Scripture:  John 18:33-37

In the middle of the 1920’s, dark clouds were gathering on the edges of the world stage.   The war to end all wars, was still a recent memory, it’s scars still being felt.  Across the world various nationalistic and ideological forces were on the rise.   For instance, In 1924 a communist led coup was fended off in Estonia, while the growing power of the Soviet Union violently put down a rebellion in Georgia.  Then in 1925 Mussolini came to power in Italy on a platform of fascism and nationalism.  That same year in Germany Adolf Hitler published his manifesto Mein Kampf, and in the Spring of 1925 the overtly racist and nationalistic Ku Klux Klan held a parade where more than 35,000 of them marched in their hoods and robes on the streets of Washington D.C.  It was at this time when nationalistic forces, allegiance to ideologies, and violence was gaining momentum that Pope Pius XI issued a Papal bull that declared the creation of the feast of Christ the King.  This special holy day was meant to remind Christians across the world that their primary allegiance was to Christ- not to a leader, not to a party, not to a political ideology, not to a flag, but to Jesus the king of kings and Lord of Lords. 

Unfortunately, throughout the 1920s and 1930s, nationalism and violent political ideologies continued to rise.  This led to more and more Christian denominations to think that Pope Pius XI had a point, and they also began to see the important of recognizing and celebrating Christ the King Sunday.  By the middle of the 20th century, it became enshrined in the lectionary, the three-year cycle of scripture readings, as the last Sunday before Advent.  Which means today is Christ the King Sunday. 

It is somewhat surprising that having a day to emphasize the kingship of Jesus only came to being less than 100 years ago.  Especially from our American perspective, it feels like something that belongs to medieval times.   As Americans, we tend to not think that highly of the idea of kings.  I mean we did kind of fight a whole war over the idea of being able to declare our independence.  The idea of a person having power and authority as birth right goes against the rugged individualism, self-determination, and emphasis on choice that is at the core of our cultural identity.  Yet this morning’s designation and this morning’s scripture is there to remind us that if we consider ourselves a Christian, then our knees should bend because we do have a king.   This morning’s scripture can challenge us to pause and consider what does it mean for us if Jesus is truly Lord of our lives. 

Referring to Jesus as Lord or even king is so common in our flowery religious language, that we lose sight of the fact that declaring the Lordship of Jesus was (and is) a deeply political statement.   In the Roman Empire there was supposed to be only one lord, and that was Caesar.  Caesar was the emperor.  The Senate, the representatives of the people, answered to him.  The military, the greatest fighting force the world had ever seen, obeyed his command.  In the first century, as far as the Romans were concerned Caesar was the sovereign ruler of the civilized world.

 This is what landed Jesus in front of Pontius Pilate in this morning’s scripture.  The Scribes and the Pharisees wanted Jesus dead, and they knew the only way they could get that done legally is if they got Jesus punished for treason- for declaring himself king instead of Caesar.  In this morning’s scripture Pilate is examining Jesus to see if he can find cause to execute Jesus for challenging the authority of Caesar. Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world and that he came into this world to be a king that testifies the truth.  Even a mighty king, an Emperor like Caesar was temporary, and even an empire like the Roman Empire eventually falls.   The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, because it is an eternal kingdom.  Pilate struggled to understand what Jesus was saying, because he was thinking only in terms of earthly political movements and conserving the status quo, but the kingdom of Christ is based in a truth that makes all things new in a world without end. 

Trying to come to terms with what Jesus meant when he claimed Jesus was king was difficult for Pilate, and I think it can be difficult for us as well.  Pilate struggled because Jesus was a king completely unlike that of the Roman Emperors.  We find it difficult to relate to Jesus as king, because in our modern context we really do not know what it even means.   As already mentioned, as Americans we do not like the idea of someone having full authority over us, so we tend to greatly minimize that part of following Jesus.  In the abstract we acknowledge that Jesus is the son of God and our Savior.  When it comes to how we relate to Jesus, we tend to overemphasize a personal connection.  I realize this really dates me, but I can remember a phrase from when I first started in youth ministry.  This was twenty years ago and at that time there was marketing and T-shirts.  that stated “Jesus is my homeboy.”   I think homeboy is about as far away from King as we can get.    The implication of calling Jesus our homeboy is that Christ is just another friend, another acquaintance, another part of our large social circle.   

Jesus as homeboy might be the most cringe example, but there has long been a push to emphasize Jesus as our buddy.  A common phrase from the 1970’s and the 1980’s sums the problem up well.  At that time, it was popular to say that “Jesus is my co-pilot.”  The implication is that we have just as much authority in our lives as Jesus.  The implication in the statement is that Jesus is our equal, or that we are the ones in control and we just hang out with Christ when it is convenient for us (like Sunday mornings at 9:00).   Jesus is unlike any king because in Jesus we have a savior who does understand us, who has walked our path, who knows our pain, and who will listen to our every trouble in prayer.  What a friend we have in Jesus, but our relationship with Jesus must be more than a friend.  Jesus walks along side us in life as a friend, but ultimately Jesus also sits on the throne as king. 

In this morning’s scripture Pilate tries to figure out what kind of king Jesus is, and if we want to get being a follower of Jesus right we also need to know what kind of king Jesus is.  Pilate wanted to know if he is the king of the Jews, but Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world.    Jesus is a king by birthright.   Jesus is of the line of David, but more importantly Jesus is the son of God, who came to rule all who are God’s people.  More than that Jesus is a king of character, a king of integrity, and a king of righteousness.  Jesus is honest, Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, and Jesus is loving.  He is a king of action and a king of deeds.  He healed the sick, made the lame to walk, and the blind to see.  The demons fear him, but the outcast, the marginalized, and the forgotten love him. 

 He is a king on a mission.  He came to serve-not be he served.  He delivers the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed, and he forgives the sinners.   He is a king of love, and it is out of love that he was obedient even to the point of death on a cross.   It is out of his amazing love that our king died for us.  Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place, and give him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.   He is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.  His kingdom is not of this world, because this imperfect world cannot contain his perfect kingdom.   He sits at the right hand of God the Father.  He is faithful and true.  The alpha and the Omega.  The beginning and the end.   He is worthy of all praise and glory, and honor for ever and ever and ever.   That, my friends, is the kind of king that Jesus is.   And I must ask, is he your king? 

Jesus is our savior, and Jesus can be our friend, but Jesus must be our king.  He must be the Lord of our lives.   As Americans in the 21st century we have little concept of what it means to have a king, but history can serve as our guide.   In medieval times there was a ceremony that I think still teaches us about what it means to follow Jesus as our king.   When someone, usually called a vassal, swore to serve a king they did so through a ritual called homage.  In Homage the king promised the vassal that he would care for them, always look out and act in the vassal’s best interest and consider the life of the vassal equal to his own.  In return the vassal would bend the knee, put his hands between the king’s and promise that the will of the king would be greater than his own, and that his life was entrusted into the hands of the King.   In homage, the vassal was willing to follow the will of the king over his own desires.    Through his death and resurrection Jesus has proven that he cares for us to the point that he is willing to go up on a cross for us.   Jesus has proven himself as a king worth following. 

The way that we follow Jesus is that we keep his commands and do what he told us to do.    Jesus commanded to love God with all of our being.  The examples Jesus gave us to follow in that regard is to seek time alone with God, to rely on God to provide, and to truly pray not my will but your will be done.    Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  The example Jesus gave us to follow is to have compassion for the vulnerable, to pay attention to the outcast, to serve the poor, to forgive the hard hearted, and to love those who are different than us.   Jesus is a king, but instead of being first he made himself last.  He was a servant to all and that is the example we should follow.   Those are the directions Jesus led us in and if we are not seeking to actively follow the lead of Jesus then we are not really following Jesus.

 When it comes from our American perspective, perhaps this is the biggest change in thinking we need to make in regarding Jesus as king.   We tend to think of leaders as a bit more temporary.  The leaders we follow change a lot.   The average tenure of a CEO of a company is only five years.  Professional sport coaches lead for even less time as they average only four and a half seasons.  And we decide every four years who the leader of our country is going to be.  We are used to short tenures in leaders.  If Jesus is our king, that means we are following him for the long haul.   This means that over our entire life Jesus reigns and has absolute authority.  His will be done, his kingdom come.  Not ours.  That means Jesus is not our co-pilot, Jesus is supposed to be our king.   Jesus is not just our king for an hour on Sunday morning.   If Jesus is our king, then he is the leader of our life every day and he is the Lord of all. 

​Over the next few weeks, we will almost certainly be singing carols like “Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn king” and “Joy to the world the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king!”.”   May those not just be songs that we sing because we like the tunes, but may they be declarations of our faith.  May Christ be the leader that you follow in your life.  May you follow his examples and keep his commands.   May Jesus be your King.  And may you give all praise, honor, and glory be to the king of kings and the lord of lords!  Jesus is the king who was and is and will come again.   Long live the king!
 
 

Scripture:  Hebrews 10:19-25
               As I may have mentioned before, I really love Star Wars.   One of the aspects that I like about the movies are the incredible soundtracks.  Every time a soundtrack for a movie, or a remastered release of a soundtrack, became available I made sure to get it on CD.  Unfortunately, I cannot do that anymore.  There are still new Star Wars soundtracks available.  For instance, all the Star Wars shows on Disney+ like the Mandalorian have official soundtracks, but they are now only available digitally.  The availability of media and the format it is available on has changed a lot.  In regard to music, I think Gen X, people in 50’s to late 40’s have it the worst.  For a lot of them their first music was on records, but they were encouraged to replace their records with a new music format, the 8-track.   Unfortunately, those did not last long before they had to replace their music with cassette tapes, but by the 1990’s those were largely replaced with CDs, which had a good run.  However, with the release of the iPod and then the iPhone portable CD players were faded out by digital music players.  For a lot of people today they no longer have music on physical media or even digital files but instead must pay a monthly fee for the privilege of streaming the music they used to own across a lot of different formats. 

It might be my age showing, but when it comes to media like music or movies or books, I really prefer having it in a physical form.  However, I imagine that is not the case for most of the people younger than me.  In our era of technological development, it seems the only constant is that something new is coming.  As soon as a technology starts to gain prominence in the marketplace, upstarts come along to supplant it, make it obsolete, and become the next new thing.  I suppose that is how it has always been isn’t it?  In recent decades the time it takes for something to be obsolete has become a lot shorter, but throughout human history we have consistently looked to innovate, push the envelope, and change the paradigm in a way that makes the way it used to be done obsolete. 

This applies to more than just media formats and other forms of technology.  For instance, over the past several years there seems to be a constant trickle of think pieces and editorials that put forth that church has become obsolete.  The arguments are with podcasts and online services, no one really needs to go to church anymore.  They can get the message of their choice, on demand, whenever they want.  Others argue that in our busy world asking people to give an hour for a worship service, especially on a Sunday morning, is unreasonable and unrealistic.  Often these opinion pieces are being written in response to some sobering statistics.  54% of churches report that when it comes to attendance they are declining.  One quarter of all Americans consider themselves as religiously unaffiliated, and this is not just a younger generation issue.  Of boomers, that is people between the ages of 59-78, that attended church before Covid, 22% of them do not attend any church now.  

