Uncertain Days that lay ahead -Sermon for Final Assessment

Below, you will find the sermon that I am preaching for my final assessment meeting. For those who are not Presbyterian, this is the final stage before I am able to begin to "seek a call."

Any comments that would help strengthen this sermon would be appreciated.

Prayer of Illumination,

Oh Holy God, who calls to stay awake, strengthen our willing spirit and our weak flesh. Arouse us from the comfort of our slumbers with your Word. Prepare our hearts that we may follow you into the uncertainty of the days to come. Open our ears and eyes that we may hear your Word afresh this day. Amen

Our reading this morning is from The Gospel of Mark. I will be reading from the fourteenth chapter beginning with verse 32. Listen now to hear God’s Word to us…

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ ³³He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. ³⁴And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ ³⁵And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. ³⁶He said, ‘Abba,^* Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’ ³⁷He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? ³⁸Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial;^* the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ ³⁹And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. ⁴⁰And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. ⁴¹He came a third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴²Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.’

This is the Word of the Lord,

Thanks be to God.

As many of you have heard there is a little letter that has been floating around the Presbyterian Church for a number of weeks now. And there have been lots of conversations as well as numerous responses. This letter, which has become commonly known as the “Deathly Ill Church” letter, expresses in no uncertain terms that the PC(USA) is deathly ill. Years of decline and years of votes over contentious issues have led the writers to declare that this portion of the body of Christ is deathly ill.

As one might have suspected this letter has sparked a great deal of discussion and debate. Some have come out speaking in favor and yet others in opposition to the letter. The amounts of responses and conversations have become so great that one could easily become overwhelmed by the topic. And for some the sheer magnitude, diversity, and the highly charged emotions have proven to be to great. The letter has elicited in fear in some, and yet in others, it has become a call to arms, a time to speak out and take a stand. A number of friends at school have spoken of worries about what this will mean for the Church they are heading into and questioning if their gifts and talents will be better served elsewhere.

The response it has elicited in me, however, has been one of questioning. I have wondered what dose it mean to be the church in this age? How do we remain faithful to God in the face of uncertain days that lay ahead?

But beyond the questions that this letter raised within me, I believe that the letter has begun to stir a sleeping church. Calling us to wake up. We all have known for a while now that our church, the Presbyterian Church USA, and many other mainline churches like us, have been experiencing unprecedented decline in membership, shrinking budgets and a diminished place in society. But why did this letter, stating these facts, elicit such a strong response? Are large membership numbers, a big budget and status within society signs of God’s favor upon us, and symptoms of a healthy church? And the declining numbers, budgets and diminished role with society as symptoms of a deathly ill church?

I must state that I do not agree with the conclusions that the "Deathly Ill Church" Letter draws. I agree that the church is in decline, but I do not agree that the PC(USA) is deathly ill. I would argue that in some places the Presbyterian Church has been comfortably asleep. We have grown comfortable, believing that our influence, which we once held in society just a few decades before, would last forever. And as time has changed and membership numbers have declined as well as an increase in the rate of pastor burn out have become such commonplace realities that we just accept it as the way things are. And we look at the monuments of our glorious past, and dream of the “good old days.” We, like the disciples, have fallen asleep and are not fully aware of the importance of this hour.

As we come to our text today in Mark the disciples and Jesus are approaching the final days of Jesus life and earthly ministry. Unbeknownst to the disciples this is the final night in which they will be with this wandering Rabbi. As part of Passover, the disciples have traveled with Jesus to Jerusalem. They witnessed the triumphant entry into the city, with Jesus riding upon a colt, and the crowds shouting praises to him. The disciples were with Jesus when he cleansed the temple by driving “out those selling and those buying in the temple” and watched as he overturned the moneychangers’ tables. And He foretells of the temple as well as his telling of Jesus’ own death. But on this final night Jesus, having already shared a meal with his friends breaking bread and blessing the cup do they come “to a place called Gethsemane.”

Having traveled from the Mount of Olives, the disciples find themselves standing in Gethsemane. Jesus taking Peter, James and John a little further away reveals the deep distress that Jesus is feeling as his hour approaches. We should not be surprised that it is these three who Jesus reveals this too. Peter, James and John serve an important role in Mark’s Gospel. As it was these three who have been witnesses to the transfiguration and the raising of Jairus daughter from the dead. So we can assume that Peter, James and John had become comfortable witnessing some peculiar events. And yet now they are witnessing something completely different then they have seen before. They see Jesus, the same man who was transfigured on the mountain, who has the power to calm seas and raise people form the dead, nearly overcome with anguish. He tells them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death.” And all he asks of his friends is to “remain here, and keep awake.” And yet they can’t. Three times Jesus comes back from praying to find his closest disciples sleeping, and implores them two different times to keep awake. But their eyes “were very heavy” and they continued to fall asleep.

