Who Wants To Be Mary?

The sermon study guide is here.

Luke 1:26-38

November 26/27, 2011 • Portage First UMC

When I was growing up, one thing you could count on every year about this time was the church Christmas pageant, the annual re-enactment of the first Christmas. It usually involves children in bathrobes playing the various parts, and of course, the coveted part, at least for the girls, is Mary. I mean, let’s be honest, there aren’t a lot of parts for girls in the Christmas story, though often we have Wise Girls and Shepherd Girls, but in the story as it’s told, there’s really only one part for a girl, and that’s Mary. Besides that, Mary has the starring role. Well, of course, there’s Jesus, but he’s usually played by a doll, so the next best part is Mary. So how many of you, at some point in your life, played Mary in a Christmas pageant? Okay, how many of you wanted to play Mary but didn’t get to?

In my last church, we had a living Nativity, and every December, on the coldest and worst weather day of the month, we would stand outside and present the story of the first Christmas. Through the years, we had dense fog, blustery wind, sub-zero temperatures and even rain; yeah, it was a good time! One year, we had a young lady who desperately wanted to play Mary. She was engaged to be married the next summer, and she argued long and loud this was the last year she could authentically play Mary. She was engaged, just like Mary. She was young, just like Mary. She was not with child—she made that quite clear. Jil wanted to play Mary. I think she ended up as a shepherd instead. We want to be Mary because she has the starring role, but the question I want to ask today is this: did Mary want to be Mary?

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a period of four weeks set aside to prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. And so during these four weeks, we are going on a journey together—not a literal journey, though if you want to actually stand in many of the places we’re going to talk about, you can come with us to the Holy Land next June. No, for the next four weeks, we’re going to journey through the Christmas story as we take a closer look at the places and the people who were part of Jesus’ birth. And where else would we start but with Mary in her hometown of Nazareth? Today, we want to see what her life and the way she responded to God can teach us about ourselves and our relationship with Jesus. 

We know from historical records Nazareth was an insignificant place. The Talmud, a Hebrew commentary on Scripture, lists sixty-three villages in Galilee, the northern part of Israel, and the first-century Jewish historian Josephus lists forty-five villages in Galilee. Nazareth doesn’t make either list. Its population, in the first century, is estimated between 100 and 400, though it may have been smaller. It’s a dinky little town people passed by without thinking about (Hamilton, The Journey, pg. 15). I know towns like that. I grew up in a town like that. Sedalia, Indiana—population 150 if you count the cats and dogs. No one really noticed Sedalia or knew where it was unless I made reference to some other larger city. I would tell people it was halfway between Lafayette and Kokomo, or I would mention the railroad tracks that forced people to either slow down or lose their car’s undercarriage. Then people would have a vague recollection of Sedalia, but still not really remember it. Nazareth was like that. If you wanted people to know where Nazareth was, you would tell them it was close to Sepphoris, a wealthy town of about 30,000—slightly smaller than Portage. [VIDEO: SEPPHORIS] Culture, shopping, luxury houses—that was Sepphoris, and everyone knew where that was. It’s even possible Mary’s family might have worked for a wealthy family in Sepphoris. But Nazareth? In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when a man named Nathanael found out Jesus was from Nazareth, he asked, “Can anything good come from [Nazareth]?” (John 1:46).

Archaeology has confirmed Nazareth was a place of poverty. This was the place you lived if you couldn’t afford to live somewhere else. In fact, many of the so-called houses were simply caves that had a front room built onto them. [VIDEO: CAVE HOMES] If you go to the Holy Land, you’ll find caves are not unusual. Soft limestone caves are everywhere, and in the first century, it was the least expensive form of housing. If you needed another room, for instance, you just chipped away at the walls and carved out additional space. So Nazareth was a place of poverty, though the name comes from the Hebrew word “netzer,” which means “branch” or “shoot.” It’s a name that refers to a promise in the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah had told the people that, one day, “a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch [netzer] will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1-2). That promise was understood to predict the Savior, the Messiah. In fact, in many of your Bibles, you will find the word “Branch” capitalized, as if it’s a name. That’s an interpretation; there are no capital letters in the original Hebrew, but the point is this: “the branch,” for many centuries, had been understood to be the savior, the one God would send to save the people. So this town, “Branch-Town,” Nazareth, expressed the hope that God might do something amazing to help and rescue the people. We’ve prayed their prayer, haven’t we? “God, into the mess of my situation, into the muck of my life, I need you to move. I need you to do something amazing, something I wouldn’t expect. I need you to turn things upside down.” We have our Nazareth—the place of our hopes and dreams, the place where we most need God to work. Nazareth—the lowly place it seemed God had forgotten was just the place God was about to work.

Living within this town, perhaps in a limestone cave, was a young woman named Miriam—Mary in English (Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, pg. 39). Luke says she was “a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph” (1:27). We think of “pledged to be married” as the equivalent of “engagement,” but it was really much more than that. It was betrothal, which was a legally binding agreement between two families. During the year-long betrothal, the couple did not live together or consummate their marriage until after the formal ceremony, but betrothal could only be broken by death or divorce. A charge of adultery could be leveled against an unfaithful person even during betrothal. This was serious business, and it wouldn’t have been unusual for Mary to have no choice or say in the matter. Marriages were often arranged. Maybe in Mary’s case, it was to try to get her out of this poverty-stricken town. Joseph was from Bethlehem, and while he was not wealthy, he had a decent job. Luke doesn’t tell us how old Mary was, but since the custom was for betrothal to took place soon after a girl entered puberty, it’s likely Mary was in her early teens, perhaps as young as 13 (Liefeld 830; Hamilton 21). Now, let that sink in for a moment.

