http://stmarkswv.org/ en-GB (c) 2008 St. Marks United Methodist Sermons St. Marks United Methodist Sermons Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church Saint Marks United Methodist Church Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (6 September) 2009 Psalm 125:1Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.2As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time on and forevermore.3For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous might not stretch out their hands to do wrong.4Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts.  5But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways the LORD will lead away with evildoers. Peace be upon Israel!Mark 7:24  From there [Jesus] set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.We live in a changing world.  Of that, there can be no denying.  It’s always been that way; the change just happens so much faster now than it used to.The question that we face – and that question gets even harder when the changes upset our apple cart – is how can we deal with the change?  What should we hold onto, and what we should we let go of?On the recommendation of a Saint Mark-er, I read one of her favorite books, Who Moved My Cheese?  It’s an allegorical book, about these two mice, who put on their running shoes each morning and go running out into the maze in which they live.  They come to the cheese holding area, where they “graze” all day until time to return home at night.  They are content with their life, and it is good.  They are so content with their life that they begin to take off their running shoes.  They are so content with their life that they do not pay attention enough to realize that the supply of cheese is dwindling.  They are so content with their life that they can’t picture life being any different.Then one day, without warning to their complacent lifestyle, the cheese runs out.  That’s hard for them to believe.  Day after day they return to the cheese cache, but the result is still the same – NO CHEESE!  Finally, one of the mice decides to strike out into the maze once more to look for more cheese.  It takes him quite a long time, before he finds a new storehouse of cheese, but, almost at the point of starvation, he does.  He returns once to find his friend to try to coax him to come with him to search for new cheese, but with no luck.  His friend insists on staying in the empty cheese house to wait for something -- he knows not what -- to save him.Although the parable book does not say so, we are left with the clear impression that the lethargic mouse eventually dies, while the mouse who strikes out to find something new survives and thrives.The book has been a bestseller for eleven years.  Its author, Dr. Spencer Johnson, extols the virtue of change, of being ready for change, of being willing to adapt to change in life, and of not being afraid to make changes in life.  I can see how it could, and has, had a powerful effect on people’s lives – particularly people who have gotten themselves into deep and harmful ruts in life.And then I read Psalm 125.  It extols the virtue of holding fast.  The theme carried forward in the psalm is: "If it had not been the Lord who was one our side. . ." we'd be toast. Some of us may be a bit skeptical of the idea that God has a "hands on" approach to humanity and to life.  The writer of this psalm had no such qualms.  The psalmist clearly believes that if our eyes are open to see the action of God in our lives, we will realize that it's true: God doesn't let us down.  Our task is to stand firm, trust in the Lord.I began to see a divergence of primary ideas between the STAND FIRM, WAIT UPON THE LORD message of Psalm 125, and the PUT ON YOUR RUNNING SHOES AND MOVE ON, WHENEVER YOUR CHEESE IS MOVED of the post-modern secular humanist parable of Spencer Johnson.Which is the thing for us Christians to do?When calamity hit Job, what did he do?When calamity hits us, what should we do? In the October 10 entry of the 2006 Upper Room Disciplines, a 90 year old woman, whose house was taken for the interstate, told of her situation: Dark times will come, but God will see you through.  I wonder why God has allowed this to happen to me.  At times I FEEL God has forsaken me, but its ONLY a FEELING and not a FACT.  I have trusted God since my childhood, and I will trust God now.Feelings are important for many things – essential and valuable.  But they tell me next to nothing about God nor my own relation to God.  My security comes from Who God is, not how I feel.  Stand firm.  Isaiah [40:31] tells us:… those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,    they shall run and not be weary,    they shall walk and not faint.So the Bible says that Who Moved My Cheese is wrong?  Don’t jump to conclusions.  Stacked up against the notion of Mt. Zion in Psalm 125, which the Psalmist says, “Cannot be moved, but abides forever” are other Biblical images:Abraham was called by God to “go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” – a very new thing.  (Genesis 12:1)Didn’t the prophets say that God is doing a new thing? (Isaiah 42:9; 43:19; 48:6; Jeremiah 31:22, 33-34 )Didn’t Jesus say you “can’t put new wine into old wineskins.” (Matthew 9:17)Judaism changed (for some) into the more inclusive Christianity.Saul changed into Paul.And, most recently – TODAY – we heard of Jesus indeed giving the prevailing sentiment of His day, of His religion – the Syrophoenician woman and her concern were on the outside looking in.  His mission was to the chosen ones of the house of Israel.I have studied this Gospel lesson extensively since seminary (where it was the object of a major research paper.)  Clearly there are different ways to interpret what happened in this parable.  Time prohibits my sharing all that research today.  But one thing is clear.  What was the prevailing sentiment at the beginning of that parable was not the prevailing sentiment by the end of the parable.  A big change occurred.So – let me repeat myself:Which is the thing for us Christians to do?When calamity hit Job, what did he do?When calamity hits us, what should we do?Sometimes change?  Sometimes stand fast?  How do we decide?Let me suggest that there is one good answer for all circumstances – to help us decide when to change and when to hold fast: STICK TO THE ETERNAL VALUES.For Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman, whose daughter was sick, it is clear that the ETERNAL VALUE is the well being of a person’s life over any kind of distinctions we can draw between the types of humans involved – even if we believe (as the Jews in Jesus’ day believed) that those distinction lines were drawn by God.Often – my life has taught me – people like to quote God for whatever position they take.  Look at the lands of Northern Ireland and the Middle East, if you want examples of this.  We can look here in our own land, if we dare, but sometimes it’s easier to see it in other places.How do we decide – whether it’s a discussion about style of worship or about our understanding of what people in Bible days understood about commandments?  (e.g. it was clearly a commandment in the Bible that it was wrong to charge interest on loaning money. Exodus 22:25 -- “If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them.”)I have been blessed in many, many ways by the opportunities given me in leading work teams for our Annual Conference to different places in the world.  I still can see in my mind’s eye one particular evening, during our first Conference foray into Russia, I was taking the team from work to supper.  We had worked well, and we had worked hard, all day. I was leading – from the rear – looking over my flock as they walked along.  My eyes fell upon a sight in the waning sunlight of the Russian day in Sychee: a carpenter-farmer, who had accompanied me on just about all my work teams, who had this year brought his wife for the very first time.  There they were -- walking along, this couple in their 70’s, who had been through a lot of hard times, I knew from previous conversations over the years with him.  There they were -- walking along, simply holding hands and bending over every now and again to look at some different kind of flower.  There they were -- simply holding hands, occasionally laughing like school children, and showing all the world who would pay attention, that they had hung together, had not cut and run when times were tough, and now were enjoying the simple goodness of life.  They knew what was important and eternal; they knew when to stand fast.  I turned to Bishop Ives and pointed.  He nodded and said, “Yes, it is holy.”It’s not always easy to know when to run after new cheese and when to stand firm.  One thing I know – you can’t go just with feelings.  The other thing I know, as well: we need to hold onto the eternal values – hold on to the things that last.May God grant us each the wisdom to recognize these things in our life.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN. http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Mt_Zion_and_Moving_Cheese.mp3 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:00:00 -0500 16:47 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church   Psalm 84; 1 Kings 8:1,10-11,22-24,27   1 Kings 8:1   Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion   10And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. 23He said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, 24the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. 27“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Psalm 84:1    How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!  2    My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.  3    Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.  4    Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.  Selah5    Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.  6    As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.  7    They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion. 8    O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!  Selah9    Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.  10    For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.  I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.11    For the LORD God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor.  No good thing does the LORD withhold from those who walk uprightly.12    O LORD of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.  One of the things that is so rich in our Judeo-Christian heritage is the wonderful story telling component of our ancestors, the Jews.  Here’s one small example:Once upon a time, there were two brothers, and they worked together.  They plowed the field together; they planted wheat seeds together; they cultivated together; and they harvested together.  And when the crop was in, they divided it equally between them.Now, that night, one brother could not sleep.  He said, “Why should we have divided the harvest equally?  I don’t have any family to feed.  My brother has a wife and children; he needs more than I need.”  And he decided that night that he would take some of the harvest of wheat into a sack and take it to his brother.  Meanwhile, his brother couldn’t sleep either.  He said, “Why did we divide the harvest equally?  After all, I have children to take care of my in my old age; my brother does not.  He needs more wheat, so he can sell some and have money to put away for his care in his old age.”  So, he too decided to take some of the harvest of wheat into a sack and take it to his brother’s house.The next morning, when they woke up and each saw that their piles of wheat were the same as they were the day before they had given some away, they each thought a miracle had occurred.  And the next night, the same thing happened again; each brother loaded and took a bag of the harvest wheat to his brother.  But on the third night, as they were crossing the field where they had worked, they met.  And they realized what had happened – they realized that the miracle of God had been the miracle of love within them.  