There is a connection that is drawn between the image of the sleeping disciples and Jesus’ final parable about the return of the Son of Man. In Mark 13, we hear Jesus tell a parable about a master of the house who leaves for a journey. He places his slaves in charge of the household with tasks to take care of. He commands the doorkeeper to keep watch or keep awake, more accurately. Saying, “For you do not know when the master of the house will come.” It would be a terrible situation when “he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.” So Jesus tells those gathered, “Keep awake.” Jesus is not urging those gathered to remain strong in the face of persecution but to be prepared, to keep awake, and to be vigilant.

It is clear within this parable that the master of the household is Jesus, and the slaves are the disciples and followers of Christ, and in turn you and I. And the disciples in Gethsemane were so comfortable, so use to witnessing things that Jesus did that they could not recognize the importance of this moment. They saw their master he was with them. Did they really need to keep awake? So they fell asleep, not once but three times. Jesus knew the importance of this hour and tried to convey it to his friends, but they were not yet ready to drink the cup that Jesus would drink from. A cup that Jesus prayed God would remove from him, but knew it was God’s will to drink of it. And it is the same cup that Jesus gave to his friends assuring them that it was the cup of a new covenant sealed in Jesus’ own blood. A cup that Jesus asked James and John if they were ready to take and be baptized in a baptism like Jesus’ own. And yet at this moment the disciples were not ready to drink of that cup. They were not prepared. They wished to remain asleep.

It would be too easy to condemn the disciples for their weakness, for not being prepared at that hour in this hour. But the disciples did drink of the cup. They were awoken and did encounter of the resurrected Jesus. As witnesses to God’s power over death, they were assured of the covenant sealed in Christ’s blood and they went to work, accomplishing the task they had been given knowing that their hour would come and that they too would have to drink of the cup.

It is clear that there are uncertain days that lay ahead for the Presbyterian Church. Each day we move closer and closer to the passage of amending our ordination standards, and on those very same days churches wrestle with whether to stay or leave. And in both cases people feel as though they are being faithful. I believe strongly that things will change within the Presbyterian Church USA. We will see churches that will feel that they must separate from us as we welcome in those who have been bared from fully following their call. This will open us to hearing God’s Word a new and following Jesus down paths that we never knew before. And the question remains is, are we going to wake up and face the uncertain days that lay ahead or are we going to remain sleeping. We, like the disciples, have a choice. We can remain asleep or we can wake up and face the hour that is here and drink the cup, or doze off back to sleep.

The wonderful thing that I failed to mention earlier about the passage was that no matter how many times the disciples were caught sleeping, Jesus never gave up on them. He returned time and again to wake them, stir them from their slumbers, remind them of their duty, to remain awake and pray. And he knew “indeed the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak.” And the same is true with the church. Jesus has not given up on us. Though we may be asleep at times, Jesus returns and awakes us, calling us to get up, to keep awake and pray, to take the cup, and reminds us of the work that is to be done.

Uncertain days lay before us. Unlike the disciples, we know what lies before Jesus in the Gospel, Golgotha and the cross. And yet three days later we know the tomb will be found empty. For we know the promise is true because of the witness of the sleepy disciples who Jesus never gave up on. So we have work to do friends. The master of the household has not returned, so we must remain awake and do the work that we have been given even in these uncertain days.

Hallelujah and Amen

Let's Try This Once More... Reflecting on a Sunday

As Lent is quickly approaching and as I continue to think about my vocation and how to live it out following seminary, I have returned once more to this blog. A place that when I began it was intended to be a space for me to reflect and ponder things that I had been exploring in classes or in the world. But quickly this blog became neglected and forgotten, as evident by an almost two year lapse in posting. But as I see my vocation not as one who preaches but as one who is called to teach and write, I feel I must begin to practice writing, reflecting and sharing.

So it is that my goal is to begin to write here once more. Posting whatever comes through my head and exploring ideas. So here goes...

It is Sunday evening and I have been reflecting all day on worship this morning. My Wife Ame and I have been attending Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta while I have been in seminary. It is a worshiping community that we have come to deeply love and are nurtured there. We have found it refreshing and challenging that the church as a community takes stands on what is happening outside of the doors of this beautiful downtown church. This active stance on Social Justice was evident this morning during worship as a member of the congregation got up to talk about the church's plans for Lent. The church is planning to focus the congregation's attention to social issues within the community of Atlanta. As the member described the church's devotional guide and how it could move the community to take actions to resolve the issues facing the community, she was moved to tears as she asked, "how can we be a people of faith and not find solutions to AIDS, homelessness, poverty and inequality?" (Those are not exactly her words but what I got from her words.) And as I sat and listen to this woman stand behind the table of our Lord, I was moved nearly to tears as I reflected on the brokenness of our world and our apathy and failure to do more.

