Author: Mark Mong

Psalm 46

To the leader. Of the Korahites. According to Alamoth. A Song.

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
³ though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
    God will help it when the morning dawns.
⁶ The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

⁸ Come, behold the works of the Lord;
    see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God!
    I am exalted among the nations,
    I am exalted in the earth.”
¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

2021 is not looking any better.  I said this to myself yesterday as I heard reports of violence at the very seat of American government.  We endured in 2020 the pandemic and must endure more in 2021.  We endured economic turmoil in ‘20 and ‘21 seems to include more of the same.  We endured political upheaval in ’20 with a summer of protests, riots and the blame game and as I stared at the news feed on my phone, I thought to myself, ’21 is not looking any better than ’20.  I feel sick in my stomach, my anxieties about the future cause my hands to shake, I find myself continuously affixed to the news to see what else can go wrong and in particularly the way things are going, I am expecting Godzilla to show up or the Zombie Apocalypse.  I am worried and filled with fear in such an uncertain time as this.

This is the soil into which the Word of God spoke this morning and the Word spoken is this, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore, we will not fear.  The Psalmist sung those words to the people of Israel in a time when the very cities were threatened with destruction, calamity, and upheaval.  While the anxiety and worry were quite palpable and the abyss of stress and uncertainty unfathomable, the Psalmist plants a different idea into the ground of fear: faith.  The Psalmist does not deny the reality of confusion and helplessness, nor the uncertainty and powerless, the Psalmist inserts God into that reality.  Into the worries of their time, God is the refuge amid calamities.  Into the impotency of national politics and insurrection, God is the greater strength than rebellion or protest.  Into the helplessness and overwhelming losses, God is the present help in time of trouble.  In the face of sorrow and fear, the Psalmist plants the faithfulness and power of God.

For the nation of Israel one of the greatest threats was the natural disaster: the changing earth, the mountains shaking in the heart of the sea, the waters roaring and foaming, the mountains trembling.  This was the daily reality of the people, the uncontrollable aspects of creation. We too in the modern age have the uncontrollable aspects of creation.  The record setting number of hurricanes this past season, the eruption of volcanoes, the polar vortexes, thirty-two inches of snow and global warming.  But amid the uncontrollable forces of creation, we are reminded that the City of God is not going to be moved, because God is stronger than the hurricane.  God is amid the city, what volcano can obliterate the God who created the volcano.? The river of God makes the city glad, what global warming can evaporate the Life of God?  God will help the City of God when the morning dawns upon it, what virus can dawn upon the creation, that can overpower the Might of God?  Creation can certainly take life away, but what can rival or threaten the One who rose again from the dead?

But the other great threat for the nation of Israel was the political disaster.  The nation of Israel and its people were always under the boot of another greater country: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, the Barbarians, the Turks, the Mongols, et. al.  Into oppression and occupation, invaders and infiltrators, coups and new regimes, the Psalmist sings, the nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totters.  Well, America is certainly in an uproar, and America is certainly tottering.  But, amid them, the City of God is not moved, because the LORD of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge.  What army can vanquish God’s army?  What mob can annihilate God’s host?  What nation or kingdom can match or equal the Kingdom of God and God’s Messiah?  Nation or kingdom can certainly invade and destroy, but what can rival or threaten the One who sits on the throne of God’s Kingdom?

What war can creation make definitively against the One who makes wars cease to the end of the earth?  What weapons can be leveled against the One who breaks bows, shatter spears and burns shields with fire?  What power exists in creation that equals God in power or is greater in strength than the strength of God?  If the answer is nothing, then have some faith in God.  Trust that all things work out for God’s purposes.  Trust that you and your families are in good hands.  Trust that God will bring you through this difficult time.  Trust that our country and its institutions and purposes are under the capable Guidance and Governorship of Christ.  Be still and know that God is God, and you do not have to be!  Let this iron brick of anxiety be moved from our stomachs.  Let the peace of Christ calm the tremors in our hands.  Let the assurance of faith wash over our futures.  Let the faithfulness and love of God almighty move us to exalt God among the nations and in all the earth.  Let the ground of our fears be planted deeply and richly with the Word of Faith; and grow some faith to counter your fears!

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we have much that troubles us, but our God is greater still than them all.  Let us then not surrender our hearts and minds to the devil’s antics but let us instead surrender our hearts and minds to the Word of our God.  Let our fears be planted with faith in the Word of God and let us rest in and under the One who is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble.  Amen. 

