"Grab bag: Between Birth and Baptism" Luke 2: 39-52; Romans 1: 1-4

The question behind this sermon is:  "What do we know about Jesus in his growing up years?"

The good news -- if you don't know much, you haven't forgotten it because it's not there.  The bad news -- there is a whole segment of Jesus' life about which we know very little.

With the exception of Jesus being presented in the Temple and then traveling there with his parents (both stories found in the Gospel of Luke), we have no other stories of Jesus' childhood.  Unless of course, you want to read through some of the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas" (The Other Gospels:  Non-Canonical Gospel Texts, Ron Cameron, editor, 122-130) that tells stories of Jesus as a child; gospels that were not accepted by the early church nor made part of the biblical canon (if you read them, you can figure out why they were left out of the canon).

"Christianity is about something that happened.  Something that happened to Jesus of Nazareth.  Something that happened through Jesus of Nazareth.  In other words, Christianity is not about a new moral teaching... Christianity isn't about Jesus offering a wonderful moral example...nor is Christianity about Jesus offering, demonstrating, or even accomplishing a new route by which people can “go to heaven when they die... Finally Christianity isn't about giving the world fresh teaching about God himself....Christianity is all about the belief that the living God, in fulfillment of his promises and as the climax of the story of Israel, has accomplished all this – the finding , the saving, the giving of new life – in Jesus.  He has done it." Simply Christian, N. T. Wright (92).

What do you think Jesus was up between his birth and his baptism in the Jordan River? Do you care?

"Grab Bag: Me and You, Noah" Genesis 9: 8-17; Isaiah 54: 6-10

I liked this sermon, although I stumbled a couple of times in its delivery in the Sanctuary.  The transition to the baptism point might have been a bit forced since I was trying to make a connection to baptism.  I liked the way it played off of the week before, both in content and tone.   The final illustration from Archie Bunker was abbreviated in the actual preaching of the sermon. 

“Me and You, Noah”  June 30, 2013; Grab bag series Genesis 9: 8-17; Isaiah 54: 6-10

Move 1: The lightning and thunder come and go, but the rain never stops.  We awaken in the morning to rain and go to sleep at night with the rain still coming from the heavens.  Will it ever stop? A sense of hopelessness pervades the ark. Where is God? 

The rain has stopped, but water surrounds us in every direction.  We actually saw the sun peeking through the clouds.  Now the people and the animals are getting even more stir crazy.  They want off the boat, but there is no dry land to be found.  The optimism brought by the ray of sunshine gives way to a new sense of hopelessness that we are stuck in the ark with no place to dock. Where is God?

Ten months have passed and we can finally see the tops of the mountains.  Can we survive until we can leave the ark? Where is God?

A dove goes out to find dry land.  A sense of hope tentatively emerges.  The dove returns.  No dry land.  The nightmare continues.  No longer looking for God, because God has surely forsaken us.

The earth has dried.  God sends us out onto the dry land to be fruitful and multiply.  After surviving the ark, anything seems possible.  God has saved us.

a.      Make no mistake – the story of Noah’s ark is one of devastation and hopelessness.

1.      You have seen the photos from Hurricane Katrina.

2.       You have read the accounts of people racing to the highest point possible only to have the flood waters rise to them and beyond.

3.      The flood destroyed creation as humans knew it. 

b.      and there is no one to blame but themselves.

1.      their sinfulness had brought about this devastation.

2.      Imagine how bad it must have been for God to want to destroy the very world God created.

3.      Actually, we can easily imagine it – just look at the world around us with the wars, the violence, and the unfaithfulness.

4.      I suspect the pre-flood world in Genesis was no worse than what we know now.

move 2:  But in the midst of the devastation, God remembers Noah, and his family, and all of creation.

a.      Last week we heard Bill Cosby’s comedy routine where he envisions what Noah might say to God.

1.      As the rains begin, Noah is in midst of his long litany of complaints.

2.      But as he hears the thunder and the rain, he cries out, "me and you, Lord, right?"

b.       Now we hear God in the face of the devastating flooding crying out, "Right! Me and you, Noah."

