SCRIPTURE:1 Corinthians 7:29-31
TEXT: 29aI mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; 31bFor the present form of this world is passing away. THEME: Christ’s Aloha shifts us to live in God’s way. INTRODUCTION The culture in Hawaii is changing, its losing its local people and its Aloha Spirit. Its people are not able to afford to live in their home, so some have taken their families for opportunities on the Mainland. The writing of Paul, to the church in Corinth seem to be addressing a change to their culture with the concept of Christ’s love or aloha. Their lives are being changed by the concepts of grace, forgiveness, adoption, inclusion, and an acculturation with Christ’s love into their lives. Here in Hawaii, I like to call our version of acculturating the Love of Christ into our lives as ‘Christ’s Aloha.’ Taking the concept of Aloha and using Christ as its descriptor. The Corinthian lectionary themes can be seen as; Christ’s Aloha-Hanai, Christ’s Aloha-Church, Christ’s Aloha Body, Christ’s Aloha Change, Practice Christ’s Aloha, Live Christ’s Aloha, and Shine Christ's Aloha. We have Aloha as part of our culture, what we learn about Christ informs our Aloha and what we learn about Aloha informs our understanding of Christ. SCRIPTURE 1 Corinthians 7 identifies the age we are living in as the ‘last days’, because Christ has come into our world and now God rules. This ends the present age and begins something new, the reign of God. This theological perspective is called; ‘A Realized Eschatology’ (or last days) where the Kingdom of God is already (realized) present among us. This is why we say the eternal life God makes possible in Christ begins now, and not just after we die. This gets unfolded in the 5 focuses Paul highlights for change in this text; wives, mourning, rejoicing, buying and the world. Instead of our wife being the mission of a husband, we can have our spouse as a partner participating in the mission of God, as best we can discern, as God’s call of us. Instead of living until we die, we can begin to live our resurrected lives now. Living life without the fear of death and with courage instead of self-preservation. We can shift our focus from those things that make us happy towards those things that bring us joy. Eating bread with butter is a happy place for me, but it is short lived and filled with regret when I step on a scale, but the joy I have eating together with family/friend is long lasting and I will forgo dietary restrictions to spend time with them with no regrets. Instead of our self-worth coming from the things that we have or from the approval from the dominate culture we can have confidence in God’s acceptance of us and our belonging to the family of God. Christ’s Aloha forgives so nothing can separate us from God. One day Jann and I were walking through Target, we were holding hands as some married couples do, when a person saw us and had to give their approval of what we were doing adding that her husband wouldn’t do that and was someplace else in the store. (I was a little taken aback, thinking that she felt it was her place to give approval to our holding of hands). On another day, going through TSA precheck line, I went on ahead to blaze the trail for Jann and Samm to follow. In the gap between us, two people jumped in behind me. The Asian person stopped and bowed and readied herself to let my party catch up with me, while the other person intervened, gave permission to her to cut in front of me, as she also let herself go ahead. I told these two stories to illustrate how our actions and opinions can be condescending without knowing it when we are not considerate of other people’s stories. In the dealings of the world, we have a choice to pursue power to do what is good for us or love, to do what is good for others. The opposite of power is seen on the cross as Jesus give up all power, being able to call angels from heaven, to be all loving, by submitting to dying on the cross for love of us. Power gets people to do what we want, while love seeks to do what is best for someone else. Christ’s Aloha takes those things that are important to us and gives us a new perspective of their priorities, and what may be similar but of more importance and value to us and to others. APPLICATION How does Christ’s Aloha change things for us? One person can make a difference and change a church or community. I’ve been watching old episodes of Northern Exposure where young doctor Joel Fleischman finds himself paying off a scholarship obligation by being a doctor to a small town of Cicely Alaska. In a town made up of a host of characters he adds his own touches that enriches this community as well as being changed by these people. Two more stories. Last week as we made our way to Honolulu for a Dr’s Appointment, our flight was delayed. As we waited, we ate food we bought from 7/11, except I didn’t pack any napkins. When I volunteered to go get some, the local person sitting next to Jann said, “I have some in my package, I didn’t use them, here you can have them.” That is the Aloha Spirit that we have in Hawaii that we need to practice and teach other. She wasn’t ease dropping but she was observant and was willing to share what she had with us. Later when we boarded the plane, her seat was right behind Jann’s and said hello one more time. We live in a small world. The other story was in the Dr.’s office. As we entered was a sign that asked everyone to wear a mask while waiting. As we entered, everyone was complying with this except for an elderly couple who looked like Kamaaina’s but acted like Malihini’s and didn’t wear a mask. Although they obviously lived in Hawaii for a long time, they haven’t acculturated or exhibited the Aloha spirit towards the others in the room or towards the Dr’s staff. Our freedom gives us the power to consider Christ’s Aloha towards others over our own personal rights. CONCLUSION Pidgin English was needed for the cultural groups who lived in the Plantation Camps to communicate among each other. A little bit of Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, broken English and of course all of the ethnic names of the foods they ate. But without the plantation that mashed our cultures together and kept us local, we now have to learn to speak to the guest in Hotels, our Pidgin English may fade in a few generations, because ‘no need ‘em for talk to each other anymore.’ Language picks up the values of a community in the words its speaks; Pake, Lolo, momonas, bombucha, Bagoon, Patelle, baboose, Ohana, and Aloha. The Aloha Spirit is about being observant and considerate of others. It changes the way we live. It changes the community we live it. It can change an awful situation to a bearable one with compassion. It is willing to be generous and help someone in a loving way. When this loving Spirit is coupled with the love of Christ it matures, evolves, and becomes even more provocative as Christ’s Aloha.
