Sermon: March 25, 2007
March 25, 2007
OFFERING MEDITATION:(9 a.m. & 11 a.m. – Sean Harry) If you’re a visitor this morning, you’re probably aware that there is an undercurrent of some things that are going on here in the congregation that we’re sort of not talking about because we’re trying to muddle through service because our time here in worship this morning is to be focused on God and not our own problems, our anger, our frustration, our sorrows, but rather on God. I was a pastor for 20 years, and one of the things that I learned is that in the midst of sorrow, in the midst of deep depression, one of the best things that people can do is to do something that is familiar. So I visited John the Tuesday after his wife had died and he was out mowing the lawn. I said, “What are you doing?” He said, “I’m mowing the lawn because it’s Tuesday.” “But, John, your wife died yesterday.” He said, “I know. I need to do something familiar.” So it’s important for us also as we sort of muddle through worship today not speaking about those things that cause us great pain. It’s important for us to do something familiar. So I would ask you all to reach into your purse or into your back pocket, go ahead, do it, right now; find the largest denomination of bill you have there, and we’re going to do something familiar today. As difficult as it may be for us, we’re going to receive an offering, and as you give your offering this morning, I ask that you do so trying to worship God in whatever space you are in. Will the deacons please receive this morning’s offering.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION:
(9 a.m. – Sharon Soliday) Please pray with me. God, these are such dark times. The season of Lent bears down with the weight of cold chains, a suffocating grip, a sharp, painful touch. Our sermons and prayers are darker right now. I have difficulty listening to the prayers our children lift up. The music can sound faint, drifting from me during such a time, but the plate still came by. I await the light and relief that only your promise of everlasting life will bring. It is with the promise of that life that we fill these plates in our heaviest hours, a gift for someone else, a blessing to look beyond ourselves. Even when we feel we are paused in the darkness, we give thanks and open our souls, for the light will come.
(11 a.m. – Keith Watkins) Eternal God, we remember the words of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Accept our tithes and offerings as evidence that we want to be like Jesus. By your spirit, help us to grow into his likeness in every aspect of our lives, for in his name we pray. Amen.
MORNING PRAYER:
(9 a.m. & 11 a.m. – Dr. Bryant) Out of our confusion and pain, we come into your presence this morning, Dear God, needing to find a rock to which to cling until the floods pass over us and we can resume our journey with Christ toward Easter newness and joy. Our hearts are heavy. It is not easy to keep our eyes fastened on the road ahead when our eyes are filled with tears. We pray for your help and your guidance. Loving God, we ask your forgiveness for our shortcomings, our failures and sins as we journey through Lent toward the cross of Christ. We know our own weaknesses all too well, but only you can restore us to wholeness. Help us to see beyond the moment and the agony of the cross to the promise of joy, the newness of spring and the victory of Easter. Give courage to overcome fear and quiet to quell the noise within. We pray for our church. Enable us to be witnesses to the Good News that Christ brought to our world. And now, Dear God, fill this place with your presence that we might leave this sanctuary renewed in hope and faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
THE SCRIPTURE: Matthew 22:41-46
THE SERMON: “What Do You Think of Christ?” Dr. F. Wayne Bryant
Today we come to the crucial question in our journey through Lent. Jesus has been traveling steadfastly toward Jerusalem and the fate that awaits him there. Following a discussion in the earlier verses as to which were the most important commandments, the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus into making an unwise reply that would discredit him. Then Jesus turns the table with a question of his own. His question is, what do you think of the Christ, what do you think of the Messiah, whose son is he? Jewish wisdom held that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David. Then Jesus follows up with a second question based upon a verse in the 110th Psalm in which David calls the Messiah Lord. How is it then, said Jesus, that the Messiah could be a son of David? Would David call his own son Lord? It was a trick question that the religious leaders could not answer without looking foolish, so they remained silent. But the question hangs there in the silence, what do you think of the Christ? The query has not lost its significance. It is still the essential question. Now is he God, co-equal with the Creator, cosmic, eternal? Or is he personal, friend, a companion who walks beside me on the way? To some, of course, he is a poetic figure in the mythology of ancient religious development, a fantasy created from human need for a God-like hero. To others, he is a wise teacher, a great storyteller on par with Aesop and Hans Christian Andersen. So the question each of us must answer then in the silence and the quietness of our own consideration and reflection, what do you think of the Christ?
One experience that comes to my mind as I ponder this question is a man who was joining our church in Albany, married with two small children. He had been attending with his wife an adult Sunday school class for some months and the time came when I asked him, would he not like to make his confession of faith, be baptized and become a member of our church. He decided he would like to do that, so a Sunday was set and on that Sunday, in the early service with people gathered in a circle, as we complete this service, we sang a hymn, and true to what we anticipated, he and his wife came down the aisle to join the church. I took him by the hand and looked him in the eye, and asked him, as I had asked so many others before, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?” He looked surprised and said, “Well, I don’t know about that Son of God bit.” It was not the expected answer. But then, we receive a lot of answers that are outside the norm of our expectation in relationship to Christ. If you read yesterday paper about Marcus Borg, you know what I mean, and if you haven’t read it, buy an Oregonian and go read it. Which is to say that not everyone regards Jesus in the same way today, but neither did they then in his own time. Many, perhaps most, had nationalistic hopes for a Messiah who would overthrow Roman rule and create a new and prosperous Jewish nation. They wanted a political hero. They thought in terms of military power and glory, like the recent Maccabees who had temporarily won independence for Israel and then lost it. Jesus not only did not fit that image, he was subversive to their aims and they soon wanted him out of the way. There are many among the multitudes who heard him gladly so long as he did not step on their toes. They followed him because he healed and fed and amazed them with his wisdom and powers, and as long as he produced, they applauded him. In fact, they cheered him all the way to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, but they wanted no part of his cross. But to a few people, Jesus was more than the son of David or more than a king, more than a prophet. They were those whose lives had been strangely touch by this one solitary figure. He was not a king, not a general, not a politician, but more than that, although they did not yet know what. They loved him deeply and they stayed close by, even at the cross. Mary Magdalene, Martha from Bethany, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, John and a few others. They loved him. That song in Jesus Christ Superstar captures the feeling as Mary Magdalene sings, “I don’t know how to love him, but I love him so.”