Scripture

Luke 1: 57-66
⁵⁷ Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. ⁶⁰ But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” ⁶¹ They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” ⁶² Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵ Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

Devotion
There is no possible way that I am a father of a sixteen-year-old.  These are the thoughts and feelings rummaging around in my head as I write this blog.  Today is my son’s sixteenth birthday.  Sixteen years, where did that come from?  Where did they go?  Last time I looked we were teaching him how to walk and write letters, now I must teach him to drive, I do not think so.  I sit here in disbelief, that the reality staring at me in the face is that I am a middle-aged father of a coming-of-age young man.  My jaw is now firmly on the floor in incredulity and denial.  Disbelief.

So too was Zechariah in disbelief.  His problem was not that he has an almost adult child, his problem was that he had no children and he and his wife Elizabeth were beyond the childbearing age.  So, when the angel Gabriel tells him he is going to have a Son who will return the people to God and prepare the way for God’s Messiah, Zechariah cannot and will not believe it.  His response is not one of acceptance that God can create as God’s good pleasure and will choose, his response is one of astonishment that certainly two old people cannot make a baby.  Unlike Mary who will graciously accept the Word of God, Zechariah mentally rejects that same Word of God as something completely impossible and untrue.  Where did this come from?  How could that happen?  I do not think so.  Disbelief.

We all have a little Zechariah, or perhaps a lot, inside of us.  We hear the Word of God and instead of accepting it like Mary, we reject it like Zechariah.  There is no way that God could make me into a saint.  There is no way that God could forgive me.  There is no way that I could learn a new way of life.  There is no way that I am a sinner.  There is no way that the Word became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.  There is no way that that Jesus rose again from the dead.  There is no way that….  We are after all living in the world of the scientific method, where miracles are excluded due their unprovability, where reason reigns as Lord over creation, where mathematics, physics and history have theorems and laws that must be respected and believed in more so than the power and good pleasure of the Word of God to re-create and to rule.  Disbelief like Zechariah instead of faith like Mary.

However, the Word of God is more than capable not only of enabling Elizabeth and Mary to conceive but also of enabling of Zechariah and us of believing.  For Zechariah, the method of teaching him the power and good pleasure of the Word of God is the curse of being unable to speak.  Until the day of the baby’s circumcision, Zechariah cannot speak.  Until the day, that Zechariah acknowledges the Word of God spoken to him, that Elizabeth will conceive a son, and that Son has s Godly destiny prepared by God and for God.  Until Zechariah believes and accepts the Word of God by naming the baby “Yohanan”, which means “God has shown favor” in Hebrew, Zechariah cannot speak.  His muteness is teaching him that God can do anything God chooses to do.  The important lesson is that the God through God’s Word can and does teach and transform Zechariah into a believer.  At the end he gets it, by believing in God like Mary believes in God, and he not only talks again, but gives God words of praise instead of denial. Faith.

Can the Word of God not do the same for us?  Do we not have the same lesson to learn?  Will God not also succeed?  The answer is always yes.  We might be like Zechariah, but the Word of God can and does change us from disbelieving “Zechariah’s” into believing “Mary’s.”  The tool of that creating and transforming Word of God, is the testimony about the miracles of God, the written and spoken Word of God.  We read of miracles of speaking people becoming mute and speaking again, all at the Word’s behest and will.  We read of miracles about barren women, conceiving, carrying, birthing, nursing, and circumcising Sons of Destiny, all at the Word’s behest and will.  We read of miracles about the crucifixion and resurrection of that same Word of God made flesh, all at the behest and will of the same Word.  And the only possible result is the transformation of us from disbelief into saving and justifying faith: all because the Word wants to and can!

As we begin this Christmas Season Proper, perhaps we need to be reminded of the miraculous nature of God’s saving work, both in John and in Jesus.  But more than being reminded of the nature of Christmas miracles, we need to be reminded of the purpose of such things: to bring doubters and disbelievers into the sphere of the faithful elect.  The purpose of the miracles of Christmas is to change us from the skeptic into the disciple.  The Word of God did it in and to Zechariah, may the Word become flesh in Jesus Christ, do it in and to us.  This is a time of Christmas miracles, may the miracles of John and Jesus, lead to the miracle of faith in you and in me!  Amen. 

Prayer

Dear God of Grace and God of Glory, we praise you for the gift of miracles this Christmas Season.  Use the miraculous to create in us not only a sense of awe and respect for your creative power but use them to create in us the same acceptance and belief that Zechariah and Elizabeth and Joseph and Mary had by being miraculous parents of the Sons of Destiny.  By the power of your Word become flesh, help our flesh to believe and accept your will for our lives.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. 

