The Most Excellent Way

1 Corinthians 12:31b-14:1a; Luke 4:21-30

January 31, 2016

© 2016

Today we pick up where we left Jesus teaching in the Nazareth synagogue. Luke 4:21-30 is a flashing series of snapshots of the people reacting to Jesus’ reading of Isaiah 61:1-2. As was the custom, he was seated for teaching.

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”²³He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” ²⁴And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land;²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Verse 22 is difficult to translate. Jesus read in Hebrew and he and the people in the synagogue were speaking Aramaic, which Luke translated into Greek. The typical English rendition seems to suggest the first response to Jesus was positive. That is a possible translation but probably not the best sense of the event.

“All spoke well of him” could be rendered “all bore him witness” that they realized he had stopped reading before the line “the day of vengeance of our God.” They took offense at that because they expected Messiah to vent retribution on Gentiles.

“Gracious words” could better be translated “words about grace.” The people figured out Jesus was extending God’s grace to Gentiles, and they were perplexed and offended that someone who grew up in their town would break from common opinion.

Jesus was anything but a politician. As the hostility of the people’s reaction increased, Jesus did not reassure them or soften their take on him. He purposely went on to give examples of Gentile enemies who received God’s grace. The widow of Zarephath through Elijah and Naaman the Syrian through Elisha. Not only that, but Jesus used examples from Elijah and Elisha in the collapsed Northern Kingdom that gave rise to the despised Samaritans. Jesus gave this hostile audience the same message Paul gave in 1 Corinthians 13. The most excellent way of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to love those who are hardest to love.

From 1 Corinthians 12:31b to 13:3, Paul asserted the superiority of love over piety. He was not denigrating the gifts of the Spirit, but he was clear that love is superior.

His dissertation on spiritual gifts ends with “I will show you a still more excellent way.” Many translations use the comparative “more.” Some use the superlative “most.” Exclamative: “Most Excellent!” Living love is great!

This paragraph suggests that great communication, great understanding, great action and even great self-sacrifice can all be done without love. We may think we’re working by the power of the Holy Spirit, but if it doesn’t grow out of and extend love, it’s useless.

Paul did not stop writing about the Holy Spirit between chapters 12 and 14. They are connected with the “Most Excellent Way!” Love is the culmination of the work of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can radiate God’s love to the people around us. Our human love is inadequate. Some people are just too difficult to love on our own. The most excellent way of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to love those who are hardest to love.

Couples who are about to get married often describe why they love each other like this: “She makes me feel secure.” “He makes me laugh.” “She brings out the best in me.” “He helps me grow.” Romantic love is measured by what the lovers get from each other. You may know that the New Testament uses the Greek word agape for God’s love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes love that gives without needing to receive.

These verses sound ideal when read at a wedding. They also need to be heard in the hospital and the courtroom, in the unemployment line and in the in-laws’ house. This paragraph says that love is specifically for when hard times come: when someone is injured or in trouble, when someone is discouraged, when someone has hurt you.

God’s love is always about the one being loved. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:8, “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” That is the model for the love the Holy Spirit generates and radiates from within us. That is the love of Mother Teresa cradling the dying in the gutters of Calcutta with no expectation of even a thank you.

In the concluding paragraph of his lyrical treatise on love, 1 Corinthians 13:8-14:1a, Paul explains that love is the more excellent way than all the spiritual gifts because the time will come when the gifts will cease because they will no longer be necessary, but love endures eternally. Because God is love!

We all know that this interim time between pastors is temporary. You expect to have a new “permanent” pastor sometime soon. However, even if your next pastor stays with you for 25 years, that is not forever. Other pastors will come further into the future. But we do have a longing for permanence. That why most of us resist change. I believe that is a yearning for God’s eternal Kingdom, but to try to hang onto something that is not God’s eternal Kingdom heads us toward idolatry. That’s why Paul wrote that even the gifts the Holy Spirit gives the church are temporary. They help us on our journey to the eternal. Thus the godly love that we just barely sample now draws us deeper into God’s eternal love.

With the artificial chapter breaks in the Bible we can miss some important connections. So we started with 12:31b “I will show you a still more excellent way.” We also have to include 14:1a to get the full impact of 1 Corinthians 13. “Now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. Pursue love!” The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr put these three in the context of our transitory lives.

