Author: Mark Mong

Mark 6:45-52

⁴⁵ Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.  ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. ⁴⁹ But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; ⁵⁰ for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, ⁵² for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

As a boy, I went on a three-day canoe trip in Southern Ohio.  The first two days were spent on a lazy jaunt down a local river with the third to be spent on the Ohio River.  As an impressionable young boy, I was dreadfully afraid of sinking in my canoe.  We had all of our belongings in our canoe and I was afraid of tipping over and losing all of my things on the bottom of the Ohio.  We never made it to the Ohio River though, as the second night some local drunks untied our canoes and sent them down river without us in them.  But that is another story. 

Just as I was afraid of my boat tipping over and/or sinking, so too were the disciples afraid of their boat sinking.  Having embarked in their boat in an attempt to cross the Sea of Galilee, the disciples find themselves being bombarded by both wind and waves.  Being threatened by the severe weather, the disciples fear for their lives.  Will they take on water and sink?  Will they tip over and drown?  Fear gripped the hearts of the disciples stronger than any rope or strap.

Are we also not afraid of sinking?  Maybe not a literal sinking, unless on a boat cruising down the Ohio River.  But maybe a sinking nonetheless.  Perhaps, your job is not providing enough means to live upon.  Perhaps, your family relationships are not as healthy as you would like.  Perhaps, your purpose in life is starting to decay.  Perhaps you are suffering a loss or change of some kind.  Whatever our life’s situation is are we not afraid of having all that we have and all that we are fall apart?  Are we not all afraid of sinking?

But, God has given us a balm for our fear.  God has given us a Word of Hope.  To the disciples floundering on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus speaks, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.  By walking on the water, Jesus not only terrified the disciples, who thought he was a ghost, but he also reassured the disciples, by having authority over the water and wind.  God reassures his people that he still does have authority over all things.  In plain terms, God says as Jesus Christ, relax, I got this. 

If God said this to the disciples floundering on the Sea of Galilee, does God not also say this to the disciples floundering wherever they are?  To all of us who are threatened by something, who are afraid, who are anxious, God speaks a Word of hope in Jesus Christ, by telling us, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.  We who are sinking are recipients of a Word of assurance from God telling us that even while we might be sinking, God has authority over the things in this world dragging us under. 

It seems then that is precisely when we are sinking and being dragged under, that we find ourselves being caught by the hand of Christ.  Not only caught by the one who has power and authority over all things, but caught by the one who has the love to bother reaching out for us in the first place.  In those moments of our sinking into the depths, we find ourselves being saved by the hand of God, the man Jesus Christ who loves us to the point of saving us. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, if we possess such a Savior, with love to match his power.  Then let us be not disciples of little faith watching only the waves and the wind.  Let us become disciples of a greater faith watching only Christ.  Let us not sink into the depths of fear, but let us sink into the depths of Jesus Christ.  Let us choose more faith, and less fear.

Mark 4:26-29

²⁶He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. ²⁸The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

We live in a technological world with wonders and blessings.  Whether we talk about the technology that refrigerates or cooks our food, or the technology that allows a wi-fi connection in our cars, or the technology that allows us to travel to Mars and Venus, we will in a world of tremendous blessings thanks to technology.  But do we as the users of that technology understand and comprehend how these things work?  Do we understand the properties of freon in our fridges or the thermodynamics in an air fryer?  Do we comprehend the infrared waves of a wireless connection or the physics behind interstellar travel?  We might partake of these technologies, but do we understand and know how they work?

So too is it with the Kingdom of God.  As those baptized into Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit we live in and enjoy the wonders and blessings of the Kingdom of God, but do we understand how and see the progress of that same Kingdom?  We do not understand the laws of statics and dynamics in physics, but we enjoy cars and planes.  We do not understand how the Kingdom of God grows and progresses, but we enjoy the wonders and blessings, nonetheless.

In the parable of the seed, the Sower sows the seed on the ground and then time would pass, the seed would grow, and he does not know how.  Many ministers and preachers over the years have preached the Word of God and this is most likely the idea behind the sowing of the seed.  But at the Word has been preached and heard, No one knows how that Word does its work or its result.  Some people respond to that Word, and some people are irritated and offended by that same Word.  That Word will change the lives of some that hear it and in the lives of others it will ricochet like a rubber ball on a hard surface. 

Perhaps the good news of the parable is that God alone activates and implements His own Kingdom.  The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.  The progress and growth of the Kingdom lies alone in God’s purview as the earth alone produces the crop from the seed.  The Sower must watch and wait.  This can be good and bad.  The earth will always grow the seed, God will always grow the Kingdom.  No human must progress the Kingdom or advance the Kingdom, God alone bears the ability and the responsibility to advance the Kingdom.  And since God alone progress it, the Kingdom will always progress.