Mark 1: 1-8

¹ The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

² As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
      See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
            who will prepare your way;
      ³ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
  ‘         ‘prepare the way of the Lord,
            make his paths straight,’”

⁴ John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶ Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸ I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Devotion
I like to bake.  Whether the result is a pie or cookies, I enjoy the entire process of baking.  But any good baker, which I do not consider myself to be, will tell you that before you begin baking, you must first prepare things.  You must first find a recipe, then you must purchase or root through your pantry to find the flour and sugar, then you must determine if you have the right equipment, a mixer, the right pan, and utensils.  Only then after the ingredients are present, the mixer has the beaters in, the oven is pre-heated, then you can crack the eggs, scoop the flour, and soften the butter.  To be a good baker is to be good in the preparations.

Just as it is with baking needing preparations, so too is it with the coming of Christ.  Before the coming of Christ, preparations need to be made.  In the Gospel of Mark, the book begins with a beginning, and we are told that the Gospel is going to be about the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  This is the pie that is going to be created, but it is not a delicious pumpkin pie, the work that is begun is God’s work of salvation in his only beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  But like a pie, preparations need to be made, before the work proper can begin.  In this case, that work is not the purchasing of ingredients or the warming of the oven, but the preparations made by John the Baptist.

Mark uses the prophet Isaiah to characterize the work of the Baptist in preparation: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; ³ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John’s work of preparation is about speaking a message.  The preparer is a messenger with a message to be messaged in the wilderness.  The road of the Lord is be straight because the Lord is coming.  In a sense, John’s message is to begin some “roadwork.”  The crooked roads are to be graded straight.  The hilly roads are to be paved flat, the potholes to be filled in.  So, God will have an easy path to get to his people.  The people were to make God’s road or “way” easy, so God had no obstacles in reaching and arriving at his destination, the people.

We can imagine the people putting up orange barrels, firing up the bulldozer to grade the rough places smooth and a backhoe to fill in the holes, and even the paver putting down miles of blacktop followed by the roller to smooth things out.  But the roadwork John calls the people to do is not a literal road, but a metaphorical one.  The pathway is not a spatial path, but a spiritual path.  The path is not from Babylon to Canaan, the path is from Heaven to the human heart.  The distance to be covered is not a location to another location, but a spiritual distance to be covered from a heart far away from God to a heart filled by God.  That is the road the people were to pave, to make the journey easy for God to come back to his people, to come closer to the human heart.

Perhaps, this explains why John transforms the preparing the way of the Lord to a repentance towards the forgiveness of sins.  The exile was not a literal distance from God to people, but a spiritual distance from people towards God.  People leave God, exiling themselves from God’s presence and lordship.  To symbolize the returning of God to the people, John reminds the people, that to confirm the returning of God, the people need to return to God.  The hill that needs to be brought low is human rebellion.  The hole that needs filled in is idolatry.  The curve that needs straightened is self-determination.  The slavery that needs abolished is of our own creation, a slavery to sin and death by our own daily choosing.  God will come and God will come to save, but our hearts need to be ready for such a gracious deliverance. 

As we make our final preparations for this Christmas season and for a new year, we also need to remember that in addition to getting more chocolate for that fudge, or another tube of wrapping paper, or mailing another card, we also need to do some preparations in our hearts to get them ready for Christ.  The road into our hearts needs some paving work: a little less guilt a little more forgiveness, a little less resistance, a little more acknowledgment, a little less self-concern a little more generosity, a little less despair a little more hope, a little less hate a little more love.  But perhaps the greatest roadwork that needs to be done, is our seasonal need to turn away from the world and ourselves and to repent or return to God.  To cease running away and closing ourselves off from God and to run towards and open ourselves to the coming one, Jesus Christ our Lord.  We all have some preparations to make for the coming of Christ we need more faith, more hope, and more love.  My friends, let the way to our hearts be made straight for the coming of the Son of God, to whom be the glory and praises of his people unto the ages of ages, Amen!

Prayer
O God of Grace and Glory, we thank you for the coming presence of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  In this time of anticipation and waiting for his arrival, help us to prepare ourselves for his coming.  Empty us of what is displeasing to you, change us to become more and more into your children, fill us with every good and perfect gift as we prepare ourselves for you.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen. 

Isaiah 2:2-4

² In days to come
            the mountain of the Lord’s house
  shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
            and shall be raised above the hills;
  all the nations shall stream to it.
³      Many peoples shall come and say,
  “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
             to the house of the God of Jacob;
  that he may teach us his ways
            and that we may walk in his paths.”
  For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
            and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴ He shall judge between the nations,
            and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
  they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
            and their spears into pruning hooks;
  nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
            neither shall they learn war any more.

My Parents once lived in a flood plain.  Unbeknownst to them when they purchased the house, but the new housing development in which they purchased the second house was next to a creek and the creek liked to overflow.  But, the developer, built the house on a hill, higher than the water level when the creek floods.  So, when the creek overflows, the water goes over the road and into the fields but yet the house stood dry because it was built on a high hill and the water would not come up to it.

