Last night, Lisa and I went to dinner. At least 3 of every 4 people in the restaurant, including the wait staff, were wearing Steelers shirts. Probably half of those were jerseys. As we were leaving, there was a sign on the door that said, "In consideration of our employees, we will be closing at 6 pm this Sunday for the Super Bowl."
Lisa saw a commercial earlier in the week for a furnace repair company that prides itself on being available for repair 24/7/365. The commercial states that if your furnace breaks on Christmas Day, they'll be there. If it breaks in the middle of the night, they'll be there. But if it breaks this Sunday evening, you'll have to wait a few hours -- but they'll be there as soon as they can after the game.
Eat 'N Park, a Pittsburgh diner chain, only closes on Christmas Eve. And, apparently, for the Super Bowl when the Steelers are in it.
Pittsburgh City Schools as well as a couple other area school districts have declared 2 hour delays for Monday. It's an attempt to cut down on absenteeism. With the 2 hour delay, there's a greater chance the teachers and students won't call in "sick" after staying up late watching the game and celebrating afterwards.
So the only people working Sunday night will be bartenders and police officers. All we really need is people to keep the booze flowing and people to keep the boozed from urinating in alleys. It's a holiday around here, the biggest event since the last time the Steelers were in the Super Bowl.
3 years ago, for Super Bowl XL, I was in Atlanta, a member of the Steeler Diaspora. It was fun to be proudly wearing my Steeler gear and carrying my terrible towel around for 2 weeks. But it's way more fun this time, to be in the middle of all the fun here in Western PA. There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.
Here we go...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Land of Milk and Honey
Lisa and I retreated this weekend to Canaan Valley, West Virginia, for a week of skiing and relaxation. It's about 2 hours, 45 minutes from us, and Canaan Valley Ski Resort is cheaper than any of the skiing around here. We enjoyed taking the NFL playoffs bye week as our own "bye week," providing a much needed break between the busy seasons of Advent and Lent.
Friday morning we arose very early and drove down to the ski area. We got a good morning and afternoon of skiing in, and planned to stay until 6 or 7. Alas, around 4:15, Lisa fell and twisted her knee -- probably a mild sprain. I left her to notify ski patrol, and she was promptly sledded off the mountain to the first aid station. After icing her knee down with a bag-o-snow, we headed to our cabin. We stayed at Golden Anchor Cabins just a mile away. Our cabin was amazing! We loved it. Hot tub, fully stocked kitchen, etc. Absolutely wonderful.
Because of Lisa's injury, we spent Saturday and Sunday sitting around. We left the cabin twice on Sunday for food. Other than that, we stayed in and played games, watched movies and Steelers DVDs, read, and put a puzzle together. We used the hot tub a couple times too -- Saturday it was snowing and we used it anyway!
Of course, I had a much-needed Sunday off. It was nice to be sitting by a fireplace reading, with a view of only snow, mountains, and a barn, at the time I am usually leading worship. Don't get me wrong, I love planning and leading worship more than anything else in my job, but I'm becoming aware that sometimes it's best to step away and re-energize oneself.
I am feeling very re-energized after the weekend. I'm well-rested, I haven't thought about church stuff in 3 days, and I'm excited to get back to work. Oh, and due to watching Steelers DVDs and ESPN all weekend, I'm really pumped for this Sunday!
In case you're wondering, Lisa's knee feels fine. Another couple days of rest and it should be good as new!
Friday morning we arose very early and drove down to the ski area. We got a good morning and afternoon of skiing in, and planned to stay until 6 or 7. Alas, around 4:15, Lisa fell and twisted her knee -- probably a mild sprain. I left her to notify ski patrol, and she was promptly sledded off the mountain to the first aid station. After icing her knee down with a bag-o-snow, we headed to our cabin. We stayed at Golden Anchor Cabins just a mile away. Our cabin was amazing! We loved it. Hot tub, fully stocked kitchen, etc. Absolutely wonderful.
Because of Lisa's injury, we spent Saturday and Sunday sitting around. We left the cabin twice on Sunday for food. Other than that, we stayed in and played games, watched movies and Steelers DVDs, read, and put a puzzle together. We used the hot tub a couple times too -- Saturday it was snowing and we used it anyway!
Of course, I had a much-needed Sunday off. It was nice to be sitting by a fireplace reading, with a view of only snow, mountains, and a barn, at the time I am usually leading worship. Don't get me wrong, I love planning and leading worship more than anything else in my job, but I'm becoming aware that sometimes it's best to step away and re-energize oneself.
I am feeling very re-energized after the weekend. I'm well-rested, I haven't thought about church stuff in 3 days, and I'm excited to get back to work. Oh, and due to watching Steelers DVDs and ESPN all weekend, I'm really pumped for this Sunday!
In case you're wondering, Lisa's knee feels fine. Another couple days of rest and it should be good as new!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
An Inauguration Day Prayer
I wrote this prayer last week and included it in our prayers during worship. I thought I'd share it here as a prayer that we all can pray on this historic day.
This week, O Lord, is an eventful week. It is a week in which we are thankful for the leaders which you provide. We thank you for the prophetic life of Martin Luther King, Jr. We celebrate the progress he made toward racial harmony and reconciliation in this country, and we pray that you would help us remember his work always as we continue that march which is still far from complete.
We celebrate a change in presidents this week, O God. The inauguration gives us a chance to offer prayers of thanksgiving for President George W. Bush and his administration as it comes to a close. We thank you for his willingness to lead our country for the last eight years, in the midst of the conflict, controversy, and mistakes that often come with the position.
And we also offer prayers of thanksgiving for the new leader that has risen among us. We are thankful for Barack Obama’s willingness to lead. We thank you for the gifts you have given him, and we pray that you may guide him and his administration faithfully into a new era. We pray that this new administration may seek policies and objectives that will be beneficial not just to our own country, but beneficial to the whole world, including all your children who share your Creation with us. No matter our political, social, economic, or religious leanings, may we all come together in support and celebration of the leaders of our nation, both past and present. Guide us and protect us all as we step boldly into a future filled with hope. Amen.
This week, O Lord, is an eventful week. It is a week in which we are thankful for the leaders which you provide. We thank you for the prophetic life of Martin Luther King, Jr. We celebrate the progress he made toward racial harmony and reconciliation in this country, and we pray that you would help us remember his work always as we continue that march which is still far from complete.
We celebrate a change in presidents this week, O God. The inauguration gives us a chance to offer prayers of thanksgiving for President George W. Bush and his administration as it comes to a close. We thank you for his willingness to lead our country for the last eight years, in the midst of the conflict, controversy, and mistakes that often come with the position.