And they hugged, and they kissed.And they say that it is on that spot where Solomon built his temple.It’s just a story.  But it’s a good story for talking about where is the Temple of the Lord.  And it’s also a good story for talking about what goes on in the Temple of the Lord.Let me tell you another story.  It’s not from a Jew, but from a United Methodist pastor (not me, but a colleague of mine, who gave permission to tell the story anonymously.)It seems that the pastor was having some difficulty in his working relationship with someone.  They had danced around the issue for quite some time, but had not really spoken openly about the elephant in the room, that was keeping them apart, and which was hurting the work that they did.These two people happened to be in Saint Marks one day, going to one of the many functions that this building hosts.  It was on the first floor, where the inspiration came.  Rather than getting on the elevator, the pastor said to his fellow worker, “Come with me in here for a moment, will you please.”  And he directed the other man into Bennett Chapel.They sat down together in a pew.  They sat quietly; they sat prayerfully.  Time passed in silence.  Then my pastor friend told me he turned to the other one and said, “Here – in this place – this is where we come to leave our ‘stuff’ – to leave with God the things that bother us and keep us apart.”And it was in that place, where they were able to confront the elephant in the room, to name it, to explain it, and to prayerfully turn it over to God.  It was in that place where they cleared the air and turned their burdens over to God.  It was on that holy ground, where they were reconciled as brothers in Christ.How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!   My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.   Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.   Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.  We have gotten so sophisticated in our theology today that I am afraid we have thrown the baby out with the bath.Psalm 84 is a pilgrimage psalm, i.e. it is thought to have been one that was recited by folks as they made the caravan journey together to the Temple, to the place of the Ark of the Covenant.  For folks on a pilgrimage, the journey there was as important as the arrival.  It was a time of community building.  And they went together – not carpooling merely to save gasoline – but because it was a special event to go to the holy place, and it was in that special time going and coming, that they built special relationships.  (It’s one of the reasons why work teams are so special and effective.)But it seems that most of our world today has focused in on the wisdom of one verse in the reading from 1 Kings – verse 27: Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built.We have focused on that and gotten very rational (doing a “If A=B & B=C, then A must =C”) THEREFORE: “God is everywhere.”  And that is true.But that doesn’t mean that there are some places where it seems like God is closer.  Solomon knew that no single place could contain God, but that didn’t stop him from building a House for the Lord.The Psalmist knew that all creation was the dwelling place of God, but that did not stop the Psalmist from knowing that He would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than be anywhere else.Yes, there is no denying the fact that God is everywhere.  But if there are not some special places for us to relate to God, then God becomes like the air – everywhere and everywhere unnoticed.There is perceived no need to come to church, because God is everywhere.There is perceived no need to set aside time for worship, because all time is God’s.But, until and unless we establish the relationship with God through the special places and times, then we will not pay any attention to God in all the other places and times.The psalmist makes the observation that a small amount of time spent in God’s Special Place is worth more than huge amounts of time spent elsewhere.In centering prayer – a very enlightening and empowering form of prayer that some folks here learned during one of our Lent noon activities – you spend 20 minutes in doing this particular form of prayer.  20 minutes is spent doing it, but sometimes only 1 or 2 minutes of that 20 achieves the kind of prayerfulness that is sought.  But that is enough.  One of the things we learn from this experience is what the psalmist knew.  Small amounts of intentional time spent in deep communion with God are enough to leaven the whole day.God is surely everywhere, but if we don’t intentionally spent time with God, then we will not pay attention to God’s Presence throughout the rest of our waking moments.What both of our scriptures are telling us, and what we all need to hear, is that it is important for us to set aside time when we do nothing but DWELL in God’s Presence.  It can be alone, and there are times we need to do this.  But there are also times when we need to do it in community.Perhaps you, too, have heard the story of a man who used to attend worship.  And then he got miffed about something that happened, and said to himself, “I can worship God just as well by myself as I do in a large crowd, maybe even better.”  And so he quit coming to worship.  One evening the pastor made a home visit.  He knocked at the door.  The church member opened the door, and didn’t say a word, but just showed the pastor in.  The pastor responded, in kind, and followed the man silently to the living room, where they sat down in front of the fireplace.  The silence was maintained for several minutes.  Then, without a word, the pastor leaned forward and, using a fireplace poker, pulled one of the burning embers out of the fire and laid it aside in the fireplace.  A few minutes later – after the ember extinguished itself and laid cold on the side – the pastor used the poker and moved it back into the fire, where it began to glow once more.  Then the pastor got up – all without saying a word – and went to the front door, to leave.  The man followed him, and said, “I’ll see you Sunday,” and he did, and he did not miss again.Jesus made it a habit to spend time alone in prayer, but scripture also tells us that Jesus made it a habit to be in church on the Sabbath.  We need one another – not just to share stories, but to share the Spirit that comes with us.  Jesus said, “Wherever two or more are gathered in My Name, I will be there.”  He honors us worshipping together.So where is God?  What is God’s Zip Code?God is everywhere.  But we need to spend time in special places to get used to the feel of God, the sound of God, the experience of God’s Presence, so we don’t mistake God’s Presence with any old emotional twinge in our belly.  So we don’t mistakenly think God is absent from our lives in the times of troubles just because in that moment, we don’t think we feel God’s Presence.I read an article sometime in the past few weeks about a United Methodist Church not like any I’ve heard of before.  Initially, I did not like the way it operated.  But now, I wish I could remember where I read it, so I could go back and read about it again.This particular church has an unusual program, outlook, and budget.  What was unusual was that there was no program – except for worship.  That’s right – no program at all, except for worship.  Their outlook on being a church was that worship was central to their existence, and they didn’t want to be like churches that had so much invested in doing good activities that they lost sight of the primary purpose of being church.Like I said, initially, I disagreed.  I could not envision Saint Marks without all of the other good things we do besides worship.  But after a while I began to struggle with the idea – what if we do so much other stuff that we have moved worship out of its central role?You see, Solomon was right when he said that God is everywhere – too big to be contained in just one small place, not even the whole earth.  But it is in that one small place OF WORSHIP that we also are reminded that the earth itself is not our final destination.  It is not our final destination, and the Kingdom of Earth is not our home.  The Psalmist reminds us: My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD.  Ultimately, and by design, we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is in worship that we are reminded of this.  It is in worship that we are being constantly prepared for our final destination.The Church that is interested in growth, in power, in success will worry about speaking the language of the culture.  The Church that knows its true home will be intent on teaching, through worship, the language of God, the thoughts of God, and the love of God.Far beyond our task of making life in this world bearable, the Church must gird up the task of making the life in the Kingdom real and touchable.I’m not prepared to lead Saint Marks down the path of giving up all our ministries outside of worship.  But that other church has helped me to remember what is meant to be our central purpose.  It is what makes us different from the Junior League and the Lions Club, from political parties, and from all other types of do-gooder organizations.How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!   My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.… Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.  Your dwelling place, O Lord – it is my Home.  May all we do in this place prepare us for knowing Your Home, in this life, and for all eternity.In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN. http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Gods_Zip_Code.mp3 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:00:00 -0500 19:28 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church What’s in Your Hyphen?  I Kings 2:10; 3:5-6a, 9-14; Ephesians 5:15-20   10Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. 5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” 6And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; 9Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. 13I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. 14If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”15Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. January 19, 1953 – August 16, 2009.  These were the entry dates of John Smith.  His entry into this world, and his entry into the next world, of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Separating those two dates, January 19, 1953 and ugust 16, 2009, is a little HYPHEN.That little hyphen – it seems so small to capture fifty-six years.  In between was ….Such are the words used sometimes in beginning a funeral homily.  That little hyphen.  It’s such a small thing to capture a whole lifetime.  But, one day, someday, there it will be for each one of us.  And, at the risk of seeming morbid (a risk I am willing to take, for a higher purpose) I ask us each today to consider that question or each of our lives.  WHAT’S IN YOUR HYPHEN?Although the general theme for today’s sermon was born about six weeks ago, as I tried to do some longer term sermon preparation, I confess that the particular sermon title was not birthed until this past Monday.  It came from my reading of The Upper Room Disciplines, a devotional book similar to The Upper Room booklet that is in the narthex of the church for people.  The Disciplines book features one author for each week who writes daily devotions based on the lectionary scriptures for that week.  On Monday, looking at the First Testament reading we heard today, it said:GIANT KILLER LAID TO RESTALDULTERER MEETS HIS FINAL JUDGEKING SAUL’S PROTÉGÉ IS DEAD    David’s life story is not so far removed from the lives of leaders today.  Personal failures make headlines ….I would have maybe changed that devotion to read: “David’s life story is not so far removed from the lives of EVERYONE today.”We all make mistakes.Good people mess up.  That does not make them bad people.David’s personal failures were not small nor trite.  In that one incident with Bathsheba, he lusted; he coveted; he committed adultery; he conspired; he lied; and he committed murder.  