Service Video Here: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/274348768491664
Disciple Making
Disciple Making—Genesis 1:26-2:3; Matthew 28: 16-20
My friend tells of the first and last time he played baseball. He was instructed from the very beginning of playing, when the ball is hit, and you hear, “Go!” you need to run the bases. He memorized this over and over till it was ingrained in his memory. So, true to form, by the third game, there’s a crack of the bat, the ball is hit hard and goes way, way up in the air. He hears the adults shouting, “Go! Go! Go!” so based on his training and memory, he starts at base one, runs to base two, then three, and home. He’s celebrating a homerun, only, he realizes no one is cheering with him. You see, there was a problem. He was playing the outfield, not batting, and they were saying, “Go…catch the ball.”
Sometimes church is clear as mud too. Growing up in church years ago, there was an emphasis on people coming to the church. We sang, “Bring Them In,” and “Bringing in the Sheaves,” which is in fact “sheaves” and not “sheep.” And if it was a particularly hard-hitting sermon, “Rescue the Perishing” was dusted off and toddled out as a closing hymn. Then something changed in the mid-2000s, and we were told to “Go!” We got the hymns, “You Shall Go Out with Joy,” and “Send Me Out,” and “Follow You Anywhere.” Don’t come, but go, but when you go also, remember to come…and bring them with you, but still go and also still come back, both and yes.
For a bit of clarity, let’s look at what Jesus actually says for us to do. We are instructed to go, to baptize, and to teach, with some being clearer than others. First, we are told by Jesus to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” There’s a bit of instruction there—to go AND make disciples, but also, it’s pretty vague on the whole game plan, the where and how of it all. This is where the rest of the gospel comes in handy. Feed people, be kind to them, lift them up when they are broken, seek gentleness instead of being right, and nourish their souls—these are the ways we make disciples.
You don’t need a bouncy house, a $50 million dollar youth and family budget, a coffee shop, and a fog machine. Private jets are also optional. People need to simply see that example of Jesus in us loving them, lifting them up, praying for them, and bringing some hope and care into their lives. It’s as simple as bringing a meal or sitting at the hospital with someone who is worried. People will gravitate towards a church home where they feel loved and welcomed, and where they feel they can make a difference themselves. It’s on ongoing cycle of going and making disciples, who come and go out to make other disciples.
Next, we are told to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This one is more straightforward. Baptism was part of the faith from the very get-go. Jesus came to be baptized by John. Believers throughout history have professed their faith and commitment through baptism or been brought into a faith they would later confirm with baptism. It’s based in this idea of redemption.
One of the best parts of the gospel stories is that Jesus never left people unchanged where he found them. In some way every story is about healing, teaching, inspiring, confronting old and exhausted bad ideas and behaviors. Jesus was about the work of redemption—of changing or challenging people for the better. In baptism we try to do the same by reorienting people towards the one who created the and redeems them from sin.
This work seems straightforward, but it’s not always easy. An old preacher friend of mine, near the end of his career, was talking about baptism. He said that he estimates that he had baptized well over 200 people in his 40+ years of ministry—adults by full immersion. Then he added, “Some of them I should have held under.” The excitement of disciple making and baptizing people gets really dulled and strained when we see them behaving badly not soon after. But as humans we struggle, and redemption can be a bit of a process. Following Christ does not lead us to perfection in life. It leads us to hope, to grace, to a way that teaches love and mercy, but people will still mess up. They’re going to be embarrassed, and we’re going to be frustrated.
That’s why Jesus rounds it out with “teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” A life of faith is a life that is always growing. Now I know modern audiences have trouble with that word, “obey.” It hits a little harsh on our sensibilities because it is so connected to obedience at the end of strict discipline and punishment. But that’s not Jesus’s example. Obeying Christ simply means following even if there is a cost and finding our way back if we mess up.
As people of faith, we teach peace and love, not violence. We teach humility and sacrifice—like the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross—not winning, power, and no holds-barred fighting. A friend of mine, who is a principal at a rough high school, said, “When the students come to violence and fighting, it is not my job to fight with them. It’s my job to make them shut up, sit down, and sing ‘Kum-bah-ya’ together until we find peace.” In a world that likes to fight and stoke the worst fears within us, that’s hard task.
But Christ came into this world to teach peace, redemption, and a faith that moves us beyond human feuds. And so it is our job as well to show the world how to be quiet, sit down, and sing “Kum-bah-ya” together until there is some semblance of peace. If we are God’s people living out God’s calling in this world, and we act just as horrible as the world around us, what is going to be left to offer grace, to save those who are lost and hurting? Like it or not, we are called to both do better and teach others to do better.
The why is simple. We read in Genesis, “Then God said, ‘Let us create human beings in our image, to be like us…So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them.’” There’s something special and amazing about being created in God’s own image. For all the trials, the suffering, the sickness, the struggle we deal with here on earth, and for all the things that make us so mad and irritated, we are still made in God’s image. We can teach others to obey God because we know how much God truly loves us and wants us. And no matter what nightmare we face, we know God is with us here on earth.
So today let’s be grateful that God gives us some guidance. My poor friend thought he was doing the absolute right thing when he ran all four bases for a home run. He had the right idea, but in the wrong context. For us, God is clearer—go and make disciples, baptize all the nations, and teach them to obey or follow the wisdom and pattern that Christ gave us. Go, baptize, teach, and in doing these things we will fulfill what Christ has given us as the Great Commission.
I pray that we have hearts eager for these things. God has called us, God has equipped us, and God will continue to use our going out to make a difference in this world. So may we take this great calling, or great commission, and may it be our guiding encouragement each and every day. Get ready, now go, baptize, and teach. The world is waiting for you.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/135591876198608
Why Church? Final. Pentecost
Why Church: We Need God—Acts 2: 1-21; John 20: 19-22
Last week we heard of an unfinished story. Jesus was blessing his disciples, then suddenly, he was caught up into heaven and gone. Jesus was gone, so now what were they supposed to do? The story was not finished. My Nana was a great storyteller, but childhood attention span and the need to actually accomplish things left many of her stories unfinished. God is also the God of unfinished stories because God is still working in and through so many of us. But God also has masterful way of writing the story, and that is found in this week’s conclusion to our sermon series. God writes our stories with the guiding power of the Holy Spirit.
Since Jesus was gone back into heaven, the disciples needed something, some kind of direction. I understand that need for some guidance. I stay so busy that holidays are often hard for me. From the moment I wake up on a day off, there is this overwhelming sense of, “I should be doing something.” The disciples were also struggling with this. They knew a mission was coming, but they didn’t yet have the tools to do accomplish it. They needed God in their lives in order to accomplish this holy work of sharing Christ’s teaching of love and grace and redemption.