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.

“Pursue love!” Paul concludes. Love is the path through the temporary to the eternal, to know God as fully as God knows us. On that journey, conveying God’s love to others takes priority over our spiritual accomplishments. On that journey, by God’s love we have the Holy Spirit’s strength to absorb abuse and disappointment from those we love. On that journey, passing God’s love to others guides us unerringly toward face to face intimacy with God. The most excellent way of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to love those who are hardest to love.

Full of Power

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Luke 4:14-21

January 24, 2016

© 2016

You have already been on the interim journey between pastors for a while. Today I join you on this journey, which I believe can be an adventure with Jesus for all of us. As your interim pastor my role is to coach us in listening for and recognizing the voice of Jesus with us on the journey. To help us with that, I will preach from the Bible passages suggested by the Revised Common Lectionary with the goal of tuning into what God is saying to us. Though I will be somewhat flexible with this, I will not pick passages to play “gotcha” with a hidden agenda. As we listen for the voice of God together, I hope to encourage and guide you in conversations about the congregation’s heritage, mission, leadership, connections and future. 

Two weeks ago we looked at how the Holy Spirit dramatically came on Jesus at his baptism. Today in Luke 4:14-21, we see how Jesus began his public ministry after forty days in the wilderness of testing in which he overmastered the devil.

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. ¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” ²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

The scheduled reading from the Prophets on the Sabbath when Jesus went to the Nazareth synagogue must have been from Isaiah, since that scroll was handed to him. But he unrolled the scroll to purposely skip the assigned reading to find the passage about the Spirit’s anointing to the ministry of justice. That passage from Isaiah 61 is also quoted in Psalm 146:7-8, which is call a “Hallel” Psalm that the Israelites sang in procession to the Jerusalem Temple on holy days. No wonder the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. He changed the order of worship! What was he going to say about this passage?

Jesus began to speak to them. As we shall see next week, what he said was so shocking that they interrupt him. By saying this scripture was fulfilled, he did not imply that justice had been permanently established. Rather, he claimed that the Spirit had authorized and empowered him for the ministry on which he was embarking.

We are so used to having books in print, radio, television and now electronic media that we may miss the power of hearing Scripture read aloud as Jesus did in the synagogue. As we read from Nehemiah, this same power is clear when Ezra read what quite possibly was part or maybe all of Deuteronomy. Significantly, the people are gathered as a single body to hear from God. Men, women and even children who were old enough to understand. They responded as one body, much as today a congregation’s unity as the Body of Christ is a living expression of God’s justice and compassion, joy and strength.

This was not a dull experience of sitting still in silence while Ezra read. The people were actively engaged and responded with voice and body. When Ezra unrolled the scroll to read, in unison the people stood in respect, much as liturgical churches today stand for the reading of the Gospel. The people lifted their hands and answered, “Amen! Amen!” much as we might see in a Pentecostal church today. At the pauses in the reading, they bowed their faces to the ground to worship, perhaps somewhat like we might see in a mosque today. In these pauses, the reading was translated for those who could not speak Hebrew and then interpreted or explained so they could understand and have their questions answered.

The people responded emotionally to hearing Scripture read. They wept! They wept for joy to hear God’s Word after generations of exile in Babylon. And they wept in repentance, knowing that had not been living by Scripture. But Ezra thought the weeping defiled the Scripture, so sent them out for a festival that included the wine of joy.

The people responded to hearing Scripture read with a celebration of sending festive food to those who couldn’t afford their own parties. Rich and poor alike were one single community of God’s people. Justice and compassion demanded that everyone share the joy.

Jesus read from Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth some four centuries after Ezra read from Deuteronomy at the Jerusalem Water Gate. In both cases the reading of Scripture aloud made a powerful impact on those who heard it. In both cases the theme was justice and freedom for people who were brittle, broken and bound.  As we have heard these two stories today, are you hearing the voice of God for you and First Christian Church of Albany, TX? I am just starting to get to know you and the people of Albany, but I am certain there are people in this congregation and in this community who are poor, captive, blind, oppressed, who have no celebration prepared.

On your interim journey with Jesus, I believe he will let you know who they are so you can be Jesus to them. I am not necessarily suggesting programs but personal relationships with people, paying enough attention with spiritual sensitivity for the Spirit to prompt you.