And we also offer prayers of thanksgiving for the new leader that has risen among us. We are thankful for Barack Obama’s willingness to lead. We thank you for the gifts you have given him, and we pray that you may guide him and his administration faithfully into a new era. We pray that this new administration may seek policies and objectives that will be beneficial not just to our own country, but beneficial to the whole world, including all your children who share your Creation with us. No matter our political, social, economic, or religious leanings, may we all come together in support and celebration of the leaders of our nation, both past and present. Guide us and protect us all as we step boldly into a future filled with hope. Amen.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Calling of Samuel
Sermon for Sunday, January 18, 2009
Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-20
This story of Samuel’s calling is a well-known Old Testament story. Samuel is a boy living as a servant in the house of Eli, a priest. Although he lives in the house of priest Eli, he does not know God. So God calls to Samuel in the middle of the night, and he keeps running to Eli. Finally, the third time Samuel runs to Eli, Eli realizes that Samuel may be hearing the voice of God. So he tells Eli to treat it as such. Eli goes back to his bed, lies down, and hears the voice a fourth time. He says to the voice what Eli instructed him to say: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” And God appears to him and speaks to him, giving him a message. That message is that Eli’s house will be punished. Eli has done nothing wrong as a priest ruling over Israel, but you see, his sons are, how shall I say, “wild and crazy guys!” And now the boy Samuel, a servant of Eli, is commissioned by God to proclaim God’s judgment on Eli, his master.
Perhaps the most common response to this story is to praise Samuel for his willingness to listen to God and his courage in delivering the message of God. And surely, Samuel is a character to be praised in this story. Samuel is curious, courageous, and young enough and perhaps even naïve enough to admit he saw and heard God.
First, Samuel is curious. He wants to know why this voice is calling in the night, and why Eli keeps denying that he is the one calling Samuel. “If Eli is not calling me,” Samuel must be thinking, “then who is?” Eli tells him is probably God, who Samuel does not know at this point in the story. So Samuel hears the voice again, and curiously says, “Speak, I’m listening. Tell me why you keep calling me in the middle of the night, you mysterious voice.”
Then, Samuel hears God’s message. “I’m supposed to tell my master Eli WHAT?” he must be thinking. And in the morning, he is nervous about telling Eli the judgment that will fall on his house due to his wild and crazy sons. The Scripture doesn’t tell us why he’s nervous, but he is likely nervous for 2 reasons. First, he has to tell his master bad news, punishment on his house. Second, this bad news, this judgment, is one that is a judgment against Samuel’s own job security. The man who writes his paychecks, the man who feeds him, the man who gives him housing is the man who Samuel is proclaiming will fall and lose everything. And when that fall happens, Samuel might be out on the streets. He must be aware of this reality. Yet Samuel musters up the courage to tell Eli about God’s judgment, and Eli accepts the judgment on his house.
Third, Samuel’s age is a crucial detail of this story. The word of the Lord was rare in those days, the author tells us. And then we hear a story of a young servant having a vision of God and receiving a message from the voice of God.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock over the past few weeks, you know that this evening the Steelers and Ravens will play for the AFC Championship. The QB for the Ravens, Joe Flacco, is a rookie enjoying more success than rookie QBs are supposed to enjoy. And he’s been reminding a lot of people of Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger in his rookie year. In that year, 2004, Big Ben was too naïve to know that as a rookie he wasn’t supposed to win every game he started in the regular season. He was too naïve to know that rookies didn’t win playoff games. Yet Ben won them, albeit with the help of a great team surrounding him. Flacco has enjoyed similar rookie success, winning 2 playoff games already – something no one else, even Ben Roethlisberger, ever did.
Both Flacco and Roethlisberger were too naïve in their rookie season to know the odds against them. Through young eyes, each seemed to coast through their rookie year without even realizing that being very successful is not normal for a rookie QB. Samuel is like an 11th century BCE version of Roethlisberger or Flacco. He’s so young that he doesn’t even realize that seeing visions of God isn’t normal. He hasn’t been around long enough to know that “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; [that] visions were not widespread.” So when he has a vision of God, and hears God’s voice, he possesses a level of openness that most people those days may not have had.
All this praise for Samuel is surely warranted. He was curious, courageous, and naïve in a positive way. But all too often, we stop our interpretation of the story right there. Yay, Samuel! Good job, buddy! Way to go! You heard the voice of God! But just as it would be silly to say Ben Roethlisberger or Joe Flacco were rookie success stories all on their own, without good teams surrounding them, it would also be silly to say that Samuel’s courageous acts were performed without any help. In our reading of this story, we must be careful not to place too much praise on Samuel. We must remember Eli’s critical role in this story.
You see, had it not been for Eli, Samuel would never have been able to discern who it was that was speaking to him. As I’ve already noted, Samuel does not know God prior to his vision. So he has no idea who’s calling him. He’s confused. He keeps thinking it’s Eli, but Eli keeps denying it. There’s no other possibility. As open minded as Samuel is, he’s also completely clueless. He’s too young to have any idea what’s going on. Thankfully, Samuel had Eli to help him. He had a spiritual guide in old man Eli, an aging priest who is so old he’s practically blind. And Eli was able to perceive that is was God calling out to Samuel. Eli practiced expert spiritual discernment, using the wisdom he had accumulated over the years to mentor the young Samuel. In this story, we see a wise old priest mentoring a young, energetic boy – the wisdom of Eli being passed on to young Samuel. I find it interesting that Samuel is sleeping just a few feet away from the Ark of the Covenant – the presence of God – yet he does not know God. And he does not know it is God calling out to him. Even with the presence of God just a few feet away from us, sometimes we can’t see or hear God at all. Sometimes we can’t because we don’t know God. But with the help of others who do know God, people like Samuel who do not know God can quickly become God’s messengers on earth.
Samuel needed Eli to help him discern what exactly was going on. And Eli needed Samuel to hear the voice of God. Eli knows that a judgment will soon be handed down on his house. Just before this passage, a man from God comes to Eli and tells Eli that his house will be punished for his wild and crazy sons. So I suspect that here in chapter 3, Eli is curious about God calling out to one of his young servants. Perhaps Eli has an idea that God might be passing on the same message of judgment a second time, as a confirmation that it is true.
So Samuel needs Eli, and Eli needs Samuel. Samuel needs Eli to help him understand God’s calling for him. And Eli needs Samuel’s help to find out what the voice of God has to say to him and his household. Without Samuel’s naivete and obedience, Eli will not hear God’s message. But without Eli’s spiritual guidance and discernment, Samuel will not hear God’s message. Only through the gifts of both Eli and Samuel is God’s message heard loud and clear.
Because both Eli and Samuel opened themselves up to the possibility of God speaking to them, together they were able to hear the voice of God – even though it was not a message either one wanted to hear. Similarly, sometimes we need the help of others to hear God’s call on our lives.
Over New Year’s, while playing with my 2-year-old nephew, it was interesting how sometimes I was the teacher, and other times he taught me. I was his Eli, and he was my Samuel. For Christmas, we gave him a set of plastic bowling pins. Immediately, he picked up a pin, started swinging it, and tried to hit the bowling ball with it. He was trying to play baseball with bowling equipment. Lisa and I had to teach him about bowling, because he was clueless.
But earlier that morning, Jonathan had taught this old Eli a few things. He taught me how to play with his new keyboard. It had all kinds of buttons on it, and when I tried to push buttons to make it do what I wanted it to, I always messed it up. So Jonathan had to instruct me how to work this complicated keyboard. Within a couple of hours of each other, I helped him through my wisdom of experience, and he helped me through his wisdom of youth.
Sometimes, we are in Eli’s position. We think we know what God’s message is for us, but we need the help of a Samuel to confirm that message. Other times, we are in Samuel’s position. We hear a call on our lives, but we are so clueless that we need the help of an Eli to interpret that message, to guide us in our spiritual discernment.
