Fourth Sunday in Epiphany

Directions: What If I Have a Problem? Deut. 18: 15-20; Mark 1: 21-28

            A friend of mine posted (what I hope is a joke) on Facebook the other day. His post says, “I meet a woman outside the mall crying. She had lost $200, so I gave her $40 from the $200 I had found a few minutes ago. When God blesses you, you must bless others too!” And all I could think was, “NO! That’s not how this works!” The same day another friend shared on Instagram a video of a little girl of about 4 or so with her mother. Her mom told her that she could be part of the problem, or she could be part of the solution. The little girl replied, “Mmm, I think I’m gonna be the WHOLE problem.” And sometimes life is just like that little child, no offense to her.

            When we gather ourselves up, find a new direction, follow God’s signs, we still, sometimes, encounter problems on the journey. Today Deuteronomy and Mark give us three problems and one solution. The three problems are not listening, bad voices or bad advice, and self-doubt. The solution to all three is God’s strength in some form or another.

            The first problem when we try to set a new course is not listening when we need to. In Deuteronomy, the people complain to God that hearing the voice of God was too much for them. So, God offers that there will be a prophet who speaks on God’s behalf. The people are to listen to this prophet. Then God says, “I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet claims on my behalf.” And from there, Israel sets a course of listening to God’s prophet about half of the time…maybe less. At one point, it gets so bad that God says to Ezekiel that the people are so hard hearted they will not listen to any message, but Ezekiel must speak anyway.

            We are often a people who like to speak, but don’t always like to listen especially if the message is hard for us to hear. This often goes in tandem with the second problem—bad advice. God goes on to say that “any prophet who falsely claims to speak in [God’s] name or who speaks the name of another god must die.” Two of the greatest human failures are not listening and listening to the wrong people speaking. Both listening and following advice should come down to one simple thing—the truth. If we are unwilling to hear the truth or are not told the truth, then we will find problems.

            Our struggle comes from the fact that we are often challenged when we really listen to truth, and we don’t like to be challenged. If a preacher stands in the pulpit and says something like: Jesus healed the sick without charging payment, challenged religious authority over the politics, loved the marginalized, and was likely not patriotic, because who could imagine Jesus giving a pro-Rome message, that preacher might meet some resistance and some angry parishioners.

Likewise, a preacher who says that Jesus gives limitations on doing whatever we want in life, tells us we can be a bit selfish at times, and then calls us to be mission and evangelical-minded instead of “sitting there like a pudding” as one pastor friend said, then that preacher may also find a hostile congregation depending on who makes up the persons in the pews.

            Listening and advice are a struggle for us because we often just don’t like the message, and it’s hard to accept. A prophet is sent to give boundaries, not a message of comfort or gentle platitudes. And truthfully humanity doesn’t like that and has never liked that. The Israelites often strayed from listening and heeding advice and turned to bad advice because they didn’t like the boundaries God gave them. And, as if our struggle to listen and the penchant for bad advice aren’t enough, we often wrestle with self-doubt in the same mix.

            The Israelites found themselves incapable of hearing God’s voice. The people in Mark’s Gospel struggle to accept and hear Jesus’s authority over teaching, healing, and matters of faith. They doubted their own eyes and ears, and truthfully many of us struggle with self-doubt tied to bad advice and not listening. How many good things have we talked ourselves out of because we doubted our abilities? How many times do we belittle ourselves and mask it as humor because we wrestle with self-doubt? How many times do we cut ourselves off at the knees because it’s easier to wallow in despair than find joy in God’s blessings, talents, and calling in our lives? How many times do we listen to voices (even in our own head) telling us we’re not good enough or something is wrong with us? Or better yet, how many bad situations do we talk ourselves into because we don’t listen, follow bad advice, and wrestle with self-doubt or let’s just call it low self-esteem? Here’s a bit of truth to listen to and good advice to remember—God created you, and God does not make mistakes in what God creates.

            Too often we forget God’s strength which can lift us up and help us. A friend of mine starts every day off looking in the mirror and imagining God saying these words to her, “You are beautiful, made in God’s image. You are loved, for Christ gave his life for you. And you can make a difference because God’s strength goes with you.” God’s strength is powerful and can work the miraculous in our lives. We hear the key word in Mark over and over. The people were amazed at Jesus’s teaching, for he taught as one with real authority. The people are further amazed when Jesus casts out the demon. And they ask what kind of teaching this is because it has such authority. Even the evil spirits obeyed him.

            God has that kind of authority, but it begs something from us—trust. Every problem comes down to one big question for us. Do we trust God’s authority and strength over our lives and struggles, in God’s time and in God’s way. Sometimes we have to admit that our biggest problem, which brings together not listening, bad advice, and self-doubt, is that we just don’t like how God is handling things. It hurts our ability to trust. But sometimes we also expect God to handle things the way we want, but we don’t necessarily want to do our part as well. That starts with being able to trust in God’s authority and accept the good and bad in life as part of a brilliant plan. If we believe that God intelligently designed the entire universe, then we must trust God’s authority to work through our lives as part of that universe.

            I think of the scripture in Job where his wife comes to offer support. After losing everything and being stricken with illness, her best advice to Job is to curse God and just die. Problems are part and parcel of life and the human experience. They are awful, annoying, and sometimes painful. But in the end God has authority and wisdom, and we must have trust that even in struggle God has the ultimate authority both here and now and hereafter.

            I want to leave you with a quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you don’t know that name, he was a German Lutheran pastor who preached and stood against Hitler during World War II. He was eventually accused of plotting to overthrow Hitler and imprisoned. He was ultimately executed by the Nazis less than one month before Germany surrendered. He had these words of encouragement: “I am sure of God’s hand and guidance…You must never doubt that I am thankful and glad to go the way which I am being led. My past life is abundantly full of God’s mercy and, above all sin, stands the forgiving love of the Crucified. Ultimately all authority on earth must serve only the authority of Jesus Christ over humankind.” At all times, may our trust in God’s strength and authority never waiver.

            For us there are three big problems—we often don’t listen; when we do listen, we listen to bad advice; and on top of it all we live with struggles of self-doubt. So, what do we do when we run into problems? The words in Mark’s gospel are clear. Jesus has authority and strength, and we, ultimately, must learn to trust that authority and strength both here and now, and for the hereafter. God does not make mistakes, and that includes you and your life too.

Third Sunday in Epiphany

Directions: How to Start a New Trip—Jonah 3: 1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20

            I remember 16 years ago now, when I moved to Georgia, I had a bit of a “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto” moment. At the very onset, something about living here, 400 miles away from anyone I knew, did not feel like home to me. Thankfully, that has changed. I remember going to the Kroger on North Avenue off Gray Highway and being so confused as to how two Krogers—the one in Danville, Kentucky, and this one—could be so incredibly different. As I was checking out, the cashier asked where I was from. When I said Kentucky, she said in the thickest, Southern drawl I’d ever heard, “Kentucky! Son, you almost a foreigner down here.” And I’d never felt more out of place in my life.