Twenty some years ago Candy and I took a four month sabbatical, living in the L’Arche Daybreak community for mentally disabled adults in Richmond Hill, Ontario. We were coached to be alert for the presence of Christ in the pain of the disabled core members. It was one of the most transformative experiences of my adult life. I continue today with a spiritual discipline at the end of each day of identifying a wounded person I contacted that day and asking how I saw Christ in them. This has been my spiritual reward while driving funeral cars for 7 months.

As I have walked this journey with Jesus, I have learned to recognize his voice when I face my own wounds.

Jesus came to Galilee filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Nehemiah and Ezra turned the mourning and weeping of the people into joy and strength by sending them to share the celebration of God’s Word with those who had nothing prepared. As we listen for the voice of Jesus on this interim journey, I believe we too will receive God’s joy and strength.

Let us soak in Scripture until we are so saturated with the voice of God that the Spirit can echo when we speak.

Let us pray for God to fill us with power and joy that draws us into intimate relationship with Jesus on this interim journey.

Let us find and celebrate the joy of Christ’s presence by including the wounded people God sends us in our individual circles of relationships and into the embrace of this congregation.

Dare to Pray

Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-18, 21-22

January 10, 2016

© 2016

In 313CE the Roman Emperor Constantine claimed to have converted from paganism to Christianity, and in 346 CE he made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. However sincere he may or may not have been, he saw Christianity through the lens of empire building. He had his soldiers “baptized” by marching his army along a river as priests used tree branches to fling water over them, so they were now officially Christians. In that atmosphere, the spiritual fervor and strength of the Church declined precipitously. In response, a revival movement began, but they had no illusions that the Empire could ever nurture authentic spiritual vitality. Many people with spiritual passion withdrew to desert communities where they not only pursued their own spiritual lives, but also instructed and encouraged spiritually alert pilgrims who came seeking advice. We know them today as the Desert Fathers and Mothers (Abbas and Ammas). They left us both their own writings as well as legends, some of which seem rather fantastic but often point to an important spiritual truth. Abbas Lot and Joseph is one of my favorites.

Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I  fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, “If you will, you can become all flame.” (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers; tr. Benedicta Ward, SLG; Cistertian Publications,1975; p. 103)

Whatever Abba Lot saw when Abba Joseph lifted his flaming hands, it was a sign that God was present with him in a remarkably immediate way. Throughout the Bible fire is a sign of God’s presence, from Moses’ burning bush to the tongues of fire at Pentecost. This week you might want to think about how often the image of fire in the Bible connects prayer and the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:14 says that the Holy Spirit is God’s pledge of our inheritance of redemption. The idea is repeated in Ephesians 4:30 and 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5. Having the Holy Spirit living in us now is God’s pledge we’ll be in God’s direct presence in the resurrection to eternal life.

Like Abba Lot and Abba Joseph, I aspire to become spiritually all flame. For me, I understand that as a prayer life of total intimacy with Jesus. I encourage you to think about your spiritual dreams and aspirations during these days of seeking a new pastor for your future.

Luke gives more emphasis to the Holy Spirit and prayer in Jesus life than the other Gospels. The account of Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:15-18, 21-22 introduces Jesus ministry with high priority on the Holy Spirit and prayer.

As you listen, remember that Luke is not presenting systematic, abstract theology but is describing the free work of a divine person. In both Hebrew and Greek the same word can mean breath, wind and spirit, which the New Testament writers often use in plays on words that we miss in English. John 3:8 gives us a feel for this when Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John the Baptist’s preaching attracted a large following.

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,¹⁶John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,²²and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

During this time when you are seeking a new pastor, noticing Jesus praying at his baptism can shape your praying to ask for the Holy Spirit with confidence that you are loved by God and give pleasure to God.

So Luke makes a very specific point that Jesus was praying when he had been baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. George Hendry taught theology at Princeton Seminary for 24 years. “To take the measure of other theologians, he would read what they had to say about prayer. If a theologian took prayer seriously, Hendry took that theologian seriously. ‘Prayer is the life line of theology,’ Hendry said.” (Christian Century, December 12, 2012, p. 8)

Luke 11:13 concludes Jesus’ teaching on prayer that is close to what Matthew included in the Sermon on the Mount, with a very Lucian emphasis on the Holy Spirit. “If you … know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more with the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Would you like the Holy Spirit to be more active in you? Jesus says, “Go ahead and ask! The Father will joyfully give you the Spirit.”

