Reflections on "Getting Paid" Matthew 20: 1-16

No reflections, just the content of the sermon posted before it's been preached due to my leaving town right after worship today.

“Getting Paid” June 14, 2012; FPC, Troy, Matthew 20: 1-16; Kirkmont Parables

Introduction: A fairly familiar parable. Often known as the parable of the "Workers in the Vineyard" because it is about workers hired to work in the vineyard.

What other titles might work for this parable?

Consider these title.

a. Parable of the Less than Brilliant Business person

1. These days we hear a lot about outsourcing work to other countries.
2. We may not like, but we understand it. If a company can send work to a factory in China or Mexico and the labor costs are considerably less, it makes the cots of the product less. What smart business person would not do that?
3. The owner in the parable does not get the need contain labor costs.
4. In fact, instead of containing costs, he implements a policy that will increase the costs.
5. The last persons hired will be paid the full wage, even though they will have very little time to any work.
6. I suspect this hiring practice is not being taught at the Wharton School of Business.
   Parable of the Less than Brilliant Business person
   
   
   b. Or Parable of the Workers No One Wanted:

1. I don't think Troy has a place, but I know several that have a corner where day laborers gather and people come by and pick up workers.

2. The small town in VA where my grandmother lived had a corner like that and there is a corner in my mother's town that has one as well (in fact, they have built something like a bus shelter there to provide cover from the weather for those waiting to get hired.

3. I assume that as people come by to hire day laborers, the one who look like the best workers get hired first (at least, that's how I would do it)

4. In the parable Jesus tells the owner asks the workers at the end of the day, “why have you been standing here all day.”

4. “Because no one has hired us.”

4. Maybe it was a numbers game. More workers needed that day.
5. Maybe these workers are the ones who look like they cannot handle the work or that they might be high-maintenance, so no one picks them.

4. All we know it that no one had chosen them to come work all day long.

9. Until this owner.

Parable of the workers no one wanted.

c. Or Parable of the Excited and Disgruntled Employees:

1. can you envision the scene and hear the conversation that takes place as the day ends and the workers line up to get paid?

3. they are being paid in reverse order of how long they have been working.

4. the first ones in line to get paid find out they get a full day's wage for almost now work.

4. How often do you get more than you expect?

5.They are the excited employees

6. Actually, the workers who have been in the fields longer must be pretty excited. If the ones who hardly worked got a full day's pay, they can only imagine what they will get paid for being there all day.

7. and then the surprise – they do not get a bonus; they do not get a pro-rata hourly salary based on what the last workers to arrive received.

8. they get the same pay. They worked all day long in the hot sun and have nothing to show for it.

These would be the disgruntled employees. Angry that they are not getting what they think they deserve.

10. Frustrated, I suspect because they cannot understand what the owner is doing.

11.  Admittedly, they get exactly what they agreed to get paid, but anyone can tell this is just not fair.

Parable of the excited and disgruntled workers.

c. Or Parable of the Unpredictable Businessperson:

1. In response to the complaints from the first workers, the owner basically says "I can do what I want, and besides, you received the compensation that you agreed to work for when I hired you."

Unpredictable owner gives some the fair, agreed upon wage. To others he extends graciousness and pays them more than its worth. And, he does not see anything wrong with that.


An unpredictable owner might be nice to have if it means bonuses; not so nice if it means less money than the worker thinks he or she deserves.


Parable of the unpredictable business person


How might you title this parable?

Move 2: I suppose the title we choose depends on where do we place ourselves in the parable.

a. Sam Riccobene story: I had one one-bedroom apartment for $425; Sam had three one-bedroom apartments for $425. Hardly seed fair. In fact, I had to move down to a kitchenette model of home to cut costs, while he and his family kept living in the three one-bedrooms. The idea that the seminary was trying to help out a family, or show concern to kids who had been uprooted, or were just trying to make it possible for a second-career student to make it, never resonated with me. Until the day we read this parable in class and I went “Aha.”

b. First ones. We like idea that we are hard workers. Maybe even like the righteous indignation.

b. Last ones – I would imagine that most of us don't claim that part in the story. In real life we might like getting paid more than we deserve, but we do not identify ourselves with those persons.