When it comes to the progress of the Kingdom, we as the citizens of God’s Kingdom have a two-fold problem: timing and control.  We want progress now, but God’s Kingdom progresses when God wants it.  God is patient and takes time to progress the Kingdom.  We are not patient, and we want it now and we want our progress in chunks not in tiny steps.  The other problem is control: we want our results and not God’s.  We want vengeance not justice.  We want favoritism, not free grace for all.  We want pride not humility.  We want prosperity not blessings.  We want… not gratitude that God gives.  Progress now, and my kingdom not God’s.

But perhaps the more sinister problem we face is not the temptation to play God and control the growth and progress of a kingdom not our own, but the temptation to see the world degenerating instead of progressing and to trip headlong into despair and despondency.  The famer does not know how the Kingdom grows, and when we cannot understand how God’s Kingdom can grow when our world is decaying, we despair.  The earth produces the crop, and when we see no results or progress without our senses and cannot hasten that growth despite our efforts, we lose heart.  The Kingdom cannot be seen to grow, and we cannot help it do so.  This happens and we lose hope. 

My friends, the good news of God’s Gospel is that even when we cannot see God’s invisible Kingdom and even when we cannot aid God’s Kingdom that seems to be deteriorating, we neither need to or can do anything about it.  God alone bears the responsibility and the capacity to not only progress the growth of God’s Kingdom when it does not look it is or to preserve His Kingdom, when it is taking on water.  And because the responsibility rests on God, His Kingdom will endure, and His Kingdom will be finished.  We may not know how, nor the ability must speed things up, but we can merely enjoy the blessings of having the Kingdom.  In plain words, we must learn to wait in faith, and hope in the Work and Nature of our God.  The Sower had to wait and to trust in the earth.  We must wait and trust in God. 

Ezekiel 37:1-14
¹The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ²He led me all round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. ¹¹Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them, thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

My grass is starting to turn brown.  We are at that point, perhaps a little early in the season, where drought starts to happen and things that depend on the rain start to turn brown and dried up.  This is good news for having to mow grass, but perhaps not so good news for our water bills as we must daily water our gardens and fill our swimming pools.

This idea of being dried up and brown can also happen to us.  We can easily become dehydrated of our life and light, and even our fluids if the temperature is warm enough, through the difficulties and circumstances of our situations in life.  We can lose the passion for a full life.  We can lose the ambition to seize the day instead sitting in our easy chairs watching television.  We can lose our light and zest for the resurrected life by the increasing chaos of our society.  We can lose our faith for discipleship by the overwhelming changes to our life together.  The changes in our worship, the adjustments in our community, and the transitions in our families can easily dry us out and leave us without life, light, and love.

When this happens, we are exactly like Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dried bones, mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.  Our minds need no stretch of the imagination, to see ourselves like Israel as a people dried up from life, to perceive ourselves as a society where hope is lost, to identify ourselves as a people cut off completely from God and each other.  Perhaps the factor that consumes our motivations and energies is the pandemic, or perhaps the social upheaval, or even the poor economy, but we can relate to the valley of dry bones, because like them we are dried up and brown, hopeless, and despairing and isolated and insulated from those we love.  We are the dry bones.

Just as God spoke to them through Ezekiel so too it is with us.  Ezekiel spoke hope and life into their death, we could use some too.  I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.  When our Spirits are at their driest and life is scarce and light and hope nonexistent, this is when the God who creates out of nothing breathes life in again.  When we are and have nothing, God is at God’s greatest, by filling us with the Spirit of Christ and the dead come to life.  Bones to Bones with tendons connecting, tissue surrounding organs, skin covering muscles and ultimately breath indwelling us, the dried up and brown, is renewed and restored to life.  A valley of bones through God’s Spirit became a valley of living people; a church of tired and lifeless walking dead, through the same Spirit of God become a community of living and loving people. 

Like Israel we also are not left in the valley of defeat.  The purpose of resurrecting God’s people. was so that they might have the place God has chosen for them, and I will place you on your own soil.  For Israel that soil was the promised land of Canaan, which Babylon had conquered. For us it might not be literal soil, perhaps it will be, but the soil to which God has chosen for us is the Kingdom of God.  The entire creation is now God’s soil and all of ground and water and sky is once again returned into and under the Power and Reign of God; to give each of us a place and a purpose in this world.  As God’s stewards, we have been given life to be responsible and care for that life before God, to bring God glory. 