            Last week we looked at lessons on God giving us a sign. This week, we consider, exactly, how do we start this journey with God? A friend of mine once told me, “There’s no real mystery to following God; you just get up and go, and you don’t worry about the rest.” But the truth is that most people are homebodies and not exactly the most adventurous of souls. I get that. If given the option of a great adventure or a night at home on the couch, Indiana Jones, I am not. And in wanting to feel at home, many people look to church for that sense of feeling “at home.”

            The problem is there are so many different people in the church. This is the only place where we endeavor to take people of different races, backgrounds, nationalities, worship styles, political beliefs, socio-economic status, and ages and try to BOTH give them a sense of home and a common mission to go out and do something for God’s kingdom. It’s almost, almost easier to herd cats. But that’s exactly what Jesus did. He called fishermen, tax collectors, men and women of various places in life and backgrounds and said, “Come, follow me.” The Gospel tells us that those whom Jesus called dropped everything and followed him immediately.

            So, if we are to both find a home in church and a common mission, what is that mission? Well, it’s to save the world—literally, figurately, and theologically. And we do that through honesty, communication, and love. In reading our Hebrew Lesson, we see that Jonah got best two out of three on this. He excelled in honesty and was good enough communication. When he finally went to Nineveh after being sent twice by God, he walked into the city and said, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed.” You know it’s a miracle those people repented. He didn’t mention God. He didn’t mention repentance. He didn’t give them a method to avoid destruction. He just went in and said, basically, “Y’all doomed.”

            It takes all three—honesty, communication, and love—to create this sense of being at home and accomplishing God’s mission or call. Communication without honesty is pointless. Honesty without communication leads to anger, and any of them without love is just an excuse to be mean. Look to the Gospel. Jesus calls the disciples, and they follow immediately. Then they are steeped in Jesus’s wisdom, teaching, and miraculous work in saving the world. They see this done in both the theological sense of him saying, “Go and sin no more.” But they also see Jesus feed the hungry, love everyone, accept them, and heal their troubles. They see Jesus wade into the messiest parts of people’s lives and help them be made whole. And in response, they go and do the same until the end of their lives.

            Think of when your family feels most like a family and home—it’s when everyone is together for a common reason, doing a common thing. For the church to be a family, our commonality is this mission for God’s kingdom—to save the world. We don’t wade enough into the messy points of life enough anymore. We’re too keen to say fix yourself, then come here. It doesn’t work that way, for we are called to do the healing, the helping, and the saving. That is our mission. Now, we also have to hold folks accountable. If people keep going back to the same mistakes, same old habits, same old sins (if we’re going to call it that) again, and again, and again, then it’s clear they don’t want help. They want enabling to wallow in their mess, and they do not want healing. And the church can’t do that.

            In 2024, we need to find a change in direction for both ourselves and our churches. Let’s practice this work of honesty, communication, and love more deeply and carefully. The disciples took the lessons Jesus taught them and all the things they had seen, and they put it all to work.  They went out and made a difference in the world for people who needed it. They proclaimed salvation, and created a place of healing, help, and a safeness where people could find themselves in the God who loved them. We must do the same.

            But in some ways, Jonah also got it right. Though his message lacked any semblance of love or compassion, he said what Nineveh needed to hear—now is the time to be accountable or else. Thankfully, God in the New Testament is not always so severe as God in the Old Testament. But life is still very full of consequences, and as the kids are so fond of saying these days…you can still mess around and find out if you’re not careful. I edited that saying just a bit to make it church-appropriate.

            So, if we take all these sometimes messy, different people and put them together, how do we give them a sense of being home and a common mission? We practice together and with the world love, communication, and honesty. Think of going on a long family road trip. For some that is an adventure. For others, it might be a nightmare. But either way, none of it works without those three things. If you don’t love the kids, you will kill them the thousandth time they ask if you’re there yet. If you don’t practice communication, someone is going to miss the bathroom in a bad way. And if you’re not honest, you’ll miss the opportunities of being together.

            As a family of faith, we are on a journey together. Sometimes it is easy, and sometimes, we need to let God give us a bit more direction or even change direction for us. Jonah ran as far away from God’s calling to go to Nineveh as he could. And as the story goes, God called him back in a very big and miraculous way. Many of the disciples had their own lives, jobs, and families. Jesus gave them a call that changed their direction completely. They were changed from a daily routine of life to living a powerful mission for God’s kingdom. Jonah’s (final) obedience to God saved an entire gigantic city and kingdom from destruction. The disciples started a movement that truly changed the world. When God gives the directions, great things can happen in our lives and churches.

            Where are the places in our lives that we need to change direction and start a new journey? Faith is meant to be both a place which feels like home and which gives us a common mission rooted in love. We create a home here and join together in God’s mission to save the world—literally, figuratively, and theologically—when we practice following God’s call through honesty, communication, and love. Which of those three do we struggle with the most and need God to give us a new direction? Where do we need to find more accountability like Nineveh, or more compassion like Jesus? Or better yet, where do we need to find more zeal and excitement for God’s call like the disciples did? It’s a lot to process.

            A friend of mine once told me the secret to changing directions and starting a new journey with God’s calling. It’s so simple to say, but so hard to really do. “There’s no real mystery to following God; you just get up and go, and you don’t worry about the rest.” May we always be willing. Amen. 

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/3776474615962486

Second Sunday in Epiphany

Changing Direction: Looking for Sign-- I Sam. 3: 1-20; John 1: 43-51

            Back in my college days, I almost got arrested. True story! I came up to a traffic stop on the road. I was tired, but I had not had a drop to drink. As I approached, the officer closest to me signaled me to come through, and the officer a few feet down from him signaled me to stop. I stopped, went a little bit, stopped, and rolled my window down to ask for clarity, and I was promptly pulled out the car and given field sobriety tests. It probably didn’t help that I told them both (with no attitude whatsoever), that when you give two different signals at the same time, no one can follow the signs!

            So, let’s talk a bit about signs to follow in the coming year. Many of us can agree that 2023 was a fairly tough year with personal and global challenges. And the other day I heard someone say that 2024 doesn’t seem so promising either, so maybe 2025 will be my year. We need a bit of a change of direction. So, for the next few weeks, we’re going to look at examples and ways of changing directions. The first is recognizing the sign and following life’s directional signs. Two of the hardest signs to follow are accepting the sign given and actually following through with the calling when you see a sign.

            What does a sign look like? We read in the Gospel that Philip encounters Jesus and immediately follows him. Nathanael, however, is still a bit unsure. When hears Jesus hails from Nazareth, he says, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?” There is some evidence that Nazareth could have been considered a bit of a Podunk town in that time, and it was never expected that great things would come from there. But Jesus gives a sign. He speaks of Nathanael as if he knows him personally. Then he tells Nathanael that he saw him under the fig tree—a very prophetic vision. Nathanael accepted the sign. He calls Jesus, the “Rabbi…the Son of God—the King of Israel.”

