Reflections on “Ornaments: the Star on Top” SAPC, December 24, 2019, Matthew 2: 1-10

The Christmas  Eve sermon in the ornament series.  I do not believe I have ever preached on the wise men on Christmas Eve.  The focus on "the star stopped" came up at a preaching seminar Grace Prexbytery hosted with Dr. Anna Carter Florence from Columbia Seminary.  

“Ornaments:  the Star on Top”  SAPC, December 24, 2019, Matthew 2: 1-10 

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men[a] from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,[b] and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah[c] was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

6 

‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

    who is to shepherd[d] my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men[e] and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 

9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,[f] until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.

Introduction: 

Move 1:  The star stopped.

a.  I have never seen a star stop.  have you?

1.  I am not much of an astronomer, but I do not recall reading about stars stop.

2. Stars shine brightly.

3.  Stars race across the sky.

4. Stars explode.

b. But the star the wise men followed stopped over Bethlehem.

1.  This was the place.

2.  this was the moment.

3.  This was the child.

4. God had arrived in flesh.

c. The star stops and declares God’s intentions.

1.  God will be with us.

2.  God will love us.

3. God will never forsake us.

Move 1:  Because the star stopped, we are a people of hope.

a.  I confess that I watch on Thursday night every week the TV show Grey's Anatomy. Actually, given our world of busy schedules and a DVR, I may not watch the show on Thursday night, but I do watch it at some point each week.

In an episode a few years ago, one of the married couples (two doctors) was dealing with a pregnancy gone bad where the baby would be born and die in just a short time.  

The pregnant wife is an evangelical Christian who is trying to understand her crisis through her faith and is wondering where God is. Her husband, who is a non-believer, is struggling with how to help her and also help himself.

As the crisis nears its climax, the husband finds himself alone in the chapel at the hospital talking to the God in whom he does not believe.

He says “God if you are out there, please show up.  Just show up for my wife.  She needs you.”

b.  Perhaps you know that desperate plea - God please show up.

1.  You are overwhelmed with grief.  Maybe sitting in your pew tonight remembering the person not there with you.

2.  you have a difficult medical situation.

3.  you are struggling in a relationship.

4.  You just feel a little off and cannot get back on track to be the person you want to be.

5. You look at the world and read the headlines and wonder how things can change.

6. You need God to show up.

c.  Hear the good news - the star has stopped.

1. We can dare to hope in the God who comes down to be with us.

2. God has shown up.

3.  the Christ-child has arrived.

Move 2:  The star stopped and changed the way we look at the world.

a.  Ornaments during Advent - we began Advent with my telling about the first Christmas tree Leslie and I had - no ornaments, until we made some homemade ones.

We also had some ornaments given to us by the newsletter women.  We called them that because each week they came to church to fold and prepare for mailing the church newsletters (yes, that was before email and constant contact and churches sent hard copies of newsletters).

I would often go in and talk with them and fold a few newsletters.  That first Advent, I told them about our tree with no ornaments.  Suddenly, I would come into my office and find an ornament or two left by the newsletter women.

One day, I walked in and there was a star.  it was from a  wonderful woman who made a star for each grandchild, and now she was making them for her great-grandchildren.  

Now I had always grown up with an angel at the top of the tree, and the star really wasn’t my style, if I had a style for stars, but we didn’t have anything else for the top of the tree, so we put the star up there.

Fast forward to the next summer.  By this time, the woman who had given us the star had moved to her daughter’s house and was under Hospice care.  the daughter lived a few hours away, so the minister and I took turns calling her each week.

the last time I called her, I asked: “what are you doing, Gibbye?”  (pretty good pastoral care!).

She sort of hemmed and hawed and I heard some laughter in the background.  and then her daughter said, “go ahead and tell him.”

“Well,” she said, “I am making one last star for a Christmas tree. The star I gave you was the one I had made for the next great-grandchild who was born earlier this year, and I can’t die before I make another one to give her.”  She died a couple of days later.  Her last star had been made.

The next to the last star she made for her yet-to-be born grandchild that she gave to Leslie and me has been atop our Christmas tree every year since.  

when I see the star on top of the tree, I am reminded that the world can be a place where a great-grandmother would give away a precious gift to simply share with someone else.

b. The star stopped and changed the way we see the world.

1. the world is not just a place  where violence and bloodshed continue, but a place where peace and reconciliation are possible.

2. the world is not just a place where death arrives, but a place of resurrection and hope.

