| John 15:9-17 "When Resurrection Happens" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 20 May 2006 | |
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I want to read you a quote from an interview with Brian McLaren, author of The Secret Code of Jesus. McLaren was asked to give his opinion concerning popular culture’s fascination with Dan Brown’s book (now movie) The DaVinci Code. “We need to ask ourselves why the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown's book is more interesting, attractive, and intriguing to [these] people than the standard vision of Jesus they hear about in church. Why would so many people be disappointed to find that Brown's version of Jesus has been largely discredited as fanciful and inaccurate, leaving only the church's conventional version? Is it possible that, even though Brown's fictional version misleads in many ways, it at least serves to open up the possibility that the church's conventional version of Jesus may not do him justice? For all the flaws of Brown's book, I think what he's doing is suggesting that the dominant religious institutions have created their own caricature of Jesus.” What does McLaren mean by that? He states: “The name ‘Jesus’ and the word ‘Christianity’ [have become] associated with something judgmental, hostile, hypocritical, angry, negative, defensive, anti-[whatever], etc. Many of our churches, even though they feel they represent the truth, actually are upholding something that's distorted and false…Brown's book is about exposing hypocrisy and cover-up in organized religion, and it is exposing organized religion's grasping for power. Again, there's something in that that people resonate with in the age of pedophilia scandals, televangelists, and religious political alliances.” He concludes: “Ultimately, The Da Vinci Code is telling us important things about the image of Jesus that is being portrayed by the dominant Christian voices. [Readers] don't find that [image] satisfactory, genuine, or authentic, so they're looking for something that seems more real and authentic.” What if McLaren is right? What if the Gospel As presented by some in the Church is a flawed caricature of Jesus? A Trojan Horse (if you will) that claims to give meaning “full” life but is largely powerless to change human lives. Sexual abuse by clergy; TV evangelists and prominent Mega Church pastors living in multi-million dollar homes while claiming compassion for the poor; Churches dabbling in political alliances insisting that God is politically partisan. These things dishonor the Gospel. Popular culture is becoming bored with these negative messages and looking elsewhere for meaning “full” life. What good word does the scripture give to help us, as the Church reclaim our relevance, and how can we re-present the Gospel in a way that it can be heard, not just by the religiously recycled, but a whole new generation for Christ? Our reading comes from the gospel of John 15:9-17: 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. Oh, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Fred Craddock tells the story about a family out for a Sunday drive; when suddenly, the two children shout: “Daddy, Daddy, stop the car! There’s a kitten back there on the side of the road!” Dad responds, “So there’s a kitten on the side of the road, so what?” “But daddy, you’ve got to stop.” “No, I don’t.” “But daddy, if we don’t stop it might get run over and die.” “There’s no room at our house for another animal,” dad argues. “But Daddy, are you going to just let it die?” Dad hunkers down in silence. “Daddy, I can’t believe you would be so mean to let a little kitten die,” his daughter accuses. Finally his wife turns to him and says, “Honey, you’ve got to stop.” Grumpily he turns the car around, returns to the spot, and pulls off the side of the road. “Stay in the car,” dad huffs as he goes out to pick up the little kitten. It’s just skin and bones, and full of fleas. When he reaches down to pick it up, with its last bit of energy the kitten bristles, baring tooth and claw, and hisses at him. He picks up the kitchen by the loose skin at the neck, brings it over to the car and says, “Don’t’ touch it. It’s probably got leprosy!” Once home, the children give the kitten several baths, about a gallon of warm milk, and then plead: “Can we let it stay in the house, just tonight?” The father says, “Sure, it can take my bed: The whole house is already a zoo anyway!” Several weeks pass. One day the father walks in, feels something rub against his leg, looks down, and there is the kitten. Carefully checking to see no that no one is looking, he reaches down to pet it. The kitten arches its back to receive a caress. And he wonders to himself, “Is this the same frightened, hurt, hissing kitten I found on the side of the road?” It isn’t of course. You know as well as I what makes the difference…. Craddock Stories p.24-25 Perhaps an even more profound question, “Is this the same person that wanted to drive on by a dying kitten, rather then disrupt a Sunday drive? Of course not! A resurrection of sorts has occurred. He is no longer the person he was. At a fundamental level I believe the Christian faith is as much about what it does for us as about what it does through us for others. So lets begin with a little confession: Confession Jesus commands us to love not because it is easy, but because we often fail to do it! There is brokenness in the church. There is brokenness in the church because there is brokenness in you and me as human beings! In the New Testament church there was considerable evidence of brokenness, internal strife and wide disagreement about beliefs and practices. In fact, biblical scholars claim that most of the New Testament books were actually letters written in response to problems in the church. In I Corinthians 13, Paul is responding to reports that members of the church in Corinth were struggling with internal division and what sounds like beautiful love poetry, is actually (according to scholars) instruction and even at times rebuke. Paul is telling the members of the church in Corinth not to allow their pride to create division and mistrust. And his instruction is that for the sake of the gospel, unity shall be persevered. And the way unity is persevered is through love. Unity does not deny there are differences of opinion or belief. In my mind, unity implies a fundamental decision to be in relationship with one another, regardless of those differences. It is this same intent that is reflected in the wedding vows. “For better, for worse,” does not imply smooth sailing, in fact it implies quite the opposite. In that context, unity does not necessarily mean agreement. It means commitment. I would much rather have authenticity and integrity and tough but honest dialogue in the church then a insincere veneer of agreement that things are okay or that we simply won’t go there because, well its just too painful. 