So Mary, 13 years old, living in a poor excuse for a town, is visited by an angel named Gabriel. Tradition has two locations for this visitation; both times I’ve been to Nazareth, we’ve been taken to the [VIDEO: MARY’S WELL] Church of the Annunciation, which is located over the ancient city springs. This tradition claims Mary was getting water for her family when Gabriel appeared, and so this church is built over the top of the ancient springs, a spring which is still running today. Roman Catholics believe Mary was at home when Gabriel appeared, but all that isn’t as important as what he says to her. “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus” (1:30-31). The word translated “favor” is the Greek word charis, which is better translated “grace.” Mary is “highly favored” or “full of grace.” What does that mean? Well, grace is getting what we don’t deserve. Charis contains the idea of getting an undeserved gift. In the Old Testament, the word is hesed, and it’s a hard word to translate. One author has said hesed is “when the one who owes you nothing gives you everything.” Hesed, charis, grace—when we get what we don’t deserve. Kindness to the unkind. Compassion to the heartless. Love to the unloveable. Grace is what God was up to at Christmas. Grace filled Mary, and the baby who was going to be born would be one who would talk to tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes, the unloved, the sick and dying—the least, the last and the lost. This baby would give grace to those who thought God had forgotten them. His acts of grace would change the world, for grace not only changes the person who gives it, but also the person who receives it. Mary is full of grace. She’s just the sort of person to give birth to and raise the one who would change the world. That’s what Gabriel tells her. So how does she respond to such news? What do you say when you are “greatly troubled” (1:29), when your world has been turned upside down?

SONG: What Sort of Song?

“How will this be?” Mary asks (1:34). Now, if you’ve read the first part of Luke 1, you know this isn’t the first appearance Gabriel makes in the Gospel. Six months before this, he appeared to an old priest named Zechariah, and told him that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a baby who would prepare the way for the savior. This old childless couple had given up hope of ever having a baby (cf. 1:7), which was extremely difficult in a culture where children were considered to be a sign of God’s blessing. This righteous husband and wife were “very old” and had put up with people’s questions and nosiness and whispers for many years. So when Gabriel tells Zechariah he’s going to have a son, Zechariah asks, “How can I be sure of this?” (1:18). And for his question, he is made mute for nine months. Now, on the surface, Zechariah and Mary seem to ask similar questions, yet Mary is not punished for her question. What’s the difference here? It’s what they were asking for, and it tells us about Mary’s character. Zechariah is asking for confirmation. Prove it to me. I have to be certain about this. I imagine he’s not wanting to get Elizabeth’s hopes up if this isn’t really going to come true. Besides, he’s old and so is she. There aren’t any people their age having babies. He wants confirmation. He wants God to prove himself. Mary, on the other hand, never asks for a sign. Rather than confirmation, she asks for information. Even at 13, she knows how babies are made, and she also knows it’s not possible, humanly speaking, for her to be pregnant. She’s a virgin. She’s remained pure, stayed true to Joseph. “How can this be?” Mary doesn’t question the words of the angel. She doesn’t say, “Yeah, right, whatever.” She just wants a little bit of information, and once she is reminded that God’s power is greater than human wisdom, she’s ready to move ahead. “May your word to me be fulfilled,” she says (1:38). Mary is obedient to this messenger from God (Liefeld 831; Wright, Luke for Everyone, pg. 12; Card 39).

So…why Mary? Why Nazareth? And why does this story matter to us, over 2,000 years later? Sometimes, we treat this story as just a nice thing to read by a fireplace or next to a Christmas tree, as if it’s just a quaint story from the past—but it’s far more than that. Bishop Tom Wright reminds us, “Mary is…the supreme example of what always happens when God is at work by grace through human beings. God’s power from outside, and the indwelling spirit within, together result in things being done which would have been unthinkable any other way” (Wright 11). “To become obedient to [God’s] call always means becoming a slave to the impossible” (Card 40). Mary reminds us God can and will do great things in and through us when we allow him to work, when we respond as she did, “May your word to me be fulfilled” (1:38). The first thing we learn from Mary and from her hometown of Nazareth is that nothing is ever insignificant in God’s eyes. In fact, throughout the Biblical story, God often chooses to use the things that seem insignificant to the world: the small, the humble, the broken, the ones the world would never expect. Now, it’s not that those people and those places have nothing to lose. Mary, quite honestly, could have lost her life. She could be accused of adultery, and the penalty for adultery was death by stoning. At the very least, she was going to have to endure the whispers and the stares of small town life. A pregnant girl who isn’t yet married, whose fiancé lives, in fact, many days’ journey away, wasn’t going to go unnoticed. It was also risky in those days because many women died in childbirth (Hamilton 29). As a young teenager, Mary’s life was not going to be easy from here on out. So did Mary want to be Mary? She was blessed by God, but that blessing didn’t mean a life of ease and luxury. That blessing meant a life of risk, of giving herself away. And yet there was the promise that her life, which might have to that point seemed so insignificant, so unimportant, was about to take on world-changing significance. Paul wrote this to the church at Corinth: “Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of ‘the brightest and the best’ among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these ‘nobodies’ to expose the hollow pretensions of the ‘somebodies’?” (1 Corinthians 1:26-28, Message). A heart yielded to God never results in an insignificant life. Mary, Nazareth, you and me—God chooses the least likely to accomplish his most important work (Hamilton 21).