1.      “I remember you.”

2.      “I will save you.”

3.      In fact, God spreads a rainbow across the heavens to announce that God will always remember God’s people.

4.      No matter what we do, God will remember us and offer us the hope of salvation, instead of the utter devastation.

5.      As Walter Brueggemann notes, "the gospel of this God is that he remembers. the only thing the waters of chaos and death do not cut through (though they cut through everything else) is the commitment of God to creation Brueggemann,Interpretation: Genesis, 85.

6.      God remembers.

Move 3:  We find refuge in the God who remembers

            a.  Isaiah passage

1.              The Israelites are in exile.  They are a defeated people banished to a foreign land.

2.              Not forty days of flooding, but generations of exile.

3.              They wonder where God is. They cry out for help.

4.              And the prophet Isaiah reminds them – the God who remembered Noah, will remember you.

5.              They can dare to hope for a future.

b. Our hope today is in the God who remembers.

1.            In a war-torn world where our prayers for peace seem to go unanswered, we can dare to hope in the God who remembers us.

2.            In our lives of broken relationships, we can dare to hope for healing and wholeness because God remembers us.

3.            In a world where we battle addictions and struggle with our inner demons, we can dare to hope because God remembers us.

4.            In a world where tragedy and death arrive unexpectedly, we can dare to hope because God remembers us.

Move 4:  Baptism

           

                        a.  In our theology, the sacrament of baptism builds on the images of water and covenant.

1.  We baptize even infants because God claims us as part of the covenant in the waters of baptism, even if we do not know much about God.

2.  God’s covenant does not depend on us, but on God’s love and promise.

b. This week I was reminded of an old Archie Bunker TV show that revolved around baptism. 

For those of you who do not remember Archie Bunker, he was an old, somewhat bigoted white guy, whose daughter had married a liberal atheist.

After returning from church one Sunday afternoon, Archie’s wife Edith's recount of the service prompts Archie to ask when their grandson, Joey, will finally be baptized. It turns out Joey will not be baptized because his dad does not believe in God.

Laughing him off, Mike and Gloria leave. Archie then tries to persuade Edith to assist him in having Joey baptized at Edith's church, on the sly. Edith will not consider such a thing, however, and Archie goes as far as to try to trick her into taking a walk in the park, with the intention of stopping by the church on the way. In the midst of their argument, the telephone rings, and Edith tries to give directions to their house for a clothing pick-up to the driver on the other end. While Edith is in the midst of her explanation, Archie takes advantage of her distraction and grabs an old sweater from the charitable donation pile, and also Joey, who is sleeping on the porch in his baby carriage. By the time Edith makes the discovery that they have left, it's too late.

Once at the church, Archie is dismayed to find out that the Reverend Felcher is not available to perform the baptism, but rather the ethnic Reverend Chong. After a series of politically incorrect gaffes on Archie's part, Reverend Chong assures Archie that he is perfectly capable of giving Joey a Christian baptism, but that he (Reverend Chong) is beginning to sense that Joey's parents are against the idea. After lying to the minister initially, Archie finally offers him a bribe, which the minister refuses.


Daunted once again in his efforts, Archie stops the stroller on his way out beside a station of holy water, before leaving the church. He proceeds to pray, opening a dialogue to God with the line, "A. Bunker here" and asking God not to forsake Joey just because "his old man's a dopey atheist." Archie then lifts Joey from the stroller and sprinkles water on his head, adding, "I hope that took Lord, 'cause they're gonna kill me when I get home." http://www.tv.com/shows/all-in-the-family/joeys-baptism-38238/recap/

Conclusion:  Archie’s theology of baptism may not stand up to our Presbyterian theological standards, but he did understand that his hope, and his grandson’s hope, rest in the the ?God who remembers us, the God who claims us, the God who saves us.  Amen.

"Grab Bag: Me and You, Noah" Genesis 9: 8-17; Isaiah 54: 6-10

This week we flip Bill Cosby's Noah's comment "me and you, Lord" that he utters when the rains start to fall.  Instead, we think about how God says, "Me and you, Noah."  IN fact, God says, "Me and you, humanity!" 