Acts 8 says that Peter and John prayed that the new Samaritan disciples would receive the Holy Spirit. We need to understand that the Church was still very young, and things are just starting to unfold and not make sweeping principles out of their experiences. I am sure we can recognize in those new Samaritan disciples our own experience of not being aware of the Holy Spirit. I would also conclude that praying for the Holy Spirit to be present and active is not just acceptable but good.

During this time when you are seeking a new pastor, noticing Jesus praying at his baptism can shape your praying to ask for the Holy Spirit with confidence that you are loved by God and give pleasure to God.

When Jesus had been baptized and was praying, the Holy Spirit descended upon him. Our prayers may be inadequate but Romans 8:23 assures us that “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” So the Holy Spirit recasts our prayers to be in congruent harmony with the will of the Father.

A central significance of baptism is the cleansing of water that assures us that Jesus has washed our sin away. Fire also purifies. Chaff burning fire may not sound like “good news,” but deep inside we all long to be rid of spiritual contaminants. Getting pure may not be fun, but being pure is wonderful! So pray that the Spirit will purify you.

 When Jesus was baptized, he identified himself with us – broken, sinful humans. When we are baptized, we identify with Jesus, the beloved Son well pleasing to the Father. As we pray, the Holy Spirit sharpens our awareness of the presence of God in the ordinariness of our lives.

Luke’s Gospel presents Jesus, not as a super hero with super powers, but as a human totally empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ insights into people were from sensitivity to the Spirit. Jesus got his direction from the promptings of the Spirit. Jesus did his miracles by the release of the Spirit. When you pray expect to be nudged, sometimes without being fully aware at the time, toward people and situations in which you can represent the grace of Christ. During this time when you are seeking a new pastor, noticing Jesus praying at his baptism can shape your praying to ask for the Holy Spirit with confidence that you are loved by God and give pleasure to God.

Recognizing the Spirit’s Whispers

Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b -15

May 24, 2015

© 2015

The Day of Pentecost
Mark Hewitt

This is my last sermon as I conclude my interim ministry with Highlands Christian Church in Dallas. I hope to have another interim pastorate, but as yet do not have one in place. Thus, this will be the last sermon script posted here until I am serving another congregation. I will post notice of that on Facebook and Twitter when the time comes. Thanks to all who have read and encouraged my ministry.

In Jesus’ farewell message to his disciples he warned them they would be hated (John 15:18-26) but promised them the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15. For me this brought together Pentecost Sunday with my last Sunday as your interim pastor. Listen to Jesus’ farewell message to his disciples to recognize and follow the Holy Spirit’s whispers.

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. ²⁷You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. … I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. ⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; ¹¹about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. ¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

To whom are you listening when the Spirit whispers?

Jesus called the Spirit “the Advocate” in 15:26; 16:7. The Greek word is Paraclete which means defense attorney or legal counsel. Jesus envisioned a courtroom in which accusations would be hurled against his followers, and the Holy Spirit stands by them to defend them.

The Holy Spirit is the opposite of the prosecuting attorney called hasatan in Job 1:6-2:7 and Zechariah 3:1-2, from which the New Testament gets the name Satan, whom Revelation 12:10 calls the accuser.

Jesus also called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth in 15:26; 16:13. The Spirit is the one who gives true testimony on behalf of Jesus and us when we are accused.

For what are you listening when the Spirit whispers?

Jesus said the Spirit will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment (16:8-11). When the accusations seem too much to bear, the Spirit becomes judge of the ruler of this world, handling the condemnation of our accuser. The Spirit whispers truth freeing us from shame.

The Spirit testifies on behalf (15:26) of and glorifies (16:14) Jesus, so when affirming Jesus wells up in you, recognize as the Spirit’s whisper and let it out knowing the Spirit speaks in and through you.

Jesus said that all the Father has is his, and the Spirit declares all that belongs to Jesus to us. (16:14-15) Thus the Spirit whispers that you have complete and free access to all of the spiritual resources of the Father in Jesus.

