FALL 2022 PREACHING SERIES 5: Disciples Worship God

October 9, 2022 – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we continue our Fall preaching series on DISCIPLESHIP, the fifth part entitled: DISCIPLES worship God.

Disciples who worship God are people whose hearts are filled with love for the source of life – for the God by whom we were created and on whom we depend. Disciples worship God through different types of prayer, by thanking God for God’s blessings, and also by petitioning God for our own needs and those of others.

How do you worship God? Are you a pray-er? A thank-er? A Petition-er? Or a bit of all of them and perhaps even some more?

Recently I was working in another parish with some Confirmation candidates, and I asked them if they were in charge of the Church, what would they change? … one student, in fact, the first student, said, I would make Church a lot shorter.

While some of you may agree with him, I have to say, I left that day a bit sad, feeling that we have done a really bad job with our young people and perhaps even with our “not so young” people … I mean, if the best insight is that worshipping God together, once a week on Sunday, for less than one hour, is too long … we’ve really missed the boat!

I mean, when we put the timer on and see that:

1. A football game is more than an hour long and people even come early …

2. A Broadway show is usually at least about 90 minutes … and people reserve sometimes months ahead …

3. And religious services in other denominations can have sermons that alone can last more than 25 minutes … and then the social and fellowship follow!

What’s happened to us? Have we become too busy to worship our God? What’s the rush? Where are we all going? And why do some people regularly come late and insist on leaving mass early, even before I do? What’s the deal?

In the Old Testament reading today from the Book of Kings we hear the story of the healing of Naaman. He was the general in charge of Syria’s army. He was important and powerful. He also had a disease.

Because Naaman was important and powerful, he had servants. One of them was a captured Israelite girl who told Naaman’s wife about a prophet in her home country who could cure Naaman.

Because Naaman was important and powerful, he had resources. Because he had resources, he was able to set out for Israel to visit Elisha, the prophet the servant was talking about. He took a lot of money and other valuables with him in case the prophet’s services required steep payment. In the end, they were not necessary.

Ultimately, God healed Naaman, and God worked through the servant and through Elisha to create the opportunity for healing. The servant and the prophet were both God’s people, and as God’s people they contributed to Naaman’s healing.

Note that Elisha did not accept any of Naaman’s gifts but said that it was God who had healed him. Naaman returned to his home in Syria, happy and thankful. Naaman’s gratitude was expressed in his promising to serve and worship only the one true God, the God of Israel.

Today’s Gospel is also about healing. It takes up a couple of Luke’s favorite themes: Jesus’ attitude to people who were excluded from society; and those considered to be foreigners … and he uses them, the outsiders, to give the example.

In the time of Jesus - and for centuries after - leprosy was a dreaded disease. It caused horrible disfigurement and there was no known remedy. Still worse was the suspicion that leprosy was a divine punishment. The only solution at the time was to forbid sufferers from coming into contact with other human beings - as Luke describes the scene - the lepers stand some way off. Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priests - for it is they who can decide whether the person is really cured and so able to rejoin the community.

As they do as Jesus told them, they all find that they have been cured. For most of them, the only aim is to go to the priests and back to their families - and so they continue on their way.

But one cannot simply go to the priests to be allowed back - he is a Samaritan and would only meet with contempt from any Jewish priest. Unable to take the route laid before the others, he returns to the One who healed him and praises God for the great thing that has been done for him.

Jesus contrasts his behavior with that of the others. Those who should have recognized the hand of God in their healing were continuing on their way. They would go to the Temple to give thanks to God in the prescribed ways - making sacrifices and so on. With no Temple building to go to, the Samaritan, in fact, finds his way to the Living Temple, that is Jesus. He finds the presence of God in the person of Jesus - and he gives thanks.

The Samaritan encountered the healing love of God in the person of Jesus Christ and here he, and we too, are being reminded not to take that great healing love for granted. It is a love that is great enough to embrace the whole world - and is not bound by human boundaries. It is a love that is freely given and our response can often only be a wondering gratitude and meaningful worship.

· What is the end goal of worshiping God?

· What is the true purpose of our worship?

· Is it just to check off an item on our Christian to-do list?

· Is it to keep from feeling guilty?

· Is it done out of habit or ritual?

It is none of these. The purpose of our worship is to know God more deeply. Whether we have been worshiping Him for one year or one hundred years, the purpose is the same. We worship God so that we can know Him more.

The more we know Him, the more we will want to worship Him. And the more we worship Him, the more deeply we will know Him. This cycle will continue throughout eternity.

Disciples know Jesus. Disciples know the Bible. Disciples know the Christian faith. Disciples make faith a way of life. Disciples worship God … regularly and without a time limit. Let’s work harder to worship our God … in the spirit of Naaman, the Samaritan and all saints who give us good example.

RSM

FALL 2022 PREACHING SERIES 4: Disciples make faith a way of life

Today we continue our Fall preaching series on DISCIPLESHIP, the fourth part entitled: DISCIPLES make faith a way of life.