So too, is it with the house of Yahweh.  The prophet Isaiah says, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills.  Just as my parent’s house stood on the crest of a hill above the flood plains so too has the “house of Yahweh” been established on the highest of the mountains and raised above the hills.  Isaiah was looking and thinking of a time to come when the temple of Solomon was considered to not be the highest in physical elevation, but the highest in spiritual elevation.  The passage takes on new meaning, when the house of Yahweh is transfigured from the Temple of Solomon made of cedar and brick into the Temple of Jesus made of flesh and bones.  A temple is the building or container in which the divine spirit rests.  Jesus is in fact the new temple of the Holy Spirit, and due to his exaltation, He has been established as the “highest of the mountains and raised above the hill.” 

The point Isaiah is longing for is the time when all the nations shall stream to it.  Many peoples shall come and say, Come let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.  Not just a Jewish thing, excluding all others deemed unholy or unclean, but a time when the house and mountain of God receives true glory, when all peoples desire to approach God through the temple.  Once again, he is probably thinking of a time when everybody worships in the temple of Solomon, but however takes on new context in Jesus Christ.  Instead of tied to a physical location require a physical pilgrimage on the behalf of the human, the temple of Christ now makes a spiritual pilgrimage to be where the man or woman is.  The pilgrimage longed for by Isaiah is no longer people making pilgrimage to the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem but the people making pilgrimage to the Temple of Jesus Christ inside them.

But what would be the point of such a journey, either to Solomon’s temple or Jesus’ temple?  That he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  The point of coming to Jesus’ temple is to be taught his ways or perhaps way of life, and that we may walk in his paths or perhaps his attitudes and behaviors.  The way of life, the way of righteousness, these are the reasons for being instructed from the Word of God which comes from the House of God. 

But what would be the point of such instruction?  He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples.  They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.  The point of the instruction is for God to instruct and teach his people peace.  Through the Word of God going forth and the instruction from God leaving the temple, God teaches people peace and wellbeing instead of conflict and warfare.

After only a cursory glance at our world, one can easily see the need for our world to continue our studies in peace and wellbeing.  How many bombs and bullets are spent each day to maim and obliterate lives and livelihoods?  How many words and accusations are spewed each hour to divide and attack both allies and enemies?  How many blows, either physical or emotional are thrown at our friends and family, to control and hurt?  Nations against nations, peoples against peoples, neighbors against neighbors, destruction, and ruin, instead of wholeness and well-being.  Swords and spears instead of plows and pruning hooks.

But, if God’s house is the highest, if the nations stream to Jesus Christ, if instruction goes forth from Zion, if Jesus shall judge between parties, then… they will beat their swords into plowshares.  The very tools of death and destruction become the tools of life and creation.  Nation shall not life up sword against nation.  Instead of lifting instruments of violence and ruin, those instruments will be lifted against each other for love and compassion; because of Christ.  This means that now is the time for the swords and spears to be transfigured from tools of destruction to tools of creation.  Now is the time for war and conflict to become unity and edification.  Now is the time to build up instead of blowing up each other.  Now is the reign of Peace and Well-being of Christ and the doom of war and destruction!

Luke 17:11-19

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³ they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ¹⁸ Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

When I was in middle school, I was on the soccer team.  One of the drills that I did at home to hone my reflexes was to kick the soccer ball at the side of our woodpile.  The edges of the woodpile were not smooth due to the unevenness of the wood logs, and this resulted in the randomness of the ball’s return.  I would kick the ball into the side of the woodpile and the ball would bounce off and return to me in a random direction.  Sometimes it would bounce back to the left or to the right, sometimes straight up and sometimes over my head.  But I knew that every time I kicked the ball into the pile it would always come back to me. 

Thanksgiving is exactly like my soccer ball.  God has given us many gifts and now is the time for us to give back to God.  The ball is kicked, and it returns to the kicker, God has given many gifts to us, now is the time for us to give back something to God.  In our story of the ten lepers, Christ has given the grace of healing to ten individuals burdened by an incurable skin disease.  But only one, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.  He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.  The one leper recognized the gift of healing and returned to give back something to Christ.  He came back to give back thanks and praise.  God, through Christ, gives to us, we return to God, through Christ to give something back: thanks, and praise.  Giving back thanks becomes Thanksgiving to and for God.

For some of us, this day finds us like the leper having been given gifts of healing from our illnesses and injuries.  But for many of us, this day finds us unhealed, coping with many infirmities and difficult circumstances.  Certainly, many are struggling with COVID-19, many are wrestling with financial insecurities of being in quarantine, many are combating loneliness and separation from our families in our self-made bubbles (and we should be).  But we most certainly look at our situations and see the overwhelming problems.  Instead of giving back thanks and praise to God, we see our difficulties and give back to God angst and anguish.  Instead of giving back gratitude and words of blessing to God, we gripe and complain about our sufferings in life.  We do not thank and bless God for what God has given us, we criticize God for we do not have.