3.  The world is not just a place with challenges, but a place with opportunities for new life.

4.  If that star can stop over Bethlehem because God chooses to join with us, then the world is suddenly a place  of possibilities and promise.

5. Possibilities, promise, and hope for all God’s people.

Move 3: the star stopped, and the wise men were overwhelmed with joy.

a.  they could not help themselves.

1.  Knowing what God had done.

2.  Knowing that they were no longer alone in the world.

3. Knowing that God cared enough to send God’s very own son.

4.  they were overwhelmed with joy.

b.  Time would lead them beyond that moment.

1.  Life did not suddenly become a fairy tale when the star stopped.

2.  There were still difficult challenges ahead for them

3. We know they had big decisions, life-changing decisions to make.

4.  But they knew with certainty that God was in their midst, and it overwhelmed them with joy.

c.  Tonight is just one singular moment in your life.

1.  The world will continue moving.

2.  The days ahead will surely have good times and some difficult times.

3. but in this moment may joy overwhelm you as you lay claim to this truth - God has come to be in our world, God has come to be with you.

Conclusion:  The star stopped.  

Amen.

 

Reflections on “Ornaments: the Special Ones” Isaiah 7:10-16

I preached this sermon on the fourth Sunday of Advent.  I enjoyed preaching it.  If I have ever preached the Isaiah text, I do not remember.  It was fun to dig into the Isaiah text a bit.  it might have been fun to push harder on the idea of Ahaz not being willing to ask God for a sign.

“Ornaments:  the Special Ones”  SAPC, December 22, 2019,   Isaiah 7: 10-16

 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13 Then Isaiah[d] said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman[e] is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.[f] 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

Introduction:  Ornaments tell our stories.   Some of the stories are love stories.

Maybe you have ornaments that reveal some of your love stories.

A child’s photo in the ornament.

Or, an ornament marking your first year as a married couple.

Or an ornament from a special friend.

On my mom’s tree having from the angel at the top of the tree is one of those ornaments with my brother’s photo.  it is one of those ornaments that reveals the love of a parent and a child.    Why it hangs from the angel is another story that I better not tell since my mom is listening and my she probably does not want me to tell.

Move 1:  God insists on giving the gift of love to us.

a.  Back up for a second and remember that King Ahaz is the King of Judah, who is caught in the power struggle between Syria and Assyria.

a.  From King Ahaz’ view, all he can see is the world’s powers pressing in on Judah.

1.  he knows he cannot overpower them.

2. He recognizes that Judah and his reign are threatened.

3.  He is a man who looks to the world, and all he sees is trouble.

b. The prophet Isaiah comes to him in the midst of the problem with a word from the Lord  - ask for a sign.

1. In other words, turn to God.

2.  King Ahaz declines - “I will not put the Lord to the test.”

3. Before we applaud him for not trying to test God, we hear Isaiah’s critique and wonder:

Does Ahaz not care what God might do

or does Ahaz does not think God

or does Ahaz not think God can do anything that might help 

or maybe Ahaz will not ask God for a sign because the sign from God might not be what he wants.

Somehow, King Ahaz, the king of God’s people, the one who ought to be in right relationship with God, is not willing to turn to God.

Maybe we recognize Ahaz in ourselves?  

b.  But even Ahaz’ refusal to ask for a sign will not stop God from giving a sign.

1.  God insists on sending a sign.

2. Even if Ahaz will not ask, God is going to send a sign, a child, one named Immanuel.

3.  Immanuel, which means God with us.

4. Immanuel, the name given to the Christ-child.

c.  For whatever reason, King Ahaz does not think it is time to ask for a sign from God.

1. But God chooses to send a sign anyway by coming to be with us.

2.  Immanuel arrives.

Move 2:  God with us means God cannot stop loving us.

a. the term “God with us,” has taken on different meanings through the years.

1. In the 17th century, during the bloody Thirty Years war fought in Europe “God with us,” or “Gott Mitt Unz” was a password used by the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus.

2. In the 18th century, the phrase “God with us” was inscribed on the coat of arms of king Frederick I, the powerful Prussian king.

3. In WWI, the phrase was inscribed on the helmets of German soldiers.

4. In WWII, it was inscribed on the belt buckles of the German soldiers and became a symbolic phrase of Nazism.

5. “God with us” describing the worldly power and might that tried to overcome others.

6. “God with us” taking on the meaning we give it from our worldview where power is most important (see Barbara Lundblad Union Theological Seminary New York, NY; http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1942 for more thoughts on this; also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gott_mit_uns)

7. King Ahaz would have understood that kind of sign, one that was about power and might.

b.  But God lives out Immanuel in a very different way - by coming as a child to join with us in the vulnerability of our humanity.