What they got was the Holy Spirit. And I think it was far more powerful and overwhelming than they could have possibly imagined. Think about the scene in their room. Out of nowhere is this roaring sound which Acts says sounds like “a mighty windstorm.” It was powerful, deafening, overwhelming all at once. Then they see flames settling on each one of them. It’s nothing short of miraculous and amazing. From that point on, they were completely changed people. They needed God to show up in their lives again to make this change.
What we hear is that this Holy Spirit gave them a voice to speak. Not only did they speak the truth of God’s love with conviction and power, they also spoke it in languages that all who were assembled there could understand. These were fishermen and laborers. They weren’t linguistics experts, scholars, or probably even very well educated at all. Yet they trusted in God and God gave them a voice and spoke through them. That voice within them spoke with courage that they didn’t have before. That voice spoke of peace which they had been missing. And that voice spoke words of hope, which was something lacking in their lives.
What the assembled groups saw that day was the very presence of Christ now with these disciples as the Holy Spirit. Jesus had gone from “Christ with us” to “Christ in us.” And that Spirit spoke with power, conviction, and boldness to the people, testifying of all the grace Christ could offer. The prophecies of old had come alive and were now being lived out.
For us the struggle is that we are a bit headstrong. Unlike the disciples, we are educated, connected to the news, digitally woven together on phone, tv, and internet in ways life has never seen. All that connectivity and information makes us feel a bit independent. We don’t always make time for or feel that we need this presence and Spirit of God to show up in our lives. We try to figure it out instead of seeking God’s wisdom. We rely on our knowledge instead of discerning God’s calling. We google instead of praying. And here I say, “Chief of sinners, though I be.” Prayer and faith are meant to be part of the journey from the very beginning. The disciples ministry truly took off an flourished when they received that Spirit of God and leaned into God’s guidance.
When we go our own way, shut out God, and shut out those who can help and walk with us, we end up with emptiness, loneliness, and we lose our connection to that faith which helps us to get through. In Mark 5, Jesus tells the importance of this faith, saying, “Your faith has made you whole.” And when the wind and rain came, Jesus said to the disciples, “O you of little faith.” There is power in having faith from start to finish of any trial or struggle and combining that with the wealth of wisdom and knowledge in the world today. It’s almost like it takes both to finish the story in our lives.
But sometimes we still wonder, “Do I really pray over everything?” I saw a comic the other day that asked whether we were supposed to pray over leftovers. The character said, “Dear God, it’s me again with this spaghetti. It’s the third time this week, so I hope it’s really good and blessed now.” But the truth is, yes, prayer should be a consistent part of our lives. That Spirit of God is always with us, speaking, encouraging, and nudging us along as we need.
But this departure from God’s Spirit has also affected our churches. A friend sends me these video clips of “Sermons You Can’t Unhear.” They range from churches engaging in meanness, to hatefulness, to the sin of bigotry, to outright ridiculousness. Churches should not be mean to people, even when holding them accountable. Preachers should not try to stay relevant by reclaiming some modern slang. Don’t talk about being a thirst trap for holiness. It’s ridiculous. The Gospel of love and grace preaches itself if we live it in this world.
Our communities of faith should look like the early church. They should be places of healing, prayer, and fellowship. They worshipped in the synagogue, but communion was held in someone’s house with a full meal to feed the faithful. Broken lives were healed and the lost and lonely found a place where they were welcomed and empowered in Christ’s name.
Like the early church, which was filled so fully with God’s Spirit, when we come in faith to God’s House, we should find ourselves in a place where God’s presence is cultivated in us and a loving truth is spoken. When Jesus appeared to the disciples, he said to them, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” The story was finished—Christ’s work of love and redemption was done, but at the same time the story was not over yet! We are still being sent out in Jesus’s name on a mission of love and redemption. That message gets lost sometimes, but it’s still the holy calling we have from God.
On this final part of our Easter series, if we ask “why church” the answer is very simple: because we need God. We can have everything ever wanted in life, and we will still need God. At some point, life will be too hard otherwise. I once heard a sermon where the preacher said, “Even if you have nothing left in life, if you have your faith in Jesus, you still have everything.” And that is the kind of hope that will get us through tough days in this world.
The story is now finished. For seven weeks we’ve covered why we still need church in our world. The story is finished. Christ came to earth, redeemed us from sin, called us his own, and gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us. But even as we think the story is finished, the truth is it’s not. The story is also still unfinished because the question we have to answer is what will we do with all of what God has given us now and in the days and weeks to come? Trust God, and trust that God’s Spirit is with you. As we trust, we will know that every day is a new opportunity for the Spirit of God to fall afresh on us, to lead us, and to guide us.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/134950842924761
Why Church (Part 6) Ascension Sunday
Why Church? Story Not Finished: Psalm 93; Luke 24: 44-53
One of the things I loved most growing up was when my Nana told me stories. Every day that she kept me when I was very, very little, we’d start the morning out with breakfast then long-winding stories of childhood imagination and fancy. She was very long-suffering. The only problem is that a child’s attention span will eventually give out and chores need to be done, so none of the stories ever got finished. Nana is the best unfinished storyteller I know. Well, except, I think she may come in second to God. God really is the best and unfinished stories.
In the Gospel lesson for today we read the story of Jesus’s ascension into heaven, and it gives us a glimpse into how God writes the narrative of life. Fair warning, this is a literal two-part sermon. I know we are working through a series, but this same sermon will spill over into next week. You, too, get an unfinished story. Back to the gospel, the disciples thought the trauma was over. When Jesus was crucified, they lived in fear, dread, worry, and the belief that they were next. They thought all was lost, and the whole work of Jesus was over. They became stuck and paralyzed. Then Jesus appeared, and brought relief, strength, and guidance to them.
Forty days later, Jesus is gone again. He gets swept up into heaven even as he is blessing them. There’s no warning, no time to get prepared, no real therapeutic adjustment phase. Boom. Jesus is gone. But this time, they pray and worship because they know now that this is not the end of the story for them. Jesus tells them that the death and resurrection fulfill scripture and prove he is the Messiah. Jesus tells them there is work to be done in forgiveness, repentance, and turning to God. Jesus tells them they’re witnesses to the miraculous that they have experienced. Jesus tells them that soon the Holy Spirit will come and fill their hearts, souls, and minds. So, when Jesus is gone for the second time, there’s no weeping, angst, or worry because they know that the story of grace is not yet finished. That story, that good news, goes on.