That Glory to which we are destined for is a knowledge that Yahweh is God, and we are merely his creatures, then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.  We are not self-created, self-determined, or self-ruled, we are creatures in the hands of a Loving and Almighty Creator.  When we are brought back to life by the Breath of the Creator, the only conclusion we may have is that God alone creates; we did not bring ourselves back to life.  When we are given purpose and hope by the Election of the Creator, the only knowledge we may have is that God alone determines and chooses; we did not determine and choose our places.  When we are given discipleship and community by the Love of the Creator, the only attitude we may have is that God alone rules and sustains; we do not rule or sustain God.  God is Creator and we are created.

My friends, we can all experience and relate to the valley of bones and perhaps that metaphor best describes us right now.  But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God will put Jesus’ Spirit within us, and we will live and we will be given a place and position in God’s Kingdom.  Through Grace and Power God can turn us from a corpse pile to a living, and loving community.  God did it for Israel, God is doing and will continue to do it for his Church.  All for purpose that all might know that Yahweh is God and God is for us.  Let us begin our resurrection from dried up and hopeless bones, to living, and joyous disciples on their way to God’s Glory.  Amen.

Luke 12:22-31

²²He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁶If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you — you of little faith! ²⁹And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

As a Cleveland Browns fan, I am super excited about the direction the team is going.  Both the General Manager and the outstanding additions through free agency and the Coaching Staff and the superior development of those players, leave me excited and anticipating the football season.  But with everything going so well, the cynic in me starts to become worried.  What about injury, what about a lack of chemistry, what about personality clashes, what about …?  I cannot help but have anxiety and/or fear that with everything going well, something bad or unpleasant will happen.

So too with us in the Church.  We do not worry about our sports teams, but we do have a multitude of things to worry about.  Things like the economy and inflation, things like the shortage of gas and chicken wings, things like escalating tensions with China and Russia.  We can find an enormous number of things to have anxiety and/or fear of, that something bad or unpleasant will happen and happen soon.

Hear this Word of the Lord, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear….  While 1^st Century churches did not have to worry about the stock market, or nuclear war, or the price of gasoline, they did have daily struggles that could consume them and their attentions.  Will we have enough food, will we have basic clothing, and will I be devoured by the local wildlife?  These struggles which thankfully we have phased out of our society still leads to anxiety and that we have plenty of.  While the stresses and triggers are quite different, something resides in our nature that wants to worry and fret about something bad happening today or tomorrow.

But we are told not to worry because life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  These basic amenities of life were quite able to demand the attention of the ensouled bodies of the first Christians, but they needed reminded that life is more than the basic amenities of life.  While dreadfully important, these things are outranked by the more important elements, in which humans alone are capable.  Jesus uses the analogy to make his point, consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! While important, the basic amenities of life are outranked by things of higher value like virtue, righteousness, and justice.  God knows we need the basics but also has given us the urge for higher desires, the desires of virtue.

We are also told not to worry because, can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?  As creatures we cannot give ourselves a single hour, only our Creator can do that.  Time is allotted by the free and generous hand of God alone.  If we cannot give ourselves time, then why should we worry about all the other things that God alone can give?  As creatures we must learn to be content in and under the Providence of God to care and minister to God’s creatures, instead of replacing God with ourselves and try to give ourselves more time and more life.

Perhaps this speaks deeply of our fallen human nature to trust only in ourselves and not have to put anything on God.  But that is what Jesus describes as you of little faith! We do not and perhaps even cannot put ourselves under the care of God instead we put ourselves only on own shoulders.  To steal more time, to prevent the catastrophe from occurring, to solicit enough resources for our families, to purchase the food, clothing, and medicine in self-reliance.  But self-reliance is of little faith in God because you put your faith in yourself.  And when you put your faith in yourself, the end is only worry, anxiety and apprehension, because you must play God, with the Real and Living God has been excluded from our worlds.

But what real faith in God and not in us looks like is to strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.  Seek the higher things of God’s Kingdom and the worldly conveniences of daily life will be added unto you.  To search, to desire, to obtain the Kingdom of God first and then our daily resources will be added unto us.  This just begs the question, what do we seek first and then the other things second?  The Kingdom of God and then worldly goods, or worldly goods first and then the Kingdom of God afterward.  This is still the path of worry and anxiety because God is not first and then our goods second, but we worry about our kingdoms and never have time or concern for God.  God is excluded and you are still playing God.