1.  Immanuel, who will grow up to teach and preach love, not worldly power.

2. A baby who cannot overcome the power of the world with might, but a baby who can bring love into the world.    

3.  Surely King Ahaz would have been disappointed that God’s sign was a baby.

4.  What better symbol of God’s love than a baby?

5  What begins with a baby in Bethlehem continues to a  cross in Calvary then to the resurrected Christ who sends the disciples into the world to teach and preach his message of love.

3.  God insists on loving the world.

b.  Michael Brown suggests that Advent asks the question:  “What does it mean that Jesus comes as Word made flesh?” (Journal for Preachers, Advent, 2019; “advent and the power of Positive Faith,” Michael Brown, 17-18).

1.  The answer is not found in riches, or power, or control.

2.  In fact, the answer is not found in the pageantry or cantatas or celebrations.  

3.  The answer is found in the infant cradled in mary’s arms, Immanuel who announces for all to hear:  

God loves you; 

God desires to be with us;

God comes to love a broken world and make it whole.

Conclusion: I heard a story recently about a young boy at a  Christmas party that had one of those white elephant gift exchanges.   You know the kind when you choose the gift you want, but then it can get taken from you by a person choosing after you.

Most of the gifts were toys a boy would like.  the young boy, in fact, had already opened a fun toy, but then it was stolen from him.  When he chose again, he ended up with a picture frame ornament.  As you might imagine, no one who chose after him took the picture frame from him.  He was stuck with it.

The adults supervising the party were worried about him.  they did not want his party experience ruined by this odd gift for an 8 yr old boy.  So, they offered to let him choose something else instead of the picture frame ornament.

He said no, he would keep the picture frame ornament.

they insisted he could choose another gift that would be more fun.

Finally, he told them, “I am going to put my picture in the frame and give it to my grandmother as a Christmas gift.  She’ll love it.”  And, he did.

And she did.  HIs picture frame ornament hangs from the Christmas tree every year.

Imagine how great it must be to know without a doubt that someone loves you.

Imagine the God who comes as Immanuel and know without a doubt the God who loves you.

Reflections on “Pick a King” Colossians 1: 15-19; Luke 23: 33-34

For Christ the King Sunday, we had two terrific ballet dancers dance as part of the sermon.  when the sermon manuscript indicates "dancers dance," it means the dancers expressed the mood of the king described with my words through their dance.  We had some really good feedback, despite the sanctuary having very difficult sightlines for seeing all of the dancing.  I hope the dancing helped the congregation imagine Christ the King in new and fuller ways. 

Colossians 1: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

“Pick a King”  SAPC, November 24, 2019; Colossians 1: 15-19; Luke 23: 33-34

Introduction:  Today is Christ the King  Sunday.  the last day of the liturgical calendar.  

“Christ the King Sunday is not an ancient high and holy day. It began being observed in the mid-1920s, a practice instituted by Pope Pius XI out of a concern for the growing secularism and the rise of fascism in Europe. Pope Pius instituted Christ the King Sunday with this hope:  "When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will, at last, receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace, and harmony.” (Jill Duffield, Looking into the Lectionary, Presbyterian Outlook email, 11/18/19).

Almost 100 years later, his hope has not quite been realized.

Here we are this morning invited to reflect on Christ the King.  As part of our reflection, Trinity Ball and Annie Griffin will dance as we imagine Christ the King in new ways.

As you watch them dance, as you listen to the music, as you hear the words preached, ponder the question, “if you were going to pick a King for your what your life needs and what our world needs today, what kind of king would you pick?”

Move 1:  If asked in the time when Jesus arrived on the scene what kind of king they wanted, many of the people, particularly God’s people, would have asked for a warrior.

a. Their desire was driven by the force with which the Romans.

1. Roman rule grew out of its mighty power to defeat and conquer, often in brutal ways.

2.  Escape from Roman rule needed a mighty warrior who could match them on the battlefield and defeat them.

b. the need for a mighty warrior was nothing new to God’s people.

1.  Israelites had conquered the Promised Land through battle.

2.  Israel became a world power during the time of David. Why?  Because King David was the mightiest of warriors who defeated and conquered the enemy.

3. Israelites also knew what it was like to be conquered and then exiled by the enemy.

4. Their view of God saving them was wrapped up in the expected savior, who would be a mighty warrior.

c.  It was not uncommon to have someone who claimed to be “king of the Jews” to rise up from different regions.

