2020-02-09 Core Value Worship

Core Value Worship

“In all we say or do, we believe gathering in worship honors God while creating fellowship and spiritual growth.”

“Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don't know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming— and is here! —when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth." John 4:21-24 CEB

“Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You must have no other gods before me. Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the LORD your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents' sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:1-6 CEB

“So, brothers and sisters, because of God's mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God's will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.” Romans 12:1-2 CEB

If I had a dime for every time, I was in worship.

Growing up, we just did worship. My first memories are from the time of living in New Jersey. My father attended Drew Theological Seminary as a student of pastoral ministry and served the Teabo-Mt. Hope parish. I do not remember much of the Mt. Hope church. It was the Teabo church, I remember. Standing on the porch of the parsonage, to the right, was an open lot, the fellowship house (a single room long building for dinners and gatherings), and then the sanctuary of the church. In front of the buildings was a drive that connected them all. Past the drive lay railroad tracks used several times a day. On either end of the property stood woods. Behind, was open ground up the mountain through an old coal mining area to the outer fence of the Piccadilly Arsenal. We moved into the house before I can remember and moved out of the house when I was five.

My two memories of worship both included consuming. First, I remember eating Cheerios in the pew next to my mother and sister, hearing my father's voice from the front of the sanctuary. Second, I remember swallowing a dime while waiting on the offering plate to be passed. The second memory stands out as I was taken outside during worship, hung upside down by an usher, and pounded on my back. The dime went into my stomach; despite the best efforts of my grandmother, she never recovered the money after having been processed for nutrients.

Worship started to become more real as I discovered girls. I don't know how many times I was "saved" by going to the altar at evangelistic meetings my dad held. Whenever a certain cute girl would go to the railing to pray, I walked down the aisle and knelt next to her. It was always hard to think romantic thoughts with someone whispering the salvation prayer in your ear.

Attending camp brought worship alive for higher purposes. At junior high camp, then at senior high camp, I experienced music and teachings that help me to connect with God. For me, the music lifted my spirit, and the instructions challenged my mind. I often thought, "Why can't church worship at home be like worship at camp?" We did our best.  We formed a drama and music team in our youth group and began leading occasional worship services in our home church and at other local churches. Once, we went on the road to Tennessee and conducted a weekend of services for teens in a small town. It was in worship that I accepted Christ – for real. It was in worship that I received my call to ministry.

How do you kill faith?

I believe gathering in worship honors God while creating fellowship and spiritual growth. Yet today, few people come to Jesus in worship. Worship tends to be the last place people will attend. Think with me about the barriers a non-attender or nominal believer progresses through to participate in a worship service. Most church buildings look like something out of a "Harry Potter" movie, if they are traditional buildings, or look like a Wal-Mart if they are new construction. The buildings are big and off-putting. Next, there is the choice of a door to enter. Most churches have too many entrances or the most prominent entrances someone barricaded. 

Once inside the building, the regular attendees will look at the newcomer like how school kids look at the new kids when they walk into the lunchroom. The looks may not be hostile; but, they hardly say, "here sit next to me." Finding a seat without being asked to move by a long-time attendee has high improbability. The closer to the back of the sanctuary the person attempts to sit, the higher the probability.

Now the worship, bulletins, songs, scriptures, clothing, decorations, all seem surreal. Returning to their familiar car never felt so comforting.  It does not surprise me that today, people will find anything else to do, then come to worship. Yet, worshiping God is central to the practice of faith. 

Commandments one and two of the ten, teach us who to worship and who not to worship. The central story of the First Testament tells how God brought the Hebrews out of Egypt to worship on the mountain for three days. First responders to Jesus' birth worshipped him. The Holy Spirit came to the disciples during worship, giving birth to the church. When God calls all creation to heaven at the end of the age, all will gather to worship.

When a person begins to fall away from the faith, they begin a journey of a thousand steps.  The first step is not to attend worship. Healthy vital faith only happens to the degree that the person of faith worships. If you do not worship the Lord, you are a brand separated from the fire. Like the cooling ember, your faith will die out.  I give you this sad truth. 

Often, I will consent to baptize a baby of a marginally connected church family. I go to their home. I get to know their story. We talk through the meaning of baptism. They attend worship, and I baptize the baby. After the service, the parents' faces glow with the glory of God they have experienced. They promise to return and make worship a part of their lives. They say, "Oh, I need this." They leave the church building never to return to worship and the fire of their faith dies. The fire of faith dies due to the lack of fuel. To say to me, "I can worship on the golf course." "I can worship when I go fishing." "I can worship at the shopping mall." "I can worship online." May all be true. The truth is, people, don't. When you do not attend worship, you dishonor God, you fall out of fellowship with other believers, and your spirit begins to die.