These statistics are not great news, they can be troubling and disheartening.  It is easy to see why some have begun to wonder, if in American culture, church has become obsolete.  Which is why scriptures like this morning’s are so important.  This morning’s scripture does a great job of reminding us why we are Christians in the first place, and why it is so important we do not give up meeting together. 

Hebrews can be a tricky book of the bible, and it can be especially tricky to pull individual sections out of, because it is written in such a systematic way.  Many of the books of the new testaments are epistles, they are formal letters that follow a conventional format.  Hebrews, is not that.  Its composition is more like ancient speeches and public speaking rhetoric.  Hebrews builds a systematic case for the supremacy of Christ as the ultimate savior.   This morning’s scripture comes from a transition point in Hebrews where the primary argument for Jesus has been made and is being summarized before the sermon shifts to its last point.  

The main point being summarized in this morning’s scripture is a poignant reminder to us today, but for the original audience it would have been a new way of thinking.   Because Hebrews was written to an audience of a Jewish background, the argument is made from a Jewish perspective. Under second temple Judaism, the primary way people worshipped God and atoned for their sins was through bring a sacrifice to the temple, where the priests then made the sacrifices on behalf of the people.  Using this framework, Hebrews make the case that Jesus is our ultimate connection to God because Jesus is the ultimate priest and the ultimate sacrifice. 

In the ancient world priests were the intermediaries who were the middleman between people and the deities.  Hebrews offers up that it is Jesus who serves as the ultimate and final high priest because Jesus is able to fully unite us with God in a way that no other priest can.   In Hebrew 4:14-15 we find these words, “We have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are- yet he did not sin.”   Jesus, being both fully God and fully man, is able to understand us as we are, but also sits at the right hand of God the Father.  It is Jesus, who understands us, that connects us with God. 

Not only does Jesus connect us to God the Father unlike any other priest has ever been able to do so, but the sacrifice also that Jesus made on our behalf does more than just represent the punishment for our sins, it erases them.   Jesus, the high priest, by the sacrifice of his own blood, obtained eternal redemption for all who claim him.  Hebrews states this plainly right before this morning’s scripture in 10:10 where it states, “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

These two points that Hebrews spends most of its space to make that Jesus brings us to God as both the ultimate high priest and ultimate sacrifice reach their conclusion in this morning’s scripture when the author of Hebrews wrote: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a since heart and with full assurance that faith brings.”   

The statements made in Hebrews were revolutionary for their time, but today the idea that Jesus forgives our sins, reconciles us with God, and connects us with our creator is foundational doctrine of Christianity.  Even though it is a fundamental part of what we believe, we still need to read scriptures like this morning’s from time to time because we need the reminder of the foundational truths we hold to.   This morning’s scripture makes the claim that because of Jesus we can draw near to God.  We can have assurance that God hears our prayers, that God forgives our trespasses, and that God leads us to love and good deeds.

This morning’s scripture reminds us that because of Jesus we can draw near to God with confidence.  This morning’s scripture urges us to hold unswervingly to the hope we profess.  That can be easier said than done.   It can be hard to hold to that hope, and it can be hard to remember who we are in Christ, because life can be hard.   It can feel like we are constantly lying to ourselves by saying, “we just need to get through these next couple of weeks, and then things will slow down.”   But it never seems to pan out that way.  We never get that breather we were looking for.   Because when it comes to living our day in and day out lives, It’s always something isn’t it?  There seems to always be a new complication, a new set of bad news, a new burden we were not ready for, or a new emergency we just don’t have the time for.  We can be left feeling empty, hollow, like we are just going through the motions.  We can feel like we don’t even know who we are or who we are supposed to be anymore.  Our modern world comes at us fast and we are left feeling constantly behind, constantly overwhelmed, and constantly so, so tired.  In the middle of all we go through, it is hard to remember the joyful truth of this morning’s scripture and it is hard to remember hope.

Thankfully, this morning’s scripture ends with an encouragement on how we can persevere all that life has for us, hold unswervingly to the hope we have, and remember ourselves as those redeemed by Christ.  This encouragement is for us to “not give up meeting together.”  Our faith is not supposed to just be me and my Jesus.  We were never meant to do this, any of this, alone.  Jesus himself surrounded himself with his disciples.   The experience of faith we read in the bible is always done in community.   When God founded the church in Acts, I think God knew what God was doing.  Christianity, following Jesus, is not a path we are supposed to walk alone.  By design we are supposed to be a Christian as a community. 

I understand the temptation not to do it.  I understand the temptation to think that my faith is between me and God, and I got Jesus so I am good.   I can appreciate how busy everyone is, and how nice it would be to just have a lazy Sunday morning.   I am a preacher’s kid.  In some capacity I have been involved in church my whole life.  I have seen the bad.  I know from painful experience that church people are not always nice people.   So I understand and I  can appreciate why some people are tempted to give up the habit of meeting together. 

And yet, I have also seen the good.   I have seen the beauty of we are.  I have seen how a faith community has come around it’s members who are in need and supported them.  I have seen how churches have included and made a place for those who have struggled to fit in any place else.   I have seen how two people who don’t see eye to eye on anything can still manage to look each other in the eye and pass the peace of Christ.   I have seen we can spur one another one towards love and good deeds, how together we can make a real difference in the world.   Yes, there can be some bad because all churches are full of imperfect people who struggle to get it right at times, but there is good in the church and it is a good worth holding to.  

I am convinced that as people of faith, we need each other in this life.   When the dark comes crashing through, it is within the community of faith that we are reminded that the light of the world has come.  When you need a friend to carry you, the body of Christ is there to pick us up off the ground.   When we feel lost, then we should be able to remind each other that we have been found.  It is in the community of faith that we best remember ourselves, remember the hope we have, and push each forward to being more Christlike. 

As a community of faith we should strive to be a place where we spur one another on toward love and good deed and always encouraging one another because even the our country is moving towards attending church less, the statistics also show that our culture needs us now more than ever.   There is a loneliness epidemic in our country, where 1/3rd of all adults report feeling lonely.   Those between the ages of 50-80 report the highest levels of loneliness.  Loneliness is more likely to impact men, where 15% of all adult men report not having a single real friend.  While Jesus is the only one who can truly satisfy the longings of our souls, this morning’s scripture reminds us that we should not be alone, that we are part of a community of faith.   We proudly will sing what a friend we have in Jesus, but may we strive to be a church where we can say what a friend we have in each other.   There are a lot of hurting people in our country and our community who need a friend, and as a community of faith we should be the place that can meet that need for them. 

​This morning’s scripture reminds us of who Jesus is.  It reminds us that it is only Jesus that has the power to reconcile us with God.  It reminds us that this is possible, that forgiveness is possible, because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of himself on behalf once and for all.   This morning’s scripture reminds us of the hope we have in Christ and it encourages us to hold to that hope unswervingly.   It reminds us that in order to do that, we have each other.   So may we not give up on meeting together.   May we encourage each other.   May we help one another.  May we be the body of Christ, where no one needs to feel alone.  May we be a place where others can found.   May we be welcoming and inviting to all.  May people come to know they have friend in Jesus, because the first found a friend in us. 
  
 
 

Scripture: Psalm 127

One of the unspoken requirements that I had to agree to when I got married was to be a White Sox fan.  Since I did not have a huge stake in Major League Baseball, that was fine with me.  I do not know how much any of you follow baseball, but this was a rough season to be a White Sox fan.  This year the White Sox set a major league baseball record by having the worse win/loss record in history.   They only won 41 games while losing 121 of them.    While every team has the goal to win, and every fan has high hopes that this year is going to be the year the reality is that it often becomes clear for some teams that this is not going to be their year.  Those years when the losses pile up and the team never quite comes together are often declared building years.  In a building year the focus becomes less on winning and more on preparing for the future.  It is a time for young players to get experience, for the team to focus on being a team, and for necessary changes to be made.   A good building year can make the difference.  While I know it is not popular to point out in this area, IU football is a good example of this.  Last year they had a mediocre 3-9 season, but the players learned, new players were smartly recruited, and a head coaching change has led to what so far has been an undefeated season. 

Sports teams have building years, but I think the concept applies to more than just sports teams.  It can apply to our personal lives.  Often the goals we set for ourselves are not immediately achievable.  To meet those goals often requires intentional work, the gathering of experience, and making some necessary changes.   Often meeting our personal goals requires a building year or two before we get there.  The same can be true corporately as a faith community.  Better living into our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world can require building years.  It can require intentionality, a willingness to learn what works, what does not work as well as it used to, and an openness to change if necessary.   This morning’s scripture reminds us of the final and most necessary piece of what it takes to build to something new: “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” 

This morning’s scripture comes from a particular part of the Psalms.  If you happened to read along in your bible, then you might have noticed that Psalm 127 is labeled a Song of Ascents.  There are fifteen songs of Ascent found in Psalm 120 through 134. These psalms have a strong worship focus, but they also tend to focus on daily living.  There is a focus on the concerns of everyday people like family and harvest.   With one exception all these Psalms are short which would have made them easy to memorize.  The length of the psalms and their down to earth focus as long led biblical scholars and commentators to understand that the psalms of ascent are called that because these are the songs that pilgrims sang as they journeyed to Jerusalem to worship God at the temple on days like the Passover. 

This morning’s scripture reading is a little different from the other songs of ascent.  It is the only one attributed to Solomon, the King of Israel that followed David and was famed for his wisdom.  Which might explain why it reads like something that sounds like it came out of Proverbs instead of Psalms.  In fact, it almost feels like this Psalm is composed of two completely different wisdom sayings that have been smushed together.  That feeling is an unfortunate byproduct of translation because when we translate this Psalm to English, we lose a lot of the poetry.  In Hebrew this Psalm is composed of two stanzas each with four poetic lines, and each being exactly fifty-seven syllables.  This scripture is not two crammed together thoughts, but two thoughts connected and balanced with one another.  

The first of these thoughts is centered on the importance of centering God.   If our plans for the future, the dreams we want to build on, the work we seek to do is not centered on God then it is done in vain.  All our efforts and short-term gains in the end are fleeting.  This does not mean that we sit back and do nothing.  The scripture does not say the builders do not build or the guards do not watch.  It states without God, their work is for nothing.   As Eugene Peterson, author of the Message paraphrase, wrote about this scripture in his book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, “Psalm 127 insists on a perspective in which our effort is at the periphery and God’s work is at the center.” 

