Reflections on “Sabbatical snippets: Shaped and Formed”2 Timothy 1: 3-10

this was the last of my sabbatical sermons, that is, sermons that began with a reflection from my recent sabbatical.  I struggled greatly to get to the final version of the sermon.  I also suspect I preached a bit of what this week's Advent sermon might include.  the book I referenced, Rembrandt Is in the Wind, was given to me by my colleagues Julia and Dennis, to read on sabbatical.  I have not read all of the book, but I find it very stimulating.  I am grateful for the gift and its help with my sermon-writing.

 

“Sabbatical snippets: Shaped and Formed”, November 20, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; 2 Timothy 1: 3-10

3 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. ⁶For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, ⁹who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, ¹⁰but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Introduction:   Arches National Park is an amazing place to visit, although it can be a little hot in the deserts of UT in July!

The park contains more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the well-known Delicate Arch.  Arches national park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world. 

If you read the story of how the Arches came to be, you discover the slow movement of nature to form this arches.  Scientists tell us that the story of Arches begins roughly 65 million years ago. At that time, the area was a dry seabed spreading from horizon to horizon.

 I won’t  try to explain how the area we see as Arches national Park rose up to what we see now, Primarily because I’m not sure i could explain it correctly.

But, I was fascinated that the arches we now see now are the result of erosion and water that has been at work for centuries.  Rain and snow find feature in the rocks, then freeze and expand, with small recesses growing bigger with each storm. Over time, fractured rock layers turn into fins, and fins into arches. 

Arches also emerge when potholes near cliff edges grow deeper and deeper until they wear through the cliff wall below them. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arches_National_Park)

As I reflected in amazement over those arches, I was reminded how God shapes and forms each of us and the world in which we live.

Move 1:  The shaping and forming take place over time.

a.  Shaping and forming do not always happen overnight.

1. for every Saul who has a dramatic moment and is changed seemingly in an instant, there are numerous stories about God at work over time.

2.  the Exodus story and the movement to the Promised Land is one of the formative stories of the biblical text.

the Israelites wandered 40 years in the wilderness.

after having been in slavery in Egypt for several hundred years.

3. some scholars suggest that the time in wilderness was necessary to shape God’s people so that they could prosper in the Promised Land.

they had to spend time in the wilderness reclaim their faith as God’s people and rebuild their relationship with God.

they had to reshape their understanding of themselves from slaves to people who could thrive in the Promised Land.

4.  Another powerful story in Israel’s self-understanding as God’s people was the return from exile to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

70 years in exile 

70 years of being shaped and formed by the experience, both learning how to be God’s people in a very different context and looking toward the time when they would return and rebuild the Temple.

b.  God works over time shaping and forming us.

1. today is Christ the King Sunday - the last day of the liturgical calendar.

2.  the liturgical calendar we follow in worship gives us a yearly cycle to remember and tell how God has been at been work and points us to see the God who is still at work.

3.  today, we proclaim that Christ is King and lift up his life as the example of where God’s shaping and form of us leads.

4.  We are being shaped and formed to look more like Christ, 

live more like Christ

extend ourselves in the world more like Christ.

c. We know we are not there yet, but God is not done.

1. when you look in the mirror each day, you see a person who is still being shaped and formed.

2. When we look to the world, we see a world still needing to be shaped and formed.

3.  So we give ourselves over to the God who continues to shape and form us.

Move 2:  Being shaped and formed takes holy imagination

a. I suspect most of us are familiar with Michelangelo’s sculpture “The David” 

1.  Perhaps you have seen it in person in Florence or seen photos of it.

2. Considered by many to be the greatest piece of sculpture ever carved.

3. I remember seeing it the first time and finding myself staring at this sculpture, mesmerized by the marble David who seemed to be breathing.

Time seemed to stand still as I gazed at this breathtaking sculpture of David.

b.  Do you know the back story to the creation of this sculpture of David, the story about the the stone that Michelangelo carved?