As they viewed him differently then, so it is today, for some still look upon Jesus as a wonder worker. He’s the divine jack-in-the-box who pops up whenever they need him, the genie in the lamp who does wonders when they call him forth to do their bidding. Others want him to lead them to victory, give them an edge when their team makes it to the playoffs. I’m always amused at the basketball player who makes a wonderful shot and then, as he runs down the court, points heavenward, “Thank you, Jesus.” Or when their favorite political candidate has made it through the primary and is in the election, or their soldiers engage in war. “Please, Jesus, let our soldiers be safe.” Still others may only desire prosperity and the good life and trust Jesus to help them achieve their desires. Some patronize him as an interesting historical figure, but his way is unrealistic in today’s complex world. “Turn the other cheek when my competitor has just blind-sided me and you expect me to turn the other cheek? That isn’t the way the world operates.” While, fortunately, still others have caught the vision of what the Christ event is all about. Their lives are being changed for the better, even as they commit themselves to a changing society and the world. They are at the core of every genuine community of faith, leaven in the loaf, often unknown and unnoticed, but gently prodding, quietly serving, always caring about their world and those who live herein, seeking to enjoy life in its intended abundance.
You see, Jesus taught that life is more than bread and much more than being successful. And Christian life, the life of those who are followers of Christ, is relationships. It is loving one another, learning to share and live in harmony, working at conflict resolution and caring about those who are disenfranchised and abused. You see, Jesus enables us to see that faith is more than dogma and rules. It is a celebration of the joy of living, it is a sense of God’s presence made real in the doing of justice and loving kindness. Christian faith is an idea and an ideal that shapes lives and transforms people. A vision of what life was intended to be and the intention to make it happen, to make it be that way. The vision begins with the “Aha!” of insight that God is more than a divine auditor counting our sins and keeping track of our good deeds. God is love. God is a helper who invites us to share as co-creators of a world that all can enjoy. A God whose eye is on the sparrow and who cares for me. Salvation is more than building up points. It is not just looking good, but being good. It is being a whole person, experiencing the growth of selfhood, fulfilling our potential as being in God’s image. The one who helps us understand and stretch for the fulfillment of that vision. It is he who is the Messiah. Jesus is Lord of that vision, leading us into new awareness of life. What do you think of the Christ? That’s the essential question. And as my friend in Albany knew, whose story I just told a few moments ago, the question has very little to do with the manner of his birth. It has everything to do with whether or not we will let him be Lord of our lives. The poet answered the question well when he wrote, “So the choice must ever be, Christ or chaos for the world for me.”
INVITATION TO COMMITMENT:
(9 a.m. & 11 a.m. – Dr. Bryant) The invitation of our church as we gather to conclude worship is an invitation to belong, an invitation to confess Christ as Lord, an invitation to be a part of the community of faith as it is here expressed. Hymn of Invitation: The Voice of Jesus Calls His People – 9 a.m.; Beneath the Cross of Jesus – 11 a.m.
COMMUNION MEDITATION:
(9 a.m. – Sean Harry) The central act of Christian worship takes place around this communion table and we are invited to remember, remember, remember. A word that means not only recalling to our memory something that has happened in the past, remembering can also talk about bringing together that which is broken, making whole again something which has been torn apart. As if my body were dismembered, if I were to have it be re-membered, I would be made whole again. So as we gather around the communion table, as human beings we acknowledge that we come in our brokeness. Whatever has happened to you this last week to emphasize that you are human and broken, come to this table. And so, someone may have gone to the doctor and the doctor says, there is a lump…brokeness. We hear that our brother has an addiction…brokeness. Words are spoken in haste and anger, which separate us from a loved one…brokeness. There are so many ways in our lives that we are broken, broken, broken, and bringing together that which is broken is both hopeless, leaves us helpless, and it is futile because we are broken. Now, here’s the good news. The good news is that God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. When we are broken, the hope in Jesus Christ is that God will remember us, God will bring us back together, make us strong, make us whole in the broken places. That is the promise of the Christian faith, and so the question that Wayne asked us this morning is, indeed, essential; what do you believe about Jesus Christ? One of the things, perhaps one of the most important things that I hope you believe, is that God, through Jesus Christ, can take us, in our brokeness, and make us whole. Now that may take a lot of time, I don’t know how it works, but I do have faith that God has that capacity if we will open ourselves to God. As you come to the table this morning, you are invited to remember, to remember, to do something, not simply calling to memory something that has happened in the past, but to allow God to heal you in those broken places. So as you come to the table this morning, and all who are here are invited to come, to take a piece of bread and dip it in the cup, the bread which has been broken, signifying our brokeness, signifying Christ’s broken body, as you come to the table, focus on the places in your life where you are broken; not where somebody else is broken, but where you are broken, and ask God to do that which we cannot do for ourselves, to make you whole again.