That’s a pretty aggressive span of in to commit in such a short time.Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s top soldiers, and most likely a personal friend, was the victim of King David’s sinfulness.  Uriah the Hittite died because of it.I remember one time I visited in the home of a former parishioner.  He was serving time under house arrest.  I told him I just happened to be in the neighborhood and needed a drink of water, when I stopped by.  [Well, actually, it was 45 miles away, and I rode my bike there.  So, it was technically not a lie.]This was a man who had been a leader in our church and in his community – a leader of very good reputation.  But, he had done a very stupid thing.  And it was a crime, a felony.  Luckily no one had been hurt, in any way.  There was not victim.I make it a habit and practice to NOT intervene into the pastoral care of former parishioners.  But this case was a little bit different.  His present pastor and I had talked about it; his present pastor had invited me to be involved.  I had – at his request -- written a letter of reference for him to the sentencing judge, whom I knew from my former career.  And it wasn’t like he had a lot of company visiting him.I will not violate the confidentiality of what he told me in that visit, but I will tell you one thing that I said to him when I got there:“You know I rode my bicycle all the way from Charleston here.  I got a good view of the whole road leading up to your house.  You messed up really badly, you know.  But, I’m grateful to say that I did not see any dead Hittites along the way.”I said that because this man was a very dedicated student of the Bible, and I knew that he would understand my message.  You messed up, but at least no one died as a result of your messing up.  King David couldn’t say that.  But look how the story ended for him.King David was the most famous king of all Israel, until the descendant to his throne, Jesus, came along.It is the same King David, who in that one incident with Bathsheba lusted, coveted, adultery, conspired, lied, and committed murder.BUT – when we look at the hyphen of King David’s epitaph, what do we read?  Out First Testament lesson today says it like this:he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you;Oh, I know: those of you who read scripture carefully will say to me, “Ah, but preacher, that’s what his son said.  You know children often see only the best in their parents.  And besides, for Solomon, Bathsheba was HIS mother.OK, then if we want another description of the HYPHEN of King David’s life, let’s go a little bit further in today’s reading, to verse 14:14If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”Uh, let me see; who was it that wrote the HYPEHN of David’s life in those glowing terms?  Oh, yes.  It was God.So how was it that David was able to redeem his reputation?  How was it that he was able to end up with such a good hyphen?  (For those of you who would claim that by Jesus’ blood, all of our sins are wiped away, let me remind you that King David lived about 1,000 years before Jesus.)I don’t think I can give you the entire answer because (a) I don’t presume to put God’s entire mystery into a little box that I can fully grasp; and (b) even if I could, I don’t have that long to preach.But there is one little glimmer of this whole mystery of how a lusting, coveting, lying, conspiring, murderer can later be referred to by God as one who walks in God’s ways and keeps God’s commandments.David’s life was a good life, and he made some mistakes.  AND David littered his life – filled his life, as well as the book of Psalms – with something very, very special.  It was that same thing that Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians about in the letter excerpt that we heard today.  And that VERY SPECIAL THING is called GIVING THANKS.If we live our lives filled with thanksgiving, it has a remarkable impact – on the HYPHEN for sure, but also all along the way.Filling our life with thanksgiving does at least three things for us1.Giving thanks changes our attitude about our circumstances2.Giving thanks changes our relationship with God3.Giving thanks changes our relationship with othersFIRST Giving thanks changes our attitude about our circumstances.  It was a couple of months ago, in some spiritual inventory that I was taking, in which I was asked to list the times when I felt closest God; when I felt my life was the most centered.  I confess that I was surprised to discover that those times also coincided with some of the lowest times in my life – based on the external circumstances.  They were lousy times then, but when I look back upon them, I came to realize just how blessed they were.  BLESSINGS very often do not come to us wrapped up like good things.  It takes the perspective of the rear view mirror to see how they were blessings.When we give thanks in all circumstances, it reminds us of this.When we give thanks in all circumstances, it opens our eyes to see how God is at work in the midst of things, which the pain of the moment often blocks us from seeing.  And when we do that, it changes how that moment actually looks.  We don’t have to wait until the rear view mirror to see some of the blessing.  Thanks giving opens our eyes now to what we might not otherwise see.AND THIS IS A KEY LESSON – PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT OF WHAT I HOPE YOU WILL HEAR TODAY.  You don’t have to be in a good mood to give thanks.Perhaps one of the greatest impediments to our developing and maintaining a healthy relationship with God is that we are guided so much by “what kind of mood we are in.”Sometimes – many times – doing things even when we are not in the “right mood” can make all the difference.What is the biggest common denominator linked to the success of marriages?  Studies have shown that it is kissing your partner in the morning and in the evening.  That one factor, more than any other, is linked to a successful marriage.  And – here’s the reason I mention it here – the studies show that it does NOT matter whether you are in the mood or not when you give and receive that kiss – just the fact that you do it.We don’t have to be in a particularly happy, nor thankful mood, to GIVE THANKS.  Do it, even if you don’t feel like it.  There are always things for which to give thanks, in every day – IF WE LOOK FOR THEM.And – when we do it, it changes our attitude.You plain and simply cannot find things for which to give thanks, and then do it, and remain in the same mood as you were before you did that.2.  It changes your relationship with God.  When we look around us and see the ways in which God has blessed us – it helps us to remember Who is the Creator and who is the creation.  Anything that we do – like giving thanks – which reminds us of the proper relationship between God and us – is a good thing.This past week I was talking about today’s sermon with our lay leader, and he told me that he learned somewhere that if we begin our prayer time with giving thanks, it always make the prayer time better.That’s right, but it works even when we’re not down on our knees, but even when we’re just walking around.3.  Finally – and I can’t give you the WHY or the HOW IT WORKS, but my experience verifies what Paul is exhorting the Ephesians to do – with this thanksgiving thing.  When we take the time – even if when we begin, we are in one of those days, one of those moods, that would make Saint Francis kick a dog and smack a little child – if we take the time to take stock of the things for which we should give thanks in the present moment – somehow that moment gets changed, and with it – how we relate to others.Knowing that we are blessed; knowing that we are a beloved child of God, precious and beautiful to behold – knowing that and giving thanks for that – well, somehow it just helps us realize that the people around us are also beloved children of God, precious and beautiful to behold.  And their hyphen – just like ours – is not defined by any one moment.  Their goodness, just like ours, is given to us from the beginning when we were made in God’s very image.Well, you may not be thinking today of how your obituary is going to read.  But, I invite you to experiment this next week – set aside 1-1/2 minutes four times a day to look for things in your very midst for which you should be thankful.  Then give thanks for it.  See how it changes your week.  I dare you.In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN.  http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Whats_in_Your_Hyphen.mp3 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:00:00 -0500 20:26 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church Saint Marks United Methodist ChurchTenth Sunday after Pentecost (9 August) 2009 Psalm 130:1    Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.2    Lord, hear my voice!   Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!3    If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?4    But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.5    I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;6    my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.7    O Israel, hope in the LORD!  For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.8    It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities..Ephesians 4:25So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil. 28Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, There are times in life when it seems like the earth below us has moved.There are times when we await the doctor’s report, and can do nothing but wait.There are times when, through no fault of our own, the way we live and see life is being threatened.There are times when, through a bad decision that we’d love to have the chance to “do over,” the way we live and see life is being threatened.There are times when the pain or suffering in the life of someone we love becomes our own pain or suffering as much as it is theirs.The earth has moved.The direction of North no longer seems constant. These are the times of which Psalm 130 is all about.Let us repeat our Call to Worship (Psalm 130 -- without singing) on page 848 of our Hymnal.Those whose souls wait for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. …One of the saints of our church writes about a device of torture used on him and other prisoners of war.  The prisoner would be told that he would be executed at sunrise.  Then, at the appointed hour, he would be taken out into the prison courtyard, with the executioner and the means of execution in full view.  Then the blindfold would be put over his eyes.  And he would wait for the final moment, and wait, and wait.  Then, without explanation, he would be taken back to his cell.  Repetition of this “watching for morning” exercise would often break even strong men.But the psalmist knew that the sleepless nights of waiting for the Lord were not, by any means, limited to situations of prisoners of war.  He knew of the torture of sleepless nights brought on by suffering and worry.And the very language: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,” makes clear that the plight of which he writes is not the situation of the atheist nor agnostic.  This is the situation of the one whose hope is in the Lord.This is the person who hopes in the Lord.This is the person who believes that in the Lord, there is steadfast hope.This is the person who believes that in the Lord, there is a great power to redeem.The psalmist writes here from the same divine perspective and point of view that Jesus had with the man who came to Jesus asking that his child be healed.  When Jesus asked the man if he believed, he said: I believe, help my unbelief!  And for Jesus, this was enough.“’Lord, I believe,’ as I go through the sleepless night. ‘I believe, help my unbelief that prevents sleep from coming.’”The psalmist knew and understood what too many in the church today will not admit: PEOPLE OF FAITH ALSO WORRY.Indeed,(AMEN!) there are times when our belief gives us a peace that passes all understanding.  