Rejoice Always? - Phil 4: 4-8

 “What are you thankful for?” This is probably a question that you have heard at least

once in the previous weeks as we have been preparing for Thanksgiving. Maybe you have

received one of those appeal letters that start to show up this time of the year that ask something

akin to “what have you been blessed with the you can use to bless others?” All good questions.

But that isn’t where I want to go this afternoon as we gather together to prepare our hearts

for Thanksgiving. Instead, I want to perhaps move away from the holiday, just a bit, by asking

another question that comes out of the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in

Philippi - what does it mean to rejoice always?

Paul is writing from prison to a community that you can tell he deeply cares about. Just

like all of the letters that he has penned over his years as a church planter, this letter was written

to this community specifically. To people whose names he knows. Whose stories he has heard.

And Paul writes out of his own time of trials to tell this church to remain rooted in the joy of the

Lord and to rejoice, even in their own times of tribulation.

And why can this church, along with Paul, rejoice no matter what they may face?

Because the story of the Gospel, the Good News that has captured their heart, has changed them.

It may not have changed their circumstances - it hasn’t made whatever trials they are facing

evaporate. But they have the hope of God as the foundation of their lives, which allows them to

cry out to God in prayer.

Can I be honest with you? When I look around at folks who claim the name of Jesus, they

are still on the journey to get to this type of rejoicing. This type of peace. They aren’t quite there

yet. And that is something that we all bear together as the body of Christ.

A few weeks ago, I was leading a conversation amongst Christians around the topics of

when they needed to rethink their faith. This is a topic that is deeply personal to me, because two

of the places that I volunteer in the community are at Penn State Altoona and with hospice. You

may not think there are many connections between college students and those nearing the end of

their earthly lives, but there are - chiefly they have a lot of questions about faith. Questions about

what they were once taught, or at least had picked up, in their local faith community that isn’t

working for them any more. And high on that list is questions about times of trial. Because folks

had heard a lot more about ask and God will give it to you or believe in Jesus and everything will

be alright then this passage about rejoicing always - even when things aren’t going as you would

desire.

I also have seen more than one church where rejoicing wasn’t the foundation of their life.

Instead of being known as a people who rejoice and celebrate the goodness of God, they are the

people who were known both inside and outside of the church building as complainers. Joyful is

not a word that would be associated with them.

In fact, I think this is becoming more of the norm then not. As anxieties around us go up,

we get swept up into the ways of the world and our joy diminishes. Rapidly.

In the middle of October, the clergy and laity of the Annual Conference were invited to

meet our new bishop, who shared such words of wisdom and truth. He said that all too often the

church acts like a thermometer instead of a thermostat. What’s the difference? Well a

thermometer tells you what the temperature is, but a thermostat controls the temperature. What

would this look like in a culture that seems to be getting more negative and anxious by the day?

What if instead of getting swept up in the temperature around us, we became a thermostat for

joy?

And what is the marker of such joy? Shockingly its not happiness, because happiness

often brings the focus back on to our circumstances and whether they are ideal to us or not.

Instead it is making our gentleness known to everyone and showing consideration because Jesus

is near.

When that becomes the outward expression of the joy that is held in our hearts it is

transformative. It is no longer about what type of day we had. Or if someone was kind to us. Or

who cut us off in traffic. Instead, here, we can rejoice even in our sufferings.

And that, my friends, is not something that held only to this particular season leading up

to Thanksgiving. That is our lifelong calling and work as the children of God.

And that is what the world around us is longing for, even if it cannot yet be named. They

want to have people who tell them the Good News that God is present with us, no matter what

we may face.

So instead of asking you what you are thankful for this year, let’s return, O people of

God, to the idea of rejoicing always. Not just today. Not just this season. But always. For the

sake of our own transformation and the transformation of the world. Amen.

“Restore” Genesis 33: 1-17

 One of my favorite papers I wrote in seminary was on the patriarch, Jacob. Many may think of Jacob as Israel, the father of the twelve tribes and a man who trusted God, but Jacob’s story, like many of our own stories, is complicated. He was someone who was a trickster. He tricked his bother into giving him his birthright for a bowl of stew. He tricked his dad into giving him his brother’s blessing. And the result of this deception was his twin, Esau, being so upset that he vows to kill him. 