I do not have much love, if any, for the old gospel songs, but the message of one of them is so dreadfully important.  The song is “Count Your Blessings,” and if we can get around the style of the music for just a moment, the message strikes home with us.  For all the things that we can see and experience of pain, struggle, and sorrow, we can also see and count the blessings given to us by God.  Instead of naming and counting our troubles we can instead name and count our blessings.  If we can criticize God about what God has not done, we can certainly thank and bless God for what he has done.

Let me suggest three blessings that we all enjoy to this day, regardless of our circumstances, or the circumstances of our world around us:

1. The Breath of Life – We are all dust and to dust we shall return, but we also are animated by the very breath of God.  God in His loving, freedom chose to form us from the ground and to animate us with his own Breath from his own mouth, giving us life in creation.
2. The Son of God – We have been given the life and death and resurrection of God’s only beloved Son.  In order that our sins may be forgiven, and we might inherit new and everlasting life.  God in His loving, freedom chose to redeem us from sin and death at the great personal cost of giving over his Son.
3. The Kingdom to Come – We have been given the new creation, under the Lordship of Christ.  Justice instead of oppression.  Life swallowing death.  Health overcoming infirmity.  Communion defeating isolation.  Joy destroying sadness.  Peace obliterating conflict.  God in His loving freedom chose to give us a blessed eternity in his new creation.

In whatever our circumstances are, whether fair or foul, we have at least these three things and perhaps even a hundred more that we could name and count.  But the point is that no matter what we are dealing with, or struggling with, or trying to carry, or being consumed by, on this Thanksgiving day we have reasons to give back to God words and deeds of gratitude and blessing.  We will give back to God something this Thanksgiving, it will either be gratitude and blessing, or it will be criticism and ingratitude.  What will you give back?  Complaining about the pandemic or appreciation for the breath of life?  Whining about politics or admiration for the Crucified and Resurrected Jesus?  Moaning about what we do not have or the expectant hope for the Kingdom to come?  You absolutely will give something back to God this Thanksgiving season, but you have a choice of what that will be, nastiness and vitriol or gratefulness and glory.  May God be given the Glory, the Honor, and the Praises of his people for all that God has given to us.  Amen and Hallelujah! 

Psalm 146

Praise for God’s Help

¹ Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
² I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
    in mortals, in whom there is no help.
⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
    on that very day their plans perish.

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
⁷     who executes justice for the oppressed;
    who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the strangers;
    he upholds the orphan and the widow,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

One of the prizes collected during beggar’s night is the occasional temporary tattoo.  A piece of plastic that one can apply to any spot of skin with a wet rag and thirty seconds.  The tattoo always made us feel like adults sporting our image of a cat or Spiderman and our hearts burst with pride showing our friends our tattoo and our hearts burst with grief as they rubbed off in a few days.  But while we enjoyed the albeit too brief presence of our tattoos, we were always reminded of their temporariness.

While many things are temporary in our worlds, like carnival tattoos, Yahweh, our LORD and God, is neither temporary nor brief but eternal and permanent.  The Psalmist sings:
      Praise the LORD, O my soul!
               I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
            I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
“As long as I live,” “all my life long,” these descriptions are to remind us that Yahweh is not temporary or brief in time, a temporary tattoo that wears off in two weeks, but eternal and permanent.  If Yahweh is perpetual, then Yahweh needs to be praised every day “as long as I live,” and “all my life long.”  Not just for a brief span of time: days, weeks, months: but the entire span of our lives.  Just as Yahweh is eternal, so too does our worship of Yahweh need to be.

But if Yahweh is eternal, then why do we look to others to be our Yahweh?  Certainly, many in our country look to politicians, scientists, and others in power to do and provide what only Yahweh can truly do?  To the point, many are looking to President-elect Biden to “save” our country, provide “security”, re-establish “dignity.”  I wish neither to denigrate or insult Mr. Biden.  He is worthy of the respect and honor due his position, as President Trump is due the respect and honor of the office of President.  But that position is not Yahweh’s place.  The Psalmist sings:
      Do not put your trust in princes,
          in mortals, in whom there is no help.
      When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
          on that very day their plans perish.
The Psalmist reminds us that ultimately the only source of our trust is Yahweh, because princes are mortal and Yahweh is eternal.  Men and women are temporary, and Yahweh is forever; and that means that human plans fail and die because we fail and die, but Yahweh lives forever because Yahweh is forever in Power and Glory.