That leads us, then, to what Mary’s story asks us: how will you respond to God’s invitation, to God’s call to join him in changing the world? I highly doubt any of us will be asked to do what Mary did, to give birth to Son of God; that, it seems, was and is a once-in-history event. But God still invites us to come along on his mission. It is still our task and our calling to make God known in this world. Mary’s calling was what we call the “incarnation,” a word that simply means God became flesh and blood. And we still are called to live that incarnation—to make Jesus present to this world, to all around us, to anyone we can. And so the invitation is still real: will we participate in God’s mission—not just for the season of Advent, because Mary’s response was not just for the next nine months. If you’re a parent, you know that having a child is a lifelong commitment. No matter how old they get, they’re still you’re children. We know from the Gospels how Mary worried about Jesus all through his ministry and how she was there at the cross, watching him die. She didn’t just say “yes” for a season—she said “yes” for a life. Are we willing to respond as she did when God calls us?

I want to suggest three ways to respond, all of which correspond with our values here at Portage First. The first is, if you haven’t already, get involved in a small group—take part in intentional faith development. During this season of the year, as I said, we can become overly familiar with the story, so one of the reasons I’m doing this series is to hopefully put some new life and new meaning into this ancient story that is at the center of who we are. But you will grow even more if you’re participating with others in studying and sharing and learning. Small groups start this week; I cannot encourage you enough to plug in to one, to get involved and use this season to grow your faith. You can still sign up today.

Second, find a place to serve this season, to engage in risk-taking mission and service. Jesus said he came not to be served but to serve, and when you hear the words of Mary to Gabriel—“I am the Lord’s servant”—you have to think he saw that demonstrated all the time when he was growing up. Mary had the heart of a servant; so did her son, and so should all of his followers. Find a place to serve this Advent season, whether that’s giving up of your time and your comfort to ring bells for the Salvation Army, or inviting someone who is alone over for Christmas dinner, or helping out at a homeless shelter, or the food pantry, or shoveling snow for that elderly neighbor—the possibilities are literally endless. But here’s the catch: serving means doing something, getting your hands dirty, not just writing a check. What can you do to make a positive difference in the life of someone else this Advent? How can you join Mary in saying, “I am the Lord’s servant”?

And then the third suggestion—just so you don’t think there are no opportunities to give this season, I want to invite you to, above and beyond your regular giving, participate in our Advent Conspiracy offering with your extravagant generosity. As we’ve done the last couple of years, the offering taken at our Christmas Candlelight services will be given away. It won’t be used for the church or for the pastors or anything like that. Half of it is going to provide clean water wells in a community in Africa where one of our members, Lauren Falk, is working. Thirty thousand people in the world die every week from unsafe drinking water; 27,000 of those are children under the age of five. Many of the diseases are preventable if they just had something we take for granted—clean drinking water (charitywater.org). And we can do something about that. The other half of the offering will again go to provide meals for children here in Portage through the “Feed My Lambs” program. That money will provide a box of food every weekend of the school year for children who would otherwise go without, and that makes a huge difference in their lives and in their academic achievement—which, ultimately, makes a difference in their future, in breaking the cycle of poverty. What I’ve asked the last couple of years is for each of us to consider either reducing what we buy and giving the rest to the offering or giving an amount equal to what we spend on ourselves toward the offering. Undoubtedly, many of us either began or continued our Christmas shopping this past weekend. Consumerism rules the roost when it comes to Christmas, and we give gifts to each other like it’s our birthday. But it’s not. It’s Jesus’ birthday, and what he wants for Christmas is for us to care about the least, the last and the lost. As Pastor Mike Slaughter puts it, “The idol of consumerism is one of the hardest to topple. John Wesley identified the wallet as the last thing to be converted in a person’s life” (Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, pg. 5). Even with our money, can we say, “I am the Lord’s servant”? If we’re willing to do what we can, God will do what we can’t. He’ll take what we give and make a lasting difference in the world around us (cf. Slaughter 14). So we can give; even today, there’s a place to give at the Connection Center for the Advent Conspiracy—a conspiracy to change the world. And then during Christmas Candlelight, everything we give will go to that conspiracy.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary said. “May your word to me be fulfilled” (1:38). And, as Gabriel promised, the word from God did not fail. So, the question comes back to us: who wants to be Mary this Advent season? Not just for a few moments in a pageant, but who wants to be so sold out to God that we’re willing to trust he can use insignificant us to accomplish great things in the world? Who wants to be Mary? If you’re ready and willing to follow her example and go where God leads you, I invite you say her prayer along with me. Let’s pray. “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”

Just An Ordinary Day

Pastor Deb Rousselle...