Where do we find ourselves in this story of grace and redemption? Often, we find ourselves stuck. We get stuck on bad habits, long-lived fears and worry, uncertainty, old wounds and wrongs that people have done to us. It is very easy for us as humans to get stuck in place in our spiritual lives. Look at the disciples. We will learn next week that they wasted no time. They moved in earnest to tell the good news they had learned. And we get stuck because we get all upset over something in life and miss the next chapter of God’s grace. Jesus forgave his killers even as he was on the cross. Stephen, the martyr, prayed that God would not hold his death against his murderers.
As people of faith, following Christ means turning the page, moving on, and being ready for the next amazing chapter of life that God is about to write. If it had been anyone else except for the disciples at the ascension, I’m sure there would be questions or comments like, “Why’d he have to go away again? If Jesus isn’t going to lead us like I want, I’m done. This Holy Spirit thing hasn’t shown up yet, guess it was all a hoax even if he did rise from the dead.” And my favorite, “This isn’t how we used to do it in my Synagogue.”
If we don’t look for the next chapter of faith, we will never be able to follow Christ because he will be gone, and we will not be ready to move with him. This is a problem because God has amazing things planned for us to do. Our lives interwoven with God’s guidance and love creates something amazing, beautiful, and unexplainably fantastic. When God speaks, acts, and lives in and through one of us, it's absolutely beautiful. But we have to be willing to let God write the story.
Theologian Henri Nouwen said, “To pray, to listen to the voice of the One who calls us the ‘beloved’ is to learn that that voice excludes no one.” As you will hear next week, the disciples were not stuck by Jesus’s being gone from them. They went out with a sense of urgency preaching, teaching, and living the call that all should know the love of God in their lives. We cannot be distracted from living that same mission. At the end of the day, our primary call is to introduce people and especially hurting people to God’s love in and through our Christ-like work.
A friend of mine came home one evening from work. He found his wife of two years sitting on the couch. Her wedding rings were setting on the coffee table. As he sat down, she said, “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t think I really loved you like I should, and I’m sorry but I can’t explain it. You need to leave tomorrow.” The house was in her name, so he was forced to depart and stay couch surfing with friends. This one thing could have ruined the remainder of his life. But instead, he leaned into his faith in God, and he turned the page to the next chapter of life. Years later, he met, married, and started a family with someone who was far more perfect for him, and was blessed beyond measure. If he had gotten stuck on the adversity of today, he would have missed all of God’s blessings that were coming.
If we ask today, “Why church?” The answer is simple. God is not done writing the story of life, of faith, of creation, and of redemption. God is the master of unfinished stories, and God is still writing the next chapter of your walk of faith. The story is not done, regardless of your age or ability, until you take your last breath here and wake up into a whole new book of God’s blessed hope.
In every story there are rough spots and there are wonderful moments of joy and relief. The trick is that we have to keep going to get to the next chapter of life in our walk with God. The disciples could have been totally let down by Christ’s ascension believing him to be gone. But they knew now that Christ was the overcomer of death, suffering, and life’s trouble. They weren’t scared anymore. Instead, they were eager and ready for God to lead them into the next chapter of their lives here and there lives of faith with God.
Next to God, my Nana told the best unfinished stories. She and mom laugh about me saying as a child, “Tell!” every time there was a pause in the story. But that’s how we should live, eagerly anticipating how and where God can call us. Next week we finish up this series on “Why Church?” with Pentecost. So, stay tuned and come back for part two of this sermon next week. It may be the final part of this story, but it is by no means the final chapter. God is calling, and there are so many amazing places we can go in faith.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/793817738918955
Why Church Part 5 (Mothers' Day)
Why Church? Cross to Carry: Psalm 66: 8-19; Mark 8:31-38
A friend of mine, who grew up in a well-known evangelical church denomination, told me how Mother’s Day could be one of the most passive-aggressive, shady, and savage events of the year at their church. Miss Della Louise (name changed to protect the less than innocent) would come up and start giving out the annual awards. One year she announced the oldest mother award, the youngest mother award, the mother with the most kids award, and then an unexpected category…the mother with the most kids by the most men award. He said every head in that church jerked upright to full attention with this look of profound terror. They all knew at that moment they had been schooled again in Miss Della Louise’s master class in passive aggressive churching.
And so, I thought we’d pick up on the theme of absurdity by having the “Take Up Your Cross” scripture on Mother’s Day. The more I thought about it however, I realized that women and not just mothers carry some of the heaviest crosses and many different crosses in our society. I think of my own mother, who stepped in because the other parental unit in my family was not always so helpful. She took up the cross of raising me. She took up the cross of feeding us, taking us to church, seeing after my schooling, going to colleges, graduations, school events, cleaning, laundry, managing the bills, working full time. But Jesus teaches that love is often found is sacrifice and giving.
On this Mother’s Day we celebrate those who gave birth to children, loved them, and mothered in the traditional sense. But this day is also about more than just the traditional mom. So many women teach, take on children, take on adults as children, nurture, love, encourage, pray, and so on. Mothering is about far, far more than simply giving biological birth. Mothering is about giving and nurturing life in all situations, and that is truly a cross to take up and carry, for in Jesus’s own cross we were nurtured and given life. I am grateful not only for the mother who gave birth to me, but for all the women in my life who have mothered by nurturing, loving, caring, guiding, and in many instances feeding me. Bonus points that so many mother figures in my life like Mexican food too.
In the Psalm we read one way of taking up the cross—God listened when the Psalmist cried out for help. My mother is a very good listener. She is very longsuffering to sit on the phone listening to me prattle on for over an hour. Most of the time, I am seeking advice in life, and most of the time we’re both at a loss. One of the hardest things to do in life is to listen without judgment. It’s easy when someone confesses or spills their heart out to either be startled by it or minimize it because it’s not so significant to you.
Listening with an ear bent toward help, love, and nurturing is incredibly hard, but it is also Christlike. How many times over and over in the scriptures, and especially the Psalms, do we hear phrases like, “I cried out to the Lord, and the Lord heard my cry and had mercy on me.?” God listens, and in being willing listeners, we too take up that cross of offering compassion and comfort.
Taking up our cross also points us toward God. As Jesus is telling of his coming suffering and death, Peter decides to stop what he believes is crazy talk. He reprimands Jesus for saying such things. Jesus, in verse 33, tells Peter that he needs to see things from God’s perspective, and not just a human outlook. One of the things I appreciate most about my own mother and the women who have been like second mothers to me is that every single one radiated this love and presence of Jesus in their lives.
