Blessed (Sermon based upon Matthew 5:1-12)

Matthew 5: 1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

There is a great African proverb which states, “If you want to go fast, go alone; If you want to go far, go together.”

“Together” is the way God has chosen for humanity to function. God began in the Garden of Eden by filling it with animals as companions, and man and woman as lovers. God continued it when God promised Abraham descendants enough to form a great nation that would become a light to the world, declaring they would be blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12.2). Over time that nation would be torn apart over and over again due to war, famine, and rebellion yet God would always call forth someone to bring them back together again.

The history of God’s action in redeeming this world is centered around togetherness. The invitation to be part of God’s community means we willingly enter into the space of others and there find our place as children of God. It makes sense therefore that one of the first things Jesus does in his ministry of salvation is to invite others to join him in the journey that lies ahead. The road to redemption for the world is a long one, the brokenness and distance between God and humanity so deep that we have far to go to be reconciled. Jesus knew the path of God - “if you want to go far, go together.”

Together Jesus called his disciples and they went upon the mountain where he began to teach them about the character of the community to which they had been called; a community that would be defined by the highest standards…almost impossible standards really…but standards that are found throughout the Psalms and prophets of the Old Testament. These Old Testament virtues would be the bedrock of the New Testament community called the Church, made up of folks who are blessed in glorious ways…

Blessed are the poor in spirit – those among us who lack arrogance or ego and senses their own inabilities and dependence upon God.

Blessed are those who mourn – those among us who lament the present condition of a broken world; those who deeply feel empathy and compassion for that brokenness.

Blessed are the meek – those who identify with oppression and injustice and renounce the world’s violence.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – those who yearn for God’s Kingdom in the here and now, and actively seek to do God’s will.

                 

Blessed are the merciful – those who teach us about forgiveness and grace.

Blessed are the pure in heart – those with single-minded devotion to God whose allegiance isn’t split; who declare God first always.

Blessed are the peacemakers – those who engage in positive acts of reconciliation and never in acts of division.

Blessed are the persecuted – those who are ridiculed, attacked or misunderstood for their commitment to Kingdom living.

It is a tough list to live up to and while it is a list we should all strive to emulate Jesus seems to be saying that all these virtues are already present in the community of faith he has called together. Each person may not have ALL the characteristics but they probably had at least one and that brought blessing upon the entire community. They were blessed as individuals but they were also blessed as community because they understood from Abraham’s promise that the purpose of blessing is to be a blessing to others.

Within the walls of our church are people blessed with each of these virtues and we all benefit from their presence. We have those who empower us to be more kind and merciful. We have those who through their teaching and example invite us to live more faithful and Christ-like lives. We have those who keep the peace and we have those who rile things up by lamenting brokenness and pointing out needs. We are blessed and through our blessing, others are blessed.

This is the way God works. It has always been the way God works - by blessing what God has called together for the long journey of saving the world.  Jesus said that for those who had been gifted with these blessings there was eternal consequences: as a result of these blessings we would know a taste of heaven right here and now; that we might find comfort and joy, a glimpse of a renewed and redeemed earth, a peek of God’s glory and a whisper of a father’s love.

It is out of this blessedness that our mission and purpose, both as individuals and as community, is born.  However, we must be aware that every mission has a shadow mission that can easily derail our purpose.

Rev. John Ortberg explains shadow mission as:

“A shadow mission is an authentic mission that has been derailed, often in imperceptible ways. Part of what makes the shadow mission so tempting is that it’s usually so closely related to our gifts and passions. It’s not 180 degrees off track; it is just 10 degrees off track.” ("Overcoming Your Shadow Mission" by John Ortberg)

So how can our blessing become a shadow mission? One way is if we let the blessing become about “us” and not about “others.”  Dr. Stanley Hauerwas warns, the message of the Beatitudes cannot be separated from the one who delivers it for the minute we take the blessing but try to leave out the Christ we are headed for trouble. ("Matthew" by Stanley Hauerwas)

To turn our blessings into shadow mission is dangerously easy, all it takes is the small movement of holding those blessings too tightly to our self. It happens, for example:

If we decide we are so poverty stricken in spirit that we dare not share God’s spirit with the desperate and downtrodden.