  1.  Not sure if the following illustration from the TV show Archie Bunker will make it to the sermon, but I found it fascinating, particularly since we have a baptism Sunday.

After returning from church one Sunday afternoon, Edith's recount of the service prompts Archie to ask when their grandson, Joey, will finally be baptized. Edith reminds Archie that he knows how Mike feels about such a thing; however, when Mike and Gloria bring Baby Joey over that day for Archie and Edith to babysit, Archie immediately launches into the subject. Mike and Gloria won't hear of it. Archie tries to persuade them that Joey will be denied entrance into heaven with him and Edith, and then suggests that Joey will be safe from his "own kind" throwing rocks at him if he "has religion." Archie affirms this by admitting that he threw many a rock when he was a kid.





Laughing him off, Mike and Gloria leave. Archie then tries to persuade Edith to assist him in having Joey baptized at Edith's church, on the sly. Edith will not consider such a thing, however, and Archie goes as far as to try to trick her into taking a walk in the park, with the intention of stopping by the church on the way. In the midst of their argument, the telephone rings, and Edith tries to give directions to their house for a clothing pick-up to the driver on the other end. While Edith is in the midst of her explanation, Archie takes advantage of her distraction and grabs an old sweater from the charitable donation pile, and also Joey, who is sleeping on the porch in his baby carriage. By the time Edith makes the discovery that they have left, it's too late.





Once at the church, Archie is dismayed to find out that the Reverend Felcher is not available to perform the baptism, but rather the ethnic Reverend Chong. After a series of politically incorrect gaffes on Archie's part, Reverend Chong assures Archie that he is perfectly capable of giving Joey a Christian baptism, but that he (Reverend Chong) is beginning to sense that Joey's parents are against the idea. After lying to the minister initially, Archie finally offers him a bribe, which the minister refuses.





Daunted once again in his efforts, Archie stops the stroller on his way out beside a station of holy water, before leaving the church. He proceeds to pray, opening a dialogue to God with the line, "A. Bunker here" and asking God not to forsake Joey just because "his old man's a dopey atheist." Archie then lifts Joey from the stroller and sprinkles water on his head, adding, "I hope that took Lord, 'cause they're gonna kill me when I get home." http://www.tv.com/shows/all-in-the-family/joeys-baptism-38238/recap/

  2.  Was the world more evil in Noah's time than we are now?

  3.  Having seen the photos and news stories from Hurricane Katrina, I don't think we can ever put the flood story back into the realm of sweet, little children's stories.  Flooding would have been devastating.

  4. The story suggests that God changes God's mind about how to deal with humanity.  Are we ok with the idea that God can change God's mind?  Or is that just our human perspective of how God is at work?

  5.  God remembers (8:1).  Walter Brueggemann notes that "the gospel of this God is that he remembers. the only thing the waters of chaos and death do not cut through (though they cut through everything else) is the commitment of God creation." This "remembering is an act of gracious engagement...an act of committed compassion."  Brueggemann, Interpretation:  Genesis, 85.

  6.  As we reflect on the flood, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina should be a constant reminder that even as we "water down" the Noah story for kids, we are still talking about total devastation, not a some sweet story in the Children's Bible.

  7. The Isaiah passage references the Noah story for the Israelites who are in exile.  They are asked to remember and trust that the God who remembered Noah will remember them.

  8.  I have an image of being on the ark and wondering if it will ever stop raining (in the Bill Cosby routine, Cosby has an interchange in which God says it will rain fro 400 years, to which Noah replies, "just stop up the sewers and you need to have it rain for 40 days and 40 nights!); will life ever be the same; will they ever see dry land;   a sense of hopelessness surely overwhelmed the ark. Imagine when the bird returns after not finding any dry land.  Sick of being wet; sick of being cooped up; wondering if there is any hope.  Into that moment, God remembers and rescues.

Reflections on "You and Me, Lord" Genesis 6: 5-22; 7: 11-16

This sermon grew out of the request to preach the Noah story from an adult perspective -- i.e. no animal stories!