So, in the cacophony of not just a noisy world but an often noisy church, how do you discern the Spirit’s whispers?

Scripture is the starting place, not just informational knowledge but absorbing it into your whole being as your body absorbs nutrition from food. To change the image, keep filling the reservoir of your heart with Scripture so the Spirit can bring relevant truth to the surface at the exact moment you know your resources are inadequate.

Though Jesus said the Spirit “speaks,” I have intentionally said the Spirit whispers. Noisy, cluttered minds tend to drown out the Spirit’s whispers. Even our prayers can be chatter. We don’t let God get a word in edgewise. One thing to pray for is to recognize the Spirit’s whispers and then be quiet long enough to listen for them.

The Pentecost story in Acts 2 says that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, not each one. Yes, we each have the Spirit indwelling us, but it is together as we listen to each other that we recognize the voice of the Spirit in someone else’s words. When the Spirit speaks to and through the church, all sense a confirmation of having heard from God. I know the Search and Call Committee experienced that when they discerned God called Jonathan as the next pastor for Highlands Christian Church.

Though his disciples couldn’t grasp it at the time, Jesus assured them that it was to their advantage for him to go away so that the Holy Spirit could come. I am certainly not Jesus, nor is Jonathan the Holy Spirit, but it is definitely to your advantage for me to go away and Jonathan to come to you.

As the Lone Ranger said to Tonto at the end of every episode, and Mary Poppins said when she left the Banks family, “My work here is done now.” Between what you have accomplished on this interim journey and with Jonathan starting on as your pastor this week, mixing in some Star Trek, you are poised to follow the Holy Spirit into a mission frontier to explore new ways to bring the Gospel of Jesus to new people, to boldly go where Highlands Christian Church has never gone before.

During these last 9 months, I’d like to think God has conveyed some wisdom, experience, insight and stability to you through Candy and me. To boldly go where God is leading you, it is to your advantage for God to send you energy and imagination through Jonathan.

I have mentioned before how impressed Candy and I have been with the spiritual tenor of this congregation. Just as the Holy Spirit came to propel the early church into their mission, recognizing and following the whispers of the Holy Spirit is essential for you to boldly go into the mission frontier God is opening ahead of you. It doesn’t happen magically with the right pastor or the right programs, it happens when you listen to the Spirit’s whispers together. If what you think you are hearing is really from the Spirit others will confirm it. And if the Spirit is leading you into unfamiliar territory, the Spirit will also equip you with all the know-how, energy, ideas, resources, courage and people you need.

Power Blessing

1 John 5:9-13; Luke 24:44-53

May 17, 2015

© 2015

 

Ascension, miniature depicted in the Syriac Evangeliary of Rabbula (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, Italy)

Art commentary by Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons

The image of the ascension in the illustrated Rabbula Syriac Gospels is one of the earliest depictions of the scene on parchment (586 CE) and sets the iconography for centuries to come. The figure of Christ is positioned in a mandorla (almond-shaped frame) with his right hand in a blessing gesture and his left holding a scroll. Flanked by angels, he is bearded and wears a golden nimbus. There is a clear distinction between this heavenly realm and those figures who remain on earth. Center stage in the earthly realm belongs to Mary, who stands directly beneath the mandorla of Christ. Her hands are open in exaltation and direct the viewer to the angels standing beside her. While Mary is not explicitly mentioned by Luke as being present at the ascension, she is introduced immediately thereafter (Acts 1:14). Her growing importance in the theological tradition had been signaled by her designation as Theotokos, “Mother of God,” at the Synod of Ephesus in 431, and she becomes more prominent in both literary and visual presentations.

[Many Protestant scholars affirm the title Theotokos for Mary but prefer to translate it “God Bearer.”]

He Was Received Up Into Heaven, by Hanna Varghese

Art commentary Richard A. Kauffman

Hanna Varghese is a Malaysian artist who often works in batik, as she does with this image of the ascension. Varghese was born to Christian parents, and she remembers her mother taking her to a different worship service every week: “My parents encouraged me to attend different churches so that my siblings and I would appreciate the liturgy and traditions of the Christian believers of different denominations. Christians are a minority in Malaysia so we continue to struggle for our identity in a Muslim society.” The ascension reminds Christians everywhere of the coming of God’s Spirit and that the reign of God is a universal one not bounded by nation states.