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SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 3:1-2
TEXT: 10so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. THEME: Christ’s inclusion of all changes community of faith with rich variety. INTRODUCTION The season of Epiphany is one of enlightenment and lights. Those who studied the stars in the East mark their arrival at the birth of Christ. During this season we will be looking at the changes the birth of Christ brings to our understanding of God, our understanding of ourselves and our understanding of how we relate to others. We will be using the wisdom found the Epistles to unfold the depths of its meaning for our world. Jesus shows us that we have free access to God through prayer. We can talk to God without having a priest intercede for us. Prayer is not just for making requests, but for dwelling with God, to be in conversation with God, for us to be heard and for us to hear God’s perspective and and insight, that can strength, further our resolve and inspire our living. We will being using the lectionary readings from the Psalms as our Call to Worship. Kealahou, who will be filling in for me next week, did this as he created the Worship Bulletin for next Sunday, so I did some reverse engineering and decided to follow suit, by working the Psalms into our up and coming Call to Worships. To emphasize prayer during Epiphany, we will also be singing “Somebody Prayed for Me”. As we get into this song, feel inspired to write additional verses that we can sing together. When Jesus comes, he comes for all people, Jews and Gentiles. The Jewish way of viewing the world was in term of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Either you are a ‘us’ a Jew or you are a ‘them’ a Gentile Unfortunately this sometimes causes those of faith to be arrogant and judgmental. It was not a nice way to live out their distinctiveness as being God’s people. The wall that separated Jews from Gentiles is taken down in Christ’s creation of a new humanity. The new community of faith is blended together with stories of God’s grace. It is a collaboration of those who are Jewish and those who know God through Jesus. This is a radical idea. Imagine them having to rethink the theologies handed down to them, because of the grace displayed through Jesus’ love and life. This lends itself to the building of an inclusive community of faith, of which Paul finds himself called to be part of its building. SCRIPTURE Paul’s dedication to what he learned about God through Jesus changes this perceptions on faith. He used to think, “Who can forgive sin but only God. So when Jesus proclaimed ‘your sins are forgiven’ it rub him the wrong way. What an arrogant claim for anyone to make. Who does this Jesus think he is. Only God can forgive sin…unless Jesus is God. Then bam, bright light, knocked off the horse, blinded and the voice of the resurrected Jesus calling to him. Paul had a paradigm shift where he equated Jesus with God and everything made sense in a new way. Relationship with God is not only for the Jews (the ancestor of Abraham and Sarah), but for everyone. The prejudice he carried for Gentiles (those who were not Jews) was wrong and arrogant. This grace makes Paul passionate about bringing the Good News of Jesus to the Gentiles so they don’t fall under the same yolk of the Law that he was under and for them to share in the relationship he has with God as parent through Jesus. The Good News is found in the mystery of Christ which is all about the gift of grace for everyone. This Boundless riches of Christ brings a rich variety to the church. More than what Judaism could contain on its own. The church has its roots in Judaism, with the revelation of Christ, gifted with God’s grace and rich variety by all who come to make up the church. APPLICATION What are the characteristics and practices of an inclusive-collaborative community? What is being described in Ephesians is an inclusive community of faith, rising from its foundation in Judaism but having ability to accept anyone, no matter what their ancestral background might be. Living gracefully, the church is a community of those who have come to have faith in God and find grace together through the mystery of Christ. This brings a rich variety that includes different cultures, traditions, habits, practices, races and experiences. God is not limited to one people, but open to the experiences, insights and values that have influenced, molded and made them into who they are. As with anything, they need to be discerned, adapted, included or left behind. This is true with the church, one new member can changes the church with who they are, the gifts they share, their faith, love, grace, experiences and the needs that they have. This means that the church is always changing. There is a rich variety, that confirms the diversity of God’s love. This is harder on us, who like things to be the same. We evolve to a point where we have a standard to keep but a pandemic happens, the county fair stops, the flow of income changes and the cost of living increases. Our mode of operation is to dominate, to over power and have our way. But the way of Christ is to acknowledge the richness in diversity and then to work collaboratively; Judaism and Christ create the church. The church has evolved from Catholicism, to Protestantism, and Charismatic-ism and is moving into ‘what next'? When we moved from a chaplaincy model of the church towards being missional, it wasn’t because we were doing church wrong all of those years, it meant that the mission of the church was moving and we needed to shift gears with it. Sometimes it takes someone from here to go away and come back to notice the change in our demographics. We are a lot less local on Maui. And there is a lot less ‘Aloha’. Our brand of Christianity is very special, because of ‘aloha’. It can be lost if we don’t teach and practice it, not only to the next generation, but to those who have moved here from someplace else, who now call Hawaii their home. Can you imagine such a person moving to Molokai and wanting to change a Molokai Market to be like the grocery store they left on the Mainland. Moving into the new, there is a bit of letting go and a collaborative work of building something that holds our shared values together. Part of the flavor of our church is a little bit of many cultures. We don’t try to dominate but appreciate the diversity and blend, the fusion and collaboration into something special. But don’t stop there. God is on the move to the next and the new version of the people of God and the church. We have progressed and established ourselves, but what we have built is struggling to sustain itself today. Groaning to move into something new. Diverse collaboration blended we need to teach our values, life style to the new comers and the next generation so they can take what is special about us, into the future. This could be what our country is going through in trying to preserve the status quo, instead of changing into something more collaborative, blended and diverse. If we are not careful, we will be sacrificing our values and distinctiveness instead of embedding them into the future. CONCLUSION Paul learned about the Aloha of God, realizing that what he thought was too small. We need to teach ‘Aloha in Christ’ to everyone. A Hawaiian Style of being a Christian. If we teach our way of loving and worshiping God to others, then it won’t be lost to the future but it will finds its place, incarnated, in the next generation and the next evolution of the church SCRIPTURE: Galatians 4:4-7
