of you and free enough to talk about the deepest, most troubling realities.

In a place where people really belong, they are free to talk about the most uncomfortable things—sin and salvation, hate and forgiveness, suffering and hope, death and life. And they learn the fine art of forbearance and forgiveness. Merely friendly churches avoid such unpleasantness. But churches that take people seriously cannot avoid it.

God forbid that we would become cold, aloof, and rude to one another! And what a delight it is to walk into a church and to be greeted with warmth and befriended in practical ways. May our church be known for our hospitality—but also so much more.

It is startling, in fact, how little emphasis the Bible puts on friendliness as such. One of the few times the idea comes up explicitly, Jesus says this: "There is no greater love than that a man should give up his life for a friend." (John 15:13)

You cannot take another more seriously than that.

We need to learn to perceive one another and our guests as children of God. Look at another person and see the Christ in them. Then Paul's message begins to make sense, when he says, "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" (Romans 10:12-13)

The Creator's Benefits Plan is our salvation. Let's also make it our proclamation.

Observations Upon Braving a Gargoyle

Isaiah 6:1-8

A sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham

at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston on Feb. 7, 2010

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (after Ephiphany), Year C

This week I was blessed to attend the Winter Lecture Series at Austin Theological Seminary. The event preacher was Brian Blount who is the new president of my alma mater, Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. Listening to him preach reminded me of my first days at the seminary. Those were days of struggle and study and preparation for the ministry of Word and Sacrament to which God had called me. Believe me, it wasn't easy.

Have you ever braved a gargoyle? That is what I had to do at seminary. The gargoyle sat atop one of the Victorian Gothic style academic buildings called Watts Hall on the seminary campus. Watts Hall served as the administration building for the seminary and also contained several classrooms. It stands as the first building one encounters upon entering the seminary campus. And one of the remarkable features of Watts Hall is the gargoyle perched atop the left corner of the roof. This gargoyle was a fearsome creature that signified to me the terror of my first few weeks as a seminary student. In particular, that gargoyle lurking atop Watts Hall symbolized a horror called "Hebrew School."

"Hebrew School" is the name given the first course a student may take upon entering seminary. It is a six week crash course in the Hebrew language. You have to pass Hebrew school in the summer in order to enter the seminary as a full time student in the fall.

How well I remember my apprehension on the first day of Hebrew School in August of 1992 as I passed beneath that gargoyle who stared down at me with a look of disdain. In response to God's call to seminary, I had left a full time job as Director of Christian at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Tennessee. My wife, Jana, and I had packed a U-haul van and moved our belongings 740 miles from Jackson, Tennessee to Richmond, Virginia. We crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains on what seemed to be the hottest day of the decade. About midnight, we finally stopped at Charlottesville, exhausted from the heat, the driving and the stress of moving. The next morning we arrived at our seminary apartment. I went to Watts Hall (under the gargoyle) and got a key to our apartment on campus. I unlocked the door and Jana and I collapsed on the floor in the living room. Our brief respite was interrupted by the shocking realization that the tiny apartment was too small. It would not hold all the stuff in our tightly packed U-Haul. About 10 a.m. several seminary students arrived and offered to help us unpack. Somehow, to our great relief, everything did fit in the tiny apartment. That was a good thing because the next day I started Hebrew School.

Dr. Carson Brisson was the professor of Hebrew at Union Seminary. Although still a young man, Dr. Brisson had spent a couple of years studying Hebrew in Jerusalem. His good sense of humor helped me overcome some of my anxiety. But that anxiety was soon to return as I got my first look at the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet looks like a series of squiggly lines with some dots placed around at seemingly random intervals. The alphabet had to be memorized the first night because we would be tested on it the next morning. Beyond the alphabet, the next startling revelation I learned about the Hebrew language that first day is that the letters of the words run from right to left instead of from left to right as in English. So not only would I have to learn the alphabet of squiggly lines but I would have to read the language backwards, from right to left.

That first day of Hebrew School confirmed the fear I had felt about entering seminary. To be honest, I was not sure I could pass the class. I had talked my wife into moving 740 miles in order for me to be a full-time student for two years. If I failed, everyone would know it--everyone from those 650 church members in Jackson, Tennessee to my mother and father and brothers to my wife and friends. If I could not pass Hebrew school, I would look like a fool. The fear of failure would haunt me for the next six weeks as I struggled with Hebrew school. Every day as I trudged to class through the heat of summer the gargoyle atop Watts Hall kept a beady eye on my progress. The gargoyle reminded me that failure was always a possibility. Some days that gargoyle sneered at me and said that failure was inevitable.

