Jesus read
scripture, and then preached a one sentence sermon.
On the Sunday when
you vote on my salary, I couldn’t decide if it would be a good idea
or a bad idea to follow the example of our Lord.
Read the scripture
and say, “God loves you; go to lunch.”
Half of you would
say, “We’re paying him for THAT?”
And the other half
would say, “Give that man a raise!”
You're always have
to ask, “What Would Jesus Do?” but in some cases it's not such a
good idea to imitate Christ so literally.
So rather than
preach a one sentence sermon, I decided to preach a sermon on one
sentence.
Seemed more
Presbyterian.
Jesus sat down and
preached, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.”
Today.
When I first
interviewed with the nominating committee of Lake Hills, I wrote some
notes about the discussion, and then stuck them in a file.
A couple of years
later, I was going through some files and found the notes.
The very first
comment I wrote was, “Seem to enjoy talking to each other.”
This is a noisy
church, and the fact that you not only talk to each other loudly and
often, but that you also seem to ENJOY it is a good sign.
As a church we're
neither locked in silent daydreams about days gone by, nor are we
gridlocked in arguments about our future.
We, as a church, are
pretty good about looking for the advent of the Lord TODAY.
In today’s
conversations.
In today’s prayer
concerns and celebrations.
In today’s
amazement over what the kids might say in a Children’s Sermon (or
during a baptism).
Jesus was very clear
throughout his ministry that the day of the Lord was in the present,
today.
Present in the ups
and downs.
Present in the
troubles and triumphs.
Present in what’s
cussed and dis-cussed.
Today.
You have a real gift
for sharing the moment with each other.
Verbally, loudly,
prayerfully.
You have the
spiritual gift of presence – a ministry of presence – to each
other.
And make no mistake,
people notice.
Last Sunday, our
soloist, Keith, couldn't stop talking about how alive this
congregation felt.
I hear about it when
I go and visit people at home or in the hospital and they tell me
about how touched they were by all the phone calls, visits, cards,
and food from the members of the congregation.
Carpe that diem.
Seize the day. There's no better time to take a casserole than today.
Tomorrow might be a
better day. Then again, it might not.
Today's the only one
we have.
By neither waiting
for a better day tomorrow nor making an idol of the ministry of the
past, we honor Lord when we seize the ministry of today.
Second part of the
sentence:
Today, “this
scripture has been fulfilled.”
The scripture Our
Lord read said,
“The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery
of sight to the blind; to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the
year of the Lord’s favor.”
That’s the
scripture Christ fulfilled. That day.
Good news. Freedom.
Release. Recovery of sight to the blind.
Of course, nearly
200 years after Jesus preached, there are still too many people who
are blind, both physically and spiritually.
There are too many
people who are held captive by governments and prisons.
Too many people
handcuffed by loneliness and hunger.
Too many people
taken hostage by diseases of the body, diseases of the mind, and
unease of the spirit.
There are too many
people who judging by their circumstances, would have no ideas that
this is the year of the Lord’s favor.
Ask the people of
Haiti if they feel like this is the year of the Lord's favor.
But it is a new
year.
At the halfway point
of January, most of us are still trying to remember to write 2010 on
our checks.
It takes practice.
And I'm reaching the
middle age where I have to stop and ask myself what year it is, not
just 2009 or 2010. Somedays I really have to stop and do some
calculations.
People ask me how
old I am, and I have to do subtraction.
And I'm not that
good at math, so sometimes I just make something up.
Hey. If it gets me
the senior citizen's discount, I'll be 73.
Jesus proclaimed the
start the Lord’s favor.
What number is that?
And here's the
thing: we forget the year's number; it's even easier to forget that
this IS the year of the Lord's favor.
If we don’t remind
ourselves what year it is, we’ll forget and go on as we always
have.
The year has changed
– have we?
Jesus is proclaiming
that scripture is fulfilled because in him, things have changed.
The world isn't
ruled by business as usual.
Our lives aren't
oppressed under the same-old-same-old.
Status quo is not
our status.
Know it or not, this
is God’s time.
Believe it or not,
this is our Father’s world.
God intends for us
to have lives of fullness and joy and freedom.
And these are not
intended to be empty words based in smoke and mirrors.
By the words of
Christ himself, these are words fulfilled, filled full by the
presence and goodness of Our Lord.
Does it make a
difference that we worship God in 2010?
Does it make a
difference that we celebrate life together as a church?
Does it make a
difference that in our personal lives, we live out a relationship to
Christ in our relationships with others?
Is the scripture
fulfilled or just words on a page?
Finally, today this
scripture is fulfilled “in your hearing.”
In your hearing.
One of the ongoing
problems in our worship is that it’s often hard to hear.
We do so much
dialogue between the pulpit and the pews.
People stand up and
share announcements and prayer concerns and not everyone hears.
So I try to repeat
everything.
One of the most
frequent complaints I get is that something happens, some prayer
concern goes out, and someone doesn’t hear about it.
We keep improving
our prayer chains and updating our email lists in the hopes that more
and more people will hear – everything (they’re supposed to.)
The gospel is about
human proclamation – proclaiming – and hearing – good news.
Not all news is
good, but it’s always good to know what’s news.
Sometimes our
hearing isn’t so good.
Sometimes we need
hearing aids – and not just the expensive devices we tuck in our
ears.
Patience is a huge
hearing aid.
Questions and
sharing are hearing aids - asking questions and sharing experiences
so that we might be aided in hearing hard words that we might not
otherwise listen to.
That the scripture
is fulfilled in your HEARING also means that it’s not fulfilled in
our preconceived notions, or illusions about what Christ might have
said.
Hearing is an
activity of the PRESENT day.
And so each day we
listen – and listen again – for what scripture and God is saying
to us.
How many times have
you heard a sentence of scripture, one that you've heard all your
life, maybe – and thought, I've never heard it quite like that
before?
What scripture says
to us on one day might not be exactly the same as what we THOUGHT we
heard on another.
There always has to
be room for forgiveness, for change, for improvement of both our
hearing and in the ones who are testing our hearing.
Today –
the scripture is
fulfilled –
in your hearing.
Not bad for a first
sermon.
Not bad for today.