I have a friend whose mother was a disaster on a good day. Her mom was an addict, cold and cruel, and had zero interest in anything to do with her kids. But my friend, who stumbled into the church next door to her house, found a grandmother who fed her, took care of her, loved her, and taught her about faith for the next 20 years of her life. This amazing woman opened her heart and her life to this child who needed someone. Taking up our cross means confronting difficult thoughts and situations with the grace of Christ. There’s a saying on a bumper sticker I used to have in the office. It says, “First God created man, then he had a better idea.”
Peter, for all his strength, couldn’t bear to hear Jesus predicting his own betrayal, suffering, and death. I would imagine it was not only Peter who was unable to bear the words. He was probably speaking on behalf of most if not all the disciples. If everyone was comfortable, Peter wouldn’t have made the effort to take Jesus aside and instruct him to watch his words. Compare that to the strength of Jesus’s mother Mary, who walked the way of the cross with Jesus and stood at the foot of the cross. Despite the brutality, the sadness, the terror, she never wavered, and she stood by her son till the end. Her strength is a testimony to her ability to be in tune with God, and to help the others hold firm in God.
Lastly, taking up our cross is about perspective. After Jesus’s famous, “Take up your cross,” line, he says to the disciples, “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” As I get older, I’ve learned I still like recognition from time to time, but I don’t particularly need it like when I was younger and wanted everything I did to be the best ever, and the whole world to know it. But I find there is one person’s validation and approval which still counts, and that is my mom’s. She listens to the service every week without fail. And I realize that is not necessarily because she needs a bonus sermon, but she does it, instead, for me.
And so, it is between us and God. In everything we do, we do it for the glory of God. A friend of mine told of how one Sunday morning everything was off for her family. They woke up late, milk spilled at breakfast, had to stop for gas, and everybody was shouting and fighting all the way from waking up to arriving at church. Finally, she turned around and said, “That’s it! When we walk in here you better act as perfect as Jesus himself because I will not put up with anything even slightly less this morning. Does everybody understand!?”
In a world that morning where everything seemed to go wrong, she did her best to nourish her children’s souls, to get them to a place where they could hear about God, and to make sure they half-way behaved. It would have been so easy to give in and give up. It would have been so easy to write church off as too hard and too exhausting to make it happen. But what benefit if she had all the comfort in the world and did nothing to nourish her and her children’s souls?
If we ask this week, “Why church?” The answer is that we have a cross to take up and carry. To carry our cross, we must listen to others, point them towards God, and keep a faith-focused perspective. And on this Mother’s Day we recognize and applaud that in many instances it is our women, our strong mothering presences, who are the most adept at taking up the cross (through every situation) and carrying it.
So, this Sunday we’re probably not going to hand out the somewhat passive aggressive awards for oldest, youngest, number of children, and so on. But instead let’s celebrate simply because so many women have taken up the cross of Christ’s love and life and have dared to nurture, love unconditionally, and provide that mothering presence for the ones who needed it most.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/763464995508119
Why Church? Part 4
Why Church: Because God Calls for Justice—Psalm 31: 1-5; Acts 7:1, 51-60
In the State of Georgia, your fourth shoplifting conviction is automatically a felony and requires one year in prison, not local jail, but full prison. There are no exceptions, and it doesn’t matter how much you stole. She stood in front of me with her attorney in 2015, a 66-year-old grandmother suddenly tasked with parenting her 5-year-old grandchild because the child’s mother was killed in a car wreck. She had been caught red handed on her fourth shoplifting charge, and the law was clear she had to serve one year in prison, probation and a $500 mandatory fine.
She had three prior shopliftings. She stole earrings at 17, makeup at 18, and a couple bottles of wine at 20. Here she was, now, 46 years later charged with shoplifting from Kroger. Unfortunately, she stole because she lived on social security, was waiting on food stamps for her grandchild’s care, and couldn’t get ahold of Meals on Wheels to update delivery information. There was no food, no help, and no hope. So, she stole. And the law called for a hefty penalty.
Today, in Acts, we read about the first martyred apostle, Stephen. He stood accused of blaspheming God and Moses. If we go back to Acts 6, we hear that Stephen was man filled with God’s wisdom and Spirit. He was debating some men from another synagogue, and apparently his skill led him to fully and completely win the debate. None could touch his gifts of wisdom and Spirit. So, in true form, they persuaded others to lie and say he was a blasphemer as payback for bruising their egos. It was petty. It was cruel, and I’m willing to bet it got far, far more out of hand than they ever expected it to go.
At his trial, Stephen starts out retelling all his knowledge of the faith. Then he calls the religious leaders stubborn, rebellious, unyielding to the Spirit, and accuses them of their ancestor’s crimes of killing the prophets. But when he proclaims a vision of Jesus at the right hand of God, they come completely unglued and murder him. He was right. Nothing Stephen said was untrue. But everything he said was illegal according to the religious law of the day. He was right and it was illegal to be right. Was this justice?
Justice is found in God’s gifts of wisdom and truth. And sometimes standing for what is truthful and right can lead us into uncomfortable places. We live in a world that is often unjust, unfair, unethical, and unrepentant of all those things. Many of you know this all too well. Some of you grew up in a time when it was fully and completely legal, written in code, for people of color to be treated as second class citizens and even less than human in many instances. It was legal, but it was completely wrong, and incredibly unjust.
Some of you have talked about dealing with your illnesses and the medications that you need to treat them. Those medications are thousands of dollars, and the insurance says, “Nope, sorry.” It’s perfectly legal. But it’s grossly unfair and unjust. Some of you have gotten a big old dose of dealing with the criminal justice system and how overtaxed, underfunded, and ill-equipped it has become since COVID. Hearing the words, “I’m sorry, but we just don’t have the resources to help you,” is perfectly legal and allowable. But it leaves you with no justice, and it’s unfair.
Jesus came as the Messiah on this earth to live, love, heal, and teach. He proclaimed good news, and he showed people the truth of his work as the Son of God. They killed him. What he said was absolutely illegal. To claim divinity and power over the religious rules and institutions was blasphemous. The law of that day proscribed Jesus’s execution, and yet it was monstrous, unjust, and unfair in every way. But out of that unjustness, Jesus brought us life and grace.
Justice is found in wisdom and mercy, and at times, we struggle with both. Wisdom is found in our ability to listen both to God’s voice and to the voice of others. I have always loved the analogy that you may know that a tomato is actually a fruit, but wisdom tells you not to put it in your fruit salad. There’s a level of judgement, discernment, listening, and experience which all go into the mix to create wisdom. Wisdom teaches us when to talk and when to listen. Wisdom is that voice speaking to us telling us when something doesn’t sit well with our soul, even if it is what is expected and called for. Wisdom is often the Holy Spirit giving us a nudge in the right direction.