100. I read a blog WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 http://donteatalone.blogspot.com/2011/09/, Milton Brasher-Cunningham “Don't Eat Alone”)several months ago and the author referenced this parable and asked the question –w hat does it look like if we see ourselves as the owner.
     1. We generally give that role to God.
     2. But imagine for a moment what it might feel like to be the owner.
     3. To be the one who offers a fair wage to some and a gracious wage to others?
     4. Do we disavow that practice in our minds, or do we embrace it?

Move 3: The wage paid by the owner is a subsistence wage.

a. What do we make of all these thoughts about this parable Jesus told?

b. Key – the wage paid all the workers is a daily wage.

1.Enough to live for another day.

2.Whether you started work early in the day or were part of the last crew, the owner makes sure you have enough to live.

100. Reminds me of the Israelite in the wilderness.

1.Complaining about being hungry, thirsty, tied.

2. They tell Moses they would rather be back in slavery than wandering the wilderness.
3. In that moment, God sends manna from heaven. And doves. And Moses can strike a rock and water pours forth.
4. The Israelites discover again that God brings them life.

500. The owner in this parable Jesus tells is that God.
     1. The God who does not care about being fair.
     2. But the God who always extends grace and gives us what we need to live.

Conclusion: Maybe we should entitle the parable: the Parable of Our Gracious God – the one who finds us wherever we are, at any time fo day, or any point in life, and offers us life-giving grace.

"Getting Paid" Matthew 20:1-16; Deuteronomy 24: 14-15

A fairly familiar parable.  Often known as the parable of the "Workers in the Vineyard" because it is about workers hired to work in the vineyard.  Read the parable and think about what other titles might work for this parable.  here are a few suggestions:

Parable of the Less than Brilliant Businessman -- who is going to pay the workers who are hired for just the last few minutes the full day's wages?

Or Parable of the Workers No One Wanted: the ones hired at the last minute had presumably been passed over for work up until that moment.  Why did no one want to hire them?  I don't think Troy has a place, but I know lots of towns that have a corner in town where you can drive up and hire workers for the day.  The small town in VA where my grandmother lived had a corner like that and there is a corner in my mother's town that has one as well (in fact, they have built something like a bus shelter there to provide cover from the weather for those waiting to get hired.  I assume that as people come by to hire day laborers, the one who look like the best workers get hired first (at least, that's how I would do it).  I would also note that in both those instances, the people waiting to do the day labor were minorities.

Or Parable of the Disgruntled Employees:  Can you imagine the scene when the workers who had been there all day discover that they received the same compensation as those who arrived late in the day?  Notice that the employees were paid in reverse order.  I wonder if the ones who had been there all day were glad that the other workers had received generous compensation, particularly since they might suppose that they will get a bonus beyond what they had agreed to earlier in the day.  I bet they were pretty angry when they realized they received the same wage.

Or Parable of the Unpredictable Businessperson:  In response to the complaints from the first workers, the owner basically says "I can do what I want, and besides, you received the compensation that you agreed to work for when I hired you."  An unpredictable owner might be nice to have if it means bonuses; not so nice if it means less money than the worker thinks he or she deserves.

How might you title this parable?

A couple of other things to note:  The wage being paid by the owner provides a subsistence wage for the worker.

I do not believe the intent of this parable is to focus on an economic policy or business plan.  In some contexts, this parable is used to point to economic policies that lean toward socialism or communism.  But, for those of us who are in a position to set wages, it ought to cause us to ponder what criteria we use.  Can we live "business is business" in one part of lives without seeing how our faith in a gracious God might impact those decisions.

Reflections on "who You Gonna Call?" Luke 11: 5-14; Psalm 121

I sort of liked the sermon, but it may have come across as a bit disjointed.  It was a fairly short sermon given that we were celebrating the Lord's Supper and having a baptism.  

I really enjoyed digging through the textual issues surrounding the translation of "persistence" and "shamelessness."  In the sermon, I chose "shamelessness" in reference to the neighbor who did not want to get out of bed (following Scott in Hear Then the Parable), but I could also better see that as "persistence," if I think about the "shameless knocking" in reference to the man looking for food.  I am struck by the fact that the context could support either translation.

