SCRIPTURE: John 12:112-16
TEXT: 16His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. THEME: The power of God’s love is in our world. INTRODUCTION Our world is not perfect, but can you imagine what it would be like if Christ hadn’t come? Christ rules the hearts of many. Sometimes admittedly our faith is narrow and selfish, but God is not finished with us yet and the work of the Holy Spirit continues. Jesus’ entering into Jerusalem for the Passover is an insurrection movement against more than just the Roman Imperialism it is against evil. Evil attempts to squelch this movement, but it ultimately results in Jesus’ inaugural event. SCRIPTURE The Israelites have not fared well, since their Babylonian Captivity. Their unfaithfulness to God resulted in God standing by, while the adulterous gods they worshipped did nothing to protect them against a Babylonian invasion. The People of God were captive in Babylon for 70 years until the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians who allowed Israel to return back to Judea. This didn’t mean that they were free, as Persia ruled over them for the next 200 years. Alexander the Greek defeated the Persians who in turn were conquered by their current oppressors the Roman Empire. Jesus enters Jerusalem and a crowd gathers, the people are filled with anticipation, as this is a culmination of his ministry, teaching, healings, and forgiving sins. The setting of the Passover revives memories of salves in Egypt being delivered by God and escaping Egypt. They were formed and shaped by God in the wilderness. Then re-inhabited their homeland by one successful battle after another. The Passover festival brings back this memory each year, so Pilate, Rome’s governor always makes it a point to be in Jerusalem during this holiday, to make sure no one gets any ideas of revolting. King Herod couldn’t stay away either. If Pilate, the Roman Governor was going to be there in his city, then he, as the king of the Jews, had to be there too. Each had their own motorcade with streets lined with their admirers greeting them as they arrived. A great crowd gathered when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. They began shouting “Save”. Finally, Dear God, save your people from this line of oppression and deliver your people out of the Roman Pharaoh’s hand. The Rule of God, Jesus as king, blessed are we, blessed is Jesus, blessed is God. Hosanna! This quote form Psalm 118, which is a Psalm of victory. Jesus found a donkey’s colt and rode it into Jerusalem. When Persia defeated Babylon, they allowed Israel to return home. Jesus is enacting this prophecy of Zechariah, “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” This is an apocalyptic vision of encouragement to those who under an evil oppression. Your king is coming. Palm branches wave like flags of insurrection in this Far East corner of the Roman Empire. The disciples didn’t understand things as they were unfolding, but later, after experiencing the resurrection, they realize that a rule of a different kind, and a kingdom of a different sort. APPLICATION How does this message of the rule of God in our world give the oppressed hope? The rule of God is not limited to physical boundaries but spans the world as belief in Jesus gathers citizens across boundaries, in a wide range of countries as citizens of the Kingdom of God. The insurgent work of the church brings clean water to villages, advocates for equality, speak up at the injustice. Challenge’s voter suppression laws that target certain segments of our population to make it harder for them to cast their votes. In Myanmar the military have taken over the government, and arrested the candidate who won the election by a landslide. The people have taken to the streets in protest and many have been killed. It is to this kind of injustice that our prayers are lifted towards. Shooting have become more common place. There is no reason for a civilian to be in position of an assault rifle. This is where the protection of human lives is more important than an evil perception of rights. Jesus does not become the king over a physical landscape, but is an apocalyptic king. Carr and Conway in their book “An Introduction to the Bible” gives a description of the Apocalyptic. The world is in the grip of evil. The world needs God to intervene in a supernatural way to punish the evil doers and reward the righteous. The evil is stopped and God’s reign begins. This is not to scare us into action but to give us hope to keep on following God. Jesus is our apocalyptic King. Not in the usual sense, but battling evil and creating the rule of the kingdom of God made up of citizens from all over the world. CONCLUSION The events of the last week of Jesus’ life, reveals the kind of rule God ushers in over evil in a supernatural way. God intervenes to defeat evil. Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, Jesus foretells Peter’s denial and predicts his arrest and death. Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment to love. Jesus talks to his disciples about the Holy Spirit. Jesus prays for them. This is the rule of the King coming into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt. He is arrested, tried, and evil nails him to a cross to die. Evil seems to have prevailed but the story isn’t over yet.
