Luke 15:1-10

I love the parable of the lost coin…

Luke 15:8-10 (NRSV)
8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’  10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Perhaps I am reading into the text, but I always read this text as if she spent the coin on a party to celebrate finding it!  There really is a wonderful sense of relief about locating something that was lost.  Sometimes it is something physical like a coin—but it may also be some intangible quality one used to have—perhaps even one that had been forgotten.  I think those things come back to us in relationships, within the community of faith.  That is what we will talk about this week.  We will do it in the context of celebrating our small group ministry. 

Call To Worship
L:   The Lord be with you.
P:   And also with you.
L:   God is merciful to us because of his constant love.
P:   His great mercy washes away all our evil and makes us clean
     from all our sin.
L:   Sincerity and truth are what the Lord requires.  God does
     not reject a humble and contrite heart.
P:   Create in us a pure heart, O God,  put a new and loyal
     spirit in us.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
L    Listen O God, listen and look into our hearts.
P    You know, Lord, all our sin.
L    Listen, O God, listen and look into our hearts.
P    See and hear, O God, we lift up our sin to you.  We name it
     in silence, and we repent of the evil we have done by word
     and deed, by omission and commission.
L    Listen O God, listen and look into our hearts
     ............... (silent prayer) ..............
L    Although we are not worthy, O Lord, we ask you to hear our
     plea..
P    Touch us Lord and make us whole -  we ask it by the grace
     shown to us by Jesus - Amen

PS.  Check out the rest of www.MikeDaPastor.org too!

These two chapters in Genesis are rather complicated, which is reflected in all the articles about them in the professional journals.   Looking back though these articles, one can see some patterns emerge which I think ties into the message I am developing. 

The articles from before 1990 reflect the Enlightenment-Era interest in reducing things to smaller and smaller parts.  These scholars look at sets of verses and speculate about which were written first, which were added by later editors and delve deeply into word tenses and cases.  This can be useful.  It is the kind of thing one would do in trying to figure out how a machine works—your car or your toaster for example.  The idea is that if you understand all the parts, you will understand the whole. 

More recent articles show a little  bit of a shift.  There is greater awareness of the interconnectedness of the whole narrative.  There is a greater respect for mystery, an understanding that the text simply does not explain some things.   This seems more like my experience of the life of faith.  Events happen and we try to interpret them in a faithful way.  But we never fully understand the ways God is acting in our lives. 

But maybe that was simpler 50 years ago too.  To be faithful, you just did your job at the only company you would ever work for and go to church in the only church/denomination you would ever belong too.  It is interesting how our approach to interpreting the Bible mirrors the times in which we live. 

Grace & Peace,  Mike

PS.  I’m not quite sure how, but I’m pretty sure this talk will impact my sermon: http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html

Worship for July 12, 2009.  You can see the bulletin by clicking  HERE.

We are using several Genesis texts: Abram and Sarai in Egypt (12:10-20); Abraham and Sarah in Gerar (20:1-18) ; Abraham and Abimelech (21:22-34).   But I think the lens through which we may interpret them is Romans 4:1-15…

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

If the Bible was intended as a propaganda document, our passages from Genesis 12 and 20 would never have made it into the Bible.   Abraham virtually prostitutes his wife in hopes of saving his own skin.  So much for being our forefather in the faith.  And yet he is.  No politician would survive a scandal like this, and yet God is not done with Abraham.  And writers from the Psalmists to Paul do credit him with having great faith.  But faith does not make us super-human.  We all have our flaws and problems.  We are all “ungodly”, yet God justifies us anyway. 

The third story shows that even Abimilech, who Abraham wronged, could reconcile with him.  Perhaps there is hope for peace even in the most troubled parts of the world.  (Although Sarah/Sarai was even more wronged.  I wish we had more of her perspective in this story.  Unfortunately we have to work with the texts we have.)

PS.  the “sliders” is for those little mini hamburgers you get that are a little different but come on the same plate.  Our Gen 12 passage is quite similar to our Genesis 20 which is quite similar to another story about Isaac.  There might also be a little play on words about the slippery slope of sin. 

This hardly ever happens, but I actually know what I am preaching on in advance.  Here are the dates and texts as I know them now.  The initial set of texts after the date is chapter and verse from Genesis.  New Testament texts that refer to Abraham are in italics. 