Discipleship is the knowledge of faith becoming a way of life. It is not enough to know the content of the Scriptures or to simply understand the richness of Christian beliefs. Disciples need to actively participate in faith as a way of life – living into faith that is simultaneously centered in God yet genuinely our own, balancing tradition and experience, as well as text and context, embracing both our dreams and our current realities. A living faith happens today, and every day, facing whatever joys or sorrows are now on our daily agenda ...

Making faith a way of life begs the more basic question, what is your/my way of life? Perhaps a better way to ask it may be: What is our current life philosophy? While there are many different answers to this question, here are a few … does any of them sound like you?

1. Nihilism

The most well-known form of nihilism is focused on the assertion that life has no inherent purpose, goal, or intrinsic value. Simplified, it’s the belief that life is utterly pointless.

2. Hedonism

Hedonism is centered around the belief that pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic value. Basically, a hedonist makes pleasure the ultimate goal of any and all of his/her actions and choices in life.

3. Stoicism

Stoicism is a philosophy that focuses on training yourself to improve through training and conditioning.

And there are many, many more…

When we think about making the Christian faith into a way of life it can seem almost impossible, not only because there will be so many different models and variations, but more so because we are surrounded by so many who espouse these and other philosophies that seem to run contrary to our belief system as Christians.

But what would the life of a disciple look like who was working to make Christianity a way of life? While it’s surely not an easy answer, nor is there a specific checklist that captures all the aspects, the Bible teaches that the Christian life is one of constant growth. Baptism welcomes us into God’s family as the first step. By that sacrament, we underline that it is God’s purpose that we will grow into full stature and become mature in Christ. That growth implies steady development, constant enlargement, and increasing wisdom, but it doesn’t happen automatically … we have to take the lead …

Billy Graham, the famous evangelist included these as his hallmarks of one who was striving to make Christianity a way of life. One who:

1. Reads the Bible daily and hides the Word of God in one’s heart because all we need is there.

2. Learns the secret of prayer because prayer is communicating.

3. Relies constantly on the Holy Spirit.

4. Attends church regularly, not out of obligation but because the visible church is Christ’s organization upon earth. And more so because Christians need one another, to gather together to worship God.

5. Is a witnessing Christian, by life and by word – and the two should go hand in hand.

6. Lets love be the ruling principle of one’s life. The greatest demonstration of the fact that we are Christians is that we love one another.

7. Is obedient, letting Christ have first place in all the choices of our life.

8. Learns how to meet temptation. Temptation is not sin. It is yielding that is sin. He says that we should let Christ through the Holy Spirit do the fighting for us.

9. Is a wholesome Christian. Our lives and appearance should commend the Gospel and make it attractive to others.

10.Lives above our circumstances. Graham says we should learn to live graciously within them, realizing the Lord Himself is always with us.

The Old Testament passage today is from the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk is one of the most poignant and painful books in the Bible.

Judah has evidently been faced first with corruption and then with invasion, and for each the prophet goes to God in prayer, searching for help or explanations for the crimes.

For Habakkuk, the issue is theodicy, how can we justify the goodness of God and the powerfulness of God, with the presence of evil. The heart of the book consists of a prayer dialogue between Habakkuk (about whom we know nothing) and God (Yahweh), concerning the theological meaning behind the atrocities that have befallen his country. It seems that he wrote when Babylonian armies were ravaging Judah, before the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, but the problem is really universal.

One could easily envision someone from Ukraine today making the same cries, or any one of a number of other countries that are going through political or economic or military ravages. For that matter, anyone we know whose body is being ravaged by MS or MD or cancer or Leukemia or any grindingly debilitating terminal disease, can identify with the tears of Habakkuk when he saw the end coming and looked to God for an explanation. His pain is a universal, physical, emotional, and “theodical” pain that many of us can surely identify with.

Perhaps many have hesitated to make Christianity a way of life because in light of all the suffering in the world and even in some hearts, we share the penetrating question:

“Aren’t you God? Why do you allow this misery to happen to your people? And then we ask one another, “Does God really care?”

The Gospel may give us some consolation because throughout Luke’s Gospel, we hear that even the closest followers of Jesus had a “mixed” level of faith. On one hand, they have left homes and jobs and families in order to follow Jesus, but it has not been easy. They encountered hostility from many who opposed Jesus but still they stuck around, even for this final journey toward Jerusalem, and even when they have received a warning of what is to come.

At the same time, in our own world’s days of turmoil and fear, we can empathize with the disciples when faith wavers. When the wind roars and the waves batter their boat as they cross the Sea of Galilee, even as Jesus sleeps beside them, they are overwhelmed by terror. “Where is your faith?” Jesus asks, after calming the storm. Later, he chides their limited trust in God. “If God clothes the grass … how much more will [God] clothe you — you of little faith!.

