Review of the Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister

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The Liturgical Year is an excellent book for those of us who want to know a little bit more about the church year, and what it means for our lives. The book is part of the Ancient Practices Series put together by Thomas Nelson on the Spiritual Disciplines. The book begins by making a case for the use of the Christian Calendar in spiritual formation, and then carefully explains each part of the church year. Interspersed in between the different seasons of the church year are explanations of how different parts of the church year help form different virtues in our character.

I enjoyed reading this book. At first I was anxious about reading The Liturgical Year because I had seen the author on television, and thought she appeared somewhat angry and dour. The book could not be more different. It exudes joy and passion.

Overall, I thought the book balanced intellectual rigor and clear explanation with a very readable treatment of the Christian year. I particularly enjoyed how Chittister integrated "Sunday" into the Christian year. In the "Sunday" section she advocated that each Sunday was infact a use of time (the day of the week) for spiritual formation. Also, by introducing Sunday morning as the foundation of the church year, Ms. Chittister was able to focus all of our liturgy and the liturgical year toward the death and resurrection of Christ. I also enjoyed her discussion about how the Christian year forms us in Christian character, and is not just empty ritual.

As a Protestant, I struggled with the sections that were more Catholic in nature. These included the feast days, the sanctorial cycle, and the marian celebrations. Some of these parts I simply skipped over. Other parts I simply chalked up to cross-denominational education.

Overall the book is well done, and would be especially helpful to Christian ministers and worship leaders.

Beginning of Last weeks sermon: Loaves and fish

SCRIPTURE: JOHN 6
1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples[a] to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
 
LOAVES AND FISH
Can you imagine it? Can you imagine what it would have been like to have been on that hillside that day? That day when Jesus took those loaves and those fish and fed five thousand people…can you picture in your mind’s eye what that must have been like?

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be that boy with those loaves and those fishes? I have always wondered how it was that some boy was the only person with food in the whole crowd. How was one young boy the only person with provisions for the whole group?

The only way I can work it out in my head is that it went like this. Most of the people saw Jesus and were chasing him down. Sure they might have slapped together a sandwich for the day and grabbed a bottle of water, but they were not really worrying about provisions. They were just chasing down this man that was working miracles, going after him to see what he would do next.

But this one young guy, I imagine he is around ten. I also imagine he is surrounded by family friends as he is on the trip. But my guess is that this young boy had a mother. A mother that doted on him. I think that she of those mothers that worried about her little boy’s every move, but didn’t want him to miss out on this thing with Jesus. So she wondered how he was going to have food. So she grabbed a backpack. And she shoved in a sweatshirt, a blanket, a change of underwear, a flashlight in case he needed it, and all of the day old barley loaves on the shelves and a few fish. Everyone else may have snacked on a granola bar earlier in the day, or finished a sandwich while they were walking.

However, by the time the boy meets Jesus it is meal time. People don’t have any food. They are starting to get hungry. I am sure the hungry people would be pleasant to Jesus, but it often difficult for folks when they are hungry to be pleasant with one another. Tired people do not always have the most pleasant mood either. Jesus asks the question out loud, “Where shall we buy bread that they may eat?”

Middle part of last weeks sermon: loaves and fish

Now people were getting confused with Jesus questions, so the apostle John lets us know that this is a rhetorical question. John says he is testing the disciples. He is making a point. He is teaching a lesson.
Phillip informs Jesus that purchasing bread for 5000 people in cost prohibitive. There are always those of us like Phillip. We look at the situation, and we realize that there are all sorts of problems in the game plan. We can see the flaw in the logic of the plan from a mile away. We are wide-eyed realists. We believe in saying it how it is, and responding directly to a direct concern. Sometimes we may be called critical or negative. But we believe in a direct and forthright assessment of the situation. That was Phillip. “It is cost prohibitive,” he said or in the NKJV “Two hundred denari is not sufficient for them, that everyone may have a little.”

While Phillip was pondering financial matters, Andrew was scoping out the crowd. He noticed this little boy, with his momma’s backpack eating a little bread. They asked him how many barley loaves he had.

“Five,” the boy squeaked out.

The disciples asked the boy how many fish he had.

“Two,” the boy sheepishly admitted.

“I don’t know what good that is going to do but it is something,” they muttered.

The Bible says Andrew said, “What is so little among so many?”.

Jesus started instructing the disciples. He wanted them to get everyone seated for a meal. He lifted up those loaves and fishes and blessed them. Then he started distributing the loaves and fish to the disciples, who in turn distributed them to the people. He just kept handing out more bread. And more fish.

And the people ate. Then they ate some more. The smiled and laughed and burped and smiled. When everyone was filled the Bible says, it is at that point that Jesus instructed the disciples to gather up the loaves and the fish. Jesus didn’t want any of the food to be just left lying around and go to waste. So they gathered up the loaves and there were twelve baskets full of bread. Twelve baskets from the five loaves of the little boy. The people were amazed enough that sought to seize Jesus as their king. Jesus didn’t want to be a politician. So when they started trying to take him and make him king he decided to slip away for some alone time.
There are so many sermons that could be preached on this passage. This morning I want us to take notice of one thing. I want you to notice the difference between the resources the disciples perceived that they had, and the resources that the disciples actually had with Jesus.

The disciples looked at the situation in front of them—five thousand hungry people—and saw an unsolvable problem and an insurmountable challenge. Phillip saw the lack of money. Andrew saw the lack of food on hand. They saw not enough. They saw not good enough. Not enough stuff. Not enough resources to work with. As a result, they come off a little befuddled.

Thank God the kingdom of God is a little bit bigger than our realism and our sober assessments about what we lack. Thank God that he is bigger than our worries about the circumstances in front of us. Thank God that He is bigger than our limited abilities and skills.

Jesus takes a few loaves and fish, and turns them into a banquet fit for a king. And what Jesus does then, he does now. He takes our humble gifts and offerings, skills and abilities, and multiplies them for his glory.