Mercy is what Jesus offers us in the cross, and what we are called to offer others through grace. Stephen would have never stoned those men for what they said to him. He followed in the mercy of Christ. When we put these two things together—wisdom and mercy—we find justice, a place where we protect the vulnerable and work to make life more gentle for those who suffer.
Why church? Because God calls us to stand for what is just and fair based on what the Bible tells us is right and holy. The Bible talks about justice 328 times, and 25 of those specifically instruct us to “do justice,” in some form or another. Christians can get a bit nervous when we talk about justice because it feels like we’re about to walk through the sermon equivalent of the valley of the shadow of death straight into preaching politics.
But God’s justice is not about politics. It’s about grace, and a Savior who called us to live into grace in our world. What we have to go back to is the two big commands that Jesus gave us: Love God and Love Our Neighbors. In our Gospel, Stephen says some pretty harsh things to the religious leaders, and he didn’t particularly say it in a very tactful way. But underneath Stephen’s abrupt speech was this call for them to do justice and to find the wisdom and mercy of Jesus in their own lives. Stephen offered them the truth and a call to repent and return.
Repentance should be the end result of justice. Where injustice is confronted and called out, the remedy is to return to God, repent of the wrong, and begin doing what is right and just. And we find the truth of what is right and just in Jesus’s words—love God, and love our neighbors. A wise friend once said to me that faith is really pretty easy. Once you believe, if you filter everything you do and say through that filter of loving God and loving your neighbors, you won’t really run afoul of what Jesus says all that much.
I really like how the Psalm says it: “O Lord, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. Save me, for you do what is right.” A minister in the Presbyterian church I was playing piano for once said, “What is popular is not always what is right, and what is right is not always what is popular. In either case, you must find a sure footing in Jesus to stand firm.” Wisdom. Mercy. And Justice.
And so, she stood before me with her attorney, this 66-year-old grandmother, tears streaming down her face in a silent cry. She had concealed these food items, which was enough for shoplifting, and when caught had turned everything back over. But concealing the items with intent was enough. All of us there knew that if she pled guilty, she’d have to go to jail and lose custody of her only grandchild, her only family left. If she went to trial, she’d probably get several years in prison, likely not surviving at her age. She had done wrong, and the law and my superiors would not allow me to just dismiss the case.
But did you know that if someone pleads guilty to “attempted shoplifting,” there’s no prison or jail time required at all? And maybe, if a desperate person steals food but returns it when caught, attempted shoplifting is enough without jailing a terrified old woman and destroying an entire family. Wisdom will speak a powerful, Spirit-filled word to us. Mercy will tug at our Christ-centered hearts. An in those times, we pray that the world will know God’s goodness, God’s grace, and God’s justice.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/939802017060013
Why Church? Part 3
Why Church: What Will Stand in Breach? Psalm 23; Acts 2: 42-47
Something I never thought would happen occurred this week. I found inspiration in the most unlikely of places. A friend who loves tv was telling me of her favorite episode of her favorite show. That show is South Park. If you don’t know what the show or cartoon is, I advise that you are all too young to watch it. There is one episode where they portray the entire world as atheist in the year 2500. Everyone has decided that religion causes war, fighting, turmoil, and problems, and the whole world has turned to science and reason to solve their problems as the better choice.
What you soon find out, however, is that there are different groups of atheists: the United Atheist League (UAL), the United Atheist Alliance (UAA), and the Allied Atheist Allegiance (AAA), and they are all fighting one another ferociously and bitterly over their interpretation of science and reason. At the heart of the matter, it is not the truth of faith that is the issue. Bad behavior in the name of faith comes out in our practice.
In Acts 2, we see the church at its absolute best. The people are devoted to worship, to fellowship, and to caring for one another. From their depth of Spirit with God, they perform miracles. They pool everything they have and care for all who are need. They even sell their possessions to share with one another. They worship in the Temple and share Communion at home. They praise God and enjoy the goodwill of all people. The result of all this devotion is that God adds to their fellowship many who are saved.
This is the church at its absolute best in this whole sense of care and family together. They focused on several particular things: worship, Communion, and care of others. People came in droves to the believers because they found a warmth and love in this new take on their old faith. People also were attracted to Christ’s disciples because this was a community where they found healing, help, and support. This is our calling as Christ’s disciples today. This was the pattern given by the early church for us to follow. Our calling is to stand in the breach of what causes people to suffer in this world by turning them towards Christ for hope and welcoming them to our fold for help.
Yet, we are constantly plagued with images, records, and video of the church behaving badly. As a prosecutor in Macon, I actually prosecuted a riot at a church board meeting. The whole thing was on video. Last week, I was talking with a friend and inviting him to come to church. His joking reply was that he’d make the holy water boil if he showed up. It was, of course, a joking reason to get out of coming. But underneath the joke you hear this sense of either I’m not good enough to come, or the belief that church will be hostile. There’s some validity to that. I’m sure almost every single person in here has some story where church was hostile and significant amounts of forgiveness had to ensue.
Whereas the early church was warm, welcoming, healing, and a place of sharing, our modern churches are often seen as controlling, political, out of touch, cold, and stingy. But the biggest problem we encounter is found in a quote by Eli Wiesel, “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” Too often, church and faith are seen as irrelevant and unnecessary, and that leaves people indifferent.
We are called to stand in this breach of suffering, struggle, and oppression. We are called to be disciples who make a difference in this world. The example of the rival atheist groups goes to prove a simple point. It is not what God has created that is at fault. What God created and established is perfect, holy, and good. The church plan Jesus left for us was truly amazing. Where it fell short was in how we interpreted and practiced it. It’s our humanity that started wars and crusades in the name of religion. To quote the singer Taylor Swift, “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem. It’s me.” And we have to own and accept that before we can do better.
We need to come back to our roots as people who live faith and not as people who practice religion. We must teach and preach Good News to those who feel hopeless. We must share Communion with all who seek to deepen their relationship with God. We must be willing to welcome with all our hearts those who need a community and a relationship to Christ. We must share what we have to help those who are in need and suffering. These are the basics of the early church, and these are the practices that drew so many people to faith.
