"Jesus: The Heart of Our Existence" Matthew 16: 13-20

During Lent this year, the congregation is invited to study Henri Nouwen's book Letters to Marc About Jesus:  Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World (HarperONe Publishing; 1988; Translated by Hubert Hoskins).  The following are the study notes that are being provided for use this first week of the study.

Letters to Marc -- Week of March 2, 2014

Schedule: 

            Week of March 2:  Jesus:  The Heart of Our Existence

            Week of March 9: The God Who Sets Us Free

            Week of March 16:  Jesus:  The Compassionate God

            Week of March 23:  Jesus:  The Descending God

            Week of March 30:  Jesus:  The Loving God

            Week of April 6:  Jesus: The Hidden God

            Week April 13:  Listening to Jesus

1. Henri Nouwen

a.       Born in Nijkerk, Holland, on January 24, 1932, Nouwen felt called to the priesthood at a very young age. He was ordained in 1957 as a diocesan priest and studied psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. In 1964 he moved to the United States to study at the Menninger Clinic. He went on to teach at the University of Notre Dame, and the Divinity Schools of Yale and Harvard. For several months during the 1970s, Nouwen lived and worked with the Trappist monks in the Abbey of the Genesee, and in the early 1980s he lived with the poor in Peru.

b.      Nouwen's spirituality was influenced notably by his friendship with Jean Vanier. At the invitation of Vanier, Nouwen visited L'Arche in France, the first of over 130 communities around the world where people with developmental disabilities live with those who care for them. In 1985 and 1986 he spent nine months with the L'Arche community in France. It was during this time that he wrote these letters. 

            c.   Nouwen's other books include The Wounded Healer, In the Name of Jesus, Clowning in Rome, The Life of the Beloved and The Way of the Heart.

            d.  He died on September 21, 1996 from a sudden heart attack

2.  Overview of Letters to Marc:  Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World

            a.  Nouwen is 54 years old when he writes these letters to his sister’s son Marc, who is 18 years old.

            b.  His nephew is trying to figure out what he believes, and Nouwen offers to give him insights from his own life.

            c.  Nouwen knows that what he is writing will be published.  

Conversation starter:  How has your faith changed in different stages of your life?

3.  Nouwen notes that living spiritually “is more than living physically, intellectually, or emotionally.  It embraces all that, but it is larger, deeper, and wider.  It concerns the core of your humanity (4).

            a. Nouwen identifies the spiritual life as being centered in our hearts.

            b. He does not use heart to make a contrast between heart and head (i.e. feeling vs. thinking), but he suggests that the heart is the center of our being.

            c. he suggests that spiritual is not the opposite of physical or emotional or intellectual (4), but notes that the “unspiritual” would be that which does not affect the heart of our being (4).

            d. He notes that there are many contexts in which to discuss spiritual, but the context he uses is his Christian faith, which leads to the assertion that to live spiritually as a Christian is “Living with Jesus at the center” (6,7).

Conversation starter:  How would you describe your relationship with Christ?  What events have caused significant challenges and/or affirmations of your relationship with  Christ?

4.  Matthew 16: 13-20

            a. Caesarea Philippi had a shrine to Pan, the god of shepherds and flocks, and the city was associated with various displayed of imperial power.  Interesting place to contrast who Jesus is with all the other options readily available.

            b.  "Son of Man" is a phrase from the Jewish tradition that could reference a human being (Ezekiel 2), or to a heavenly figure who rules (Daniel 7: 13-14) and pronounces God’s judgment at the end of the age on oppressive rulers (Matthew 25: 31-46).

            c. Jesus has just performed miracles and argued with the Pharisees and Sadducees.  When he asks the disciples who people say he is, they could go in lots of different directions and still be accurate.

Conversation starter:  If you have do finish the sentence “Jesus is….. (and don’t use compound sentences in your response!), how would you?

            d.The disciples offer answers that reflect their history and what they have observed, but Jesus wants them to claim him in a way that goes beyond describing and connecting with others, so he asks them who they say he is.  Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” 

            e.  Interestingly, this affirmation has already been made by the disciples when Jesus walked on water to join them in the boat (14:33).  Maybe we need to keep laying claim to who Jesus is in our lives!