            All it took was a sign, and Nathanael accepted it. In the I Samuel scripture there’s a different kind of sign. God again is speaking to humanity, but for Eli, the signs are not good. Eli has been the anointed prophet for some time. He was a good man, a man of God who recognized God’s voice speaking to Samuel. But the words received spell suffering and destruction for Eli and his entire household. Eli loved God, but he lacked discipline and integrity when it came to his prophetic work and even managing his own family. Though he personally was a good man, he had failed miserably in his calling. To his credit, however, he accepted this difficult sign. He was resigned to the fact that he no longer had God’s favor because of his failures.

            Accepting and resigning ourselves to a sign in life is hard. Sometimes it’s good news and other times not. I remember years ago when I decided to hike the steps to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, there was a sign that said, “Only 230 more steps to go from here.” I’m still not sure if that was a good sign or not, but it was a sign. When you get to a point in life that you feel something isn’t working, you’re miserable, or everything seems to be going wrong, it’s time for a change. The question is—do you have the courage to walk with God to make the change.

            I’m not sure Nathanael had that courage. When we read a list of the twelve disciples, there’s no Nathanael listed. He recognized the sign. He believed and had faith and said confidently that this man, Jesus, was the Rabbi and the Son of God. But he didn’t follow. This is the only time Nathanael is mentioned. Jesus comments on his very new and small faith saying that they would all see much greater things than just a vision of Nathanael under the fig tree. Nathanael’s faith may soon grow. But he didn’t follow even with the sign he was given.

            Eli, however, has a much more mature faith. When Samuel finally listens to God’s vision, God basically says that Eli is about to be severely punished and Samuel would be the prophet. When morning comes, Samuel is CLEARLY avoiding Eli, but old Eli wants to know what God said to Samuel. Upon hearing Samuel’s vision, Eli says, “It is the Lord’s will. Let [God] do what [God] thinks is best.” Sometimes the signs are hard. I remember growing up I had a Magic 8 Ball. It was a little toy that you shook up and it gave you little answers to questions. Sometimes it would generate an answer which said, “Signs point to no,” and all the kids hoping for a positive sign would be disappointed.

            Sometimes we get signs that it’s time to start something new, do something different, learn a new way. Sometimes, we get disappointing signs: the cancer has returned, it’s a progressive disorder, you need more help, your relationship is broken, you simply can’t do this. Faith is when we accept and move forward regardless of what the sign is. I cannot imagine Eli’s pain and disappointment. God provides one of first visions in a long time, and it’s an indictment and judgement of Eli’s behavior. And Eli’s answer is, “Let God do what God thinks is best.”

            But there is a bit of hope and good news in all the worries over bad signs and bad directions. If we go back to the encounter with Nathanael, we see a man who may not have become one of the twelve disciples, but he was still changed from his encounter with Jesus. In fact, of all the encounters with calling disciples and followers, Jesus spends the most time with Nathanael, the one who had doubts and questions. My friends, when the signs in life are unclear, when you feel like you’ve lost direction, when you see stop, go, and yield all at the same time, and you have no idea which way to go at all, that is the time Jesus is most ready to come and talk with you. There’s an old hymn that says you’ll “Find a little talk with Jesus makes it right.” And so it does.

            The Clergy Coaching Network, which I follow on Facebook, posted this quote by Madeleine L’Engle, “I do not think that I will ever reach a stage when I will say, ‘This is what I believe. Finished.’ What I believe is alive, and open to growth.” Do we find ourselves at times on a pathway that doesn’t work? Where do we need a sign and a signal to make some change in life? When you get to a point that where you say, “I can’t keep doing this,” when we as a church look around and say, “We can’t keep going on like this, won’t be able to pay the electricity bill in 5 years,” we have to pray and say, “Lord, I need a sign.”

            For Nathanael, Jesus told him of a vision where he saw Nathanael then predicted how his faith would grow and the miracles he might get to see if he stayed faithful. For Eli, it was a bad omen. It was time for him to pay the price for letting Israel fall away from God and letting his own sons commit blasphemy and curse God without any correction.

            But for Nathanael, who needed a sign to understand, Jesus came and sat with him and spent more time talking to him than any other disciple in their calling story. For Israel, God made a change and called a prophet with integrity and strength to hold the people accountable and shepherd them back to God.

            Jesus is calling you today, come and make a change. If we’re sitting tired, miserable, sad, lonely, hurting, and angry, let us ask for a sign and prepare to make a change. Jesus will walk with you that whole way. In our world, we need a sign and a change. We live with war, poverty, oppression, exploitation, and far too much hatred and bitterness. We need a sign as well to find a new way that follows God’s call to love, grace, and peace.

            When I approached the traffic stop years ago, one officer said keep going the other said stop. To a 20-year-old, driver already nervous, that’s some bad signs. But thank God that in faith we get a bit clearer direction. What sign is God giving you today? And more importantly are you ready to make the change and follow where God is leading? I hope you’ll take some pen and paper this and answer those two questions sometime this week—what is God’s sign, and how can I follow? Don’t stay stuck. Don’t live in confusion. God always calls us forward in hope and faith.

            Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/751285886448312  

Baptism of Christ

Traditions With More—Genesis 1: 1-5; Mark 1: 4-11

            In the musical Fiddler on the Roof, one of the early songs sung in part by Tevye tells how the people have kept their balance for many, many years…”Traditions!” Then they repeat “traditions” over and over in chorus. Tevye goes on to explain, “Here…we have traditions for everything…how to eat, how to sleep, even, how to wear our clothes.” Traditions! Perhaps sometimes we feel the same way about church. We ask, “Well…why do we…” And we hear the chorus shouting, “Traditions! Traditions! Traditions!” just like in Fiddler on the Roof.

            If you ask someone from the Baby Boomer generation about traditions, they will take you to the China cabinet and show you every important heirloom and how it fits in with every holiday and memory going back over many years. If you ask a millennial or Gen Z person about traditions, they shriek and hiss like a vampire exposed to sunlight. And this is one area where those groups shall never find an understanding unless they meet at the corner of an “they’re an old soul” and “still pretty hip for my age.”

            This leaves the church in a rather precarious position. This is a place filled with traditions, rituals, and elements unique only to church and worship. There’s often a tension between a history of worship and faith going back thousands of years in communion, prayer, baptism, and so on versus the relevance of a modern-day society. Too often when we begin to ask questions in our faith and worship, we hear the frightening and often hated phrase, “But we’ve always done it that way.”