I had a lot of fun listening to and sharing part of the Bill Cosby routine about Noah.  In fact, I turned the Noah story into a two-week mini-series with Noah's comment (through Bil Cosby's imagination) "You and me, Lord" being the key phrase.  This week it was used to illustrate how we run back to God; next week the phrase will be shifted to "Me and you, Noah" to describe God's covenant.

Early in my reflections, I thought about focusing the whole sermon on how we turn away from God until the emergency arrives.   As I continued to reflect, however, I decided to expand the sermon. My guiding principle was "what would adults have questions about as they read the text."

The suggestion that seeing what makes the Noah story distinct from other ancient myths, and how that speaks to our distinctiveness as God's people would be a good starting point for a series of sermons on Christian distinctiveness.

Not sure how well listening to Bill Cosby in the middle of the sermon worked for the listeners, but I enjoyed it!

“Me and You, Lord”  June 23, 2013; Grab bag series Genesis 6: 5-22; Genesis 7:11-16

Introduction:  Another week of grab bag sermons, this time on Noah, but not from a child's perspective. Last week that comment was defined as, "don't talk about the animals."

Move 1: Other myths

a.      You have perhaps heard of the Gilgamesh epic.

1.       The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia, is amongst the earliest surviving works of literature. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh).

2. Several similarities – dimensions of ark (more like a houseboat); flood; birds being sent out to find dry land

3.      Did the Biblical tradition draw on Gilgamesh or vice versa?

4.  In fact, biblical scholars can point out (as I think we can too with a careful reading) how the Noah story bring together two different strands of the biblical story to make one story (much like the creation story earlier in Genesis)

5.       Perhaps Gilgamesh and biblical story are parallel stories that both describe a huge event from history?

6.       Reveals the common human need for answers about God and God’s relationship with the world. 

7.      Our question – where was God on 9/11 paralleled by the question, where was God when the world flooded?

b.      What makes our Christian tradition distinct?

1.      Important question in our time.

2.      Important because of other faith traditions –

3.      Important because of society’s way of watering down, or blurring our faith with anything and everything.

4.       The “I am spiritual, but don’t give me that Jesus or God stuff”

5.      “we’re right and you’re not” does not seem workable anymore.

6.      In this world, we are called upon to share what makes our faith distinct and why following Jesus matters.

c.       Clues from the text

1.       Character of God.  Vs. 6: 6 – it grieved God to the heart; Word grieved in Hebrew is the same word that is used to describe the “pain” of childbirth.

2.      Walter Brueggemann suggests that the Noah story reveals the Image of God as” a troubled parent instead of an angry tyrant” (77).  An important distinction – We worship God, who is paid by our sinfulness and wants to find a way to overcome it, instead of a God who angrily reacts to our sinfulness.

3.      blot out; but wait – salvation still comes.  ark; same word that will be used for the basket in which Moses is put into to the basket of reeds to avoid being put to death at Pharaoh's decree.  And we are reminded that God chooses to save us. 

4.      We also see themes of God remembering and God offering covenant (I'll be hitting those two themes in next week's sermon).

The Noah story God and helps us claim our Christian identity.

Move 2: why all the details about the ark?

a.              I am fascinated with why there is such detail given about how to build the ark.

1.      I don't really care about how many cubits there are in the ark or that pitch was used to seal the ark.

2.      Maybe some engineers in our midst want to know that stuff, but I don't understand why it's there.

3.      But it is.  So we have to figure out why this is some important that the details are part of the biblical record.

4.       Why should we not dismiss it as just unimportant details?

b.              God is real.

c.               The challenge of following God.

1.      the tasks will be laid out for Noah, and they will be hard work.

2.      not easy being going where God calls.

Move 2:  Final point (still quite a bit of sermon left!):  the cycle of discipleship.

a.              Not quite the biblical story, but the comedian Bill Cosby's has a wonderful routine about what might have transpired between Noah and God.  Listen to how he envisions a conversation that might have taken place between Noah and God [“Noah: Ma and You, Lord” from Bill Cosby’s Greatest Hits (Track 3) was played for the congregation at this point}.