Worship in Spirit and Truth

The Bible does not say, "study the Lord your God," it says, "worship the Lord your God." Jesus told the woman of Samaria that "true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him" (John 4:23). Sally Morgenthaler finds that many contemporary definitions of worship gravitate toward either "spirit" or "truth," and there is much to learn from each.[1]

Morgenthaler draws upon Gerrit Gustafson, who defines worshiping in "spirit" as "the act and attitude of wholeheartedly giving ourselves to God, spirit, soul and body.  Worship is simply the expression of our love for God."[2]  Worship expresses our love for God. How do you show love? Here are just a few ways, I am sure you will think of more. You name the one you love. You name attributes that you experience in the one you love. You remember a time of closeness with your love. You express gratitude for the one you love. These are all things we do in worship.

Worshiping in "truth" is described by Robert Webber when he says, "Worship celebrates God's saving deed in Jesus Christ."[3]  Truth is Jesus Christ. In worship, we celebrate the victory won by God over sin, suffering, injustice, and death, and for the new life given to us and offered to all through Jesus Christ.

Worship is more than recalling to mind "a past event or person that is no longer present." In biblical remembrance, the past "event or person becomes present to us – it is something like experiencing that event or person anew, as a present reality."[4]  "Here is the central point: it is as we remember rightly through our participation in worship that the Spirit of God gives us the right hearts. And it is as we come to worship with hearts seeking God that we remember rightly. Through this dynamic of right heart and right remembrance, spirit, and truth, we grow in the knowledge and love of God and in love for our neighbor.”[5]

Therefore, we can proclaim with the words of worship in the Psalms: 

·      Psalm 95:6 CEB, “Come, let's worship and bow down! Let's kneel before the LORD, our maker!”

·      Psalm 117:1 CEB, “Praise the LORD, all you nations! Worship him, all you peoples!”

·      Psalm 147:12 CEB, “Worship the LORD, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion!”

·      To Jesus, we say, “Amen!” Luke 4:8 CEB, when he commands, "It's written, you will worship the Lord your God and serve only him."

We people of faith declare:

Worship positions the heart. 

Worship positions the mind. 

Worship positions the life.

Worship is about gratitude.

Worship is about praise.

Worship is about saying “I love you.”

Worship Dance Steps

Worship is like dancing to the heart of God. We move toward God. With that in mind, here are some basic worship steps.

Right foot forward: Worship begins with an invitation to "Come and See" because Monday is coming. The invitation is personal and eternal. We mimic God's invitation to worship as we invite others to attend with us. We name who God is. We name who we are. We name who we are in a relationship with God.

Left foot forward: having been invited by God into worship, like a good guest, we thank God. We say, "Thank you, Jesus!" We give gratitude to God for blessings of and in life. "I once was..." "Now, I am..." "Thank you, God, for my transformation today." "I desire to complete my transformation in love."

Both feet jump back: We say, "I'm sorry." We confess the parts of my/our life that need transforming. "Here is what I do that I do not want to do..." "Here is how I failed the pledges I have made..." "Here is how I let Jesus down..."

Both feet jump forward: All things hinge on the word of God. What does God say about my/our situation? "Here is how the word of God speaks to my untransformed life." "Here is what Jesus has done about my untransformed life." "Here is what I can do about my untransformed life."

Both arms raised: "God Help, Me!" Praying to God to act in our lives. "God, take me and transform me." "God, take our church and transform us." "God, take our world and transform us."

Raise the roof: "I will be different, for I am different." I commit to act differently because I/we am/are different.

End it: Reiterate the challenge of transformed living.

The World Worship Dance

Think of worship as dancing to the heart of God, meaning we dance to the music that is God. “Up to Faith is a Christian ministry run mainly by musicians, filmmakers, dancers, choreographers and the like. Their mission? To promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they do it 21st Century style. In 2011, they arranged a Global dance event to celebrate the Risen King, Jesus Christ. After watching the video, who could possibly say that Christianity is dead? It is alive and well and flourishing throughout the world. This is just one example of celebrations around the world, as we take a look at global trends, events and celebrations this Easter Holiday.”[6]

Photo 1UptoFaith Global Dance 2011 – Resurrection Sunday Dance https://youtu.be/IRaUnR1XtgQ

Worship, dance to the heart of God. In all we say or do, we believe gathering in worship honors God while creating fellowship and spiritual growth.