So his parents quickly devise a plan to send him to live amongst his mother’s people, specifically with her brother, Laben. Only things didn’t go so well for Jacob there, as he got a taste of his own behavior, with his uncle tricking him into marrying Leah, who wasn’t the daughter he desired. He then had to give himself in more years of service to Laben in order to be able to marry Rachel, the one whom he loved.

Along the years of serving his uncle, he had sons and a daughter from his two wives and their maid servants. He also ended up being quite prosperous, multiplying his sheep and lively hood, at the expense of his uncle’s flocks diminishing. One day Jacob discerned that he was to go back to his homeland, the place of his parents and his brother. So he took his wives, Rachel and Leah, into the field and revealed to them his discernment - and they quickly agreed to go to a place that they had never been. 

So Jacob and his entire family - all of their herds and possessions, start to slow trek back to Jacob’s home - not knowing what they are going to face when they get there - only knowing that God has asked them to go. Remember that the last time that Jacob had seen his brother he had threatened to kill him and he doesn’t even know if his parents are alive. He is so afraid that his brother, out of rage, will kill him and his family that he divided them up into encampments of who to send first - so if some would die they wouldn’t all have to perish. 

But what awaits Jacob is something that he never could imagine on his very best day in all of those years living with Laben. Esau comes to meet his family, not to kill him or to threaten him or to send him away, but to embrace him. His vow for revenge long forgotten, Esau comes to meet his brother in hopes of seeking a restored relationship. To the point where Esau runs to greet him. 

Both men meet in the embrace and weep. Out of regret. Out of compassion. And out of what now can be possible. 

And Jacob, as a sign of trying to regain his brother’s favor and out of humbleness, tries to give Eau gifts - many, many gifts. While Esau attempts to turn away by stating that he has enough. 

Have you ever tried to give someone a gift that they simply wouldn’t take? How did it make you feel? Maybe a small child tried to give you a gift of abundance that you simply thought was too much so you said ‘no’. What happens to that child’s face - it will often fall in dismay. I still remember wrapping, rather poorly,  a hardcover copy of the 3 Little Pigs which I loved so much that my name was written in large block letters and attempting to give it to my cousin on one of her visits. Her mother quickly gave the gift back to my parents, and I was heartbroken. I wanted her to have one of my favorite possessions. 

Or as an adult, have you ever tried to give someone something only to have them turn it away? While our face may not fall as it once did as a child, we still are deeply hurt, because someone did not accept our gift. 

When Esau tries to say that he has enough on his own because of how God had blessed him, Jacob insisted that Esau accept his present - or take his blessing. Jacob isn’t trying to buy his brother’s favor or forgiveness, but he is trying to acknowledge the pain he once wrought when he took away his brother’s blessing. 

What Esau wants more than the gifts is to be with his brother - to go and settle with him, but Jacob never actually makes it to Seir. First, he says that it is for the sake of the young children and fragile flocks. But he also won’t let Esau show kindness to him by providing men to accompany him on the journey for safety. Instead of going to Seir he settles in Succoth, where he set up an alter to worship God. 

Not quite the ending we were hoping for. The brothers have been reunited, but Jacob is still cautious. He is treating his brother as a king, whom a servant pays tribute to instead of his brother, but he does bring him this token of blessing. 

Friends, today we are finishing our sermon series on stewardship - perhaps in an odd place. But looking at Jacob and Esau and the gift that Jacob brought, I want to emphasize the fact that Jacob didn’t bring a gift out of obligation or to buy his brother’s favor. Instead, he offers it to him to honor him. 

Church, we give to our God, not to manipulate God into giving us what we want. Or out of obligation. We give to bless the name of God and to honor him! To honor him with our treasures and to lift high his name. 

We started this sermon series by talking about some of the reasons that folks may shy away from stewardship, but friends, we come wholeheartedly because what we give we give for the sake of the Kingdom of God. We don’t come to measure what we give by the neighbor that sits next to us in the pew, or perhaps even what we were able to give at different seasons in our lives. We give because we want to praise God and God alone. 