But there are other times when believers are unable to know the blessing of quiet rest.My Bible does not tell me that Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane, and laid down His head to quiet sleep until the soldiers came to arrest him.Let us repeat Psalm 130, in our Hymnals, page 848.Where is this psalm placed in our order of worship in today’s bulletin?  Although it is the primary text for the sermon, it is listed as what?  [Answer:] CALL TO WORSHIP.Worship, you see, is a TIME OF REMEMBRANCE and REMINDER.Worship is a time of REHEARSAL.Worship is a time of REORIENTATION OF OUR LIVES away from how we might live, without it.When we worship God, we are REMINDED once more of the right orientation in life.Romans 1:25 succinctly says it: they exchanged the truth for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! AMEN.Worship of God – the hope of allWorship of God – the One in Whose hands our lives are held.Worship of God – the One Who alone can sustain us when our search for self help will leave us sleeplessWorship of God – is what REORIENTS our all too often self-centered way of seeing lifeWorship of God – is what allows us to see life in right perspective.The psalmist wrote not just about suffering and uncertainty, but also to call us back to remember the source of life, the source of HOPE, even in those times when we can’t wrap our minds around any image of a good ending to our present situation.A Call to Worship is also a call to remember. Sometimes I struggle to see the connection which is supposed to tie together all four scriptures of each week’s lectionary readings.  For some time, the connection between Psalm 130 and the Ephesians reading eluded me.Today’s Ephesians reading reminds us of ethical implications of our faith – things we should do and things we ought not do.  And it reminds us of our unity as one Body in Christ.But HOW do we go about being that good?  That unified?  WILL POWER?  That rarely does it.Here’s where I found the connection.  Verse 5:1 reads: THEREFORE, BE IMITATORS OF GOD, AS BELOVED CHILDREN.The reason for our hope in Psalm 130 – in the midst of sleepless nights – is the same reason that we CAN live ethical lives in unity.It is because THIS IS HOW WE WERE DESIGNED, how we were CREATED – in the Image of God – as beloved children of God, precious and beautiful to behold – (in God’s sight, even when not in our own.)Indeed, we may have not yet lived into our full potential.  And we certainly are not going to do that with will power alone.  But remember: it’s how we were created by God to be.  We just have to live into – keep growing into – our DNA.A poem by Steve Garnaas-Holmes, entitled the same as the sermon, captures the essence of this CALL TO WORSHIP, of this CALL TO HOPE, of this CALL TO RENEWED FAITH:Outside the window where I praya rhododendron blossom begins to open.It’s flame-shaped bud rests on a platter of greenlike a lotus, like a promise.Soon it will unfold into a wild and exuberant beauty --but not yet.For now, it folds its hands in prayer and waits,for rain, for warmth, for juices within,for the fullness of time.Such a blossom rises in you, child of God.An extravagance of mystery hides within you,a beauty undisclosed by the husk of your life.It abides, curled and folded,but whole and intense in its secret darkness.Sit in the sun and rain and wait for it,the sun unfolding from within you.God blooming in you.Let this be your prayer,your promise, your confidence --you, upon whom loving eyes lookin awe and devotionfrom their window every morning.In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN.   http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Rhododendron.mp3 Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:00:00 -0500 17:04 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church Not Just PC.  Ephesians 2:11-22  11So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—12remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.   Let me apologize, right up front, to those of you who thought today’s sermon was about Apple Mac computers, based on the sermon title.  It is not.  Q:    What is the other thing that the letters “PC” represent?A:    “Politically Correct”“Politically Correct” is a relatively new term, which means a Variety of things.  It has given us lots of new expressions for old terms.  For example: Anti-Sobriety Activist  -- Alcoholic Involuntary term limitation  -- AssassinationComb-free -- BaldNondiscretionary fragrance. -- Body OdorIntra-Species Dining  -- CannibalismUniquely coordinated -- ClumsyTerminally Inconvenienced -- DeadBovine control officers -- CowboysSexually focused chronologically gifted individual -- Dirty Old Manand my favorite:Challenge Challenged -- CowardOne of the other characteristics of “Politically Correct” is its tendency to be INCLUSIVE.  I suppose, however, that this is one of my PET PEEVES – when I hear people making reference to actions that are INCLUSIVE as being “P.C.” – especially when such actions are those taken by our Church.It bothers me because, AS TODAY’S SCRIPTURE, making extraordinarily clear: THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS ABOUT INCLUSIVITYTHE KINGDOM OF GOD IS ABOUT BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS THAT DIVIDE PEOPLE.One of my favorite Jewish writers is Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (not to be confused with Rabbi Harold Kushner, who wrote When Bad things Happen to Good People)Rabbi Lawrence Kushner wrote about a special friendship he shared with an Episcopal priest while they were young clergy.  They had lunch each month, and tried to get to understand the other one’s faith better.  One vehicle they used for this exploration was the sharing of their own feelings, and their religion’s teachings, on different topics.  The one rule was that they HAD TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST.One particular month, the topic was JESUS.  Here is an excerpt of what Rabbi Kushner wrote, and shared with his Episcopal priest friend, over lunch.I am wary of Jesus.  Not because of anything he taught or even because of anything his disciples taught about him.  (Although some of the things the author of John’s Gospel said about me and my people ought to be forever banned from public reading by anyone who thinks “loving people” is important.)  Whether they were mistaken or merely premature, the idea that God should at last take the form of a human being, that the yearning that God and humanity share for one another should be focused in one person is a very compelling vision: Word Made Flesh.… I am wary of Jesus because of history and what so many of those who said they believe in him have done to my people. …In this way, Jesus means for me – not the one who suffered for the world’s sins, but the one on account of whom I must suffer.  (Is there anyone who could deny the intimate relationship of Christian Europe to the holocaust?) …[After Father Rob read my writing] he slowly set it down and looked up at me.  His face was ashen.I winced, feeling I had crossed some line, that with my smug bluntness, I had injured my new friend.  But to my surprise, Rob only whispered, “Please forgive me, forgive us.  It could not have been Jesus those Christians served.”  His eyes were moist with tears.  What was more, this empathy he could not conceal seemed to grow directly from the core of his faith.“Your religion,” I said, “wants you to care about me that much?”“Oh yes,” he said.  “Don’t you see.  I must continuously seek to find God in every person.  Jesus is only the beginning.  You, Larry, are easy.  But the ultimate goal is to find my Lord within everyone – even people I like a lot less than you, even people I dislike, even ones I despise.”And then it dawned on me: So that’s what it means to say God can take on the form of a human being. ….iBut, it’s not been that way just now, just between Christians and Jews.  Jonathan Swift – whom we know primarily as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, was Dean of St. Patrick’s Church (a protestant church) in Dublin, Ireland, where even back in the 17th century, the rancor between Protestants and Catholics ran rampant with great fervor.  He wrote: WE HAVE JUST ENOUGH RELIGION TO MAKE US HATE ONE ANOTHER, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE US LOVE ONE ANOTHER.You see the issue has been around a lot longer than the term “Politically Correct” has been in the world lexicon (and it is certainly not a phrase unique to the United States – we came upon it later than did countries in Europe.)It’s a hard, hard issue that was present back when Paul wrote his letter to the church at Ephesus, from a Roman jail cell, where he sat on death row, because some people had different religious views than did he.It’s not merely politically correct – IT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD, that Jesus came to show us, and to show us how to enter.What breaks my heart, and I just can’t imagine how God deals with it – is how much religion becomes the cause of the brokenness instead of the cure of the brokenness.Contemporary preacher and writer, Barbara Brown Taylor writes that we might be better off, if we tried more to be REVERENT than to be RELIGIOUS.  She said she learned the notion of REVERENCE from her father, and from his time in the military.  For him, she wrote, REVERENCE had nothing to do with religion and very little to do with God.  Reverence was the result of people knowing their rank in the overall scheme of things.Taylor went on to say that she was becoming familiar with a growing number of people who DO NOT CALL THEMSELVES RELIGIOUS, but PRACTICE REVERENCE.  They do not call themselves religious because For them RELIGION involves BELIEF and they’re not sure of what they believe.  And they are tired of having to debate with other people what they believe, And feeling put down by others who don’t share their same belief.  And these people are teaching her that the longer they stand before the holy of holies, the less adequate seems to be their ability to express the formula of their belief system.  Instead, “angels reach down and shut their mouths.”iiYou know it cuts to the quick to hear that this is what has become of RELIGION for so many people.  I practice a religion that follows the teaching of Paul, as he wrote to the Church in Ephesus – near the end of his life, after he had gotten over the Pharisaic “otherness”  of his earlier life.  In this religion, it is more than mere POLITICAL CORRECTNESS to be joined together through the work Jesus, so that we are all  “GROW INTO A HOLY TEMPLE.”  It might just be that in that Temple that the angels reach down and shut our mouths when we try to show how we are better, more correct than others.One of the branches of the military has, I am told by one of their members, an unofficial slogan, “Just kill ‘em all and let God sort it out.”  I hear Paul telling us that the OFFICIAL slogan of the people of Jesus is JUST LOVE ‘EM ALL AND LET GOD SORT IT OUT.As they have been cleaning up, and out, the nursery, Jennifer and Jessica came up with an old picture.  You can see from the back of it just how old and worn out it is.  This picture certainly is older than the expression “P.C.” but it’s message is the same as was Paul’s in today’s scripture.  It’s clearly JUST LOVE ‘EM ALL AND LET GOD SORT IT OUT.When we get the notion to try to draw the lines of who is inside and who is outside, may the angels reach down and shut our mouths.  It’s not just PC; it’s JC.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN. http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Not_Just_PC.mp3 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0500 16:01 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church Remembering Michael, Farrah, Stever, et. al.  Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-14 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.   It seems to me like a lot of famous people have died recently.  I began thinking about this on the day that both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died.  But in the three days before, Ed McMahon and Alec Gallup (of polling fame) had also died.  