---

[1] (Morgenthaler 1995)

[2] (Gustafson 1991)

[3] (Webber 1992)

[4] (Knight III 1997) 

[5] (Knight III 1997)

[6] (Roberts n.d.) 

Other Years of the Global Dance: 

• Budapest, Hungary - UptoFaith Global Dance 2011 [OFFICIAL] Resurrection Sunday 

Dance 2011 https://youtu.be/NVv0jH33nL4

• Bern, Switzerland - uptofaith Global Dance 2016 - [OFFICIAL] Tanz Bundesplatz Bern 

https://youtu.be/vK8928SfPXw 

• Bern, Switzerland - Up to Faith Global Dance 2012 - [OFFICIAL] Tanz Bundesplatz Bern 

https://youtu.be/R8aDxzjssEU 

2020-10-05 Age of Anxiety Overcoming the Creeps

Age of Anxiety:  Overcoming the Creeps

John 1:1-18

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

We had some fantastic services over the Advent/Christmas season, didn’t we? The singing of Christmas carols, the decoration of our church, the retelling of these ancient, familiar, beloved stories of Christ’s incarnation. Is there anything more enjoyable for Christians than Christmas?

In anticipating this Sunday morning more than a month ago, I shared these words with you, “ever feel anxious in the dark?  Do you feel a lot of darkness in the world?”  Darkness gives me the creeps.

There is a lot to feel creepy about in the world today.  Not knowing what we know now about our world situation, I feel like the darkness is closing in upon us.  Violence in Iran and Iraq, wildfires in Australia, another church shooting, you have heard these stories and more. 

As I shared those words with you, I was not thinking as much about the global darkness as I remembered experiences of darkness.  Walking into a dark room may give you the creeps.  As you may have learned, I learned to slide my hand on the inside of a doorway before entering a room when the room was dark.  Now, of course, I use the flashlight on my cell phone to find an unfamiliar light switch.  There was other darkness during my childhood that was more than creepy. I remember.  

I remember laying in on a sleeping bag in a church in Washington, D. C. listening to the pop of gunfire.  I remember looking out on parts of the city that were darkened by blackouts and seeing the glow of fire.   In the morning, walking through a burned-out street where riots had been.  I remember body counts displayed on the evening news.  I remember being on a bus and hearing about another political assassination.  To me, as a child, those were dark times.  Creepy 

Here is the Good News that was proclaimed then and is for us today!  God has come and moved into our lives, overcoming the darkness around us and in us that we might dwell richly in the Light.

Remember, with me, the book of Genesis.  The books whose name means, “In the beginning.” God says “light,” and dark chaos comes alive with light.  John’s gospel reminds us that Jesus is light as the first light of creation.  Later in this gospel, Jesus will call himself, “light of the world” (8:12; 12:35).

John’s gospel does more than simply announce the advent of Light. John also admits (1:5) that the “light shines in the darkness and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.” 

Jesus intrudes into the world’s chaos and evil. The NRSV says that the darkness “did not overcome” the light, a good rendering. The old KJV rendering is “the darkness comprehended it not.”

John delights in the use of double entendre; therefore, we are justified in both renderings as either “overcome” or “comprehend.” 

The darkness has been unable either fully to comprehend or to overcome the brightness of the Light of the World.

Even a big crowd in church on Sunday morning is still a minority of people in town. Most of these non-attenders are not hostile to the Christian faith; they just don’t get it. For them, Christmas is a holiday, a grand time to eat and drink too much, to spend too much, and to travel too far. When Christians gather to sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come!” the majority of the world he came to save just doesn’t get it. They “comprehend it not.”

God, having tried to speak to us down through the ages, in the incarnation at last “spoke to us through a Son” (Heb 1:2). But most people still look at Jesus and see only a historical figure who said a few interesting things and then faded into obscurity. They “comprehend it not.”

The world that the Word created did not know him. He lived among his own, and his own didn’t receive him. What a sad irony: God finally speaks clearly, decisively in an embodied word, and the world comprehends it not.

John illustrates what kind of light Jesus brought into the world.  

For instance, John introduces Jesus at, of all places, a wedding, more accurately, the bash after the wedding. (John 2:1-11) During the festivities, the wine runs out. Jesus’s mother anxiously tells him that the wine is gone. Jesus brusquely replies, “What has that to do with us? It’s not our party.”

“Do whatever he tells you,” Mary says to the servants. Jesus tells them to fill the stone water jars to the brim.