The second of these thoughts shows how the theory of the first part is put into practice.   Verse 3 states that children are a gift from God.  This verse should not be read or understood as a judgement upon those who cannot or choose not to have children.  Rather it should be understood within the context of this scripture.   Verse 3 states that “children are a heritage from the Lord.”  The Hebrew word translated as heritage is a complex word.  The other times it is used in the Bible it gets translated as inheritance and is often in reference to the land God promised the Israelites.  The word is one that implies access to life and happiness.  It is a word that looks towards the future.   The idea is that not only are children a blessing to one’s own life, but in the context of the Israelites living in the land that God promised them, children as a heritage from God is part of how God builds for the future. 

This morning’s scripture belongs to a very specific context.  It was a song sung by ancient Israelites on their way to worship God.  It reminded and encouraged the worshippers ascending to the temple, that God should be the center of all their efforts, because unless the Lord builds the house-unless the Lord builds for the future-it is all in vain.  As an illustration of how this is true, the Psalm then lifts up the example of how it is God that provides children, who were necessary to secure the ongoing future of Israel.  We are not ancient Israelites.  The way that we worship God, our social structures, and our context are radically different.  Despite the Psalm’s context not directly applying to us today, I think the greater truths of this scripture are something we can still learn from and take to heart.  This scripture helps us keep in mind what we need to build for the future.  I think this is a message that we here at Trinity United Methodist Church need to hear, because I think we are in a building year. 
 
I think that is true, because of what I have heard from you.  Back in September I met with several of you over the course of six different listening sessions, so that I could learn more about this church and I could hear what your hopes and dreams were for us going forward.  Across all six sessions the most consistent thing I heard from you is that you want to grow.  The number one dream for the future that I heard in every single one of these sessions is that you want to grow.  The dream is that these pews will be full once again.  In listening to you as a congregation, I am confident that you are all in agreement that you want to grow, you want to build towards something more than we are now.  That is a great goal to have, that is something worth pursuing.  As we think about what it means to grow, as we think about how we are going to be strategic in this building year-I think this morning’s scripture should inform our actions in a couple of ways.  

First, we must remember that unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.  It is a laudable goal for a church to want to grow, but we have to be clear about our motivations.   What we want is an easy question to answer: More people in the sanctuary every Sunday.   The harder and vastly more important question is why do we want that?  If the reason why we want to grow is based solely on survival, if the motivation is to get more people so that we can keep on existing just for the sake of existing, then I fear we are building and laboring in vain.  If the reason we want to grow is just to grow because we think that bigger automatically means better and more successful, then we are building and laboring in vain. 

If we want to grow, if we want the Lord to build this house, then our reasons for doing so need to be in the right place.  The reason we want to grow should be because we believe that people need Jesus.  The reason we want to grow is because we believe that the more of us that seek to become more like Christ, then the more effective we can be in transforming this world into a more kind, compassionate, and just place.  The reason we want to grow must be grounded in sharing the grace and reconciliation offered by Jesus so that more people can know the life changing love of God.  The reason we want to grow should be because we are passionate, we are fired up, and we are all in realizing the kingdom of God here on earth. If our hope is built on Jesus Christ, if our motivation is share Jesus so that all the people can be saved, then we can do the work with confidence knowing that the Lord will build the house.  

The second way this morning’s scripture should influence our actions is that it can inspire where we direct our efforts.  This morning’s scripture lifts up children as an example of building to the future.  If it is our dream for the church to grow, then we too, should prioritize young people everywhere.  To reiterate our motivations for doing so should not be out of survival or growing for the sake of growing.  Our motivation should be that young people need Jesus just as much as anyone else.  One of the things that I find most encouraging is that by and large it seems that you as a congregation get that and believe that.   Coming out of the listening sessions, when I asked you all what your biggest dreams were for this church.  The second answer, right after growing, was ministry with young people.  Based off the conversations I have had with many of you over the past few months, I have a strong impression that you all want to love young people, you want to share Jesus with young people, and you desire to see the gospel make an eternal difference in their lives.  

That is all good and worth celebrating.  Yet, I am as aware as you are of our current situation.   We currently do not have a lot of young people, to use the analogy this morning’s scripture uses our quiver is a little low right now.   There are fewer young people than we would like to see and there are more holes in the pews than we prefer right now.  That is our current reality, but there is not a single reason why that must be our future.  We are in a building a year.  Make no mistake, building years take work.   Building years require putting in effort just to figure out the best way forward.  Building years often require making changes.   Building years require learning and stretching outside of our personal comfort zones for the greater purpose of making disciples and transforming the world.

​   There is no way to sugar coat it, all of this is work.   It requires the hard work of introspection, self-examination, and making the necessary changes in our own lives and hearts so that our motivations are truly in the right place.  It also requires the hard work of showing up, of volunteering, of giving from our of time, talent, and resources to invest in a mission greater than ourselves.   Because we are in a building year there is work to be done, but if our motivations are in the right place, if our desire to grow is rooted in sharing God’s love and furthering God’s kingdom then we can be confident that we do not labor in vain.   We can be confident that any growth we eventually see is because it is the Lord that builds the house.  We can be confident of this because  our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  Friends, it is on Christ the solid rock we stand so may we be willing to get to work. 
                
               

Scripture: Psalm 146

In recent years there has been a big rise in people working from home.  This is because it became a necessity during the height of the pandemic, but it has continued because many workers, especially younger ones, have found they prefer it this way.  The results speak for themselves.  One study found that employees that work from home are 47% more productive than those that work in an office.  However, there are some unintended downsides to this, such as a loss in social skills.  One survey of young adults, ages 18-27, found that for those who work or attend school remotely 50% reported feeling like their social skills have decreased.  This is not just a young person issue.  The findings of a 2020 study found that for most people social skills begin to deteriorate in their late 30’s and into their 40’s.   Social skills, like all skills, deteriorate if we do not actively develop and use them regularly.   Even though remote work is not going anywhere, all people still need the ability to interact face to face, which is why a lot of professional focused media has focused on this.  For instance, Harvard Business Review, the job finding website Indeed, a professional educators website, and more have all published articles in the past two years about how to introduce yourself to someone else. 
While these articles have different authors, they essentially all say the same thing.  Introducing yourself, according to these articles, requires three steps.  First, focus on the present, establish who you are and what it is you do.  Second, focus on the past and explain where you have come from and what you have accomplished.  Third, focus on the future and push the conversation forward with what clearly stating future expectations are goals.   All the articles are confident that this is the secret formula to a perfect introduction that is not long and rambling but also not too abrupt and short.  While the order may not be quite right, this morning’s scripture serves as an appropriate introduction to God.  This Psalm gets to the point of who God is as revealed by scripture.   This morning’s scripture should give us a better understanding of who God is, but as God’s people it should also help us see who we can be. 

It is not by random chance that this psalm serves as an introduction to God is.  Psalm 146 through Psalm 150 are a set of psalms that all go together.   Each of these songs begin and end with Hallelujah which means Praise the Lord.  These Psalms are a unit that go together to express all the reasons why God is worthy of all our praise.  It makes sense then that the first psalm in the series would serve as the introduction.  This introduction to God does not follow the recommended past, present, future format recommended by all of the articles.  This is because God does not change life shifting shadows.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.   So, what this scripture states about who God is, is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written.  There are four major things that this scripture states about who God is. 
 
First, verse 6 state that God is the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.   Understanding God not just as our creator, but the creator of all, is a fundamental way we understand God.  After all, Genesis 1:1 begins with in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  We believe God is the Creator, but I am not sure we always appreciate how remarkable of a creator God is.  This morning’s scripture states that God created the sea and everything in it.  Do you know how much is in the sea?   It is estimated that there are over 30,000 species of fish in the oceans.  It is an estimate, because one thing scientists are sure of is that we have not found them all yet.  That is just fish, that says nothing about all the creatures that God created that live in the ocean, or the creatures that live on land because then there is even greater diversity.  For instance, there are more than 17,000 different types of butterflies on our planet, and it is estimated there are more than 350,000 different species of beetles.   That says nothing of the more than eight billion people alive today, all who have been hand crafted by God and are fearfully and wonderfully made. 
That does not even touch the heavens, whose size and scope is almost beyond our comprehension.  Our galaxy alone, the Milky Way, is believed to have more than 100 billion stars, and the low-end estimates put the number of galaxies in the universe at over 200 billion, each with billions of stars.  If you were to count every single grain of sand on every beach on earth, that number would be less than the number of stars in the universe.   All of it is created by God.   God as a creator is more imaginative, more productive, and more awe-inspiring than we can wrap our mind around.   God is an infinite creator of infinite creativity. 

 The scope and scale of God’s creative nature, can be incredibly intimidating, which is why the next thing this scripture teaches us about God is so encouraging.  Verses 7-9 of Psalm 146 make it clear, that even though God is a creator on a massive scale, God cares about people.  God cares about us.   This morning’s scripture points out that God cares for the righteous; that is those who seek to follow God.  This morning’s scripture also points out that God has great care for more than just those who already love God.  Verse 9 states, “The LORD watches over the foreigner, and sustains the fatherless, and the widow.”
 
In a tightknit and patriarchal culture foreigners were the perpetual outsiders while widows and orphans were the most vulnerable and marginalized members of society.  This morning’s scripture states that God cares for the very people who are easily forgotten, vilified, or taken advantage of.   Throughout the scriptures, from the Torah to the prophet, to the teaching of Jesus, and then the early church we find this is a consistent message.  God is on the side of the powerless and disadvantaged.  This morning’s scripture tells us how God is there to help those who can not help themselves.   It states that God upholds the cause of the oppressed and God frustrates the way of the wicked.  This is because God is a God of justice.   God is a God of love who cares for all the people that God created, because that is an essential part of who God is. 

The final aspect of who God is that this scripture reveals to us is that God is forever.   God is faithful forever and God reigns forever.   This morning’s scripture begins by pointing out the folly of putting our trust in human leaders, who cannot save.   They are fleeting, but God is not.   This morning’s scripture states that God gives sight to the blind, that is to say God meets the needs of those in need.  It also states that God lifts up those who are knocked down.    Because God is forever, those are not fleeting promises.  

This Psalm does a wonderful job at summarizing some of the aspects of who God is that we see in scripture.  It gets right to the point in stating that God is the Creator of all, God cares for the vulnerable, and God is forever.  This scripture seeks to communicate to us who God is, and if we take what it states to heart then this can shape how we interact with God and how we interact with the world.   Keeping in mind that God is forever, can really help ground us and keep us from getting consumed with worry and dread.   We may feel knocked down, we may feel things are not right, but we can trust that the Lord lifts up those who are down.   We can trust that God is never early, God is never late, and that God is going to do exactly what God states because God is forever.   Because God is forever, and because God is the one who saves, then our anxieties can be tempered.   Because no matter what the results of this Tuesday are because The LORD reigns forever; God is God of all generations. 

This morning’s scripture tells us that God is a God of justice. Because this is part of who God, is we can have confidence that in the end good wins out.  I think the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best, “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.”   If part of who God’s nature is to have special care for those who are vulnerable, then as people who seek to follow God we should too.  God upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food for the hungry, so we should as well.  We care for those in need because God cares for those in need.   We act with love and compassion to those who can not help themselves, because that is the attitude that God has towards them and us.  