5. Nouwen finishes by noting that he does not lecture his nephew about who Jesus is (share book knowledge), but he wants to share how he has come to know Christ.  Nouwen notes that this will not avoid the big questions, but it will allow them to be answered in the context of Jesus, who is at the heart of his existence (7)

Resources used in preparation of these notes:

            The New Oxford Annotated Study Bible

             Letters to Marc about Jesus:  Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World;             www.henrinouwen.org/about_henri/about_henri.aspx‎

             en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Nouwen‎

Reflections on "Stories of Faithfulness" Daniel 3 and Daniel 6

Two great stories. Go read them if you haven't already.  We read them in their entirety (liturgist Jim Riley did a great job reading Daniel 3) so that people could hear the whole story.  Actually, in-between services Jim and I decided to edit the story by taking out the repetitious parts (it probably would have saved 30-60 seconds), but then someone who had been to the Chapel service came in and noted how she really noticed the repetition and how she interpreted that as part of the reading.  We put the repetition back in the text!

For me, this was a powerful sermon.  I love these stories, and I love having heroes.  I also gave up my other concerns about the text and focused on their faithfulness.

Other ideas for how to have preached this sermon:

1. One day, I want to preach either of these stories and reflect on the innocent people who were killed -- i.e. the soldiers burned at the furnace as they were doing their job or the family members who ended up being fed to the lions who had done nothing but be related to the wrong people!  As I studied the text, I was reminded of this story from Mitch Albom about a 1974 sermon preached by Rabbi Albert Lewis:  Talmudic interpretation of the crossing of the Red Sea:  After seeing Pharaoh's soldiers drowned in the Red Sea, the angels in heaven wanted to celebrate the enemy's demise.  God grew angry with this and said, '"Those are my children too.'" Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith:  a true story (76)  I continue to struggle with the violence of the OT, especially when it seems to be attributed to God.

2.  Mario Bolivar, who was a seminary intern with us at FPC, Troy, noted that the sermon made him wonder how often we are like King Nebuchadnezzar in that we expect everyone to worship like we do.  That reminded me of my suggestion that we ought to see ourselves as different people in the story and what it might be like to consider this story from the perspective of King Nebuchadnezzar or King Darius (I actually think that would be more interesting because he seems more conflicted). 

These OT stories are sending my creative juices into overdrive!

Conclusion was rather weak. Probably should have just stopped on the sentence before the conclusion.

Next week the youth will lead us in worship at both services.

“Stories of Faithfulness” February 23, 1014; Daniel 3 and Daniel 5; OT Stories series; FPC, Troy

Move 1:  Sometimes you need a hero.

a.      I grew up reading sports books. 

1.       Roughly Jr. High level. 

                        2.  Collect them.  Read one this week.  I’ve read them so often through the years that I can skim one in about the time I ride the exercise bike at night.

2.      the books I have are older ones and read like those from another generation.

3.       There are new authors out there now who write sports books.  I have read some of them.  But they are less comforting.  They are more complicated. Divorce, drugs, crime, all sorts of issues that add ambiguity to the story.  Probably more like real life. 

4.      So I read the older sports novels that are much simpler.  Every story has a hero.  The hero is clearly marked and has to overcome an obstacle or two, but in the end the hero comes out on top.  No ambiguity.  Very black and white. 

5.      There is comfort to be found in the story of those heroes.

b.     Consider the Israelites who are in exile.

1.      God’s people, who have been defeated, captured, moved to a new place.

2.   They have no inherent power.

3.   No easy opportunities to gain control in the world around them.

4.   They struggle to cling to their faith.

5.   They need a hero or two.

c. Heroes like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, or someone like Daniel.

     1.  These stories are so important to an exiled community because they tell people who stand up for their faith against all odds.

     2.  People who faced down the powers who ruled over them and survived unscathed.

     3.  Stories parents and grandparents could tell their children and grandchildren about people who kept the faith in the face of difficulties and even the threat of death.