            Yet maybe that’s not quite the evil it is made out to be. Today we read the work of John the Baptist in the Gospel of Mark. John is described as a pretty strange sight. He preached in the wilderness. He dressed roughly in camel hair and leather belts. He ate bugs and wild honey. Were you to encounter John the Baptist on the street, I daresay you might cross over to the other sidewalk. He preached this strange thing that people should repent of their sins and be baptized. Baptism was not exactly practiced in those days. There were some purification rituals that included immersion in water, but it wasn’t exactly a thing widely done. And truthfully repentance wasn’t all that common anymore either.

            And yet, we see in this Gospel lesson that John baptizes Jesus. In some gospels, it is said that John recognized Jesus. In this one it seems there was no forewarning to the dove descending and the heavenly voice proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God and the dearly beloved who brings great joy. Ever since this encounter we have practiced this tradition of baptism in the Christian faith.

            It is one of the most sacred traditions or sacraments of the church, right next to Communion. And I’m sure that if we were to ask, “Why?” we would hear the wise answer, “Because we’ve always done it that way.” Or we might hear the voice of Tevye and the chorus proclaiming, “Traditions!”

            But there’s something more to the practice of baptism than just that. When we accept the faith and become baptized, we walk a similar path to Jesus. We proclaim this faith publicly. We celebrate a Savior who gave of himself, suffered, and has risen from the dead to give us hope and life. Baptism is not the dusty crystal that hides in the back of a cabinet. It’s the precious heirloom that a family cherishes generation after generation because of the importance it holds.

            Church traditions and rituals are nothing to scoff at. If you are in a place of stained-glass windows, organ, hymns, and robed choir and preacher, you still do the same things as if you are in a dark-lit stage with untucked shirts and a fog machine. We sing, we pray, we proclaim, and we go forth to serve. Regardless of how it all gets dressed up, that is what the church has done for centuries.  

            What matters is that, regardless of whether there’s a pipe organ or electric guitar, we sing of our faith in Christ, we pray to God to stay close to our creator and redeemer, and we proclaim the love of Christ that transforms the struggles of society into a place of hope and grace.

            Often we spend too much time debating our ritual and traditions to find something fruitful and inspiring in them. Part of that problem is we have a consumer-based society. Church and worship are not a consumer product. It is a practice, a discipline, and a place to find hope and renewal with God by our side. Faith is a participatory event where we come to live out, share, and participate in the traditions and rituals. Even Jesus came to the River Jordan to be baptized. Now, I highly doubt the Son of God needed to repent and be baptized all that much, but he participated and became a part of the work of faith.

            It’s easy after the 4,500th time of taking Communion or joining with the congregation in the 1,500th baptism to find a staleness and boredom in the traditions we practice. But let’s take a step back. With every baptism we have someone proclaiming that they are covenanting to join our faith. They covenant that they will live, preach, encourage, and teach the unconditional love of Christ for all of us, everyone. Every time we take communion, we meditate on the fact that real love is sacrificing and giving to help and uplift another. It’s not just words that we remember Christ’s sacrifice. We live into that promise of hope and life and the call to give of ourselves in love for others.

            So maybe it’s time to rehabilitate this idea of “traditions!” from boredom and sameness to finding comfort and hope. A friend and I were talking the other day while at the funeral of a mutual friend. She said to me about our deceased friend: he couldn’t stand the rituals the traditions, the same things over and over in church every week. It’s what he struggled with the most. I, on the other hand, love them, and that’s what draws me in the most. I can go anywhere in the world, walk into a church, and find a place that feels like home because we live, practice, and share the same faith and the same practice of faith.

            Instead of being dulled to the power and holiness of our practice of faith, let Christ do a little work. Let him break and bend you just a bit so that the real power of these traditions of faith make a mark on you. In baptism you have given up following the selfishness of life, and you have committed and promised in a covenant to follow Christ in showing love, grace, and peace to the world. It is your testimony and promise now and forevermore.

            The final line in “Traditions” from Fiddler on the Roof says, “Tradition. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as…as a fiddler on the roof!” We come each week not to do the same thing over and over again, but to live out these practices that bring us closer to God. In this place, it is the hope that you will find something holy, something moving, and a place where you feel loved and welcomed even in the midst of the messiness of humanity. So, as we continue to live out our practice of faith, our “Traditions!” may they blend into the hopeful words of “Blessed Assurance,” which say, “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” Amen.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/3539344896380349

Epiphany 2024

What Is a Gift? Matthew 2: 1-11

            Let me tell you about the weirdest gift I’ve ever gotten. A few years ago, my friends and I did a Christmas gift exchange. My friend put her husband in charge of the gifts, we went to dinner and were all having fun. As I opened my gift, I was a bit surprised to find Victoria’s Secret women’s underwear. There was silence for a solid 30 seconds. I finally quietly muttered, “Thank you.” Now to be fair, lest you think this story is weird, on Christmas, his wife opened a very nice men’s necktie as a gift to her. Ever since we’ve just done gift cards. It’s safer that way.

            A “gift” is generally defined as an item or present given to someone without the expectation of anything in return. Giving gifts is a big part of our culture. We give people gifts at Christmas, at their birthday, when we visit for dinner, special occasions, and just as a kind gesture. Today we read a scripture of the Magi who came and brought gifts to Jesus. Now, I know every manger scene shows the shepherds and wisemen together at the manger. But the truth is that the wisemen arrived almost two years after Christ was born, so they brought these gifts to a toddler, not an infant.

            And what is the best gift to bring a toddler? Gold, incense, and embalming spices, of course. Things they can make a mess with. There’s an old joke that had it been three wise women, they would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, brought practical gifts, and peace on earth would have started then and there. But instead, we get three late men, who tip off the evil King Herod, and bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

            There was some level of importance to these gifts, however. Gold symbolized Christ as the king, for only kings had gold. Frankincense symbolized Christ as holy and of God because it was an incense used for worship. And myrrh symbolized Christ’s sacrifice of love for us because myrrh was used to prepare a body for burial. Each of the gifts speak to the work of Jesus as outlined in the prophecies the wisemen studied. And when they came to Jesus, they knew they were approaching a king, a savior, and the loving friend of all.

            For us, there is another gift. We talk about grace as a “free gift,” but what does that mean? An old preacher friend said it this way, “God loves you, end of story. You don’t have to buy it, earn it, assemble it, figure it out, or analyze it. You need only accept it and share it.”  

            But if we want to be like the Magi, maybe we need to do a bit more than just accept and share. Maybe we need to seek a bit as well. There are some for whom it hard to find the good and the God in them. I remember a friend said once, “Glad it’s God who has to love them and not me.” But that’s precisely the point, we should. Sometimes, when you get a gift, you can’t figure it out how it works, it doesn’t fit, or you just aren’t sure what to do with it. In those times you have to seek—directions, fit, and acceptance of this gift in your life.

            The same is true with God’s love. It might be hard to love some people…not the people we hate or we see as enemies…but the people who just drive us up the wall. Sometimes we have to look closer to see God in them. But that free gift is given to everybody. And it’s part of our job to love the broken and unlovely, and to work to see that image of God in every human.