Typically, these self-proclaimed “kings” would take on the upper-class leaders of the Jewish temple, or take on the Roman government, or take on both.

These kings were noted for their zealous approach to overthrowing the religious and Roman authorities and for their brutality (Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan).

 When they put a sign over Jesus as he was crucified that announced him as “King of the Jews,” it linked him to those others who had come forth claiming to kings. FPC, Troy; Christ the King, 2013

d. The people wanted a warrior king.

1.  Power and might.

2.  In our world today where the one with all the worldly power seems to control thing, maybe that’s what we need - a conquering king

Imagine that kind of warrior king - 

dancers dance

Move 2:  the people were looking for a warrior king, but Jesus often acted more like a servant, a servant king if you will.

a.  Jesus was still something of a king.

1.   Or at least he had a kingly presence.

2. the crowds gathered to greet him.

3. he healed the sick and performed miracles.

4. He taught with new understandings and confounded the religious authorities.

b.  but he also modeled and taught serving others.

1. Remember the image of Christ washing the feet of Peter.

2.  Peter tried to refuse.  “You should now be on your knees before me doing the work of a servant.”

3. But Jesus insisted - not just on washing Peter’s feet, but making it into an object lesson of what it means to follow Christ.

4. To follow Christ means to live as a servant among the people.

5.  Jesus redefining power - not power to overcome by force, but the power to serve with love.

6. but it means bowing down, giving yourself over to another.

Imagine that kind of servant king 

- dancers dance

Move 3:  more than a servant - the king who hangs from a cross.

a.  The inscription written over his head as he hung on the cross read, “King of the jews.”

1. An ironic vision of power - the son of God, the one who ushers in the kingdom of God, hanging from a cross, put to death by the powers of the world.

2.  Think about the times we see royalty - crowds gather to get a glimpse and pay honor to the king or queen.  not unlike the crowds that lined the streets of Jerusalem to welcome Christ.

3.  But you do not see many kings hanging from a cross.

b. Jesus transformed the image of power. C

1.  When we speak of Christ’s reign, we must acknowledge that it is established through the crucifixion (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 4, David Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, 328).

2. The power of God defined by Christ on the cross.

Imagine that kind of crucified king - 

dancers dance

Conclusion: So if you could pick your king, which one do you want?

The mighty warrior king to rescue the world by defeating all other worldly powers?

the servant king who serves others?

the crucified king, who dies on the cross?

Or, perhaps a mix? a reflection of how Jesus bound those images of kings together, defying our understandings. 

so, can you pick some modified version of Christ the king?

Hear the good news we proclaim today - Jesus Christ has not only come as king to reign over God’s kingdom, but Christ the King has already picked you.

dancers dance

Amen.

Reflections on “What Will You Do with It?” Luke 18: 1-8; Jeremiah 31: 27-34

Except for a stumble at the end of the sermon, it went pretty well.  There were so many ways both the Luke and Jeremiah text could have been preached, but I think the approach I took was fair to the text.  I still have a sermon in mind that focuses on "I will remember their sins no more," but that sermon will have to wait until another time.

 “What Will You Do with It?” Luke 18: 1-8; Jeremiah 31: 27-34; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; October 27, 2019; Reformation Sunday

Jeremiah 31: 27-34  The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. 28 And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

“The parents have eaten sour grapes,

    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,[g] says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Introduction: 

A second week with the prophet Jeremiah.

Move 1:  Jeremiah prophesies a shift in how God’s people will encounter God’s law.

a.  Not the first shift to take place.

1. there was a time before there was an established law.

2.  God creates humanity and develops a relationship with God’s people when there is no written law.

3.  God still loved humanity; God still claimed humanity.

b.  Then along came Moses and his trip up and down Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments.

1. the people now had a written law.

2.  Mediated by Moses.

3. Led to a tradition of laws and regulations concerning just about every aspect of life.

4. The law also created a need for someone, like Moses, or priests, or later Pharisees, to mediate the written law.

5.  Written law is black and white.

6. It also becomes a tool by those in power to keep their power and invited abuses.

7. Not to mention the human tendency to approach written laws with the desire to find ways around the letter of the law.

c.  Then Jeremiah announces the new covenant God has in mind.

1.  not an external law written on tablets, but a law inscribed on the heart.

2.  Notice the intimacy of this law. 

3.  Notice how it actually demands more than the written law because it is matter of heart.

4.  Notice also the radical nature of this law because it suggests that God is equally present among all the Israelites from greatest to least.