Whether we are Eli or Samuel, we cannot always hear God alone. There will be times when we are too clueless to know it’s God calling us, and there will be times God speaks to us indirectly, through the words of other people. But if we trust in God’s power, we will be able to accept the help of others as we seek to understand God’s call more clearly. If we work together as members of the body of Christ, together we can hear the voice of God calling out to us in the still of the night. Together we can draw closer to God and His message for us, just as Eli and Samuel did on that dark night in the house of the Lord. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-20
This story of Samuel’s calling is a well-known Old Testament story. Samuel is a boy living as a servant in the house of Eli, a priest. Although he lives in the house of priest Eli, he does not know God. So God calls to Samuel in the middle of the night, and he keeps running to Eli. Finally, the third time Samuel runs to Eli, Eli realizes that Samuel may be hearing the voice of God. So he tells Eli to treat it as such. Eli goes back to his bed, lies down, and hears the voice a fourth time. He says to the voice what Eli instructed him to say: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” And God appears to him and speaks to him, giving him a message. That message is that Eli’s house will be punished. Eli has done nothing wrong as a priest ruling over Israel, but you see, his sons are, how shall I say, “wild and crazy guys!” And now the boy Samuel, a servant of Eli, is commissioned by God to proclaim God’s judgment on Eli, his master.
Perhaps the most common response to this story is to praise Samuel for his willingness to listen to God and his courage in delivering the message of God. And surely, Samuel is a character to be praised in this story. Samuel is curious, courageous, and young enough and perhaps even naïve enough to admit he saw and heard God.
First, Samuel is curious. He wants to know why this voice is calling in the night, and why Eli keeps denying that he is the one calling Samuel. “If Eli is not calling me,” Samuel must be thinking, “then who is?” Eli tells him is probably God, who Samuel does not know at this point in the story. So Samuel hears the voice again, and curiously says, “Speak, I’m listening. Tell me why you keep calling me in the middle of the night, you mysterious voice.”
Then, Samuel hears God’s message. “I’m supposed to tell my master Eli WHAT?” he must be thinking. And in the morning, he is nervous about telling Eli the judgment that will fall on his house due to his wild and crazy sons. The Scripture doesn’t tell us why he’s nervous, but he is likely nervous for 2 reasons. First, he has to tell his master bad news, punishment on his house. Second, this bad news, this judgment, is one that is a judgment against Samuel’s own job security. The man who writes his paychecks, the man who feeds him, the man who gives him housing is the man who Samuel is proclaiming will fall and lose everything. And when that fall happens, Samuel might be out on the streets. He must be aware of this reality. Yet Samuel musters up the courage to tell Eli about God’s judgment, and Eli accepts the judgment on his house.
Third, Samuel’s age is a crucial detail of this story. The word of the Lord was rare in those days, the author tells us. And then we hear a story of a young servant having a vision of God and receiving a message from the voice of God.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock over the past few weeks, you know that this evening the Steelers and Ravens will play for the AFC Championship. The QB for the Ravens, Joe Flacco, is a rookie enjoying more success than rookie QBs are supposed to enjoy. And he’s been reminding a lot of people of Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger in his rookie year. In that year, 2004, Big Ben was too naïve to know that as a rookie he wasn’t supposed to win every game he started in the regular season. He was too naïve to know that rookies didn’t win playoff games. Yet Ben won them, albeit with the help of a great team surrounding him. Flacco has enjoyed similar rookie success, winning 2 playoff games already – something no one else, even Ben Roethlisberger, ever did.
Both Flacco and Roethlisberger were too naïve in their rookie season to know the odds against them. Through young eyes, each seemed to coast through their rookie year without even realizing that being very successful is not normal for a rookie QB. Samuel is like an 11th century BCE version of Roethlisberger or Flacco. He’s so young that he doesn’t even realize that seeing visions of God isn’t normal. He hasn’t been around long enough to know that “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; [that] visions were not widespread.” So when he has a vision of God, and hears God’s voice, he possesses a level of openness that most people those days may not have had.
All this praise for Samuel is surely warranted. He was curious, courageous, and naïve in a positive way. But all too often, we stop our interpretation of the story right there. Yay, Samuel! Good job, buddy! Way to go! You heard the voice of God! But just as it would be silly to say Ben Roethlisberger or Joe Flacco were rookie success stories all on their own, without good teams surrounding them, it would also be silly to say that Samuel’s courageous acts were performed without any help. In our reading of this story, we must be careful not to place too much praise on Samuel. We must remember Eli’s critical role in this story.
You see, had it not been for Eli, Samuel would never have been able to discern who it was that was speaking to him. As I’ve already noted, Samuel does not know God prior to his vision. So he has no idea who’s calling him. He’s confused. He keeps thinking it’s Eli, but Eli keeps denying it. There’s no other possibility. As open minded as Samuel is, he’s also completely clueless. He’s too young to have any idea what’s going on. Thankfully, Samuel had Eli to help him. He had a spiritual guide in old man Eli, an aging priest who is so old he’s practically blind. And Eli was able to perceive that is was God calling out to Samuel. Eli practiced expert spiritual discernment, using the wisdom he had accumulated over the years to mentor the young Samuel. In this story, we see a wise old priest mentoring a young, energetic boy – the wisdom of Eli being passed on to young Samuel. I find it interesting that Samuel is sleeping just a few feet away from the Ark of the Covenant – the presence of God – yet he does not know God. And he does not know it is God calling out to him. Even with the presence of God just a few feet away from us, sometimes we can’t see or hear God at all. Sometimes we can’t because we don’t know God. But with the help of others who do know God, people like Samuel who do not know God can quickly become God’s messengers on earth.
Samuel needed Eli to help him discern what exactly was going on. And Eli needed Samuel to hear the voice of God. Eli knows that a judgment will soon be handed down on his house. Just before this passage, a man from God comes to Eli and tells Eli that his house will be punished for his wild and crazy sons. So I suspect that here in chapter 3, Eli is curious about God calling out to one of his young servants. Perhaps Eli has an idea that God might be passing on the same message of judgment a second time, as a confirmation that it is true.
So Samuel needs Eli, and Eli needs Samuel. Samuel needs Eli to help him understand God’s calling for him. And Eli needs Samuel’s help to find out what the voice of God has to say to him and his household. Without Samuel’s naivete and obedience, Eli will not hear God’s message. But without Eli’s spiritual guidance and discernment, Samuel will not hear God’s message. Only through the gifts of both Eli and Samuel is God’s message heard loud and clear.
Because both Eli and Samuel opened themselves up to the possibility of God speaking to them, together they were able to hear the voice of God – even though it was not a message either one wanted to hear. Similarly, sometimes we need the help of others to hear God’s call on our lives.
Over New Year’s, while playing with my 2-year-old nephew, it was interesting how sometimes I was the teacher, and other times he taught me. I was his Eli, and he was my Samuel. For Christmas, we gave him a set of plastic bowling pins. Immediately, he picked up a pin, started swinging it, and tried to hit the bowling ball with it. He was trying to play baseball with bowling equipment. Lisa and I had to teach him about bowling, because he was clueless.