     4.  For a community in exile, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel were the heroes they needed.

Move 1:  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

            a.  King Nebuchadnezzar wants to be god.

                        1.  He builds this strangely shaped statue that looks like a golden pole.

2.      Everyone has to bow down to the pole.

3.  It would appear that the king wants to have the status of god in the eyes of the people.

            4. Vs. 15 gets to the heart of the matter – King Nebudchanezzar demands to know:  “Is it true that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up?”

            5.  A clear choice – worship the king or worship God.

            6.  The stage is set for the heroes to respond.

            7.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego announce to the king and to the world that they will remain faithful.  In fact, they do not even need to defend themselves against the king because God will take care of them.

            8. A powerful statement of faith in that moment.

b. We soon discover that their faith is even stronger than just choosing God over the king.

1.      In vs. 18, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego note the even if God does not deliver them from the fiery furnace, they would not bow down before the king.

3.  Not the bargaining kind of faith, “God if you save us, then we will be faithful to you.”

4. No their faith is more like this:  “If we are saved from the fiery furnace, then ‘Glory be to God;’  and if we’re not saved from the furnace, still ‘Glory be to God’ because we trust in God.

            5. the faith of these three is so great that they will remain faithful no matter what happens!

            6.  A powerful statement of faith that will be told for generations so that any Israelite who finds himself or herself confronted with making a choice between God or some other king will find the strength to cling to their faith.

c. There are more lessons of faith to be learned in this story.

            1.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get tied up and thrown into the fiery furnace.

            2. The furnace is so hot that the soldiers who throw them in are killed by the heat (a pretty good image of hell, right?)

           

            2. As the king looks into the burning furnace, to his surprise he sees four men walking around unbound.

            3.  He goes to the furnace and calls on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out of the fire. 

            3.  The king does not just call them by their names, but he describes them as “servants of the Most High God.”

            4. And King Nebuchadnezzar announces throughout the land that anyone who speaks out against their God will be in trouble.

            4. The faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is so great that even the king recognizes the power of their God and proclaims that God to all the earth.

            5. the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Adednego compel the king to proclaim their God.

d. One more thought on what we learn from these heroes.

1.      The fourth person who saves them from the fire does not show up until they are thrown into the furnace.

2.      In other words, the God who saved them showed up in their crisis. 

3.      For a people in exile who wonder where they will find God, this story reminds them that God finds them in the depths of their crisis.

Lessons learned from heroes; lessons taught again and again to a people who struggled to be faithful and desperately sought to find God in the midst of their exile.

Move 3:  Daniel and the lions' den.

a.  Power issues at play.

            1.  We saw it in the previous story, but here it is again – people are jealous or envious or threatened by someone like Daniel who is faithful to God.

            2.  Particularly since Daniel has worked his way up to a position of authority and gained some power in the world of exile.

            3.  In fact, the officials cannot find anything wrong with what Daniel is doing so they have to create an issue with his faith.

            4.  As this story of officials trying to get Daniel in trouble is told, everyone Israelite in exile who has gained some power in their world recognizes the potential for others  to resent them and use their faith against them.

b.  Again, the story contains a clear choice for the faithful Daniel.

            1. He can either pray to God as he always does, or he can capitulate to the decree of the king and quit praying.

            2. Daniel openly defies the king’s decree.

            3. In fact, it is almost as if Daniel is looking to prove a point about his faithfulness as he goes to his house and prays to God with the windows open so all of Jerusalem can see him praying to God.

            5. Perhaps the first act of non-violent civil disobedience.

            4. I find it fascinating is that the king does not want Daniel to get in trouble.  He tries to find a way to avoid having to punish Daniel.

c. But the other officials force the king to act.

            1.  Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den.

            2.  Ironically, as the king sends him in to the lions, the king actually expresses his hope that the Daniel’s God will save him.

            3. As the story is told, the listeners hear this question – do you want to be like the king, who gives to pressure despite what he knows to be true about God, or do you want to be like Daniel, firm in his faith?

d.  Again, the faithfulness of the hero, in this case Daniel, is rewarded. 