5.  Remember last week hearing Jeremiah prophesying that God’s people can live out their faith anywhere, even in Babylon.  

6.  This description of the new covenant builds on that premise:  As important as priest, prophet, and king are to Israel, God’s people can survive without the institutions of Jerusalem in Babylon (Garrett Galvin Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Franciscan School of Theology Berkeley, Calif.; http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1772)

7.  the law is part of a personal relationship between each person and God.

8. For me, some of the most powerful, meaningful words in the biblical text are found in this passage when we hear God speak through Jeremiah:  “I will be their God and they will be my people.”  Such a powerful relationship; such a high calling.

d.  On Reformation Sunday, we remember at the core of Reformation was how we connect to God.

1.  The Reformers understood that we did not need a priest, or bishop, or pope to mediate with God for us.

2.  God’s Word should be made accessible to all people because all people were capable of interpreting God’s Word.

3.  Our own governance as Presbyterians grows out of the belief that we do not need a pope, bishop, or priest to dictate to us - members and clergy together as led by the Holy Spirit (that’s why we pray to start meetings) can best discern God’s will.

e.  The covenant described by Jeremiah does not need an external law or someone like Moses to mediate it for us.

1. God has written the law on our hearts.

2.  Thomas Merton in New Seeds of Contemplation, “in all the situations of life the ‘will of God’ comes to us not merely as an external dictate of impersonal law but above all as an interior invitation of personal love.”

3. Welcome to the new covenant Jeremiah describes.

Move 2:  What are you, what are we going to do with it - this new covenant?

a.  God has forgiven you; God has forgiven us.

1. The new covenant is marked by an intimacy of the law being written on our hearts.

2. things are good.

3.  I suppose one reaction might be to be satisfied and cling to this new covenant with no regard for anyone or anything else.

b. But there’s this story Jesus tells.

1.  A story about a widow and a judge.

2.  Admittedly, lots of nuances to this story.

3.  there is the widow angle - in the biblical text and in particular the Gospel of Luke, widows play important roles.  Widows represent the vulnerable class of peole, but also appear as prophetic and fiathful, such as Anna, who announces who Christ is when his parents bring his as a baby to the teimple (go to http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1787; Meda Stamper, for more insights into the roles of widows in the Bible)

4. There is the unbelieving judge caught in an exchange with the believing widow.

5. there is the whole question of just and unjust.

c.  But I keep coming back to the widow’s persistence.

1. She will not stop bugging the judge until he changes his mind and gives her justice.

2.  “The odds may seem insurmountable as corruption, inhumanity, and impiety characterize the widow’s world. her persistence enables God’s desire for justice to happen”(Garrett Galvin Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Franciscan School of Theology Berkeley, Calif.; http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1772)

3.  The widow is driven by something inside, maybe by the law inscribed on her heart, that will not let her stop until justice is given. 

4. When I read about this widow, I am reminded of an older woman I knew in the church I served in KY.  In her adult life she had been a widow, then a spouse, then a widow again.

she was not loud and demanding, but she was persistent. Once she had her mind made up about a mission project or a change that needed to happen, she would not let up.  Not really demanding, but exhausting.  she would not be stopped.  People in the church, and the new minister, learned that you might as well give in early, because she would not stop until she wore you out. 

d.  Persistently living out our discipleship seems an appropriate response to God’s covenant  Jeremiah describes.

1. As forgiven people who are claimed as God’s own, we are sent into the world to persistently work for justice.

2. To persistently love others.

3. To persistently turn away from the world’s call to only worry about oneself and instead live for others.

4. How easy it is some days to look at the world and think, “What can I do?” and then retreat into my own world and the assurance that God has forgiven me.  Nothing else matters, right?

5.  But before us is the witness of the persistent widow who keeps on working it, keeps on pursuing justice, until justice arrives.

6.Such is our call - from the assurance of God’s love and forgiveness, we move out into the world serving the God’s whose law is inscribed on our hearts.

Conclusion:  The parable ends with Jesus asking the question:  “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

We give our answer as we persistently serve the God whose covenant of love and forgiveness has already claimed us.

Reflections on "Living" Jeremiah 29: 1-7; Luke 17: 11-19

This is the first of two sermons on Jeremiah.  Today's text was actually last week's lectionary lesson, and today's lectionary will be used next week.  I did not have much going with the sermon most of the week, but it came together for an okay sermon.  The Time with Young Disciples was a very good set-up for the sermon, and made the sermon better than it might have been otherwise.