Finally, when we consider the vastness of God’s creation and the creative nature of God, when we consider that God created stars beyond number yet still loves us on an individual level, then there is really only one response we can have:  Praise the Lord!   Praise the Lord, O my soul!  I will praise the Lord all my life.  I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.   Friends, how can we not?  

​This morning’s scripture gets right to the point of who God is, and if we take it seriously it also tells us who we should be.  We should be God’s people, whose hope is in the LORD, because God is forever faithful.  We should be God’s people, who seek to love the oppressed, the disadvantaged, the marginalized, and the needy because God loves those people.   We should seek to be God’s people who declare Hallelujah!   This scripture tells us who God is, and by the grace of God may it define who we are.   May we praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!   

Scripture:  Mark 10:46-52

The fad has long since faded away, but do you remember “magic eye” pictures?  These were a product of the 1990s which had brightly colored, bizarre, patterned picture.  Allegedly if you stared at it then you could see the hidden image underneath.   I have to say allegedly because I absolutely to this day cannot see those things.  Back in the day it was a frustrating experience when it seemed everyone but me could see the hidden horse or dinosaur.  People would often offer up a bunch of tips like “just cross your eyes” or “stare at one point” or “stare at nothing in particular”.  They would say it like this was the most obvious and easiest thing in the world, but no matter how hard I tried to follow their less than helpful advice I could not see what was so obvious for them. 

            You could tell me exactly what I am looking for, give me all the instructions on how to see it, I can stare at it until sunset.  There is no way I am ever seeing that hidden image.  For whatever reason my brain cannot parse out the visual cues it is seeing and put it all together to reveal the hidden image.  Magic Eyes were only around for a minute.  In 1994 they were all the rage, but in a couple of years pop-culture had largely moved on.   I know that I was not sad to see them go, because it honestly annoyed so much that I could not see them. 

            As annoying as not being able to see the Magic Eye images are to me, it was just a mild inconvenience.  Considering this morning’s scripture makes that abundantly clear.  Magic eyes are something that I cannot see, but that does not even begin to compare to the plight of Bartimaeus.  Bartimaeus knew that he was missing something important in his life, and he believed that Jesus could fix it.  In a similar way, we all have areas in our lives that Jesus can transform and make whole.   However, like me with those silly magic eye pictures we might not be able to see what is right in front of us.   We can be encouraged by this morning’s scripture because if Jesus has the power to make the blind to see, then Jesus has the power to help us see our own shortcomings we might not be aware of.  This means if Bartimaeus can be healed and made whole by faith, then so can we. 

In this morning’s story Bartimaeus asks Jesus for something that no one else can give him.   We do not know a lot about Bartimaeus.  The gospels of Matthew and Luke also contain a version of this story, but the gospel of Mark has more details including his name.   We do not know if he was born blind, lost his sight in an accident, or if he suffered from a degenerative condition that led to him being blind.  We do not know the details of his life, but if he was reduced to begging on the side of the road things were not going well.  We must realize that Bartimaeus did not have an easy life.  In the first century there was very little work that a blind man would be allowed to do.  Many in his community would have viewed his condition as a judgement from God due to sin.  We know this is the case because of a different incident regarding Jesus healing the blind that is recorded.  This meant that Bartimaeus would have been on the outskirts of his community.  He would have been known to many, but likely he was ignored at best and constantly judged at worst.  This meant that he was likely resigned to a solitary life of begging.  He had to scrap by on the begrudging kindness of strangers.   Every day he had to hope he would get enough money so that he could go to sleep at the end of the day without feeling hungry.   If he could only see, then he could live a very different life.  He would not be cut off and alone, he would be able to work and support himself, he would be able to be a blessing to himself and others.  

Of course, Bartimaeus wanted to see, so when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth, the miracle worker, was passing by he knew this was his chance.  We get a clue though, that Bartimaeus had more than just a passing familiarity with Jesus.   He knew that Jesus was more than just another holy man, more than just another traveling miracle worker.   Bartimaeus addresses him as “son of David.”   There is no mistake that this is a messianic title.  It is a title reserved for the one chosen by God to usher in God’s kingdom.  Bartimaeus was not just hedging his bets that this traveling rabbi could be the one who could heal him, he was declaring that he believed sight was possible because Jesus is God’s chosen one. 
I think there are a couple of important lessons we can learn from Bartimaeus.  First, I think it is important to focus on what Bartimaeus first asked Jesus.  Even though Bartimaeus probably wanted to see more than anything, even though sight would have vastly improved his life, and fulfilled many of his wishes, Bartimaeus does not shout out “Son of David, heal me!”   He says “Son of David, Have mercy on me!”    The concept of praying for mercy is not something we hear a lot about today, but perhaps we should.   One of the oldest Christian prayers, dating back to the very beginning, is Kyrie Elision: “Lord, have mercy.”    To ask for mercy is an acknowledgement that we have nothing to give.  Asking for mercy is asking for special privilege from a position of weakness.   To ask for mercy is a confession that we are not truly deserving, but we still greatly desire or need a special kindness given upon us.  To ask for mercy is the somewhat audacious request to ask for a gift; specifically, a gift that is given without strings attached and with the acknowledgement that it cannot be paid back.   When we ask God for mercy we should do so from a point of humbleness and reverence, as we acknowledge that God is the only one capable of granting that which we ask.       
 
            In an attempt to make faith more accessible, we sometimes make errors by oversimplifying.  We often simplify the act of prayer down to “We can ask God for what we need and because God loves us he will give it to us.”  There is a downside to simplifying prayer too much because when prayer is all about what God gives us, we treat God like some sort Cosmic Santa Claus, or worse a divine vending machine that we can always go to when we want to be happy.    It is true that God loves us a great deal, and that God answers prayers, but when we take “Lord have mercy on me a sinner” out of our prayer life something great is lost.  When there is a need we should take it to the Lord in prayer, but not because we deserve or expect God to answer our prayer.  We take it up in prayer because what we are in need of is God’s mercy.
  If mercy is humbly asking for a great gift, we have no chance of achieving on our own, then the opposite of mercy is entitlement.  Entitlement is when we believe we deserve something just because of who we are or what we are owed.   If seeking mercy is based in humility than entitlement is based in pride.   Bartimaeus could have easily felt that he was entitled to being healed.   He could have been bitter about living a lifetime with a disability he did not want; he could have demanded that he has paid his dues and it was his turn for something to go right. It would not be a stretch for him to believe he deserved to be healed after all that he had gone through.  Yet, that is not what he does.

 His request is not one based in entitlement it is based in hope and faith. Bartimaeus approaches the messiah by saying “Lord have mercy on me.”  Jesus, overflowing with grace and mercy, calls him over and asks how exactly he can do that.   This morning’s scripture should cause us to take a moment of self-reflection and ask ourselves some pointed questions.  When you pray, what is the attitude you approach God with?    Do you approach the throne saying “Lord have mercy on me” or do you approach God expecting him to give you what you feel entitled to?   Now clearly, none of us are going to God in prayer and verbally say, give me what I am entitled to, but this is not about the words we use, it is about the attitudes of our hearts.  In our relationship with God do we see ourselves as seeking mercy or demanding entitlements?   

When we approach prayer with an attitude of entitlement in our hearts then what we take to God is often a list of our wants.   However, if our attitude in prayer is Lord have mercy on me, then what we are seeking is not a vain list of wants- it is the very grace of God.  Bartimaeus asked first for mercy.  Jesus then followed up and asked, “what do you want me to do” and then he was able to say he wanted to see.  When we start with mercy, then the needs we end up asking God to meet our less based in our wants and more based in what we need to be restored, healed, and made whole. 
For Bartimaeus it was clear to him what he needed to be restored, healed, and made whole.   Perhaps it is a bit harder for us to answer that question, because we cannot see what we are missing.  If Bartimaeus suffered from a form of physical blindness perhaps we suffer from a form of spiritual blindness.   Perhaps our hearts can be hardened, so that we cannot see the needs all around us.  We miss the people God has put in our path, because we look just right past them.  Perhaps just like those stubborn Magic Eye pictures we cannot see what God has put right in front of us.

            Historically, this has been a problem in Christianity.  Even people who demonstrate righteousness and desire to follow God can have places where their hearts were hard and the missed a chance to love their neighbors right in front of them.  A good example of this is Martin Luther, the famous reformer and founder of the Lutheran Church.   Many consider him a righteous man, and the writings of Martin Luther were instrumental in John Wesley’s conversion.   Yet, Martin Luther was still imperfect.   Because he wrote several books on the subject, it is well documented that Luther was a very strong anti-Semite.  He advocated for the burning down of synagogues, expulsion, and even violence against Jewish people.   Even someone like Martin Luther allowed hate to blind him from seeing all of God’s people.   Lord have mercy.   

            It just is not Martin Luther; many people have a hardness in their heart and struggle to see certain people with compassion.   I have spent years working with teenagers in some capacity, and I have met my fair share of good Christian people with a spiritual blindness to young people.  It has hurt my heart to hear people I respect complain about “kids today.”  Too many people in too many pews are quick to dismiss young people as spending too much time on phones, not enough time outside, and being too entitled.  It bothers me deeply when I hear people who confess to follow Jesus belittle an entire generation of people younger than them as whiny snowflakes.   We cannot complain about a whole generation and then wonder why that generation wants little to do with churches today.  When we refuse to empathize with young people and when we do not communicate that they belong and there is a seat for them, then we miss that God loves these children just as they are.  We miss the fact that young people are not just the future of the church, they are the present of the church if we are willing to include them.  In too many churches instead of working to include people of all ages in age-appropriate ways in the work of God’s kingdoms, teenagers are either shoved out or hidden in the church basement.   Lord have mercy

            We can be so focused on ourselves and our own lives that we do not see the great need in the world today.  We are quick to get upset when the price of gas jumps up by 30 cents a gallon, but there is very little outrage over the fact that 273 million people do not have access to safe drinking water in the world or the fact that every minute of every day around the world 21 children under the age of five die from easily preventable causes.   Why, church, does our heart not break over this?   Imagine if all churches, collectively were as passionate about ending world hunger, as NFL fans were passionate about their favorite teams.   We would be able to end world hunger before the Colts make it back to the playoffs!   Lord have mercy.
​
            In this morning’s scripture, Bartimaeus ask Jesus for mercy and in response Jesus heals him, gives him eyes to see, and Bartimaeus responds by following Jesus.  In the same way, when we seek mercy then we can be made whole.  We can be transformed to better be the person God intends us to be.   So may the prayer of our hearts be “Lord have mercy on me.”   May we seek the Lord’s mercy with an attitude of humbleness not entitlement.  May we have eyes to see, hearts to love, and hands to make a difference.   May we be a people who can testify to the almighty power, grace, and mercy of God by proclaiming “I once was blind, but now I see.   The Lord had mercy on me.”  
 