My brothers and sisters, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ we can learn to seek the Kingdom of God first and our daily bread will be added unto us.  To seek the higher concerns instead of the basic pieces of life.  God knows we need them, but God wants us to worry about virtue before food, righteousness before clothing, and justice before our bodies.  This is who God has made us through the work of the Word and the Spirit.  Will we become this people, who seek God’s Kingdom first and then our basic conveniences second? 

Matthew 4: 18-25

¹⁸ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.  ²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴ So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. ²⁵ And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

One of my favorite activities to do while on vacation was to go fishing.  We used to rent a cabin at Lake Hope in southern Ohio for a week.  We would spend our time fishing in the lake for whatever we could catch.  Often over the course of the entire week we would have to walk the entire length of the lake.  We would not keep fishing where the fish were not, we would keep moving until we found the fish and when we did, we would stay there until they stopped biting.  We would not stay where there was no fish, we would move around to where the fish were and where the fish were biting.

So too is it when it comes to fishing for people.  In our text from Matthew, Jesus goes fishing for disciples, and to catch them, he must move to where they are.  So, Jesus leaves Nazareth and travels to the Sea of Galilee to fish for people.  The people he wants to catch are not in Nazareth, they are in Capernaum and to catch them, the fish do not move to the fisherman, but the fisherman move to the fish.  Instead of using bait to catch fish, Jesus uses his Word of Summons to call his prospective disciples.  “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” So also with us, Jesus issues his Word of Summons to the entire world, through the Word of the Spirit, summoning us all to the sacred space of following Christ.

But a summons requires an answer and Jesus’ summons is no different.  The invitation into His sacred space must be responded to and the first disciple’s answer.  Immediately they left their nets and followed him.  They transitioned from being catchers of fish to catchers of people.  They entered the sacred space of following and learning and encountering Jesus.  So also with us, Jesus issues us His Word of Summons and that Word requires an answer from us.  If we are summoned to discipleship, we must answer with discipleship and that mean trust in the Master and obedience to his Word.  To Follow Jesus as the first disciples did is to trust and obey. 

But to obey Jesus is become fishers for people; and here is where our resistance enters this picture.  The difficult problem for us is we do not want to leave our closed, safe circles of family and friends and go fishing for strangers.  But if you fish only where there are no fish, you will never catch anything.  To truly catch something, the fisher must move to where the fish is.  Can we fish for people if we never leave the safety of our living rooms and easy chairs?  Can we fish for people if we never leave our sanctuaries and go out into our neighborhoods?  Can we fish for people if we never are around sick people, or jailed people, or unconverted people, or poor people, or people different from us?  How can we catch anyone, if we never leave our safe spaces and enter the spaces where the people are?

But Jesus is not just our Example, but also our Redeemer and this means that he did not come to cure our ignorance, as if that were enough to just tell us the truth.  But Jesus also came to deliver us and to recreate us.  So, Jesus did not just teach his disciples about catching people, but he actually went and did so.  Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.  He did not just teach about reaching people, he went and reached people.

Who better to help us reach and connect with people than the one who not only revealed what being human truly is, but also the one who redeemed us from our inhumanity to remake us as humans?  Who better to help us become fishers of people than the one who is himself the great Fisher of people?  So, we not only are told what our true humanity is – in loving encounter with each other, but through Christ we become truly human – in loving encounter with each other.  In Christ and through Christ we become truly human again.

But my friends at some point if we are to be truly human, we need to leave the safe spaces of your own making and enter the spaces where people are.  We will not encounter them if we do not.  They will never be in our living room; we must move to them.  They will never come into our sanctuary; we must move to them.  They will never come to us; we must move to them.  The fish do not move to the fisher, the fisher moves to the fish.  Jesus fished for people, and to that end he moved towards the people.  Now is the time to go fishing, will you?

Acts 8:26-40

²⁶ Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” ³⁰ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³² Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

      “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
                         and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
             so he does not open his mouth.
        ³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him.
                        Who can describe his generation?
            For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” ³⁸ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Devotion
As a young boy, I enjoyed assembling models, whether made of plastic or wood.  I always had a profound sense of joy after opening the packaging and pulling out the sheets of plastic or wooden parts, and the painting and gluing together of the various pieces and seeing it come together.  But anyone who assembles models will tell you, the model at step 1 looks almost nothing like the finished piece.  The first piece of the engine does not bear any resemblance to the finished and painted car.  Step 1 must be followed by step 2 until all the steps are completed and then the finished model looks like the image on the box.  All the steps must be completed and completed for the masterpiece to be finished.