            Imagine if we started 2024 this way. 2023 was marked by wars, economic concern, angst, an undercurrent of irritation in life. Imagine if we start 2024 by not focusing so much on all the bad things we see, but one by one, looking for the love of God in every human we encounter. It’s going to be hard. We’re trained to do something different. But imagine if we look for God’s image in the Ukrainian and the Russian, the Palestinian and the Israeli, the liberal and the Trump supporter, and perhaps any and every either/or difference. We’re all God’s children anyway.

            Now that you’ve done your Christmas gifts, and started on your New Year’s resolutions, let’s ask a question: where do you plan to look for God in the coming year? The Magi traveled hundreds of miles looking for Jesus. The shepherds abandoned their fields to go searching. We have a free gift of God’s love right there for us. Where and in whom do we plan on looking for it, starting tomorrow? Happy New Year. Amen.

No livestream today.

Christmas 2024

“Tell Everyone of Christ” Luke 2: 1-20

            One of my Nanna’s favorite Christmas carols (and mine too, I would say) is the song, “O Holy Night.” It is a staple for soloists at every Christmas service, showing off a beautiful vocal range from soft lows to incredible, resounding high notes. It’s one of those carols that we get so lost in the melodies that we often lose the power of the words. The carol also has a much messier history that you’d probably expect. Did you know that for many years the church actually banned the carol from being sung?

The writer, Placide Cappeau, was a lawyer turned wine merchant and poet, who later in life rejected faith and claimed atheism because of his anger and disillusionment at the church. The composer, Adolphe Adam, was a vaudeville and opera musician who was of a Jewish background but made a home in the French Catholic church, and the translator, John Dwight, was a transcendentalist Unitarian, who ran a commune farm in New England. The carol was particularly problematic in the United States because verse three is pointedly anti-slavery and was written 12 years before the Civil War.

So why the history lesson? Hear these words—“Long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope—the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” This hymn is one of the most powerful at describing the miraculous, glorious, and powerful birth of a loving Savior. And yet, practically every word and note were written, not by the very faithful, but by people with little faith looking in at how miraculous this event really was. The whole hymn is written as if it’s a description from an outsider, not someone devoted to following the faith. And they are astounded by the holiness of the Christmas story.

They see a night filled with wonder, hope, a night divine and filled with holiness to the point that humanity falls on its knees overwhelmed. They see a King, a humble man, a friend to all of us in need. They see a Savior who ends oppression, slavery, suffering, and brings reconciliation of all humankind. They write, “Let all within us praise his holy name.” It wasn’t Charles Wesley, Fanny Crosby, or a Gaither group who wrote this. It was an atheist, a vaudeville musician, and a commune farm leader who actually got kicked out of ministry.

This story of a Savior, healer, teacher, and reconciler holds the power to change hearts and minds in a way that’s unbelievable, even miraculous. The story of a Messiah coming to save the people from their physical and spiritual suffering can change humankind. In a world of despair, Christ brings hope. In a world of war and gluttonous quests for power, Christ brings peace. In the dark and cold of our lives, Christ brings joy. And in the lonely and forgotten places, Christ brings love.

For these three, the story of Christ’s birth was not a lullaby but a challenge. And it’s a story that can change all the weariness and misery of the world. Whom do we tell of Christ? I’m not talking the Jesus of Sunday School flannel boards and cut out pictures. Whom do we tell of the Jesus who healed the sick, comforted the suffering, raised the dead to life, and assertively flipped tables in a temple that had become more worldly than holy?

And when we tell of this Jesus do we believe in the power that he has? The power of the Christmas story is not just that we hear a good lesson, or follow some philosophies, but instead, it is a life-changing story of hope, love, and reconciling all of humankind to a place of peace and holiness. Faith isn’t a weapon. Faith isn’t something we compel, argue, or debate. Our sole job is to first believe in this hope of Christ, and second to share the good news. Don’t overcomplicate what we have been called to do. In serving Christ we live like him, following his example, and we tell others of the good news—of that life-changing hope and love.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is getting Christmas crackers. In England they’re small, wrapped tubes with a gift inside. Two people pull—one on each end—and with a loud pop the tube comes apart and someone ends up with a little paper crown and a small gift. There’s a bit of excitement, a pop of surprise, and a bit of fun all rolled into one. The same is true for our faith. As we journey to and arrive in Bethlehem, I pray we still feel the surprise, the wonder, and the hope of hearing the good news of a Savior born for us.

Remember that we live every day with Christ in our lives—Emmanuel, God with us. So, I promised to keep it short today; thus, I’ll leave you with the challenge in the closing words of “O Holy Night.” It’s a call to us to do our part in making the good news known to all: “His power and glory ever more proclaim. His power and glory ever more proclaim.” Amen.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/261520266940139  

Advent 3: Joy

Tell of the Good News—Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11; Luke 2: 8-15

            Sometimes I like to watch goofy videos online to pass time. I laughed hysterically at one recently. A daughter came home with her husband for a visit and to tell some big news to her mother. She proceeded to place a hamburger roll in the oven. Her mom was very confused by this. Finally, the daughter said, “It’s a bun…in the oven.” Her mom says, “Yes, I saw you put it in there. I know what it is.” The exasperated daughter says, “No mom, I have a bun in the oven.” Her mom says, “Yes, I know. You just put it in my oven. It’s already baked, so I don’t know why.” Finally realized that her mother would never get it, the daughter says, “Mom…bun in the oven. Come one. I’m having a baby.” Her mother, was absolutely shocked and excited. Sometimes, it’s easy to miss the good news in life.

            If I were to ask each of you to name a couple of troubles in your life, I’m betting you could throw the list together rather quickly. But if, instead, I asked you to tell me some good news in your life, I wonder how many would have to think for a moment? So, let’s ask it and think on it. What is your good news today, here and now, and how could you share that good news with others?

            Christmas is about good news. Luke’s Gospel, and particularly the birth of Jesus, is one big, incredible announcement of good news to all the world. In fact, the words Gospel and Good News are often used interchangeably in many churches: “The Gospel of the Lord for you this day!” And “Hear now the Good News from Luke.” If you look a bit further, a rough translation of “gospel” mean “good telling, good story, or good news.” And yet we find so many people who are absolutely miserable during the Christmas season when the greatest story of good news ever told just happens to be read.

            I think sometimes we see the practical and forget the magical. We understand the story of Jesus in terms of a teacher, a Rabbi, who showed us how to be forgiving and reconciled. We understand that he taught justice, healing, care for the poor and struggling. We see an announcement of good news to the lowly shepherds out in the fields and to the most wealthy and great Magi or wisemen the eastern part of the known world could send. We understand practically that Jesus’s birth was good news for all people: Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female, all people, everywhere.