Thanksgiving is Thursday!  What does that mean to you? 

·      Time to give thanks.

·      Time to go around the table and tell what you are thankful for

·      Time to clean the house, round up all the chairs and find the card table, then make a big meal which will be eaten in 15 minutes then clean up while everyone watches football.

·      Just another day – with better than usual food?

Maybe Thanksgiving is just a day like any other day – just an ordinary day. 

Maybe.  It depends on how we see the ordinary.  Yes it is the same 24 hrs. as any other day.  But is any day ordinary?

ORDINARY

Are we overlooking the presence of God in our lives?  No time is ordinary with God!

When we make each day ordinary we fail to appreciate all that God, through his love for us, provides.  No time with God is ordinary.  It becomes ordinary when we fail to appreciate all that is around us and neglect the opportunities to celebrate God’s love.

Our determination of ordinary is decidedly different from God’s.  God chose ordinary people to be parents of his Son, Jesus Christ.  In children’s church we have been learning about Mary, who was young, maybe 13-14, who would have done things that women normally did – she would have made bread, carried water from the well and swept the floors.  Joseph, a simple carpenter was to be Mary’s husband.  The shepherds, not a highly esteemed job, were the first to visit the baby Jesus in a common stable.  (in less than ordinary overnight accommodations.)

It hurts my heart when I hear people say they don’t celebrate birthdays or anniversaries or other memorable days because the days are just like any other.

 I want to say, “They don’t have to be”.  There are so many things in life to celebrate.  If you don’t celebrate how about simply not ignoring or taking for granted but rather give thanks – give thanks for your life, for your friends and family, for the job that pays the bills, for the amazing grace of Jesus Christ and for your salvation.

Have we lost the sense of beauty in the ordinary? 

Turn now to the person next to you or behind you or in front of you and I have two things I’d like for you to talk about – Share one ordinary thing that you saw or experienced on the way to church today, then tell one another what an ordinary day is like in your life. 

Too often we live one day into the next with schedule in hand and we miss so much! 

So, what do we do when we feel the drudgery of day after day?  Some will think, “I need some ‘me’ time – so we add a Girls Night Out or join a softball league and before long that can become one more thing to schedule.  We try to escape by doing more.

There is a story told of a tourist on a rush tour of Europe who screeched to a stop in front of St. Paul’s cathedral and called to his wife, “You take the inside.  I’ll do the outside.  Meet you here in 5 minutes.”  Sometimes we are so eager to do everything that nothing gets the attention it deserves.

Have any of you ever over planned a vacation?  You know, the time you are supposed to be getting away from the daily grind, relaxing, but instead you are on the road trying to find the world’s biggest ball of twine and then on to the Iowa City Corn Museum before going to the amusement park, where for the cost of those tickets you are going to stay till the last possible minute to get your monies worth.

Being busy is our way of life.  We are constantly reminded of what we should be doing and where we should be and when.  That’s not horrible.  What is a problem though is that busyness can dull our awareness of the creative wonders of God’s power.  God didn’t retire after creating for 6 days.  God is still active in our lives and expects us to be actively living our faith.  Like Wade told us last week, we get faith, we’ve got faith, we live faith.

Our gospel lesson contains a parable – a story with meaning – often times multiple meanings.  This parable of the fig tree tells us about what God expects from us.  As we explore this parable I would ask that you think about what you may need to do in your life to meet these expectations.

Luke 13: 6-8 – Then he told this parable:  “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.  So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any.  Cut it down! Why should it take up soil?”  “Sir, the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.  If it bears fruit next year, fine!  If not, then cut it down.”

I did a bit of research – I knew from my years working at the apple orchard that apple trees take about 3 years before they bear fruit – so I thought the man in the parable was being a bit inpatient with the tree – but then I googled fig tree and discovered that fig trees could produce fruit within the first year, however it is not uncommon for them to fail to set fruit or ripen properly because they have a long juvenile period (I thought that term interesting) and could possibly take 4-5 yrs.

Juvenile period – how often are we inpatient with tweens and teens – thinking they should be maturing a bit faster than they do – then I began to relate that to me and you.  How must God feel when we take so long to mature in our faith.

Perhaps Jesus was telling his listeners that he had been with them for 3 years now, proclaiming the truth and being a living example of God.  People are following him but do they fully believe.  Where is the change in their lives – are their lives producing fruit?  

God is patient but God expects growth.  How long have you known about Jesus?  How long have you known Jesus?  Have you opened yourself to the work of the Holy Spirit?  Any fruit yet? 

Just what is this fruit?  Galatians 5:22 – “But the Spirit produces love, joy peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

It is difficult to produce fruit if you are in a hurry – Tuesday evening I became frustrated as I sat at my computer trying to find the right words for today.  So, with little regard to self-control I woofed down half a tube of Pringles while playing Words with Friends.  That kept my mind off what I needed to be thinking about.  It was only when I was lying in bed Wednesday morning that my mind quieted enough for me to hear what God wanted me to see.

We are the fig tree Why produce fruit?  John 15: 8 – “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become his disciple.”