So in a few moments, I’m going to invite you to bring forward your pledge card with just that in mind. We don’t give to trick God into giving us what we want. We don’t give so we can demand something from God later. We give as an act of worship. And to honor God alone. 

Let us pray…..

"Reimagine" - Mark 12: 38-44

 Sometimes the scripture that we read this morning is broken into two pieces - the first with Jesus condemning the scribes and the second with Jesus praising the widow. But there is something telling that emerges when we read them together, as we will this morning, with care and compassion. 

But before we jump into the actual text, let’s take a moment to set the scene. One of the Bible Studies that I participate in always begins with the questions “where are we in space and time?” In space, we are in Jerusalem. In time, this passage takes place in the Gospel of Mark after the Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem and we are quickly moving towards Good Friday. Why is that important? Because Jesus knows that this is one of his last opportunities to teach his disciples before he gives his life on the cross. 

Jesus begins this particular teaching in condemning the scribes - but I want us to be really careful here. Jesus isn’t condemning them because they are scribes. He is condemning those scribes who behave in a certain way - taking everything from the widows. Jesus is condemning the action that isn’t a reflection upon the who the scribes were to be. 

This is so important, because in the Gospel of Mark, there are a lot of questions being raised about how the Messiah behaves and as a result, how the Messiah’s followers behave. Remember, people aren’t expecting the Messiah to show up and act like Jesus - they want a warrior. They want someone who is going to make the Roman occupation go away. They want what they have imagined the Messiah to be like in their minds. So now they are seeing Jesus show up with followers who aren’t swinging swords or speaking of war against Rome, but teaching about the Kingdom of God. And folks are confused. 

In contrast to the behavior or the scribes, we find this widow who comes into the temple in the midst of folks showing off what large sums of money they are giving and gives all that she has left - two small copper coins - think two pennies - without any show at all. And Jesus turns to his disciples and says that this - this is what the Kingdom of God is about - not doing something for show, but giving from heart. 

The problem with this text, like so many in Scripture, is how it has been abused over the years. It has become a call during months like this, focused on stewardship, to become a call to give away all that you have - just like the widow. Breath, church, because that is not where the Spirit lead me with this message this morning. 

What if this scripture isn’t about how much you give, rather about asking the question how are we behaving as followers of Jesus? Why? Because Jesus calls the scribes out not for who they are - as in their vocation - but for their behavior. And Jesus praises the behavior of the widow - not just how much she gave in comparison to what she had but how she gave. 

Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the behavior of the scribes. The same disciples who have heard whispers behind their back about how other people perceive how their Messiah is behavior and they are behaving. We have been working our way through The Chosen in The Story Sunday School. In season two, there is an episode where Matthew is trying to get the attention of some of the newer disciples who hear a pharisee preaching in the square about bewaring of false leaders. When he finally gets them aside, he explains that the pharisee is teaching about them - that he feels like Jesus is a false leader, a false Messiah - and as a result, they have a target on their back. The pharisee doesn’t like Jesus’s teaching or the behavior of the disciples that he doesn’t discern as righteous, and as a result he is out to get them. 

In telling the disciples to beware of the scribes when they fail to act in godly ways, Jesus is asking the question of them - how are you behaving? Are you behaving in a way that honors the Kingdom of God? Or are you getting distracted by all the people talking behind your back? Are you acting in hypocritical ways, like some of the scribes, or are you walking in a way that brings honor and glory to God alone?

Friends, those aren’t just questions that Jesus is asking to the disciples - they are questions to us as well today - how are we behavior? Are we acting in hypocritical ways?

We all know people who seem to have all of the right answers, yet their behavior doesn’t match what they proclaim. What if our stewardship isn’t just about what we give in the offering box, but about how we act with the totality of our lives?

One of the things that we often lift up during the time of offering here at Juniata is how God wants us to be good stewards over our time, our treasure, and our resources. God wants us to be a good stewards of the words we say, places we go, and how we show up in the world. And that, my friends, is truly being self-giving. 

Yet, how many times do we compromise what we give to God in stewardship? 