For those who place their trust in Yahweh instead of humanity, they are then blessed and happy because Yahweh’s work as LORD and God far surpasses all others.  The Psalmist sings:
      Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
            whose hope is in the LORD their God,
      who made heaven and earth,
            the sea, and all that is in them;
            who keeps faith forever;
       who executes justice for the oppressed;
            who gives food to the hungry.
What human creation can compare to the one who created heaven and earth out of nothing?  What human creation can be equal to the one who created the sea and the entirety of the oceans and lakes?  What human and therefore temporary faithfulness can compare to the faithfulness of Yahweh, which is eternal?  What human justice for the oppressed can equate with the justice of Yahweh?  What human providence of daily sustenance can liken to the Providence of Yahweh?  All these things are temporary constructs of a finite and provisional creature, how are they even remotely like the creations of the eternal and almighty Creator, Yahweh?  Blessed are they who trust in Yahweh and not people!

Why do we then try to “set the prisoners free” without Yahweh?  Why do we try to “give sight to the blind” without Yahweh?  Why do we “lift up those that are bent over” without Yahweh?  Why do we try to “love the righteous” without Yahweh?  Why do we watch “over the alien” without Yahweh?  Why do we “sustain the fatherless and the widow” without Yahweh?  Why do we most certainly “frustrate the ways of the wicked” without Yahweh?  Because we don’t want to Trust and Obey Yahweh, we want to be Yahweh!  So, we trust and obey people, who are temporary, instead of trusting and obeying in Yahweh, who is eternal.  The results are always less than what Yahweh can do: freedom, sight, strength, love, inclusion, sustenance, justice, ruin, according to us instead of according to Yahweh.  Because we are temporary and they thus fail and perish, and Yahweh is eternal and therefore succeeds and lives forever.

But for those in the Covenant with Yahweh, they are content with just being creatures who place their trust and praise in Yahweh alone and not in people.  Please make no mistake, I am not a rebel or a slanderer, interested in bashing any politician or political party in power.  They are due the honor and respect of being in their position regardless of whether I voted for them or not.  My point is entirely different.  They are not due what we give to Yahweh and Yahweh alone. 
      The LORD will reign forever,
            your God, O Zion, for all generations.
      Praise the LORD!
Let our praise and trust be in Yahweh alone, for Yahweh is LORD and God forever and for all generations.  Yahweh for ever; even while its Biden or Trump for now!

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I used to work in a drug research lab as a Laboratory Animal Technician.  My responsibility was the health and well-being of our animals.  This means that one of the many tasks I had to do was the changing of the animals’ bedding.  Whether this meant the changing of papers or a corncob bedding, I had to change them regularly for the animals in my care to remain healthy.  But I absolutely hated this part of my job because as you can imagine, it was smelly and dirty.  I never enjoyed doing it, but I had to do it, even times against my will, because of the pressure laid upon me to take care of the animals.  They needed it, but I did not want to do it.

Just as I was compelled to change the animals’ bedding every few days, so too is it with the Church.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Simon of Cyrene was compelled by the Roman guards in Jerusalem to carry the cross of Jesus from the guard barracks to Golgotha.  After having been scourged, Jesus lacked the strength to carry the cross, and one certainly was not going to expect the Roman guards to carry it, so the guards forced another to carry the cross, and they compelled or conscripted Simon to do the task.  Simon did not want to, but he was forced and pressured into doing so.

In today’s world, we see on the news, or on our phones, force being used by many groups in our world.  In the political sphere, politicians use political force on each other and on American citizens to force or compel a desired result.  In the sphere of life, armies and police use physical force on each other and on citizens to keep the peace and to enforce laws and policies.  In the education sphere, teachers and educators use force upon students to study ideas and courses, taking tests, reading books, and learning concepts.  In the sphere of families, parents use force to have children eat their vegetables, clean their rooms, and brush their teeth.  Even in the sphere of Church, ministers and congregations use force upon their members and upon the world around them to maintain control and produce results. 

But as we see in the story of Simon of Cyrene, force is used by the guards upon Simon.  Simon does not use force upon the guards.  Simon did not want to carry the cross but was made to and I am sure he did not enjoy it, nor was motivated to do it again.  He probably was even relieved after it was over.  What ultimately is the result when forced to do something?  Force does not create commitment or responsibility.  Force creates bitterness and resistance.  Being forced to do something does not encourage someone to repeat something, but instead creates a resentment at having to do it and a stubbornness to having to do it again. 

What Christ was calling his disciples to do was not being forced to do something or forcing themselves upon others, that was the behavior of the Roman guards. What Jesus was nurturing was the freedom to make the right choice.  Jesus was not forcing faith from the people, that was the role of the power people.  Jesus was empowering the people to make the right and responsible choice for themselves.  Jesus did not come to compel people; Jesus came to give freedom to people. 