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SCRIPTURE: John 12:20-33
TEXT: THEME: INTRODUCTION These rains, over the last few weeks has caused my grass to grow. But along with more grass, weeds. So, I have taken to weeding, a little at a time. First, I cut the grass back, then weeded to make a flower bed to plant roses, and now the weeds in my lawn, under the clothes line and under the bougainvillea. Some of my grass have become a weed growing in the cracks of the sidewalk and in planter beds. See what happens when seeds get watered. Jesus is seeing a spreading of his message, like seeds cast abroad, as travelers from Greece have made it to Jerusalem during the Passover. SCRIPTURE There were foreigners in Jerusalem for the Passover who wanted to see Jesus. They ask Philip, Philip goes to Andrew and they both go to Jesus. This is reminiscent of the calling of disciples (When Philip goes to Nathanael). When Jesus hears of the Greeks who want to see him, he realizes how widely word of his ministry and message has spread. There is a critical mass of believers across demographics. Now he can safely predict his death, knowing that this faithful core will be able to figure out what has happened and continue in this mission of God. This is John’s version of the Caesarea Philippi where Jesus is recognized as the Christ and begins his journey to Jerusalem for the last time. In Mark, after Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about his death, Jesus says something very similar to picking up their crosses to follow, ”Those who love their lives will lose it and those who lose their lives will keep it,” The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. We see shades of the Prayer in Gethsemane as “the stalk of grain is being cut off and falling to the ground.” Seeds from this dead stalk will take on a life of their own and bear fruit. The Baptismal voice speaks from heaven as a sign of God’s glory. Lifting our eyes to the location of God’s glory in Jesus. These innuendos and subtle references made in this passage makes it difficult to read, like flipping from one station to another on the TV, but if we stop to connect Jesus’ stories to this passage, it becomes a culmination of Jesus’ ministry and teaching summed up in a few verses. This is what you need to know as disciples, as Jesus is in Jerusalem for the last time. This is the turning point of the Gospel of John as the rest of the gospel will focus on the last week of Jesus’ life, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. APPLICATION Jesus scatters all kinds of seeds of faith in our lives, through his teaching, the encounters people have had with Jesus, those conversations of light and dark, being born again, worshiping in spirit and truth, no condemnation but sin no more, the resurrection and the life, what do those seeds of faith look like as they germinate in our lives? Our focus is on living now, not trying to escape death. Jesus draws us into a relationship with God where there is healing, love, forgiveness, revelation and teaching. This leads us to living our lives participating in the activity of God’s mission. We are called to participate with what God is doing in our world. I think that this is where the church of the future will be. We want the world to come to us, to gather in our sanctuaries, and to fill our programs. I am discerning God doing something different by being outside of our 9 to 10 worship service. Over the years we have had a few families that have come to us through the Preschool. Our involvement in the Preschool, on its board, chapel time, Preschool Sundays and working at the county fair Soda concession is all part of us having Church, as opportunities to be seeds of faith planted in these people’s lives even for that short amount of time. Not for evangelism, but to be an example of someone who has Christ in them. I see this in the Food Pantry. This is a busy ministry, of picking up food from the Food Bank, shopping the sale items at stores to fill our shelves, sorting out donations, turning all of these into healthy and generous portions to hand out to people. Getting to know these folks, chatting with them, and being Christ to them for this brief encounter of sharing is church. Music at Wailuku Union Church has brought a different audience to our sanctuary, for a different purpose. We began each concert with a short devotion and prayer, and are church for them for about 5 minutes, and in the reception in Dodge Hall afterwards we have gotten to know some of these patrons of the arts. These times will be coming back soon. Our Worship services have become 45 minutes long, on Facebook, with limited in person seating. Churches were one of the places where the virus was spread in the last two weeks. So, we wear masks, wash hands, keep 6 feet apart, and connect on Facebook, Zoom aloha hour, and text and call each other. Our welcome has become extended to anyone who tunes in, we are church together, apart and at different times. This is what Jesus’ ministry does, it draws us to God