Consider, Psalm 4: 6-7, There are many who say, “O that we might see some good. Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!” You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound. Yet how many times do we show up in our daily lives or at the dinner table or at a meeting where we are not proclaiming the goodness of the Lord?

Or 2nd Corinthians 8:9, where Paul writes, “For you know the generous act[a] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” Yet, how often do we focus our words and thoughts on what we don’t have instead of what we do?

Or 1st Corinthians 13: 1-3, "If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.” Where yes, we may give, but do we give in love or give to show off to other people?

Friends, there are so many ways that our behavior reflects our heart, that is caught up more in looking good instead of genuinely giving. 

Maybe, just maybe, the widow shows us what sacrificial behavior looks like even more than sacrificial giving. Maybe it wasn’t about how much she gave, but the heart in which she gave. 

We are now nearing the end on our series on stewardship. In each of your bulletins you should have received a stewardship card. I want you to go home and pray over this piece of paper before filling it out. I want you to pray to God about your heart and behavior way more than what number you write down. Let us set aside the way of compromising our stewardship to God and pick up the way of the widow -the way of sacrificial behavior. Amen. 

Four Beasts - Daniel 7: 1-18

 It has been quite some time since I have had an opportunity to teach on the book of Daniel. The last time was for a group of college students who wanted to return to the stories they learned growing up in Sunday School. Once we hit chapter seven, we were out of those teachings. For many, this is not a story that they knew was contained within the pages of the book of Daniel. 

Chapter seven starts a series of four visions that Daniel has. All of a sudden, we shift from Daniel’s present situation and context as a captive in Babylon serving the various administrations to an unknown time in the future. 

Think back to the first week in this sermon series where we were in the second chapter of Daniel. Daniel offered to interpret the dream of the king, who had placed an odd demand on all of the wise people in Babylon - to tell him the intrepration of the dream only after they could tell him what the dream was in the first place. Of course, no one could so he was going to kill them all until Daniel intervened. In this chapter Daniel was telling the king what his dream was and what it meant. Now in chapter seven we have a shift and Daniel is the one having the dream. However, it still has to do with the same idea from chapter two - the rise and fall of human kingdoms what are replaced, ultimately, by God’s everlasting Kingdom. 

Daniel’s dream was about four beasts - some which are recognizable and others that are not. The first beast looked like a lion, but had eagles’ wings. This beast is known for its brute force that is absolutely uncontrollable, until its feathers are plucked off, and it becomes docile and human. 

The second beast looked like a bear on it’s hind legs, but with tusks. It had come to devour other nations in conquest. Then a third sort of looked like a leopard, but with four wings and four heads, signifying the dominion that it held over other nations. The fourth beast couldn’t even be described apart from the words terrifying and strong - it simply came to destroy as much as it could. 

Each of the beast was a strange sign of the powers to come - probably represented by certain kings, none of whom as named. Throughout the years, scholars have made guesses about which kingdom each beast may represent, but the truth is what is more important is the twofold message that one, human power is limited but God’s power reigns and remains and two, only God knows the timing of when this revelation will come to pass. We can guess, but in our humanness, we don’t know the time. 

What I appreciate about Daniel sharing his visions is that he does not do so in order to show off, make himself seem better than others, or to lift up his own name. In fact, he is troubled by the visions. Instead, he does so because he feels compelled to by God for God’s purposes. 

As we continue to journey with both the book of Daniel and Benedict on the path of Christian humility, the next step is prudence. This step goes against our inner desire to be different from others or to make a name for ourselves. Instead, we find our identity, in its fullness, in God alone. 

Have you ever met someone who truly does not care for their own will to be done? I find that such saints are the people who give without expecting even a “thank you” in return. They are the ones who give in secret and give in abundance, not because they have a lot, but because they feel so blessed by God. 

A few years ago, the custodian at the church I was serving passed away. She was beloved in the community, but it wasn’t until after her passing that we truly realized just how much she did for the church. Because she did it silently. Without seeking her own glory. And in doing so, she set and example in humility for all around her. 