When we lived in Daybreak, the Roman Catholic community for mentally handicapped adults in Ontario, on Thursdays Candy and I handled some of the supper, evening and bedtime routines with core members to give house assistants a break. I helped Michael Arnett brush his teeth, get pajamas on, set out morning clothes and get to bed. I knelt alongside Michael as said his lengthy evening prayers for people all around the world but never for himself. In one community worship, we laid hands on one of the young woman assistant members to commission her to go to the community in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. As 30 or so folk gathered around her and prayed, Michael raised his hand in the air. I thought he was having his typical muscle coordination problem finding a place to connect with his hand. When all of the prayers subsided, Michael said loudly with his halting voice, “Go for God to Antigonish!” Michael’s apostolic blessing signaled the group that the prayers were finished and they returned to their seats. Michael could not have explained an apostolic blessing, but he knew how to give one, and the whole community recognized it was his spiritual gift that he regularly gave them.

The whole Bible is replete with blessings that are anything but polite well-wishing. A blessing invokes and confers on someone God’s goodness and favor with confidence and authority.

Passing the Peace is rooted in the holy kiss of the New Testament (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians  5:26; 1 Peter 5:14) and was firmly established in the Church’s worship before the 4^th century. It has been questioned in our day as wasting time and making guests uncomfortable. When it is only an exchange of greetings, I agree, but when it is a real blessing in which we confer Christ’s peace on each other, it can be powerful. Similarly, the benediction is not a signal the service has ended but sends us into the challenges of a new week with God’s empowering blessing. Even casual “bless you” can be a real blessing.

To the extent that we are aware of God’s presence in us, we are all authorized to confer God’s blessing on each other. Those of us with spiritual leadership have special opportunities to bless those we lead. As Jesus blessed his disciples at his Ascension, I affirm God’s blessing on you as I conclude my interim pastorate with you.

Though the New Testament alludes to Jesus’ Ascension a few times, only Luke reports the actual event in Acts 1:6-11 and Luke 24:44-53. In the Gospel account, Luke emphasizes three powerful blessings.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” ⁵⁰Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. ⁵¹While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵²And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; ⁵³and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

When Jesus says that “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all nations” (v. 47), his echo of Genesis 12:2, that this was the fulfillment of God’s blessing on Abraham, so he could be a blessing, by which all the families of the earth would be blessed. On that basis, 1 John 5:13 says we may know that we have eternal life, not arrogance but as a blessing received from God.

By blessing his disciples at his Ascension, Jesus closed what was left open in Luke 1:22 when Zechariah could not pronounce the priestly blessing after the Angel Gabriel told him his wife would have a baby, John the Baptist who would prepared the way for the Messiah. Jesus likely gave the Aaronic benediction from Numbers 6:24-26, with which I will end worship today.

After Jesus blessed them, the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the Temple blessing God. They transformed the place where the religious leaders opposed Jesus into blessing God.

Jesus’ Ascension turns his farewell into a love story. Some have suggested that by naming Bethany, Luke hints that Jesus may have included his dear friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus with the disciples when he ascended. Acts 1:14 also hints that his mother Mary may have been there as well. As Jesus blessed his disciples at his Ascension, I affirm God’s blessing on you as I conclude my interim pastorate with you.

The parallel is obvious between Jesus’ Ascension and sending the Holy Spirit to the disciples and Elijah being carried to heaven in 2 Kings 2:9-12 and his mantle signaling that Elisha had inherited Elijah’s spirit.

Jews of Jesus’ time were hazy about resurrection, which his disciples were working through when the risen Jesus met them. His Ascension was a clear demonstration that he did not descend to Sheol but to the abode of God, where he had promised they would join him.

In a Christian Century article (May 17, 2003), author Lawrence Wood wrote of his friend Carl whose wife Ruth died during Holy Week, and his daughter meant to console him by saying, “It’s especially hard to lose her this time of year.” To which Carl responded, “Are you kidding? This is the best time for my Ruthie. She’s with God now. That’s what this week is all about.”

As Jesus blessed his disciples at his Ascension, I affirm God’s blessing on you as I conclude my interim pastorate with you. So I give you these three blessings.