Over the course of those six weeks in the summer of 1992, I learned to stare back at that gargoyle. I defied the gargoyle. I faced my fear. I braved a gargoyle that signified to me the fear of failure. Fear of failure is an enemy common to us all. We have all faced the fear of fear and the embarrassment of looking foolish in the eyes of those we admire. This fear is common to human nature--so common that it fills the pages of the New Testament.

For example, the disciple we know as Peter faced the gargoyle of fear of failure. Peter braved a gargoyle once. You can read all about it in the fifth chapter of Luke. Jesus was teaching as he sat in Peter's boat on the Sea of Galilee. (In this story, Peter is called Simon because that was his name before Jesus called him to be a disciple and renamed him Peter.) When Jesus finished teaching the crowd from his seat in Peter's boat, Jesus told Peter to put out into the middle of the lake and throw out the nets for a catch of fish. At that moment, Peter faced a gargoyle called fear of failure. Remember that Peter and his business partners had fished all night and not caught a single minnow, much less a Philistine catfish. So Simon knew good and well the fish weren't biting.

Peter did not want to embarrass himself and Jesus by going through the routine of rowing to the middle of the lake, letting down the huge commercial fishing nets, pulling them up and hearing Jesus say, "What have you there Peter?" And Peter did not want to say, "Nothing. Not a single thing, master." Such a spectacular failure would embarrass Peter and make Jesus look silly. Peter faced the gargoyle of the embarrassment of failure. But he somehow found the courage to try. He accepted Jesus' challenge. He rowed his boat to the middle of the lake and threw out the commercial fishing nets. And it worked! Big time. Two boats nearly sank hauling in all the fish they caught. I can almost hear Jesus shouting with glee.

But Peter reacts to this miracle in a strange way. He and the other fisherman are so totally awed by the power of Jesus as a five-star fisherman that they stand in the boats with their mouths agape and fear in their eyes. Peter is so overcome by the power of the Lord against the gargoyle of failure that he falls at Jesus feet and says: "Leave me, Lord, I am a sinful man." Jesus smirks a minute (or what that a giggle I heard from him?) and says, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men." With that they brought their boats to land, left everything, and became his followers. (Luke 5:1-11)

Fear is a common reaction when you brave a gargoyle. Fear was my feeling as I faced Hebrew School. Fear was Simon's reaction after he braved the gargoyle of failure. And fear was Isaiah's reaction after he braved the seraphim before the throne of God. Those seraphim may have looked like gargoyles to Isaiah. The serpentine creatures called seraphim were stationed above the throne of the Lord like that gargoyle that sat atop Watts Hall. The seraphim cried to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!" At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke. Then Isaiah said, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am in over my head! I am a sinful human standing in the presence of the holy God of the universe." Isaiah was filled with fear as he braved the real-live gargoyles called seraphim.

What happens next? Then one of the seraphim flew to Isaiah, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched Isaiah's mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged." What an amazing situation! A real-live gargoyle told Isaiah in so many words, "You have what it takes because of what I have given you."

Finally, what is the purpose of braving a gargoyle? What was the result of my braving the gargoyle at Union Presbyterian Seminary? What was the result of Simon Peter's braving the gargoyle in the waters of Lake Genesserat? What is the result of Isaiah's braving the gargoyle in the heavenly courtroom of God? The result is the same in every case. The one who has braved the gargoyle is sent out to serve God. I became a Presbyterian minister after braving the gargoyle. Peter became a disciple of Jesus after braving the gargoyle. Isaiah became a prophet after braving the gargoyle. As Isaiah says, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?' 'Here I am,' Isaiah said; 'send me!'" (Isaiah 6:1-2a, 6-8)

At some point in your life, you will be called to brave a gargoyle. The name of that gargoyle may not be Hebrew School or go fishing or seraphim. The name of that gargoyle may be cancer, depression, addiction, or graduate school. The name of your gargoyle will be whatever challenge you must face in order to survive and fulfill your mission on earth. God has a plan for your life. To accomplish God's plan for you, you may have to brave a gargoyle. You may fear the embarrassment of failure. But if you have faith in God and believe in your heart that you are pursuing God's will for your life, you will find the courage to brave the gargoyle. And after you succeed in braving the gargoyle, God will send you out to fulfill your mission in the world.