But earlier that morning, Jonathan had taught this old Eli a few things. He taught me how to play with his new keyboard. It had all kinds of buttons on it, and when I tried to push buttons to make it do what I wanted it to, I always messed it up. So Jonathan had to instruct me how to work this complicated keyboard. Within a couple of hours of each other, I helped him through my wisdom of experience, and he helped me through his wisdom of youth.
Sometimes, we are in Eli’s position. We think we know what God’s message is for us, but we need the help of a Samuel to confirm that message. Other times, we are in Samuel’s position. We hear a call on our lives, but we are so clueless that we need the help of an Eli to interpret that message, to guide us in our spiritual discernment.
Whether we are Eli or Samuel, we cannot always hear God alone. There will be times when we are too clueless to know it’s God calling us, and there will be times God speaks to us indirectly, through the words of other people. But if we trust in God’s power, we will be able to accept the help of others as we seek to understand God’s call more clearly. If we work together as members of the body of Christ, together we can hear the voice of God calling out to us in the still of the night. Together we can draw closer to God and His message for us, just as Eli and Samuel did on that dark night in the house of the Lord. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
We've got a feelin'...
...Pittsburgh's goin' to the Super Bowl!
And the 2 weeks of hype begins. It's only over-hyped if your team's not in it.
Look out Cards, we're playing our best football right now.
HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!
And the 2 weeks of hype begins. It's only over-hyped if your team's not in it.
Look out Cards, we're playing our best football right now.
HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!
You Can't Get to Heaven
I'm sitting in my office, making last minute preparations for this morning's service, and what song do I hear from the Sunday School kids?
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In a tissue box,
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In a tissue box,
Oh you can't get to heaven in a tissue box,
'Cause God don't want no little snots,
All my sins are washed away I've been redeemed,
I love the lamb.
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In Sheila's car,
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In Sheila's car,
Oh you can't get to heaven in Sheila's car,
The piece of junk won't go that far,
All my sins are washed away I've been redeemed,
I love the lamb.
Nothing really out of the ordinary. Then, I hear this verse:
Oh you can't get to heaven,
As a Raven fan,
Oh you can't get to heaven,
As a Raven fan,
Oh you can't get to heaven as a Raven fan,
'Cause God's a Steeler football fan,
All my sins are washed away I've been redeemed,
I love the lamb.
I love Pittsburgh. I love my church. And I really love that new verse.
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In a tissue box,
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In a tissue box,
Oh you can't get to heaven in a tissue box,
'Cause God don't want no little snots,
All my sins are washed away I've been redeemed,
I love the lamb.
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In Sheila's car,
Oh you can't get to heaven,
In Sheila's car,
Oh you can't get to heaven in Sheila's car,
The piece of junk won't go that far,
All my sins are washed away I've been redeemed,
I love the lamb.
Nothing really out of the ordinary. Then, I hear this verse:
Oh you can't get to heaven,
As a Raven fan,
Oh you can't get to heaven,
As a Raven fan,
Oh you can't get to heaven as a Raven fan,
'Cause God's a Steeler football fan,
All my sins are washed away I've been redeemed,
I love the lamb.
I love Pittsburgh. I love my church. And I really love that new verse.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Baby it's cold outside
Yep, another day of single-digit highs and negative lows in Western PA. Right now it's 1 degree -- but it's sunny (well, sunny for Western PA)! Yay! Honestly, I really don't mind this weather. I still walked around town a bit for some errands yesterday, and since I have an awesome coat, I didn't really feel that cold. I'd take this weather over 40 and rainy any day -- yuck!
Obviously, it's been awhile since I've really sat down to blog about my life. That's because things have been really busy lately. As soon as the holidays were over, I became swamped at work with all the things I put off through Advent. I kept saying, "I'll do that after the holidays" to everything not pertaining to the holidays. Thus, I'm really busy right now. I also have a couple members in the hospital, eating up more time. Things at home have been neglected -- our Christmas decorations are mostly down, but they're not packed yet. The lights outside are still up, because I haven't had a chance to take them down until today. Needless to say, I'm not digging lights and extension cords out of the snow in 1 degree weather today.
Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer: high of 27! Tomorrow is also the day the Steelers and Ravens will face off in the AFC title game. I'm getting really excited about it. You know, after 7 years of living away from the Burgh, I had forgotten just how ridiculous the playoff hype is in town. We have a mayor taking the "Raven" out of his name, we have Friday pep rallies at the courthouse, there are always new Steeler songs being sung on the radio, and Thursday's newspaper had no less than half of its pages devoted to this Sunday's NFL games. It's so much fun! Away from Pittsburgh, I always feel like I'm too obsessed with the Steelers. Around here, I feel like a casual fan -- like I'm not enough of a fan.
We're also getting excited for a weekend away next weekend. We're taking a long weekend to go skiing in West Virginia, starting next Friday. It'll be the first Sunday off since the first Sunday in September, and I'm ready.
In March, we're heading to Atlanta for some nerdy engineering conference that Lisa's presenting at. Then, we're continuing on to Florida for a couple days as a winter break, taking in warm weather and Pirate spring training games while visiting with my grandmother. I don't see her that often since she lives south of Tampa, so it'll be nice to spend some time with her.
Everything else is going well here. We're still enjoying life, enjoying our jobs, enjoying our town and our church. Until next time, HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!
Obviously, it's been awhile since I've really sat down to blog about my life. That's because things have been really busy lately. As soon as the holidays were over, I became swamped at work with all the things I put off through Advent. I kept saying, "I'll do that after the holidays" to everything not pertaining to the holidays. Thus, I'm really busy right now. I also have a couple members in the hospital, eating up more time. Things at home have been neglected -- our Christmas decorations are mostly down, but they're not packed yet. The lights outside are still up, because I haven't had a chance to take them down until today. Needless to say, I'm not digging lights and extension cords out of the snow in 1 degree weather today.
Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer: high of 27! Tomorrow is also the day the Steelers and Ravens will face off in the AFC title game. I'm getting really excited about it. You know, after 7 years of living away from the Burgh, I had forgotten just how ridiculous the playoff hype is in town. We have a mayor taking the "Raven" out of his name, we have Friday pep rallies at the courthouse, there are always new Steeler songs being sung on the radio, and Thursday's newspaper had no less than half of its pages devoted to this Sunday's NFL games. It's so much fun! Away from Pittsburgh, I always feel like I'm too obsessed with the Steelers. Around here, I feel like a casual fan -- like I'm not enough of a fan.
We're also getting excited for a weekend away next weekend. We're taking a long weekend to go skiing in West Virginia, starting next Friday. It'll be the first Sunday off since the first Sunday in September, and I'm ready.
In March, we're heading to Atlanta for some nerdy engineering conference that Lisa's presenting at. Then, we're continuing on to Florida for a couple days as a winter break, taking in warm weather and Pirate spring training games while visiting with my grandmother. I don't see her that often since she lives south of Tampa, so it'll be nice to spend some time with her.
Everything else is going well here. We're still enjoying life, enjoying our jobs, enjoying our town and our church. Until next time, HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Happy BOD-day!!!
It's the start of 2009. The new United Methodist Book of Discipline is published (not to mention the Book of Resolutions as well). Our church's Cokesbury order came in this morning in the middle of our History of Methodism study. I could barely wait to finish class so I could open them and get my hands on the new, fresh BOD and BOR.