 God is patient with us but to be considered Christian disciples we must do more than take up space.  You are here and are planted in fertile soil.  You must establish your roots so you can receive the nutrients that are there for you.  These roots have to be established – because a tree without firm roots will fall.  Michael and I know this firsthand.  This is what happened during an ice storm in 2007.  The ice was too heavy for the root system and it came down with a crash.  Jesus tells his listeners – time will run out – there are consequences for lives that produce no fruit. 

We have to be open to growing and producing fruit.  Jesus prepared the ground for us – by his death on the cross, through the grace of God, we are forgiven.  That doesn’t mean that we sit in the field taking up space.  Through the Holy Spirit our lives are fertilized.  And you know what they used for fertilizer – manure or as the book I read put it – dung.  I can’t hear that word ‘dung’ without thinking of my nephew Ryan.  Ryan was 4 years old when he was found wondering the streets in Korea.  My sister-in-law and her husband adopted him.  We went to Pittsburgh to meet him.  He spoke no English.  Yet when he followed me into the bedroom while I changed Suzy’s diaper he pointed and said, ‘’dung” – a word with universal meaning.

Sometimes it takes some dung in our lives to help us grow.  Over the last few years I can see how the fertilizer in my life has produced more peace, more gentleness and increased my faith.  Michael’s leukemia has slowed us down and given us a renewed appreciation for life.  As caregiver during the illness I found my patience being tried, and through the fruit of patience is growing.  I learned to be gentler – to try to put myself in his shoes – or up until very recently his walking cast.  I may complain to my friends but when I’m in a situation that requires being gentle I think I’m a lot better now than I was 3 years ago.  Every 3 months Michael goes to Northwestern for blood work.  The molecular study, which determines the most minute make-up of the cells, is able to detect the beginnings of the cancer.  The results of this test take 2 weeks.  During this time we have developed patience and increased faith that no matter the results we will be ok.

Don’t be afraid of the dung.   I read recently of a woman who never celebrated anything because she was afraid – because every time she began to hope or celebrate something hurt or disappointed her.  To avoid being hurt, she did not invest any hope or in her living.  But to live like that is to be immersed in continual hurt and pain.  To never experience the overwhelming joy of life around us, even in the dark times, when strength comes from those around you, is tragic.

Trees best produce fruit when they are cross pollinated.  Some fruit trees will have a good crop by themselves, though they will often have more fruit with cross pollination and this is especially true with figs.  So we are figs, we need one another.  The fruit that we produce will help another see Christ through you.

So how do we produce fruit, you may ask.  It may mean reprioritizing.  Maybe deciding to dvr ‘Dancing with the Stars’ or ‘The Mentalist’ and going to a FISH group instead.   If you are wondering just what is so great about being in a small group I would encourage you to talk with someone from Brown Bag Bible Study or the SALT group or one of the Disciple groups.   If you talk to someone from the Brown Bag group you will find they rarely want to miss a week.  This investment of time  - time to be together, to learn, to laugh, to pray – is an important part of their week.

It’s important to be together – to cross-pollinate.  In our Epistle reading from 1 Thess. we heard, “And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  Make sure that nobody pays back wrong with wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other…Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all  circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

When Paul was writing this he realized that early Christians knew a lot about suffering; here Paul wanted them to learn how to celebrate in the midst of the suffering – to celebrate the not so ordinary ordinary days.

Last week Wade asked us to name our passion.  Today I would ask that we find the things we delight in.  I love watching the squirrels jump from limb to limb, I find peace in watching a deer in the woods.

I often tell my daughter and myself – keep the child in you alive.  After all Jesus said we are to come to him as a little child.

Do you remember the sense of awe you had as a child when the Christmas tree was lit?  How about the first snowfall – where the flakes are like lace buttons?  Can you find the awe amidst the concerns for how the roads will be for driving, how you will get to work, who will watch the kids if school is called off…

Take a moment – look around.  Nothing is ordinary.  Each day brings wonder and delight when we take the time to accept the risk of looking for it.

I find delight in a lot of things – when I slow down.  Thursday morning I found myself sitting at the kitchen table with my back to the sliding glass door, making shadow puppets on the refrigerator – do you know how long it had been since I’d done that.

I am still flying high form the wonderful time we had renewing our vows.

I am in awe as I see my baby girl as a grown woman.

As we journey into the Advent season will you allow me to ask a few things of you?   I would ask you to try saying yes to the things that allow you to slow down and no to the things that make you fret.

That may look like saying yes to having a cup of coffee with a friend and no to cleaning the baseboards before the family comes for Christmas dinner.

It’s saying yes to getting a group together to make cookies instead of thinking you have to make 12 dozen of everyone’s favorites or it just won’t be Christmas.

It’s not sending out cards to your next door neighbor but knocking on their door and saying Merry Christmas instead. 

It’s not signing 100 cards for your friends at church but instead agreeing to donate the money you would have spent to the Advent conspiracy.  The will be a container on the Connection Center next week for that purpose (remember there are no longer mail slots for that)

Slow down and re-connect with the ‘reason for the season’.  Read to your child the story of Jesus birth from a children’s Bible.  Give yourself the gift of reading the familiar passages from Luke again – see what you may have forgotten or missed in past readings.  I used to read “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” to Suzy every year.  It’s a fun way to get the message of God’s love.