“Who You Gonna Call” June 17, 2012; FPC, Troy, Luke 11: 5-14; Psalm 121

Introduction: On the top shelf in the freezer in my mother's garage sits a plastic Tupperware dish that has contained a couple of dozen cheese balls for probably two decades. Not the same cheese balls (they get replaced), but there are always frozen cheese balls that can be heated in the microwave on a moment's notice so that any unexpected guest arriving at the Culp household will have a cheese ball waiting.

Move 1: In the story Jesus tells the man does not have the luxury of a freezer with cheese balls waiting when guests arrive unexpectedly late at night.

a. No freezer, no microwave, no gas oven to quickly heat some food; in fact, on that day, he apparently has no leftovers from dinner earlier in the day.

b. But, he still has the high expectation to extend hospitality to his guest. Hospitality played an important role in their society.

100. Who should he call at that hour to help?
     1. His neighbor, of course.
     2. The same high standards of hospitality that dictate eh should feed his guest also apply to his neighbor, who should help him out in his time of need.
     3. So he goes and knocks on the door.
     4. Inside, the neighbor does not want to help. He's already in bed, the kids are asleep, it's not really his problem. “go away,” he says, “I'm not helping.”

500. Now the story gets a little bit confusing because of a translation issue.

1. Either the neighbor agrees to get up because of the his “shamelessness”; it is unclear whether that refers to the “shamelessness” of the man knocking on the door, which gets translated as “persistence” by the NRSV; or the man gets up because of his “shamelessness.” that is the neighbor knows that if he does not help the next day everyone in the village will know that he did not live out his obligation to extend hospitality in his neighbors time of need.

2. I think that the “shamelessness” of the neighbor sleeping is the more accurate translation, so let's go with that for the moment.

3. Jesus makes the point – if the neighbor will extend hospitality because of obligation, how much more will God give to us: the people God created; the people God called into relationship; the people God pledged to never forsake; the people God loves.

Move 2:  when I was on internship in S. Texas, we planned a mission trip to the border towns of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. It was about a six hour drive. As we were loading up the old van to hit the road, one of the father's took me aside. He was not just a father, but someone who had been in the church his whole life. He knew all the kids going on the trip and their families. He hands me a slip of paper with his phone number on it (plus phone numbers to reach him throughout the day -- this was before cell phones), looks me in the eyes and says, “if you have any trouble, day or night, you call me, and I will be on the road in 5 minutes.” He was serious.

That's how much he cared about his daughter and the other kids on the trip.

Imagine how much God loves you.

Move 3: Father's Day: celebrate Father's; more than a Hallmark holiday; I suspect many people will take today to reflect on how much their father's love them and what their father's have done for them through the years.

Think about what the imperfect love of our human fathers allows them to do for their children, and imagine what God, who loves perfectly, will do for you.

Move 4: In1984, the highest grossing comedy at the box offices was “Ghostbgusters,” starring Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis.

And perhaps even more pervasive than the movie was the title song, “Ghostbusters” that had many people asking the question: “Who you gonna call?” and getting the answers “Ghostbusters” or whatever funny variation they could make to parody that song.

Do not take my mention of this movie as a recommendation to run out and rent it. I don't recall liking the movie that much. But, that's an interesting question: if ghosts takes over your house in NYC, who are you going to call? Ghostbusters?

Better yet, if you are in crisis and need some help, who are you gonna call? The Psalmist who wrote Psalm 121 knows the answer is God. “From where will my help come?” “My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”

The same God about whom Jesus tell his story.

Move 5: Put it in the context of our worship today.

a. As Riordan grows up, who should he call when he needs help or is in trouble? God, the one who claims him in the waters of baptism/

b. When you are in trouble and need help. Who you gonna call? Come to the Lord's Table and meet the one who has already answered that question by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead.

Conclusion: "Ghostbusters” finishes with a dramatic scene in which the three heroes band together against the evil paranormal and destroy the giant Marshmallow Man in a single explosion. Evil has been defeated. As hundreds of New Yorkers wipe the melted marshmallow goo from their brows, the Ghostbusters are applauded by the city's population.

In much less dramatic fashion, we just come to the baptismal font and come to our Lord's Table. No marshmallow goo and no clapping; just the God who always answers when you call.