The next two steps in humility - silence and dignity - are meant to train us in patience. What a difficult word! I have yet to meet anyone who says that they excel in patience. And I am in awe of Daniel receiving this vision. If it was me - I would have all sorts of questions starting with “when, Lord?” But then again, I know that I am not a very patient person. I don’t like the idea of enduring or not knowing. But it is only when I have the fruit from these two steps of seeking to live in a spirit of patience that I can speak to others with gentleness and be heard. 

Even if the midst of such a shocking dream, Daniel is truly a man of few words. Think about this, friends. If you had a dream like this, how long would it take you to explain it to someone? Probably not the few short minutes that it took us to read this scripture together today. We are people who like to be forceful and abundant with our words. We want people to hear us. 

And if anyone should want someone to hear him, it’s Daniel, who has been given this powerful vision from God! 

Yet, he chooses his words carefully, and guided by God for the sake of God. 

For the last several weeks I have been in a training about how to have conversations where we truly hear one another. Truly listen deeply. And the way that we do so is by setting out really simple rules and a pattern for sharing and listening that is easy to follow. The pattern is that there is a prompt - someone shares about it from their perspective for two minutes - then any can ask them a follow up question using the words “I’d be curious to know.” But if their follow up question becomes too wordy or complicated or sounds like they are just sharing their opinion in the form of a question we stop and try again. 

Why? Because all too often we don’t ask questions to listen - we ask wordy questions to assert our own authority. We feel like the more words we speak the better off we look, but miss the point of shining the light of Christ through our word and our thoughtfulness with those words.

The final step of humility is that one bears their heart to God in all things and in all places - whether in prayer, work, service, or study. 

There is one more aspect of the beasts that we didn’t name before - the horns. The horns are a sign of strength and power, but they were also speaking arrogantly, which caused it to be plucked up. 

The little horn and even the beasts, only had a heart for themselves. They wanted to make there presence and kingdom known. But Daniel showed a different way to live - not just in recalling this vision, but in all of the passages that we have looked at over this past month - as he sought to have the heart of God leading him. 

Friends, as we end this series, I ask again - where are you on the journey of Christian humility? And by what heart is your life being lead - one of your own making or one that follows Christ alone? Amen. 

“Fiery Furnace” - Daniel 3: 1-30

 Out of the book of Daniel there are two stories that I remember from growing up. Every evening my parents would gather my brothers and I on the couch to read Bible stories together. We had all sorts of picture Bibles. Most of the pictures were animated and tame. But not so much for this particular story. It is hard to hear the words of being thrown into a fiery furnace, let alone depict it in a picture. Yet, as hard as this story is to think about, it still speaks to us today. 

Nebuchadnezzar, probably the same Nebuchadnezzar who repented last week when Daniel interpreted his dream, has done exactly what God predicted. He ends up building this large gold statute to honor himself and his leadership. More than that, he expected people to stop and venerate the statute by bowing the way to show that they saw him as a god. 

But these three men, who as a child, I simply thought as those guys with the hard names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refuse to bow before the statute of Nebuchadnezzar. In retaliation, Nebuchadnezzar decides that they must give their lives - tossing them into a furnace of fire. Only they don’t die. Instead, when the observers look into the fire, they see not three people, but four - with an angel protecting the three men. 

Nebuchadnezzar has another “ah-ha” moment and calls Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - and again praises the name of God. Only this time he takes it a step further. Instead of simply lifting them up in the leadership structure, as he did with Daniel, he says that anyone who spoke out against them, would be torn apart limb from limb. 

When Benedict was speaking about the ladder of humility, the third step is obedience. Now in relationship to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, what I am about to say is going to sound odd. Step Three - submit yourself to your superior in obedience, out of love of God. So how did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego live into this step of humility if they weren’t obedient to the one who looks like their leader - Nebuchadnezzar . Remember that Benedict is writing to people who are to be in relationship with Christ. The person who is charge (words that I use loosely) and they are to submit to that person because they trust that person is seeking and submitting to Christ in their lives and are seeking to be led by God alone. 