Scripture:  Mark 10: 35-45
               After twenty-one years of marriage I have learned that there are certain ways that Abigail and I think and interact with the world that are fundamentally different from each other.  For instance, she will occasionally like something so much like a movie or a restaurant and declare it her favorite.  By and large though she does not naturally rank things against other things of the same category.   Using pie as an example, she will take any given pie and either like it, think it is ok, or not like it.  It is possible to really like, really dislike it, or if she is not sure then “it’s different.”   This is not how I work at all, because I naturally evaluate and rank everything.  So using pie as an example, I can easily give you a top ten list of what I consider to be the best kind of pie (Since you are now curious it is Strawberry-Rhubarb as number one, followed closely by blueberry and pecan.  Apple, Boston Cream, chocolate chip, sugar cream, pumpkin, blackberry, and Cherry- in that order- round out the top ten).  I do not just arbitrarily rank things.  I tend to know what I like, and why I like it.  I feel like this would be a weird personality quirk, except for I am clearly not the only person who does this.  David Letterman made the top ten list into an art form, and since then a lot of people have found organizing our likes into list a helpful practice.  In our digital age this has become even more popular.  Many websites and YouTube channels are dedicated to making top lists for all kinds of things.   I naturally rand and put everything into a list and order.  While that might be a quirk today, in previous eras I think it might have been second nature to a lot of people. 
​
            For most of human civilization it was the nature of humanity to rank people.  The idea of “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” is a fairly new ideal, and it is one we still have not been able to fully live into yet.  For most of human history the default way of thinking is that everyone was not created equally, but that some people deserved a hire station in life.  This morning’s scripture gives us a glimpse of people thinking that way.   In this morning’s scripture James and John, the Son of Zebedee, shoot their shot.  They swing for the fences and try to secure for themselves a top spot in the kingdom of God.  They wanted to get themselves in at least the top 5 if not the top 3.  Jesus’ response shows that the kingdom of God did not work like any earthly kingdom.  Today that is still true, and to live as a citizen of God’s kingdom requires living like no one else. 

While I think we get the gist of James and John’s request, to sit at the left and right of Jesus when he comes into his glory, a little cultural context helps give a fuller understanding.   At a formal banquet in the first century, there was a very strict seating order.   Often at the head or center of the table would sit the person of honor.   If this was party thrown in honor of someone, they would sit there.  Otherwise, the seat would go to the most important person in the room.    This might be the host or depending on the event it could be a powerful official or ruler of some sort.   From this person, everyone else would fall in line.   The second most important or prestigious person would then sit to this person’s right, and the third most important or prestigious person would then be the left.   It would go back and forth like this from right to left filling the table.   Again, it was human nature of that era for everyone to rank each other.  It was baked into the culture, and everyone knew their place and they knew where they were in relation to everyone else.   Even if they did not understand what it truly meant, James and John believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and they believed that he would usher in a new kingdom.   They wanted to secure their position early.    By asking to sit at the left and right of Jesus they were essentially asking to be the second and third most important, respected, and powerful people in God’s eternal kingdom right after Jesus.

It was a bold and brazen move.  This is probably why when the other disciples heard about it the scripture records “they became indignant.”   There was probably a bunch of “just who do you think you are?”   and “someone’s a little too big for their britches” comments thrown around. 

At the same time though, we cannot really fault James and John.  After all they were only doing what some of us might have tried to do.   They were doing what we have all been taught to do.   We do not rank everyone in a strict social hierarchy anymore, but our culture in general celebrates winners.  By and large our culture sends messages that winning is everything and reaching the top is the most important thing we can do.  We want to be the MVP, we want to be #1, we want to be the king of the hill, and we want to be the person at the top of heap.   James and John were just being ambitious.  In most situations, we would applaud their move as one that shows a boldness that should be rewarded.  If the other ten disciples were being honest, they wanted the same thing.   They were not indignant because of the audacity of James and John’s request.  They were indignant because they got beat to the punch!  

   Seeking to be the first of greatest is the way of the world, and we know it.  Ambition is celebrated as a character virtue, those with wealth and power try to promote themselves as role models, and people run themselves ragged in an attempt to get a head.  A constant pressure to be viewed as winners or number one might be the way of the world, but it is not the way of Jesus.  Jesus flips the script.  He turns everything upside down.   Jesus points out that the way of the world during his time was the same way it is today.  People carve power and authority, and then they “lord that power over others.”     Jesus though offers a different way.   The world of Jesus day and the world of our day defines success by reaching the top, by having the most, and by being regarded as the best.   Jesus though redefines success.   Jesus tells us what success looks like in the kingdom of God.  Success is not based on how much you get, it is based on how much you give away; it is not based on what you earn, it is based on how you put others first.   Jesus is clear, we should not seek or measure success on the same terms the world uses. 

This is a point that gospel of Mark hammer again and again.  In chapter 9 the disciples are arguing about who is greatest and Jesus tells them “anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and a servant to all.”  Then at the beginning of Mark 10 Jesus lifts up the little children.  We looked at this scripture two weeks ago, and the reason why Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to those like little children is to reinforce the idea that the kingdom of God inverts the worldly power structure.   This is then followed up with the scripture of the rich young ruler that we looked at last week, where Jesus confirms the rich and powerful cannot buy their way into heaven, that the way the world measures success is not how God measures success in the heavenly kingdom.   This small section of Mark find different ways to hit the same point.  As my college history professor, Dr. Parks, said, “If the teacher repeats the same thing more than once you need to pay attention and write it down.”  Hopefully we are paying attention, because in this morning’s scripture the theme that Mark’s gospel has been coming back to time and time again gets laid out in the bluntest way.   When James and John ask to be the top guys in the kingdom of God, Jesus responds by saying, “Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” 

This is the example that Jesus gave us.   If anyone could have achieved power, authority, and success by the measure of the world it was Jesus.  He had the ability to rise above his station and claim whatever seat at the table he would have wanted.  Being the very nature of God, he could have accomplished whatever he wanted, but Jesus was obedient to the point of death to serve others.   He put the needs of the world before his own on the cross for he “did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom of many.”

            This is an example we should follow, but our natural impulse is more likely to follow the example of James and John.  They sought the best and most powerful positions for themselves, because they were motivated by putting themselves first and getting the most for themselves.  The example Jesus gives though is one that is motivated by putting others first and it is motivated by love.  James and John assumed the kingdom of God would work like the way this world works.  They thought it was like a pie, where there was only so much to go around and so they wanted to ensure that they got the biggest piece.   In this morning’s scripture and throughout the middle of the gospel of Mark Jesus makes it clear that this is not how the kingdom of God works.  The kingdom of God is based in the love of God, and friends this love is an unlimited resource.  It is not like pie because there is more than enough to go around.  The love of God, the grace of Jesus Christ never gives up and never runs out.  Since there is grace enough for everyone, then instead of trying to get ours the best thing to do is share it with everyone. 

            The kingdom of God is one that is based in abundance, so we can consider others first because we know there is still room for us.  The way of this world is one that is based in scarcity and scrambling to get something before it is all gone.  In this morning’s mindset Jesus urges his disciples to live with a kingdom mindset of abundance in a world based around scarcity.   There is a modern-day example that I think shows us how we do that.

            While we may not have places of honor and rank everyone today, there are still some people who by nature of their office get a lot of difference.   There is a lot of pomp and circumstance that surrounds them, and they are treated as a step above most people.   A good example of one of these people is the Pope.   While is health makes it a lot harder for him to get around, Pope Francis caused more than a few headaches for Vatican officials early in his term as the head of the Catholic church.  Pope Francis got caught sneaking out of the Vatican.   He would leave the Vatican dressed as a regular priest in order to feed, pray with, and minister to the homeless of Rome.  Pope Francis would leave behind the trappings of palatial living to serve others.  He is arguably among the upper echelon of influential and powerful people in the world, but it was important to him to continue the practice of putting others first and serving them.  

            The example that Pope Francis gives is one that follows in the example of Jesus.  None of us are too important to put others first.   When we seek to follow Jesus we find that the place of honor is not to his left or right.  The place of honor of is not the one that gets in first place or the one that gets us the most power.  In the kingdom of God the place of honor is the one that serves others.   The place of honor is the one found where we put others first, because in the kingdom of God honor is not measured by what we can get for ourselves, it is measured by what we can share with others.   So may we not approach life as if there were a limited amount of pie and try to get the biggest piece for ourselves, but may we approach life so that we ensure there is always enough to go around for everyone.  May what motivates our actions be the abundance of the kingdom of God.  May we live like no one else, may we live like Jesus, may you live like a citizen of God’s kingdom.  May we seek the place of honor in God’s kingdom by continuing to see the needs and meet the needs of this community.   

Scripture: Mark 10:17-31

Mark Twain, who can always be counted on for a good quip, once said “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”  If that was true in the 19th century when worldwide communication was a lot slower than it is now, then it is doubly true today.  Misinformation is certainly a problem today, but Mark Twain’s quote show that misinformation has always been a problem.  There might be a lot of misinformation and ill-informed conspiracy theories floating out there today, but history is full of misconceptions that have been accepted as truth.   For example, even to this day French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte is depicted as being short.   He was not though.  He was actually right at average height for the time, but British propaganda intentionally portrayed him as short.  This propaganda was so effective, that it still has influence two centuries later.

Then some misconceptions spread and propagate because the story is just too good not to repeat.  A good example of this that you might have heard is that famed physicist Albert Einstein once failed math while in school.  This is 100% not true.  In fact, this story started during Einstein’s lifetime, and he refuted it-pointing out in an interview he was doing advanced calculus at the age of fifteen.  This story originated from a Ripley’s Believe it or Not blurb.  It seems to be based off a half-truth that Einstein did fail an entrance exam for an elite French school.  However, this has more to do with the fact that Einstein took the exam two years earlier that was common, and the exam was in French-a language Einstein was not fluent in.  He scored high on the math portion of the test, but he did not get a high enough score on the parts that required reading and writing in French. The idea that arguably one of the smartest people in history struggled in school is a story we want to believe even if there is no truth to it.  However, because we want to believe what the story communicates it keeps getting shared.
 
This morning’s scripture is one that has a similar story that surrounds it.   In this story Jesus states, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”   There is a story that you might have heard that is told around this scripture.  The story goes that in Jerusalem there was a small and narrow gate referred to as the “eye of the needle”.  Due to the size of the gate it was difficult for a camel to get through, it required taking all of the bags off of the camel, getting the camel to kneel down, and scoot through the opening.  So, it is only with a level of intentionality, humility and guidance that a camel can pass through the eye of the needle. It is a good story, but it also likely not true.   