The party is shocked that the water turns to wine. John says this was “the first of his signs” and that “many of his disciples believed in him.” The first of his “signs,” his first wonder, produced 180 gallons of wine? What’s the spiritual good in that? And what on earth did his disciples believe about him? 

It is only the second chapter of the Fourth Gospel; Jesus has not yet preached or taught.  Whereas most of the people at the party probably scratched their heads, saying, “How did he do that?” a few came away from this weird moment believing in Jesus.

Questions remain. Whenever the Light of the World is present, even at an allegedly secular occasion such as a post-wedding bash, expect the unexpected. And expect confusion. In all this, John surely wants to say, “Hold on to your hats. Welcome to the world now that the light has come.”

It’s a marvel that anybody encountered the Light and said, “This is God’s light shining on us.”  It’s a theme—listening but not hearing, looking but not seeing—that recurs in the Fourth Gospel. 

Jesus the Light of the World shines, but people just don’t get it. “This message is harsh,” said his disciples when he tells them that he is the bread come down from heaven whom they must devour (6:60). “Give us a word,” asks the baffled mob in Jerusalem (7:36), and Jesus says, “My word finds no place in you. You can’t take what I have to say to you” (8:37, 43).

John says that when you see the light, you are a new creation, Genesis 1 all over again. The light does shine in the darkness for you. “But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children, born not from blood nor human desire or passion, but born from God.” (John 1:12-13) 

Furthermore, if you stay in the light: “If you remain faithful to my teaching...then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31-32). These words proclaim God’s gracious solution to the problem between you and God: “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you” (15:3 NRSV).

We can render the verse, “light shines in the darkness and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light,” in yet one more way than “comprehend” or “overcome.” It could also be, “The darkness has not overtaken it.” 

The darkness doesn’t “get it” in the sense that the darkness doesn’t grasp the Light. In John 12, Jesus warns his disciples to walk in the light lest the darkness “overtake you.” Same verb.

Talk with any person who works for a ministry and is responsible for raising funds, like Eric Lane, at the Fellowship Mission in Warsaw.  If you ask, “How is it going?”  You may hear as the answer, “We are always one step ahead of financial disaster.”  That is all that it takes.    The darkness has not overtaken the light.

Paul says in Romans 12 that we should not “overcome evil with evil but overcome evil with good.” In other words, we respond to evil in the world as God has answered in Christ. Let light shine. 

We don’t overcome evil with the ways of the world—through force, violence, retribution, or lying. We overcome evil as Christ—love showing up, light shining into our darkness.

Good news! The Light of the World has come to us, has moved in with us, and nothing will overcome this light!

2020-02-05 Core Values Prayer

I apologize that the footnotes did not copy with the script of this sermon.  References shall be given upon request.  

Core Value Prayer

“In all we say or do, we believe prayer honors God and brings comfort, power, and connection to people.”

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through

wordless groans.” Romans 8:26

“God, are you there?"

Have you prayed that fox hole prayer? Have you called out in the loneliness of the night, "God, are you there?" Maybe it was the death of a parent, or divorce of your parents or death of a child, or abuse of a family member? Perhaps for you, it is an illness that will never go away. Maybe your business collapsed, or your job disappeared? Know that you are not alone in the fox hole, I am right there with you praying with you, "God, are you there?"

The Yearning of the Heart

Our hearts yearn to be free of pain. "Every person you meet today is hurting deep inside from something. Go gentle into this good day." LS.  Look around the sanctuary this morning.  Look at the faces that smile back at you. Not one of those faces does not have heart pain.

When the pain of the heart gets terrible enough, we will pray. Let me introduce you to Chad and Kathy Robichaux.  Chad and Kathy's life work is through a foundation they created, Mighty Oaks Foundation. "Chad and his team are dedicated to helping America's Military Warriors and their families suffering from the "unseen wounds" of combat such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Their effort is on the front line to intercede and end the climbing 23 per day veteran suicide rate and the current and tragic 80% plus divorce rate."

Chad tells a story that begins with being a dedicated public servant and a police officer who responded to the call to duty post-9/11. "After eight deployments in the Afghanistan War on Terror, their family spent years recovering from the hardships associated with combat."

Chad was hell to live with. He returned home because his own PTSD had become so bad in the field that he had become useless. The same PTSD created a mindset where he made choices that fractured his family. Kathy encouraged him to do something with all of his hate, energy, and anger. So, he began martial arts and ended up being the Professional MMA World Champion. Along with being champion, came temptations to which he gave himself.