            1.  In the morning he is still alive, and he tells the story of the angel of the Lord shutting the mouths of the lions so they could not hurt him.

            2.  As if to prove that is was God who saved Daniel, his accusers are thrown into the lions’ den, and they do not fare quite as well as Daniel.

            3. Again, the king announces to all the nations that about the power of Daniel’s God.

e. another hero’s story to be told for Israelites in exile to find strength and comfort as they claim their faith.

Move 4:  Admittedly, we hear these stories in a different context.

            a.  Most of us do not find ourselves having to make life and death choices about our faith.

                        1. There are places in the world today where to cling to faith does put a person’s life at risk, but not here in Troy, OH or other parts of the United States.

            2. But we still tell the stories of these heroes of faith.

b.  Why?

            1. Because we need to be reminded of how important faith was to people like Shadrach, Meshach, Adednego, and Daniel.

            2.  We may not live in place where proclaiming our faith will lead to death, but we do live in  world where faith seems to matter less and less and the world offers to us lots of different answers to our questions that have no connection to God.

            3. The threat of death for being faithful may not be present, but the dying out of faith as we turn to anyone and anything except God does threaten us.

            4.  In our world where earthly power is held in high esteem, we need to hear the stories of those who choose faith in God over the powers of the world.

4.      We are not people in exile, but we live in a world that seems to want to exile God.

5.       So we tell the stories of the faithfulness of these heroes and imagine what it might mean for us to proclaim our faith in our world in ways that might cause others to recognize God in our midst. 

Conclusion:  If you need a hero, you don’t need to borrow one of my sports book, you just need to remember and tell the stories of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel. 

"Stories of Faithfulness" Daniel 3 and 6

The final sermon on OT stories, unless I continue it after Easter.  I've enjoyed it so much, I'm contemplating doing some more stories over the summer.  Maybe I should add some NT stories as well.

Another two long Scripture lessons for the worship service, but these stories beg to be heard in their entirety.
1.  I am fascinated how these stories are told to the Israelite community in exile as a way of providing examples of faithfulness for the Israelites. I have read To Be a Runner by Martin Dugard recently, which is a series of essays about running.  One of this essays is about the need we have for superheroes.  I imagine for a community of people in exile Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel could have been superheroes.

2.  In Chapter 3, the king has a strangely dimensioned statue built -- it is almost like a pole.  It would appear that the King of Babylon wants to be divinized.

3.  The Israelites heroes refuse to bow down to the statue, so they are thrown into a furnace of fire.  It is reminiscent of the images of hell.

4.  Notice that the advisers of the king in both instances seem to create the problems.  I wonder if this also allows these stories to be told without fear of the king getting mad since the king seems more victim of bad advice than perpetrator.

5. I love 3:18 in which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego note the even if God does not deliver them from the fiery furnace, they would not bow down before the king.

6.  Daniel 6 tells a similar story to Daniel 3, except it includes the throwing of the advisers and their families into the lions' den to be killed.  Not sure what to make of that awful part of the story, except to note that the pernicious punishment apparently cuts both ways.

What do you think of these stories?

Reflections on "What Is God Doing?" 2 Kings 5: 1-27

Lessons relearned about preaching:

1.  I have to narrow the focus to create an effective sermon.  This story is such a great story with lots of little nuances, but the sermon needs the focus narrowed, which I did not do.

2.  Have the conclusion locked in and stick with it.  I didn't have much of a conclusion to the sermon, so in the Sanctuary service I free-lanced and ended in a somewhat unintelligible last couple of words (not what is written in the text below).

3. the danger of preaching narrative is that being in love with all the details makes the sermon ramble and try to cover too much with very little depth.

But, it was a great story to read, and I loved getting to play with it all week.  Of course, the upcoming week has two stories from the Book of Daniel as the texts, so I'll be challenged to live out the lessons I learned this week.

“What Is God Doing?” February 9, 1014; 2 Kings 5: 1-21; OT Stories series; FPC, Troy;

Introduction: Great story.  So much going on – any of us can find something that speaks to us in this story.