• July 5–The Call of Abram (11:27-12:9) .  Hebrews 11:8-16.
• July 12–Abram and Sarai in Egypt (12:10-20); Abraham and Sarah in Gerar (20:1-18) ; Abraham and Abimelech (21:22-34) .  Romans 4:1-5
• July 19—Nate D. leads worship celebrating mission trip to Cumberland, MD
• July 26–The Separation of Abram and Lot (13:1-18) .  Luke 3:1-18
• August 2–Abram and the Four Kings (14:1-24); Promises Renewed (15:1-20) .  Hebrews 6:13-7:28
• August 9—(leaving open)
• August 16–Hagar’s Flight (16:1-16) ; Isaac and Ishmael (21:1-21).  John 8:39-59
• August 23–The Covenant of Circumcision (17:1-27) ; Promise of a Son; Sodom and Gomorrah (18:1-19:38).  Luke 16:19-31.  Romans 4:7-12
• August 30–The Sacrifice of Isaac (22:1-24) .  Galatians 3:1-9.  James 2:14-24
• September 6–The Purchase of the Cave of Machpelah (23:1-20).  Matthew 8:5-13
• September 13–The Wife of Isaac (24:1-67); Abraham’s Descendants (25:1-18).  Luke 20:27-40

Worship for July 5, 2009.  You can see the bulletin by clicking  HERE.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The challenge for Abram/Abraham was three-fold…

1. Somehow he had to figure out what God wanted him to do. 
2. Then he had to have the courage to do it. 
3. Then he had to be faithful along the way—even when things looked doubtful. 

It is not without reason that Abram is considered an archetype for faith in the Bible.  This will be the first in a summer series where we will be considering the lives of Abram and Sarai.  What can we learn from them for our own spiritual journeys?  These three themes: discerning God’s will, having the courage to do it and faith will be prominent in our reflections. 

Looking forward to seeing you in Fellowship Hall on Sunday.

Worship for June 28, 2009.  You can see the bulletin by clicking  HERE.

It is Tuesday afternoon and I really should have a more specific idea what I will be saying in Sunday’s sermon.  But I don’t.  Looking at the lectionary passages, I was very intrigued by the use of the word ‘portion’ in verses 24-25…

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.

The Hebrew word for ‘portion’ can mean: allotment, plot of ground, fate or reward.  I like the way that word plays out with the name of the book, ‘Lamentations.’  Only those who have not given up have the strength to lament.  They protest the situation, by crying out to God and to other people.  They expect that God will answer their plea.  Those who lament give in to neither despair nor denial.  That reminded me of swimming.  Swimmers acknowledge that they are in the water, but they do not drown. 

If anyone has any thoughts about how this could be developed, I would love to hear them. 

Worship for June 21, 2009.  For the worship bulletin, click HERE

Last week we spoke about loving one’s self as being important.  Our bodies are a temple of God—as they are.  God’s love for us is unconditional.  God loves us as we are.  This week we will look at loving our neighbor just as much as we love ourselves.  Our entry point will be human sexuality. 

• How is marriage different from “hooking up” or living together?  How do those three things affect my love for my neighbor/lover?
• What does the Bible say about human sexual relationships?  More importantly, why does it say what it says?
• What does it mean that we live in a society where the average age of marriage keeps increasing and pre-martial sex is taken as a given by many/most people?

Cool quote:

When we come to ask about the meanings of sexuality, it is hard not to recall Foucault’s questions in its regard. That is, how did contemporary Western culture come to believe that sexuality is the key to individual identity? How did sex become more important than love, and almost more important than life? Given the sexualization of our societies, the desire for sex is matched by the desire to understand it, to find or to produce the truth about it. “What is peculiar to modern societies…(is that) they dedicated themselves to speaking of it (sex) ad infinitum, while exploiting it as the secret.”

Worship for June 7, 2009.  For the worship bulletin, click HERE

Some people have trouble loving themselves.  Examples include perfectionists, addicts, people who are unhappy with their weight, height or professional success.   This week I hope to encourage people to love themselves by reminding them that God loves us.  But accepting that fact intellectually isn’t enough.  Somehow we need to accept ourselves for who we are rather than what we wish we could be.  I am not trying to dissuade people from legitimate ambitions, but I would like to minister to the amateur guitar player who will never be a rock star, the 6’2” boy who will never be a professional basketball player and the person with bad eyesight who will never be a fighter pilot.   My Biblical text will be 1 John 4:7-19

The “angle of approach” I will use to get at this is body weight.   Many fine people simply do not have the metabolism to be a super-model or even achieve the exaggerated expectations for body shape that our society projects.  Let me share with you some of the “inputs’ that I will be weaving into this sermon…

Delayed gratification & marshmallows.   SPOILER—I’m actually going to show most of this short video in worship. 

Overcoming Overeating: How to Break the Diet/Binge Cycle and Live a Healthier, More Satisfying Life.  This book by Jane Hirshmann and Carol Munter is an excellent work examining the psychology of overeating.  It uses language that will be familiar to anyone who has studied addiction issues and other unhelpful habits. 