If you are paying close attention to this text you will notice that there a number of words that communicate the abundant and lavish provision of God in this passage. It says each person ate all they wanted. The Scripture says that the disciples picked up the food after the people were filled. Then they had twelve baskets full of food after the meal.

We see not enough. We say not enough. Jesus says for us to give him our loaves and fish, and see what he can make of them. When we say not enough, Jesus shows us that with him there is more than enough.

We say I am not young enough. I am not strong enough. I am not good enough. I am not smart enough. I don’t have enough. I am not enough.

Jesus challenges us to offer what we have. The time we have. The skills we have. The resources we have. The excitement and passion we have. Jesus says give him what we have, and let him multiply all of our “not- enoughs” into more than enough. And exactly what Jesus wants.

The Last part of last weeks sermon: Loaves and fish

A newspaper reported a story of a young boy in a Presbyterian church in a Texas community that illustrates exactly how God is still doing this loaves and fishes kind of work. Here is the story from the August 5, 2006 edition of the San Antonio Express-News:

Jackson Rogers, ten, raised enough money to put up a house for the homeless. The young entrepreneur said he took on the fund-raising project for Habitat for Humanity in February when he accepted $100 and a challenge from his pastor at First Presbyterian Church.

“My pastor gave me a hundred dollars and told me to do something good to help someone,” said Jackson, one of several congregants who accepted their pastor’s challenge. They were told to use the money for good and then report on what they did.

At first Jackson’s father was hesitant about letting his son take up such a daunting task, but Jackson was determined. “I was discouraging him from volunteering because I didn’t know what the pastor intended. But he pulled away from me and ran down there,” the father said.

Jackson knew he wanted to help a homeless family. But he wasn’t sure how to do that, so he asked his dad. What they came up with was a letter-writing campaign asking for donations to raise $50,000 to build a house through Habitat for Humanity. Jackson then wrote a letter in his own handwriting on notebook paper. “I used the hundred dollars to buy stamps and paper,” he said. He then sent out letters to friends and family.

One woman was so touched by his letter that she passed it on to several of her friends and colleagues. Soon, people from Tennessee, Virginia, and Idaho were sending in checks. The 170 people who responded contributed a total of $43,000. When the congregation at First Presbyterian learned the little miracle-worker was $7,000 short of his goal, people chipped in the rest.
“A little person can do something really good. You don’t have to wait to be an adult,” said Jackson’s mother.


One hundred and ten years ago this church was founded by men and women moving to this new town in the Colorado Frontier. They came from places like Missouri—I hear there were a lot from Missouri—and other places further east. They bought land and planted crops. And they decided that there needed to be a Baptist church. So they started one.

Somewhere in the process folks decided to build a building. Interesting thing was that the church wasn’t established enough to get a loan on its own. So folks started taking out loans in their own names on behalf of First Baptist Church. Why did they do that? Why take such a risk? I think it is because the church believed that God was a God of abundance and not scarcity. They believed that if they set the loaves and fish of their credit in Jesus’ hand, that Jesus would multiply that into abundant ministry.

The Lord certainly did just that. How do I know that? I know that because the loans were paid off in short order. This is true. But I also know it is true because 110 years later we are still worshipping in the same building in this same town. We built an addition when the church was bursting at the seams in the middle of the century.

Many of us can remember years where church attendance was in the teens. Some of us can remember when church attendance was in the 100s. Through the times of success and failure, joy and grief, we have seen that God has took whatever resources this church has had and multiplied them for his glory.

God is still doing it. He is still multiplying whatever we will offer him into miracles. He still multiplies our giving into ministries of love. He still multiplies our time into the good news of God’s saving grace getting out to the masses. He takes our half-hearted efforts and our reluctant participation in his kingdom and makes them into beautiful ministry.

And that starts when we offer him our very lives. Maybe you have never offered your life to Christ. You have never accepted him as Lord and Savior. Believe this, no matter what mistakes you have made, God can use you. No matter how hopeless and useless you may feel, God can do great things through you. He can make your meager loaves and fishes into a feast.

Maybe you have been running from God. Or ignoring him. Turn back. God can still use you.

So come to him. Bring yourself as your gift to him. You will be amazed at what God can do with our meager offerings.

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Fear Is Scary Stuff

I hate fear. I despise feeling afraid. I dislike living in a culture that plays on our fears. I get frustrated with people that are overanxious.

Fear is inescapable really. It is on the television. It is on the news. It is all around us. Furthermore, it springs up from inside us. We are all afraid of something. Some fears we grow out of as adults. Other fears grow with time. Some fears appear out of nowhere.

I am not OCD, but I do have some obscessive compulsive tendencies. Sometimes I have to double and triple check locks. When I was in college the only way I got through this was to say outloud what I had done. "I have locked the door. I have my keys. I can go," I would say to myself.

Today on trips I have to do this with my phone, wallet, checkbook etc. And if something is not right with my CPAP machine, I am near a nervous breakdown. It is not pretty.

Most of my adult life I have made a conscious effort to not let fear rule my life. I often fear failure. I choose to face down that fear, and to take risks. I sometimes fear rejection, and so I force myself to put myself "out there" with people anyway. I also get really anxious while talking on the phone, but we will talk about that later.

I do have fears, but most of the time I am not afraid. I am not afraid of going into bad neighborhoods. I don't fear another terrorist attack like September 11. I don't often let people bully me around by making me feel afraid.

Lately, though, as I am forming a family, I get more and more anxious about all sorts of things, and it really bothers me. I get anxious about general stuff. This week I had to drive to a meeting in Denver. I found myself getting worried about it, and pondering how I could get out of making the drive. I worry about Jennifer driving back and forth to Pueblo. I get concerned that if I leave dishes to soak in the sink overnight that mice might get to them , and I fixate on this for several minutes. I get anxious about a thousand different things that usually don't concern me in the least.