And, since Michael and Farrah died, in the week following, Gale Storm, Billy Mays (who screamed his sales pitch over the television to us for OxyClean and anything that sold for $19.95 or less), Karl Malden, Steve McNair, and Vietnam War architect Robert McNamara all died.  And, as readers of the Huntington Herald Dispatch newspaper knew, sports columnist extraordinaire Ernie Salvatore, also died.As I wondered about all these prominent deaths, I heard testimonials:An unknown woman, I heard on television, claimed that Michael Jackson had saved her life with his music.  (I wondered if it had been “Thriller” or perhaps the theme song from the movie about rats – “Ben.”)The Charleston Gazette had at least three articles about how important Ernie Salvatore had been for them personally and for sports fans across the state of West Virginia.And yesterday, at Steve McNair’s funeral, present Tennessee Titans Quarterback Vince Young said that his predecessor, who was shot to death in his sleep in a murder suicide by his adulteresss girlfriend, just 2 years shy of being half his age: “Steve was like a hero to me, and heroes are not supposed to die.”Wow!  We have lost some famous people.  But there have been really many more this year, than just in the past two weeks: Actor David Carradine NFL Quarterback, Congressman and Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp Actress Beatrice ArthurNews Correspondent  Irving R. Levine WV Supreme Court Justice Joseph Albright Socks, (American Presidential cat of the Clinton family) founder of Habitat for Humanity Millard Fuller and Fantasy Island actor and spokesman for Chrysler Cordoba with its fine Corinthian leather -- Ricardo Montalbánto name just a fewSo many provocative memories – some more than others, I suspect.I remember a social studies fair a few years back, in which I had been asked to serve as a judge.  As part of his project, a middle school student polled his fellow students to find out who were their heroes.  Mostly sports figures were numbers 2-9.  But #1 – by a wide margin – was PARENT/GRANDPARENT.It made me think: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN REAL LIFE IMPACT between these celebrities who have died – people for the most part known through the news media – AND THOSE WHOSE NAMES ARE READ ALOUD IN THIS PLACE ON ALL SAINTS SUNDAY – people we have known up close and personal.These latter folks have left a real LEGACY, not just some reported life of celebrity accomplishment.  The LEGACY left by these ordinary folks of our lives, of our church, actually touched us.When I moved in descriptive terminology from IMPACT to LEGACY, I realized that I also needed to take into account today’s scripture lesson, when comparing LEGACIES.Today’s lesson from Paul letter to the Ephesians tells us about a SPECIAL LEGACY given to each one of us –GIVEN BY GOD’S INITIATIVE, not our own (see verses 3-4) – through Jesus, and given to each one of us.That LEGACY – and that word means “INHERITANCE” not “DEMAND” – is a promise to us of something very special.It is not a CONDITIONAL inheritance.It was chosen for, and given to us, even before we were born.By this LEGACY, we are FELLOW HEIRS -- with our brother Jesus -- to the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.SO?         SO WHAT?         Pie-in-the-sky-in-the-sweet-bye-and-bye?Oh, I’m so sorry that some religious folks have made it out to be only that!  But verses 13 & 14 make it clear that we are meant to enjoy that inheritance, beginning NOW.  (The word translated “pledge” would really mean in today’s culture something like a “DOWN PAYMENT.”  The inheritance begins NOW.)SO?         SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US -- REALLY? THAT is an important question we all need to deal with.Last week an amazing thing happened – our women’s softball team won the county softball championship.  That they won is not so amazing.  They’ve won it 5 out of the past 6 years prior to this year.  What was amazing is that going into the tournament, through the end of the regular season, they were in last place, and they lost the first game of the post-season tournament.I have no idea what happened to their season.  But I knew they were better – much better -- than their record showed.Now I don’t know much at all about playing softball – other than the fact that I am not good at it myself.  But, I do know something about how the human animal works.  And, it seemed to me that perhaps these women had forgotten just how good they were.So I tried to remind them before each game began just how good they were.  And – SURPRISE!  SURPRISE! – they started playing as good as they really were.  Nobody could touch them.  Because they came out of the losers’ bracket, they had to beat the number one team two nights in a row to win the championship.  They won it 5-1 Friday night.I tell you this story – not just because I was so very proud of them.  I tell you this true story because it illustrates a very important lesson for us – WHEN WE FORGET JUST HOW GOOD WE ARE, WE LIVE AND ACT IT.  BUT WHEN WE REMEMBER HOW GREAT WE ARE, WE ALSO LIVE AND ACT THAT.We have each been given this INHERITANCE – we are brothers or sisters of Jesus – fellow heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven – that makes us ROYALTY!That means we are a WHOLE LOT BETTER THAT WHAT THE CONSUMER CULTURE TRIES TO TEACH US – that SELF-DELUSION OF SELF-ACHIEVED SATIATION.The lesson of today’s scripture lesson is what led 2d century Saint Irenaeus to proclaim: THE GLORY OF GOD IS THE FULLY ALIVE HUMAN.When we begin to realize just how precious we are in God’s sight …When we quit trying to achieve greatness or acceptance, and just live into what we have already inherited …Then we can become like Eric Liddell.Eric Liddell lived the true life story behind the movie Chariots of Fire – the winner of the Olympic God in the 400 meter race.  As the movie showed his run for the gold meal, it had the “voice over” of Eric explaining himself to his sister: Jenny, God has a purpose for my life.  And he made me F A S T.  And when I run, I feel His Pleasure.When we accept our purpose, when we accept the INHERITANCE WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN – and live into just how great we are – then instead of trying to achieve – all we have to do is to live into our potential – just grow into what we are already designed to become – and we feel God’s Pleasure.Oh, how God loves you and me.And all we need to do is to Be – and to Become -- all that we already are.  And in so doing, we feel God’s Pleasure.Spirituality writer Flora Slossen Wuellner writes (Weavings magazine, May/June 2009) that we find our purpose -- discover our inheritance -- when we look at our deepest longings in life – what is it that really makes us feel good when we do?  Look underneath that, to discover what is God’s longing for our lives.What do you really love to do?  When you look underneath that you will find God’s call upon your life.  Then do it.You have been given this inheritance.  It’s already within you.  We can feel God’s Pleasure when we claim that inheritance and live it out.  For the GLORY OF GOD IS THE FULLY ALIVE HUMAN.  You can choose.  We must choose.  Is your life going to be the frustration of always trying to achieve what others think it should be?  Is it going to be frustrated by your not doing what you were meant to do.Or – are you going to become as great as you already were designed and made to be?  Remember your inheritance: YOU ARE A BELOVED CHILD OF GOD, PRECIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD.  Name it.  Claim it.  Live into it.  Feel God’s Pleasure as you become just how great you are.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  AMEN. http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Remembering_Michael_Farrah.mp3 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 05:00:00 -0500 17:48 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church Remember When?  Mark 4:35-41 35On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But 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?” 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” I.  We are told, in this 4th chapter of Mark, that Jesus was teaching to a very large crowd that day.  He started out on the shore, by the sea, but had to move out into the boat, while the crowd stood on the seashore, listening to him teach.On this day Jesus told them The parable of the sowerThat a lamp once lit should be on a lampstand and not put under a bushel basketThat everything that is hidden now will one day be revealed That the Kingdom of God will surely happen, even if we don’t understand itThe parable about how the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seedThen on that same day, when evening had come, Jesus instructed the disciples to put out to sea – in that same boat.He had been teaching long and hard.  He was tired.  He went to sleep.  A big storm arose – lots of wind; powerful waves.The disciples were afraid, very afraid.  They had been there for all His teaching.  But learning about the Kingdom of God, from teaching alone, is not enough to know the Kingdom of God.If our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, is limited to lecture, sermon, discussion, and reading, then all we have is ideas.  Real faith is based on personal experience and relationship.  If we operate only out of our head, God will be limited by the extent of our ideas.  And that’s not enough to calm our fears.Book knowledge, paying attention to sermons, participation in lively Christian discussion – these are all good things.  But it is not enough to get us through the storms of life.It’s like the little boy who ran to his Daddy, when frightened by the storm.  His Daddy told him not to worry; God is always with him.  As the little boy hugged his Daddy tighter, he said, “I want to feel God with skin.”The disciples, in this Gospel story appeared to have forgotten about Jesus’ power; they just didn’t seem to know Who He was.  The Gospel of Mark was written, after Jesus’ resurrection – when they knew for certain Who He was – in an attempt to teach the first Christian readers – and us – Who He was, and how powerful He is.  But if we only have book learning, He won’t calm our fears either.II.  Sometimes, it’s hard being a good Dad – or “father figure.”  Even the best of us can lose our patience, at times.Imagine a good man, who tells his children: “I am going to take you to Chuck E. Cheese to play, after I finish doing the lawn work today.”  This is a good father, who keeps his promises with his children.But all throughout the day, as he is working in the yard, the children keep coming up to him and asking: “Are you going to take us to Chuck E. Cheese?” and “When are we going to Chuck E. Cheese?” and “Daaaaaad! I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese!” and on and on, all day long.We are not surprised, when the Dad, who always keeps his promises to his children, gets exasperated and says, “For crying out loud, would you please be quiet!”That’s how I picture what happened that evening on the boat.I know, it’s only the 4th chapter of the Gospel of Saint Mark, but prior to today’s reading, Saint Mark has already written about the following being done in the disciples presence:Jesus driving an unclean spirit out of a man in the synagogue (1:21 ff.)Jesus healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, instantly of her fever that made her bed bound (1:29 ff.)Jesus’ reputation for healing being so great that the whole town came to Him for His amazing power (1:32 ff.)His instantaneous healing of a leper (1:40 ff)A paralyzed man being lowered through the roof of His house, and Jesus healing him so he could walk out the door (2:3 ff.)A man with a withered hand, being restored by Jesus (3:1 ff.)The fact that Jesus worked so many miracles that everyone around who had any disease would press upon Him just to touch Him, in order to be healed. (3:10)And yet, today – even after all that they had experienced in their very presence, the disciples forgot, and were afraid.  Not just afraid; they panicked.