Matthew 5:6-9

6‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Before I could throw myself a deeper pitty party it was time to pass the collection plate. I noticed a little boy in the row in front of me who I could see was eagerly awaiting the collection plate to come down his row. And as the plate reached him, he took it from his dad and took a couple of steps and passed it to the gentleman seated near him. And as this young child quickly ran back to his dad, I noticed a huge grin on his face. And a since of joy washed over me. This young child was so eager to just touch the plate that held the money that would help fund the mission of this church that he could hardly contain it. You could see that this mattered deeply to this boy and in that moment I saw how the church was to be, a little child with such excitement to just touch the mission work of the church.

It was just moments later as the congregation was taking communion by intinction, I saw a little girl who moving quicker then her parents was headed up to the front. She looked over her shoulder for her parents who were quickly in tow, giving a look of "hurry up." Again the excitement of this young child was a blessing. Again I thought, "This is how we should be. We should have an eager anticipation as we approach the table."

Matthew 19:14
"but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."

So challenged with the Kingdom of God breaking but not complete I go into this next week. Fed at the table and challenged to act.

Advent Conspiracy

Class with Peter Rollins

This week one of my classes had a guest lecturer, we were privileged to have Peter Rollins come and speak to our class. Peter Rollins is an Emergent Philosopher, co-organizer of an Emerging Church Movement collective called Ikon. He is also the author of several books, How (Not) to Speak of God, The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief, and most recent The Orthodox Heretic and Other Impossible Tales. Oh yea he is also from Belfast Ireland.

So Peter came to our class this week while he is on tour speaking about his new book. So our class had the privilege to have him as our guest. It was pretty apparent from the beginning of the class that Peter is truly an Emergent Philosopher. He told us his style of speaking was like shooting a machine gun. So here are some thoughts and responses to things I took from this lecture.

Naming God and Un-Naming God...
No matter how great our theology and understanding of what we thinking God is it is limited and reductionist view. Every time we say God's name we must un-name God. This is an idea we are somewhat exploring in some of our readings. Darrell Guder talk about the idea of reductionism in his book The Continuing Conversion of the Church. Reductionism is a reality and a danger. We want to be able to describe God and in that we will inevitably reduce God to something we can grasp. But in our reduction we run the danger of limiting God. So we need to un-name God every time we name God. I see the importance of celebrating the divine mystery of God, while balancing the a human grasp of the concept of God. God is more wondrous then our concepts of God no matter how good our theology.

The Bible as Art
One of the coolest ideas from this lecture was Rollins idea that the Bible should be viewed as art. Not in the since that it lowers its value, but that different people can take different things from it. The Bible offers more than we can take in. The Bible gives us more and more, and it changes as we change and are impacted by the Bible.

Revelation as Trauma
Rollins said there were three stages of response to revelation from God. He compared these stages to that of trauma. Here are the three stages Rollins gave us...

1. Incomprehension - When we experience a revelation from God, our first response is just how can this be we are unable to comprehend what is taking place.
   
2. Bedazzlement follows once we have accepted the revelation. We stand back in aw of what is taking place after accepting the revelation from God.
   
3. Transformation follows once acceptance has taken place and our being in aw is calmed.
   

There is much more from this lecture, but I am still in the process of thinking through it and figuring our how I feel about it.

My New Favorite Way to Evangelize

So I have seen this van all over Decatur and East Atlanta! It makes me laugh I must say! Yes there are some things on the van in which I do agree with, but I am not really sure why someone would do this. I wonder if this is their way of sharing the gospel with other people? I also wonder how effective it is? I would have to guess probably not, since I am assuming they drive like most everyone else in this city... very poorly!

When I hear the "e-word" (Evangelism) I cringe, I'm Presbyterian for crying out loud, that word scares us. When people talk about evangelism, the images that pop into my head are those people standing on street corners with a bull horn, shouting at people. I also have images of people walking up to and handing out little pamphlets about God and how life is doomed without God. Those are the images that come up to me, and this van just adds another image for me now.

I must admit that sometimes when I see people doing these forms of evangelism, I am compelled to go and talk to them, much to the embarrassment of my fiancee. For some reason I want to run up and talk to them about God and theology. Maybe I just want to push their buttons and be a jerk. But almost always my fiancee holds me back.

So entering Seminary this year, I had the opportunity to take a class about Evangelism, shocking I know! But the funny thing is it is one of my favorite classes, even more shocking! And here is the kicker... I have come to a place where I see evangelism as being an important part of the life of the church, not in the since of member management and growth. But as an outpouring of what God is doing our lives. I know I will never be the kind of person who will walk up to someone and begin telling them about God and trying to convert them on the spot, I do however feel that I will be able to talk to people and share my life and faith with them, in a non-threatening sort of way, whatever that means.