And, with a child on the way, I get anxious and fearful about being a parent. Will I change diapers right? Will I put in the car seat correct? Will the child be kidnapped? molested? Will I pass on problems that I have to my child? How much time should I put the child in daycare? What if I drop the baby? What if our child becomes a meth addict? What if she is one of those meth users that loses her virginity in a public bathroom stall like on the billboard? Will I be able to love the child enough if it is born disabled? Is Fowler a good place to raise our child? Should I move closer to family? What if I get in a car accident? What if I prepare formula wrong? Will it mess our child up for life? What if I drop the baby? What if the wobbly railing on the stairway breaks? Fear is scary stuff!

And what I find is that my anxiety about being a parent makes me more worrisome and fearful about just about everything. Is this normal? Or am I just being wierd.

Sermon 1-17-09

Scripture

⁴⁶ So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."
⁴⁹ The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"
⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. ⁵¹ And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"
⁵² Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household.
⁵⁴ This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

 ¹ After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda,^[a] having five porches. ³ In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.^{[b] 5} Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"
⁷ The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."
⁸ Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." ⁹ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
And that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."
¹¹ He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"
¹² Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" ¹³ But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."
¹⁵ The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶ For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him,^[c] because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

 

Message

 

In churches we spend a lot of time talking about the preaching ministry of Jesus. We spent a lot of time talking about the teaching ministry of Jesus. We spend a lot of time talking about the ministry of Jesus on the cross, and the new life that resurrection offers. All of this is very important. It is essential as a matter of fact. It is sad, however, that we spend very little time talking about the healing ministry of Jesus.

 

When we do talk about the healing ministry of Jesus, we usually talk about it one of two ways. Either we choose to reflect on the power of Jesus to perform miracles, or we talk about the compassion of Jesus. When we talk about the power of Jesus we talk about how God can do things that we don't even think about or cannot even imagine. This is important to remember. God is active in the world. He created the world. God can reach into our world and do things that we thought were impossible, including healing the sick. We have all seen how prayer has pulled people through situations that were supposed to kill them. We have prayed for people to survive life-threatening illness, and we see them living among us. God can do greater things that we think or imagine. He is that powerful. But as we look at these healings, that will not be our focus this morning.

 

Sometimes when we talk about the healing ministry of Jesus we remember his compassion. How he looks at people, and hurts with them and for them. We think about how Jesus touches people who nobody would touch, and makes them healthy and whole again. He restores their health, he restores people to community, and he gives them the knowledge that God loves them and has done amazing things in their life. We all have stories, at least I hope most of us do, about how we have experienced God's love and compassion. But as we look at these two healings, it is not this compassion I want to focus on today either.

 

I want to talk about how God wants to heal you. Heal me. Much of Jesus' ministry is a healing ministry. We should not forget that.

 

 

 

 

On one hand, it is hard to forget that we serve a God that we believe wants to heal us. We pray with a prayer list every Sunday. And that prayer list has names on it, and most of those prayers are prayers for healing. Specifically, 90 percent of those prayers are for biological healing. We believe that God can heal, or we would not pray for people's health.

 

On the other hand, many of us are uncomfortable with the kind of healing ministry that we have seen over the years. In the old days it was religious huckster coming through town on a bus, setting up a tent for faith healing, and raking in the dough until we ran out of money and he moved on to the next town. Today it is a television preacher encouraging you to max out your credit cards in giving to him in order to be well, and telling you if you don't give like this than you don't have enough faith. Over the years, from before the time of Jesus, people have wandered around seeking to be seen as healers in God's name so that they could line their own pockets.

 

The kind of healing Jesus wants to do in you and I is the kind of healing that is different from the self-aggrandizing faith-healers. In many ways, it is also different than the kind of healing that we ask for when we put a name on the prayer list. Jesus does not want fame for healing illness. Nor does Jesus seem to emphasize the awfulness of injury and unhealthiness. That is because Jesus does not JUST want to heal our bodies. Jesus wants to heal our whole selves. Jesus wants to heal our souls as well.

 

Let me repeat that again, speaking directly to you. Jesus does not JUST want to heal your body. He wants to heal your soul.

 

This morning we read the second and third of the signs of John. Each of them are healings. In some ways these healings are the same. In many ways they are much different.

 

 

 

 

 

The first healing is the healing of a nobleman's son. The man came to Jesus, and asked Jesus to come with him to heal his sick son. The man pleads with Jesus to come with him. Jesus instead heals the boy "by remote" and tells the father to go home and see that his son has been made well. The nobleman goes home. The son is well. It is reported that he was healed at the very moment Jesus pronounced that the boy would get better. This healing leads the nobleman, the son, and the whole household to believe in Jesus.

 

The second healing is of what we would call today a paraplegic. He has been handicapped for thirty-eight years. He stays by the healing pool, hoping to get into the water at just the right time and be healed. Jesus comes up to the man. He asks the man if he wants to be well. The man responds that he has been laying by a healing pool for 38 years, trying to imply that this was the purpose most of the people sat around the pool. Jesus tells him to get up and walk. The man does get up and walk. This ignites a controversy, because Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath. Jesus meets the man in the temple, and encourages him to stop sinning. This healing makes the religious leadership angry. They start plotting to kill Jesus because of it.

 

These healings are very different. One is in Galilee. One is in Jerusalem. These are two different regions of the country, with two different attitudes toward life and toward Jesus. One healing is solicited by a father. The other healing is unsolicited. One healing leads to belief of a whole household. Another healing leads to doubt of the religious leaders. One healing is in close proximity. The other healing is from miles away. One healing is of an older man with a chronic health problem. The other healing is of a young man with a recent and aggressive illness. The paraplegic man is poor. The nobleman's child is from a rich family. There are so many differences between them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The differences with these healings tell us something. They tell us that Jesus wants to heal us, no matter who we. Whether we are near or far away, Jesus wants to make us whole. Whether we are seeking Him, or sense that he is seeking us out, Jesus makes an effort to renew, to heal. Whether we are old or young, whether we are rich or poor, whether we have suffered a little or a lot, it does not matter. Jesus is a healer. He reaches out his hand to renew his creation that has been beaten and mangled, battered and bruised by this destructive world we live it. God does not play favorites, is not captive to anyone's agenda.