Archaeologists and biblical scholars feel fairly certain that there was never such a gate in Jerusalem.  Some historians have tried to trace down where this story originated, and it can be tracked all the way back to the 1200s in a work written by Thomas Aquinas.  Aquinas references that he got this from an English bishop, Anslem of Canterbury who died at the beginning of the 12th century.  This means that for around 900 years a story about a camel passing through a small gate has been shared even though it is not true.  This extra detail about the gate changes the teaching of Jesus from it is impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, to it requires effort for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.   This story about the non-existent gates softens Jesus words.  Like the story about Einstein, this story keeps getting shared because we want to believe what it communicates about being wealthy and following Jesus.  However, when we do not hide behind a fake story about a too small gate then this scripture this scripture can cause us to reflect on just what we are willing to give up when it comes to following Jesus and it ultimately reminds us that with God all things are possible. 

Scriptures like this morning, show us that Jesus message is not one that can be molded or crafted to whatever makes us feel comfortable.  We get the message right away, that Jesus is going to be direct and to the point.  The man starts off by trying to get on Jesus’ good side by flattering him and calling him good teacher, but Jesus isn’t really having it.   The man then wants to know how to inherit eternal life, and when Jesus tells him to sell all his possessions and give it to the poor, the man gives up.   I think what is worth paying attention to here is verse 24.   When Jesus says it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, the bible records the disciples are amazed.   Why would they not be? 

We live in a world of economic disparity today.  This is even true in the United States where the top 10% of families hold 70% of the country’s wealth while the bottom 50% hold only 2.5%.   The economic disparity the disciples knew would have been worse.  The first century Roman world was very much a world of the haves and the have nots.    There was no real concept of the middle class.  There was the rich and there was everyone else.  The disciples were in the “everyone else” category.   They were amazed at Jesus’ words because they believed that nothing was impossible for the wealthy.    It had been their experience that money can buy anything.   Yet, here they were learning without a shadow of a doubt that money could not buy salvation.   Jesus makes it as clear as he can that salvation is not for sale by saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  Jesus is not talking about a gate.  The camel was the largest creature in the Mideast and a needle the smallest opening.   The size disparity on display was 100% intentional here to illustrate the shear impossibility. 

               Verse 26 records “The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, “who then can be saved?”   Again, the experience of the disciples is that the rich had the means to do whatever they wish.   They always have the resources to meet their needs and every want.   The disciples, who were poor and had internalized themselves as poor, were frightened at this point because they were thinking if a rich person cannot make it into the kingdom of God, what chance do I possibly have?    The answer that gave the disciples hope, and the answer that should feel us with great hope is found in verse 27 “Jesus looked at them and said ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’ “   The wealthy cannot enter the kingdom of God, because it not based on our own merit.  It does not matter how righteous we are or how much we spend, we cannot save ourselves.   Salvation is an act of God through Christ.   We cannot buy our way into the kingdom of God, because God has already paid our entry fee with the blood of Jesus.   What is impossible for us, is possible for God.  

               Entrance into the kingdom of God is not for sale.  It is only possible by the grace and mercy of God.  It is a free gift offered to all, but it is a gift that we have to take some responsibility for after we accept it.   Peter named this in this morning’s scripture when he spoke up and said, “We have left everything to follow you.”  Following Jesus is an all or nothing proposition.  We either accept the gift of forgiveness and eternal life, and let the gift be the primary motivator and thing that shapes us or we do not.   Either we are all in or we are not in.  We either are willing to give everything or we are willing to give nothing. 

The man who approached Jesus in this scripture claims that he has kept all the Ten Commandments, but the reason why he could not inherit eternal life is because he refused to give up his wealth.  He could not inherit the kingdom of God because when push came to shove his wealth more important to him than eternal life.   For many people wealth controls their life.   This is true for those who horde more wealth than anyone could spend in their lifetime, but it can also be true for those who are barely getting by.  For instance, there are people below the poverty line spending more money than they should on lottery tickets each week in hopes to strike it rich.  Having enough money to cover our needs and some of our wants is important.  Yet if we are not careful, we can think money is the cure for all that ails us, but money is a false god.   All things are not possible with enough wealth.  All things are only possible with God.  If wealth is our primary concern in life, then there is not space in our hearts for the kingdom of God to be our main motivation and desire.

               I do believe that there is wisdom to saving and not just living paycheck to paycheck, but there is also a point where wise saving can cross over into accumulating more for the sake of having more. We might try to pass off a desire to horde wealth as a virtue, but our views on money can often have selfish motivations.   We are concerned about making sure that no one gets what we think should be ours, and we look around to make sure we are always getting enough.   An obsession with wealth is always “me” centered and always about what I can get.   Jesus though told the man to give everything to the poor, because the kingdom of God is “other” centered.

Our wealth is just resource that God has blessed with.  If we are all in on following Jesus then we should be willing to be all in with all that we have.  Our wealth as large or as meager as it might be gives us a means to help ensure our neighbors have enough.  TV preachers are quick to talk about God providing financial blessings.  However, when I read the bible, especially scriptures like this one, I believe that wealth is not a blessing but a responsibility.  Our wealth is a resource that God has allowed us to have, and we have responsibility to be good stewards of those resources. 

John Wesley, found of the Methodist movement, gave us a radical example of how we do that.  He once famously preached: “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”  The middle statement, “save all you can” is perhaps the most misunderstood one today.  Wesley was not advocating for building up an emergency fund in a bank account, but was rather warning people against excess and taking more than they needed.  John Wesley took seriously the idea of earn all you can and give all you can.  For him this was not an abstract concept, but one that he lived out.  John Wesley was an extremely pragmatic individual.  Fairly early in his professional life calculated what he needed as a livable income, and he donated excess to charitable causes.   John Wesley was very wise in how he used, saved, and invested money so his means grew.   However, he continued to live off what he calculated as his livable income.  At the height of Wesley’s career he earned what would equate to 1.4 million in a year.    He lived on 2% of that and gave the rest a way.   He tithed 98% of his income!  He used the rest to fund orphanages, missions, hospitals, and other projects that shared the love of God.   In short he used the vast majority of his earthly wealth as a resource to better fulfill the mission that he (and we) are stewards of.   John Wesley was extremely efficient in doing this to the point, that when he died his worldly wealth consisted of a few odd and end coins and two silver spoons, he had given away the rest. 
​
               Our specific context is different than it was for John Wesley.  Giving away 98% of our income may not be what is required of us, but this morning’s scripture should cause us to question, would we be willing?   Are we willing to be all in and give everything to follow Jesus?   For the rich man in this morning’s scripture his answer was “no” and he went away sad.   May our answer be yes.  May we stop seeing our wealth, no matter how great or meager it is, as something only for ourselves but may we see it as a resource to bless and help others.  May we be willing to put others first, and use our resources to meet great needs.  In doing so may we make disciples, transform the world, and help bring about the kingdom of God on this earth.

Scripture:  Mark 10:13-16

            One of the things I miss most from my younger days are lazy Saturdays.   Growing up my favorite cartoon to watch on Saturday mornings was the Real Ghostbusters.   After cartoons my brother and I mightsit side by side and play Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo.   Later I might my favorite movie, which was (of course) Star Wars.  I actually did that so much I wore out the VHS tapes twice.  These are some of the childhood memories, that can create strong feelings of nostalgia.  We likely all have tons of similar memories.  However, I have noticed something about these things I have nostalgic feelings for.  A new Ghostbusters movie came out this year.  The newest Super Mario Bros. game is due out on the Nintendo Switch this November. I no longer need to wear out Star Wars movies by watching the same one over and over, because now there is a lot more Star Wars content, like the Acolyte TV series which came out a couple of months ago.  The TV shows, movies, and video games that I grew up did not get left in the past to be childhood memories, they are still being made today. 

Many of the things from my childhood can still be found in new forms, because companies and marketers have learned that nostalgia sales.   When new Star Wars Lego sets, like the Millennium Falcon, are released with a $850 price tag it is clear the market for that toy is not children.   Companies have learned that it is profitable to sell us back our childhood. Consumers over the age of 18 spent 1.5 billion dollars on toys for themselves in the first 1/3 of this year, and the adult demographic is now the most important demographic for the toy industry.  Adults seem to be willing to attempt to hold off the march of time by getting a hit of nostalgia by buying the things that brought them joy when they were younger.    
There is an irony at work here.  When we are children we often cannot wait to grow up and be treated like we are older, but once we grow up we chase and try to recapture the magic of childhood.  There are a lot of people willing to spend money to get that nostalgic rush, a reminder of simpler times, and a few moments of feeling like a kid again.  We grow old quicker than we think we will, and then we desperately want to grow young.  While we can not do this on an individual level, we can do it on a corporate level.  People can not grow younger, but churches certainly can.  This morning’s scripture gives us some important reminders about how we do it. 

            This morning’s scripture is a short little story in the ministry of Jesus.   Despite not having the drama of some of Jesus’ miracles or confrontations with religious leaders, or the depth of wisdom that the parables of Jesus are packed with there is still a lot to discover in the few verses we read this morning.  To understand this scripture and what it means for us today, I think we need to be able to answer two questions.  First, why were the disciples trying to keep the children away from Jesus?  Second, what does Jesus meant that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these? 
The culture that Jesus lived and ministered in, is one that is incredibly different than our culture today.  One of the fundamental ways that American culture of the 20th and 21st centuries is different, not just from the time of Jesus but from just about every previous century is how child centric our culture is.  Clearly parents in previous centuries valued and loved their children, but children did not get as much consideration as they do today.  For example, in a lot of families the weekly schedule is built around the practices and activities of the children above all else. This would have been mostly unheard of in most other times of human existence. Human society of previous centuries did not place the same level of emphasis on children that we see today. 

This was true in the first century as well.  Jesus, as a traveling rabbi, was considered a teacher of the Torah.  Learning from a rabbi was simply not the place of a child.  It was not for them.  This is why the disciples were shooing the children away.  They were following the tradition of the era.  By rebuking the children, they thought they were preserving the solemnity and importance of Jesus’ message.  In just about any other instance of this kind of interaction with a traveling rabbi, the actions of the disciples would have been viewed as correct.  Most rabbis of the time kept their message exclusive, it was only for those who it was meant for-and children were not on the list.

            However, Jesus was not like most other traveling rabbis.  At this point the disciples had not yet grasped that Jesus’ gospel was not exclusive it was fully inclusive.  Because by including children, Jesus by extension also included women who often were also excluded because they had to care for the children while the men learned.  The disciples were engaging in the time honored tradition of gate-keeping, of ensuring the purity of whatever is preserved for those they believe it is intended for.  However, Jesus radically broke from tradition by demanding that the little children should come to him. 

            Unfortunately, churches and Christians communities have historically found themselves more aligned with the disciples on this than with Jesus.  In a lot of places churches have a reputation of engaging in gate keeping.   Sometimes this gatekeeping is harsh and cruel.  It is intentionally excluding people because they do not look or act a certain way.  There are many people, too many people, with many painful stories of how gate-keeping has pushed them away from faith.  Fortunately, this type of gate keeping in churches is relatively rare.   Unfortunately, there is a much more common type of gate keeping that happens in churches.  Most church gate keeping takes place in a seven word phrase that gets used way too much in church circles:  We’ve never done it that way before.  
         