1.      Initially, Noah sort of likes the idea that he knows the flood is coming and his friends don't. He cryptically asks his neighbor, "How long can you tread water."

2.      You now the excitement of discipleship:  the first day or two on a mission trip; the month in seminary; the first mission project you get involved in at church. Awesome feeling like you are doing what God calls you to do; you are impacting others, being a disciple is so good!

3.       But Noah gets fed up with dealing with the building the ark, with the God who remains silent when Noah introduces God to the neighbor, and with all the elephant dung in the bottom of the ark.  At one point, God asks Noah, "how long can you tread water!"

4.       Noah is not so excited with all the work, the frustration, the acting in the present in the belief that it will matter in the future.

5.      The first days of mission trip morph into the 5^th and 6^th day – you’re tired of being gone from home, tired of your leaders, tired of the person who snores in the room, even tired of those cute little kids you have met.

First month of seminary gives way to the class discussions that give you an image of God you’re not sure you like, and then papers and final exams arrive and it does not feel like too exciting a call.

First project at church leads to your being on a committee for the next project; now you get to deal with the details, the decision that have to be made, the volunteers that have to be found.

            6. This following Jesus gig is a little tougher than you had imagined.  Maybe you ought to move on to something different.

            7. Maybe you have a gripe session with God like Bill Cosby’s Noah does (this is biblical by the way – see Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness or the Psalmists)

8.      And the lighting and thunder arrive soon followed by the rain.

9.      The complaints give way to the reality that you really need God.

10. Race back to God

b.              The cycle of discipleship – hearing the call, obeying the call, deciding to turn away, discovering God anew.

Conclusion:  Kids love the story of Noah’s ark. Great story.  But as you counts off the animals by twos, don’t forget the God who is revealed in the story – the God who calls us; the God who challenges us; the God who is waiting for us when the rain starts to pour.

Amen.

"Grab Bag: 'You and Me, Lord' Genesis 6:11-22; 7: 11-16

Another week of grab bag sermons, this time on Noah, but not from a child's perspective. Last week that comment was defined as, "don't talk about the animals."

Reading through the beginning of the Noah story led me in several directions:

1.  Bill Cosby's wonderful comedy routine about Noah.  he describes what it might be like for Noah to be building an ark in the neighborhood.  Noah sort of likes the idea that he knows the flood is coming and his friends don't.  He cryptically asks his neighbor, "How long can you tread water."

But Noah gets fed up with dealing with the building the ark, with the God who remains silent when Noah introduces God to the neighbor, and with all the elephant dung in the bottom of the ark.  At one point, God asks Noah, "how long can you tread water!"

The climax of the routine comes when God tells Noah that he has to get rid of one of the hippos. This sets Noah off and he goes off on an angry diatribe.  As he is talking, we hear lighting and thunder. Noah keeps complaining, and then he says, ""That's not a shower is it?"  Then, "me and you Lord."

That comedy routine has me pondering how often we align ourselves with God, but then we run into a little problem or two, how easily we give up. But, we quickly return in a crisis.

2.  I am fascinated with why there is such detail given about how to build the ark.  What purpose does that have in the biblical story?  Why should we not dismiss it as just unimportant details?

3.  Walter Brueggemann has a wonderful commentary on Genesis.  He focuses in the Noah story on how God's heart was changed.  how God chooses covenant.  I am actually preaching on the Noah story next week as well, which is where the covenant language fits better.

4. Brueggemann also describes Noah as arriving" in the story as the possibility of what can happen" (79) Interpreation:  A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, the commentary on Genesis.

What are your memories of Noah?

Can you think of times when you gave up on doing what God had called you to do?  Or a time when God's claim was so clear to you that you answered in a big way?

Reflections on “Grab Bag: Angels, Please Come to Order” Acts 12: 5-19; Hebrews 1: 1-14

Somewhere in the midst of all my words was a sermon!  I took out Move 3 (in italics) between Chapel and Sanctuary service, which made the sermon better.  I continue to find that these grab bag topics lead me to more material than I can use, so paring down the sermon becomes a challenge.