In our journeys of discipleship, we also walk in time and space by steps.  In our following of the Holy Spirit’s lead, we are led in stages of the one whole journey.  Our moments in the “present” time always take place after our “past” events and always take place before our “future” moments.  Our entire existence as the Covenant Community of Christ, is one long journey of discipleship towards the Shepherd, lived in stages or steps, 1, 2, 3, etc., until we reach the end or goal, the Kingdom of God.

In the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, Philip clearly displays “discipleship by steps.” Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.)   Here is step 1 of his journey for the moment but notice that the angel neither tells him the next step or even where and why he is going down this wilderness road.  He is only led and guided in a particular space and time, and the reason why and where the journey finishes is hidden from Philip.  Philip is just commanded to follow the Spirit’s lead and Philip does not bicker or complain about the command, he only obeys gladly the Spirit’s lead.

Here is where our discipleship not only differs from Philip’s but also becomes increasingly difficult.  We want to not only know the result of the Spirit’s leading but also what that trip is going to cost us.  As people who have survived the Enlightenment and Modernity, before we make many choices, we must calculate the risks and the costs of such a trip down our wilderness roads.  Where are we going, and do I want to go there?  Who will I meet, and do I want to meet them?  What is the point of going, and what will happen to me there?  Will I be mugged on that road or meet a new friend?  In essence we are not prepared to follow the Spirit’s lead and trusting in the greater purpose of God for that moment.  We want to know, like God knows, why, when, what, and will happen to me down that wilderness road.

We simply want to know what has been deliberately hidden from us by the Spirit.  Tell me the whole journey and the results and I will tell you if I want to go or not.  Is this discipleship towards the Spirit of Jesus Christ, or is this yet another attempt by us to play God and control our own lives?  Are we being the Church of Jesus Christ trusting in God even when the future is hidden, or are we being fallen humans, desiring to know as God knows, which really means we want to be God?  Can we handle being just humans that cannot and should not see the whole picture, traveling by stages trusting and obeying the lead of God, or must be calculate and lead ourselves through life’s stages?  Can we handle being a creature of God, or must we be our own God also?

Perhaps the only hope for us fearful and self-reliant creatures is the Word become Flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Not only is he God who leads and sustains, but because he is also human, and a perfect one at that, he also follows and trusts.  Who better to help us follow the will of God as a human being, than the one who perfectly followed and discipled the Spirit of God?  And if Christ lives in us, then we can at long last, through Christ, begin to disciple God by stages.  And more importantly when we find ourselves in stage 1 of a new journey, and it seems like an absurd step 1 like an afternoon trip down the wilderness road, we can like Philip trust in the plan and sight of the Holy Spirit and obey accordingly. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I have no doubt that we all in our discipleship travels, have received at the time some absurd orders, and before we will comply with them, we often want to know the end of the journey with all the corresponding consequences before we begin.  But this is not faith. Faith is trusting the destination and the journey to the Spirit, even when steps 2 through 20 have been hidden from you and step 1 sounds and looks weird.  Through Christ and with Christ, let us follow God’s lead with faith and trust.  Amen.

John 15:1-11

¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

A picture speaks with a thousand words.  No doubt we have heard this cliché.  But the truth of this picture speaks clearly.  For the blind runner, everything depends on the trust he has for his guide.  Through the rope, he is led in the darkness through the course.  Through the rope, he is guided by the runner keeping pace beside him.  Everything depends on the compassion of the guide to keep him running straight and true.  Without the rope and the runner, everything falls back on himself, but with the rope and runner, the obstacles can be overcome. 

So too is it with us in our discipleship.  We are the blind runner struggling with the obstacles of our brokenness and our fallen nature.  But we are not alone in our struggles.  Through the mercy of our Guide-Runner Christ, we have one who condescends to our plight and out of compassion offers the rope of his Spirit to lead us and guide us, as we run our race.  As these two run the cross-country race set before them, so too do we and Christ run the race of human discipleship towards God.  Just as the guide-runner not only keeps pace beside but also leads the fellow runner, so too does Christ keep pace beside us as our fellow Brother, but also guides us in Power and Righteousness in front of us as the Word of God.

Perhaps this illumines the idea that I am the vine; you are the branches.  The vine and the branches share a common bond, the blind-runner and the guide-runner share a common bond, where the one sees for the other, and Christ and the Church share that same bond, Christ leads the Church, and the Church is led.  Just as everything depends on the mercy and lungs of the guide, and the trust of the follower, so too does everything depend on the mercy and the power of Christ and the trust of the followers.  Without keeping pace and guiding along the safe path the runner following is led into hazards and physical obstacles, without Christ keeping pace and guiding us along the safe path, His disciples are led into trials and temptations.  The Vine is joined to the branches, Christ is joined to His Church. 