            But I think we still miss a bit of the magic or the holy in this good news. Have we read the story so much that it seems like just a bit of good prose to us? Have we lost the attraction and mystery of things unexplained, hope we don’t quite understand; joy which lifts or souls even if it doesn’t really make full sense to us? Are we so “aged,” jaded, and disillusioned that there’s nothing holy and awe-inspiring left for us in the birth of a Savior who loved the whole world?

            It’s hard for us to understand with unexplained things like angels, miraculous births, holiness, and so on. So maybe we need to start by anchoring ourselves in something we can grab on to. One of my favorite African-American spirituals is the hymn, “Ain’t a That Good News.” It says, “I got a Savior in-a that kingdom, ain’t a that good news? Imma gonna lay down this world, gonna shoulder up my cross. Gonna take it home to my Jesus, ain’t a that good news?” There’s a joy in the melody and the lyrics that is simply contagious. Ain’t a that good news? Start there, right there.

            In life there is good news. The angel said to shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy to all people.” When the angels were gone, the shepherds were still there, sitting in a dark field, surrounded by what were now pretty startled sheep. Shepherds in that day and age were despised. They were seen as dishonest people who used others’ lands for their own sheep. But something was different this night. There was good news for them, not just kings and priests, but for them too. There was joy that they could take hold of in that dark night. The boring routine of their lives was interrupted by a joy which brought a holy love to them.

            Isaiah, many years before, spoke the prophetic words of this good news. He writes, “The Spirit of the…Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,” comfort to the brokenhearted, release for the captives, freedom for prisoners, and God’s favor to those who mourn. Israel, at this point, was still captive. These were little more than words, a prophecy for them, but the hope of what could and would come brought good news of great joy. And for them in their time, it was enough for comfort.

            Don’t miss the good news. Each year at Christmas, we seem to struggle more and more with finding our way to Bethlehem and the birth of a loving Savior. It’s not quite so magical and powerful now as when we were filled with wonder at the beauty of this gospel story. For many, I wonder if Luke 2 is treated like a fairy tale similar to that of Santa and the North Pole. I heard someone say the other day that the Christmas Gospel Story is just one of the Christmas-themed stories they enjoy. We will never find our way to Bethlehem so long as we continue to be enthralled by all the bad news in life and fail to let our spirits be renewed by the Good News.

            This Christmas, however bad things may be around you, let yourself be a little broken and vulnerable to a story of good news. Maybe instead of starting out with “I hate everything!” start out with a bit of good news, “Today is another day that God is going to love me.” It may not change what’s going on. The shepherds were still shepherds. They still had to do hard work. They had to live in a society that didn’t like them. They still had struggles. But I daresay that if you read this story a couple more times, especially on down through verse 20, that the good news changed them in a powerful way, even if it didn’t change their life’s circumstances.

            There is always good news. Blogger and preacher Dr. Shermaine Sanders starts her blog posts off saying, “God’s got good news for you today!” For the people of Israel, that good news was that one day their captivity, oppression, and suffering would end. The Spirit of God was upon the writer in Isaiah to bring good news that God had not forgotten them, God still loved them, and God would eventually deliver them. Many years later, when Christ was finally born, the angels proclaimed from the heavens, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy!”

            What is the good news in your life? What word of hope or inspiration can you share with others? A friend of mine recently started over in her mid-forties with a new career and had to go back to graduate school to make it happen. She had lived in the same town, had the same friends, made a real home where she was for her entire life. And even though everything in her life changed in just a few short weeks, if you ask how things are going, all you get is good news.

            God has good news for you today. What is your good news? Will you look for it? Will you let that good news be your strength and hope in life? Will you tell that good news with others who need to hear it? May the Spirit of the Lord be upon us too, and may God anoint us to bring good news in this world. Amen.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/242341275406481

Advent 2: Peace

Tell of the Peace: Isaiah 40: 1-11; Luke 1: 26-38

            Earlier this year, I was at a small gathering of friends. I love this little group of folks I’ve known for years. However, in all honesty, not all of them get along. Some strike sparks off one another from time to time. At this gathering, I saw one of my friends wondering around looking upset. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for what might be an intervention to prevent some kind of confrontation. Indeed, Bob said, “I’m trying to find my peace.”

So, we started working together on finding peace. The first thing was breathing techniques, then we tried walking around, then we tried stretches, all the while he seemed more and more bothered, and he never found his peace. Finally, I suggested therapy. He responded with shock. “What? Therapy? We’ve done enough of all this stupid stuff you suggested. How is therapy going to help me find the piece of pecan pie I lost.”  I was reminded in that moment the importance of both grammar and context. We found his piece…of pie…sitting on the side table.

Today we talk about the importance of peace in God’s kingdom, and we look at the story of how the angel announced the coming of Christ to Mary. Very often we tend to focus this day and age on the shock factor of this story—an unwed mother in Ancient Judea, Mary’s young age, the fact that this was more of a command than a request. In many ways this is a shocking part of the gospel when the context is added. But to look only at the shock misses the point. Mary responded to God’s incredibly difficult calling with peace and obedience.

In our present day and time, too many people seem to be searching for peace, and I don’t mean a piece of pecan pie. Recent studies show that the Global Peace Index declined again in 2023, and Gallup polls show that only a little over half of the population knows how to find peace in the struggles of daily life. Too often we see a world filled globally with turmoil—the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are just two examples. And if you want a closer example just look at how all the mature adults get along with each other so well in the halls of Congress. In the context of all this turmoil, many of us feel uneasy. And if we don’t feel uneasy about the conflicts, we feel uneasy about the effects when we go to the gas station and grocery store.

Isaiah spoke to a people well acquainted with conflict and struggle. Isaiah was written for a people living in captivity in Babylon, a people conquered, disheartened, demoralized, and in servitude. And what Isaiah brought was a prophecy of peace: “’Comfort, comfort my people,’ says your God. Tell her that her sad days are gone, and her sins are pardoned.” What Isaiah tells us is that peace is a gift from God, not something we can find on our own.

The peace for God’s people wasn’t found in some kind of search within, no, it was found in God. Isaiah writes, “Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!” He goes on to write about filling in the valleys, leveling the mountains and hills, straightening out the curves, and making the rough places smoother. When we smooth out the path in our own hearts and souls for God to come to us and abide with us, we welcome into our lives the Prince of Peace, the one who calms the storm, the one who has the power over death, hell and all of suffering.

I think sometimes; however, we misunderstand what it means to have peace. Many seem to think that having peace means the absolute absence of all things difficult or troublesome in life. That’s not what peace is, nor is it anything God has ever promised us. That’s kind of the bad news. Life may not be easy, but we can have God’s peace whether life is easy or not.