TEXT: 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, THEME: Our Lives are shaped by God dwelling among us. INTRODUCTION The idea of God Dwelling with us is an interesting one to follow. We can see it in the beginning, in the description of the Garden from Creation. God is intimately involved with the creation of humans and their placement in the garden. Then there are concerns about of companionship and the creation of a partner. God is walking in the garden when Adam and Eve were being human and God’s love never ends but moves with the changes in their relationship. God continues to be involved with humans when they disconnect from each other and the chaos of water creates a handful of survivors as seeds for the relationship with God and the people of God to be preserved. God dwells with the family of Abraham and Sarah, with their descendants and in the land. Then liberates them from slavery in Egypt. This is where the nation of Israel forges their relationship with God in the wilderness. Warriors, prophets, judges, and kings re-inhabit the promised lands until they are defeated by the Assyrians and exiled to Babylon, God and Israel’s relationship has been bumpy with ups and downs. But now with the gift of God’s self at Christmas there is a new way where God comes to dwell among us. SCRIPTURE Christmas (as the apostle Paul has discovered) is where the fullness of time had come. Everything comes together at Jesus birth. God comes to dwell among us by becoming flesh and blood, born of Mary. Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia shows how Paul understands this. The first descriptor of our relationship with God was articulated in the 10 Commandments. The people of God received these while they were being formed in the wilderness. Ten Commands later became known as the Law, describes what people who have a relationship with God are like. These descriptors of their relationship with God make them distinctive from all other people. But these Descriptors are not exclusive to only them, but available for anyone to adopt. These Commandments from God details their relationships with God and each other. Unfortunately, we as humans tend to regulate things, administrate what we can’t control and make the things more difficult than they need be. They have taken these 10 Descriptors, something that was freely given to all, and used them as a way to rank themselves with God and measure themselves against each other. Paul declares, “Jesus’ Good News fulfills all of the Law’s requirements. A redemption has been paid in full and our indebtedness to God has been settled. The Law that had become an entity in itself to be satisfied has been rendered obsolete by Jesus as the Christ.” God’s Son (Jesus-Divine), Born of a woman (Mary-Human), Born under the covenant of the Law (as a description of the people who lived in relationship with God) is no longer needed as a way to mark sin in people’s lives. God’s dwelling among us in Jesus is proof of God’s loving grace and not our doing things perfectly. This takes us out of the loop of sin, debt, and repayment. Jesus fulfills the requirements of the Law and creates a new measurement for the People of God; love, grace, and forgiveness. The idea of Grace is so radical that our greatest temptation is to put a price on it or ironically make people earn it. So, Paul takes the idea of relationship with God, out of a financial system of debt owed and paid, and restates it in the system of Ohana; hanai-ed, loved, adopted, parent, child, and heir. No matter what you do, you are identified as family member. And as an icing on a cake; God sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to dwell, at no extra charge. More grace upon grace, ♫ This This the angels sing is Christ God’s holy offering ♫. APPLICATION What does it look like having God dwelling with us? Living freely is the first. We are freed to live, not saddled with a bunch of rules that tie us down to earns eternal life points, but free to live creatively, inventively, productively, meaningfully loving God and loving others. Relationships are what God is all about. Relationships that heal, reconcile, and grow in intimacy. Relationships that form covenants, families, communities and peacefully living of generosity, justice, living collaboratively in harmony. It’s about sharing our time, effort, and resource with others. This is what our Food Pantry is all about. Taking stock in what we have, and being willing to share with others. We don’t say this enough, but our food pantry is also supported by the generosity of Ala Lani Methodist church and Emmanuel Lutheran church. Last week one of the refers was out, and we discovered that through their generosity towards this ministry, were do not able to purchase a refrigerator from a premium appliance store and avoid the 6-week delivery wait. God dwelling with us is the second thing. Christmas and the incarnation maybe the preview of God dwelling with us forever. In Revelation 21 there is a vision of the new heaven, the new earth and the new Jerusalem that comes down here from God. A voice speaks and says; “See the home of God is among mortals, He will dwell with them as their God they will be his people, and God himself will be with them…” God dwelling with us is something God has always wanted to do. Wrapping our mind around this takes a shift from the theological paradigms of escape handed down to us. That theory is actually the opposite of the incarnation. We not going anywhere, God is coming to us. This is in line with our living our resurrected lives now instead of waiting for later. We are to live with God as our parent belonging to the Family of God now and not wait for death before we start. This is how Jesus lived his life. Some theologies live with the idea that we are not perfect and so not good enough. The earth has been messed up by us and not good enough. And everything is no good so God has to replace everything. That is not what I get from the pronouncement at Creation where everything is good. Or how God wants to dwell with us, or how God never stops loving us even when we willfully eat from the wrong tree, or that God’s grace is abundant and is able to forgive us when we make mistakes or that God sends the Spirit of Jesus to us to help us when we make a mess of things or to be equipped to participate in the activity of God. To dwell in us. Ah there it is again, this time it is God’s Spirit dwelling in us. We can have a positive outlook of ourselves and the world because God does. So as messed up, warm, crazy, and dangerous our world may be. It is still good with the potential of doing better. God has not given up on us so we shouldn’t either. We can be positive, creative, inventive, resourceful, disciplined, mindful, kind, and generous in doing better. There is lot of hard work to do. CONCLUSION I remember doing a Bible Study with teenagers where the curriculum said the purpose of salvation was ‘fellowship with God;’ 1 John 1:3 was the text. Loosely paraphrased it says, “Through Jesus, there is fellowship with other Christians, as we share a common Parent God (Father) and have a common sibling in Jesus (his Son/our Christ).” All of this for fellowship. Through the years, this where my theology has taken me. What God does is all for fellowship, relationships, our relationships with each other and intimacy with God. God created us, much with the same sense of longing that God created us partners. Our Mission is not alone but with others and for others. Our mission with God never seems to be complete but continues on, to be worked on, improved, refined, adapted, and evolved with a community of believes, the church. The birth of Christ at Christmas is the Fullness of Time that brings all of the divine elements we need to help us to participate in fellowship, work and mission with God dwelling among us. SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:16-20