This type of humility does not require Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be obedient to what is ungodly - which bowing down to a statue of a man who has made himself into a god certainly is. We are to be obedient to God, not to what is against God. When Benedict asks monks to submit to their superiors, this was to be someone who was to point the community to Christ. They are known for their relationship with God, which has been tested and seen as fruitful by the community as a whole. And we submit to the superior because we trust that they have the best interest of our spiritual life in mind. 

In my community the person I submit to is Mary. I remember when I joined the community and Mary asked me first how I saw myself serving on the worship team. I love to write liturgy and it seems like a good use of my skills. Mary received what I said, but then asked if I would become a dean - which is a person who teaches and provides pastoral care. This was something that I never considered. I thought I was too new. But Mary asked me to pray about this opportunity, while gently closing the door to my idea to help write liturgies. I then prayed and came back to Mary and said “yes”, I would serve. That is the type of obedience that Benedict is talking about. And this is certainly not the type of leadership that Nebuchadnezzar showed.

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were obedient to God. 

The problem, friends, is when we believe that we do not need to consult with the wise people who have a vibrant relationship with God. You know the type of people I’m talking about right? They might not be the named leaders. Might not have a position. But they are the people who listen to you and pray with you and want the best in your spiritual life. Do not think you are being obedient to God without asking others to examine what you are discerning with you. Those who can hold you accountable and remind you that we do not seek to be obedient to God alone. We all need people who can help usher us into deeper spiritual growth while allowing us to see the areas that we are blind to. Which is why so few people seek to truly be obedient in the spiritual life. 

The fourth step of humility is perseverance when obedience is difficult. It would have perhaps been easy for the trio if they were asked to do what met the status quo, was of benefit to them and aligned with their beliefs - but this is not usually the case. So they were obedient to God, even when it was difficult and had the very real potential to cost them their lives. So step four, weaves together both obedience and self-denial. 

Obedience without any sting or pain is easy. 

What Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did was difficult. 

Which leads us to ask if we would do the same thing? Would we accept the challenge of obedience to the point where it requires our perseverance or would we give up and give in? Would we abandon the way of Christ for our own comforts? And would we let ourselves be brought low so that God can be esteemed?

The fifth step of humility is repentance. Now we don’t see this step of humility from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - they had nothing that we are told of in this particular story that they needed to repent from. But we do see some sort of repentance from the king. 

When we screw up and sin - when we distance ourselves from God and break relationship with other people, we need to confess that. To bring it before God and ask for forgiveness. 

Now, we might not be building tall statues of ourselves, but we do break covenant with God. So, church, what does confession look like in your life? And who are the people around you that encourage you to acknowledge your offense and bring it before God? 

Benedict actually had his monks confess their faults to an abbot - someone who had authority over them. It wasn’t the job of the abbot to scold them. It was the job of the abbot to point them to God. Why? Because left to our own devices so many of us would never bring our shortcomings and sin before a holy God. We would rather pretend that everything is okay than to have an honest conversation with God about the state of sin in our lives. 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego show us the character of true humility - no matter the cost. What is interesting about this path of humility today is that no one was making another person take it. People chose to follow because it was the desire of their heart - to set themselves aside and to grow closer to God. So, brothers and sisters, what will you choose? Will you choose the path of humility no matter what? Amen. 

God's Testimony - 1 John 5: 9-13

 When you hear the word “testimony” what comes to your mind? I attended an Evangelical college, so testimony was used to describe the moment that you claimed Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior. The problem was that I didn’t have one succinct moment. It seemed like everyone else, in sharing their testimony, had a singular moment where they turned away from who they once were. In most of these instances there was some sort of dramatic moment where Jesus appeared to them, they repented, and life has never been the same. 

That is not my testimony. I grew up in a Christian home where I was in church from the very beginning of my life. The first pastor I ever remembered passed away recently, but before doing so, at my ordination, he gifted me with the stole that he wore when he baptized me, a few short weeks after I was born. I remember learning about Jesus’s love for me in Sunday School and knowing, deeply knowing, that it was true. 

When I was in high school, I was invited to a Bible Study, where I joined with so many other young people craving to learn the word of God, that we out grew our leader’s living room and home, until the church eventually had a trailer we could all meet in once a week. It was there I learned more about the scripture that rooted me in the love of Christ. 