   Churches tend to be change-averse, and on average united Methodists are no different.  That is why the old joke is “how many Methodists does it take to change a light bulb?”   The answer is of course, “Change, what do you mean change? My grandmother donated that light bulb.”  Insisting to always do it the way it has been done, and to never do something new is a form of gatekeeping, because it orients the church inward.  It makes it so the way things are done caters to those who have been present the longest.  Protesting we’ve never done it that way before shuts down the possibilities of new ideas, new viewpoints, and new possibilities.  Ultimately, it shuts the gate on new people. 
 
          The disciples, in line with the culture of their time, tried to gatekeep and keep the children away from Jesus.  Unfortunately, the gatekeeping that happens in churches today can have a similar impact.  We can see this evidence in the demographics.  The median age of the US population is 35 but the median age of a United Methodist church member is 57.  All churches, including ours, will grow older by default.  Churches have to choose to grow young, and one of the first choices they have to make is not to gatekeep by resisting change at every turn.   In their landmark study about churches that are effective at consistently growing young by reaching and including young people, the Fuller Youth Institute discovered six strategies that are common in these faith communities.  

            In their book entitled Growing Young the researchers Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin identify one of these strategies of being the one that makes the greatest impact in growing young, and that is prioritizing young people.  It is not possible to prioritize young people and prioritize how we have always done it at the same time.  As the authors write in Growing Young this means prioritizing “young people everywhere.  Even when it means giving up preferences or shifting what in the past may have been considered nonnegotiable.  Even when it means relinquishing traditional authority and power in order to embrace the young.  Prioritizing teenagers and young adults as made the difference between ailing and thriving.”  In other words, one the most essential elements of growing young is we have to be willing to change and maybe even do things differently.  We must put ourselves and preferences between young people and Christ.  We must get out of the way and let the little children come to Jesus. 

​            If a church wants to grow young, if this church wants to grow young, then we must be willing to change.  However, before making changes to programming, structure, or anything like that I think a more fundamental component and possible change has to be in place.   This gets to the second question we need to consider which is why Jesus said the kingdom of God belongs to those like little children.   This morning’s scripture is not the first time that Jesus mentions the little children.  If we flip back just a few paragraphs in the gospel of Mark we find  In Mark 9:33-34 the Disciples had one again been arguing to themselves about who was greater.  Jesus once again tells them “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”   To further illustrate this point, Jesus picks up a child among them and said, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.”   It is in this morning’s scripture we learn the disciples had not yet quite learned the point, so Jesus reiterates it.      

            Again, in a first century, patriarchal culture that puts adult men at the top of the hierarchy, a child is the last person who would normally be welcomed.  In this culture, in an argument over who is greatest a child will always be the last picked.  Which is precisely why the kingdom of God belongs to those like little children.   A child in the first century could not earn a place of honor.  There is nothing that a child could do to be allowed pas the gatekeepers into the area they were not permitted.  For a child to gain the kind of access that Jesus granted them it was a gift, it was an exception, and it went against all of the rules.  Jesus said the kingdom belongs to the children, because the children were the lowest rank in the culture of his era.   The Kingdom belongs to children because the kingdom of heaven is not reserved for the greatest among us and it is not reserved for those who prove themselves.  It is a gift of God that is given to those undeserving because of God’s great love.  Our citizenship in God’s heavenly kingdom is a gift of grace through faith not through accomplishments. 

            The kingdom of heaven is a place that leads with grace.   It is characterized by radical acceptance, which means that if we take the message of Jesus seriously, churches should also be places known for the way in which they radically accept, include, and welcome everyone without exception.   I do not think it is a coincidence that the Growing Young research identified one of the six strategies for growing young is to take Jesus’ message seriously.   About this strategy the authors wrote, “According to our research, churches that communicate the gospel of Jesus as the centerpiece of God’s story are more likely to have young people with greater faith vibrancy and maturity.”   A love of God that forgives us, welcomes, and receives of us when we do not deserve it is the heart of the gospel of Jesus.  This should be the primary message that all churches, including us, need to communicate.  Our message should not be why certain people can not come.  We should let the people, all the people young or old, come to Jesus. Find the love of and forgiveness that only he can provide.   

            In this morning’s scripture the disciples were just doing things the way they have always been done.  Jesus signaled that he and the kingdom of God he proclaimed are different.   All are welcome- especially those who are being excluded.  Not only is everyone welcome, but Jesus communicates in this morning scripture, that we must be willing to change how things are done so that the gates of mercy and grace are flown wide open.  So may we not try to function as gatekeepers.  May we take the message of Jesus seriously and may we proclaim the unending love and amazing grace of God.   May we take this message so seriously, that in order to share the message with more people we prioritize young people everywhere and be willing to make changes if we need to.   May we let the children come, and in doing so may we grow young as a church and may we better reflect the kingdom of God here on earth. 
 

Scripture:  James 5:13-20

               There are a lot of different ways that actors approach their craft.  One of the techniques that has sometimes garnered criticism is method acting.   Often actors portray a character on stage or screen, but in method acting the actors seek to identify with and emotionally experience what it is like to be the character.   Actors go to some incredible extremes to get into character.  For example, to get in character for his movie Taxi Driver, De Nairo got hired as and worked multiple twelve-hour shifts as a New York cabbie.  To prepare for his role in Raging Bull Robert De Nairo trained as a boxer and he even competed in three actual boxing matches.  Hillary Swank did something similar in preparation for her academy award winning performance in Million Dollar Baby.   To get in the locked in boxer mindset, Swank spent months training six days a week, gaining 18 pounds of muscle.  Forrest Whitaker took it a step further to prepare for the role of Idi Amin, the brutal president of Uganda, in the film The Last King of Scotland.  Whitaker became fluent in Swahili, the language of Uganda, learned to play the accordion because the character could, and he developed an accurate East African accent- which he did not stop speaking in on or off the set for the entire filming process. 
The idea behind method acting is to experience and embody the character so that what the audience experiences is not a person pretending to be someone else, but the audience fully experiences the character.  Method actors internalize the character and so the character just flows out of them.  In essence, for a few magical moments the actor become the character.  I think there is a lesson here for our faith as well.    Faith is not about doing a right set of actions, it is not about knowing the right answers, it is about internalization.  We are not just supposed to portray a Christian, we are supposed to be like Christ.  Faith requires more than just knowing the gospel, it requires becoming the gospel. When an actor internalizes their character, it works to create some magical moments on the silver screen.  When we internalize following Jesus then our faith works in a way that is powerful and effective.   
 
Today’s scripture is the conclusion of James, and it wraps up the letter.  James is a very practical letter; the whole focus of James is having a faith that works in our everyday lives.  A lot of the writing in James is about how faith should influence how we live and act.  In this conclusion James points out when we have a faith that works then we have a faith that goes to work.   As James wrote in verse 16, the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.   Prayer is not magic.   It is not like we can say the exact right words and instantly create the effect we want.   Prayer is actually something far more remarkable than that.  I do not know if you have ever really thought about what we are doing when we pray.  Prayer is the primary way that we join God in transforming this world.  When we pray, we are not just doing a good luck ritual, we are interacting with the Creator of all that exists.   When we ask for something in prayer, we are asking the single most powerful and creative being in the entire universe to intervene and possibly change the very fabric of reality to make a miracle happen.  In order for that work, we need to have an idea of how to pray.   

 This morning’s scripture does not just say prayer is powerful and effective, but it qualifies it.  This morning’s scripture states the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective.  Righteous is a very churchy word because it is a very biblical word.  Righteousness is the word the bible uses time and time again to describe people who take following God seriously.  It is the word used to describe people who internalize their faith.  The righteous do not treat faith like a hobby, but it is a fundamental expression of who they are.   Just like a method actor fully understands their character, the righteous know just what to pray because they have internalized loving God and following Jesus.   The apostle Paul also writes about this in Romans.   In Romans 12 Paul writes that when we submit ourselves to God then we can know and approve what God’s perfect will is.   Perhaps that is the best definition of what it means to be righteous: submission to God.   Having a faith that works is being able to truly say “not my will, but yours be done.”   When we believe that, and when we seek to truly embrace that way of thinking then we are better equipped to pray for God’s will and the world can be transformed.   

Praying righteous and effective prayers do not come from a formula or reciting a specific prayer.   Our prayers are not powerful because we deliver the right lines, our prayers are powerful when we pray in faith, with the expectation that our faith will work and God will move.  Prayer, just like acting or any skill, is one that requires practice to learn. Learning to pray righteously takes a lot of experience in prayer and requires a genuine and deep love for God and people.   While there is no guaranteed multi-step formula for world changing prayer, in this morning’s scripture James does give us some broad guidelines to help us better learn how to pray in a way that is powerful and effective.  
I think there are three guidelines that James gives for better prayer.   The first is not explicitly stated but is found in verses 13-14.  There it states if any among you are in trouble, if any among you are happy, if any among you is sick.  It does not say if you know someone, the scripture states if any among you.  Among you means together, and it shows that prayer is meant to be communal.   Prayer is not always meant to be a one-on-one chat, it can and should be a group discussion.  

The scripture goes on to state when someone is sick then the elders of the church should pray over them, because again prayer is something we should do together.  In my experience of attending church all my life, this is a common experience.  Churchgoers tend to be really, really good at praying when people are sick.  Every week we share our prayer concerns with one another, and we can trust that the community of faith will lift us up.   By and large that trust is well placed, because many faithful saints pray powerful and effective prayers.  I think testimony to this is that just about every church if not every church in the world, will have someone who can share testimony of how God answered their prayers and brought about physical healing in their lives.  We tend to do well being a community of faith that lifts one another when someone needs physical healing.   However, we tend to struggle a bit more with the second guideline.

            The second guideline to powerful and effective prayer is found in verse 16 where James writes, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  We have no problem lifting up in prayer the aches, pains, and sniffles we have, but we do not often confess our sins to each other or pray for one another that the damage done to our hearts, minds, and souls by sin be healed.  

            If we are being honest, that kind of prayer is a little too real for most of us.   It is more comfortable to show up in church and pretend we have it all together as opposed to confess our sins and admit that we can be a bit of a mess.  What would happen if we took down the masks and showed each other our messes?   What if we were willing to confess to one another that we struggle with anger?    What if we confessed that we harbor bitterness and we have not been able to forgive someone who wronged us?   What if we were honest with one another about our doubts and the frustrations we experience with life?  Can you imagine ever finding that kind of brutal honesty and humble vulnerability in churches?   Do you have any idea what would happen?  I do, because James wrote about it.  If we pray for another, then those who have sinned will know forgiveness.  If we confess our sins to one another and pray for one another then we will be healed, because the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.  