Ring bells for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Drive – ask a friend or take some kids with you.  First you may want to check the Salvation Army website to see just how this money is used.

Be kind to an overworked sales clerk.  Be patient in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Hear the words of Christmas carols with new ears.  Go caroling with a group from church on Dec. 4^th.

When you say you go to church, when others know that you are Christian they will have expectations from you.  There was once a vine that felt unappreciated.  People came and removed grapes without a single word of gratitude.  One day a priest sat down to rest in the shade near the vine.  Taking the opportunity to explain its concern, the vine said, “As you can see I am a vine.  Young men and old women come by and take my ripe grapes without ever saying thank you to me for all my efforts.  How can people be so insensitive?  The priest pondered the question for a moment and then replied, “perhaps people are insensitive, but in all probability their lack of gratitude comes from a different reason.  Just as people expect the sun to shine and the wind to blow, they expect grapes from a vine.  They are no doubt under the impression that providing grapes is your duty,” the priest said with a wry smile.

Produce fruit this Advent season which will ripen throughout your life.

Jesus said, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Bread or BBQ?

The Sermon Study Guide is here.

Acts 2:1-13

November 5/6, 2011 • Portage First UMC

Fresh out of school, Pastor Fred Craddock was assigned to a small church in the middle of the country. The church building itself would hold about eighty people, with hand-carved pews and a pump organ in the corner. The village nearby was small, but the larger area had recently grown by leaps and bounds. New industry had moved in, and there were tents and house trailers all over the area. Construction workers had arrived from nearly every state in the nation. Pastor Craddock saw an opportunity here, a chance to reach out with the good news about Jesus to these workers, many of whom were far from home. He wanted to roll out the welcome mat and help these folks find their way to the church. But his board chairperson opposed him. “They’re not our kind,” he told the pastor. “They’re just living in tents and trailers and everything. They’re laborers. They follow construction. No roots. They’re not our kind. They wouldn’t fit in.” The debate went on for a while and finally they called a church meeting after worship the next Sunday.

No sooner had the meeting been called to order than someone stood and made a motion. “I move that anybody seeking membership in this church must own property in this county.” The motion was seconded, and the board chairman turned to Pastor Craddock to remind him that, as the pastor, he didn’t have a vote. The motion passed unanimously, and from that moment on it was official church policy that becoming a member required local land ownership.

Years later, Pastor Craddock found himself back in that area and decided to check on the church, to see how things were going. A new interstate had been put in which made finding the church difficult, but soon enough he and his wife were traveling up the little road toward the grove of pine trees that surrounded the church. The building looked like it was in great shape, and the parking lot was full. Trucks and cars everywhere. Pastor Craddock could hardly believe what he saw, until he approached the door and read the sign that said, “BBQ, All You Can Eat, $4.99.” When he went in, he found the former sanctuary filled with people. The pews were along the walls, the organ was covered with dirty dishes, and Pastor Craddock realized the church had died, the building had been sold, and a very popular restaurant had taken over. As he looked around the room, he noticed people from all walks of life—all ages, colors and backgrounds—and he commented to his wife, “If this were still the kind of church it used to be, some of these folks sure wouldn’t fit in.” This place that once offered the Bread of Life was now serving “all you can eat” BBQ to folks who would have been denied entrance before (qtd. in Moore, How God Takes Our Little & Makes It Much, pgs. 61-63).

The story of that church strikes me as a parable for the choice we constantly have to make about the kind of church we want to be. The church of Jesus Christ exists for a very specific reason, and it’s not to be a country club gathering or a dining service or a place where nice people gather to feel good about themselves. The church of Jesus Christ exists in order to be a witness of God’s love and mercy and grace, and to help other people—even the entire world—experience that same love and mercy and grace. John Wesley claimed the whole world as his parish, as the place where he was called to share Jesus. The United Methodist Church has this as our purpose statement: “To make disciples (or followers) of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” In our local church, we say we are “becoming a community where all people encounter Jesus Christ.” All of that is reflected in the passage we read this evening/morning from Acts 2.

Here’s the setting: forty days after Passover, forty days after Jesus had been crucified and raised from the dead, he had met with his followers and told them he was going to send them “power”—the presence of the Holy Spirit. Now, that power was not just for their own self-worth or so they could feel good about themselves. It wasn’t superhero power. It was strength that would enable them to do what he called them to do: “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8). The word translated “power” is dunamis, which is the root for our word “dynamite.” It’s power that will “blow up” the world, change the world. But Jesus told them to wait, to gather together and wait for the power to come, and then he returned to God the Father. He was gone, and so they did what he told them to do. Ten days later is where the story picks up in Acts 2.