In college, I felt a tug to set aside the plans that I had for my life and pursue ministry, something that I never imagined, but was truly a calling from God. My testimony, the story of Jesus speaking into my life, isn’t one or two large moments, but an endless series of small moments of sinking more deeply into the love of Christ. 

When the author of 1 John is writing to believers about their testimony, he is saying that it isn’t rooted in human words or perceptions, but is telling the story ultimately of God. Of God who is greater. Of God who gave his very Son so that you and I can be set free. Our testimony ultimately isn’t about you and I - it’s about Christ. Who was and who is and who is to come. And that is the source of our lives. 

The problem is that we can fall into one of three traps. The first is that we try to out testimony one another. We would sometime get stuck in this cycle at camps or in Bible studies, where one person would share their story only to have the next and the next try to make their story more intense - as if trying to prove that God had saved them more than someone else. This is not the case, dear brothers and sisters. Salvation is a gift from God, that yes, may find us in different places in our lives, but does not rank some as being more saved than others. 

The second trap that we can fall into is thinking that we don’t have a testimony at all. Friends, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have a testimony. It may not sound like everyone else’s but it is your story of God’s grace in your life. You story of knowing that God has given you eternal life through Jesus Christ. 

Which brings us to the third potential trap, not actually taking time to consider what God has done and is doing in our lives. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the day that we don’t take time to truly notice God’s presence in it or how those moments throughout the day integrate into the ongoing story of God’s love, grace, and truth into our lives. 

Which is where I want to focus us today. On that third point. For the last three weeks, we have been focusing on John Wesley’s Three General Rules, sometimes known as the Three Simple Rules, which he used to shape the people called Methodist. But as we heard last week, as we discussed what it means to “stay in love with God” that there are variety of different practices that we can glean to help us connect more deeply with God. One such practice is called the daily examen. These are short prompts or questions that help us examine our day with God in prayer. Notice that I said “with”. This is truly a time of inviting God to walk through our day with us, where we ask God to show us how he was acting in our lives, look at our day and ask God to reveal to us where we fell short, and look forward to tomorrow to live again in the grace of God. 

When we at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, I invited the congregations I served to engage in the examen together as an act of testimony and hope. Each day, I posted the questions from the daily examen on Facebook to help us reflect upon the day and discern the movement of God’s spirit that we maybe wouldn’t notice if we did not pause and think about it. Each day, we would ask each other -where did you notice the presence of God this week and what brings you hope?

We shared our responses on the internet, in phone conversations throughout the week, in texts. Wherever we could as we intentionally looked for God’s movement in and amongst us. 

But the Examen isn’t just for that time. Or other times that are difficult. It is meant for us to focus on God every single day - to lead us to both praise and confession. 

Today you should have received a small examen card as you entered into the sanctuary. I want us to take time together to practice seeing God in our daily lives and telling that story. Take a moment to think back over yesterday - where did you see God moving in your life? Where did you fall short? And what brings you hope for today? Then, if you feel comfortable doing so, turn to your neighbor and share. 

Friends, this is your testimony. This is your story to tell. Of how God has given you enteral life and is with you every. Single. Day. Amen and amen. 

“You Shall Be My Witnesses” Acts 1:1-11

Sometime the Sunday after Easter can feel like a letdown. The sanctuary may not have the same feel as last week. Perhaps we were able to gather with loved ones who have since went home. We aren’t sure what to do with this Sunday after such a big celebration. 

In the Christian calendar, while Easter is the day when we celebrate that Christ rose from the grave, we also celebrate the season of Eastertide from Easter Sunday until Ascension Sunday. Now, I’m going to possibly confuse us - this text that we are hearing today - it’s one that is usually read at the end of the Easter season - on Ascension Sunday. But as we have said several times, all Scripture can be read and proclaimed any time - so today we enter into the book of Acts. 

Last week, we gathered together and proclaimed the heart of our faith - Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, but Luke tells us in the book of Acts that there is even more to the story. After Jesus was resurrected, he walked with his disciples, continuing to teach them. But he could not stay on this earth with them forever. He needed to ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father and assume the Lordship we know he has over heaven and earth. So we do not just claim Jesus crucified and resurrected, we also proclaim that Jesus is Lord. 