"Who You Gonna Call?" Luke 11: 5-8

The sermon text was wrong in the newsletter (my bad), so if you were wondering what parable was in the first chapter of Luke, you do not have to wonder any longer -- it is the11th Chapter of Luke!

This lesson has a very important textual issue.  The NRSV translates "persistence" in the vs. 8 and connects it with the person who is knocking on the door.  The literal Greek is "shamelessness," and it is ambiguous as to whether it refers to the man knocking on the door or the man in the house.  The "persistence" translation grows out of the context of vs. 9 in which Jesus refers to asking for things.  If "shamelessness": is correct, it could refer to the man in the house, which would suggest that the point of the parable is about how much more God will answer our requests if the neighbor will answer out of "shamelessness."  Bernard Scott (Hear Then the Parable, 91) makes a pretty good textual argument for "shamelessness."  I will probably go with both translations to some degree and blur the textual issue while making two points about God's graciousness and our asking.  I think that I can do that with integrity, in part because the editors who put Luke together obviously saw the connection between asking and God's gracious hospitality, so why shouldn't we?

When I read this parable, my immediate response was "who you gonna call?" from the movie "Ghostbusters."  Of course, the older crowd and younger crowd will probably not even recognize the movie title, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.  

What thoughts do you have about this parable?

Reflections on "Four Seeds" Mark 1-9; 13-20

When I first glanced at this parable and came up with the sermon title for the LINK, I thought I would be thinking about each individual seed and what happened to it.  But, as I did my work on the text, that theme did not survive.  

it's a fascinating passage to study, in part, because it not only has the parable, but the interpretation of it attributed to Jesus.  it became a little more challenging, however, when I really thought about the implications of the interpretation part being an add-on from the early church to put in the gospel what they thought Jesus would have said in addressing the issue of their time -- why some hear the gospel and respond and others do not.  Suddenly, I am trying to evaluate how much stock I should put in the section section of the text, at least as it pertains to interpreting the parable.

I looked back at how some others have treated this text and discovered a sermon by Martin Luther that focused solely on the how we intrerpret and claim the Word, which build off the second section of the reading.  Geroge Buttrcik, a well-known 20th century preacher and preaching professor, had a study on this parable, and he focused on the soil, not the sower.  How do we prepare fertile soil for the Word to be heard, in other words.  Interestingly, I already had that as one of my options from my initial brainstorming. I think there's  a good sermon in that thought.

But, when I read Scott's study on the parable, I was struck by the simplicity of what he did.  Sometimes I make so much of the study tools, that I forget what it's like to just hear someone talk, like those first listeners did on the beach when Jesus first told the parable.  I suspect they were not dissecting his every word or analyzing how what he said fit into the farming models of their time.  Scott argues that what they heard was  a normal story of planting seed, and that the "a-ha" moment was when they realized that God was at work in the midst of their everyday world.  Over the years, I have found Scott's commentary on the parables (see footnote at bottom of sermon) to be the best resource for preaching on the parables.

It turned into a sermon I enjoyed preaching.

“Four Seeds” June 10, 2012; FPC, Troy; Mark 4: 13-20;

Introduction: Over the first part of the summer we will be reflecting on six different parables, that is, stories, that Jesus told.

If you happen to go to a camp this summer at Kirkmont Camp and Conference center, you will encounter these same parables in the Christian education each day.

Bottom line – I am teaching the Christian education component at Sports camp at the end of July, so I am test-driving my thoughts on ya'll before I go to teach it at Kirkmont!

Move 1: Jesus told these stories, these parables, these riddles because they caught the listener's attention with both their simplicity and their complexity.

a. As the listener first hears the parables, they seem simple and inviting because they present scenarios that we can relate to in our daily living.