TEXT: 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. THEME: Being present with Jesus changes our lives with God’s peace. INTRODUCTION The shepherds are present at Jesus’ birth. Angels have announced the birth to them. But it is at an unusual setting, a stable. And they should be allowed in with no problem. Christ’s birth was announced to them. They were invited to go and see. And they did. No enyo hold back SCRIPTURE They didn’t shower. They didn’t change their clothes. They didn’t try to get the sheep smell off the them. They didn’t bring any omyage with them, Not even a lamb, a sheep skin or lamb chops. They were the presents, They were present. No Shame. One of the lyrics we hear during this season is “I don’t want a lot for Christmas….” Ending with: “All I want for Christmas is you “Yeah." This is what God is singing to us at Christmas. “All I want is you…” “Baby" This is exactly what God is doing at Christmas, God is giving, God’s self to dwell with us in the baby Jesus, Which makes it possible for us to be present with God. I’m sorry, but nobody is the Queen of Christmas. No act Jesus puts the Christ at the CENTER of our worship or mass And THAT is all there is room for. So Christmas is about showing up and being present. Ourselves being present before God. Like the shepherds who come, Showing up and being present. After they took their selfies with the Christ child, They put their phones away so they could be present, Focused, And take in all that they could from the time they had with Jesus. Hele Mai come by here Christmas, it is about our being present with God and taking in all we can from Jesus. That’s why we take the extra effort to be with each other at Christmas. It is the Spirit of God that moves us to be together. Being together has always been God’s plan. From in the garden, to wilderness, to God’s gift of Jesus, And to having a vision of heaven being right here on earth Where God gets to Ohana with us. APPLICATION To be present, as a family, is one way God’s Spirit moves us through this ‘gift giving’ holiday. To be about relationships, reuniting, reconnecting, reconciliation and renewing. It also has become a way of acknowledging, appreciating, and celebrating the event of Christ’s coming together. God is relational and is always moving us towards communities of love and care. The Spirit of God moves us like how the Shepherds come down from the hillsides to be present. God’s Spirit in us moves us to be welcoming, inclusive, accepting, loving and kind, to all people. We will see through Jesus that as human beings we can forgive hurts in broken relationships and do the work of reconciliation. Wise persons from the East detect God’s activities through the stars and come to be present. They cross scientific, religious, racial and political boundaries to do so. Powerful autocrats are threatened by God’s movement in the hearts of people and seek to exercise their power to destroy what they fear Jesus will take away from them. Love will always be in conflict with those who exercise their power to create fear in others. Love will always give confidence to those who are confronting those motivated by fear. The freedom Jesus baby brings is messy, chaotic. uncontrolled and un-uninformed. That is salvation away from Empire, Autocracy, fascism, and tyranny. Individuality, corporately, diversity, inclusion, acceptance, appreciation, held together with our presence, present at the manger crib, surrounded by parents, shepherds, animals and angels bathe in the presence of God. Live Aloha CONCLUSION The shepherds show us that there is nothing keeping us from God’s self accept our own selves. No enyo, No be shame, no act, hele mai, Ohana and live Aloha. God is at peace with us through love. We can be present at Jesus’ birth as we are willing to come. No Fear. SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:26-38
TEXT: 38Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. THEME: We serve of a loving God. INTRODUCTION The timing referenced of this passage is from the number of months of Elizabeth has been pregnant. Beyond childbearing years, she and her husband Zechariah are expectant parents. A miracle in its own right, she is in her 6th month of pregnancy carrying the Forerunner to the Messiah as the angel Gabriel goes to visit Mary. One of the commentators of this passage compared Zachariah’s reaction to the angel with Mary’s reaction. Needless to say, just saying “Don’t be afraid” isn’t enough for Zechariah as his inability to comprehend and embrace all of what God is doing leaves him mute, while Mary ends up singing. SCRIPTURE Mary was quick to pieces together all of the events of her angel visit and decides the best thing she should do, is to do her part in this mysterious, grandiose plan of God. Even though she shares part of the family line of king David she certainly lives more like a pauper than royalty. The origins of the Son of God are Divine. Even from the very start Jesus will be at odds with the Empire and their Emperor who also claims to be divine. Unmarried but engaged, young but favored by God. Mary will conceive and give birth to a son who she will name Jesus; “The Lord is Salvation.” Unmarried there are all kinds of problems with this. No support from the Ohana, no sheltering from a husband, vulnerable to public scrutiny, where will the food come from? Who will provide the things she needs? And where will the household come from? The ancestral promise of a royal linage, has earthly connotations, but now with a flare of the Divine. When the angel appears to Zechariah and Elizabeth, they had enough faith to go along with God’s plan, but Mary, was by herself. Later she is bolstered with Joseph’s compassionate faith and Elizabeth’s witness of God’s possibilities. APPLICATION Why not us? Sometimes we don’t get to choose but find ourselves living the impossible with God who makes it possible. All it takes is an eyelash of faith, like Zechariah. He was high on the form of religion being a priest in the temple, but had difficulty believing, but it was enough for him to do his part in God’s plan of living among us. Mary had faith to accept what God was doing, moving beyond the normal to be among us, through a birth. She was willing to participate in what God was doing. It would be a blessing for all people. Love is not mentioned in this passage but it is embedded. This is the same God who heard the Israelite’s cry while slaves in Egypt and whose love initiates a plan of liberation with the birth of Moses. Moses doesn’t get to choose but his experiences with God are compelling, moving him to participate in God’s compassionate mission of liberation. In the same sense Mary didn’t get to choose but was compelled to participate in the loving works of God for all people, with the assurance that 'nothing will be impossible with God.’ As with Zachariah and Elizabeth beloved by God, their child will prepare the way for Jesus. CONCLUSION The child, that comes, to dwell in our world, disrupts and the quiet lives of parents, and changes the world. God’s plan of liberating love will challenge the reach of the Empire, will change the religious order of things, will change the social economic classes, will change racism, will change immigration policies, and will change the redistribution of wealth. In God’s realm, everyone is seen, cared for and ministered to. Mary trusts that God is loving and only wants what is best for us. It is like being on the Amazing Race. Some of the feats the participants need to complete seem to be life threatening. They have to trust that the producers and planners have taken in every consideration that what seems impossible to the participant will require their skill, talent, and agility but they are more than capable to accomplish this feat without dying. All they have to do is overcome their fear and do their best. Trusting in God’s love, trusting in God’s plan, trusting that God will take care of them even though we know what God wants us to do, would be impossible for us to do on our own. All it takes is any amount of faith to trust in a love that is more powerful than our fear. Joy and happiness are two different things. The feeling of Happiness is about what makes us happy, While The feeling of joy is about our relationship with God. When we are happy we have joy But when we are unhappy or sad we can still have joy because God is with us. So when; Our things are taken away, We can still have joy. when we have to Move away from home, We can still have joy when we are Living under new rules, We can still have joy and when we are surrounded by lots of strangers, We can still have joy Because God is with us God will always help us God is our friend God is listening to us (when we pray) God will show us what to do and God will comfort us with love. In the 126th song in the Bible The Psalmist sings about ‘The fortunes’ ‘of the place where God dwells’ A fortune is not always about money, but about something very valuable to us: our Relationship with God. This relationship with God is being restored As we get ready to celebrate Jesus’ Birthday It reminds us of how valuable Jesus is to God How valuable we are to God, And how valuable Jesus is to us. Jesus helps us to know how to be in relationship with God. Our relationship with God gives us joy -we belong to God’s family -God promises of love for us -God is with us so we can be strong -God deepens our relationship with intimacy When we see what God. Is doing we can say ‘thank you’ and be happy What we do, even when we are sad can be good and when we feel better there we will be able to appreciate our hard work. The birth of Jesus was a surprise to most people. Maybe that is why we like to surprise people on Christmas with gifts. Surprise is an element that makes people laugh. Joy is the surprise in knowing that God is always working to make us free. Joy is a part of Christmas.
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 40:1-11
TEXT: 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. THEME: The birth of Christ opens us up to learn new things about God. INTRODUCTION Last week we began our Advent journey to Christmas. Imagine two rows of Preschoolers sitting in these front pews. All you have to do is say the word “Christmas” to see their little bodies squirm with delight and anticipation. But when you are the adult, and you say the word “Christmas" we shudder with a nervousness of all the things we think we have to do before the 25th to make Christmas happen. We need to find a middle place where we recapture some of that childlike delight to balance our drivenness. SCRIPTURE Sermon Brainwave Commentator Anathea Portier-Young, said the Hebrew word for ‘comfort,’ naḥămû means to reverse one’s mind, feeling or state. Comfort, O comfort - reverse your mind, your feeling, your state, away from anxiety and fret of being captives of Babylon. Comfort your frame of mind towards being freed, liberated, released to go home. The prophet Isaiah is speaking these words to shock you out of your captivity; “Your term is up, the penalty paid, The extraction team is on its way, negotiations were successful, you are going home!” Not only you but everyone. This adds meaning to the word ‘Comfort’ that the English word does not contain. The Change in status or feeling or state of mind that brings comfort and a lot more. The way in the wilderness is a metaphor of a change in thinking. The highway in the desert is a metaphor of our theology, when it is legalistic and does not bring life. The straight road is a metaphor of our thinking, to be open to new ideas. To think about things in a new way. The valley lifted up is a metaphor of our self-image and insecurity being challenged by higher expectations witnessing the greatness of God. Seeing the Glory of God. Making hope possible. The Mountains made low is a metaphor of changing those high ambitions for more realistic, gentler, practices, kinder and doable successes. Un-even ground smoothed out takes care of the differences we have with each other for a spirit of cooperation and collaboration. And the rough places a plain, creates a space to receive new revelations as a foundation for faith to be built upon So, to comfort my people is to give us the chance to change our status or mind set. To be open to a change, to see things from a different point of view and get a glimpse of the Glory of God - in the birth of Jesus the Christ. We bring the present of ourselves. Our being present to the Christ in our midst. God is eternal compared to our mortality. God’s truth is eternal throughout the ages. This is what we know about God’s love for us. We are created by God. God has our back and God wants to dwell with us. This is what Zion is all about. Zion is the place where God dwells. At Christmas, God dwells with us making our world Zion. APPLICATION How does the way we believe bring comfort to others? Yesterday I went to a Memorial Service at a church different from our own. The Funeral Talk retold the story of Adam eating the fruit he knew he was not supposed to. Blame was passed on to his wife. So now we have a ransom paid to escape death. The congregation was nice, trying to understand the complexity of our family’s grief. They had points they wanted to make at the expense of getting the facts correct which made it hard to listen to them. The message of the sinner’s need, for an atoning sacrifice did not portray a compassionate concern for loss. The moral degradation of a soul, ransomed by a debt paid for by Jesus was more of a business transaction than love. I was comforted by the stories of how faith changed a life, although most of my family members failed to witnessed this changed life. It was hard to listen to explanations of the text that were like a collage drawn from many places from the Bible to make one point, instead of wrestling with a passage in its context. This made me think about how difficult it is to hear a familiar passage that draws a different