“Living” St. Andrew, Denton;  October 20, 2019; Jeremiah 29: 1-7; Luke 17: 11-19

Jeremiah 29: 1-7:  These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said: 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Introduction:  We are not people who have been forced into exile like those to whom the prophet Jeremiah writes the words we read today.

But, we now what it is like to be people not where we want to be in life.

So listen to what the prophet Jeremiah has to say. 

Move 1:  We are not living in a fairy tale world.

a.  Life is tough for the Israelites.

1.   They have been exiled.

1. Their homeland has been invaded and they have been defeated.

2.  Prominent leaders no longer in Jerusalem.  Remember, that was what a conquering nation like Babylon did.  They sent important leaders into exile so the conquered land was easier to control.

3.  The Davidic monarcy, which they had assumed would last forever is clearly over

4.  The hopes and dreams for what God was doing had been invested in the  Temple, in Jerusalem, in the house of Judah, and that is basically gone.

5.  It was for all intents and purposes the end of the world.

6. They are a broken people.

7.  As broken people ourselves, we recognize ourselves in them.

b.  To these shell-shocked Israelites in exile comes a letter from the prophet Jeremiah.

1.  That the letter came from Jeremiah was a sign of just how bad things were. 

2. We may think of Jeremiah as a major prophet, but in his time he was a small town boy trying to make it big in the big city, and by all apparent measures, he was a failure.

3.  Jeremiah was from Anathoth in the tribal lands of Benjamin. Benjamin was the home of the failed monarch Saul, and the town itself bore the name of the Canaanite goddess, Anat. 

4.  Jeremiah was in a position to send this letter because he was left behind in the deportations; the Babylonians did not think he was worth the effort of deporting  (Wil Gafney Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible Brite Divinity School, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=704)

5. But from Jeremiah comes the word of God.

Move 2:  Embrace living where you are 

a. Do not cling to false hopes that deny the world in which you live.

1.  Look back one chapter to hear what a false prophet had told the Israelites.

2.  the prophet Hananiah has predicted a short stay in exile (2 years).

3. Imagine his popularity.

4. But his prediction of a short stay would also lead to not feeling a need to adjust and live fully where they are.

5. The false prophets call people to escapism, to ignore the truth, to avoid having to deal with life in exile

b. The word of God through Jeremiah to the exiles in 29:5-6 was to plan on staying in Babylon for the foreseeable future. 

1.  They are to build homes, settle down, get married, have children, and watch their children get married.

2.  In fact, the lesson ends with even more surprising word in verse 7, "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."  (Wil Gafney Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible Brite Divinity School, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=704)

3.  Jeremiah calls for the Israelite to live out their calling in this new, strange place.

c. Huge shift in understanding how God is at work.

1.  The Babylonians may be able to separate the Israelites from their land, from their Temple, from the way they always had worshipped God, but the Babylonians cannot separate the Israelites from their God.

2.  If the Israelites do not find themselves rescued from the exile in two years, it is not a sign that they cannot live as God’s people because God is in their midst in exile.

3.  While Israelites might most often remember God as the God of Exodus who took them to the Promised Land, Jeremiah reminds them that God was also with the Israelites in the wilderness.

5.  God will be found in their midst wherever they live; as God’s people, they are called to live out their calling wherever they live.

d. Jesus expands on what Jeremiah tells the Israelites.

1. When we tell the story of the ten lepers, we often focus on the gratitude he expressed, which is a great lesson.

2. But notice that it is the Samaritan, the outsider, who is the one who recognizes what God has done in his life.

3.  Jesus points out the Samaritan leper who returns to give thanks, he announces that now it does not matter who a person is, the person can be one of God’s people. 

Move 3:  Speaks to us about living as disciples of Christ.

a.  Discipleship is not just being faithful when everything works out.

1. Discipleship is not just being faithful for a few short years until God has sorted out everything.

2.  Discipleship is about living in the moment as God’s people.

b.  Every day it seems I talk to people or read about people or feel myself like we are people in exile.

1. we are not quite where we want to be.

2.  Maybe you are not physically living where you think we ought to live.

3.  Or technology has moved so fast, you feel like the world has passed us by.

4.  You are in a new school and nothing feels quite right.

5.  the world seems headed in directions you do not want to go and do not think the world should go.

6.  You feel like an alien in the world around you.

c. Welcome to the world of the Israelites in exile.

1. Welcome to the world where God is at work.

2.  Welcome to the world where you are called to live as God’s people where you are.

Amen.