and it draws us together as community, with a sense of belonging, acceptance, to grow spiritually and to minister. But this is blossoming outside of the confines of the building, outside the one-hour Sunday worship into something more fluid. And this happens when we let the seeds of faith that Jesus has planted in us, germinate and give life, where we are. In our families, we minister to each other in the grace before a meal. Having gratitude and praying for each other. This is church. I had a couple calls with churches asking what the Wailuku Mission Housing is about, and how we got here, and how it is going. I got to share about this amazing congregation that is taking the word of God seriously and not only talk about it but is doing something together to live it. Being the church in our community. CONCLUSION I severely trimmed my bougainvillea hedge a few months ago and killed some of my plants when I cut the roots. I thinned out the branches and now my hedge looks a little more like a giant bonsai. I dug up the weeds with the cu-cu’s on them under the bougainvillea before they dropped. One plant can lead to hundreds. That sounds like what Jesus had in mind. Faith planted in us has the opportunity to bear fruit at all times, in all situations, inside and out of the ‘church'. SCRIPTURE: John 3:14-21
TEXT: THEME: Salvation is found in a loving relationship with God. INTRODUCTION We began the next Certificate of Theological Education for Leadership class yesterday on the New Testament. The theme was on the context of the New Testament. The setting for the accounts as well as for the first hearers of the Gospel. One of the students said, “We look at the social political background but not the physical setting.” This brings another way to inform our understanding of the New Testament, the Gospels and Jesus. This brings me to this passage, where the author is talking about the Son of Man by drawing on a story from the People of God’s time in the wilderness with Moses. SCRIPTURE The focus of this passage is not on believing enough to secure eternal life, but on God loving us in ways that develops relationships. The Wilderness passage is a template for us to view and understand God’s love for the world. Freed Israelite slaves wandering in the desert complain to God about their accommodations and food. Unappreciative of what God has given them, God holds back the protections around these ungrateful campers and serpents entered in, biting and killing many of these newly freed slaves. Sometimes we cannot see what God is doing, until God stops helping us. “Moses, please talk to God to help us!” God tells Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and put it on a stick. If anyone who has been bitten looks up to the serpent, a symbol of their sin, they will see the location of God’s Glory in healing. The serpent on a stick helps the hearer to understand God’s actions which draw us into relationship. We are a people who struggle in our relationship with God. Gratitude is a practice that allows us to see what God is doing. But when we look only to ourselves, we can become blind to what God is doing around us and have grief, instead of gratitude. One of my professors in seminary identified the ‘sin’ of Adam and Eve as ‘self-pity’. This selfish view, considers the world according to the things that they want. When God forbids them from eating from the tree, they think that God is holding out on them and pity themselves, calling God a liar. Then they decide that they know better than God and chose against God’s will. Our world has its perils and protections. God’s love fills our landscape although there are times when we take what God does for granted, or we grieve over something that we believe we have lost. Jesus comes to show us how to live beyond commandments and into a relationship with God. Looking upon Jesus, reveals the very location of God’s glory. Jesus living in relationship with God, is light, but there are those who prefer to live uninspired lives centered around Greed. Professor Randi Walker, similarly has identified original sin as being ‘greed’. For each choice for darkness, there is an opposite choice for light. Death or life, consumption or stewardship, power or love, lying or honestly, falsehood or truth, privilege or acceptance, self-pity or selflessness, wars or partnerships, bullying or respect, materialism or relationships. We have a choice, but sometimes, we are so caught up in seeing, doing, surviving things in only one way that we prefer the dark to the light, hidden, familiar, knowing that to expect, but Jesus shows us that there is another way. APPLICATION Salvation is in being in relationship with God. Our relationship with God has an eternal consequence to it. This is what happens when the source and creator of life loves you and you love God. God outpours love over us through Jesus and then invites us to respond to the location of God’s glory, Jesus. How do we respond to God’s love and grace? So, what does being loved by God free us to live? We can choose to step