But the two runners, just do not run for no purpose, so too does the disciple follow Christ, for a purpose.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.  The point of the runner following the guide is to reach the goal of completing the race.  The point of abiding or remaining or staying with Christ is to reach the goal of bearing fruit or righteousness.  What if this is why Christ became our Brother and our God, so that we might become right and true as Christ is Right and True.  They finished their race, we are to finish ours, the race of righteousness.

But imagine if you will what happens if the cord is cut.  The blind-runner is back to being alone, the disciple is back to being both guide and follower, and the branch must become the vine again.  Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  The runner without a guide stops running, the branch without a vine dries up and dies, the disciple without Christ, loses not just the Guide but also their Sustainer.  Instead of running together and succeeding, we run alone and fall short and miss the mark as only a blind runner can.

Perhaps the entire point of this Word of God is the single Word “remain.”  As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain in my love.   To follow God is to remain in Christ, to stay in His love and his power.  To follow his lead and his guidance, to trust his compassion and his care for us, to keep the cord and allow Christ to be Master and Lord and we in contentment and joy follow Jesus’ path.  Remain in me and I in you. 

But you and I are not yet to the point of remaining in Christ every moment of every day.  We have our moments of being the branches on the vine, or being the runner clinging faithfully to the cord, but we also have our moments when we cut ourselves off from the vine or drop our end of the cord altogether.  This you see allows us to make our own choices, make our own goals or agendas, or in sheer spite just do what we want instead of following.  Perhaps those choices involve how we spend our money, how we use our time, or how we vote, or whether we worship this Sunday, volunteer with a charity, or invest in a relationship with a neighbor and staying home, working on our gardens, and investing in ourselves.  Instead of holding the cord, we cut the cord in independence and downright mutiny. 

My friends, what would it look like or what would it take for us to remain in Christ a little more in our lives and to leave Christ a little less this day and the ones to come?  Might it be a little more daily and weekly worship?  Perhaps a little more solitary prayer and a little more doing everything prayerfully?  Maybe more studying of our Bibles and reading difficult books that challenge and stretch our thinking?  What if it means more loving service of our neighbors?  Whatever it looks like for us, are we willing to remain more and more in Christ and reduce cutting or dropping the cord of Life?  This is our daily struggle, let us remain and abide in Christ as He remains and abides in us.  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.  Amen and Thanks be to God. 

Mark 11:1-11

¹When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, ⁵ some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. ⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
      “Hosanna!
            Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
        ¹⁰     Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
            Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
¹¹ Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

If you have tickets for the museum or the game or the show (back in the good old days before Covid), you did not peruse the museum from your car, you did not watch the game from the parking lot, and you did not watch the musical from the snack bar.  The point of the ticket was to gain entrance into the museum, game, or theatre.  So, when the time comes, you went into the place you bought a ticket to.  When the museum opened you went into the exhibits to view the displays.  When the game starts you went into the stadium or arena to watch the game from your seats.  When the lights go down on the audience, you went into the hall and took your seats to be entertained by the actors and actresses. 

So too is it with Christ.  On that first Palm Sunday, Jesus of Nazareth rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, which stepped upon cloaks and branches to the tune of singing pilgrims.  After his triumphant and lowly entrance, Jesus did not stop at an inn, Jesus did not visit the palace or the praetorium.  As the Gospel of Mark reads, Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple.  He went into the temple.  He did not remain outside, but went in, he arrived at the gates of the temple and he entered it.

But what is the temple and why of all the important places in Jerusalem, should Jesus first visit the Temple and why go in versus stay outside?  The temple is a great many things, certainly an institution, an order of priests and scribes, and a marketplace; and Jesus is quite correct to criticize them for poor stewardship of the Temple.  But the Temple is much more, because the Temple is the Covenantal Place to commune or connect with God.  God speaks and blesses the people here in this space and the people with gratitude and faithfulness bless, worship and work for God.  The Temple is the place of fellowship and communion between the faithful and mighty God and the people God has chosen to be objects of that faithfulness and might.  And so, the Son went into the Temple commune with His Father.  He went in.

By the Grace and Love of God, we at Trinity now face the prospect of our own Palm Sunday.  In times past, Palm Sunday has been many things to us.  Perhaps a day to work in the yard, or to vacation on Spring Break, or to attend the Indians games.  But this Palm Sunday is much different and quite special.  Because we have been without a sanctuary for the last few months, because we have been in quarantine and separate from our Covenantal Community, because we have been social distancing, our space for communing with God has been denied to us.  But now, like Christ on that Palm Sunday, we have a chance and an opportunity to come into the Sanctuary of God.  To hear the Word from God, to be blessed and renewed by God and to give back to God His portion, to bless God, to worship God, to glorify God and to serve God.  This Palm Sunday, we now have the ability, like Christ to go into the Sanctuary, like Christ we can go in.