            Friends, think about how freeing that is, how miraculous that is.  The temptations, the struggles, and the inner demons we fight we do not have to do it alone.   Friends, we were never meant to do it alone.   We can turn to one another, we can pray for one another, and we can count that God will heal the broken heart, restore the joy that leaks out, and mend the soul torn by sin.   One of the things I find most heartening about this morning’s scripture is that it states the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective, not the prayers of a perfect person.  When it comes to following God, we do not have to fake it until we make it.  We can be honest about where we are and the struggles we face.  We can be imperfect and righteous at the same time.   This means that even while we have our own struggles, we can pray and lift up our sibling in Christ who is struggling as well.  We can pray that God will provide the strength that both one of us have, and we can pray that prayer with confidence because the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective, even if they are imperfect. 

            The final guideline that James gives us is in verse 20 “remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of their ways will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”   I so appreciate that this morning’s scripture ends by lifting up how important it is for us to regularly pray for those who do not yet know Jesus.   How else could we have any part in helping someone leave a life of sin to follow Christ, if prayer is not involved?    The prayers of the righteous are effective, because they line up with the will of God.   This can leave us sometimes wondering if what we are praying for is in God’s will.  However, there are some things that we can know with absolute certainty are within God’s will and praying that a heart will turn to Jesus and a soul will be saved is always, always within God’s will.   Praying that someone would come to know Jesus, to turn away from sin and accept the love that God has for them is always a good, worthwhile prayer.   There are over seven billion people on the planet today, and Jesus died to forgive the sins of every single one of them.   There are people who have done terrible things and are currently unrepentant.  There are people convinced they do not need or want God.   Through words and even our actions we may not be able to convince people in those categories about the errors of their ways.  However, with God all things are possible.    We can love the people who do not yet know Jesus and we can pray that they will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.  We can pray with confidence, because the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.  

​            Prayer that is powerful and effective is the result of having a faith that works.   May that be the kind of faith that you possess.  There is a method to this kind of faith, so may your faith not just be a hobby that you engage in on Sunday mornings, but may it be a deep, internal part of who you are.  May you live your faith out consistently and daily in your thoughts, your words, and your actions   May you be so in step with the Holy Spirit that you know exactly what to pray about.   Through the power of your prayers may miracles happen, and may the world be transformed because the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.  So may your prayers be so as well.      
 

Scripture:  James 3:13-4:10           

We probably all have different triggers that really get to us when we are behind the wheel.  For some of us it might be how some people seem to be allergic to using their turn signal.   For others it might be drivers who wish they were in a NASCAR because they seem to always be right on our bumper trying to catch a draft.  For others it might be that guy who rushes to get in front of us, to then drive slower than we are going.  Whatever it is for you, we all have things that make us wonder how the people on the road with us ever got a driver’s license in the first place. Statistically, that is how most of us feel about the majority of the people we share the road with. Surveys have found that most people believe only about 10% of other people are excellent drivers.   There is a weird statistical paradox here though, because surveys have also found that 73% of people believe themselves to be excellent drivers.  This means that 3/4ths of drivers believe they are part of a group that only consists of 1/10th of drivers.  This means the reality is that most of us likely overestimate how good of a driver we are.   If we were all as good as we think we are then there would be less accidents because 94% of car accidents are caused by driver error.  If we were all as good at driving as we think we are then turn signals would always get used, there would be less people being cut off, and less accidents.

            I think a similar overestimation can happen in other areas of our lives as well.   This morning’s scripture is a good example of that.  This morning’s scripture has some harsh indictments, but we can easily believe that it does not apply to us.  After all it mentions wanting to kill to get what we want.  It mentions fighting and quarrelling, and we can easily think since I am not very violent, this does not apply to me.   Making that assumption is just as big of a mistake as assuming that you are the only good driver on the road.   The reality is all of us make driving mistakes sometimes, and no matter how good we are at times we become someone else’s example of a bad driver.  In the same this morning’s scripture is a reminder that we may not be as humble and God-honoring as we like to think.  This morning’s scripture can be like a mirror to help us see our own shortcomings and inspire us to be who God has made us to be. 

            One of the elements of James that is often lauded is how it manages to bridge two cultures.  The writing in James uses rhetorical devices and language that resembles the popular moral philosophy of the Greco-Roman world.  Yet, it also is rooted in the Jewish background.  For instance,  In the Jewish tradition found in the proverbs, wisdom is best defined as the type of thinking that draws one closer to God.  This morning’s scripture is a great example of bridging these two cultures.   One of the key elements of Greek philosophy is an emphasis on duality, and Jewish wisdom literature like the proverbs tend to focus on practicality.   Both are present here in this morning’s scripture reading.  This morning’s scripture focuses on the idea of heavenly wisdom vs earthly, demonic wisdom.   It carries this through to the idea of either having friendship with the world or friendship with God.  However, these concepts are not just theoretical but they are presented in practical terms on how these two extremes influence our actions.  This morning’s scripture tries to define for us what heavenly wisdom and friendship with God looks like not just by telling us what it is but by telling us what it is not.  

            One of things I am constantly amazed by and one of the reasons why the bible is endlessly fascinating to me is that despite being centuries old, originally written in an incredibly different language, and coming from a cultural context wildly different than our own is just how relatable it still is.  Verses 3:14-15really stick out to me when they state, “if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.  Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual demonic.”  This is just as relevant today, as it was when James wrote it because today envy and ambition is promoted as wisdom.  A foundational message of our modern world is that the path to happiness is to always get more.   This consumeristic mindset is pervasive, it is built on envy and ambition. 

            It is so pervasive that its impact is felt beyond just the acquisition of stuff.  One of the other cultural messages we get is that pursuing a goal is the ultimate virtue.  It is never enough to be happy with where are in life, because we are told to always hustle, that there are gains to make, and there is always a higher peak to reach.   We are told that pursuing this goal is worth every sacrifice and often the ends seems to always justify the means.   There is nothing inherently wrong with working towards goals and there is nothing wrong with the idea of working to acquire something.  The problem is that the motivation behind these cultural messages are more often than not motivated by selfish ambition and bitter envy.   Greed and selfishness get recast as virtue, and as wisdom.   Our culture celebrates billionaires who horde more wealth than could ever be spent in 100 lifetimes as geniuses.  We are led to believe that sitting on enough money to fix world hunger is somehow the pinnacle of human achievement. 

            One of the lessons many of us taught early in life, and one that is treated as wisdom, is to always ask “what’s in it for me?”   This question though, is not wisdom. It is folly.  It comes out of selfish ambition and bitter envy.   It is a question that ensures we are always looking out for ourselves first above all else.  The problem is that looking out for number one is a full time occupation.   If our primary approach to anything is always “what’s in it for me?” then we have no space in our lives to put others first, to love our neighbors, or to truly love God with all of our heart, strength, mind, and soul. 

            The truth of this morning’s scripture in verse 3:16 is just as true today as it was when it was written, “For where you find envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”  In chapter 4:1-2, James then engages in some hyperbolic dialogue to make his point.   There is nothing life giving about pursing what others have.   Selfishly putting ourselves first inevitably will only lead to conflict with others.   As we have established selfishness as a virtue is a cultural message we can not escape, so we all are susceptible to it from time to time.  Verse 4:3 is especially convicting on this front when it states, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.”   At some point, that is true for all of us.  We might have tried justifying or spiritualizing our want, but chances are nearly all of us had prayed with a selfish motive.  This morning’s scripture successfully diagnoses one of the great problems we have as people living in a broken and fallen world.  Fortunately, it also reminds us of the remedy. 

            In this morning’s scripture reading the cure for the selfish ambition and envy that ails us is mentioned three times.  It is mentioned in verse 3:13, when it states the wise can show they are wise by their good deeds done in humility.  It is mentioned in verse 4:6 when James quotes Proverbs 3:34: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  Finally it is mentioned in verse 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.” 

We often portray the idea of being humble as not wanting to promote oneself very much or trying to avoid the spotlight.  We tend to treat the definition of humble as reserved and modest.   Yet, I am not quite sure that gets to what being humble truly is.    I have always appreciated how C.S. Lewis defined humility.  He wrote, “humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”    Humility is the antonym of selfishness.   When we think of ourselves less, it frees up space in our thoughts and in our hearts.   It enables us to get our eyes and minds off of what is in it for me, and instead pursue what is worth pursuing.  Instead of investing our lives in acquiring the next thing, we can invest our lives in following Jesus, having compassion for others, and loving God. 

            I think the life of Frances Havergal is a good illustration of what it means to walk humbly with God.   Frances came to age in Victorian England.  She was the daughter of an Anglican priest.  By all accounts she was an incredibly intelligent woman.  She also had a reputation for being beautiful, and she was a remarkably talented musician.  Once while accompanying her father to Germany, a mutual friend arranged her an audience with Ferdinand Hiller, a renowned musician of the time.   Hiller was impressed with the song writing abilities and melodic compositions  of Frances.   She had all of the makings to be the Victorian version of a pop star.   She could have pursued fame and fortune, but that is not what we she did.   Instead, she lived a quite, reserved, and by most measures of the world unremarkable life.   She was heavily involved in the life of her local church.  She was known in her local community for having a sweet disposition and being quick to talk about Jesus.   Unfortunately, Frances Havergal died from illness at the young age of 42.  Even though she herself never pursued fame or fortune, she did continue to write poems and music.  One of her sisters managed to get some of these works published after Frances passed away.   The written work of Frances Havergal revealed the reason why she never pursued being a famed musician.  Her best known poem was set to music, and it beautifully sums up what Frances Havergal valued most in life.  She wrote, “Take my life and lite it be consecrated, Lord to thee.  Take my moment and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.”   She continues and ends the poem with, “Take myself and I will be ever only, all for thee.”  

            Frances Havergal became known as the “consecrated poet”, because her life was dedicated to being quietly lived for God.  She embodied this morning’s scripture that states “submit yourself then to God.”  She lived humbly, because she did not seek to put herself first, but desired to have the primary focus of her life be on God, consecrated fully to Him.  She came near to God and could feel God coming near to her.  Earlier in James we are told that God does not change like shifting shadows, and that every good and perfect gift comes from God.  Acquiring stuff we want can make us happy for moments but when we draw near to God, when we submit to God instead of pursuing selfish ambition, then we know more than happiness we know joy, peace, and an assurance that God will lift us up.  This is what Frances Havergal experienced in her quiet, humble life.  She chose that over pursuing fame and fortune, and I would argue she made the wise choice. 
            This morning’s scripture pushes against the cultural message to put ourselves first, to always want more, and to pursue selfish ambition above all else.  This morning’s scripture reminds us of a better way to live.  It reminds us that true wisdom is not asking “what’s in it for me?”, but true wisdom is to submit ourselves to God.  So may we live a life marked by that kind of a wisdom, a good life, where we act in love and mercy while seeking to walk humbly with God   May we seek to draw near to God, so that we can find that God is drawing near to us.  May the prayer of our hearts humbly be, “Take my life and let it be Consecrated Lord to thee.”