And yes, I started a History of Methodism study at my church, taught by me, the Metho-dork pastor. This is the first week -- 2 meeting times, Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings. This means I get to spend 2 hours a week talking about Wesley and Methodism -- to other living souls!
Yes, this is the day that the Lord has made. And I am rejoicing and being glad in it.
I love the smell of fresh polity in the morning.
And yes, I started a History of Methodism study at my church, taught by me, the Metho-dork pastor. This is the first week -- 2 meeting times, Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings. This means I get to spend 2 hours a week talking about Wesley and Methodism -- to other living souls!
Yes, this is the day that the Lord has made. And I am rejoicing and being glad in it.
I love the smell of fresh polity in the morning.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Pathetic or Prophetic
Sermon from Jan. 11, 2009 -- the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday
Scriptures: Mark 1:4-11, Acts 19:1-7
There’s something significant about where Jesus’ baptism story is placed in Mark’s gospel. As the earliest written and therefore shortest Gospel, Mark wastes no time getting to the point. There is no birth narrative, no talk of Jesus’ childhood. For Mark, the story of the good news of Jesus Christ begins with his baptism. If one were to make a movie based on the gospel of Mark, the first image we’d see as the opening credits roll would be John the Baptizer, standing by the river. We’d hear him proclaim that one greater than he is coming, then out of nowhere Jesus would arrive, already thirty years old. And the first scene would be this baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, that which we celebrate today.
The ministry of Jesus begins with his baptism. His ministry as a prophet, as one who speaks God’s message of truth in love to all who will listen, begins with his baptism. And then we look at the book of Acts. We hear in the 19th chapter the story read this morning, the story of Paul baptizing new believers. By being at the baptismal waters, they stand at the beginning of their journey. And as they emerge from the purifying waters of baptism they prophesy. They speak God’s message of truth in love to all who will listen.
Many people often speak of when they chose to be baptized, or when they chose to baptize their child. They remember fondly their decision to participate in this sacrament. But when we look at the baptism of Jesus, or at the baptism of the disciples in Ephesus, we become aware that baptism is not a personal choice. We may choose to participate in this ritual act, but these scriptural stories remind us that before we choose God, God has already chosen us.
When Jesus rises from the waters of baptism, it is God in heaven who speaks, not Jesus. A voice from heaven says, “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus does not emerge from baptism saying “I am God’s son, the beloved, with whom he is well pleased. We do not become baptized so we can proclaim that we are God’s children; rather, we become baptized so that God can proclaim that we are his children.
Similarly, the disciples in Ephesus were baptized. Their baptism opened the door for the Holy Spirit to take hold of them, and they responded by speaking prophetically. Baptism is God choosing us to speak and act prophetically, it is God calling us to let the Holy Spirit dwell within us, to let ourselves become that voice crying in the wilderness, the voice of the Lord. Baptism is the beginning of our journey with God, it is a call to action. It is a call to be prophetic.
By prophetic, I do not mean predicting the future, or warning others of impending apocalyptic doom. We are called to be prophetic in the sense that we are called by our baptism to speak God’s message of truth in love. We are called to speak on behalf of God, to be the voice of God wherever we may go. We are called to speak this message of truth both by words and actions. An oft quoted phrase often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi says, “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.” This one phrase sums up very simply what it means to be prophetic. To be prophetic, we are to preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words. Thus, we are to speak and act in ways that the gospel message is seen and heard by others. We are to proclaim the good news in all that we say and do. We are called to be prophetic in this way, to preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.
Fred Craddock tells the story of attending a victory party following a University of Georgia football game. He only knew one other couple who had invited him to attend, and they weren’t the hosts. The party was a fancy affair, in a very elegant, expensive house in suburban Atlanta. Everyone arrived at about the same time, having just come from the football game. And as people began mingling, one extravagantly dressed woman suggested loudly that they all sing the Doxology. Without waiting for a response, she started singing it. And a few people joined in, while others simply shifted their balance or stared at the floor in awkward silence. When they finished, the woman kept going on about how Jesus gave Georgia the victory. She went on about how Jesus said, “ask and it shall be given to you,” and she asked for a victory, and they won. And she’s not ashamed to say that the win was because of Jesus, because she’s not ashamed of the gospel. By this point, Craddock says, the woman was practically shouting. He had moved to the kitchen, but he could still hear her saying, “I’m not ashamed to talk about the gospel anywhere, because Jesus told us to shout it from the rooftops!” And she kept going. Well, the hostess of the party came into the kitchen as this woman was carrying on. And she said, quite bluntly, “If she doesn’t shut her darn mouth, she’s going to ruin my party.” At which point Craddock asked the hostess, “are you a Christian?” And the hostess said, “Yes, but I don’t believe in just shouting it anywhere.” At this post-game party, one woman was prophetic, while the other was pathetic. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
You might have heard about the recent ad campaign that the United Methodist Church ran in the Pittsburgh area – maybe you even saw it. The UMC bought billboards that promoted a new program where you can text message your zip code, and you’ll get a response of the closest UM churches to that zip code. But the billboards served another purpose – I’m not sure whether it was intentional or not. One of the billboards was right by Westmoreland Mall, where I did much of my Christmas shopping. I was out that way one night, in the busy traffic and the crowded stores, participating in the hustle and bustle that is the consumerist side of Christmas. And as I approached Westmoreland Mall, this bright red billboard caught my eye. It was one of these UM billboards, and it said in huge letters, “BELIEVE.” In the midst of Christmas shoppers, here was the Gospel message, standing like a beacon of hope and reminding me of the true reason for the season. Here, in the midst of pathetic attempts to make ourselves happy with what we own, was a prophetic billboard. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
At the church I worked at in Atlanta, we were having a meeting. The conversation had shifted to how a particular program that we’d just started might negatively affect our finances. We were thinking about the cost, about whether it was worth it, etc. You know, we weren’t doing anything wrong – we were trying to be good stewards of the tithes and offerings of the church. But we just kept doubting whether it was worth it to go through with this program. It was already showing signs that it wasn’t worth the cost. So why continue? We were making some pretty sound arguments. And then John spoke up. John was the type of guy that always had a knack for bringing up the gospel when we were having our orderly church meetings. John said, “If we’re so worried about losing a couple bucks that we’re not able to come together and serve God through this program, then our priorities are way out of whack. We might as well stop calling ourselves a church.” Bam. Those words fell into that meeting like a lead balloon. The faces around the table said it all. I could tell that John’s words had made everyone uneasy. He had convicted us. We knew he was right, we just wish he hadn’t said it. If he hadn’t laid out the truth in plain sight for us, we could’ve done what was safe, what made sense, what we wanted to do. But now John left us with no choice – we had to serve God, no matter what the cost. John was prophetic, and it made us all aware of how pathetic the rest of us were. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
Ed and Karen Cwiklinski were volunteer advisors for a youth group at a large church. The youth group they volunteered with typically had about 70-80 senior high youth at each meeting. Although there were about 20 advisors on any given Sunday, Ed and Karen were perhaps the most important advisors to that youth group. You see, Ed and Karen were the ones who always seemed to be sitting in the quiet corners of the room with one or two youth, rather than in the center of the chaos in the more populated parts of the room. Any time there was one or 2 or 3 youth who looked a little out of place, or who were obviously being overlooked by the other youth and the advisors, Ed and Karen seemed to find them. The Cwiklinski’s made a habit of seeking out the least, the little, and the lost of a massive youth group. They spent time with those who seemed lost and left out, those who were overlooked. As with any group of 70-80 people, some people will just get lost in the shuffle. But Ed and Karen never let that happen. They made sure that every person in that group had someone to talk to, that no person was left out. Ed and Karen were prophetic youth advisors, picking up the slack of all those who had become pathetic by ignoring others. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
Through baptism, Jesus was chosen by God to be prophetic. Through baptism, the disciples in Ephesus were chosen by God to be prophetic. And through baptism, God calls us to be prophetic. God calls each one of us to stand up and speak the truth, to preach the gospel message by what we say and what we do.