And if we are honest, there are times that we aren’t quite sure what to do with that statement. 

For the first disciples, Jesus gave them very clear instructions - stay in Jerusalem and wait for the gift that has been promised to you - the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

They are asked to do an incredibly difficult thing - to stay in the place where Jesus had been put to death not to long ago. The place where they hid for their lives after his crucifixion. And now Jesus is telling them to stay for an indeterminate amount of time without him. They must have felt like they had just gotten Jesus back with them and now he is talking about leaving again. Not just talking, but literally leaving before their very eyes!

The disciples don’t seem to yet understand Jesus as Lord because instead of following his instructions they are caught with their eyes gazing up to heaven instead of going out to do as they told them. Until two angels show up and ask what they are doing.

Sometimes I am blessed to work with pastors who desire to be ordained. There are lots of different components to that work and twice you need to write thesis papers about what you believe about things we say as a Church that are central to who we are. One of those questions is about Jesus as Lord. 

And folks get stuck. 

Not because they don’t have the words - they have lots of words to describe Jesus’s Lordship, but because they haven’t yet distilled those words from head to heart. And I don’t blame folks at all when they struggle with that, because it is so true of many of us here and now today, just as it was with those early disciples. It is easy to say that Jesus is Lord, it is harder to follow him, especially when he asks us to do hard things or doesn’t give us all the details that we desire. 

The disciples were living in this between time. Between the resurrection and what was to come next. Between what they now know - Jesus is standing with then and has been walking with them for the last several weeks - and the unknown of Jesus saying that he is leaving again. How do you think the disciples received this news? I would guess that they were disappointed and that this holy space of the between time felt all-to-short. 

The reality is that the disciples were still shortsighted when it came to Jesus’s Lordship. They ask this question - “are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” In other words, are you going to be the leader that we expect? Are you going to do what we want you to do? 

And Jesus tells them that isn’t for them to know. 

Their vision is too small. They still think Lordship is about the here-and-now, overthrowing the Roman government, when Jesus is trying to show them what his Lordship is about. That he is in the business of transforming the world and that they are invited to be part of that work. 

And yet, they can’t even follow the first instruction. 

Because Lordship asks them to surrender their ideas and inklings and actually follow Jesus. 

Last week we read together the first eight verses of Mark 16, which is some ways felt like a very unsatisfying resurrection proclamation. The women were afraid. They didn’t go and tell. But the later writings of Mark added a more robust explanation, where Jesus appeared to the disciples again and again and told them to go and preach the Gospel. And then what comes next sounds similar to Acts 1 -  “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God” But they also did the work in Mark’s text. They went and proclaimed, preaching everywhere and performing signs that accompanied the words. They did the work of witnessing and glorying Christ. 

The work that we are still called to today. 

In some ways it feels like we are living in our own between time. Between looking up with the disciples and not really following Jesus’s directions as our Lord and Savior in Acts 1 and witnessing to Christ as our Lord in Mark 16. Between hoping that we misheard Jesus when he asks us to do hard things and actually following him to the very ends of the earth. Between hoping that someone else will do the Kingdom work for us and trusting Christ to lead us into the work that we are called to do. 

But in order to move out of that between season we need to examine what it means to say that Jesus is Lord. To proclaim that Jesus as Lord lives on in the church through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Which means we need to do that work of moving from our head to our heart. I once had a congregation member named Mr. Jack, who was so, so wise. Two things that he has said, amongst many, that have stuck with me are ‘you can’t be so heavenly minded that you aren’t any earthly good.’ And ‘the most dangerous place to be is the eight or so inches between your head and your heart.’ We can’t be caught with the disciples just looking up at the clouds instead of following Jesus as Lord. And we can’t be so caught up in our heads that we never actually proclaim Jesus is Lord with our hearts. When we get caught in those in-between places, well, it makes it hard to do what we are asked - to go and be Jesus’s witnesses to the fact that he is the resurrected Lord! Amen.