1.  In 1463, an Italian sculptor Agostino di Duccio was commissioned by the Florence Cathedral to carve one of a series of 12 OT characters to adorn the buttresses of the cathedral.

he traveled to Fantiscritti Quarry in the Carrerra region of the Alps and had the quarrymen hew a stone 18 feet long weighing 24,000 pounds to use for the statue.

this was a deviation from the contract that allowed him to use four separate stones that could be put together to complete the statue.

It took two years for the stone to be transported back to Florence, where the stone was put in the cathedral courtyard.

2.  People flocked to see it, but as it was inspected, it was thought to be a giant, costly mistake — too narrow a stone; a hole in the middle; to massive a stone to be workable

it led to the firing of Agostino.

3.  The stone became a fixture for the residents of Florence -  as Russ Ramsey writes in his book Rembrandt Is in the Wind, the stone became “a symbol of incredible accomplishment and unmet potential.”

Ten years later another sculptor tried to do something with it, but got nowhere and was fired.

Twenty-six years later, a young sculptor named Michelangelo was tied to finish the project.

he would be the one to completed his marvelous, masterful, sculpture.

IT not only took time, but also the imagination of an artist like Michelangelo to see David in what was thought to be a wasted piece of marble and seeing in it the image of David. (Russ Ramsey, Rembrandt Is in the Wind, 17-39 tells the story in more detail).

c. the story of the stone used for the sculpture reminds me of who are and how we understand our world.

1.  Both an incredible accomplishment and unmet potential.

2.  We are God’s creation - each of us an incredible masterpiece reflecting the image of God.

3.  The world is God’s creation, created in goodness and reflecting an incredibly complex and beautiful act of God.

4. But, we are also unmet potential - we know that who we are and what our whole is does not measure up to the image of God and goodness in which we were created.

We continue to live into the potential to which God calls us.

5.  We need to look and listen for with holy imagination to live into the infinite possibilities God has for us and the world.

Move 4:  We also see the role of the church shaping and forming God does. 

a. We read in Paul’s letter to Timothy how Paul sees in Timothy the sincere faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.

2.  Paul’s observation reminds us that the community of faith shapes and forms us.

3.  Likewise, we read the story of Joshua who is take Moses’ place of leadership and are reminded that Moses has been working with Joshua to help him develop the skills needed to step into leadership.

4.  We need those who come before us, the Loises and Eunices and people like Moses who model for us discipleship as they shape and form us.

b. That, of course, is part of our calling as the body of Christ - to shape and form others in our midst, even as we go out into the world to shape and form the world by our work.

1.  In some ways, the vows the congregation takes at baptism are a summary statement of what it means to be a community of faith taht shapes and forms.

2.  when we stand and commit to be a part of the life of the one being baptized, we commit to praying for that person,

teaching that person the faith,

to walk beside them as they grow in their discipleship.

3. We often think of the baptismal vows in the context of baptizing infants and the vows become the reason we volunteer to teach Sunday school

or be a youth sponsor

or organize mission activities

or be a confirmation mentor 

or take in interest in the young kids as they grow into young adults.

A powerful image of the connections that helped the younger generations, like Timothy, to lay claim to their faith and their calling as disciples of Christ.

4.  But those baptismal vows also speak to the relationship the church has with anyone joining with us in this community of faith.

we join in ministry with that person.

we work together to proclaim the Christ’s presence in the world

we pray for each other

we grow  together in our faithfulness.

c.  It takes time for us to be shaped and formed by God.

1. It takes people in the community to care enough about each other to commit to the ongoing work being shaped and formed.

2.  the God who continues to be at work shaping and forming us calls us to be part of that work.

Conclusion:  Over time, the same forces that created these arches will continue to widen them until they collapse. 

In 2008,  the fall of Wall Arch in 2008 reminded us that this landscape continues to change.

David’s sculpture has cracks around the ankles that will one day probably lead to its collapse.

We live in a finite world,

but we follow the God of infinite possibilities, who continues to shape and form us.

Reflections on “Sabbatical snippets: Holy Infrastructure” Acts 11: 19-30

Like the other sermons in this sabbatical series, I have reflected on this topic since this summer.  I am not sure I got to the exact point I had intended, but I thought the sermon worked well.  At least, I preached what I intended to preach, which is not always the case!  I have never preached this text in Acts, so that was fun to explore a new text.  I could have played the brewing Jerusalem Council against raising funds to send to those in need, but I did not go there.  it might have been an interesting part of the sermon.