You are blessed to know that you have eternal life, not only affirmed in 1 John 5:13 but the purpose of John’s Gospel, so you may believe you have life in Jesus’ name.

You are blessed to know God is really among you as the Israelites did when Aaron blessed them in Leviticus 9:22-24. Paul wrote even outsiders would recognize God is really among us in 1 Corinthians 14:25.

You are blessed that God is sending you Jonathan Brink as your new pastor to lead you spiritual vigor, rigorous discipleship and fresh mission engagement.

From Child to Friend

1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

May 10, 2015

© 2015

Our family enjoyed Wonder Years on TV. Brian Stoffregen, a Lutheran Pastor in California remembers one episode in which some of Kevin’s friends complained to him, and he passed on to the PE teacher, how much it hurt to be chosen last for a team in gym. The teacher made Kevin a captain, and he chose his friends rather than the best players. They lost miserably but had fun together. Even though they were the worst athletes, they were pleased to be chosen as Kevin’s friends.

Friendship in our time tends to be casual until a crisis comes. Ancient Greeks took friendship more seriously. Pythagoras called it the epitome of all virtues. Socrates viewed friendship as the most precious of all possessions.

Scripture calls Abraham God’s friend in Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chronicles 20:7 and James 2:23. Exodus 33:11 says, “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” Not just high honor for Abraham and Moses, this says something extraordinary about God.

Public response to the violence between Muslim peoples and against non-Muslims obscures the deepest theological divide between Islam and biblical faith. In Islam, God is understood as so completely other and distant he could not possibly have a Son or friends. People might serve God to avoid punishment or obtain a reward, but not out of mutual love. In John 15:9-17, we listen in on Jesus talking with his disciples as he walked with them from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you.¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

 Did you hear Jesus? He has chosen you to be his close friend to joyfully pass his love to his other friends.

To be the servant or employee of a prominent person may bring valued prestige, but you are still working at the behest of someone else. Especially on Mothers’ Day we realize how wonderful being someone’s loved child is, and we read in 1 John about being God’s children. But Jesus went far deeper when he called his disciples and us his friends. He brings us into full partnership in God’s redemptive mission for humanity, promising us all of the Father’s resources to bear abiding fruit.

Jesus continued the theme of abiding from the vine and branches metaphor to tell us that our purpose is to bear enduring fruit and share in his joy.

In his Gospel, John referred to himself as “the one Jesus loves.” By calling us his friends, Jesus loves each of us too. Catholic priest, Brennan Manning tells of an Irish priest seeing an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road. The priest said, “You must be very close to God.” The old man answered, “Yes, He’s very fond of me.”

Not only has Jesus chosen you to be his close friend to joyfully pass his love to his other friends, he has instructed and empowered you for this love.

As faithful Jews, Jesus’ disciples knew all about commandments, so Jesus built on that with a whole new way of understanding commandments. 1 John 5:3 says his commandments are not burdensome. Jesus said keeping his commandments would completely fill us with his joy. But he did not command a moral code or religious rituals. His commandment is to love all of his other friends the way he loves us.

Knowing his crucifixion was coming the next day, Jesus said the greatest love was to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, which was exactly what he was about to do. This is the quality of love he wants between all his friends.

We celebrate the extraordinary heroism of soldiers, police, medical and humanitarian servants who put their lives at risk for others, whom they often don’t even know. Those are glimpses of the quality of love Jesus empowers between his friends who keep his commandments.

Jesus has chosen you to be his close friend to joyfully pass his love to his other friends. Presbyterian minister Frederick Buechner observed that friends are people you make part of your life just because you feel like it. They know your family, how you vote, your achievements and blunders, your religious convictions or lack of them, which are beside the point. Jesus commands us to love his other friends, even when we learn how they vote, their achievements and blunders, their religious convictions or lack of them, all of which may trouble us.

Such love grows out of seeing ourselves as the one who Jesus loves, with all of the ways we know we are unlike him. How differently would you view yourself if you adopted as your primary identity one whom Jesus loves?

When we shift our mentality from someone who disappoints Jesus to someone whom Jesus loves with joy, his commandment to pass his love on to his other friends is both more understandable and more possible. The word for believe in 1 John 5:1,5 is not about holding something to be true but about having faith that Jesus, the Son of God, has entered your life as your close friend.