No longer can we take this or any Sunday for granted.  No longer can we presume that we have a space and time to enter the sanctuary to commune with God.  No longer can we find other things more important to do on a Sunday morning, like working by choice, like mowing the grass, sleeping in, taking a trip, or visiting people.  Because we have been denied our sanctuary with God, we must learn a new appreciation for the time and space to come to God.  We must no longer find a reason or excuse to skip going to Church, because this pandemic has taught us that Church might not always be there.  We should no longer take the Covenant Community of God for granted, because the last few months, that we have been deprived of that Covenant Community.  No longer should we ever stay out, this and every Sunday we should always go in. 

My friends, this Palm Sunday is quite different and quite unique in that like Christ we are entering the Sanctuary of God for a “first” time in a long time.  Our “Hosannas” need to be real expressions of mind and heart and no longer empty rites spoken from habit and custom.  Our gifts given to God need to be real manifestations of our gratitude and thankfulness and no longer forced “taxes” given with bitterness and contempt. Our lives surrendered in faithful obedience need to be genuine representations of our baptismal vows and no longer vain attempts to avoid commitment and devotion.  This Palm Sunday we must really go into the Sanctuary as Jesus did and still does, with faith and obedience to the Father.  We must set apart the time this Palm Sunday and every Sunday, to enter the Sanctuary of God and live!

Galatians 2:15-21

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. ¹⁷ But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; ²⁰ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

With the NFL playoffs nearly over, the coaching exodus has begun, and for a few teams already over.  Whether a head coach, a coordinator, a position coach, or a general manager, positions are vacated and then filled by new people.  Brown’s fans have much to be excited about in the management department because we did so well, the moving of coaches does not need to take place this year.  But other organizations are not so fortunate, and their fans must endure the moving around of coaches and systems and players.

Just as players and coaches move from positions to positions, so too is there a displacement in the life of every Christian.  As Paul writes, it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.  The head coach moves from one team to another; the place normally held by “I” has now become the place of “Christ.”  No longer is it “I” but is now “Christ.”  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Since we have been crucified with Christ, we are now displaced from being gods and lords over our entire existence and now Christ has taken our place.  No longer “I”, but “Christ.” 

This displacement is everything.  Since we have traded places with Christ, we are now made right or justified.  But as Paul reminds us, we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.  The Law is a great many things, but the law is for our purposes “us” taking the place of God.  I do, I do not.  We neither have the inclination to do as God does, nor can do as God does.  So perhaps the entire purpose of the Law is to wake us up to the idea that we are not and cannot be God.  We need displaced and that displacement is the trading of places with Christ.  I, yet not I but Christ. 

But this displacement hurts.  Look at the following chart and see what must change if Christ takes our place.

            Self-Created                                                                Christ-Created

            Self-Provided                                                              Christ-Provided

            Self-Legislated                                                            Christ-Legislated

            Self-Judged                                                                 Christ-Judged

            Self-Sanctified                                                            Christ-Sanctified

            Self-Atoned                                                                Christ-Atoned

            Self-Discipled                                                             Christ-Discipled

            Self-Ruled                                                                   Christ-Ruled

            Self-Determined                                                         Christ-Determined

            Self-Appointed                                                           Christ-Appointed

I could add another hundred ways Christ needs to displace us, but space and time is limited.  The point is that this being displaced in our lives is painful, fearful, and confusing.  The temptation will always be that when the displacement starts to happen, the pain, fear and confusion will always challenge us to remain in control and prevent Christ from becoming who he really is.  We clamp down trying to keep our place and forbid and work against Christ taking it. 

The process becomes even more difficult, as if this were not enough, to have Christ take our place, but the world wants to displace Christ out from everything and to put themselves in his place.  Governments displace Christ as Legislator, Executor and Judge.  Corporations displace Christ as Provider and Sanctifier.  Philosophies displace Christ as Creator and Wisdom.  Facebook and Twitter displace Christ as Censor and Moral Compass.  As if the struggle was not difficult enough to allow Christ to displace us as God and Lord, the world is actively struggling to displace Christ as God and Lord and putting themselves in his place. 