As you entered this morning, you might have noticed that the baptismal font has been moved to the back of the sanctuary. It seems appropriate on this Sunday morning, as we celebrate the baptism of our Lord and as we remember the call to be prophetic found within our own baptisms, that we pause for a moment and remember our baptisms. So as you leave this morning, I invite you to make your way to the baptismal font, dip your fingers in the water, and make the sign of the cross on your forehead. As you do so, offer up a prayer, silent or spoken, that says, “Thank you God, that I am your son or daughter, your beloved, with whom you are well pleased.” If you are not baptized, I invite you to think about what it means to be baptized. Speak with those around you who are baptized and find out what it means for them. Meditate on whether you may feel led to allow yourself to be baptized. Talk with me if you have any questions.As we remember our baptisms, or perhaps meditate on the prospect of being baptized for the first time, let us not forget the prophetic lives to which we are called. Let us remember that we are chosen by God to be prophetic, to speak the message of truth in love in all that we say and do. Will we respond to God’s call by being pathetic, or will we be prophetic? In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Scriptures: Mark 1:4-11, Acts 19:1-7
There’s something significant about where Jesus’ baptism story is placed in Mark’s gospel. As the earliest written and therefore shortest Gospel, Mark wastes no time getting to the point. There is no birth narrative, no talk of Jesus’ childhood. For Mark, the story of the good news of Jesus Christ begins with his baptism. If one were to make a movie based on the gospel of Mark, the first image we’d see as the opening credits roll would be John the Baptizer, standing by the river. We’d hear him proclaim that one greater than he is coming, then out of nowhere Jesus would arrive, already thirty years old. And the first scene would be this baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, that which we celebrate today.
The ministry of Jesus begins with his baptism. His ministry as a prophet, as one who speaks God’s message of truth in love to all who will listen, begins with his baptism. And then we look at the book of Acts. We hear in the 19th chapter the story read this morning, the story of Paul baptizing new believers. By being at the baptismal waters, they stand at the beginning of their journey. And as they emerge from the purifying waters of baptism they prophesy. They speak God’s message of truth in love to all who will listen.
Many people often speak of when they chose to be baptized, or when they chose to baptize their child. They remember fondly their decision to participate in this sacrament. But when we look at the baptism of Jesus, or at the baptism of the disciples in Ephesus, we become aware that baptism is not a personal choice. We may choose to participate in this ritual act, but these scriptural stories remind us that before we choose God, God has already chosen us.
When Jesus rises from the waters of baptism, it is God in heaven who speaks, not Jesus. A voice from heaven says, “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus does not emerge from baptism saying “I am God’s son, the beloved, with whom he is well pleased. We do not become baptized so we can proclaim that we are God’s children; rather, we become baptized so that God can proclaim that we are his children.
Similarly, the disciples in Ephesus were baptized. Their baptism opened the door for the Holy Spirit to take hold of them, and they responded by speaking prophetically. Baptism is God choosing us to speak and act prophetically, it is God calling us to let the Holy Spirit dwell within us, to let ourselves become that voice crying in the wilderness, the voice of the Lord. Baptism is the beginning of our journey with God, it is a call to action. It is a call to be prophetic.
By prophetic, I do not mean predicting the future, or warning others of impending apocalyptic doom. We are called to be prophetic in the sense that we are called by our baptism to speak God’s message of truth in love. We are called to speak on behalf of God, to be the voice of God wherever we may go. We are called to speak this message of truth both by words and actions. An oft quoted phrase often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi says, “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.” This one phrase sums up very simply what it means to be prophetic. To be prophetic, we are to preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words. Thus, we are to speak and act in ways that the gospel message is seen and heard by others. We are to proclaim the good news in all that we say and do. We are called to be prophetic in this way, to preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.
Fred Craddock tells the story of attending a victory party following a University of Georgia football game. He only knew one other couple who had invited him to attend, and they weren’t the hosts. The party was a fancy affair, in a very elegant, expensive house in suburban Atlanta. Everyone arrived at about the same time, having just come from the football game. And as people began mingling, one extravagantly dressed woman suggested loudly that they all sing the Doxology. Without waiting for a response, she started singing it. And a few people joined in, while others simply shifted their balance or stared at the floor in awkward silence. When they finished, the woman kept going on about how Jesus gave Georgia the victory. She went on about how Jesus said, “ask and it shall be given to you,” and she asked for a victory, and they won. And she’s not ashamed to say that the win was because of Jesus, because she’s not ashamed of the gospel. By this point, Craddock says, the woman was practically shouting. He had moved to the kitchen, but he could still hear her saying, “I’m not ashamed to talk about the gospel anywhere, because Jesus told us to shout it from the rooftops!” And she kept going. Well, the hostess of the party came into the kitchen as this woman was carrying on. And she said, quite bluntly, “If she doesn’t shut her darn mouth, she’s going to ruin my party.” At which point Craddock asked the hostess, “are you a Christian?” And the hostess said, “Yes, but I don’t believe in just shouting it anywhere.” At this post-game party, one woman was prophetic, while the other was pathetic. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
You might have heard about the recent ad campaign that the United Methodist Church ran in the Pittsburgh area – maybe you even saw it. The UMC bought billboards that promoted a new program where you can text message your zip code, and you’ll get a response of the closest UM churches to that zip code. But the billboards served another purpose – I’m not sure whether it was intentional or not. One of the billboards was right by Westmoreland Mall, where I did much of my Christmas shopping. I was out that way one night, in the busy traffic and the crowded stores, participating in the hustle and bustle that is the consumerist side of Christmas. And as I approached Westmoreland Mall, this bright red billboard caught my eye. It was one of these UM billboards, and it said in huge letters, “BELIEVE.” In the midst of Christmas shoppers, here was the Gospel message, standing like a beacon of hope and reminding me of the true reason for the season. Here, in the midst of pathetic attempts to make ourselves happy with what we own, was a prophetic billboard. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
At the church I worked at in Atlanta, we were having a meeting. The conversation had shifted to how a particular program that we’d just started might negatively affect our finances. We were thinking about the cost, about whether it was worth it, etc. You know, we weren’t doing anything wrong – we were trying to be good stewards of the tithes and offerings of the church. But we just kept doubting whether it was worth it to go through with this program. It was already showing signs that it wasn’t worth the cost. So why continue? We were making some pretty sound arguments. And then John spoke up. John was the type of guy that always had a knack for bringing up the gospel when we were having our orderly church meetings. John said, “If we’re so worried about losing a couple bucks that we’re not able to come together and serve God through this program, then our priorities are way out of whack. We might as well stop calling ourselves a church.” Bam. Those words fell into that meeting like a lead balloon. The faces around the table said it all. I could tell that John’s words had made everyone uneasy. He had convicted us. We knew he was right, we just wish he hadn’t said it. If he hadn’t laid out the truth in plain sight for us, we could’ve done what was safe, what made sense, what we wanted to do. But now John left us with no choice – we had to serve God, no matter what the cost. John was prophetic, and it made us all aware of how pathetic the rest of us were. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
Ed and Karen Cwiklinski were volunteer advisors for a youth group at a large church. The youth group they volunteered with typically had about 70-80 senior high youth at each meeting. Although there were about 20 advisors on any given Sunday, Ed and Karen were perhaps the most important advisors to that youth group. You see, Ed and Karen were the ones who always seemed to be sitting in the quiet corners of the room with one or two youth, rather than in the center of the chaos in the more populated parts of the room. Any time there was one or 2 or 3 youth who looked a little out of place, or who were obviously being overlooked by the other youth and the advisors, Ed and Karen seemed to find them. The Cwiklinski’s made a habit of seeking out the least, the little, and the lost of a massive youth group. They spent time with those who seemed lost and left out, those who were overlooked. As with any group of 70-80 people, some people will just get lost in the shuffle. But Ed and Karen never let that happen. They made sure that every person in that group had someone to talk to, that no person was left out. Ed and Karen were prophetic youth advisors, picking up the slack of all those who had become pathetic by ignoring others. Will we be pathetic, or prophetic?