[Turning to the choir and speaking generally to the bass and tenor sections] In order to illustrate this next sermon point, would you stand up and bring me a hymnal?  [To whomever brings me the hymnal, I say.]    No, not you, I asked [name of person in front or behind person bringing hymnal] to bring me a hymnal.Looking at verses 39 and 40, I know that it says in verse 39 that Jesus “rebuked the wind, and said to the sea …” and in verse 40 it says that Jesus “said to the[ disciples] …”But, just as it was difficult for the choir to know which one of them I was asking to bring me a hymnal, I’ve long held the idea that when it says in verse 39 that Jesus said, “Peace!  Be still!” – that He was really just talking to the disciples who woke Him up.  It’s just that the sea and the wind heard Him and thought He was speaking to them.Jesus learned from that experience, and when he later raised Lazarus from the dead, in the cemetery, He was very specific and said, “Lazarus, arise.”  Otherwise, if He had said, “Arise from the dead!” without naming the object of His command, the whole cemetery would have come alive.”There’s power in the Word of Jesus.  The disciples had experienced it – not just heard teaching about it.  But they had forgotten.The disciples, in this Gospel story appeared to have forgotten about Jesus’ power; they just didn’t seem to know Who He was.  The Gospel of Mark was written, after Jesus’ resurrection – when they knew for certain Who He was – in an attempt to teach the first Christian readers – and us – Who He was, and how powerful He is.  Even if we more than just book learning, but have actually experienced the power of Jesus personally, we are not immune from forgetting.It’s part of the reason why we need to regularly worship.We gather together and repeat the words of Psalm 46, as we did this morning. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though our lives be turned upside down ….We do it to worship God – for sure.  For God is worthy of all our praise and worship.  But we also do it to remind ourselves – to help us not suffer from spiritual amnesia.We gather together and sing God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale, as we did this morning -- in order to remember AWE and GRACE and CARE and LOVE and JOY and HOME.We do it to worship God – for sure.  For God is worthy of all our praise and worship.  But we also do it to remind ourselves – to help us not suffer from spiritual amnesia.Memory is fleeting, and takes repetition to reinforce.We may have book knowledge of Jesus, but that alone will not be enough, when the storms of life are raging.We may have our own personal experience of the power of God in our lives -- more than just book learning.  But even with personal experience of God’s power, unless we worship regularly, we develop spiritual amnesia, and we forget who we are.  We forget Whose we are.The Good News is that we are BELOVED CHILDREN OF GOD, PRECIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD.  It’s the permanent mark of our Baptism.  The bad news is that we really can forget it, if we are not regularly reminded of that fact.The Good News is that we really are a downtown church that feels like home.  The bad news is that if we don’t practice it, with ourselves and with strangers who don’t know where is their true home, we will forget it.  We have to keep on reaching and stretching – doing more than we are capable of doing by our own strength, absent the POWER OF GOD – or we will forget just how powerful God is.In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Who alone keep us and Whose Worship alone can keep us from forgetting.  AMEN. http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Remember_When.mp3 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0500 14:03 Rev’d Janet Harman St. Marks United Methodist Church         “NIC AT NIGHT”                    Rev’d Janet M. Harman  John 3:1-17 Once upon a time, there was a woman who set out to discover the meaning of life.  First she read everything she could get her hands on—history, philosophy, psychology, religion.  While she became a very smart person, nothing she read gave her the answer she was looking for.  Then she set about to find other smart people and began asking them about the meaning of life.Her discussions with them were sometimes long and lively, but no agreement was ever reached and she still had no answer.Finally she put all her possessions in storage and set off in search for the meaning of life.  She went to South America, Australia, Japan.  She went to India.  People all over didn’t know the meaning of life, but she began to hear about someone who did.  She was told that he lived far away in the Himalayan mountains, in a high and distant village, in a little hut perched on the side of the mountain just below the tree line.She set off to find him.  She crossed rivers, she forded streams, she scaled mountains.  She climbed to reach his little shack.  When she finally got to his front door, with knuckles so cold they hardly worked, she knocked.A kind-looking old man opened the door.  She nearly fainted with happiness.  At last she had found him.“I’ve come halfway around the world to ask you one question” she said, gasping for breath, not having had time to adjust to the thin mountain air.  “What is the meaning of life?”“Please come in and have some tea”, the old man said.“No”, she said, “I mean, no thank you.  I haven’t come all this way for tea.  I’m here for an answer.  Won’t you tell me, please, what is the meaning of life?”  “We shall have some tea,” the old man said.  So, she gave up and went inside.While he was brewing the tea she caught her breath and began telling him about all the books she had read, all the people she had met, and all the places she had been.The old man just listened, (it was all he could do anyway since she didn’t leave him any room to speak).  As she talked, he placed a fragile tea cup in her hand, and he began to pour the tea.She was so busy talking that she didn’t notice when the cup was full, so the old man just kept pouring until the tea ran over the sides and spilled onto the floor in a steaming waterfall.“What are you doing?”  She yelled when the tea began to burn her hand.  “It’s full, can’t you see that?  Stop!  There’s no more room!” "Just so,” the old man replied.  “You come here wanting something from me, but what am I to do?  There is no room in your cup.  Come back when it is empty and we will talk.” Wanting to be made complete by increasing her knowledge;  and ultimately the meaning of life, she came up short.  When the opportunity finally arrived that she was looking for, she missed it.  You could say that she couldn’t see the forest for the trees…In a similar way Nicodemus came to Jesus, wanting to know who Jesus really was and where his power came from.  He and Jesus didn’t have tea, but the outcome of the encounter was similar.  Jesus didn’t cooperate the way his questioner wanted him to and as Jesus sometimes did, he redirected the question to something other than what Nicodemus had in mind.Now, understand, Nicodemus approached Jesus with some hope.  Yet, he was looking for just a certain kind of answer; and he came in private, in the darkness of the night.He came looking for a spoonful of knowledge, expecting just enough to keep him going, and Jesus gave him more; he gave him buckets full.  He knew that Jesus, this Nazarene Rabbi, had been sent by God and no one could do what Jesus did unless God was very much behind it.But is Nicodemus really thinking about Jesus’s words in a literal way?  Or does he not want to admit that he actually hears what Jesus is saying?  Or is he asking himself “what is God doing by sending you here?  How does this change things, that you are here, and with us now.  What is God saying in you being here?”We don’t know much about Nicodemus, but we know enough, by the fact that because he came at night to avoid being detected by others, he showed he was willing to risk his reputation and livelihood for this answer.Jesus’ initial answer was direct, and it was just the beginning.  He spoke to Nicodemus about God.  It’s as if he was enticing Nicodemus to ask for more.“No one can see the kingdom of God without being born anew.”  (or as in my NRSV translation says:  without being transformed) The flood gates of Nicodemus’ curiosity were opened and he just had to follow up.  If this Jesus was a teacher sent by God—what in the world was he talking about?  How can birth happen twice?  Isn’t once enough?  And Nicodemus wanted facts, wanted to be able to get a good handle on this, to be able to understand it completely.Nicodemus was challenged by Jesus in having his question transformed from a “how-to” to a “why” question, and he had a hard time with it.  He  was obviously frustrated with Jesus’ answers, in words whose meanings he didn’t understand; and in glimpses of God’s Spirit in ways he wasn’t ready to look at.Most of us, I’d guess, come at life the same way as Nicodemus.  We’re comfortable with a “how-to” mentality about life.  As people of a technological age, we’re not comfortable with mystery.  Mystery is an alien word to us.  Practicality dominates our lives.  We don’t feel comfortable dealing with the “why’s” of life—what’s more—we don’t really know how to deal with them.  We need to know how something is made; created; the who, what…..Nicodemus came to Jesus by night; full of anticipation.  He was looking for a word of advice, some help.  It was natural for him to go to a Rabbi to find some help.  A Rabbi would tell you some stories, some parables and teachings, from the Talmud, stories which would direct you in ways in which you should be able to begin to sort it out and decide in light of the law and tradition.  But Jesus didn’t teach like other Rabbis, he didn’t teach like the Pharisees.  He didn’t give options.  He said, instead, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except by me. “  Even beginning at 12 years of age, Jesus upset people with his way of teaching.  He upset the wrong kind of people.  Some people just walked away—others took his words as a serious threat.As for Nicodemus, he stayed to listen to Jesus.  It was a classic encounter between two great figures—like those we’ve seen in history books:   Lafayette and Washington,  Reagan and Gorbachev or President & Mrs. Obama  meeting with Queen Elizabeth.Author Frederick Buechner provides some helpful images.  From his book PECULIAR TREASURES, he writes.    ‘Jesus told Nicodemus that unless you got born again, you might as well give it up.  That was all very well, Nicodemus said, but how were you to pull a thing like that off?  How especially were you supposed to do it if you were pushing 65?  How did you get born again when it was a challenge just to get out of bed each morning?Just then, in the midst of them talking, a gust of wind happened to whistle by, making the dying embers of the campfire burst into flame, and Jesus said that being born again was like that.  It wasn’t something you did.  The wind did it.  The Spirit did it.  It was not something you do.It happens.“How can this be?”  Nicodemus said; and that’s when Jesus let him have it.  Maybe Nicodemus had six honorary doctorates and half a column in Who’s Who, Jesus said, but if he couldn’t grasp something like this, he’d better go back to kindergarten.“I’m telling you like it is,” Jesus said, “I’m telling you what I’ve seen.  I’m telling you that there are people on Medicare walking around with the love-light in their eyes.  I’m telling you that there are ex-cons teaching Sunday school.  I’m telling you that there are undertakers scared silly we’ll put them all out of business.I’m telling you that God has such a thing for this loused up planet that he’s sent me down here so if you don’t believe your own eyes, then maybe you’ll believe mine; maybe you’ll believe me, maybe you won’t come sneaking around scared half to death in the dark anymore but will come to, come clean, come to life in all its glory and goodness.”Buechner goes on to say, “What impressed Nicodemus even more than the speech was the quickening of his own breathing and the pounding of his heart.  