Look again at Mary. She was God’s favored, beloved, the one God chose to bear the Son of God into the world, the Light of the World, the Prince of Peace. But if we know the rest of the story, we know that this wasn’t an easy calling. The New Interpreter’s Bible puts it very bluntly: “Today, many assume that hose whom God favors will enjoy the things we equate with the good life: social standing, wealth, and good health. Yet Mary, God’s favored one, was blessed with having a child out of wedlock who would later be executed as a criminal. Acceptability, prosperity, and comfort have never been the essence of God’s blessing.”[1]

What, then, is God’s peace? I think Mary is the best example. Mary starts her encounter confused and disturbed, fearful of why God’s angel is there. But she is told that she is blessed and has found favor with God, that she would be a part of this amazing and miraculous thing, and she has the understanding that the journey would be incredibly difficult. Her response was to say, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” Regardless of her age, her engagement, her fear, and the coming struggles, she had the faith to be at peace with God’s calling. For someone of her age, education, and place in time, that’s a miraculous amount of faith and trust. Though she started with fear, she came to a place of peace with all that God had spoken to her.

God’s peace is knowing in any situation—easy or overwhelming—that God’s strength is with us, God’s promises never fail us, and God’s hope waits at the end of the journey. God’s peace comes from saying yes, when God calls. God’s peace comes from leaning back on faith to face every hill, valley, curve, and rough place in the journey here. God’s peace is knowing that in every situation, God’s word comes and says, “Comfort, comfort, you my people.”

A friend of mine wrote about his experience with God’s peace. He said that the holidays particularly test his sense of peace in life. He thought all was good, and he was, with a deep breath, at peace. But then traffic at the stores kick in, and he curses a bad driver out. The cost of buying all the gifts makes his blood pressure tick up at how much money is fleeing out the door. The general mood of “I’ll wait till after the holidays,” means work is not getting done at his office. And with each passing moment every text, every email, every phone call, every thing just rachets up that irritability inside one more notch till he wants to sing, “Fa la la la—GO AWAY!” to everyone.

But in the stillness of the night, under a warm blanket, with the warm glow of the Christmas tree in the background, he remembers a Savior, who suffered, was misunderstood, and spent difficult years on earth. And he remembers a young mother, facing an incredibly difficult road, whose faith empowered her to respond enthusiastically to God’s calling. And there, we find peace. May Christmas be a reminder to you that God’s peace is with you in any difficult time of life, for God loves you and will be with you in every one of those moments.

[1] Tucker, Gene M. “The Book of Isaiah 1-39,” The New Interpreter’s Bible. Ministry Matters. 1987.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1008483193571780

Tell of the Light--Advent 1

Tell of the Light—Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19; John 1: 1-13

            Every summer when I was growing up, churches would have Vacation Bible School. In our modern day and times, I fear that has gone the way of the Dodo. It’s no longer hip, rad, groovy, cool, fetch, or Gucci, or whichever word the kids are using to say “in fashion” these days. But I actually enjoyed going to Vacation Bible School, and I realize that is the biggest nerd alert I could offer. We got to do arts and crafts for 45 minutes, and I could ignore most everyone while pretending I had any kind of visual art skills whatsoever. We got those church snacks…you know the ones… they were the off brand Oreos and that orange punch that was kind of like Kool-Aid, but not quite.

            But most of all we got to stomp and march in the sanctuary of the church while singing super exciting songs. It was as close to dancing as we got growing up Southern Baptist. And one of my favorite songs was “Be a Light for Jesus.” The chorus was simply over and over the words, “Be a light shining bright; be a light for Jesus every day.” Those words should resonate as we hear John’s Gospel say to us “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about that light, so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.”

            Let’s focus in on those words…the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. Advent is the season where we look for the light of Christ to come into a world that one might describe as dark, perhaps, filled with oppression, pain, personal trials, and struggle. Much like the people in the world Jesus was born into, we also feel a sense of darkness, foreboding, and doom and gloom in our world and lives today. Some of you could probably write a book on the dark places you have had to navigate in your lives.

            Many people feel alone in our world. 7.8 billion people exist on this planet, but I bet you if many of us confessed freely, we would admit to feelings of loneliness and isolation. Many feel unloved or rejected by families. It’s no secret that marriages can get difficult, families may be toxic, or may reject certain family members if they don’t think right, act right, mental health right, love right, or live right. Just like many of us see dark places and feel held hostage by the dark places, secrets, sufferings, and struggles in our lives, so to was the world suffering in Jesus’s day. Rome was a brutal ruler, and for any brutality Rome missed, the local rulers and religious leaders made up for it.

            This was not a system of politics and religion, no, instead it was a machine of suffering and oppression. The peace of Rome was held in place by the sword and spear, as well as crucifixions looming on the horizon lest anyone forget the penalty for disagreeing. It would be easy to believe that John the Baptist, the herald of Christ, who preached repentance, the hope of one coming who would take the sins of the world…surely this prophet in the wilderness lived a life of grace and hope, right, of course, right?

            But John the Baptist, like Jesus, came into a world that rejected him, a world where he didn’t fit, his life was inconvenient, ugly, unwanted. And in the end, John the Baptist met a very gruesome, terrifying end that would make the strongest heart shudder. But even though John was robbed of his hope in this world, he had a better hope to believe in. Jesus is the light of the world; that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

            If we are to overcome, to have that better hope, friends, we must look for that light in our lives. Growing up, there used to be trains that would haul coals from the mines out of the very mountainous county in Eastern Kentucky. It was fun, sometimes, to walk to old, long-abandoned tracks and go through the long train tunnels. At times it could get very dark, but you only had to look for that light at the end, to know at some point, you’d get through the darkness.

            That is how life is. John the Baptist came to tell of that light of hope, and Jesus came to bring that light of hope. Don’t focus on the people and situations which criticize, which cause you to suffer, which make life unbearable and difficult for you…where you find yourself oppressed. And don’t get lost in the millions of different things people say about Jesus. You have the book…read what he said for yourselves. One line even says, “Come to me, you who labor, and I will give you rest.” Anyone who offers you a version filled with hate, tension, and suffering, well, they missed the point.  Jesus is the light of the world, come to this earth to redeem us from the dark places and equip us to tell of that light in our lives.

            So, what do we do when we feel that light grow dim? What do we do when you feel so overwhelmed and suffocated by life that you feel you can’t find your way out? What do you do when someone, maybe even family, rejects you or purposefully makes you feel unloved and unwelcome? I invite you to go back to verse 4 of the Vacation Bible School hymn: “Keep your light bright, shining all the world around, be a light for Jesus every day; ‘Till, released from darkness, all the Lord have found, Be a light for Jesus every day. Be a light shining bright for Jesus every day.”

            When we walk with Jesus, we become that light shining in the world. If you find yourself surrounded by darkness, be a light. If you see pain and suffering, go over and be their light. If you see others rejected, lonely, and hurting, marginalized by a society which isn’t always kind, be a light. If you see older folks, younger folks, anyone who needs a friend or has lost their way, be a light. You don’t have to wait for something big and grand to happen. Go be a light for Jesus. And eventually, if you shine enough light in the world, it might just spread around and bring a little joy and hope to the dark places.