Through baptism, Jesus was chosen by God to be prophetic. Through baptism, the disciples in Ephesus were chosen by God to be prophetic. And through baptism, God calls us to be prophetic. God calls each one of us to stand up and speak the truth, to preach the gospel message by what we say and what we do.
As you entered this morning, you might have noticed that the baptismal font has been moved to the back of the sanctuary. It seems appropriate on this Sunday morning, as we celebrate the baptism of our Lord and as we remember the call to be prophetic found within our own baptisms, that we pause for a moment and remember our baptisms. So as you leave this morning, I invite you to make your way to the baptismal font, dip your fingers in the water, and make the sign of the cross on your forehead. As you do so, offer up a prayer, silent or spoken, that says, “Thank you God, that I am your son or daughter, your beloved, with whom you are well pleased.” If you are not baptized, I invite you to think about what it means to be baptized. Speak with those around you who are baptized and find out what it means for them. Meditate on whether you may feel led to allow yourself to be baptized. Talk with me if you have any questions.As we remember our baptisms, or perhaps meditate on the prospect of being baptized for the first time, let us not forget the prophetic lives to which we are called. Let us remember that we are chosen by God to be prophetic, to speak the message of truth in love in all that we say and do. Will we respond to God’s call by being pathetic, or will we be prophetic? In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Covenant Relationship
In the busyness of the holidays, I neglected to post my Christmas Eve sermon, as well as the sermon for 12/28. Here is my sermon from Sunday, 1/4/09. It was part of our congregation's annual ritual of having a Covenant Renewal Service on the first Sunday of the calendar year. We use Wesley's Covenant Renewal Service, found in the United Methodist Book of Worship (UMBOW). I've never led or participated in a covenant renewal service, so it was a learning experience for me. However, I enjoyed leading it, and so far the feedback suggests that it was meaningful for many of our congregants. Here is my sermon, based on 2 Kings 23:1-3.
While visiting with Lisa’s sister and brother-in-law this week, we somehow ended up helping them clean out some junk in their basement. In the process of sorting through their dusty, cluttered basement, Lisa’s sister Laura found a couple things she didn’t even know they had. In the recesses of their basement, she found pom poms. She also found a stuffed animal. I’m pretty sure if you had asked her last week if she had a stuffed mouse and a pair of pom poms in her basement, she would’ve said no. But in the process of cleaning out the basement, she found some things she didn’t even know she had. She didn’t know where they came from, or why they had them. Sometimes, when we clean out our cluttered houses, we find stuff we don’t even know we have.
Here in 2 Kings, the house of the Lord, the temple, is getting cleaned out for a big-time renovation. And the workers cleaning out the temple clutter find a book called Deuteronomy. It’s the book of the law. Somehow, over the years, a once-cherished book has been shoved into a dusty corner, with all sorts of stuff piled on top of it. And as time went on, the people who shoved it into the corner died, and less and less people knew it was there. Eventually, this book of God’s law became completely forgotten in the clutter of the temple – they forgot it was there, they forgot why they had it, they forgot where it came from, and they forgot what was in it.
This book of law was the book of guidelines for the Israelites to follow in a keeping of the covenant their ancestors made with God. But they had so cluttered their lives, so cluttered the house of the Lord, that their covenant relationship with God had been shoved into a dark, dusty corner. In losing the book, they took the first step toward breaking God’s covenant – forgetting about the covenant and its guidelines altogether.
This was surely not intentional. These people didn’t set out one day to stop loving God and keeping his commandments. It’s just that over time, they “lost that lovin’ feeling, and now it’s gone, gone gone…”
But now, they’ve started cleaning up. They’ve started to examine the state of affairs, and the king, Josiah, realizes that they have not been doing so hot in this covenant relationship with God. So he determines that they will renew this covenant. They’ll continue cleaning out all the unnecessary junk in the temple and in their lives, and renew their promise to God to love him and follow his commandments.
Sometimes cleaning out clutter in our lives reveals that we’ve buried things that were once important to us. We’ve lost things, and forgotten that we even had them in the first place. It’s like that in our covenant relationship with God. We promise to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, but then over time, God’s commandments become less important to us. Carrying out our end of the relationship fades away, and becomes lost in the recesses of our chaotic, cluttered lives. That clutter in our lives comes with many names: cooking, cleaning, doing chores, decorating our houses more than necessary, getting so addicted to TV programs that we can’t bear to miss a single episode, making sure the kids get to practice, keeping on top of things at work, getting to all our meetings on time, impressing the people around us with our words and our possessions, and on it goes. We clutter our lives with seemingly harmless things, but then these things lead to anger, greed, jealousy, selfishness, destructive habits, and so on. The clutter we accumulate leads to two things: FIRST, our covenant with God gets pushed into a dusty corner, and SECOND, sin creeps in and takes control over us. Without our covenant with God being in the center, sin becomes the center of our cluttered mess. As time goes on, sin increases in power and influence over us, and our covenant with God gets pushed further and further into the corner, further and further into obscurity.
And so it is with all of us, and with all relationships. We become so busy that our relationships often suffer. Perhaps the most well-known statistic in this country is that half of all marriage covenants end in divorce. None of them start out expecting to divorce. However, what happens is the covenant made to each gets lost in the midst of the clutter of our lives, and that covenant is pushed into a dusty corner and forgotten over time.
Whether it’s our covenant with God, our marriage covenant, or our relationships with others, we all push relationships into the corner from time to time. We forget to love, respect, and trust the people with whom we’ve promised to do so. We lose sight of what’s important, we lose sight of our books of law, and sometimes they’re so buried it takes a major renovation to find them.