This means that Jesus was going to have to exercise patience.  He was going to have to give time and space for people to make the right choice in their lives.  Time for people to make the responsible choice and space for them to choose for themselves.  But for him to be patient means having to suffer every poor choice and its consequences.  To be patient and give people the freedom to make the right choice, means Jesus must carry his cross until they get it right. 

The Church needs to remember this especially important lesson of Christ.  We are called to be a people that gives and empowers freedom instead of forcing our ideas upon others and getting results for Christ.  Freedom creates time and space for responsibility and choice.  Force removes time and space, taking away choice and responsibility and replaces them with bitterness and resentment.  We cannot force someone to make the right choice, do the right thing, or choose Christ, we only create a stubborn or stiff-necked people when we act like the Roman guards.  Rather we need to give all people the freedom to make their own choices, even the wrong ones, and that means becoming a patient people.  We cannot force anyone to do anything even in the name of Justice and Love; and if we do, we have become the guards of America instead of disciples of Christ.  Which I wonder will you be?  Force or freedom?  Are you prepared to suffer the poor choices of others to nurture faith or will you force the choice of others to nurture your control?  I pray you choose wisely!

In Christ,

Rev. Mark

YouTube Worship Service

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Many of us have over the years seen at least one of the movie series Back-To-The-Future.  Marty and Doc speed through time from the 80’s to the 50’s to 2019 and even back to the 1850’s.  We see reminders of the golden age of rock-n-roll, flying cars in the future, and the frontiers of the Wild West.  Over the course of the three movies, the characters make better choices in the past which have a way of making the future better.  Marty’s Dad stands up to Biff resulting in a better childhood for Marty and his siblings.  Marty learns to not freak out when called a chicken.  Doc Brown finds love and a family in the Old West.  Who would not want to go back in time and change decisions to make our lives better?

But, wanting to go back is not always the healthiest choice.  In the story of Lot, fleeing the destruction of his home, Lot’s wife looks back at the city as it is being destroyed presumably lamenting the loss of everything they had.  No longer having the prosperity and luxuries of living in the ancient world’s Sin City and being stuck in the wilderness with nothing; the feelings of loss and grief overcome her, and she looks back with a longing to go back in time.  But in the act of looking back, she turns into a pillar of salt.  Turns out that wanting to go back to a town being destroyed for its sinfulness, ends up bringing destruction upon herself.  Wanting to go back to a more prosperous and “better” time forfeits the “best” time God is creating.  Going back results in never moving forward.

No doubt many in our congregation have reflected upon and desired that we could go back to the way things were before the quarantine.  We have ample time on our hands to reflect and consider how things differ now compared to before.  No doubt we are overwhelmed with many feelings and thoughts, perhaps even to the point of being unable to discern what day it is, what time it, how many days in quarantine we have been, but one thing we almost all have done is to desire our present to become more like things were before the self-isolation.  We could do so much more than we can now: trips, visits, shopping, eating out, and much more.  Like Lot’s wife we spend our time now looking back toward before and desiring that things now were more like then. 

Bur regrettably that turning back and looking and desiring that things were the way they were are likely to turn us to salt.  While we were able to get our hair cut, or shop for leisure instead of need, or have a dinner anywhere but the kitchen or dining room, were things better “then” than “now.”  Think and reflect of how things were in our church.  We were capable of being an anonymous member.  We could come to church, we didn’t really need to interact with anyone, we could be entertained for a brief moment, we could skip coffee hour, we could ignore the pleas of the committee for volunteers, we could fulfill our duty for the week.  We always had an attitude of scarcity instead of abundance.  I heard endlessly about “how we are asking for more money again.”  We had injustices, poverties, broken relationships, no kids in Sunday School, someone else cleaning the church, and everyone going to Florida.  Was it better than now?  To turn back and look at how it was, I feel like I am turning to salt.

But what if now is a possibility given from the Grace of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to move forward; because I am not sure we really want to go back to the ways we were before.  Imagine, for a moment, if instead of anonymous members hiding in the Sanctuary and hoping no one asks me to get involved, we were willing to invest in each other.  Imagine if we were bound to each other in commitment, just as God has bound us to God.  Imagine if we were to emotionally and financially and physically invest in each other.  Not hoping to leave before someone spots us or hoping that we never get asked to serve as a Church officer, even never joining the Church so we can never be asked to do anything.  What if we sacrificed for each other, building relationships of mutuality instead of selfishly considering only our wants?  What if we participated in each other’s lives like the Father and Son participate in each other by the Love of the Holy Spirit?