If we decide we ourselves are so endangered by brokenness that we only have enough tears to mourn our own predicament and can’t spare any for the rest of the world.

If we become so meek we can only imagine our own oppression and become blind to the oppression of others.

If we seek righteousness so devoutly that, like the Pharisees, we lose our compassion for those who aren’t yet righteous.

                 

If we decide we can’t afford to risk being merciful.

If we decide being pure in heart for God alone isn’t all that necessary because others need our allegiance as well?

If we fail to be a peacemaker and instead promote self-serving division.

If we decide persecution is too great a burden to take on.

If we try to hold all of God’s blessings within ourselves because it is just too dangerous to risk letting it go.

You see how small the movement is? The blessing – the gift from God - is there but we simply lose sight that the purpose of the gift is to be passed or shared with another. When that small, easy shift happens our shadow mission kicks in and the purpose of our blessing gets derailed.  Sadly, we could go on for a while and never even notice but Jesus warns this too has eternal consequences.

Jesus warns his disciples that despite the blessing of God there is the risk that they will fail to live into it. Matthew 5:19-20

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We are blessed to be a blessing. Our blessing cannot be understood apart from the togetherness to which we are called: together with Christ, together with one another, together with all the world. In this space of togetherness we are less apt to slip into shadow mission for we have others to offer us the accountability and guidance to stay on track and keep our mission pure. This is one of the reasons that church or a community of faith is so vitally important to the Christian walk.

We have a long way to go to bring Christ to all the world. If we want to go far, we must remember to go together.

Let us pray:

God, our redeemer! We praise you for the blessings that abundantly fill our church and are poured out upon your people. However, we also acknowledge how easy it is to focus on our own needs, our own safety, and our own security, in ways that cause us to enter the dark shadow of purpose. When we become centered on self we lose sight of who you have called us to be and in that shadowy place the light we are supposed to cast fails to reach the world we are called to reach. Forgive us for our shadow living. Bring us back into the realization of your blessing so that with righteous-seeking devotion we would come together with our Christ once more to serve the present age.  Amen

Follow Me (Sermon based upon Matthew 4:12-22)

Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." 17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 

There was once a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower." (S. I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases)

We tend to talk a lot in the church about leadership, especially at the first of the year when new committees are forming, or days like today when we have a leadership retreat this afternoon. As the chairperson of the nominations committee I can tell you that many of you in the church can relate to this woman’s anxiety because I often hear it when I ask someone to take a leadership role. The person responds, “Oh, I’m not a leader!”

Well, it turns out, that is ok because before any of us can be leaders we must first be followers.

Last week we began a new sermon series called The Great Invitation and for the next several weeks we will explore just what it means to be called by God. Last week we recognized the invitation is first, come and see who Jesus is and today we find the invitation expanding to follow Jesus, but what does that really mean?

We live in an age where invitations are filled with high expectations. Think about it, most of us lived in a time when if you wanted to take someone to the prom you asked them in the hallway on your way to class or if you were too shy you slipped a note in their locker. Now an invitation to the prom is expected to be more grand than a marriage proposal. They call them “promposals.”

If asking someone to the prom requires limos and sky writing airplanes it would seem that inviting someone to dedicate their life to following Christ should be even more glorious but oddly enough, in Matthew’s gospel, it feels more like the old days of simply asking while passing in the hallway.

The story Matthew tells us is intriguing. Jesus, ready to begin a ministry that will rock the world and bring salvation to all, doesn’t seek out the most educated, prominent people with which to build a ministry team. Instead, he goes to Galilee of the gentiles and selects fishermen. We can surmise from other biblical texts that their accents give them away as working class Galileans; men the educated and prominent would look down on.

Yet, walking along the lakeshore Jesus sees something in these men. Matthew doesn’t bother to tell us what that is. He gives us no hint that they even knew who Jesus was before he called to them that fateful day.