Surprises in the story.

Move 1:  Israelite slave girl's surprising openness about her faith.

a.      Notice that it is the captive Israelite slave girl who shares the idea that the Israelite prophet Elisha could heal Naaman of his leprosy.  

1.      Imagine that you have been taken captive by the enemy.  Uprooted from your home and are now a slave in this new place.

2.       How willing might you be to help the commander of the army who has leprosy?

3.       I might not be so willing to share with my captors this liberating news of what the prophet Elisha could do.

4.      But this servant girl does.  She tells them about Elisha, God’s prophet and his ability to heal.

b.      IN doing so, the servant girl reveals her belief, her expectation that God will be at work in anyone’s life.

1.      Powerful faith statement about God

2.       Not only does not belong to the Israelites, but God can be at work even among the Arameans, who do not even believe in God.

4. Those among us who tend to limit who we think God loves or where we think God might be at work might want to pay attention to this servant girl.

Move 2:  Naaman – frankly, I don’t know what to do with him.  In his story, I find one surprise after another.

            a.  First of all, I’m surprised at his resistance to the opportunity to be healed.

                        1. after heeding the servant’s advice and seeking out Elisha, Naaman becomes incensed when Elisha tells him to wash seven times in the River Jordan to be healed.

                        2.  that seems rather ridiculous.

                        3. We might expect Naaman to jump at any chance to be healed, but he balks at doing something he perceives as silly in order to be healed.

3.      Only after his servants convince him to give it a try does Naaman do it, whereby he is healed.

            b. maybe we should not be surprised.

                        1. sometimes we think of God as only the God of the grand and glorious.

                        2. We miss the God who is at work in the daily routines of our lives.

                        3. the God whose healing powers can be revealed through being washed in the River Jordan.

            c.  Maybe Naaman is having trouble getting over himself.

            1. Somehow he is surprised and irritated that a man of his stature and power has to do surprisingly little to allow God’s healing powers to be at work.

            2.  We have a clue about that expectation of Naaman when we read the text and hear Naaman in vs. 11 say something to the effect –“Well, I expected Elisha to come stand before me.”

            3.  Surprise for Naaman – his healing is not about what he can command and do, but what God can do.

c.  The text plays on that word to reveal Naaman’s next surprise – his confession of faith.

            1. naaman, who expected the prophet to come stand before him in vs. 11 before he is healed, then goes and stands before the prophet in vs. 15 after he has been healed

2.      And standing before Elisha, he responds to his healing by confessing his faith.

3.       He also tries to pay Elisha for his services as if God’s healing powers were for sale, but Elisha refuses.

4.      Instead, Naaman commits to never sacrificing to another god, only to the God of Israel. 

c.      God's surprising willingness to accept Naaman's imperfections.

1.        God could have made an example of Naaman.

2.       Something like, “If he does not think that he can be healed by something simple like washing in the Jordan, then I’m not going to heal him.”

3.      There could have been another character in the story, a faithful Israelite maybe, who was cured of leprosy by washing in the River Jordan seven times.

4.      Wouldn’t that have been a great story?

5.      We could have told that story for generations and still made the point about God’s healing powers.

6.      But instead God heals Naaman anyway.

7.       And then as part of his confession of faith Naaman asks Elijah if it’s ok to bow down to

8.                  Something akin to a Buckeye fan asking if he can root for the Wolverines when he’s with his friend who went to the University of Michigan.

9.                  The answer is clearly, “No, you cannot shift your loyalties when it’s convenient.  You have to be faithful all the time.”

10.             Except Elisha does not say that.  Instead he sends Naaman off in peace. 

11.             Elisha expresses a graciousness that is not often found in the OT actions of Israelites toward their enemies.

12.             Elisha expresses a graciousness of God that far exceeds our expectations.

Move 3:  King of Israel's surprising lack of faith.

            a.  King of Aram's gifts make King of Israel afraid.

                        1.  A few words on the social context of this passage may clarify the seemingly strange narrative. Ancient Israel was a socially embedded society. Goods and services were exchanged not out of money (coinage would not be invented for a few more centuries). Instead, goods and services were exchanged out of social relationships.