“When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place” (2:1). The feast of Pentecost was one of three great Jewish festivals. Pentecost is a word that literally means “fiftieth,” and so it was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. Originally it was an agricultural festival, celebrating the beginning of the wheat harvest. The first of the harvest was offered to God, and prayers were said that the rest of the harvest would be safely brought in (Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part One, pg. 21). So there are lots of people in Jerusalem for this festival, and the followers of Jesus are gathered together in community. They didn’t gather together to just feel good, or to sit back and talk about the good old days when Jesus was with them. They gathered together to wait on God’s promise of power. They were a community gathered so they could become a community scattered—sent out to do the work Jesus had called them to do. We are becoming a community—not for the sake of ourselves, but for the sake of the world. We gather here on Sunday in order to be strengthened, empowered so that for the next six days we can be out in the world living as his witnesses in everything we do. You know the old commercial for American Express that said, “Membership has its privileges”? Sometimes we think that’s true for the church, but a better slogan for the church would be, “Membership has its responsibilities.” When we are part of this community, there are things we promise to do: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. We’ll talk more about those in a moment, but the point is this: we gather as a community not for our own sake but for the sake of a world that needs to encounter Jesus Christ. Community is not the end or goal; it’s the beginning.

As they are together, the Spirit of God comes upon them, and they are enabled to speak in many different languages. The reason for that particular ability on this day is because there were many different people from many different nations in Jerusalem for the festival. When they leave the place they are gathered, they encounter people from Parthia, Media, Crete, Rome, and several other places representing an area covering tens of thousands of square miles (Wright 29)—and because the disciples are enabled to speak in languages they haven’t learned, everyone gets to hear the story of Jesus in their own language (2:8). They’re becoming a community that welcomes and embraces all people—and more than that, a community that will do whatever it takes to share the good news with all people. One way we’ve tried to do that is by offering four different worship services on two sites—because different people resonate with different sorts of music and different orders of worship. It’s the same gospel. It’s the same Jesus. Just because it looks different, or it’s in a style you don’t prefer doesn’t mean it’s not the same Jesus. Paul once said he wanted to “become all things to all people so that by all possible means” he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22). Beyond that, we send out people who reach across cultural barriers, who learn a new culture and sometimes even a new language in order to share the good news of Jesus. You’ve heard from Sarah this morning, who has given her life to sharing the gospel across cultures, and I have been proud for many years to be one of her supporters. Our goal is always to do whatever it takes to reach all people.

But we don’t just reach them for the sake of the church. Our mission is to become a community where all people encounter—not Portage First, but Jesus Christ. “You will be my witnesses,” Jesus told the disciples, and when the Spirit came on them, that’s what they did. They weren’t interested in what people thought of them—in fact, some people were intrigued (“How is it each of us hears them in our native language?”) and some were put off and made fun of the disciples (“They have had too much wine.”). We shouldn’t be surprised by those reactions; they are probably the same sorts of reactions we will get when we, through word and deed, seek to help people encounter Jesus (cf. Fernando, NIV Application Commentary: Acts, pg. 89). Some will listen, some will mock, and that’s not so important as whether or not we are being faithful to what and who Jesus calls us to be. The Spirit is described in one way here in Acts as a rushing wind (2:2), a wind that sweeps us up in its movement, and as Bishop Tom Wright comments, “It’s far more important that you’re out there in the wind, letting it sweep through your life, your heart, your imagination, your powers of speech, and transform you from a listless or lifeless believer into someone whose heart is on fire with the love of God” (22). That’s what happened to these disciples on that first Christian Pentecost. They were swept up in the wind of the Holy Spirit. And that’s the sort of church Jesus is still looking for today—one that is becoming a community where all people encounter Jesus Christ, where they love God, love others and offer Jesus. The question for us really comes down to this: do we want become a BBQ place or do we want to offer the Bread of life, Jesus himself (cf. John 6:35)?

As I said last week, to accomplish the mission God has given us will require a church full of people who are “all in” on the mission. One of the values we hold here is “extravagant generosity,” and I know when we hear that, we usually think of money, but extravagant generosity is more a lifestyle than anything else. That’s why we’ve renamed this day “Generosity Sunday,” because it’s really not about paying the bills of the church, though that has to be done. It’s about giving ourselves away generously for the sake of Jesus’ mission, just as those first disciples did in the days and years that followed Pentecost. Earlier, I mentioned five areas where we are called to give generously: prayers, presence, gifts, service, witness. And those are the five areas I’m asking us all to make a commitment to in the coming year. I’m going to ask the ushers to hand out our commitment cards at this point, and I want to talk through them for a few moments. These five commitments are what is on the cards; it’s that simple. And the first commitment is prayer. Everything in the life of this place must be undergirded with prayer. The disciples in that upper room were praying constantly (1:14) when the Spirit came upon them. So the first commitment we ask from everyone is to pray regularly for the mission of the church—and when I say “regularly,” that means as often as you can, as often as you think of the church. Pray for our leadership, pray for our outreach, pray for unity among the church, pray for your pastors. I cannot tell you how much it encourages Deb and I when someone tells us they’ve been praying for us. Prayer.

Then, presence. Presence means, simply, showing up. Most of us probably think of ourselves as “regular” attendees at worship, but do you know research shows that those who say they come every week really only come 1.5 weeks out of a month? That’s 38% of the time, and if we were in school and have a 38% attendance level, we wouldn’t pass. Now, there are no grades in worship attendance, but it does beg the question of what is important in our lives. Are we willing to show up? We have four different times for worship. Can each of us set a goal of being in worship 75% of the time in 2012? That’s a “C” on a grading scale, a passing grade. Can we show up that often? Prayers and presence.