conclusion from how we might have understood it in the past. The Gospel writers connect this passage from Isaiah to the ministry of John the Baptist, the prophetic voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way for Jesus. But there are also undertones of our being open to understanding God differently through the revelations Jesus will bring, giving us the opportunity for our theology to evolve and bloom. Brace yourself for a different kind of Messiah who is not born king in a palace, and a different concept of the Kingdom of God that is not contained just in Judea but made-up citizens from every country in the world. And a different sense of reconciliation that is centered on the practices of love and forgiveness instead of retribution. And a community of God that is more diverse than its Jewish roots. The incarnation, of God being flesh and blood and living among us, may include the foretaste of heaven, not being somewhere else but here; Where the Garden of Eden is, where Jesus dwells among us, Where God dwells in Zion on earth, with the new heaven and new Earth and new Jerusalem descending from the heavens onto Earth. The dwelling of God dwells with us. Zion the place where God dwells being here on this magnificent planet, with us as God’s magnificent people. We are not waiting to live resurrected lives but live this life into resurrection. CONCLUSION Christmas is a call for us to be present, as God is present to us through Jesus born to Mary and Joseph, to live among us. Christmas is Zion, where God dwells with us because we are ‘good’ and the earth is ‘good.’ God’s plan is not to discard us or the planet but to live in partnership with us to; reuse, renew, revitalize and to ‘Comfort.’ What we know about God is foundational and has held faith for us through generations. So, like the Judaism that Christianity is born from, or the Catholicism that the Protestants reformed, or the church that the Holy Spirit revived, and this is what we have something to evolve from, and blossom into today. There is a leveling, a rising up and a bringing down of our openness to how God wants to work in our world through the church today. “Comfort, O comfort my people” to be open to the compassion of God to “reverse one’s mind, one’s feeling and one’s state” for what is next to come. SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
TEXT: THEME: INTRODUCTION The Reign of Christ Sunday is the last Sunday in the Church Calendar’s Season of Pentecost. Next week Advent begins the four Sundays before Christmas. For the past few years, we have been observing the theme of the Reign of Christ Sunday. It seems like an odd duck, the season that bring our focus on living our ordinary lives faithfully with the Spirit comes to an end. It shifts our theological gears to prepare for the coming celebration of Christ’s birth. This year during Pentecost, we focused on passages with food and the table guest of God. Then we moved on to the Compassion of God, mostly through the books of Matthew, Genesis, Exodus, and singular readings from Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Ezekiel. There has been a progression for the People of God, from the Head of the household and family, to the expanded family that finds themselves enslaved in Egypt. To the prophet Moses who liberates them from slavery and forms them experiences in the wilderness. The Warrior Joshua leads them to recapture and inhabit abandoned lands, while Judges dispense justice over the settled lands. This will give way to Kings who reign with Prophets who keep the voice of God heard. Finally, even though captured in Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel gives a vision of God’s reigning as a shepherd. Seeing the next rule of Israel as shepherd could expand the boundaries of God’s rule beyond the Joshua, Middle East. The story of people and their relationship with God, expands, grows, and evolves. On the edge of the end of the reign of kings, the prophet Ezekiel envisions something different, beyond a patriarch, prophet, judge, and king. A shepherd is an interesting image for the Reign of Christ Sunday. SCRIPTURE At Monday night Bible study, as we read this passage, the words of the 23rd Psalm echo in this prophecy. Those echoes have become the heading for these paragraphs. Imagine the activity of a Ruler, King, Dictator, Sovereign, President, Czar, Emperor, as being that of a shepherd. A Ruler concern about the outcaste and including those who have lost their way. Giving all a way back as part of the community, the family, the people of God. From the abundant resources, a distribution giving to all what they need. There will be a richness in the community, with art, peace, creativity, music, inventiveness, and care. What would be spent on defense would be spent on improvements on the quality of life. The immigrant would we treated without fear and there would be a learning from each other and a blending in our communities. Our Ruler would not be out of touch with the people, but dwell among us. Making decision for our good. The next part, that completes this imagine of the shepherd ruler is healing. Wounds would be bound up, as well as the emotional ones and we will see what else we can create as stewards of creations and partners participating in the work of God. APPLICATION I didn’t include the last part of the passage from verse 20-24. It has to do with the judgment of the shepherd between the sheep that are fat at the expense of other sheep. Their selfishness and bulling caused the other sheep to be lean. A common theme throughout the Pentecost readings has been living out our relationship with God. Or as the Ten Commandments states it, ‘carrying the Name of the Lord’ with us. It is the People of God being the People of God, not by following a bunch of rules and judging others, but by the way we live. Which brings us to the question, ‘How do we live, as those who live under the reign of a caring shepherd?’ One way is to be who we are with God where ever we are. At Thanksgiving Dinner, I met a young adult and had her as a captive audience as I ranted on about how the church is being sent out instead of having people only come to us on Sunday mornings at 9. When she had the opportunity, she fled to sit at another table. San Francisco made a touchdown and she made her move to sit with others with the skill of a tight end. Christ has chosen to be the ruler in our lives and although we may not be the ruler of any nation, we can make changes in our marriage, with our children, with our family members, our neighborhood, in our school, at work, community, state and even our nation. By the way we act, what we vote for, who we support and by those we stand with in solidarity. Our living, with the God who has sought out the scattered, rescues those in trouble, saves us from materialism and idols, heals us from our infirmities, does not require us to be more than human, but to live into the love and grace that is found in the embrace of God. Not living to escape death, plagues, hardship, but to live through it all with God and as a help to our neighbors. Working with God and learning how to be forgiving. Protecting ourselves from hurtful situations and choosing not to harm those who have hurt us. Being happy with the accomplishments of others. Having the strength to endure suffering so we can be compassionate with