He hadn’t felt like this since his first kiss.This is what the story of Nicodemus is all about.  It’s about Jesus filling his emptiness, even though this man came to Jesus thinking he was very full.So, what filled Nicodemus?  It was Jesus talking about belief and quickly moving into talking about trust.Now, there’s belief and there’s belief.  The best illustration I can share about trust, comes from my friends Chuck and Melanie in St. Albans who enjoy white-water rafting .  It was their first time on the Gauley River, where it’s wilder, rougher white-water.  There were several other folks in the raft-and the raft was big and sturdy.  They had taken a number of rapids that day, did OK, and all were pretty confident.  So their thoughts moved to taking one of the more difficult trips  – Melanie called it the “widow-maker”.  A guide accompanied them on this trip.  Melanie said the drop was from about here to the floor, with boulders/rocks tight on either side, and a whirlpool underneath; so if you fell out, you could get sucked underneath and maybe not come up.  It was a challenge – a thrill !!  They were given an option to not go over the falls and instead walk on the rocks and get back in the raft down river.  But the rocks were dangerous and slippery; they had helmets on, but the rocks could be more dangerous than the water.  They both told me that they opted for the ride.  Melanie said it was like a giant waterfall – not quite as large as Niagara Falls – but it seemed that way.  Their guide took them straight through the rapids.  “It was a blast; we got drenched, but we knew that was going to happen anyway.  We trusted in our guide and she – yes, it was a college aged girl; she got us through”.Now, in applying this story to Nicodemus, if he had been on the raft, he’d want the raft stopped and anchored right there so that he could make absolutely sure that our guides credentials checked out OK and that she had plenty of experience on these falls.  He’d likely want to watch the guide take a different raft over the falls to know that it could be done safely.But sooner or later, it would be his turn, and he’d have to go over.  Or take the rocks; either way, there was danger ahead.  His choice would be a guide or no guide.Of all of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, the punch line comes at verse 16.  It’s a verse famous enough to be regarded the most important verse of the Bible and  at football games.   Martin Luther called this verse “the Gospel in miniature”.   (  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”)Jesus is there to save us, in our rafts of life.  Ready or not, Jesus is there.  Ready or not.Here is how, says Jesus.  Put your trust in me.  Watch me.  Don’t think about it too hard.  Just do as I do.  Trust me and travel with me.  I will be with you along the way.  And when we get to the end, we’ll stop and have some tea.God is ready for us, to accept us and not to condemn us, no matter who we are.  No one is lost to God.    No one !AMEN.  http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Nic_at_Night.mp3 Sun, 07 Jun 2009 05:00:00 -0500 16:15 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church Just Like Dr. Seuss Said                                                                 Acts 1:1-11    1In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”   Ascension Day.  Jesus is leaving.  He did this once before – left the disciples – on Good Friday.  It was different then.  But He’s leaving again.  And, goodbyes are hard.I read somewhere that on the other side of this story – i.e., up in Heaven – Jesus was greeted by the archangel Gabriel.  He asked Jesus what was going to happen next.Jesus told Gabriel that he had left behind His disciples.  The twelve of them would fan out “to be [My] witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”To this, Gabriel laughed, and said, “THOSE twelve – the ones who denied You and betrayed You and deserted You in Your darkest hour!  That’s pretty funny.  What’s Your Plan B?”And Jesus, with a twinkle in His eye, said, “That’s it.  There is no Plan B.  All of human history depends on their doing their job.”“Oh!” murmured an unconvinced Gabriel.Goodbyes are hard.  They open the door to the unknown.Goodbyes are hard.  They leave behind what we know.Henri Nouwen, the great Dutch American spirituality writer of the last half of the 20th century, left his academic posts in Ivy League universities, to spend the last quarter century of his life living and working in a home for mentally impaired adults.He wrote about one couple who had worked for fourteen years in the same facility, and who were leaving to become the leaders of a sister facility in another part of the country.  This couple who was leaving had been Henri’s friends.  “They had accomplished many beautiful things but also had experienced failure and disappointment; many new friendships had developed, but relationship had been broken as well.  During the months before their departure [his] friends … would say things like: ‘We are really grateful for all the good things that have happened, for all the beautiful friendships that have developed, for all the hopes that were realized.  We simply have to accept or try to forget the painful moments.”Later, Nouwen reflected on this divided attitude – be grateful for the good and try to forget the bad – and decided that GRATITUDE MEANS THAT WE HAVE TO ACCEPT ALL OF LIFE AS GIFT – the good and the bad.  We have to accept it all as Gift, because there is nothing in life that God, the Great Conservationist, cannot and will not redeem, if we allow God.  The same Peter, who had denied Jesus three times, was later allowed by Jesus to reaffirm his love for Him an equal number of times, and went on to become the great leader of the Church – the Rock upon which the Church would be built.  We have to accept it all as Gift because that’s how life is – messy and imperfect – but REAL and GOOD.This past week, I have been dragged to put my toe in the water.  I have not gone over to the dark side yet, but I have at least lurked about this thing called FACEBOOK that it seems everyone thinks I should get into.  I read two entries written by people about whom I care:One is in a profile:I am a child of God, always seeking deeper relationship with the Father; a musician who strives to honor Him with the gifts He has bestowed; and a great big nerd who loves to read.    Now, that’s what I’m talking about – that’s how life is – messy and imperfect – but REAL and GOOD.The other one is written in the posting of a young mother talking about her toddler daughter:Ava's been playing with her Little People nativity and she found a beer cap (God only knows where) and was using it as a HAT for the Virgin Mary...  Now, that’s what I’m talking about – that’s how life is – messy and imperfect – but REAL and GOOD.Jesus doesn’t require PERFECT.  There is not PLAN B of perfect little robots running around without making mistakes, without growing.  We ought not require from ourselves or from one another more than Jesus does.Goodbyes are hard.  They open the door to the unknown.Goodbyes are hard.  They leave behind what we know.In the last sermon that he preached in the WV Conference, Bishop S. Clifton Ives told the flock which he was departing: BE WELL.  DO GOOD WORK.  STAY IN TOUCH.  I liked that.  It’s a line said often by Garrison Keillor, sage of Lake Wobegon.But, as I was thinking this past week about GOODBYES, it occurred to me that earlier in the week of that Annual Conference five years ago, Bishop Ives’ wife, Jane, had also made a goodbye statement:Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.I wondered if it was also a quote from someone.  So I researched it, and found that it was – a quote from Dr. Seuss.Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.In order to do that, it means we must take stock each day what is going on -- to pay attention to the things of our life, and to be grateful for the blessings we find packed up in each day.Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.Each day comes with some good and some bad all rolled up into one.  And in it – if we are looking – that is where we find God, and that is where God finds us.  It’s just like Dr. Seuss said.Goodbyes are hard.  They open the door to the unknown.Goodbyes are hard.  They leave behind what we know.And so, when we leave Church each week, Janet and I give you two things to take with you: a BENEDICTION and a SENDING FORTH:We are together in worship.  We are breaking up that community to go forth.Jesus and the disciples had been together in community.  At the Ascension they were breaking up that community, and the whole focus and locus of God’s Ministry in the world was changing.  Jesus was going to heaven but sending them a blessing to help them in their ministry as they sallied forth from Jerusalem, through all Judea and Samaria, even unto the ends of the earth.As we go forth, the BENEDICTION is a blessing.  The SENDING FORTH is the mission.  We are never, in God’s Kingdom blessed just for the sake of getting goodies.  As in the ancient days, with the first covenant God made with Abraham, God always blesses us in order to be blessing to others.On Ascension Day, the disciples were left looking up.  It took a couple of angels to shake them from their reverie and tell them to get on with it.  We can’t just stand around looking up into heaven; we’ve got work to do.Like the archangel Gabriel, in that whimsical story I shared earlier, the disciples did not think they were up for the task.  But God was not done with them yet.We, too, may think we are not up for the mission left for us.  But it’s up to us – with God’s help.  We can’t just stand around mooning over the good old days.Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.  AND, move on.As the winds of life blow ‘round us, the good is mixed with the sad.  Time is always moving forward. And we cannot stay in the past.So the poet Paul Kennan put it like this:One ship goes east, the other west.It’s the selfsame winds that blow.It’s the set of the sails, and not the gales,That teach us the way to go. How we set out sails says much about our faith.How we set our sails will determine much of how we go.How we set our sails will shape how we deal with the NOW that tomorrow becomes.None of us has quite got it all together.  Like the disciples of old, we’ve got some of the very best God could want mixed up with some of the daggonest ungodliness mixed in -- the kind of stuff that writer Anne Lamott said would make God drink Himself to sleep, He’d be so disappointed with her. (Or so she thought.)But, if we know that God is always working for our good, we can go on.If we know that we are indeed God’s beloved children, precious and beautiful to behold, we might not be so hard on ourselves, and be able to trust that God has good things yet to be revealed in and through us.We’re not so much different from those disciples of old on the mountain.  It’s just like Jesus said to Gabriel – there is no Plan B.  It’s going to happen with us.  And it’s just like Dr. Seuss said, too.Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.  Trust in God’s blessings to still unfold, empowering us to become all that God wants us to become … throughout Charleston, all of Kanawha County and West Virginia, and even to the ends of the earth.In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  AMEN.  http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Just_Like_Dr_Seuss_Said.mp3 Sun, 24 May 2009 05:00:00 -0500 16:29 Rev'd Monty Brown St. Marks United Methodist Church Forever Warranty in a Planned Obsolescence World  John 15:9-17  9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.  Last Sunday, we looked at the heart of our Christian faith, and asked the Question: Is our faith centered on SIN, in need of something to be acceptable to God or Is our faith centered on LOVE, i.e. does it begin with the notion that we are made in God’s Image and are the beloved of God.  In the context of last Sunday – Mother’s Day, the preacher illustrated the difference with this contrast: One is a child who always knows that s/he is loved and nothing is ever going to change that.  