“Follow me,” he says, “I will make you fish for people.” Did they even know what that meant? I seriously doubt it. I also doubt that if Jesus had hit them up front with the news that following meant they would sacrifice much, they would be persecuted and ridiculed and in the end be martyred or exiled – well, I doubt they would have dropped those nets so quickly.

I would imagine that if Jesus had called and said, “Follow me and I will make you a great leader, and you will build a church that will serve the world for centuries to come” they probably would have laughed and said, “But we aren’t leaders, we don’t know how to do any of that.”

Perhaps therein lies the problem with our understanding this scripture and the invitation to follow Jesus. We try to associate that call with what we DO, what we can offer, what services we can render, what abilities we have. In that case, we see Jesus as the master headhunter walking down the beach looking to fill up his leadership list with capable employees.

What if, however, we could see that Jesus isn’t that interested in what we DO? What if his first invitation to us is simply to BE? What if the invitation is simply to be His…to be God’s child…to be loved….to be showered upon by grace and mercy.

What if his invitation to follow is heard as, “Come as you are and together we will be something new.” I think what Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John really heard was, “Follow me, because I love you, because I want you with me, because you belong.”

The great invitation to follow isn’t issued because Jesus needs us. Jesus doesn’t need more soldiers for his army, or more team leaders in his operations division. The call isn’t given because of what you can do for Jesus; it is issued because of what Jesus can for you.

Jesus went after men and women who recognized God’s invitation to be more that they were. Remember Matthew was a tax collector, one of the most hated of professions, seen as a puppet office of Rome. Jesus called Matthew and said come and be loved by me. The woman at the well who had been tossed back and forth by men her whole life and was filled with shame – Jesus said, you are more than your reputation, be mine. How about Mary and Martha? Martha always “doing” but Jesus said Mary chose the better way. Mary chose to simply “be” at the feet of Jesus. Jesus invites us all to be more than sick, more than outcast, more than dead…God’s invitation is to be God’s beloved.

For me, that is one of intentions of Sabbath. It is why I believe it is important to come to worship each week. It calls us to intentionally take time out of our lives to just “be” in the presence of God; to recognize that we are God’s beloved children and to give honor to God as our beloved parent.

This certainly doesn’t mean that “doing” doesn’t eventually become part of following Jesus. We will see soon enough in Matthew’s Gospel that it does. The initial call to follow, however, isn’t about what you will do for God, it is simply the love note slipped in your locker that says, “I love you, do you love me?” if so, go with me, follow me, let’s be together.”

So today I hope you will hear the call to follow as an invitation to belong to Jesus – just as you are – for no reason other than he loves you, he wants you, and he invites you.

Come and See (Sermon based upon Matthew 2.1-12)

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 

asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." 

When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him...  (Matthew 2:1-3, NRSV)

It was a Friday evening, January 27, 1956…A young Martin Luther King came home late from navigating another difficult day resulting from the bus boycott fueled by Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. Tensions were high and he was exhausted. His family was already asleep, so he went into the kitchen for a moment when suddenly the phone rang. On the other end of the line, a voice, raspy with hate, told him if he wanted to live he better leave Montgomery for good.

For just a moment, King was defeated. He laid his head down on his kitchen table and thought about walking away from it all – it was just too much. He knew, however, that he need to pray about it first. He needed to take his pain, his fear, his anguish before God – Dr. King described it this way…

He prayed…"I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I've come to the point where I can't face it alone."

At that moment, I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced God before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: "Stand up for justice, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever." Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything."  (King, Martin Luther. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. 1958.)

In the days of Racial Oppression…the movement for civil rights was born.

In dark days of injustice, God calls forth those to stand against it…God always has. Matthew reminds us….

In the days of Herod…Jesus was born

Outside the perfection of Eden, the world has always known injustice – because the world has always been filled with Herods, those who, through their own insecurity and power-hungry ego, seek to rule and control others in ways that inflict suffering, pain, and oppression. Herods, those who think of nothing other than their own benefit and have no qualms about standing on the backs of others to rise to higher heights of glory.

We know the Herods well because history is full of their stories – stories that have lead to atrocities like slavery, colonization, dictatorships, genocides, and holocausts. Horrendous acts perpetuated at the hands of horrendous leaders.