A friend of mine was pastoring a church in New York. Their attendance had dropped dramatically post-COVID, a decline that was already occurring before 2020 as the congregation dwindled due to age and disinterest. The Treasurer and Board Chair came to him one day and said, our offerings are way off. I don’t know how we will make the budget this year. For years they had scraped by in order to manage the budget as the offerings went down. My friend sighed and asked if there were any reserves they could draw on.
The two leaders looked at each other and back at my pastor friend. They said that there was an endowment, but the church had long been told never to touch it. My friend asked how much was there and if they could take just a little to hold them over. The reply was that the endowment was $2.7 million. My friend had to pause as he almost choked to death in that instant. And the next year, the church decided that they would live off the endowment and give all offerings to those in need for medical debt, food, to support single mothers, widows, and orphans like the Bible says. Their attendance and their offerings doubled.
This week, if we ask, “Why church?” the answer is: because who or what will stand in the breach without it? We get a lot wrong…that’s something we have to admit. Pastors, churches, practitioners of the faith all make errors in judgment, thinking, and practice. When imperfect people try to approach what is perfect, mistakes are bound to happen. But fundamentally, the church is called to be a force for love, for care, and for God’s goodness on this earth. As the Psalm says, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” Goodness and mercy follow us and come from us because God is with us.
Whether it’s the United Atheists fighting the Allied Atheists or the various religions fighting one another, there is one thing for sure—we will likely mess up at some point with our quarrelsome ways. But the good news is that there is a pattern and practice into which we are baptized in Christ and that we can follow as we strive to live for Christ in this world. When we get the practice of our faith right, it’s a truly beautiful and holy thing. Faith can call people to a place of hope, create a community that prays for and supports one another, and reach out to stand in the breach of suffering in this world. May we stay near the cross and near the Christ who calls us to live as hope and faith in this world.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=917238309543965
Why Church? Part 2
Why Church? Nothing Supplant Communion:
Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19; Luke 24: 13-35
We continue our series this week asking, “Why church?” Last week we talked about the need for us to encounter God’s holiness. This week we get more specific—that holiness in communion. If you’ve spent any time in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) at all, you know that communion and sharing the Lord’s Supper at the Lord’s Table is central to our beliefs and practice? But why—what is so powerful about this portion of worship?
A friend tells of an encounter he experienced at church one day. There was a younger woman of about 40 slowly limping down the aisle to take communion at the front. She had to use a walker to get around and moved very slowly. Her father, who appeared much stronger and healthy, accompanied her. As both finished taking communion, they returned to their seats with tears streaming down their faces.
My friend spoke to them after the service and asked about their back story. The younger woman said a year or two prior her father was having heart surgery, and while she, her mom, and her brother were driving to the hospital, a car crossed the line and hit them head on. Her mother and brother were killed, and she was left permanently disabled. But she said that she and her father came very week and took communion because of the power it held for them.
Jesus died an innocent person in his work to help and save others. In that death the father feels bonded to his wife and son, and he said he was assured of his hope to see them again one day. The daughter said that every time the priest said Jesus’s body was broken, she saw her own broken body in light of Jesus’s broken body, and she felt connected to her Creator and created in the image of God regardless of her abilities or impairments.
In our Gospel lesson for today, we read about the walk to Emmaus. Two of Jesus’s disciples meet him on the road to Emmaus, but do not recognize him. They listen to his teachings, they converse about scripture, and they tell Jesus the story of his own death, resurrection, and appearing to the disciples. Yet, they never recognize him along the way. Their hearts burned with every word of teaching and instruction he gave, but they didn’t truly recognize him. But then they come to the table together.
Jesus is prepared to continue travelling on, but they stop him and bring him home to their table. Hospitality was one of the highest virtues for Ancient Judea. There were few inns, and no Marriott or Hiltons around, so most travelers relied on the hospitality of strangers. They brought Jesus into their home, fed him, and were prepared to shelter him for the night. This seems pretty crazy to us in the ongoing age of stranger-danger. But people of Jesus’s day practiced and expected hospitality. So, then there are two parts to them seeing Jesus—the invitation to the table, and Jesus’s presence there with them.
One of the most powerful parts of Communion is the welcome or invitation extended. The invitation or welcome to the table is God’s to offer. Many denominations are very restrictive of who can come to the table based on tradition or theology. In college, I played organ for a church every single Sunday for 3.5 years, but I was never permitted to share in communion with them. It did not matter that I believed in God, worshipped with them, prayed with them, and made sure the preludes sounded good. I would never be permitted to take communion without going through a year-long catechism process.
It’s a difficult pill to swallow when you think that at the first communion where Jesus instituted the holy practice that he turned and served broken body and cup of salvation to Judas. If Jesus brought Judas to his own communion table, what right do you or I have to send folks away? I think of the testimony of Lenny Duncan, a pastor in the Lutheran tradition. He tells a story of hearing Jesus speak to him in the midst of his trauma, drug use, spiraling mental health issues, and destructive life choices. He immediately sought out church, and in a Lutheran church, they brought him forward to the front and popped communion in his mouth while he was still figuring the whole thing out. But, he writes, it was a moment that transformed him forever and set him on a path away from drugs, evil, anger, and destruction, and made him into a preacher of the Good News.
That happens because Jesus is present with us when we take communion. In the walk to Emmaus, they didn’t recognize Jesus when he taught, conversed, appeared, or even scolded their unbelief. But when he took bread, broke it, and blessed it, they immediately knew they were in the presence of Christ. I have fully accepted that I cannot preach someone to salvation. We can sing all seven verses of “Just As I Am” till the cows come home. We can pray till every disciple here is asleep like the ones in the garden before Jesus was arrested. But nothing will change a heart and soul until they experience Christ for themselves.
Why church? Because there is nothing else in all of religious practice like Communion. One hundred sermons, a thousand hymns, and all of the order and practice we do does not compare to those moments of reliving grace. Jesus said to us, “Do this in remembrance of me.” It is both a time where we remember the hope and work that Christ did for us and our grace as well as a time when God remembers us. When words fail, when life is miserable, when we are confused, lonely, or struggling, we can go back every single time and remember in bread of life and cup of salvation that story of redemption and grace.
It’s the one point of our faith where, not only does Christ invite our participation, but we also feel Christ’s presence with us. The two who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus were powerfully affected by his appearance. Instead of settling for the night, they jumped back up and walked seven full miles back to Jerusalem to meet the disciples. They heard how Jesus appeared to the disciples. Then the two shared with the disciples that they recognized Christ as he was breaking the bread. Do this in remembrance of me. They remembered and knew him as they broke bread and shared a cup together.