1. How many of you have ever lost something and then look for it? Then you know something of what the woman who looks for the lost coin is doing and feeling.
2. How many of you have been at work and wondered about whether your pay is adequate? Or been at work and heard what the person working next to you is making and decided that you were not making enough and that was not fair, or that you were making more money, so you better keep your mouth shut.
   Every high schooler I talk to right now who is beginning a summer job cannot only describe the job, but how much money they are making (if they don't mention, ask their parents who definitely know!).
   When can connect with the workers in the vineyard who wonder about how much everyone is getting paid that day.
   3. Most of us may not be farmers, but we have experiences that help us relate to the scattering of seed. Right now, in fact, everyday I wander among the bare spots in my lawn to see if the seeds I threw out (yes, I literally sowed seeds earlier this month) have germinated, or need more water, or have disappeared from sight leaving me to wonder why the seeding process did not work in that particular area. So we know something of the situation Jesus describes about the sowing of seeds.
   4. Important reminder – what Jesus tells us, what we read in the biblical texts is about the real world and our very lives.
   b. But the parables also bring a complexity to them as the listener interprets them.
   1. The beauty of the story is that each of us can incorporate the story into our own context in different ways.
   2. When Jesus tells a story, he is not offering up a set of mathematical facts that are black and white; no, he's offering a story that speaks to our particular lives, which means each of us can hear the parable a little bit differently.
   3. The good news with the parable we read this morning is that the text also gives us an interpretation from Jesus.
   4. The not so good news is that many scholars believe that the early church probably added on the interpretation attributed to Jesus when the Gospel of Mark was put together. In other words, the interpretation we find in the text reflects both the concerns of the early church, and also how they believe Jesus would have spoken to their concerns.
   5. the early church was concerned greatly about why some people believed in Christ and others did not.
   6. They narrowed the focus of Jesus' story to why some people hear the Word and follow Christ and others do not.
   7. An important issue, no doubt, for them and for us.
   8. Certainly, we can learn from about this issue from this parable.
   Move 2: But, for a moment, I want to broaden the focus of our interpretation of the parable back out and hear it as if we were listening with those people gathered on the beach as Jesus told this parable for the first time (sit back and imagine you are on the crowded beach listening as Jesus tells this parable from the boat).

a. If we do so, I think we hear Jesus tell a remarkable truth in an unremarkable story.

1. the story of the person scattering seed is an everyday story with fairly ordinary results.
2. In a time long before precision plowing and planting and big machines that could make sure the lines were straight and the seed planted to ensure its growth (or at least as best can be done), there was a randomness and vulnerability to planting seed.
3. The seed was scattered, and some seed grew and others did not. I'm sure there were secrets to making seeds grow in Jesus' time, but it w as less scientific and more dependent on the environment and the weather patterns.
4. Some biblical scholars tear apart the planting practice described to determine if it were a spring planting or second planting in the fall; or if the process used involved plowing first or planting first and plowing second, but I don't think the listeners were heard Jesus' story and thought about the detailed specifics about how the seed was scattered. They merely heard about someone throwing out seed like those who planted did.
5. They also recognize that some seed will grow and other seed will not.
6. They may not have always broken the seed down into categories, but Jesus pretty well summarizes the possibilities that could happen to the scattered seed: some land in places where the birds will snag them; others land in places where they might experience rapid growth, but will burn out before they fully grow into maturity; others will get snarled in weeds as they grow, and never make it to harvest either. But some will grow, and their will be a good harvest.
7. The thirty, sixty, hundedfold harvest represents a very good yield when compared to what farmers might expect at that time. Not an unbelievable yield, but a good crop. A crop that would please the farmer. A crop size that would not astound the listener, but would a size that the listener would hear about and think, “that was a good harvest.”
8. An unremarkable story about farming, really.
   b. But, in the midst of that story, do you hear the truth that Jesus tells them and tells us?
   1. IN our everyday living, we can expect to see God at work.
   2. some of us may know what it it like to the seed that lands on the path and never even gets started before our hopes and dreams and ended.
   3. Or others of us may know what it is like to get excited and filled with energy about something and then we burn out. Sort f like the seed that falls on rocky ground.
   4. Or others of us may know what it is like to one minute seem to be doing fine, headed in the right direction, but then the worldly pressures, or our bad decisions, or some other distraction entangles us and keeps us from becoming what we want to be. Sort of like the seed that is choked by the thorns
   5. Or, I suspect, we know from personal experience all of those concerns or issues at different times in life.
   6. Our daily lives have lots of challenges and thorny situations.
   7. it is hard to follow Christ, to live into the image of God, to become that new creation God has in mind for us.
   b. Hear the good news! In the very challenges of our lives, God works to bring about an abundant harvest.
   1. what is remarkable about this story Jesus tells is that some seed grow into an abundant harvest.
   2. the challenges make take their toll, but God cannot be thwarted.
   2. three out of the four scenarios Christ describes for the seed end in failure, but God continues to bring about the harvest.
   3. what is remarkable about this story is that some seed grow into the bountiful harvest.
   Conclusion: and with those first listeners we realize that the God who sent Christ is seeking us out in our daily living;
   that the God who sent Christ will not be stopped by rocky ground, or thorns or birds that quickly eat up the seed.
   No, the God who sent Christ will not stop until each of us become part of God's bountiful yield.

