It is hard, especially for children, to keep a Christmas secret for long. I can remember when our son, Scott, was a toddler. I was giving him a bath one December evening. I had asked what he had done that day. He burst out: “I went Christmas shopping with Mommy. We bought socks for Daddy --- but it’s a secret!”
Sometimes a secret is so hard to keep; it’s difficult to keep our lips sealed. But the time has come, with the advent of Jesus Christ, that our secret is now out!
Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans: “The revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages is now disclosed.”
Jesus is not a mystery that is to be kept secret, with our lips sealed. Jesus is a revelation, an opening up of God’s heart, that propels us to open up our hearts and lips and mouths as well. As the wreaths and the garlands and the tree go up in our church after 10:00 AM worship today, the secret will be out of the box.
Some people will say: “My faith is private.” Yet the revelation of the mystery of Jesus is not a secret; it is not private; it is to be disclosed. Our faith in Christ is personal, yet never private.
We worship a God from whom no secrets are hid. For Jesus Christ is not a secret (nor are socks for Daddy!)
Showing posts with label Romans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romans. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Anxious Times
I have been hearing a lot of anxious comments and concerns lately. News of S&P’s downgrade of U.S. debt, riots in the United Kingdom, congressional dysfunction, stock market craziness, speculation on candidates for the next presidential election – all of these things can and do raise our anxiety levels.
As a Christian, it helps me to think back to what things were like when Jesus walked the earth. Jesus lived in a country that was occupied by a hostile power, taxes were insanely exorbitant to fund Roman debt and expenditures, corruption and prostitution were rampant, puppet governors ruled - and women and children were not even counted in biblical measures of people. In Jesus’ world, I imagine that anxiety levels were high.
So what is a Christian to do in the face of anxious times? The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome in very anxious times: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect (12:2).”
Do not conform and get sucked into the mass hysteria and anxiety of the times. Instead, be transformed – changed – by the renewing of our minds and hearts. Let us reform and renew the face of the earth through what is good and loving, beginning with the reforming of our own hearts.
The message for us in anxious times, I believe, is not to conform to this world, but to reform this world - by doing justice, by loving mercy and by walking humbly with our God.
As a Christian, it helps me to think back to what things were like when Jesus walked the earth. Jesus lived in a country that was occupied by a hostile power, taxes were insanely exorbitant to fund Roman debt and expenditures, corruption and prostitution were rampant, puppet governors ruled - and women and children were not even counted in biblical measures of people. In Jesus’ world, I imagine that anxiety levels were high.
So what is a Christian to do in the face of anxious times? The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome in very anxious times: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect (12:2).”
Do not conform and get sucked into the mass hysteria and anxiety of the times. Instead, be transformed – changed – by the renewing of our minds and hearts. Let us reform and renew the face of the earth through what is good and loving, beginning with the reforming of our own hearts.
The message for us in anxious times, I believe, is not to conform to this world, but to reform this world - by doing justice, by loving mercy and by walking humbly with our God.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
They are Israelites...
People will ask me on occasion: What should Christians think about people who are Jewish? In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul answers this question directly in the 9th chapter, from which we read last Sunday in our worship.
About those who are born as Jews, Paul writes this: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. (9:4-5)”
Jesus was and is Jewish. And the Jewish people are God’s chosen people, forever. The good news of Jesus Christ is that God opens up to all people the power to become God’s chosen people.
I was not born into a Jewish family. Yet through my baptism into the family of Jesus, I am now one of God’s chosen people, as well! To all of us who are baptized into God’s family, now to us, also, belongs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. God blessed forever. Amen!
About those who are born as Jews, Paul writes this: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. (9:4-5)”
Jesus was and is Jewish. And the Jewish people are God’s chosen people, forever. The good news of Jesus Christ is that God opens up to all people the power to become God’s chosen people.
I was not born into a Jewish family. Yet through my baptism into the family of Jesus, I am now one of God’s chosen people, as well! To all of us who are baptized into God’s family, now to us, also, belongs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. God blessed forever. Amen!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Convinced
Sermon from July 24, 2011
(Pentecost 6 – Year A)
Romans 8: 26-39
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Waco, Texas
During this summer, I have had to become convinced of some things.
Over Memorial Day weekend, we had an air conditioner malfunction at our house that cost us $600 to repair.
Just two weeks later, another air conditioner repair set us back by another $500.
Therefore, last month, a salesperson from an air conditioning company sat down in our living room.
The salesperson presented stacks of evidence to convince me that we needed to replace our entire air conditioning unit, to the tune of thousands of dollars.
In order to convince Susan and me to make such a major purchase, the salesman made his pitch, presenting evidence that was designed to convince us.