Communion is one of the central points that drew me to the Disciples of Christ. It’s a place where we are all together as one people, celebrating the same hope and grace, leaving behind our differences, experiences, and individual selves. As one body, we come to the table to meet Christ, who loved us, and is with us. There’s something so momentously powerful about that act shared together.
In a world of division and difference, when we do this in remembrance of Christ, we take just a moment to focus completely and only on the Savior who loves us. You can still be who you are, believe or doubt where you find yourself, hold on to your philosophies and traditions, but in that moment, we are one body seeking Christ together in unity. Why church? Because there is nothing else which can unify in the same way an extraordinarily diverse group of people and direct them towards God’s love and grace.
So when we wonder in the modern age, what is the point of still having church, we can point to this one act of remembering the most holy and powerful hope that exists in life and in death in this world. When you do this, remember me. And each time that we do this, God is present with us as well.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1664321653990605
Why Church? Part 1
Why Church? Because We Need Something Holy: Psalm 16: 1-9; John 20: 19-31
If I were to be fully honest with you, I would confess my doubt and crisis of conscience. Don’t panic, please. When I met with Rev. Kyle before he came down to offer the church development seminar, I told him some difficult words. I said that I’ve been here for almost 15 years in total, watched it build and drop, and that I think I have nothing left to offer. I asked him to find a way to transition you all to someone more dynamic, visionary, and with more insight into what to do here. He kind of laughed, rolled his eyes (I’m assuming) and said, “Sure.” And before you panic, I no longer think and feel that way. It was a moment of doubt and disbelief.
We all have those moments, though, don’t we? And it often doesn’t take much to trigger them. A major medical issue, feeling age creeping up on us, financial and housing difficulties, rising prices, seeing some act like nit-wits over their religious beliefs giving the rest of us Christians bad names, and feeling pretty tired and frazzeled by life...all of these things will trigger this part of our heart and mind to cause doubt in practically everything. For as long as there has been belief in humanity, there has also been doubt lurking in the shadows.
Such doubt visited even Jesus’s closest disciples. Jesus was dead. They had watched him be tortured and murdered by the call of religious authorities and with the permission of Rome. He was dead, and they were terrified, traumatized, and filled with despair and doubt themselves. Thomas, one of the disciples who is not present at Jesus’s first appearing, demands to see the wounds, the pierced side, and says without seeing these things, he cannot believe.
For years we’ve criticized Thomas’s lack of faith. He’s been held up as the example of faithless, unbelieving, bad Christian followers for years and earned this very bad reputation as a disciple. I think that’s unfair and misplaced for two reasons: first, he WANTED to see Jesus instead of just flat refusing to believe at all; and second, Jesus did the same for the other disciples when he spoke and showed them the wounds in his hands and side. They didn’t believe without seeing for themselves, so why is it only Thomas who is criticized?
If we ask ourselves why church—why do we still come here, sing hymns, pray, assemble, and share in the blessed sacrament of the table—the basic answer is that we need something holy in our lives. A simple definition of holy is a connection with something miraculous and powerful beyond ourselves. That’s why the disciples followed Jesus in the first place, because they sensed this holy and miraculous aspect in his presence with them. It wasn’t just some inspired teacher they were following—they sensed his power as the Son of God.
When done correctly, church should help people connect with the holy, or God. The Psalm tells us these words, “Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.” Church should be both a place of safety and of refuge. As much suffering, doubt, anguish, and trouble as we see in the world, this should be the place people can come to find a place of refuge from it all and dwell in safety.
In many ways we’ve failed at that. Martin Luther King, Jr. once called Sunday morning at 11 AM the most segregated hour in America, and sadly 60 years later this is still true. For those who may ask questions and disagree with things said in the pulpit, this should still be a safe place of refuge. For those who look differently, love differently, have different heritages and cultures, this should be a place where they feel welcome and connected to God. For the white, middle-class, moderate conservative looking to escape the constant diet of doomsday news and politics, this should be a place of joy and hope. Anything less and we’ve gotten too far in the world to remain separate from the world. The Psalm wraps up with the words that the writer’s heart is happy and his body rests in safety.
Years ago, a pastor said that when he asked the doctor how to lose weight, the doctor said, “Eat less and move more.” So, the pastor applied this to his sermon. The way to grow as a Christian is this: doubt less and have faith more. Someone from the back of the church shouted, “Thanks, Doctor Obvious!” The first step in answering, “Why church?” is acknowledging that it’s hard. Yes, the equation of less doubt and more faith is a simple answer, but it’s only the words that are simple.
Trauma, sadness, loss…all of this, a lifetime of experiences…often drive our sense of doubt in ourselves, in our world, and in God. Every time we see the news unfold of another massacre of school children in gun violence, in the back of our collective mind, there’s this moment of wondering, “If God really exists, how…?” And I think when suffering and pain bring us to the point of doubt, we have to remember that God also knows suffering very, very well, for every time we hurt, God sees the hurt in the creation made in God’s own image, and God hurts too.
Maybe this is why the disciples loved him so dearly. They knew he was holy, but they also saw him hungry, tired, angry, deeply saddened, experience death of a loved one, and even suffer real pain. That’s what makes faith so truly amazing for us. God is not just the high and mighty, but God also got a very intimate understanding of the pain and suffering that humanity experiences.
Thomas, like the rest of the disciples, was in fear, saddened by Jesus’s death, grieving the point of misery, and had no idea where to go from here. But in his worst moments of doubt and fear, he wanted more than anything to see Jesus. His doubt drove him, not to a place of permanent separation from God, but to a place where all he wanted was to see and be present with Jesus for himself—to experience what is holy.
For faith to flourish, we must have the courage to let our doubts drive us to Jesus instead of letting them drive us to the brink of insanity. We must sit back for a moment, surrounded by our faith community, in a place where we can expect to experience God’s holiness, and wait for that blessed presence of Jesus to be with us. If we ask why church, it’s because we need these holy encounters in an otherwise dull and routine life.
A friend of mine, Sam Ogles, is a Christian writer. He had a column this week on conversion where he talked about St. Francis. He wrote that St. Francis was once a great partier, the son of a wealthy merchant. Francis was the life and chief of all things party and pleasure. But one day, in the ruins of a chapel, he hears the voice of Jesus saying to him, “Francis, rebuild my church.” From that day on, he devoted himself to a life of poverty and service, renouncing all his wealth and power in society.
The story goes on to say that one day, St. Francis meets a leper on the road, and he recoils in disgust. This man of God, a saint, one who had taken a vow of poverty and service to the poor let his old ways and doubt creep into the point that he recoils in disgust from those he vowed to help. My friend, Sam, comments that “conversion is as much a matter of renewal as it is initial choice.” As long as faith has existed, humanity has wrestled with doubt.