 “Sabbatical snippets:  Holy Infrastructure;” Acts 11: 19-30; November 17, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church;

¹⁹Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. ²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. ²²News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; ²⁴for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. ²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

²⁷At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. ²⁹The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea; ³⁰this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Introduction:  On our sabbatical travels, my wife wife Leslie and I were greatly impressed with the National parks - I would call them national treasures.

such variety;  so many incredible sites, as in places, and sights, as in incredible views and things to see.  

From arches formed in the desert to the mountain ranges in the Grand Tetons to the vastness of Yellowstone, we saw so many incredible places. 

As we wandered through these parks, I slowly discovered the infrastructure put into place for people like us.

we would be driving thorugh a national park, and I would think, this would be a great place for a photo, and then a lookout spot would appear for us to pull over

We would be on a hike and I would think this is getting a bit slippery and the next step would reveals chains to hold onto or cut out steps for safer passage

We would wonder which way to go on a trail, and then we would find a sign pointing us in the correct direction - that assumed, of course, we could read the sign correctly!

We would go into the Welcome Center and ask a park Ranger a question, and the ranger would always have a really good answer, plus a map they could mark up for us to take with us.

Leaving Grand Teton National Park, we saw a bunch of cars pulled off to the side of the road.   So we pulled off.

there in the grassy area off the side of the road was a Black Bear.  Lots of people taking photos from the distance.

Of course, I looked up and there were two park rangers walking among the crowd talking about the bear.  

And, I suspect, they were there to protect us from doing something stupid.

or, perhaps noticing if the bear was going to do something that might be a threat.

One of the park guides mentioned that if you see a Ranger vehicle pulled over somewhere, pay attention, because Rangers also seem to be where something interesting or exciting was taking place.

The physical infrastructure of the parks and the people who were part of the human infrastructure were amazing.

Last week, we talked about the public witness of the church as we gather in worship each week.

This week, we reflect on the role of the church more behind the scenes, providing what we might call “holy infrastructure.”

In other words, our calling to engage the world as Christ did when Christ was engaged in ministry.

 

Move 1:  The Acts passage we read is the first time we hear the word “Christian” on reference to the followers of Christ.

a. Jesus’ followers were initially called believers or followers - that is they believed in Jesus Christ and were his followers.

1.  But as time went on, they became known as Christians.

2. in fact, the term Christians was probably first used as sort of a putdown for these followers - those followers of the guy Christ who they say rose from the dead.

b.  But, the name stuck. 

1.  Christian

2.  not Jesus followers

or Nazarethians or Nazarenes because Jesus was from Nazareth

or resurrectionists because they believed in the the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

3. they are called Christians

and we are called Christians - people whose actions individually and collectively are tied directly to how Christ acted.

c.  we read and tell stories of how Jesus healed the sick,

brought hope to the hopeless

extended himself to outsiders

sought release for the captives

fed the hungry

cared for the “least of these”

1. those stories inform and shape how we act as Christians.  

2.  IN those stories we discover our calling we  follow Christ in the world.

Move 2: The church provides “holy infrastructure,” if you will.  

a.  Like the lookout spot in exactly the right place 

or the park ranger showing up exactly when the situation demands his or her guidance, 

or the park ranger marking the map with the plan for how to find your way,

the church is at work everyday in the lives of people.

1.  That is our calling - to be at work in the daily living of the world.

2. Like the God who comes in Christ to walk alongside us in our daily lives, the church walks alongside people in their struggles.

3. To be, if you will, the holy infrastructure that may not always be noticed, but is always there to support people as Christ did.

b.  I had a colleague in OH who wanted to become a novelist.  

As her time in a church was nearing its end and retirement approached, she began working on her first novel.

She was still joining with us for the monthly Presbyterian minister lunches (bet you wished you could have been at those), when she became part of a small group of other other aspiring authors.  

They shared ideas, brainstormed together, read each others' work.  

she would regale us with stories from those author gatherings.

her first novel followed a character who is a female Presbyterian minister in a small town in KS, who solved mysteries, which was an early part of her ministry experience.