            I’m probably going to embarrass someone a bit with this story, but it’s a good example. One of my greatest fears with this whole heart surgery was for my mother. I knew I was fine. Either I woke up and all was good, or I met Jesus, and I’ve known Jesus for a long time, so I wasn’t too worried there. But I was terrified for my mom to be alone for up to 8 or 9 long hours of surgery. And I was especially terrified for her to be alone, in a strange place, should something go wrong.

            But at 6:45 in the morning while I was sitting there in hospital gown getting wired up to every tube they had available, in walked Reverend Doug Ivey…6:45 AM, at Emory in Atlanta. And he stayed with my mom for the entire day. And I am convinced that him bringing that light of hope and comfort, made things go easier for me, because I didn’t have to go under filled with the darkness of worry.

            Friends, we are going to encounter a lot of dark and godless places in the world if we journey here long enough. The call we have is to remember who we follow—the living, loving, redeeming Christ—the light of the world. And that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. John the Baptist was called of God to tell of the light and the coming hope of Christ.

            But for us who know Christ, who seek to have a better relationship with Christ, and who may seek to overcome some painful, dark places, we can do much, much more than just tell of that light. We can be a light of hope in the dark places of this world. It’s an opportunity, and it’s a gift. Be a light, shining bright, be a light shining bright, be a light for Jesus every day.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/663422649305811

I Press on

I Press On—Isaiah 5: 1-7; Philippians 3: 4-14

As I was bouncing along on the Groome bus Friday while returning from a work trip, there was an elderly couple behind me headed back to their farm in Dublin. They were both 86. And they had been on a two-week cruise through Boston and Canada. We learned in the conversation that he was a veteran of the Navy and a long-time pilot for Eastern Airlines. She had been a flight attendant for Delta, and they still love going on flights and being in the air.

One of the things he said deeply resonated with all of us on the bus and left us a bit quiet for a few seconds. He said, “It’s been a really good life. You know it’s been good when you can look back and say I had a good time. I pressed on through the troubles, and I kept the faith in the good times and always. Yes sir. It’s been a great life.” Those words hit home: I pressed on through the troubles and kept the faith in the good times.

Paul starts off this part of Philippians with a little bit of his history. He was very well credentialed in the society in which he lived. Paul followed all of the customs required by the law. He was full-blooded Hebrew, of a well-respected tribe, a Pharisee, and a zealot for his faith. He was “of the best pedigree” as we might say down south here. But then Paul says this, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.”

What Paul is addressing is this idea of strength of self. It’s a very American notion that we all have to be strong. Any kind of physical or mental illness, struggling with emotions, needing help in life, needing therapy, all of these things are seen as weak. You’re a human, be strong. You’ve been made and groomed to be strong your whole life just like Paul who had all the right training and growing up, and life skills to be a strong human being. Yet that same Paul says, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Our job, our calling as humans who follow Christ is to press on in trouble and keep the faith in the good times. We are not called to be strong enough to do all of life by ourselves. In II Corinthians, Paul writes, “Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’” When we press on, God is with us, strengthening us as we struggle and worry.

This week, I have my heart surgery. While I’m not particularly looking forward to that, I’m especially not looking forward to feeling helpless. I can’t lift things or drive, so I’m going to have to have someone help me change the cat’s litter, take me places, grocery shop, clean, and so on. I tend to be very self-sufficient, and I don’t like feeling helpless or needy. I don’t like to say I can’t lift 7 pounds of cat litter. I can’t fathom asking someone to take my trash out. It’s embarrassing to say I may need folks to call and keep me from going stir crazy. But as human beings taught to be self-sufficient, asking for help feels painful. I dread it.

In the Isaiah lesson, we hear what happens when humanity doesn’t rely on God. It was a constant back and forth in the Hebrew scriptures of a people who in bad times cried out to God and in good times went their own way, forgetting about God. It’s a practice seen in Judaism, Christianity, and many other religions around the world. Good times often cause people to stumble more in faith than adversity. It’s the oldest and easiest temptation in the world, “I’ve got this. I don’t need help.”

God is reminding the people very clearly that they do, in fact, need God. Paul writes, “I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.” Faith in Christ necessarily means following where Christ leads, relying on the wisdom in the Holy Spirit, and trusting in Jesus even when we think we know what’s up.

Paul then says one of the most powerful phrases in all of his writing, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.” That should be what all of us Christians seek first and foremost—to know Christ, and then to trust and lean into that power of God to bring life. Then we press on and keep the faith. It’s important that Paul phrases it as “to know the mighty power” that brought the dead to life. Friends, we often use relying on God as a last resort, when prayer and faith should the theme that holds us throughout.

A friend once said to me that faith is like an egg. All I could think was, “Oh boy, I can’t wait to hear this illustration. Hope it doesn’t get scrambled or my brain isn’t fried after. But the egg jokes disappeared when in all seriousness she gave the example. Without an egg your meatloaf will fall apart, your cake will crumble, your cornbread will never get out of the cast iron, and your squash casserole will be a blob of grease and water with some squash in it. In all of these foods and dishes, it is the egg that binds it together and holds it all fast. You don’t see or taste the egg. But it’s there, and its job is vital to your food holding together. Faith is like an egg. It holds us together.

Paul wraps up this part of his letter with more powerful words. “I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” When we press on in trouble and keep the faith always, we must continue to look at what is ahead. We tend to be a people who live in the past in an unhealthy way. Old sins, old wounds, old bad habits, and the “good old days” are places where we like to set up camp and stay. But faith calls us forward because God is not done with us until our last breath.

Paul tells us, “I press on to reach the end of the race.” In every trial we must press on, and always we must keep the faith. Those are not easy because they call on us to trust in God. Paul never knew what lay ahead for him in life. He didn’t know how a town he preached to would receive him. He didn’t know what that long journey to Rome would be like. But Paul knew two things—that he would press on, and that God would be with him as the strength he could rely on.

I think that is often the worry we live with. We like the past because we can go back and live in the times where we found safety and security. But God still calls us into the future—to live in faith and follow where God leads. Maybe the fear is that at some point, we will find ourselves alone and without God. Rest assured that will never happened. Wherever your journey goes, if you lean on God, God will be there. Paul finishes out that thought with this: “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Look to the finish line, not the next trial. Look to faith, not the person, the pastor, or the church folk who might have hurt you. Look towards the finish line because a lot of other folks need us to press on and keep the faith always.

Growing up, we used to sing a very, very old song, “Press On, It Won’t Be Very Long.” The first verse is a reminder of the wisdom Paul gives us, “There’s glory in my soul, since Jesus took control. He placed within my heart a happy song. The joy-bells sweetly ring, while of God’s love I sing. Press on, it won’t be very long.” God’s strength works when we are feeling weak. God’s grace goes with us into every tomorrow on our journey. And each new morning, God calls to us, who follow in faith, press on through the trials and keep the faith always.

 Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/868033947737461