 

In spite of the many differences, between the two healings, there are some similarities. Both signs have an accompanying conflict. With the nobleman's son, Jesus addresses the crowd (the "you" in the sentence is plural) about their demands for signs and wonders. In the healing of the paralytic Jesus has to deal with people that are hostile with him because the healing was performed on the Sabbath. In both cases we can see that Jesus does not do his signs as parlor tricks. He does not heal to become famous or to get rich. Jesus does not heal people in order to impress people or draw crowds. He knows that the more people know what he is really about, the more they will want to push him down, belittle and mock Him, and crucify Him. He heals because he comes to earth to heal US. As the Scripture on the top of your bulliten says, "He has come that we might have life, and have it abundantly".

 

You will also see that neither person who was healed asked to be healed. Jesus is Lord. These signs are a Christ's initiative, they are through His power, as he wills to do them. He is sovereign. He is in control. The healing power is in His hands. He goes and heals at His pace. Nobody forces his hand. Nobody manipulates Him into healing somebody. He is God and we are not. He heals who he sees fit when he sees fit. And he does it as a sign of something HE wants to do in each of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next thing that we notice is that he performs these healings by the power of his Word. In other gospels Jesus is touching people to make them whole. Or people are touching him in faith and being healed. In John's gospel, John is sharing about Jesus being present in creation from the start, and telling the gospel events as a part of God's creation work. And this power of his word hearkens back to the first couple chapters of Genesis. God spoke and things were created. Jesus speaks and things are healed. Recreated if you will. He heals on the Sabbath. What does the Sabbath refer to? Creation! God is setting things that are broken to wholeness again. He is setting thing to rights.

 

This re-creative word brings us back to what we said at the beginning. God wants to heal all of us. He wants to heal our souls. He wants to bind up our wounds. He wants to heal our heartaches and our heartbreaks. He wants to take those things that are festering deep inside us, and bring them under the power of his healing light.

 

Many of us in this congregation have physical ailments. We are cancer survivors and accident survivors. We are diabetics and we have MS. We are asthmatics and anemics. We have lung trouble and heart trouble. Our backs hurt, our knees hurt, our shoulders hurt, and our arms hurt. Our bodies are tired, they are at points worn out. They cry out for healing. God may heal some of us of our sickness and diseases. He probably won't heal all of our physical maladies. Even Paul had his "thorn in the flesh" that he had to live with.

 

God may not heal all of our physical maladies, but he does want to heal all of our souls. There are pockets of anger and bitterness he wants to clean up. There are addictions that are rotting us away from the inside out. God wants to heal our souls. There are wounds deep down inside us that have been festering and untreated for years. A parent that abused us, physically or sexually. A parent that left our family or abandoned us. A friend that betrayed us. An enemy that belittled and mocked us until we felt hopeless and helpless. A loss of someone we have still yet to recover from losing. A loved one who so wounded themselves that it left your heart in shambles. Whatever it is you have carried that wound around with you for months or years. It has crippled you from being the person you want to be. It has infected your soul in such a way that you wonder if you could feel right again. I have news for you, God wants to heal your soul.

The question is the same question that is set before the paralyzed man. The question set before you this morning is, "Do you want to be made well?" You see there are a lot of times where we talk like we want God to work in us, we talk like we want Jesus to heal our hurts and our pains, our heartaches and our broken relationships, but deep down we don't. Deep down we are comfortable with our grudges. We are cozy with those things that poison us and hurt us the most. We don't want to change looking at others around us with hatred, suspicion, and distrust. We don't want to be vulnerable. We say we want God to work in our lives, but we do not want it to hurt. We do not want God to get deep down in the mess of our lives, treating our wounds, and making us stronger again. But that is exactly what God wants to do. God wants to heal our souls. But before he does that he looks at us in the eyes and says to us like he said to the paralyzed man, "Are you willing to be made well".

When Tony Campolo was in a church in Oregon, he prayed for a man who had cancer. In the middle of the week, he received a telephone call from the man's wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer." I said, "Had?" Whoa, he thought, it's happened.She said, "He died." Campolo felt terrible.

"Don't feel bad," the woman said. "When he came into church that Sunday, he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was fifty-eight years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up.

"He was angry that this all-powerful God didn't take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew toward God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence.

"After you prayed for him, a peace came over him and a joy came into him. The last three days have been the best days of our lives. We've sung. We've laughed. We've read Scripture. We've prayed. Oh, they've been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing."Then she said something incredibly profound: "He wasn't cured, but he was healed."

God is about giving us life. Abundant life. Three times in the story of the son being healed the word life is mentioned. Specifically the phrase "Your son lives!" The second healing God comes up to the man he healed and tells him to go forward and to stop sinning. He is not just concerned with his physical life, but his entire life. God want all of us. He wants to heal us as whole persons. He wants to make us healthy physically, yes, but also spiritually and emotionally. God wants to heal your soul. Are you willing to be made well? I hope you are!