Well my friends, we would not be an institution, we would be a group of people.  We would not be a non-profit organization in the eyes of the State, we would be the body of Christ.  But we cannot go back to the way we before the quarantine because we were not yet the body of Christ.  We cannot go back to the way we before the quarantine because the Kingdom of God lies ahead of us.  We cannot go back to the way we before the quarantine because we are not the same people than before.  We cannot go back to the way we before the quarantine because, maybe just maybe, it really was not all that great.  But most importantly, we cannot go back to the way we were before the quarantine, because God is making now better than we were before.  We cannot go back to the way we before the quarantine because we need to disciple God forward. 

So when we can meet together, and at some point we will be able to, will we have the commitment, the self-sacrifice, the love to become the Church as a group of people called and created to assemble for God or will we have yet another excuse to remain an Anonymous Christian, which is really no Christian at all?

In Christ,

Rev. Mark

April 29, 2020

Colossians 1:15-23

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁶ for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

²¹ And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— ²³ provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

To be a fan of any Cleveland sports team is a study in frustrations.  To be a fan of the Indians is to be a fan of the organization with the longest World Series drought.  To be a fan of the Browns is exhausting because we have quite a large amount of hype and then disappointment.  The Cavaliers have been the only team in recent memory with a championship title but now we are in the basement.  The point of this study in the Factory of Sadness is that many fans in Cleveland are fair-weather fans.  When the teams are successful, they pay attention and cheer and invest themselves heavily in them.  But when the teams stink, they quickly root and follow other teams that are always successful and competing for the championships.  Even if that means they root for the Steelers.  Boo!

But what happens when like fair-weather fans we shift from discipling Jesus Christ to something else?  What happens when we become fair-weather Christians?  Paul writes, provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard.  The Church in Colossae was on the verge of shifting their faithfulness and discipleship from Jesus Christ to another.  They were amid the struggles and temptations to leave Christ for another more palatable and perhaps less challenging philosophy.  To that end, Paul writes to remind them of who Christ is and how no other Mediator or Philosophy could replace him.

He begins by reminding his congregation that for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.  The first thing the Colossians had forgotten was that Christ is the Creator, through him and for him all things were created.  Not through any elemental powers or forces in heaven, they too were created by Christ.  What is at stake for Paul is not the how but the who.  Jesus is the Creator of the entire universe and the purpose for its creation.  Any other person or thing in heaven or earth any other power or principality was created by him and for him.  Therefore, why shift our hope from Him to something else?

But the point of reminding them that Jesus is the Creator of the universe is to remind them that He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  Jesus is not just the one that existed before Creation, but the one that continues to hold and sustain all of Creation.  All things are held together by Christ.  Christ is the glue, the force, the power that keeps all of Creation together, despite the forces that seek to rip and tear it apart.  Therefore, why shift our hope from Him to something else?

But he continues, He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.  Not only is he the Creator of the universe, but by nature of his resurrection, He is now the Re-Creator.  By virtue of His second birth all things are made new and given re-birth.  That means that He has first-place, He is the head over all things, He is Lord over all creation.  No other thing can be first or head or Lord.  Therefore, why shift our hope from Him to something else?

But if he has been resurrected to be the Lord over all things, then through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.  By virtue of his cross and resurrection, God has through Christ reconciled or exchanged hostility for peace.  Through Christ, God has exchanged the relationship between Father and Son in the power of the Holy Spirit with the relationship of rebellion and defiance from us wayward children.  Therefore, why shift our hope from Him to something else?

But, it continues, the whole point of reconciliation is so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him.  The entire purpose of Jesus is to bring us back to God, without sin, without stain, without blemish and to live before God forever, to enjoy and be blessed by God.  Therefore, why shift our hope from Him to something else?

My friends, Jesus is the one who has done all this: creates and sustains the universe, resurrected to be Lord in the first place over all things, reconciled all things to God through his death, in order that we might be presented to God without sin.  Why should we then shift our faith and hope from Christ unto something else?  Can any politician be Jesus?  Can any scientist or scientific breakthrough be Jesus?  Can any fortune or CEO be Jesus?  Can any actor or athlete be Jesus?  Can any sickness or injury thwart Jesus?  Can any power in hell or scheme of humanity overcome Jesus?  Then, let us continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.  Let our discipleship not waver from Jesus Christ and shift to any other person, philosophy or lifestyle.  Let us hold fast to Christ and place our hope upon him alone.  Let us not be fair-weather Christians, but steadfast in our faith.  Amen.

Prayer

O God of Grace and Glory, we thank you for the mighty work and deeds you have done for us through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Help us to seek our hope in him alone without shifting to any other person or philosophy.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.