12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. The Gospel is about resurrection; the transforming radical love of Jesus Christ. And if we in the church are not being transformed; if we are not “Loving others as Christ loves us,” then why should our neighbor, co-worker, cousin or enemy respond to the Gospel we proclaim? Talk about not doing Jesus justice! So we begin with confession. I invite you to join me in the Prayer of confession printed in your bulletin: Lord, we confess our day-to-day failure to be truly human. Lord, we confess to you. Lord, we confess that we often fail to love with all we have and are, often because we do not fully understand what loving means, often because we are afraid of risking ourselves, Lord, we confess to you. Lord, we cut ourselves off from each other and we erect barriers of division. Lord, we confess to you. Lord, we confess that by silence and ill-considered word, we have built up walls of prejudice. Lord, we confess that by selfishness and lack of sympathy we have stifled generosity and left little time for others. Holy Spirit, speak to us. Help us to listen to your word of forgiveness, for we are very deaf. Come fill this moment and free us from sin. 893 Prayer of Confession UMH In scripture, Call follows Confession. A classic example of this is Isaiah’s call as Prophet recorded in Isaiah chapter 6. God’s “Whom shall I send?” (vs.8) is preceded first by Isaiah’s “Woe to me, I am unclean….” (vs.5). This idea of call is picked up in this morning’s scripture reading. Verse 15, I do not CALL you Doulos (doo'-los) servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have CALLED you Philos (fee'-los) friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. fee'-los, literally “companion.” Christ calls us his Companions! I think we mistakenly conclude that the Church is where you find Jesus. Quite the contrary, Jesus is where the church finds itself in the world. Your call is to take Jesus home with you. To take Jesus to the office, into your neighborhood, school, PTA, sport complexes, and Yoga class. Your call is to take Jesus into the struggle, failures, occasional crisis and ongoing challenge of everyday life. YOUR LIFE IS YOUR MISSION FIELD! While in New Orleans on the Adult Mission trip I met Gene and Debbie Faurie, whose home and church in Buras, Louisiana were flooded following Hurricane Katrina. Gene is the pastor of Trinity UMC in Buras, Louisiana. When the Fauries lost their church and home, Gretna UMC placed a trailer on its property for them to live in until their home could be rebuilt. In addition, Gretna UMC made available its facilities to the congregation of Trinity UMC to use for weekly worship and fellowship. Gene said when they saw satellite images of their community, they saw only a few buildings poking out of the floodwater. Thus everyone assumed all but a few homes had been washed away. After the waters receded, however, they discovered that the few roofs they saw poking through the water were actually those of two story buildings. Everything else was totally submerged. The community of Buras has become famous as the location where, on August 29, 2005, the eye of Hurricane Katrina, made its strongest landfall. Basically, the whole community will have to be bulldozed. This catastrophe has forced the members of Trinity UMC in Buras to redefine what it means to be the church just as it has forced Gretna UMC to redefine what it means to be the church. If they weren’t culturally relevant before, they are now! This is Christ transforming culture. Archbishop Desmond Tutu puts it this way, "God places us in the world as his fellow workers -- agents of transfiguration. We work with God so that injustice is transfigured into justice, so that there will be more compassion and caring, that there will be more laughter and joy, that there will be more togetherness in God's world." Your spiritual gifts are not about keeping this church going. Your spiritual gifts are about you being “the church in the world.” They equip you to be in mission to others. God has embedded you in homes, workplaces, schools and communities to work within your own sphere of influence to usher in the Kingdom of God. I was pleased to learn that members of the Spiritual Journeymen, our men’s group, used their corporate connections to find sponsorship for their golf tournament raising funds for MSS, our local social service agency and other charities! These men were working within their sphere of influence to be Christ transforming culture. Some of our senior high youth have gotten into the habit of getting together after WOW (Worship on Wednesdays) for coffee at Starbucks. I am told they talk about all sorts of things, not necessarily church stuff. I see this as the beginnings of a youth program that defines itself not as being in mission once a year on mission trip, but being engaged in mission on an everyday basis. Bringing Christ into the local Starbucks, high school, and community. People are hungry for love. That’s what I think Jesus meant when he said, “The fields are white for the harvest.” (John 4:35) My wife, Susan has helped me realize that my greatest mission field is my own family. That if I cannot be Christ to my own children, (or allow them to be Christ to me) then I’m not ready to be Christ to the world. So, I’m learning. And “Thank God for grace!” At the end of the interview with McLaren, the author was asked how he hoped churches would engage The DaVinci Code. I would like to see churches teach their people how to have intelligent dialogue that doesn't degenerate into argument. We have to teach people that the Holy Spirit works in the middle of conversation. We see it time and time again - Jesus enters into dialogue with people; Paul and Peter and the apostles enter into dialogue with people. We tend to think that the Holy Spirit can only work in the middle of a monologue where we are doing the speaking. So if our churches can encourage people to, if you see someone reading the book or you know someone who's gone to the movie, say, "What do you think about Jesus and what do you think about this or that," and to ask questions instead of getting into arguments, that would be wonderful. The more we can keep conversations open and going the more chances we give the Holy Spirit to work. But too often people want to get into an argument right away. And, you know, Jesus has handled 2,000 years of questions, skepticism, and attacks, and he's gonna come through just fine. So we don't have to be worried. Lisa Ann Cockrel is associate editor at Today's Christian Woman. (Excerpt from Sojourners newsletter). Jesus calls us! So let us respond to his Call. Please join me in the “Affirmation of Call” printed in your bulletin: We are not alone, we live in God’s world. We believe in God: who has created and is creating, Who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God. We are called to be the church: To celebrate God’s presence, To love and serve others To seek justice and resist evil, To proclaim Jesus, crucified and rise, Our judge and our hope. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen. |
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