You see, I’ve always felt that all relationships are like driving on the interstate. You know you started out on the right road, but it’s nice to have the road signs every once in awhile. If I’m driving on an unfamiliar interstate, I like to see those road signs that tell me I’m still on the right path. It’s nice to be reassured every once in awhile that I haven’t gotten off course. Occasionally, I find that I accidentally ended up on the wrong path – I went the wrong way when the road split, or I got off the interstate and got back on going the wrong direction. And while that’s frustrating, without the road signs it may take me longer to realize that.
Our covenant relationship with God is like driving on the interstate. When we started out, we knew it was the highway to heaven, but maybe we haven’t seen a sign in awhile. Maybe we’re not sure if we’re still following the right path. And then, finally, we see a sign. It tells us what’s going on. We’ve found the lost book of law, we’ve found out what route we’re taking. Maybe it’s the right way, or maybe we somehow made a wrong turn and ended up on the highway to hell instead. But we need those road signs. We need to have times of self-reflection, times where all the clutter goes away and the truth stares us in the face like a big highway sign. And in these moments of self-reflection, we discover where exactly our covenant with God lives – whether it still lives in the center of our lives, or whether it’s been pushed into a dusty corner and forgotten about. We discover what it is we need to do moving forward – dust off the book and read it again, turn around and get back on the right highway, or maybe even just be reassured that we’re on the right path, even if we haven’t quite gotten to where we want to be.
As we renew our covenants with God this morning, I hope and pray that this may be a time of self-reflection for all of us. Treat this service as a renovation project, or as a road sign on the highways of life. This is a perfect time to stop and think about how our relationships to God once were, how they currently are, and how we want them to be moving forward. Renew your covenant to God; read over the book of law once more, get back onto the highway of righteousness. Seal it with the sacrament of Holy Communion, the reminder of God’s promise in the covenant relationship. Let us renew our covenant with the Lord our God in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
While visiting with Lisa’s sister and brother-in-law this week, we somehow ended up helping them clean out some junk in their basement. In the process of sorting through their dusty, cluttered basement, Lisa’s sister Laura found a couple things she didn’t even know they had. In the recesses of their basement, she found pom poms. She also found a stuffed animal. I’m pretty sure if you had asked her last week if she had a stuffed mouse and a pair of pom poms in her basement, she would’ve said no. But in the process of cleaning out the basement, she found some things she didn’t even know she had. She didn’t know where they came from, or why they had them. Sometimes, when we clean out our cluttered houses, we find stuff we don’t even know we have.
Here in 2 Kings, the house of the Lord, the temple, is getting cleaned out for a big-time renovation. And the workers cleaning out the temple clutter find a book called Deuteronomy. It’s the book of the law. Somehow, over the years, a once-cherished book has been shoved into a dusty corner, with all sorts of stuff piled on top of it. And as time went on, the people who shoved it into the corner died, and less and less people knew it was there. Eventually, this book of God’s law became completely forgotten in the clutter of the temple – they forgot it was there, they forgot why they had it, they forgot where it came from, and they forgot what was in it.
This book of law was the book of guidelines for the Israelites to follow in a keeping of the covenant their ancestors made with God. But they had so cluttered their lives, so cluttered the house of the Lord, that their covenant relationship with God had been shoved into a dark, dusty corner. In losing the book, they took the first step toward breaking God’s covenant – forgetting about the covenant and its guidelines altogether.
This was surely not intentional. These people didn’t set out one day to stop loving God and keeping his commandments. It’s just that over time, they “lost that lovin’ feeling, and now it’s gone, gone gone…”
But now, they’ve started cleaning up. They’ve started to examine the state of affairs, and the king, Josiah, realizes that they have not been doing so hot in this covenant relationship with God. So he determines that they will renew this covenant. They’ll continue cleaning out all the unnecessary junk in the temple and in their lives, and renew their promise to God to love him and follow his commandments.
Sometimes cleaning out clutter in our lives reveals that we’ve buried things that were once important to us. We’ve lost things, and forgotten that we even had them in the first place. It’s like that in our covenant relationship with God. We promise to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, but then over time, God’s commandments become less important to us. Carrying out our end of the relationship fades away, and becomes lost in the recesses of our chaotic, cluttered lives. That clutter in our lives comes with many names: cooking, cleaning, doing chores, decorating our houses more than necessary, getting so addicted to TV programs that we can’t bear to miss a single episode, making sure the kids get to practice, keeping on top of things at work, getting to all our meetings on time, impressing the people around us with our words and our possessions, and on it goes. We clutter our lives with seemingly harmless things, but then these things lead to anger, greed, jealousy, selfishness, destructive habits, and so on. The clutter we accumulate leads to two things: FIRST, our covenant with God gets pushed into a dusty corner, and SECOND, sin creeps in and takes control over us. Without our covenant with God being in the center, sin becomes the center of our cluttered mess. As time goes on, sin increases in power and influence over us, and our covenant with God gets pushed further and further into the corner, further and further into obscurity.
And so it is with all of us, and with all relationships. We become so busy that our relationships often suffer. Perhaps the most well-known statistic in this country is that half of all marriage covenants end in divorce. None of them start out expecting to divorce. However, what happens is the covenant made to each gets lost in the midst of the clutter of our lives, and that covenant is pushed into a dusty corner and forgotten over time.
Whether it’s our covenant with God, our marriage covenant, or our relationships with others, we all push relationships into the corner from time to time. We forget to love, respect, and trust the people with whom we’ve promised to do so. We lose sight of what’s important, we lose sight of our books of law, and sometimes they’re so buried it takes a major renovation to find them.
You see, I’ve always felt that all relationships are like driving on the interstate. You know you started out on the right road, but it’s nice to have the road signs every once in awhile. If I’m driving on an unfamiliar interstate, I like to see those road signs that tell me I’m still on the right path. It’s nice to be reassured every once in awhile that I haven’t gotten off course. Occasionally, I find that I accidentally ended up on the wrong path – I went the wrong way when the road split, or I got off the interstate and got back on going the wrong direction. And while that’s frustrating, without the road signs it may take me longer to realize that.
Our covenant relationship with God is like driving on the interstate. When we started out, we knew it was the highway to heaven, but maybe we haven’t seen a sign in awhile. Maybe we’re not sure if we’re still following the right path. And then, finally, we see a sign. It tells us what’s going on. We’ve found the lost book of law, we’ve found out what route we’re taking. Maybe it’s the right way, or maybe we somehow made a wrong turn and ended up on the highway to hell instead. But we need those road signs. We need to have times of self-reflection, times where all the clutter goes away and the truth stares us in the face like a big highway sign. And in these moments of self-reflection, we discover where exactly our covenant with God lives – whether it still lives in the center of our lives, or whether it’s been pushed into a dusty corner and forgotten about. We discover what it is we need to do moving forward – dust off the book and read it again, turn around and get back on the right highway, or maybe even just be reassured that we’re on the right path, even if we haven’t quite gotten to where we want to be.
As we renew our covenants with God this morning, I hope and pray that this may be a time of self-reflection for all of us. Treat this service as a renovation project, or as a road sign on the highways of life. This is a perfect time to stop and think about how our relationships to God once were, how they currently are, and how we want them to be moving forward. Renew your covenant to God; read over the book of law once more, get back onto the highway of righteousness. Seal it with the sacrament of Holy Communion, the reminder of God’s promise in the covenant relationship. Let us renew our covenant with the Lord our God in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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