When we function as Jesus’ loved, close friends, our mission – evangelism if you will – is not about convincing people the Bible is true or to agree with our theology or conform to our moral code. Our mission is to introduce our friends to our closest friend, Jesus, so they have the opportunity for him to become their friend too.

Pastor as Pruning Shear

1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8

May 3, 2015

© 2015

We are familiar with Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches. From him we learn to focus on becoming his disciples who reside in him so he can produce fruit in us.

Yet we don’t often think about the implications of Jesus telling this to his disciples as they walked from the Last Supper across the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed and was arrested. Walking in the dark they would have had a direct view of the Golden Vine sculpture on the façade of the Temple, probably lit up with giant torches for the Passover Festival. When Jesus spoke in John 15:1-8 he may have pointed to that grand symbol of Israel as he spoke.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ²He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

The image of Israel as a grapevine in deeply rooted in Hebrew Scripture. Isaiah 5:1-7 is especially vivid.

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. … He expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

I hope you are thinking, “That sounds a lot like one of Jesus’ parables.” He had built several teachings on it, so it was familiar to his disciples, only now he has incorporated them as the major characters of the parable.

From Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches we learn to focus on becoming his disciples who reside in him so he can produce fruit in us. Our first question is: what does it mean to abide in Jesus and how do we do that?

I chose to use “reside” for “abide” to point us in the right direction. Just as Candy and I reside on Flowerdale Lane, as Jesus’ disciples, we live all of our lives in his presence with him as our constant companion. Jesus said he already abides in us, even before we abide in him. Jesus resides in us and with us, whether we notice him or not.

In what ways can we pay attention to Jesus, our constant companion? I’ve mentioned a couple of time the advice his mother gave Fr. Thomas Hopko when he was Dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in New York. “If you want to grow as a Christian read your Bible, say your prayers and go to church.”

When we are faithfully in the Bible, prayer and worship with other Christians, our hearts will overflow with fruit. In Luke 6:45 Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Henri Nouwen once said to me, “If you want to know what is in your heart, listen to what you say when you speak before you think.” I’d add, “Or when you catch yourself before speaking.”

From Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches we learn to focus on becoming his disciples who reside in him so he can produce fruit in us. Our second question is: what does it mean to bear fruit? Sometimes fruit is presented as evangelistic success, but Scripture points in a different direction.

Wine is a symbol of joy in the Hebrew Scriptures, so when Isaiah 5:7 says God looked for justice and righteousness in His vineyard, he described the fruit of joy. In Hebrew, Greek and Latin derived languages, justice and righteousness are cognate words, sometimes interchangeable. Personal piety and social justice are inseparable. They are the same single spiritual fruit.

Paul made this crystal clear in Galatians 5:22-23 when he used the singular – the fruit of the Spirit – with these qualities:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

From Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches we learn to focus on becoming his disciples who reside in him so he can produce fruit in us. Our third question is: pruning sounds painful, is it necessary or productive?

We had a purple plum tree in the backyard of the house where I grew up in California. It grew rapidly to shade a large area which hurt the growth of other things. So every three or four years my Dad would prune it back to about a third size. The year before pruning the plums were at best 1½ - 2 inches, dry and fibrous. The year after pruning the plums were 4 inches or more and so juicy you bent over to eat them. Total yield for eating and jelly was double the years after pruning than the years before.

 While Jesus did warn of the consequences of not abiding in him, I think his main point was positive encouragement that by residing in him, we would do all sorts of things we know we can’t do on our own. When his words abide in us, we can ask for anything and it will be done. (v. 7) Why? Because when we are saturated with his words from Scripture, especially the Gospels, our hearts will overflow, even in our prayers, with his desire that our Father be glorified as we become Jesus’ disciples. The verb indicates we are always in the process of becoming Jesus’ disciples, not that we have somehow arrived.

The transition to a new pastor is pruning season. We started a little during the interim months I have been with you. It is a time of pruning out things that no matter how wonderful and cherished they may have been no longer contribute to the new mission opening before you. In some ways, the storm damage last fall was a kind of enforced pruning – going through storage to dispose of things no longer useful, which opened up more space. When Jonathan Brink leads you into this new era of mission, he will also lead you in discerning what to let go of so you can embrace God’s new future for you.