those who are suffering. Living the best life that we can with God and with those around us and desiring the very best for others. CONCLUSION The reign of Christ Sunday is Sunday is an odd duck, like a cap stone rejected by the builder but capable of that holding the two sides of an arch together in the formation of a people of God. From the family of Abraham and Sarah, discovering God as they left their home to journey towards the promise of land and decedents. The head of their households build on their experiences with God as the family grows from generation to generation until they find themselves in Egypt. They are led by God through the prophet Moses through an escape from slavery and wandering in the wilderness that formed their faith and themselves as a people of God. Warriors capture and resettled long abandoned land, while later Judges arise to dispense justice. Kings then take their thrones over them. But now from another captivity and in the wilderness of Babylon the voice of the prophet speaks of the reign of a Shepherd as the Christ. The Christ will be a Prophet, a King, a Peaceful warrior, a justice bringer, recapturing hearts in every territory, and gathering the scattered sheep with a belonging, inclusion, into community like a shepherd. The capstone that bears the tension from one side of discovery and formation that continues to pushes the family of God into the direction of living our faith in God, every day, with every people, in love. The God of the ancestors becomes the Christ in flesh and blood, living among us. The Reign of Christ Sunday opens us up to a season to prepare what is coming with Advent; the incarnation. SCRIPTURE: Judges 4:1-7
TEXT: THEME: INTRODUCTION This year my thinking has been looking at Thanksgiving from the perspective of native peoples. The native people are ‘Akamai,’ smart, ma’a to the land, ocean, weather, hunting, fishing, farming and the seasons. They are welcoming, seeing the humanity of the stranger upon their shore, crossing into their boundaries. Native people shared what they have, taught what they knew, and help immigrants who were different from themselves. Distinctive, kind, hospitable, generous, and gracious. The immigrants were weary from their travels, hungry, unhoused, disoriented, frightened, sick, poor, adventurist, opportunist, religious, escapees from oppression, in survivor mode, or colonizer. Together we could blossom, create something blended but these are examples of the stranger taking possession of the lands of their host. In a culture that could not conceive of an audacity of any person to think that they could possess what The Creator had given to all. Then refuses these first inhabitant the right to own land, representation in courts or even the right to vote. I was thinking about the native Americans and the Hawaiians. This seems to be the biblical model of Joshua. A model that was prevalent in their day. A model that continues to persist today with boundaries defining possessions rather than responsibilities. We see this with Abraham as head of the homestead, to Joshua recapturing and re-inhabiting abandoned lands, to Judges who execute justice and later Kings who reign. Yet Contrary to this model, is Jesus the Messiah. Not conquering territory but proclaiming the nearness of the Kingdom of God, in every nation, in every country and in every principality, where those who believe find citizenship in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is something blended together, with a future all could appreciate, be fulfilled, have joy, hold the value of our cultures, be in mission together and in relationship with God and with each other. I am not thankful because immigrants have taken over native lands and now rule. But by listening to the Prophet’s voice, all of these citizens could create a community beyond nationalism, race and lost native lands. We can find our common ground in belief in God and pursuit of justice over evil. A community that is not afraid of the new immigrants on our shores thinking that they are here to rob us of what we have, just as they did to their hosts. SCRIPTURE The pattern of our human-ness repeats itself. From thinking about God and others, to only thinking only about ourselves and using others to get what we want. Our Prejudice, selfishness, greed, insecurity, desire, and anger divides our nation and weakens our community. Divisions makes us susceptible to attack and defeat. Our manipulation, bickering and blaming creates mistrust and suspicion. This time King Jabin of Canaan conquers a weaken Israel and holds them captive them for 20 years. Having a common enemy, a common cause, a common hope for freedom and a common value unified these people around the unusual. Amongst themselves is a prophetess, whose is not identity by who she is married to, but as ‘a woman of fire.’ A woman judge of Israel. She calls her assistant Barak to rally the troops for a battle against King Jabin, telling them that the Lord had said, “I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his 900 iron chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hands.” Deborah is like a Joan of Arc. Ironically, she would not be allowed on some pulpits in our ‘modern-day’ churches because of their view of God is too small, egocentric, sexist, and racist. This common enemy was beyond, sexism, race, land, ideology, creed, foods, and people. A coming together, a fusion into strength, a movement to change the course of history, as 10,000 from the tribes of Israel respond to the call and defeat King Sisera. APPLICATION What is God calling us to do beyond our comfort, to trust in God’s designs of goodness? The promise land that Abraham and Sarah chased with their descendants, is the same place where the fighting between Israel and Hamas is now. But the promise land of Jesus is the Kingdom of God. As we understand it, it is in every kingdom, in every nation, in every rule, and in every principality. Not confined to a physical piece of real estate but to its citizens who believe in God and its people. Then Heaven, become more about where God dwells than a place where we go to after we die. We are at a turning point where the door to many of our pasts have been closed. And what was, will never be able to rise again. But we are here, with those memories, with those values, with that culture, with our belief, with our hopes and together with others, whether strangers, kamaainas, or newcomers we can fuse something together to that does not lose our distinctiveness but becomes a part of something that we all have a part in creating. Honoring the past, respecting each other with value and joy. It comes with discerning the voice of God, in faithful people. Sometimes we see the differences first, before we decide to listen. Listen first then decide if that was the voice of God or not no matter what the people look like. Then we could hear the voice of agape in aloha, the voice of shalom in namaste, the voice of compassion in suffering. The people, God is building, is way bigger than what we can think of. There is a church, compiled mostly of newcomers who have embraced the local customs, ways, ideologies, love, culture, and respect. The church has maintained their culture although multicolored. They have taught those from someplace else, to be like us, to think like us, to value the things that we hold in our hearts like us. So, no matter what color their skin maybe or where they are from, they can be a part of us. Then learn from others, discover what is wise, good, insightful and adapt it into our ways and blend the orange with the lilikoi and guava, to make the People of God. CONCLUSION I am thankful that God is not welded to the past. God moves and builds on the foundations of old into the something new. We can get stuck just trying to keep the old going and miss where God is leading today. God is leading in household, through families, speaking to us as through prophets, the Bible, worship, and prayer, to advocate for justice and join others in the struggle against evil. I am thankful for the community of the church, that we can be this together. SCRIPTURE: Joshua 34:1-3a, 14-25