out of darkness and live according to God’s light. As we look at the surrounding stories of this passage, Jesus reveals to us the possibility of being transformed or born again, of having our sins forgiven, of being a people who worship God in spirit and truth, of being accepted and treated lovingly even when we are caught in harmful behavior, of healing, of feeding the hungry, of protecting the oppressed, of being called to follow Jesus. Our faith is more than believing things about Jesus. Our faith is about being loved by God through Jesus and having God’s love lived out through us. This is what I see as a Spouse takes care of their partner through sickness and health. This what I see as we follow a call that is not about money but stewardship of God’s gifts. This is what I see as we take the threat of the pandemic to be about others more than ourselves and wear masks, get vaccinated, wash hands and keep 6 feet apart and gather in limited groups. This is what I see in those who contribute generously to the mission and work of this congregation. I see this in the clusters of caring that work together in the church whether for Bible Study, food pantry, choir, administration, preschool, in Dodge Hall Kitchen, at Rummage Sales or puttering around the church campus. This is what I see as we worship, in person and on Facebook. Reading mailed out sermons, or Upper Room devotions. Our community is praying, Caring by sending out cards. I got a couple calls from people who have received cards and said thank you with updates of what they are doing, and a ‘hello’, back at you. Learning through ETCL, or CTEL communities, expanding our theology to include the excluded. I just learned that author, Beth Moore has left the Southern Baptist Convention, because of how little they did in the support of abused women, their stance on having a woman in their pulpit preaching, of how they have not moved away from their history of slavery, and of how they treat those whom they consider sinful. How God loves us must get translated and interpreted in the way that we live as people who believe. CONCLUSION If they look up to the cross, and see the Son of God lifted up, they will see the Love God has for them, and the location of the Glory of God. Salvation is not about believing hard enough, salvation is about God loving us. God gives us his son, not as a sacrifice to die as a payment of our sins (that does not sound very loving and contrary to the Isaac and Abraham story) but to show us how to live loving God and loving others. Imagine loving others to the point where political powers becoming threatened and the religious authorities plot to have us killed. When we gaze at the cross, where the Son of Man hangs, we can see how Jesus never stops loving us and the location of the Glory of God. SCRIPTURE: John 2:13-22
TEXT: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” THEME: Kicking out the market to be God’s agents. INTRODUCTION I like the illustration of preparing for Christmas by coming to a Christmas Eve candle lighting service, only to find that the pews had been taken out and craft fair booths were set up for last minute shoppers. The per booth cost, a percentage of their profits and the introduction of new people to the church were all part of a marketing strategy for Wailuku Union. This might have been how Jesus felt about the temple, when he arrives to prepare for the Passover only to find that it was filled with live animals, vendors and money changers. Expectations for a worshipful experience were shattered, as he fashioned whatever he could, to chase these violators of the truth out. SCRIPTURE I wonder if this blatant display of livestock and money changers is a warning to us, of the more subtle, insidious, attitudes of the marketplace that we carry, in the way we think about our faith? Pastor Wayne Ibara of Makiki Christian Church, shared a couple of articles from Alan Roxburgh about Neoliberalism. As far as I can tell, there is nothing ‘new’ or ‘liberal’ about this. This is a culture, based on the marketplace or economics (or greed). In it, we have our meaning according to our role to the marketplace. We have our value defined by what we can contribute to the marketplace. We have our worth by what we are able to get from the marketplace and the marketplace directs our actions and activities. So, when Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple, he is saying that this marketplace system is going to crash. Something else is going to replace the temple and be resurrected in its place. When you read things like Apple News on your phone, it can take you down rabbit holes of reading. I ended up reading an article on Vanity Fair about a fallen pastor from New York. Gifted in Music this pastor attracted Mega Church status with healing, fellowship, grace and a contemporary spin of Christianity. But the marketplace was deeply engrained in this American pastor. He didn’t practice what he preached. He abused his power over vulnerable volunteers and staffers. He was lured by prosperity, became