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite.  This book by David Kessler is more general in scope than Hirshmann/Munter.  But it is also more recent and brings an additional perspective.  It analyzes the food industry and explains in detail the engineering of food for the purposes of inducing habitual behavior.  The frequent descriptions of the behavior of lab rats sort of made me feel like one.   Interesting quote on page 3: “For thousands of years human body weight stayed remarkably stable.  … Then, in the 1980s something changed.”

Here are some other bonus links…
On self-hatred.
Theological significance of food.

http://www.gotquestions.org/self-hatred.html

http://achristian.wordpress.com/2006/12/11/why-does-the-bible-say-to-love-yourself/

http://www.atthispoint.net/articles/gods-diet-and-the-retraining-of-desire/191/

Your Own Mystery

A Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (+430 CE)
Assembly Vol 23:2, March 1997

What you see on God’s altar,
you’ve already observed during the night that has now ended.
But you’ve heard nothing about just what it might be,
or what it might mean,
or what great thing it might be said to symbolize.
For what you see is simply bread and a cup
this is the information your eyes report.
But your faith demands far subtler insight
the bread is Christ’s body, the cup is Christ’s blood.
Faith can grasp the fundamentals quickly, succinctly,
yet it hungers for a fuller account of the matter.
As the prophet says,
"Unless you believe, you will not understand." [Is 7.9; Septuagint]
So you can say to me,
"You urged us to believe now explain, so we can understand."
Inside each of you, thoughts like these are rising:
"Our Lord Jesus Christ we know the source of his flesh;
he took it from the virgin Mary.
"Like any infant, he was nursed and nourished;
he grew; became a youngster;
suffered persecution from his own people.
To the wood he was nailed; on the wood he died;
from the wood, his body was taken down and buried.
"On the third day (as he willed) he rose;
he ascended bodily into heaven
whence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
There he dwells even now, seated at God’s right.
"So how can bread be his body? And what about the cup
how can it (or what it contains) be his blood?"
My friends, these realities are called sacraments
because in them one thing is seen, while another is grasped.
What is seen is a mere physical likeness;
what is grasped bears spiritual fruit.
So now, if you want to understand the body of Christ,
listen to the Apostle Paul speaking to the faithful:
"You are the body of Christ, member for member." [1 Cor 12.27]
If you, therefore, are Christ’s body and members,
it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord’s table!
It is your own mystery that you are receiving!
You are saying "Amen" to what you are
your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith.
When you hear "The body of Christ" you reply "Amen."
Be a member of Christ’s body, then,
so that your "Amen" may ring true!
But what role does the bread play?
We have no theory of our own to propose here;
listen, instead, to what Paul says about this sacrament:
"The bread is one, and we, though many, are one body." [1 Cor 10.17]
Understand and rejoice unity, truth, faithfulness, love.
"One bread," he says. What is this one bread?
Is it not the "one body," formed from many?
Remember: bread doesn’t come from a single grain, but from many.
When you received exorcism, you were "ground."
When you were baptized, you were "leavened."
When you received the fire of the Holy Spirit, you were "baked."
Be what you see; receive what you are.
This is what Paul is saying about the bread.
So too, what we are to understand about the cup
is similar and requires little explanation.
In the visible object of bread, many grains are gathered into one
just as the faithful (so Scripture says)
form "a single heart and mind in God" [Acts 4.32].
And thus it is with the wine.
Remember, friends, how wine is made
individual grapes hang together in a bunch,
but the juice from them all is mingled to become a single brew.
This is the image chosen by Christ our Lord
to show how, at his own table,
the mystery of our unity and peace is solemnly consecrated.
All who fail to keep the bond of peace after entering this mystery
receive not a sacrament that benefits them,
but an indictment that condemns them.
So let us give God our sincere and deepest gratitude
and, as far as human weakness will permit,
let us turn to the Lord with pure hearts.
With all our strength, let us seek God’s singular mercy,
for then the Divine Goodness will surely hear our prayers.
God’s power will drive the Evil One from our acts and thoughts;
it will deepen our faith, govern our minds, grant us holy thoughts,
and lead us, finally, to share the divine happiness
through God’s own son Jesus Christ.
Amen!

St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430)

St. Augustine was bishop of Hippo (North Africa) from 395 and Doctor of the Church.  No other single theologian has exercised as decisive an influence on the shape and character of Western theology, both Catholic and Protestant, as Augustine.

http://liturgy.nd.edu/assembly/assembly23-2augustine.shtml

“Mortal, can these bones live?”
I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”

It’s Pentecost, which reminds us that anything can happen.  Eleven scared losers and their buddies locked in an upper room exploded out into the world proclaiming the good news of Christ in every tongue.  No they aren’t drunk; it is the power of God.  It is a good message for any time and place, but especially for a time when our national-economic bones are pretty dry.  The power of God greatly exceeds anything we can ask for or imagine.  Life to the bones.  Life to the losers.  Life to everyone.