Quotes from Gilead p. 200-END

It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor grey ember of creation an it turns to radiance--for a moment or a year or the span of a life. And then it sinks back into itself again, and to look at it no one would know it had anything to do with fire or light (p. 245)

There are a thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient (p. 243)

I woke up this morning thinking this town might as well be standing on the absolute floor of hell for all the truth there is in it (p. 233)

Light is constant. We just turn over in it (p. 210)

If you want to inform yourself of the nature of hell, don't hold your hand over a candle flame, just ponder the meanest, most desolate place in your soul (p. 208)

I blame the radio for a good deal of the confusion where theology is concerned. And television is worse. You can spend forty years teaching people to be awake to the fact of mystery and them some fellow with no more theological sense than a jackrabbit gets himself a radio ministryand all your work is forgotten. I do wonder where it will end (p. 208)

Respecting Your Elders

I knew it was going to happen. "You are LATE," they yelled at me. I was in fact not late based on the time I committed to be there, but I was later than they wanted me to arrive.

The day before I had talked to the man's daughter. Pastor Darrell and his wife were moving into a nursing home, and their daughter had come down from Seattle to help them move. "So you will be here at 8:30am on Saturday," she said.

"Well, I don't think I will make it by 8:30 I said, but I will get there on Saturday morning," I replied

"We need to be moved out by Saturday night, so I will be glad to see you here at 8:30 sharp," she said

"I don't know if I will make it by then, but I will get there sometime in the morning,"I replied

"See you then!" she said.

I knew I would be in trouble with them the minute I walked in the door. It was a little after 10 a.m. He continued to tell me I was late. I said I had not committed to make it by 8:30. He said he heard our phone conversation and knew I had. "Of course if you heard her half of the conversation you would think that," I thought.

Darrell was a retired pastor. He had made his living pastoring small churches, especially in Colorado and Wyoming. He had been an interim here in Fowler for a year and a half, but I did not know about Fowler then.

At that point Darrell was a retired pastor and Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church of Colorado Springs. He was kind and caring, surly and mean, all wrapped up in the same old man. He came to church alone. It seems like his wife had, in her old age, retired from her pastor's wife duties and church altogether. Rumor was that he had a son and a daughter. His son, however, had passed away. I think.

He knew he did not have much time left, and he had all of these sermons downstairs. All in these little manila envelopes. Some outlines. Some manuscripts. All handwritten. He wanted me, the young preacher, to have them. He thought I would find them useful. In order for me to have them I needed to lug this large file cabinet full of sermons up some steep stairs from their basement.

The sermons were, in my opinion, difficult to read and not always that well put togehter. Somehow with the dolly I lugged them upstairs and threw them with the file cabinet in the back of my Aztek. "Be careful with those sermons," he bragged, "many of them are still too hot to preach. If you use them you never know what could happen."

"Thanks," I said, "I am sure they are. Looks like you have quite a bit of them."

"Decades worth," he said.

He made a comment about the fancy cars preachers have these days. Darrel irked me. My car wasn't fancy, and to be honest I couldn't get a loan on something older or cheaper or I would have bought it. Then I waved goodbye and left.

To be honest I did not want the sermons. Darrel Rhodes and I were too different. But I knew I was the only one who would take him. I knew that it would please him to pass on his messages to a young preacher, and that he would imagine them living on past his years. Despite his consistent grumpiness with me, I knew that he was a faithful servant of God, and needed to feel like his years of service would continue to live on. So I took those sermons. I put those sermons in rubbermaid containers. After he passed away, I waited a year. When nobody asked about the sermons I threw them away. I chose to love Darrell. I did not love his sermons.

I took the sermons, dealtt with the surly attitudes they had with me that day because I felt it important to honor my elders. And nothing was more honoring to Darrell than taking his sermons. He thought he was helping me and doing me a favor. I was choosing to minister to him by allowing him to feel useful and important. I lugged that file cabinet up the stairs, I put up with their lies and their name-calling because I believe it is important to love people in a way that honors them. And that is the best I could do with Darrell.

Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is not help people, or give them something, but find ways to allow them to feel honored and useful. I think this is something we should all keep in mind, especially with our elders.

Brit Hume Tells Tiger He Needs Jesus

Interesting stuff in the news

Christmas through the eyes of expectant parents

We went to the Verizon store today. We decided to upgrade our phones and part of our Christmas for one another. Jennifer and I each had an old flip phone, and Jennifer got little to no reception in our house. We called the customer service folks, figured out which phones had the best reception, and went in to purchase them. The one that was recommended to us was the EnV3. It had the keyboard for texting. It had phone features. It was able to do all the internet stuff if we chose to go in that direction at some point, but did not require any "data" subscription from Verizon.

The sales guy we consulted with today was more energy than explanation. He was a decent guy, but kept pushing us toward the Droid. The Droid, he said, was a really good deal right now. We debated back and forth on what we wanted. Jennifer liked the EnV touch. I liked the Droid. He explained the merits of each, with the great apps that were free from Verizon. With our deal, we could have had Two Droid phones for about the same price as the other phones that were of lesser value. "Why not get this deal on the new Droid, while you can?" the salesmen emplored us to consider.

We asked him to explain to us the cost of the new coverage of the Droid vs. the EnV touch. He explained that in fact, we would be paying $30 more per phone to get all the "data" package that came with either. So, we would in fact be paying less for the phone. We would, however, be paying $60 more in coverage, which would mean that we would be paying over $1500 more over the contract of the phone.

We decided on the EnV3, that does not require a data subscription. As we headed out of the parking lot with our new phones, which we enjoy very much so far, we began to talk through the decision once more. "The way I look at it," I said, "it is like this: Droid or diapers, Droid or diapers...pretty easy decision".

Discussion Guide for A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS

Getting Started

1. On a scale of 1-5, what would you rate this book and why?
   
2. If you could summarize the point of this book in one sentence, what would it be
   

The Big Picture

1. If your life was a kind of story, what kind of story would it be? Suspense? Romance?
   
2. Does your story have a "narrative arc"? What would the theme of your life be if it were written as a story?
   
3. Do you think your story is written by you, or written by forces outside of your control?
   
4. How do you take more control of how your life is being written
   

Finding the Plot

1. What do you think of the definition of a story as "a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it"?
   
2. What do you think of Don's discovery of inciting incidents? Have you created inciting incidents in your life? How have they come into your life unannounced?
   