Listen, Jesus has a story to tell.

This sermon is indebted to Bernard Brandon Scott's book, Hear The the Parable: A commentary on the Parables of Jesus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. (343-363)

"Four Seeds" Mark 4: 1-9; 13-20

late getting blog info to you, and I don't have much material to report.

The text is the parable of the sower.  I am the Christian education person for Sports camp at Kirkmont Camp and Conference center, and the curriculum focuses on six of Jesus' parables.  I will be preaching each week on the parables, in part to help prepare me for my CE gig at the end of July!

The Markan passage has both the parable and then Jesus' explanation (vss. 13-20).  Many scholars believe that Jesus' interpretation represents the voice of the early church, not necessarily the words of Christ.  Not sure it makes a difference to how we interpret the text, but it is something to consider.

I have been playing with how to approach the text.  Do we think about how we are the different seeds?  Maybe at different times in life we are different seeds?  Most of the people listening would be seeds that grew, right?  Or else they would not be in church?

Maybe it would be interesting to think about the church as the soil.  How do we provide fertile ground for God's Word to be heard?

Reflections on "A Mystery" John1: 1-18; Romans 8: 12-17

Sunday began with a pastoral care that kept me from spending much fine tuning time on the sermon.  Fortunately, it had come together in my head pretty well, so it flowed together easily in the limited time I had Sunday.

I enjoyed this sermon.  The illustration about creation really added a lot to the sermon (thanks to one of you for that reference).  It was not new info to me, but I had not connected it with the sermon until I received the story reference.  

I probably could have done more with the image of mystery for our journeys.  The MASH illustration did not come to mind until Sunday morning, or I could have built more of the sermon around it.  Of course, I know I have used that illustration previously in a sermon, which makes me a bit uncomfortable (probably no one else remembers my using that story at an earlier time).

A final thought:  why did I preach a series on telling our stories in a Presbyterian Church (not FPC, Troy specifically, but Presbyterian churches in general), which is known for not telling its story!

“A Mystery” June 6, 2012; FPC, Troy, John 1: 1-18; Romans 8: 12-17

Introduction: We finish our sermon series on telling our story – that is, God's story and our story and how they intersect – we finish by being reminded of the the mystery of it all.

Appropriately, today is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday we are reminded that we follow a God who is both three persons and one. A mystery in and of itself!

Move 1: Mysterious God.

a. The God we meet in the Old Testament stories is mysterious in an awesome sort of way.

1. The Israelites dared not utter God's name, so awesome was God.
2. To see God's face would mean death.
3. Only select people could be in conversation with God.

b. In the New Testament, we come to know God in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ.

1. But even that personal nature of God is a mystery.
2. How do we explain that Christ is fully human and fully God.
3. Or better yet, how do we understand the Holy Spirit.
4. The passage from the Gospel of John strongly reminds us that Christ was there with God at the beginning; that Christ came to live among us; but, John does not solve the mystery.
5. Paul tries to explain to the Romans about God and the Holy Spirit. We read about how we become children of God by the power of the Spirit, but I”m not sure that really solves the mystery.

100. How do you imagine God in three persons?

1. Perhaps you read the book the Shack (written by William Young). If so, you may remember the way the author depicts the Triune (as an aside, my spell check does not acknowledge the existence of the word Triune) God. Young depicts the Father as an African-American woman called Papa; Jesus as a Middle Eastern man who wears a tool belt; and the Holy Spirit as an Asian woman named Sarayu, who gardens and collects tears.
2. When Mackenzie, the main character, first meets these unlikely members of the Trinity, he asks, “Which one of you is God.” “I am,” said all three in unison. Mack looked from one to the next, and even though he couldn’t being to grasp what he was seeing and hearing, he somehow believed them” (87).