Therefore, it is completely sensible that Naaman traveled down to Israel with an enormous cargo of gifts to present to the king of Israel. The gifts were not for trade, but the foreigner Naaman was trying to create a social bond with the Israelite king. By creating a social bond through gifts, it obligated the Israelite king to give hospitality, and in this case to find a cure for the general’s leprosy.

But these gifts put the Israelite King in a bind. He could not refuse the gift

 By accepting the gift yet not curing the leprosy, the king would violate the required social responsibility. He could sense an impending confrontation with the Aramaeans.

Thus, he cries, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me” (verse 7). Roger Nam Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies George Fox Evangelical Seminary Portland, Oregon http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1715

1.      Maybe we should not be surprised by the king’s inability to see God at work in those circumstances.

2.      Certainly the track record of Israelite kings is not very good.

3.      But Elisha gets it.

4.      The servants seem to get it.

b. Reminder to us – your position in life does not mean you are going to be faithful.

1.      Our faithfulness is lived out when we trust in God.

2.      When we expect God to be at work.

3.      When we allow God to work through us.

Move 4:  Finally, I find the actions of Gehazi rather surprising.

a.      Gehazi is Elisha’s servant after all.

1.      He has witnessed how God has worked through Elisha.

2.      Surely he has some sense of who God is and how God works.

b.      But Gehazi does not see God’s healing as an act of grace.

1.      He sees God’s healing as an opportunity to get rich.

2.      He races after Naaman to suggest that maybe Naaman ought to pay something after all.

3.      I’m a little disappointed that Naaman does not see through Gehazi, but I suppose the request for payment fits Naaman’s initial instinct that God’s services could be bought.

4.      But God’s grace cannot be bought and Gehazi suffers for his betrayal.

Conclusion: I confess that I read this story and I’m not sure that I can tell you exactly what God is doing in all the little details. 

But I do see a God of grace revealed and a call to faithfulness.  Amen.

"What Is God Doing" Kings 5: 1-19

There is so much going on in this story, I'm not sure where to focus the sermon.  Some of the things that grab my attention are:

1.  Verse 1 announces that Aram's victory had been given to them by the hand of the Lord, suggesting that God was working through those who were not even God's people.  Is that a statement on how God works, or does it reflect the storyteller's perspective that if Aram won a battle God had to be on its side because they could not win without God on their side?

2.  The captive slave girls offers the idea that the Israelite prophet Elisha could heal Naaman of his leprosy.  Sort of interesting that the captive offers a way to healing.  I might not be so willing to share with my captors this liberating news of what the prophet Elisha could do.

3.  When the Aramean king sends a letter to the king of Israel inquiring about Elisha, the king of Israel assumes it is all a pretense to give Aram the opportunity to attack Israel.  Not sure he should have known better, but notice that the foreign king is inquiring about the power of Israel's prophet to heal on the advice of the captured slave girl who believes that Elisha can heal, but the Israelite king can only worry about being attacked.  Sort of odd how the faith of those three is displayed.

4.  When Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan seven times to be healed, Naaman becomes incensed at what appears to him to be a ridiculous way to heal.  His servants convince him to trust in what Elisha has asked him to do.  Perhaps a comment on expecting God to work in grand, glorious ways and missing how God is at work in the mundane.  Or notice that it is the servants who convince Naaman.  Servants seem to have a better handle on matters of faith than the leaders.

5.  When Naaman tries to pay Elisha for his services, Elisha refuses.  Instead, Naaman converts to the faith of the Israelites, although he asks permission to bow down the god of his king whenever he is with the king in a place of worship.  Elisha sends him off in peace.  Naaman converts -- yeah!  Elisha seems grounded in his refusal to accept the gift.  And don't miss Elisha's gracious giving of the peace, even after Naaman notes he will bow down to other gods on occasion.  That seems to express a graciousness in Elisha that is not often found in the OT actions of Israelites toward their enemies.

What jumps out at you in this passage?  What particular topic would you like to see explored?