I am still processing all of this, I am still not too sure what evangelism is going to look like for, maybe it is being a good friend, a nice person in a grocery store, or being a good neighbor, I am thinking there are thousands of possibilities. These are all long term evangelism "strategies," probably more realist and possible for me.

Kairos Church Experience

For several weeks I have been thinking about new church development, and what the emerging church looks like. So this Sunday, Ame and I went to Kairos church. This was a wonderful experience for us both. Both Ame and I have had our share of church experiences. We both grow up in vary active churches, that are still growing. We also have attended together two churches I have worked for. The thing that ties all of these churches together is their traditional format. They all have their own buildings, some of these churches were established in some cases as cities developed around them. All of these churches have a since of roots, and history. So attending a new church development was something exciting and held a sense of uncertainty of what to expect.

There were several things I noticed about this church. The first and most notable, there was some serious sincerity in everyone we meet from the Thomas one of the Pastors, to everyone we sat near and got to meet. During Thomas' sermon, he shared a very personal story about his and his father's relationship. It was so honest and open, and yet so refreshing. This sincerity was so amazing and left an impact on both Ame and me.

One of the other aspects of the service that was striking was how many young couples where there. There were more young couples - like early 30's and under, newly weds. For the two of us, who have been attending a church where our closest friends had a middle school aged son. So sitting in a church with a lot of young couples was exciting. And showed that there are young people out there who were looking for a community of faith to be a part of, and actively involved in.

The service itself could best be described as a what my experiences as a youth during youth group meetings. I don't mean this to say that it was overly simplified, or kiddish. There was no pretension, there was a great amount of openness. The service itself lasted roughly two hours. Neither Ame nor I realized this until we got in the car to head home. We both were amazed by this.

The sermon itself was challenging. The idea of not shying away from confrontation, and being willing to share my faith with others was challenging to me. I have no problem in being confrontational, it doesn't bother me. But the idea of sharing my faith has always been something I have struggled with. I am not sure if it is that I am overly Presbyterian and really cringe at the thought or word of EVANGELISM. So I have struggled with finding where that will fit into my life of faith and vocation as someone moving towards ordained ministry.

After this service I have begun asking questions about the church. Can this energy and excitement transfer over to the more "traditional" churches? How can this transfer to established churches? Are these churches willing to embrace the ideas about worship and community that are coming from these emerging churches? What will happen to these emerging churches as they become established churches?

There are many more questions and I am afraid I do not have any of the answers! We shall see as I will explore some of these ideas!

A Greener Church

What role dose the church play in caring for the earth? Should the church care about global warming?

For all of my life I have loved the outdoors. I have loved hiking, backpacking, cycling, fly fishing, and just spending time outside. I have enjoyed the outdoors so much that it impacted my selection of a major, Environmental Studies, and Minor, Outdoor Recreation, in college. It even impacted my first steps into ministry. I spent two summers in college working as a backpacking guide at Christian camp in southern Colorado. For me God's creation has played an important role in my life of faith. But I have always struggled with how I could connect faith and environmental preservation...

While serving a church as their youth director, members of the church, being moved by Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth began an environmental ministry team. Though I was never sure what their main goal was, I did see that they were working diligently towards something.

Upon entering Seminary this fall, I enrolled into an Ecology class. This class, I had hoped, would among many things re-ignite my passion for the care of the environment, as well as help me connect what I knew about the science and study of the environment, and the language of faith. Though I am still struggling with finding the language of faith, I have been convicted that we as humans play a special role in all of creation. We have the ability to use, abuse, and destroy what God created, with the mentality that in the end we will be boarding a life boat in the sky piloted by Jesus and off we will go to Heaven, leaving the earth and all the problems we have created behind. But I have come to find that this notion is not biblically accurate. The earth plays a special role in the end of time, according to John's Revelation. There is no mention of humanity leaving the earth behind, but that the earth will be renewed and heaven and earth will be one. We even pray that life on earth will be as like life in heaven, "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

So I do feel strongly that the church, and Christians, should be working to protect the environment. We are called to be stewards of what God has given us, and the earth is included in what God has given us.

As part of this I am taking about Ecology, I am working on a project about what churches can do to be more environmentally friendly. As I do more thinking and researching I will be posting things that churches can do.

Here is the first thing churches can do, and I am sure many already do. This is nothing new I think I learned about this when I was in elementary school... RECYCLE!!!! Recycling does so much to lessen the amount of garbage going into land fills. It also helps us to not have to keep taking from the earth the resources we need. Also buy recycled goods, yes they may cost more in the financial since, but they are so much better on this earth we have been given!