Perhaps this then illumines why Paul was so adamant that we live a live of faith in Christ, or perhaps a better translation of the Greek is we live a live by the faithfulness of Christ.  If not for Christ and his greater power than the World and Governments and Corporation and Philosophies and Big Tech and you and me, then Christ would never be able to displace us as God and Lord.  If Christ’s rivals and adversaries were equal to him in power than Christ is impotent to resist them.  But precisely because Christ is over all things, then Christ has no rival, that includes you.  Christ can displace us, and no one can truly displace Christ.  Alleluia. 

So, what needs displaced in you?  Christ creating you, Christ providing for you, Christ determining you, Christ atoning for you, Christ ruling you.  Is Christ your Lord and God yet?  If the answer is not yet, then we have more and more things to surrender to Christ, we have more and more need for a life of faith in Christ.  The good news of the Gospel is that our faithfulness in Christ has help in the form of the faithfulness of Christ in our place.  If he lives in us, then yes, we can.  That is our comfort for all time.  The challenge is then, we now have no excuse why we cannot become a people Christ-determined. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I have no doubt that being displaced as god and lord over our lives in painful, fearful and confusing, but when our first reaction is to clamp down and control, we must have a second reaction and that is to trust and to let go.  This is faith and this makes all the difference in the world.  Not only are we justified by faith in Christ, but we are continually living our daily lives in the faith of Christ.  Even when the world wants to remove Christ from his place as a head coach is removed, we must remember the only moving that can and must take place is for us to move out of his place and let Christ be God and Lord.  To God be the Glory for giving us Christ.  Amen. 

Ephesians 4: 11-16

¹¹ The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. ¹⁴ We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Living around Lake Erie means having to deal with wind.  Whether that wind is a summer thunderstorm blowing over the water creating huge waves, or an “Alberta Clipper” blowing Lake Effect Snow through the trees and bushes, we know all too well how much the wind can toss things around.  We have seen the boats bobbing on the Lake like a cork, we have seen the trees swaying like a Samba dancer, we have seen the branches in the grass and the snow drifted in feet not inches.  We know how the wind can make things blow all over the place.

Just as the wind can blow things around, so too can things in this world blow us around spiritually.  The wind can blow a boat around on the lake, political leaders and their games can blow people all over the place regarding the issues of the day.  The wind can move through the trees threatening to push over or uproot, economic agendas and schemes can threaten to push people into unemployment, uproot retirement accounts, and drop people into poverty.  The wind can drift snow and pile leaves, and the Covid-19 virus has piled up hosts of the sick and dead.  We live in a world that tosses us around like a rag doll, with political tricks, economic hardships, and hidden viral assassins.  

Perhaps then in circumstances when the world tosses us about, the following Word of God is needed: we must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.  We can relate to the things that tossed the Ephesians around, because they still do to us, heresies, trickeries, craftiness, deceits, schemes.  Are these hardships not today’s politics, economics, medicine, life?  But the word that strikes out the most in this passage is the word children.  Only children or a better word the immature allow themselves to be blown around by these things.  Someone without experience and/or wisdom falls for the traps and games and schemes of the day, whether in religion, politics, or academics. 

If the children are tossed about, then the Word says, but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.  Children grow up and mature into adults with wisdom, experience, and endurance to cope with the problems of the age.  But in our case, we are not growing up into wisdom and perseverance in a literal sense, but we are growing up into Christ who is perfect wisdom, experience, and perseverance.  The one close to Christ is not tossed about because they are anchored in Christ and can weather the storms blowing around.  The closer to Christ, the greater the union and connection, and therefore the greater the storms that can be endured.  If we find ourselves tossed around, this might just be evidence we need to grow up into Christ more and more and find our true security and anchorage there.

In order to nurture growth, God through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, has given leaders to his people, the gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.  The leader’s task is to nurture growth in their charges until their grow up.  This is their God-given calling to help God’s people mature closer and closer into Christ and to greater weather the challenges of the day. 

If we find ourselves tossed about by the deceits of “Big-Tech,” or grieved by the political shenanigans of a political party or upset by the Church’s Spiritual direction or lack thereof or laid low by the virus and its complications and losses or scandalized by the divisiveness of violent factions of liberals and conservatives, all this only serves to prove the point: that if we are being tossed around. we have some growing up to do.  If we are being blown around, we need to move closer and closer into our collective union with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  This means that as leaders we have callings to fulfill and people to nurture.  But it also means that as laity, we have prayers to say, scripture to study, worship to offer God, and service to our neighbors to perform.  We all need to grow up into Christ to become more mature.  As leaders and disciples let us set our faces to our callings and with love move ever forward to greater maturity in Jesus Christ.  Let the world’s wind wail as it may, give me the Grace of God to rest in any day! Amen.