3. What are the major conflicts in your life? How have they defined you?
   
4. What plot turns in your story do you see ahead?
   

Getting Into Character

1. How would you feel about the process of editing your story?
   
2. How do negative turns drive a story when you observe it?
   
3. How do positive turns drive a story?
   
4. Which usually comes first, the positive turn or the negative turn?
   
5. Which of the following parts of character development intrigued you the most?
   

   Inciting incident
   

   A good character must face fears
   

   Saving a Cat
   

   Positive turn
   

   Negative Turn
   

   Making yourself the hero of your story
   

   The three acts of a person's life (discovery, stability, reflection)
   

6. How do you keep from getting stuck in a bad story?
   
7. How do you change to write a better story?
   

How do you become a more admirable character in the midst of your story?

Food Allergies

Today, I have had a number of conversations regarding food allergies that people have. It seems like there are a lot more people that are allergic to things that I remember in the past. The television is talking about kids with food allergies to peanuts. Another family expressed an allergy to Christmas trees. Is it the challenges in environment that cause more allergies? Did people with allergy problems just have a hard time and were considered sickly in the old days. I dont know. I am considered.

I Wish You Could Have Known Him....

The other day I made a visit to a member of our church. She is in an assisted living facility after a number of months moving from the hospital to a nursing home to an assisted living facility then to the one that she is in now. Whenever I visit Harriet* she tells me about her husband that passed away a few years back. And each time, after she gets done telling me about this man and his many good qualities she says, "Clint, I wish you could have known him."

Recently, as I mentioned, I went to visit her. We had a brief conversation about her new home. I was there to check in on her and make sure she was doing alright in her new home. As I was leaving she was telling me how much she appreciated me as her pastor. Then she spoke about how she missed her deceased husband. After that she stopped moving her walker, she looked at me, and said, "I wish he would have known you. I think he would have liked you. I wish he could have known you."

I smiled and thanked her for what she said, and tried not to give away that I was deeply moved. She just changed a few words in her script, but it had really touched me. She valued me enough as a pastor that she wished her deceased husband had known me. I felt like when she had changed the directions of the relationship she was honoring me, showing respect for me, and demonstrating affection for me in a new way. I felt, in short, I had went from being the new preacher to her pastor. As I left, I took a deep breathe, made sure a tear did not well up in my eyes, and departed. Then, I smiled.

If I were Tiger....

Much has been said and written about Tiger Woods in recent days. I have listened to several news reports, read several more, and listened to my wife and mother about what they thought about what has been revealed about Tiger's very public sins. Now, I want to share some thoughts about the whole Tiger Woods media frenzy.

First, I must admit I am a Tiger Woods fan. I am not usually a frontrunner or a bandwagon fan, but when it comes to golf, I guess I am. I feel like I grew up with Tiger. I followed his career for years before he began the PGA Tour. And when he went pro, I rooted for Tiger to be the best ever.

I like several things about Tiger's game. I love that he can spray his drive off in the woods somewhere, shoot an impossible approach shot, and end up with a birdie. From the beginning, Tiger has played a rock and roll style of golf in a profession that has often been more like a Benny Goodman concert.

Not growing up with a lot of wealth, I admired folks in golf that did not fit the mold of the typical golf pro. People like John Daly, who is as redneck as they come. I also root a lot for Rich Beem and I used to be a big Chi-Chi Rodriguez fan. Tiger's game fits less into the typical mold. He has made a way for himself on the golf course, and changed the way the game is played.

On the other hand, I was not always a fan of the way he played. His four-letter word tirades at fans and cameramen wore thin. Although I loved the visible passion he played with, grounding clubs and throwing things while he was golfing made me ashamed to root for him at times.

Now, when I heard the news about Tiger I was not all that surprised about hearing that he cheated on his wife. Anyone who has Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley as his running buddies should expect to find themselves in some compromising situations. I did not approve of his behavior. But, I thought who Tiger Woods has sex with is really none of my business. As I watched the story unfold, I kept wondering why people would not just let the issue go.

Through the last two weeks it has become apparent that the Tiger Woods drama will not go away. And now, Woods has taken a leave of abscence. If I was Tiger I would have managed things totally differently.

Here is what I would have done:

1. I would have made a public appearance soon after the accident. Even if I was forced to bringing in camera people and a news reporter, I would have made a VISIBLE statement. I would have shared something to the effect of "I have made so many mistakes, many of which will only be known me and those closest to me. I have cheated on my wife. I have betrayed the trust of my fans. I cannot make things right. I can try to be a better man. I hope you will give me the space to do that with my family, and the patience to earn back your trust after I get my personal life taken care of. Thanks for all your support"

He needed to be seen visually by people. He wasnt. He needed to get ahead of the story instead of having it trickle out ahead of him. He didnt.

2. I would not have said I was going to take time off from golf. Idle hands will only lead to more temptation and emotional distress for the Woods family. It is not coincidence this happened in the off-season. Instead I would have said that I was limiting my appearances and reevaluating my life in such a way that I would only particpate in majors and in tournaments where I could be at home at night. A self-imposed house arrest for Tiger will not help Tiger's marriage. I will not help his image either.

3. If I was Tiger, I would work to reinvent my image to be commensurate with who I am. I would allow myself to be recast as the villian of the sports world and the golf world. I would star in commercials that poked fun at my mistakes. I would be very blunt with those who criticized me about my mistakes, and come up with snarky comebacks to put them in their place. I would be more difficult with the media. I would get a tatoo or two that was visible on the golf course. I would be the Man in Black of the PGA tour. The man that everyone hates. The antagonist of all the pretensions that are a part of the golf world. Later, as I worked on my marriage and family at home, I would hope to reinvent my image again in four and five years, pointing to what I had overcome and the good I have done in the community with my foundation.