It’s a bit of a consolation to me to know that proximity to Jesus does not guarantee unwavering faith. Faith is not defined primarily by cognitive certainty, nor acceptance of proper theological constructs, nor even necessarily by people who consider themselves to be closest to Jesus. Living faith manifests itself in many ways, by a variety of people.

· Living faith is persistence in reaching out to Jesus and trusting in Jesus’ power and authority;

· Living faith is responding with love to forgiveness received, and not letting fear get the upper hand;

· Living faith is being willing to take risks that challenge the status quo;

· Living faith is giving praise to God and having confidence in God’s desire for justice.

· Living faith is being willing to ask Jesus for what we need.

Disciples know Jesus. Disciples know the Bible. Disciples know the Christian faith. Disciples try, despite all the challenges to make faith a way of life, living faithfully each day while we are being transformed by it. As we try, let’s be patient without ourselves, because it’s the work of a lifetime!

RSM

FALL 2022 PREACHING SERIES 3: Disciples know the Christian Faith

Today we continue our Fall preaching series that will focus on DISCIPLESHIP ... And you already know that making disciples is why Christian Churches exist ... so, we continue with the third part of our series entitled: DISCIPLES know the Christian faith.

When we think about the Christian faith, it seems to me that G K Chesterton expressed it best when he proposed that Christianity had not been tried and found wanting … rather it had been wanted and never tried.

Gandhi too, when asked once why he rejected the religion said simply: Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Surely, if the indictment fits …

Some have suggested that even the most cursory glance at the historical engagement of Christian churches in public life shows that the love of enemies, forgiveness and turning the other cheek urged by Jesus has been conspicuous by its absence …

· What about everything else?

· What about the little things?

· What are the basic principles of the Christian faith?

· Are we compliant or do we reject them?

· Where do we have room to improve?

The passage today from the book of Amos 6:1-7 is challenging. Amos and the other prophets prayed and prayed for Israel and were heard, at least initially. Amos twice prayed successfully on Israel’s behalf, but finally God overruled him.

The context is clear: Israel’s lack of faith led, as it must, to a false security. They were comfortable in the twin capitals of Jerusalem and Samaria, but their ease was built on the dis-ease of others. They were clever and enterprising and had made it to the top in the economic heap but had turned their backs on God and one another. Their faith in Yahweh had dimmed.

· Gone was their commitment to him who owned all things and who gave them their land.

· Gone was their belief that they were called to be a unique nation.

· Gone was their memories of all that God had done for them.

Unlike others, who were dedicated to the principle of power, they were to be Yahweh’s own people, dedicated to a love of him and to a care for each other. But they had abandoned their call. Therefore, severe loss, death, or exile was to be their lot.

The Old Testament passage from Amos begs the question: as disciples of Jesus today, have we grown comfortable and complacent? Has our light for the Lord been dimmed? Have we abandoned our fundamental call?

The Gospel gives us the well-known story from Luke about Lazarus. It seems to me that the real sin of the rich man begins with the fact that he did not see Lazarus. Or at least he did not see him as more than an extension of himself and his own needs --- particularly at the end. For if he had seen him for all that he was: once an infant and a boy, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather. If he had seen him as one with hopes and hurts, dreams and disappointments. If he had seen him as one beloved by God, then perhaps this story would have ended differently.

Lazarus was alone … abandoned … hoping to be seen … to be found … to be loved and helped.

Too, too often, others are simply invisible to us. As Lazarus was to the rich man --- and no doubt to countless others --- as he sat and begged at the gate. The name "Lazarus" actually means "God is my help." And without a doubt, in the end God was the only help Lazarus had. But the parable is meant to speak to us the truth that this is not how it is meant to be.

The parable of Lazarus reminds me of Dear Evan Hansen the novel and Broadway show that tells the story of a young man who was in so many ways invisible to those around him. He suffered from social anxiety disorder and really just yearned to be seen …

He was so desperate to make a connection with his peers that it caused him to fabricate a relationship with a deceased student to become closer to the boy’s family. When a classmate commits suicide, shy Evan Hansen finds himself at the center of the tragedy and turmoil. In a misguided attempt to comfort the boy’s grieving family, Evan pretends that he was actually good friends with their son. He invents a fabricated email account to “prove” their friendship, and when a fake suicide note makes its way online, Evan finds himself the unintended face of a viral video about loneliness and friendship.

In so many ways … we can be like Lazarus … or Evan Hansen … invisible to others … and we all want to be seen … acknowledged and found.

Jesus teaches today that all of our lives are caught up with one another in ways that have consequences now and consequences into eternity. But first, before anything can be done, we must see, we must truly see the other. Perhaps that can be the start of living in a way that acknowledges the truth that we all belong to one another ... in this life ... right now.

Disciples know the Christian faith. That knowledge leads us to know Jesus. Knowing Jesus inspires us to see others and more so to see him in others. Let’s work a bit harder this week to try and do that …

And let’s find consolation in the message of Jesus, that regardless of our state in life, you will be found … [song]

RSM