First of all, he pointed out that our old a/c unit was the original unit to the house, which was built in 1987.
Next, we were shown charts and graphs of how a new, energy-efficient a/c unit would reduce our electricity bill, eventually justifying the cost of a new unit.
As a final part of his sales pitch, he promised to deduct the cost of our last repair from the total bill – which was the last piece of evidence that we needed.
We decided to bite the bullet and purchase a whole new air conditioner last month – because we were convinced.
Our God is in the business of unrelenting conviction.
Our God is in the business of persuasion.
Our God is constantly laying out evidence, stacks of evidence to convince us that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
Almost two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul had come to the end of his life.
As an old man who had already seen many pieces of evidence, the Apostle Paul writes a beautiful letter to the community of Christians in the city of Rome.
In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul lays out the evidence, proclaiming:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
No!
For I am convinced that
Neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
According to Paul, his own life is enough evidence to convince him that nothing, nothing can separate him from the love of God.
In his life, Paul had been shipwrecked in the Mediterranean Sea while spreading the Gospel.
Yet at the end of his life, Paul is convinced that nothing can separate him from love.
Paul had been put in prison for preaching Jesus Christ.
Yet Paul is still convinced that nothing can separate him from love.
Paul had endured hardships, riots, beatings, hunger and sleepless nights, yet Paul is all the more convinced.
For the God of persuasion stacks up the evidence for Paul:
That neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In this last week, I have seen stacks and stacks of evidence to convince me that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Susan and I spent this last week at Camp Allen, serving as the session directors for a week of camp for 3rd and 4th graders.
I endured 7 sleepless nights in a bunk bed on a paper-thin mattress,
Yet I awoke each morning to the evidence of a line of campers who were using a marks-a-lot to write down their morning prayers on a piece of poster board.
I saw campers with sore throats and mosquito bites and twinges of homesickness,
Yet I celebrated Communion around the lake with over 350 young people at the all-camp Eucharist, youth who lifted their voices to Jesus in the sweetest music you have ever heard.
I dragged my sore feet each night into 7 different cabins for bedtime prayers,
Yet by the illumination of a single candle, each night I received the deepest of theological questions, from 61 children who are hungry and thirsty for the love of Jesus Christ.
From my week at camp,
I am more convinced than ever that
Neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The God of persuasion, the God of conviction, will also stack up evidence for the 8 youth and 3 adults from St. Alban’s who depart today on their mission trip to Gulf Coast Mississippi.
The God of conviction will convince our missionaries from St. Alban’s that we can never be separated from the love of God.
The youth of St. Alban’s will endure a long car ride down Interstate 10.
They will get on each other’s nerves.
They will see first-hand the suffering and homelessness that the world has long ago forgotten in the wake of hurricanes.
And the God of persuasion will lay out the evidence.
The God of conviction will stack up the evidence for our youth and adults as they encounter poor people who still have hope,
As they see the face of Christ in the faces of the suffering,
As they become a body of Christ, a community who will proclaim to us:
I am convinced that nothing, nothing, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
However, there are other voices of persuasion and conviction in this world.
There are salespeople who persuade us that we are only loved if we have the latest iPhone or the newest shoes or the most powerful tools from Home Depot.
There are salespeople who persuade us that we are only loved by having a perfect body, a body that is only achieved by steroids and botox, by nip and tuck.
There are even very crafty salespeople who persuade us that the central message of Christianity is a life of happiness and prosperity,
When the real message of Christianity is a cross, a cross that is evidence that nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God.
For if you read the holy scriptures of God,
If you pray every day,
If you regularly eat of the bread of heaven,
If you hang out with God’s poor and suffering people,
Then the God of persuasion will lay out stacks and stacks of evidence in front of you.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will convince you that nothing, nothing can separate you from the love of God.
My friends, our God is an unrelenting and persuasive salesperson - who sits in your living room to convince you of the best news in the world.
God is a persuasive salesperson - who convinces me through the voices of 8-year old campers raised in songs of worship to the Lord Jesus.
God is a persuasive salesperson who stacks up evidence through toothless, homeless, penniless hurricane victims, people who display the glory of God, the glory of a human being fully alive.
God is a persuasive salesperson - whose most convincing evidence of love is an olive-skinned carpenter from Nazareth, nailed to a piece of wood.
For neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am convinced.
AMEN.
(Pentecost 6 – Year A)
Romans 8: 26-39
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Waco, Texas
During this summer, I have had to become convinced of some things.
Over Memorial Day weekend, we had an air conditioner malfunction at our house that cost us $600 to repair.
Just two weeks later, another air conditioner repair set us back by another $500.