TEXT: “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” THEME: Trusting in God to live as stewards of God’s blessings. INTRODUCTION When I was growing up, there was a bowl where my Dad would empty his pocket change. On Sundays when we went to Sunday School, we could take a coin and put it in our offering envelope for worship. My family provided everything I needed with even a portion that I could use for worship. I know only a few jokes but it feels like once a year I tell my Charlie Kaneyama joke on Stewardship Sunday…when Charlie was but a wee little lad, his dad gave him a dime for offering and a dime for ice cream after Sunday School. He was so happy. Walking to church like any little boy, coins do not just sit on the bottom of a pocket, so he was playing with them until one of them got away from him, rolled down the sidewalk, and into the storm drain. It was irretrievable. Poor Charlie looked up to heaven and said, “Dear God, I’m so sorry what happened to your dime.” SCRIPTURE The gods of old were used to try and make sense of the world around us. Our limited science yielded few explanations. There was so much that was a mystery, wonder, uncontrolled and powerful. So we made gods of the forces of nature around us and other gods that we could appeal to dad influence these greater forces to help us. Sometimes we gave these uncontrollable forces human like characteristics, Anthropomorphism was a way for us to understand their wild nature. But now with God’s call of Abraham and Sarah, the people of God have a relationship with the Creator of all things. They are given a promise and begin to journey together from land of Ur to Canaan, then their descendants migrate down to Egypt and back again to Canaan where they learn and relearn the dynamics of their God and being the people of God. The last few Sundays completed their 40-year travels in the wilderness with Moses, we had the So, first words of his successor Joshua as they cross the Jordan to recapture the land of Canaan and to today, where we have Joshua’s last words to the People of God as he nears life’s end. Through Joshua, God conquered the Canaanites and settled the Israelites in the land. We read the redacted version of this text, but it could be categorized as their joining the movement of believing in God; Abraham, Sarah and their family -They too. Josh and his family - Me too. The people of God - Us too. Joshua making sure you sure you sure - Them too, and all of us together being sure - We too. In essence of what they wanted from their old gods is all wrapped up into their relationship with God, who calls and reveals God’s self to those who travel with God. Then through their journey together the image and understanding of God is refined and deepen. Don’t go back to the old version of gods, they don’t work. They only are a distraction of our self-centeredness, move on with what God is showing us, with those around us, to move into the community of the people of God. This is the covenant the people of God are making with God and each other. APPLICATION As part of inclining our hearts to God is a weekly reminder of God. The Sabbath and our tithe. This past week an old friend dropped by to listen to clergy who are serving on Maui during this difficult time. He retired from his church and is now devoting himself full tine to the ministry of Hawaiian Islands Ministry and wanted to listen to what the needs are here for clergy, to see if there was something Hawaiian Island Ministries could do to help, us especially in the area of mental health. At the end of his visit with us he gave me a HIM pen and said use it when you journal. Inadvertently what this did, was reminds me of Dan every time I update my calendar. Sneaky Dan. But this is what a tithe does for us. A weekly offering, even if just going through the motions, has us look at our check book balance, see how God has provided, what we need, and then a portion to worship God with this week. Don’t get caught up on the amount. We already have God’s favor and are not trying to pay for it. It is the heart behind the offering and worship that is important. So we provide pledge cards for you to fill out. But we don’t use them to figure out the church budget. They are for you to do your own accounting of your blessings and worship. This is kind of what Joshua is doing here, he is taking in account of all that God has done, from the time of Abraham to the end of Joshua’s life. Looking towards where they are now, making his commitment and seeing if there are others who are committed to do the same into the future. We can’t do the work of God on our own, to do this we need each other. So there is a commitment of self, to each other and to God. The offerings we have contribute to the work we do together, putting our old gods behind and journeying with God into the not yet. CONCLUSION When we are able to see, what we have as a product of how God loves us, then we can also trust God for a portion, out of everything to give as an act of worship. Like a pen, that we journal with that reminds us to pray. Just for fun. These are a few old gods we can put behind us. I have walked in Keopulani Park and have numerous black cats cross my path that have not determined how good or bad my day has gone. Black cats don’t have the power to make a bad day, that is all up to me. Same thing with Fridays, They are my days off so always good so it doesn’t matter when it falls on the 13th day of the month. I haven’t tried this, but I am don’t see what power a banana has that would cause fish not to bite on a particular day. Look at it. The only power it has is potassium. I don’t know what it is about washing my car or doing laundry that brings rain. Pennies don’t bring good luck, all it does is make me a penny richer, which is good. But at my age sometimes I have to consider if it is worth bending down to pick it up. Avoiding cracks makes me walk funny but hasn’t done anything for my mother’s back. It has helped me be aware of floor level changes and find the occasional penny. Our lives are not about avoiding bad luck, but it is about living into the grace and loving ways of God with our neighbors. Putting those old gods behind, there is nothing casual about living as witnesses of God’s liberation and justice. It is a daily commitment, putting aside our confidences of the past for our confidences in God, with a readiness to respond, trusting in the assurances of God, knowing God journeys with us now and in the generations to come. |
Pastor robbSermons Archives
April 2024
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