an elitist, created an environment of cliques and favoritism with no diversity. He had a green room where he chatted with celebrities before the service but he had no interaction with his congregants. APPLICATION The market place is such a seductive force, and so much of how we think, if our eyes are not opened to its influences. As Jesus drives out the overt signs of the market from the house of worship, he predicts the temple’s destruction. How does the Resurrected Jesus replace the Marketplace worship? Alan Roxburgh calls the church “God’s Agents”, living counter to the culture of marketplace. This is where the Mega Church pastor got seduced, instead of serving, he wanted to be served. Instead of getting his value from God he sought value from the populist, celebrities, money, power and privilege. Instead of the stewardship of the gifts of God, he used a prosperity gospel as a disguised pyramid scheme for his wealth. Instead of relying on God’s direction and help, he followed the marketplace and counted chariots and horses (a reference to King David who disobeyed God and waged into battle on his own) to do what he wanted. At this writing of the Gospel of John, about 70 AD, the temple in Jerusalem was already destroyed. Jesus cleaning the temple in the second chapter of this Gospel may be addressing the question, “What do we do now that we are unable to worship in the temple?” Jesus invites us to worship God in a new way without sacrifices as payments for our sin (as a marketing transaction of goods for services). Instead, we are drawn into a relationship with God and welcomed as adopted children, into the family of God. There is acceptance, forgiveness, an inheritance, love, belonging, fellowship and community in this covenant. The rest of the Gospel of John spells out what this relationship with God and new worship looks like. Jesus and John the Baptist, identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God that signals Death to pass over us with resurrection. Jesus and Nicodemus where we are born again. Jesus and the woman at the well with living water and worship in spirit and truth. Jesus and the woman caught in adultery where we are not condemned but treated with love and compassion. This is so much more than just a debt reconciliation, of ritual sacrifice of animals as payment, so we can continue to do what we want. Being God’s Agent is not only about us and our status with God, but it is about joining God in what God is doing. It is keeping our eyes open to what God is doing and to those who are being ignored, or need help, or listening to, and hearing how God is calling us. This is not doing good works, although what we do is good. But it is a process of discernment; Studying the Bible and discovering truth, then by finding practical ways to put that truth into action. Prayer, talking story with God as we ask God to help others and ourselves. Lifting our eyes to see what God is doing, in our neighborhood, in the world, by reading other authors, listening to speakers, being in conversations with others, watching a webinar. We do all of this to help us to discern God’s call of us. Alan Roxburgh lifted up a few things caused by the prevalent Marketplace culture; The rich and poor disparity, where while the 1% have increased in wealth but the 50% have not seen an increase in wages. The Marketplace culture increases loneliness. Young people can no longer live where they were born and grew up. And there is anxiety, even in teens, as they think about their future and if there is a place where they will be able to afford or belong. Do you see that these are some of the answers, when our neighbors ask us why we are building these 40 rental units? It is because we want to provide a place for our children to live where they have grown up. If the rich are not going to give them an increase in their wages, we can combat that by providing them with a place that they can afford. We want to form a community that they can belong to with us as neighbors, in this great neighborhood, where there are spiritual homes where they can discover their worship of Jesus. New life, that can be integrated into our neighborhood, young life added to our already vibrant community. CONCLUSION I think I should have titled this sermon “Good News in the Hood’”. Short for neighborhood. I didn’t get that until now. I always thought it was the ‘hood’ that covered an engine on a car. Ha ha. But the neighborhood is our home and our home is a house. And Jesus is moving us from the perfunctory acts of religious people, to becoming a people who act according to the real faith that they have, in a living God, as their acts of worship. It is taking the God’s House into the streets, through the resurrected temple that Jesus builds in each of our lives, and gathered as the People of God. Breaking down the market place attitudes that control us, for building up the House of God to inhabit our thinking. |
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April 2024
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