What do you think? Do you think the whole Tiger Woods thing is truly newsworthy? Do you think there are racial dynamics in how the story is being covered? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Second Sunday of Advent

Advent Faith

RESPONSIVE READING
L: Father God, as the season gets hectic and our life gets crazy
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: to remember that the person that took our parking spot is also your child
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: to understand that seasonal employees are only temporary
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: to believe that gifts of time and money in Salvation Army pots and to helping deliver food baskets does make a difference
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: to remember that having all the family coming to town is a good thing
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: in ourselves finish all of our work, schoolwork, and projects we have taken on
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: in each other to believe that we can all praise you and worship you without expectation
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: to pray and believe we are heard
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: to pray for those who don’t have blankets—not for gifts we think we need.
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: of a child who sees decorating the Christmas tree as a gift and not a chore
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: Of a child who sees the world through eyes filled with wonder
C: Lord, give us the faith
L: to believe this candle is but one light among a million others that will guide your children back to you
All: Amen
(from the Book of Uncommon Prayer)


MEDITATION
Advent is about faith. Faith is a word that is easily confused in our society. When we think about “having faith” it can be easy to think about faith as something that we own,--a possession or a noun. We talk about different religions as different “faiths”. Faith becomes for us then an idea, or a value system. Scriptural faith is not primarily an idea or an object. Faith, first and foremost is a verb.

Faith describes an action. Having faith in God is about courageously trusting God. It means that we trust even when we do not quite understand all the details of how things are going to work out, and when God’s promises are going to be fulfilled. We are not living by faith until we are trusting God to care and provide for us without having all the answers and demanding all the control. We have faith when we follow Christ with certainty even in light of uncertain circumstances today, and an uncertainty about what tomorrow brings tomorrow.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph? Can you imagine yourself as a young woman, who was probably in about 8th or 9th grade, becoming pregnant as a virgin,
and trusting God through that? Can you imagine the courage that took to trust that much? To trust through the teasing and the mocking? Can you imagine how foolish people must have believed Joseph to be for still taking her as his wife? Sometimes believing God means trusting in what he is doing even when everyone else thinks you are a fool. Sometimes having faith means living in the truth that “nothing is impossible with God”, and believing that truth on a daily basis.

LIGHTING THE CANDLE (read as lighting the candle)

Now we light the faith candle, and as we light it, we trust that God is at work keeping his promises and bringing his light into our lives and our world.


PRAYER

Thank you God for your promises to be faithful, and to and never forsake us if we have put our trust in you. Help us to remember that even when things seem hopeless, we can trust in your promise that “nothing is impossible with God”. Give us that kind of faith.

Sermon on 12/6

Song of Mary

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!"^[c]
29 But when she saw him,^[d] she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"
³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible." ³⁸ Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

³⁹ Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord."

      " My soul magnifies the Lord,
       ⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
       ⁴⁸ For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
      For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
       ⁴⁹ For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
      And holy is His name.
       ⁵⁰ And His mercy is on those who fear Him
      From generation to generation.
       ⁵¹ He has shown strength with His arm;
      He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
       ⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
      And exalted the lowly.
       ⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things,
      And the rich He has sent away empty.
       ⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel,
      In remembrance of His mercy,
       ⁵⁵ As He spoke to our fathers,
      To Abraham and to his seed forever."

⁵⁶ And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

 

It is easy to look at Mary in the pictures that were drawn of her in days of old and get a different picture of her than is Biblical. It is easy to think of her as this matronly woman with alabaster skin and a beautiful blue and white robe. It is easy to think of Mary and beautiful and docile. A well-behaved young woman from a working class or middle class family whose father worked hard and whose mother stayed home to keep house and home school her and her brother and sisters.

 

Or maybe it is easy to think of Mary as that girl that never speaks up in class but always gets straight A's in her classes. She does what she is supposed to, but generally is meek and invisible and seeks to fade to the background and into the wall whenever possible.

 

As I start to read the gospel of Luke, and as I read Mary's song, commonly known as the Magnificat, I get a different picture of Mary. I hear a young woman full of courage and energy. A strong and bold woman. A woman who asks questions for clarification of the angel of God. A woman who lives a life defined by boldness and risk. A woman who courageously stands for what she believes, no matter what the cost. A young teenager who is willing to do whatever God told her to do, no matter who it confused and made angry.

 

Most historians put Mary's age at 13, though she could have been as old as 16 or 17 and as young as 12. It kind of worked rather simply in ancient Israel. Once a young woman shows initial signs of entering puberty and being able to have children, the parent makes arrangements for the girl to get married to an appropriate man, and about a year after that she gets married. Many parents would already have arranged that man to Mary, and have begun the wedding plans.

 

Mary's parents and Joseph and Mary had already made the wedding plans. They had already received the dowry that the family got from Joseph—in effect paying Mary's family to marry her. She had already set the date for the wedding. After her 8^th grade graduation she would probably be walking down the aisle with her husband, who seemed to be a decent man with a good job to support her.

 

Then that pesky angel stepped on the scene. You know who he is. His name is Gabriel. That day he came to Mary and immediately told Mary that he had good news for her. Twice Gabriel says that Mary is favored by God. That God has seen her and approved of her. The angel tells Mary that God is with her.

 

Then Gabriel shares the big news that he has come to announce. He tells Mary that she will have a child. He tells her that she will have a son, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, that he will be in the line of David, that he will reign over the house fo Jacob forever, and that his kingdom will never end. Jesus will be his name.

 

Mary has a question, and she asks it. She asks how she can become pregnant when she has never had sex. Pretty bold to ask a question like that to an angel. But typical of a teenager to ask it.

 

Gabriel tells her that this child with be conceived not in a normal way that babies are made, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. He says after this that the child is the Son of God. And that Elizabeth, who had been barren and was well beyond childbearing years, was also going to have a child. It seems Gabriel shared this with Mary so that she would have another sign that what was happening to her was part of what God was doing. It seems Gabriel was also telling Mary this so that she would know that what was happening in her womb was bigger than just her and her situation.