But doubts should never lead us away from God, instead, they should be a means by which we run to God for assurance and guidance. It is only in those moments that we seek out God’s holiness that we can grow beyond the doubts we face. When a church is at its best, this is what it offers—this experience of God. Doubts will plague us throughout life, but in each moment of vulnerability, we need to remember those reassuring words we are about to sing, “I need no other argument; I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.” So, my friends, rest assured, God’s grace is more than enough.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/6058238554265929
Easter 2023
So What Are You Going to Do? Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24; Matthew 28: 1-10
Many years ago, a friend of mine was having a difficult time with a truly deplorable roommate in college. He listed all of the grievances and issues, and honestly, the other guy was truly a snotwad…just a hateful guy. I advised my friend that he need to address and handle the situation, and I asked him, “So what are you going to do about it?” A week or two later, I ask him about this situation. He said that he took my advice to heart put some of his contact lens saline solution in the roommate’s large bottle of fruit punch which in turn caused some intestinal upheaval. After a few moments of silence, I responded quietly, “I meant tell a dorm monitor or student life person, not…that.” And I never made that friend angry again, that’s for sure.
In many ways the story of the resurrection asks that same question of us—so what are you going to do about it? Please don’t mess the answer up like my friend did. The fact that Jesus died and was resurrected is a powerful piece of theology central to our faith. But it’s more than just a point of belief. It’s a call to live our lives in a way that reflects this mystery of faith. I’m mindful that the question, “So what are you going to do about it?” can seem a bit harsh in its challenge. But let’s look less at the stark push and more at what is offered. We are offered both opportunities and possibilities in this challenge.
Opportunities are much like asking what can I physically do here and now? In our Gospel lesson we read how the women came to the tomb where Jesus was. John’s Gospel adds the detail that they basically were going to embalm him for burial. But instead, they encounter an empty tomb and an angel awaiting them with good news. And what does that angel say: “Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.” It's a very simple command—go and tell. I like to pause and note here that the first gospel messengers right from the tomb were women who went and told the men. But I digress.
How do we go and tell in a modern world? The message of hope has not changed, but the means of telling it has. Social media, YouTube, we often see them as platforms for some of the worst and most conspiratorial or weird of society, but they can also be used to spread a message of redeeming love and grace. I am sure that if someone told the old evangelists of years past that one day preachers would Tweet scripture, they’d be both baffled and enthusiastic. For centuries we have worked to share a timeless message in relevant ways to modern times.
Telling also necessarily involves doing. I remember visiting a friend’s church. He was working to grow and develop a fledgling church. One of his members came up after service and said rather pointedly, “Boy we really need some young families and children in this church.” My friend looked at her and said, “Okay, so tell me about the family ministry program you’re wanting to do, and who would you like to get to volunteer with you?” She replied, “What?” and backed away from him slowly as he challenged her do where she saw a need. If God gives you the idea, God is also giving you the opportunity to make it a reality. “Go and tell” is so simple that it presents unlimited opportunities to share good news of hope.
I watched a couple of members the other day talk to someone about coming from church. They made a connection, were gentle and friendly as that person opened up about their life, and they made them feel like there could very well be a place and a church to belong to…not a place that demanded a strict creedal adherence, not a place that comes with an exhaustive list of rules, but somewhere to find connections, welcome, and growth in God. Go and tell—it’s a call that offers endless opportunities of faith to us.
But the story of Easter and resurrection also offers us possibilities, and these are more spiritual and contemplative. In our Gospel reading, after the startled women leave the angel, they run straight into Jesus next. There’s almost a bit of a humorous hint in Matthew’s telling as the women bounce in confusion and bewilderment from the angel to Jesus, and he tells them to tell the disciples he will see them soon. There’s a lot of literature on seeing Jesus. Sandi Patty sang “I’ve Just Seen Jesus.” Fanny Crosby wrote “Face to Face with Christ my Savior.” What does it mean to “see Jesus?”
If we take the challenge “what do we do about it,” and live in the possibilities of what we can experience in faith, we can truly “see Jesus.” Think of that prayer or scripture that stirred your heart. Think of that hymn or anthem that moved you and maybe even had you tearing up a bit like the soulful and haunting sounds of “Were You There” on Friday. Think of times when you just feel this overwhelming sense of peace and hope. That may very well be God’s presence with you.
I remember when I was waiting on the results of the bar exam. It’s about three months from the test date to find out if you passed or not. All morning that cold, October day I waited in fear for the pass list to be posted. I remember I drove out to Starbucks for a pumpkin muffin and pumpkin coffee to calm myself down. As I was driving back to the church to pick back up work, I suddenly felt this calm and warming sense of everything would be okay. It was overwhelming, and I felt flooded with relief. It was maybe five minutes later that the list posted, and I knew I had passed the exam. Now, I might have passed by just a couple points, but nobody asks that question once you’re actually a lawyer, thank God.
In that moment I believe I saw, or rather experienced, Jesus. When we feel those stirrings in our soul, we know that God is there. And the Psalm tells us that God’s faithful love endures forever. The Psalm also goes on to offer this reminder: “I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory.” Christ’s resurrection calls upon us to live in this world of seeing the possibilities of faith at work in our lives—to live as people of hope in the knowledge that we, too, have something beyond pain and death. Lean into that possibility thinking and for there is security and comfort in remembering all of God’s promises to us, the first of which is that God’s faithful love endures forever.
The other day I was talking with a friend. She is nearing 80 years old, and said to me, “I’m really beginning to feel my age.” Then she added this thought. She said, “I am grateful for all the ways that God has challenged me throughout my life, both the good and the bad. I can look back over every moment and every day and see how God was with me, helping me to leave a legacy throughout my life, helping me to love others, help others, and grow as a person and as a faithful follower. I know with Christ there are endless possibilities in this life, and that even as I look toward my journey into whatever awaits, God will still be with me till the journey is over, and I am home. All of that is possible and even certain with God.”
I like how verse 17 of the Psalm says it, “I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done.” Indeed, we live to tell that good news. Christ is risen indeed, so now what are we going to do about it? We have countless opportunities to live and tell the good news which brings us peace and hope. We have limitless possibilities of dwelling in faith and delving into that knowledge that God is with us all the way. For me personally, I look at it like this when Jesus said go and tell: has my life been better for the fact that I have believed in God’s promises and trusted in Christ’s love? And despite the truly difficult days, I still believe it most certainly has. And I pray that same assurance for you as well.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/786521843035201