We look back at history and we wonder, "How could they have not seen? How could they let such evil have that much power and control?" Well, evil wouldn’t be tempting if it didn’t first look appealing would it? It starts quite simply really. The leader just needs to convince the people there is something, or someone, to fear and once they are sufficiently afraid the people will do whatever horrendous thing asked of them in order to protect themselves.

Herod the Great, sat in his palace and listened intently as the Magi ask, “Where is the child born King of the Jews?"  With this question, his gut turned cold. HE was King over the Jews! Rome had appointed him so. What would happen to him, to his crown, to his power, to his ego, if another King rose up from among the people. A rebellion? A riot? A protest? Rome would never stand for such insurrection. As the most powerful nation in the world, they would sweep in and annihilate everyone in order to keep control. Most likely that was all the ploy Herod needed to convince the rest of the Jews that a new King would get them all killed. This is how the Herods of the world work and it apparently worked well for the infamous Herod the Great because Matthew records that indeed, not only was Herod afraid of the news the Magi brought but ALL of Jerusalem was afraid with him.

Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, professor and theologian at Duke Divinity School, summed it up best I think, when he wrote, “So, ‘all of Jerusalem with him’ is fearful, [would indicate] that Herod’s rule is possible because the fear of those he rules makes Herod’s rule seem necessary.”  (Hauerwas, Stanley. Matthew: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids Michigan: BrazosPress. 2006.)

We just came through one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in modern history: a campaign driven on both sides of the aisle not on issues, plans and agendas but instead driven by fear. It was a campaign that issued the call for each party to circle the wagons and prepare for battle against an enemy that included our family, friends and neighbors...against our fellow Americans. Sadly, we now join the way of the world and a society in which our policies and actions are born more out of fear than out of reason and truth. 

We don’t like to acknowledge it, but our world is still ruled by Herods –leaders constantly trying to convince us to trust no one but them – to believe no truth but their own. It was good news for Herod that all of Jerusalem was afraid along with him but it would not be long before their fears turned to grief when they stood by as Herod slaughtered their innocent sons in an attempt to kill the Christ child.

The “days of Herod” still haunt us. The weeping of the mothers and fathers whose innocent boys were slaughtered by Herod are echoing in the streets of Aleppo and other such war torn regions where the Herods of today still rule.

If you are like me, we are tempted to be defeated by the fact that God doesn’t yet see fit to rid the world of its Herods. We are tempted to be defeated…but friends…we are not going to be defeated. Because in the days of Herod…Jesus was born

In the midst of fear, in the midst of a time when yet another ego-controlled tyrant was bent on ruling with injustice and oppression, Jesus was born. God may not be ready to eliminate the Herods from the world, but God did send us his son to strengthen and empower God's children to find a different  path that leads away from fear and towards justice and truth.

How do we find this path?  We respond to God’s invitation to follow the light of truth and spirit….to come and see that Jesus is indeed Emmanuel, God with us.

The Magi saw the invitation as a star, Dr. King as the still voice at his kitchen table, We still find that invitation today in the words of Jesus who said,  “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4.18-19). The invitation to follow the light of Christ means we must be armed with a few tools for the journey. 

Like the Magi, we must have a willingness to seek direction. They would not have found Bethlehem had they not heard the counsel of those learned in scripture to direct the way. Reading and understanding the Bible is essential to the journey. Second, we must have a willingness to listen to God’s still small voice that brings warning and insight. This only happens through prayer and a close relationship with God. Third, we must have a willingness to take a path that we have never taken before. We must be willing to take a stand against the status quo of the world and go in the direction God calls us, not the direction in which the world’s Herods say we should go.

God may not be ready to eliminate the Herods, but God is ready to lead us along a path that prevents them from having their fullest reign of terror. God is ready to lead us to paths that are lit with strength and empowerment rather than fear and control. The invitation from God as issued through scripture and paraphrased by Dr. King is clear: "Stand up for justice, stand up for truth, and God will be by your side forever."

The Herods cannot be allowed to have their way. They cannot have their way as long as God’s children answer the call to come and see that into a world of fear – Jesus is born.