He is also telling her this. There is nothing that is impossible with God.

 

There is no situation that is impossible with God. There is no town that is God-forsaken. There is no person that is hopeless. There is no illness that cannot be healed. There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven. There is no situation, on heaven or on earth that is more than God can handle. Nothing is impossible with God.

 

Mary responds by saying this "Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word".

 

At first that may appear as a passive response. A response such as "not my will, but thy will be done". That is not the kind of response that Mary has though. It is more akin to the prophet Isaiah when he encountered the angels in the Temple. Mary is saying boldly something similar to "Here am I! Send me!" or "Let's roll". It is the response of a good soldier to a general when they are giving marching orders. The angel said it. Mary believed it. She believed in what God was doing even if the whole world thought she was a fool. Or even if the whole world thought she was a slut, which it is clear that people even at the time of Jesus believed to be true. She had her marching orders. Now she was going forward armed with the knowledge that she was doing the good and just and right and fair thing.

 

Can you imagine the kind of character it would take to be pregnant out of wedlock for nine months in a community where everyone knew everyone, where everyone gossiped and whispered about the indiscretions of everyone? Furthermore, can you imagine going through all of that anger and judgment and disappointment that people would heap upon her?

 

What kind of teenage girl would it take to deal with all of that? I will tell you what kind of girl. A passionate girl willing to do what she believes is true and right even if it means defying everyone around her. A courageous young woman that is willing to do her part to bring the kingdom of God to earth. Strong. Bold. Full of conviction. Not meek or passive. Submissive to the word of God. Yes. But Mary was no wilting flower.

 

So soon after Mary discovers she is pregnant she goes up to visit her cousin Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth meets Mary John starts dancing in her womb. The Scripture said John leapt as a fetus in the womb of Mary. He started praising and dancing. And when Elizabeth touched Mary she started saying under the power of the Holy Spirit that she was blessed, that the Messiah was coming from her womb, that Elizabeth was overwhelmed to have the Mother of her Lord come to her. Furthermore, Elizabeth says that the promises that the angel made to Mary are true, even before Mary was able to share with her cousin the story of Gabriel's visit.

 

Mary responds with one of the most amazing words from Scripture. Her prayer has been banned by governments in the 20^th century, because the governments who heard it believed it to strong and too subversive. She prays a prayer that expresses the truth that Jesus came to set the world upside down. Or rightside up. Depends how you look at things I suppose.

 

She sings a song that thanks God for looking at her, and making her the vessel to bring Jesus into the world. Then she says what God is doing through her at that moment. At that moment God is turning the world on its head. He is bringing down the proud from their thrones and lifting up the lowly. He is looking with favor upon the poor and the hungry, and he is stripping the wealthy of the money they are so proud of. He is remembering his people, and he is at work setting things right for them. Those that have lifted themselves up will be brought down to their knees, and those that are humble will be lifted up from their lowly estate. This is what God is doing for me and through me said Mary. This is what is happening through this Jesus that is in my womb. Mary speaks up against the evil rulers and the greedy rich. She speaks up against evildoers in power. And she speaks up for the humble and the forgotten, the lowly and the faithful.

 

You see, faith is not passive. The word faith is an action word. It takes courage to live by faith in God. You will offend people. You will lose friends if you stand for what is right. If you walk by faith there will be times where you are literally living by a prayer.

 

When you choose to live by faith, you are living a life of active dependence on God to help, to provide, to guide, and to show the way. You are not always going to make the most money. You are not always going to have people clap for your words. You might be lonely. You might have people roll their eyes when you walk by. You might be mocked. You might even be physically attacked.

Living by faith means trusting God. At times when it is hard to trust, we must keep acting in a trusting manner. We must keep standing for God. Faith isn't faith when its easy, and when we can see the end in sight. Faith is faith when we walk step by step forward, leaning forward to hear the voice of God calling us to keep moving forward into a future we cannot completely see.

 

And it is when we have the courage to trust God when it is not easy to trust God that we see God doing amazing and unthinkable things through his people in their simple and humble estate. Will you have the courage to have the passionate faith of Mary? Will you have the courage to be as bold as Mary? Will you trust God enough to trust Jesus then? I hope you will. Because faith like that never is in vain. You never lose your investment in the kingdom of God.

 

Mary is a woman of faith. And she expresses that faith through her song and her actions. But she about more than her and her situation. As Mary sings that prayer she is speaking of a God who is faithful. Faithful to the prayers of generations. Faithful to the promises that God had made through the prophets. Faithful to love people like you and like me, and to make a way for us when there seems like no way.

 

 

 

 

By faith she points forward to what she had yet to imagine in those months when Jesus was still in her womb. She points to the love of God that sends Jesus to teach us the Way of God. She points forward to the faithfulness of a Jesus that wandered as a homeless man, and taught us how to love and live. Then he showed us what the love that regards us in our lowly state was really all about. He did that by being willing to go to the cross and to die there for our sins. Mary suffered the mocking of her peers. Jesus endured something far worse. He suffered mocking from the very people he came to save, to love, and to die for. And they beat Jesus. And the hung him on a cross. And they left him there for dead. And when he took his last breathe they ran a spear through him to make sure he had died. And to everyone who looked around it appeared like their hopes were in vain, their faith in Jesus was ill-placed, and their prayers were all for naught. But that was not the end of the story.

 

Scripture says that on the third day Christ rose again. He was victorious over sin and death. He ascended to the right hand of God. He rules even now, and he will come soon to judge the living and the dead.

 

And he urges us, as we come to this table to be bold enough to trust him. To stand with him and for him. To take this bread and this cup and proclaim that we trust that what God was doing back then means that we can stand for him and trust him even today.

 

 

 

Ultrasounds