And gifts. On one hand, it’s a reality that it takes money to operate anything today, and your Finance Committee has provided an projected budget for 2012 in the bulletins this morning. It’s no secret that costs continue to increase, and so as a church family, we have to take that seriously. But the other side of that is that money has such a strong hold on us, often controlling our thoughts, our lives and our actions, that part of the discipline of giving is to break money’s power over us. Pentecost, remember, was a festival that involved offering the first of the harvest back to God. The Biblical model is that we offer the first fruit of our labor back to God as a way of putting God first rather than money. For our family, that means the first check I write is to the church. Now, Biblically speaking, our first offering is a tithe, 10% of what we earn. And I know that’s hard, it’s a difficult place to start, and so we work toward that. We take steps each year, perhaps, toward 10%. In our family, we have tithed since early in our marriage and I can tell you we have never been without what we need. We don’t buy everything we think we want, but I’ve learned God is faithful to us when we are faithful to him. But don’t just take my word for it. I’d like you to hear from one of our young families about how they have learned to give and have received in return.

VIDEO: Dan & Jacki Brubaker

So what will you give this coming year? In your bulletins this morning, you have a proposed budget, and our treasurer has indicated that, if we were giving at a 10% level as a congregation, we could support an even larger budget than we currently have, and that’s a low estimate because the most current 2011 demographics indicates that, despite what we think, income in our area has risen 21.5% in the last ten years. The average household income for this area is around $68,000. Granted, some of us are above that and some are below; it’s an average. My point is this: we find the money for what is important to us. Is the mission of reaching people for Jesus important to us? This involves, by the way, as Dan mentioned in the video, giving our 10% to God’s work through the church, and then seeing what else we can work toward giving to, perhaps Crossroads, or perhaps a missionary. As I mentioned, Cathy and I support Sarah in our giving beyond our tithe. In fact, we support several missionaries who are friends of ours or whose work has made a difference in our lives. I need to do that; I need to give so that money does not control me and so that others (like Sarah) can, serve Jesus in the way they have been called to serve. I love being a part of Sarah offering Jesus in New Zealand. I love knowing that what I give can make an eternal difference around the world. Prayer and presence and gifts.

And service. On his last night with the disciples before his crucifixion, Jesus served them. He washed their feet (cf. John 13), and he told them that they were called to do likewise, to serve each other. Throughout his ministry, Jesus expressed a deep passion for the least, the last and the lost, and he often met physical needs before he met spiritual ones. There are many opportunities to serve in our church and in our community, to meet needs. Two very pressing needs right now are folks who will step up and serve as set-up and tear-down crews on Saturdays for PF Hope. Right now, the band is doing that, in addition to leading worship and greeting people. We need folks who will help the band focus on their primary mission and serve by being roadies and techies and thereby allowing the band to do what they are primarily called to do (cf. Acts 6:1-7). The other need that’s coming up very quickly is the community Thanksgiving Dinner, and some of us are able to give up time on Thanksgiving to serve others in the love of Christ, those who have no one, perhaps those who have never experienced Jesus’ love in that way. Now, there are lots of other ways to serve, and if you haven’t found your niche yet, check that line that says you want help exploring options, and Pastor Deb or I would love to help connect your gifts with opportunities to serve. Prayers and presence and gifts and service.

And witness. The story of the book of Acts is the story of the disciples sharing the good news of Jesus. In fact, at the end of this day, 3,000 people come to know Jesus (2:41). On this particular day, if you read the rest of the chapter, Peter speaks up and preaches a sermon, and sometimes we will need to speak of our faith in Jesus. But other times, we need to better live the life in front of others. Pastor Mike Slaughter says, “People do not believe the gospel simply because of our words; seeing is believing. Our walk must precede our talk” (Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, pg. 86). We witness to our faith by not leaving it behind when we leave the doors of worship. We live our faith each and every moment, by acting ethically, by responding to injustice, by loving the unloveable, by loving God, loving others and offering Jesus.  Then people will be ready to hear us speak of him. Will you live your faith more in 2012 than you have in 2011? Will you witness for Jesus?

Prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. In just a moment, we’re going to pray and prepare our hearts for Holy Communion. But we’re going to first have a time of silence as you listen to God about what commitments of generosity you want to or need to make for the coming year. And to just commit what we’ve always does not push us further in faith. So how is God calling you to be generous in 2012? For first, silence, and then, as we come forward to receive communion, the bread and the cup that remind us of Jesus’ great love for us, we will bring our commitments to him as a sign and symbol and act of our love for him. If you’re visiting for the first time here this evening/morning, rest assured that communion is open to you and you need not worry about a commitment card. But if you’re a regular part of this worshipping congregation, what I want to encourage you to do is to first receive the symbols of Jesus’ love—the bread which represents his body broken for us, and the cup which represents his blood shed for us—and once you’ve received, then lay your commitment to Jesus for the coming year on the communion rail. Remember this is not about church; this is about our mission for Jesus in this community. That’s why we give. That’s why we live lives of extravagant generosity—it’s so we can more and more become a community where all people encounter Jesus Christ, for he is the bread of life and those who come to him will never go hungry and never be disappointed (cf. John 6:35). Amen.