3. My guess is we may have strong image of Jesus (probably driven by the pictures of him we have seen); maybe some sense of God, the Father (again driven by our image of Father); maybe not much of an image of the holy Spirit (hard to visualize God as tongues of fire or blowing winds).

God as mystery.

Move 2: Our story is a mystery

a. We never fully understand our story.

1. Surprises along the way.
2. Decisions we make that lead to new chapters.
3. Even when we look back over what has happened, we often have changing understandings of what took place.
4. Our stories are mysteries.

b. art of the challenge is we do not know what tomorrow will bring.

1. MASH story: reading a mystery novel, but the last page is torn out of the novel.
2. Everyone tries to figure out how the book might end.
3. Even call the author, who gives them an answer, but one they can disprove.
4. They never figure out who did what to whom.
5. Our story unfolds as mystery.

Move 2: We do know that we are in it together.

a. one of you sent me an article this week that reminded me of a truth we encounter every time we read Genesis, but one we typically gloss over.

1. “The Genesis account does not say “Let me make humankind in my own image, but let us make human ind in our own image according to our likeness.” This is not a “me” God, but a “we” God. God from the beginning is, not God as bad math, but God as community.
2. The Triune nature of God assures that God is in fellowship with God’s self. In the Beginning is Creator, Word and Spirit all co-mingling to bring forth creation. Here God creates communally. “Some Thoughts on the Holy Trinity”

by Nadia Bolz-Weber 06-01-2012 | 12:58pm, http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/06/01/some-thoughts-holy-trinity/ Sojourners blog: God's Politics

b. By definition, the God we follow is relational, is about community.

1. Our story is not only our story, but it is connected to God's story.

2. It is connected to the stories of those people who are around us.

3. We do not live out our stories in isolation.

4. To be made in the image of God in three persons means to be made to be in relationship.

Our story is a shared story.

Move 4: Possibilities

a. Lillian Daniel (UCC minister and writer about the plight of the church in the United States,)

1. “spiritual but not religious is really boring; anyone can find God in the sunset; the challenge is to find God in a community that sees God differently than I do.”
   b. Father, Son and Holy Spirit

1. God who creates.
2. God who Redeems us in Jesus Christ.
3. God who is continually working on us and for us as we are swept away to new places by the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. 4. that ought to be pretty exciting.

100. I was reading an author recently who wrote about trying to write novel. About how he created a character whose life ended up getting so completely boxed in that the there was no place to go in the story, so the author had to throw out the novel.
     1. Our Trinitarian God ensures that our story never has to be thrown out – there is always another possibility.
     2. Perhaps the reason we see the mystery in God is that we do not have the words or the life experience to capture God fully. God is always beyond our limitations.

Conclusion: when will your story end? How will the last sentence be written? No one knows. But, we know that God the creator, God the redeemer and God the will be with us whenever it is written.

"A Mystery" John 1: 1-18; Romans 8: 12-17

The sermon series on "telling our stories" concludes with this sermon that suggests that we can never fully know God's story or even our own story.  Sunday is also Trinity Sunday, which is the Sunday when we focus on the mystery of knowing God in three persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In William Placher's section on the canon, he writes:  "If we do not accept the rough reliability of the picture of Jesus we get in the Bible, then we just cannot know who he was" (Placher, The Triune God, 62).  Placher notes this in response to people who suggest that their are other non-canonical texts that have lots of information about who Jesus was.  As I read that in the context of preparing to preach on the Trinity, it occurred to me that if the Bible is all we have, then we better get comfortable with following a mysterious God because there are a lot of unknowns about God in the biblical text.

How have you encountered the mysterious nature of God?

The Trinity is about how God is revealed to us in three persons, but I do not believe we ever have full understanding or complete revelation.  Likewise, do we ever get to where we completely understand what is happening in our own lives?  Or have complete knowledge of what God is doing or is going to do with us?

Peace,

Richard