And that child is going to try their best to be as good as they can, because of the confidence they have that they are loved, and because they want to grow up into that best person that their momma sees in them.The other is a child who is always told that they are bad.  That is the heart of their identity, but this child’s mother tells them that if they say and believe what she tells them to believe then they can become acceptable.LOVE – the center of our being, the center of God’s ongoing creation, the heart of the Christian theology.  What I didn’t tell you last week was that the sermon then was the first part of a two part sermon.  So today, again, we begin with LOVE – at the heart of the Gospel, today as it was last week.   This week we move out from the CENTER OF OUR FAITH, into the lives we live. Today’s sermon asks the question: what difference does it make BEYOND OUR OWN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, if we begin with love?The key to answering this question, I believe, is in the 16th verse: I APPOINTED YOU TO BEAR FRUIT – FRUIT THAT WILL LAST.THINGS THAT LAST ARE ALMOST FOREIGN TO OUR CONCEPT OF LIVING.The notion, or phrase, “planned obsolescence” was used by Brooks Stevens, an American industrial designer at an advertising conference in Minneapolis in 1954. It was the title of his presentation.  In his original pitch of the term, it was the GOAL OF ADVERTISING to make the consumer desire something new sooner than necessary.  The concept caught on, however, to take on new meaning – the manufacturer began to design a product so that it would break easily or quickly go out of style, thereby inducing the consumer (irrespective of advertising) to buy again.In 1960, cultural critic Vance Packard published the book The Waste Makers, as an exposé of "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals."Today, in a society of wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals, I never hear people talk about “planned obsolescence.”  It is so much the RULE OF LIFE we don’t even pay attention.How many people here have ever bought a computer, and really kind of had a real sort of notion that this computer might be the most that they would ever require – it was just that big in RAM and storage, and just that fast?  And how many people today are using a computer that is over five years old?What are things that last?  The words that pass over our lips last a long time.  Art Buchwald once wrote a piece: “I was in New York the other day and rode with a friend in a taxi.  When we got our, my friend said to the driver, ‘Thank you for the ride.  You did a superb job of driving.’“The taxi driver was stunned for a second.  Then he said, ‘Are you a wise guy or something?’“’No, my dear man, and I’m not putting you on.  I admire the way you keep cool in heavy traffic.’“’Yeah,’ the driver said and drove off.“’What was that all about?’ [Buchwald asked.]“’I am trying to bring love back to New York,’ he said.  ‘I believe it’s the only thing that can save the city.’“’How can one man save New York?’ [Buchwald pressed him.]“’It’s not one man.  I believe I have made the taxi driver’s day.  Suppose he has twenty fares.  He’s going to be nice to those twenty fares because someone was nice to him.   These fares in turn will be kinder to their employees or shopkeepers or waiters or even their own families.   Eventually the goodwill could spread to at least 1,000 people.  Now that isn’t bad, is it?’“’But you’re depending on that taxi driver to pass your goodwill to others.’”“’I’m not depending on it,’ my friend said.  ‘I’m aware that the system isn’t foolproof, so I might deal with ten different people today.  If, out of ten, I can make three happy, then eventually, I can indirectly influence the attitudes of 3,000 more.’“’It sounds good on paper, [Buchwald] admitted. ‘but I’m not sure it works in practice.’“’Nothing is lost if it doesn’t.  It didn’t take any of my time to tell that man he was doing a good job.  He neither received a larger tip nor a smaller tip.  If it fell on deaf ears, so what?  Tomorrow, there will be another taxi driver whom I can try to make happy.’“’You’re some kind of nut,’ [Art Buchwald accused.]“’That shows how cynical you have become …’“[Buchwald continued to write:] We were walking past a structure in the process of being built and passed five workers eating their lunch.  My friend stopped. ‘that’s a magnificent job you men have done.  It must be difficult and dangerous work.’  The five men eyed my friend suspiciously.  ‘When will it be finished?’ [he asked.]“’June,” a man grunted.“’Ah, that is really impressive.  You must all be very proud.’“[Buchwald and his friend walked away, with Buchwald commenting,] ‘I haven’t seem anyone like you since “The Man of La Mancha.”’“’When those men digest my words, they will feel better for it.  Somehow the city will benefit from their happiness.’“’But you can’t do this alone,’ [Buchwald] protested.  ‘You’re just one man.’“’the most important thing is not to get discouraged.  Making people in the city become kind again is not an easy job, but if I can enlist other people in my campaign ….’“’You just winked at a very plain looking woman,’ [Buchwald] said.“’Yes, I know,’ he replied.  ‘And if she’s a school teacher, her class will be in for a fantastic day.”1Jesus realized how long is the life of our words, and tried to warn us.At the end of my emails, I have a standard closing that is my little way of laughing at how serious some email is: “If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must destroy it, and swear that you will forget having ever seen it, cross your heart and hope to die, stick a needle in your eye, and I mean it, too.”  My email “signature” simply quotes the words from Jesus, and says: CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: IT IS ASSUMED THAT THIS COMMUNICATION, AS WELL AS EVERY OTHER EMAIL AND SPOKEN COMMUNICATION, IS BEING MONITORED, AND A RECORD THEREOF IS BEING KEPT. (Matthew 12:36 quotes Jesus: “I tell you, on the day of judgment, you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; ...”) Therefore, I try to speak and write accordingly.It’s not just words from our mouths, that can last a long time.  Our life itself has incredible lasting power – not just BIG SHOT PEOPLE, also us ordinary ones.Back in 2004, for All Saints Sunday, I listed a name of a saint that I doubt if any of you recognized.  It was Franz Jaggerstaater.  When I was a young man, barely more than a boy, but old enough to go to war, I struggled with what our country was doing in Vietnam.  I struggled with what was moral and right.  And I also struggled with what price was I wiling to pay.  Today, I stand not in judgment of anyone who fought in that war, and pray that none stand in judgment of me for how I struggled with it.In the midst of t hat struggle I read a book entitled “In Solitary Witness.”  The whole book was about a simple, shopkeeper in Germany by the name of Franz Jaggerstaater, who wrestled with similar issues during the rise of the Third Reich.  That book was about his struggle, his decision to not become a Nazi soldier because of his belief that it was immoral, and the resulting Nazi execution of him.  Outside of his family and a few close friends, and the author of this book, no one knew of his story.  It was indeed a death given (as was the title of the book) “In Solitary Witness.”  What difference could it possibly make?  But, for an eighteen year old in the early 1970’s, it made a profound difference -- to know that one simple man would do something unpopular in his country at the time – which would cost him his life -- just because he thought it was right – and which sacrifice would be unnoticed by more than a handful of people.  But, he BORE FRUIT, beyond what seemed possible.  And when a quarter of a century later, when I was in seminary, I mentioned the name of Franz Jaggerstaater in a Bible Class, and my professor, later Dean of the seminary, and since retired, was well versed in the FRUIT his life bore, because he, too, had known Jaggerstaater’s story, his solitary witness..We can never be too sure of just what fruit our lives will bear, nor guess whose lives our life will tuch.Long life is given to ordinary lives because of the FRUIT BEARING MAGIC OF STORYTELLING.A few weeks ago, during the Primer Timers meeting, we had an impromptu activity of storytelling.  I remember some people said, “Oh, I can’t remember anything like that from my childhood.”  But, as the stories began to unfold, the light bulbs popped on in people’s memories.  You could ee the light come on, as they suddenly were reminded of an event of how someone had touched their lives.We have incredible fruit orchards alive within us, but often lying dormant.  We miss out on so much because we have exchanged the LONG LASTING FRUIT OF STORYTELLING for the PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE OF TELEVISION SHOWS and INTERNET TWITTERS, that barely hold our attention, and hardly register long enough to become a memory.finally, we must pay attention to the eternal quality to our words, actions, and lives.  The quote from Jesus used in my emails Ýou will be held accountable for every word that carelessly passes over your lips is a reference to something we rarely think about: What we do in this life has ramification in the eternal kingdom, in addition to the life we are able to see with our five earthly sense. Jesus certainly included this in what the Gospel lesson tells us about today.  I APPOINTED YOU TO BEAR FRUIT – FRUIT THAT WILL LAST.  This very point is described in  Mitch Albom’s little best seller book, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” – an apt illustration, even though it’s characters are fictional.It’s not, however, just idle speculation, in fiction books, and without biblical foundation.  The Book of Revelation seems clear that what we do on earth is lodged in what occurs in our life after earth.  (cf. Revelation 14:13; 19:7-8)Jesus said that what we bind up on earth will be bound in heaven, and what we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  (Matthew 18:18)John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, spoke about how the Kingdom of Heaven exists all about our earthly existence, like the world of a pregnant woman is to the baby in her womb: what goes on in each plane of existence has impact of the other.It’s even part of the prayer that our Lord gave us as a model, for praying and for living: ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.  We start it here, and it continues.Actually, I could find no scriptural basis for assuming that what we do on earth will have no impact on the life hereafter.  Wishful thinking by some, perhaps, but nothing more than that.Oh yes, indeed, it is not impossible for a sinner to be saved at the last moment, the last breath of life.  The thief on the cross was told that he would meet Jesus in Paradise.  But, what we plant on earth, will also be fruit experienced forever.There’s no loving deed that we can do that will not have consequences.  You simply cannot do a good deed anonymously, so that it will have no impact.  It bears fruit that lasts.This is Jesus’ commandment.  We heard Him say so in today’s Gospel.  It’s all about LOVE.  Not just how Love makes our life better.  But also how Love makes life better for others.  Not just in our presence, but with eternal fruit.  We may not even see it blossom or bloom.  We don’t need to.  Jesus told us so.Some people write reports that are of worth for a day or two; some people build computer programs that will last as long as five years; some people build houses meant to last for decades.  But Jesus calls and empowers disciples to do works that last forever.Know the LOVE.  It is at the very center of our relationship with God, through Jesus.  And then SHARE IT.  Any way you can.  Don’t worry if nobody sees it.  It will bear fruit.  And that makes God smile.  And when God smiles, we all are blessed.  AMEN. http://stmarkswv.org/media/system/podcasts/Forever_Warranty.mp3 Sun, 17 May 2009 05:00:00 -0500 22:27