Weak conclusion at Sanctuary.  Worse at Chapel, although I don't remember what I did there.  

I think the analysis of how our angel conversations grow out of our imagination, culture, and biblical text hit the mark.  I also really liked the section about what angels reveal about God.  Admittedly, I didn't have a lot to say about concrete angel illustrations.  I suppose I'm not really an angel person, which may have inhibited my ability to illustrate better.

I found the John Calvin stuff really interesting.  I didn't reference it much directly in the sermon, but the notes are at the end of the text here.  Amazing how his thoughts from so long ago seemed so appropriate today.

I would like to pursue the topic of angels who are named in the Bible.  There are also lots of other stories about angels in the Bible.  I could spend several weeks preaching on different episodes involving angels.

From the Acts story, I would also like to preach on Rhoda not letting Peter in immediately; Peter thinking he was dreaming when the angel was rescuing him; or the gathered community of faith praying for Peter while he was imprisoned, including their not believing that in answer to their prayers Peter has been rescued is at their door step.  

I thought the Hebrew passage worked very well with the sermon.

 "Grab Bag:  Angels, Please Come to Order” 6/16/13; FPC, Troy; Acts 12: 5-19; Hebrews 1: 1-14

Introduction:  Rev. Alex Coyle served this congregation for 27 years  from  1943 – 1970. Some of you actually knew him!  He was a poet, and many of us have read some of his poems. 

Rev. Coyle also wrote a play entitled, “Angels, Come to Order” that I believe was first presented at a gathering of the Presbyterian Women’s Association.  Some of you may recall that a few years ago we updated that play, added a scene or two, and presented it as our Advent play.

As its title suggests, the play revolves around the work of angels.  In the original play, they gathered around a meeting table and discussed what God should do humans and how the angels could be involved in that.  In the updated version, the angels gathered at Jehovah’s Java joint to discuss what God was doing in the world and how the angels would help.

The play depicts angels in a humorous way, including the presence of a bumbling angel or two, a power hungry angel, and so on.  The title of the play comes from this sense of humor and chaos that is shared about the angelic gatherings in heaven.  These angels perhaps reveal more about humans than they do about angels, but they also point to the God who has acted and continues to act in history.

The play also reveals what I think has been an ongoing human fascination with angels.  No surprise to me that one of the grab bag sermon suggestions was to preach about angels.  And no surprise that I have spent my preparation time scrambling to come to sense of how to understand angels from a biblical text and from our Reformed tradition.

Move 1:  Angel conversations, if you will, involve a blend of our own imaginations that are fed by our own needs; what our culture (heavily influenced by movies, I might add, thinks about angels, and the biblical text. 

I want to try and sort through those different aspects this morning.

a. Let’s begin with what you think about angels.

1.      I suspect you think about angels in several different ways.

2., one ways in which I hear people refer to angels is when describing how they feel like a loved one who has died is looking out for them. 

4.      3.  Reflects our desire to be connected with out loved ones and know that they love us, even after they have died. 

5.      Or I hear people talk about how an angel saved them by intervening to prevent an accident or to give them some extra ability to get them through a crisis.

6.       Sort of like the Holy Spirit conversations I sometimes have, except the angels are more concrete than the mysterious Holy Spirit.

7.      Reflects our fascination with trying to figure out how God is at work in the world and our recognition that we need God’s help.

8.      Heavenly images – very few stories of heaven leave out the presence of angelic beings.

9.  Christmas pageants –  Hard to comprehend God at work.  I am reminded of the Marj Carpenter tells the story of two little angels waiting in the wings to go on stage for the Nativity play who were looking at their drab white robes and wings.  One said to the other:  “I know one thing about angels – their mothers pick out their clothes.”

b.       movies

1.                              The movies: A Bishop’s Wife, Cary Grant; Dudley; Remake  The Preacher’s Wife – Denzel Washington as Dudley – preacher prays for help; angel, who looks human, appears and teaches the preacher a lesson.