One day she was telling me that most of the other writers did not go to church. 

She said in some ways it was helpful because she realized that some of the things she was weaving into the story needed more explanation - the other authors did not know much about what her main character did -  things like communion; or stewardship; or Session meetings; or mission committee work; or mission projects.  

She had to explain the role of the church and how its ministers and members acted.  

c. The world around us moves on, and the church’s mission continues, whether others recognize it or understand it.

1.  our calling is to follow Christ and minister as he would.

2.  There is still a public aspect of witnessing to Jesus Christ, but there is also the critical role of providing the infrastructure of care and concern for all of God’s people.

3.  Our own Book of Order, which governs how we live and act as the body of Christ reminds us that 

4.  one of our founding principles is that The mission of God gives shape to the church (F-1.01)  

Here how that is described:   The good news of the Gospel is that the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - creates, redeems, sustains, rules, and transforms all things and all people. This one living God, the Scriptures say, liberated the people of Israel from oppression and covenanted to be their God. By the power of the Spirit, this one living God is incarnate in Jesus Christ, who came to live in the world, die for the world, and be raised again to new life. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces the nearness of God’s kingdom, bringing good news to all who are impoverished, sight to all who are blind, freedom to all who are oppressed, and proclaiming the Lord’s favor upon all creation. The mission of God in Christ gives shape and substance to the life and work of the Church. In Christ, the Church participates in God’s mission for the transformation of creation and humanity by proclaiming to all people the good news of God’s love, offering to all people the grace of God at font and table, and calling all people to discipleship in Christ. 

move 3:  Let’s go back for a moment to the story from Acts.

a. We hear a conversation about the different churches and leaders and the use of the term Christian, Agabus stands up and shares a prophesy - famine is coming.

1.  Immediately, the church acts and takes up a special offering to care those who will be impacted by the famine. Fascinating, powerful immediately, one of the prophets stands up and predicts a famine

2.  the stuff about the church leadership and the church development is interesting, but the power in the story is found in how the church acts.

A need arises.

 

the church responds.

3.  This is commendable by itself, but it will soon be contrasted by the actions of King Herod in Chapter 12.

4.  King Herod, we discover, cares very little about those suffering from famine, but is mostly concerned with his grasp on power.

5. But there is the early church, in the background, living out its calling by reaching out the hungry. 

6. The church is defining itself as being there to support people in need, just as Christ did.

b.  The recent presidential election has garnered lots of our attention.

1. Some are ecstatic about the results and the changes coming into play;

some are grieving the election results and concerned about the changes happening.

2.  And in the midst of our divided nation, the work of the church continues, often in the background.

3.  the church continues to show up where people are hurting or in need because

Natural disasters do not know political seasons;

grief at the death of loved ones happens regardless of how an election goes.

homelessness and hunger may be impacted by governmental policies, but history tells us that the vulnerable will be around regardless of which party is in office.

Wars still rage around the world and the call for peacemakers and reconciliation grows.

people still need to know the life-saving, life-giving good news of Jesus Christ continues regardless of which political party is in power.

4. The Pastors’ Class is looking at the Study Catechism.  Questions and answers about all sorts of theological things.

this morning, one of the questions was:  Who are the needy?

the answer:  The hungry need bread, the homeless need a roof, the oppressed need justice, and the lonely need fellowship. At the same time—on another and deeper level—the hopeless need hope, sinners need forgiveness, and the world needs the gospel. On this level no one is excluded, and all the needy are one. Our mission as the church is to bring hope to a desperate world by declaring God’s undying love—as one beggar tells another where to find bread. 

5. The church’s call to show up and minister continues because the needy of the world are still out there.

How do we know there are still people in need?  Because we know the needs we have ourselves.

  the church is made up of us, the people who lay claim to be Christians, 

who go into the world to serve as Christ would by reaching out to those in need.

Conclusion:   As the resurrected Christ prepares to ascend to heaven, he gathers the remaining disciples and  Jesus gave them their marching orders - go and be his people in the world.

So they did.

And so we do.