Therefore, last month, a salesperson from an air conditioning company sat down in our living room.
The salesperson presented stacks of evidence to convince me that we needed to replace our entire air conditioning unit, to the tune of thousands of dollars.
In order to convince Susan and me to make such a major purchase, the salesman made his pitch, presenting evidence that was designed to convince us.
First of all, he pointed out that our old a/c unit was the original unit to the house, which was built in 1987.
Next, we were shown charts and graphs of how a new, energy-efficient a/c unit would reduce our electricity bill, eventually justifying the cost of a new unit.
As a final part of his sales pitch, he promised to deduct the cost of our last repair from the total bill – which was the last piece of evidence that we needed.
We decided to bite the bullet and purchase a whole new air conditioner last month – because we were convinced.
Our God is in the business of unrelenting conviction.
Our God is in the business of persuasion.
Our God is constantly laying out evidence, stacks of evidence to convince us that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
Almost two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul had come to the end of his life.
As an old man who had already seen many pieces of evidence, the Apostle Paul writes a beautiful letter to the community of Christians in the city of Rome.
In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul lays out the evidence, proclaiming:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
No!
For I am convinced that
Neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
According to Paul, his own life is enough evidence to convince him that nothing, nothing can separate him from the love of God.
In his life, Paul had been shipwrecked in the Mediterranean Sea while spreading the Gospel.
Yet at the end of his life, Paul is convinced that nothing can separate him from love.
Paul had been put in prison for preaching Jesus Christ.
Yet Paul is still convinced that nothing can separate him from love.
Paul had endured hardships, riots, beatings, hunger and sleepless nights, yet Paul is all the more convinced.
For the God of persuasion stacks up the evidence for Paul:
That neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In this last week, I have seen stacks and stacks of evidence to convince me that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Susan and I spent this last week at Camp Allen, serving as the session directors for a week of camp for 3rd and 4th graders.
I endured 7 sleepless nights in a bunk bed on a paper-thin mattress,
Yet I awoke each morning to the evidence of a line of campers who were using a marks-a-lot to write down their morning prayers on a piece of poster board.
I saw campers with sore throats and mosquito bites and twinges of homesickness,
Yet I celebrated Communion around the lake with over 350 young people at the all-camp Eucharist, youth who lifted their voices to Jesus in the sweetest music you have ever heard.
I dragged my sore feet each night into 7 different cabins for bedtime prayers,
Yet by the illumination of a single candle, each night I received the deepest of theological questions, from 61 children who are hungry and thirsty for the love of Jesus Christ.
From my week at camp,
I am more convinced than ever that
Neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The God of persuasion, the God of conviction, will also stack up evidence for the 8 youth and 3 adults from St. Alban’s who depart today on their mission trip to Gulf Coast Mississippi.
The God of conviction will convince our missionaries from St. Alban’s that we can never be separated from the love of God.
The youth of St. Alban’s will endure a long car ride down Interstate 10.
They will get on each other’s nerves.
They will see first-hand the suffering and homelessness that the world has long ago forgotten in the wake of hurricanes.
And the God of persuasion will lay out the evidence.
The God of conviction will stack up the evidence for our youth and adults as they encounter poor people who still have hope,
As they see the face of Christ in the faces of the suffering,
As they become a body of Christ, a community who will proclaim to us:
I am convinced that nothing, nothing, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
However, there are other voices of persuasion and conviction in this world.
There are salespeople who persuade us that we are only loved if we have the latest iPhone or the newest shoes or the most powerful tools from Home Depot.
There are salespeople who persuade us that we are only loved by having a perfect body, a body that is only achieved by steroids and botox, by nip and tuck.
There are even very crafty salespeople who persuade us that the central message of Christianity is a life of happiness and prosperity,
When the real message of Christianity is a cross, a cross that is evidence that nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God.
For if you read the holy scriptures of God,
If you pray every day,
If you regularly eat of the bread of heaven,
If you hang out with God’s poor and suffering people,
Then the God of persuasion will lay out stacks and stacks of evidence in front of you.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will convince you that nothing, nothing can separate you from the love of God.
My friends, our God is an unrelenting and persuasive salesperson - who sits in your living room to convince you of the best news in the world.
God is a persuasive salesperson - who convinces me through the voices of 8-year old campers raised in songs of worship to the Lord Jesus.
God is a persuasive salesperson who stacks up evidence through toothless, homeless, penniless hurricane victims, people who display the glory of God, the glory of a human being fully alive.
God is a persuasive salesperson - whose most convincing evidence of love is an olive-skinned carpenter from Nazareth, nailed to a piece of wood.
For neither death, nor life,
Nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation,
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am convinced.
AMEN.
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