2.                             Heaven Can Wait, bumbling angel who brings a man to heaven before he dies. Warren Beatty movie;

3.       Christmas classic  "It's a Wonderful Life" gives us Clarence, the good-natured angel trying to earn his wings by helping George through a difficult time.

In particular, Clarence gives the impression that angels are humans who get to heaven, and that there is a hierarchical category of heavenly beings with angels needing to perform acts on earth to earn their wings.

            4. I suspect these movies and other cultural influences shape our understanding of angels.

c.      Look for a moment at the biblical depiction of angels.

1.      Angels are creations of God.  A separate created being.  Not some variation of humans or some super human that we become after death.

2.                     Angels bring messages from God.  Angel means messenger; “a spiritual being created by God, who serves at God’s command and pleasure to deliver God’s messages (Harper’s Bible Dictionary).

Story of Jesus’ birth, angels bring messages to the principal players, namely Mary and Joseph and then

I am reminded of a kid reading the Christmas story to another kid:  “Because they didn't have email then.  That's why god sent an angel to proclaim the baby's birth.

3.                     "Angel of the Lord" is a fairly common phrase in the Old Testament.

5. Story of Moses at the burning bush when he speaks to God.  Often use it as an example of God talking to us – if we read the story, we are reminded that “;angel of the Lord appeared to Moses” (Exodus 3:2).

4.      WE note that Angels have names at times in the biblical story.

5.                     Announce from the skies what God has done.

6.         help God’s people and punish God’s enemies;”  they often appear in the a story of the patriarchs:  Jacob wrestled with an angel; angels visited Sarah and Abraham; often confusing since God also talks directly to humans in OT

d.       Acts story

1.         Peter imprisoned.

2.         Night – angel of the Lord taps him on the shoulder and help him escape.  Peter does not even realize he is in the presence of angel.  He thinks he is dreaming.

3.         Angel departs after helping him escape from jail, and Peter goes to a house where church members are praying for him. 

4.         He knocks on the door and Rhoda answers.  She hears his voice and immediately rushes to tell others that Peter is there (it has nothing to do with angels, but I find it fascinating that she races off to tell the others while she leaves Peter waiting at the door).

5. Then  we have this funny little moment in the story. The others know it cannot be Peter because he is, after all, in prison. One says, “Maybe it’s his angel.”

6. This reveals with biblical scholars believe was an ancient myth that held that people had guardian angels, who could in a pinch act as their double here on earth.

7.  Apparently, the early followers of Christ were not sure what to do with angels either (Textual notes, the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, 1979.

Move 2: What angels reveal about God.

a.  God who engages us

1.   John Calvin:  God makes use of angels, not for God's sake, but for our sake (14.11)  

5.      Jacob wrestling with an angel as he tries to figure out where God is leading him and what God desires of him.

6.      Angels coming to visit Sarai and Abram.

7.      Angels announcing the birth of Christ.

2. God acts to save us

1. Go read the Exodus story.

2. an angel goes before the Israelites to lead them in the wilderness

3. Angels announcing Jesus are announcing God’s act of salvation.

3. Christ supersedes angels.

1. Letter to Hebrews reveals the confusion the early church had in understanding Christ in relation to angels.

2. Was Christ some kind of super angel?

3. Resounding no.

4. Christ is the Son of God.

5. God saves us through Christ, not angels.

2.   Hebrews wants to be sure we know that Jesus is God; that we do not need an intermediary like an angel to be in relationship with God.

Move 3:  Laying claim to the non-biblical image of angels.

a.      Loved ones

b.      People who God sends into our lives to help.

1.      God continues to engage us and work to save us.

c.       Trail angels -- trail angels – leave a soft drink or some food;

Conclusion:   John Calvin wrote on the subject of angels.  It is found in the section on God the Creator, and more specifically on distinguishing true gods from false gods (Calvin's Institutes, Book 1, Chapter 14, Sections 3-12).

Calvin reminds us that our focus on angels should not divert us from directing our gaze to the Lord alone (14.12)