No longer living together with Chad, Kathy kept going to church with the kids. Here is the teaching point this morning. Kathy went to church and prayed. Her hate and anger toward Chad was so great that she could not pray any prayer except, "God, help me see Chad like you see Chad." For Chad's part, his anger, hatred, and loneliness drove him into a closet each evening with a pistol. For weeks he struggled to shoot himself to stop his internal pain. What the bad guys on the street or in Afghanistan or the MMA ring could not do, Chad was doing to himself. He was bringing himself to defeat. In desperation, he returned to Kathy and asked for her help. She took him to church and found a mentor for him. After a year of discipling by his mentor and having come to Christ, Chad was able to control his memories. For me, the pivot to restoration and health began in Kathy's simple prayer. "God, help me..." The prayer was simple and direct. Like the prayer, "God, are you there?" The simplicity of the prayer "God help me" does not undermine its power.

The simplest is often the best. For example, there are three simple things that all people want and need to hear. "There are three phrases people yearn to hear: "I love you," "I forgive you," and "Time for supper," Leonard Sweet. When we pray, the still quiet voice of God replies, "I love you." When we pray to layout our shame, the still soft voice of God answers, "I love you, and I forgive you." When we hunger and thirst for God, Jesus sets the table of communion with his body and blood and invites us by saying, "I love you; I forgive you; and its time for supper." Prayer is a relationship with God. The simplicity of the prayer does not undermine its power.

What do Jesus and Paul say about prayer?

Jesus and Paul teach a great deal about prayer. I am not going to record all they teach. I am sharing just a sample. Jesus teaches about prayer often; here is one significant lesson. From the Gospel of Luke 18:1-8, "Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, 'Give me justice in this case against my adversary.' For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don't fear God or respect people, but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me." The Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won't God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?"

The request is simple. Pray always. Pray often. Pray today. Pray now.

The Apostle Paul wrote extensively about prayer. Here are just two examples. Research finds that "to worry" is helpful from the point of view that one feels like they are doing something. However, Paul says prayer is better. Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Often, I hear people say, "I don't know what to pray or how to pray." No worries, Paul tells us. The Spirit will lead us. Romans 8:26, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

Rather than worry, Pray always. Pray often. Pray today. Pray now. If you don't feel like you have the words, that's better; the Spirit will pray through you. Just pray. Just be in the present with God.

“Oh, God, now what?”

Therefore, we know that in all we say or do, we believe prayer honors God and brings comfort, power, and connection to people. So how do we pray? We make prayer too complicated. Just talk to God. Just talk to Jesus. "Jesus is not looking for deep insights or great thoughts from us when we pray. Jesus is just looking for us and wanting to be with us." LS

The high and mighty of our world may help us understand that low and meek may be the best prayers. "In an interview with Ireland's RTE One news and information channel (June 2013), the U2 frontman [Bono] opened up about his belief in Jesus, his prayer practice, and the way he and his wife instill religious values in their children. "I pray to get to know the will of God because then the prayers have more chance of coming true — I mean, that's the thing about prayer," Bono told interviewer Gay Byrne. "We don't do it in a very lofty way in our family. It's just a bunch of us on the bed usually, we've a very big bed in our house. We pray with all our kids; we read the Scriptures, we pray."

Years ago, I learned a simple prayer to pray.  It is, “Please, God!” When you begin to pray the prayer, place a comma between the words “please” and “God.” We come to the Lord with our pain,  requests,  urgencies,  demands,  needs,  wants, and desires. Pray until the comma disappears in your mind. Now, “Please God” becomes a mantra that changes the focus from “my-need” based pray to a lifestyle response where I live my life to “please God.” Pray this simple, “Please, God” prayer until the comma disappears.

Water Witness

To end with, I would like to use an illustration from natural science. Here is a “water witness” to the power of prayer. Dr. Masaru Emoto was a Japanese author, researcher, and entrepreneur who claimed that human words impact the molecular structure of water. Dr. Masaru Emoto studied the effect of words on the crystallization of water. His technique was to expose water to spoken words and prayers. He would then freeze the water and examine the crystalline structure of the water. His results were profound, often beautiful, and sometimes disturbing. 

https://youtu.be/tAvzsjcBtx8.

If words affect water, then how much more do prayers, affect us? We are 60% water. Words we say change us. If words affect us, how much more does prayer affect us? I can only imagine how prayer creates "the eternal" in our bodies. Make the water of your soul into beautiful crystals by practicing prayer. After all, "In all we say or do, we believe prayer honors God and brings comfort, power, and connection to people."

2020-01-24 Dad's Eulogy

Romans 10:14-15 

But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

Dad’s feet are beautiful – he brought good news. 

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’  Dad brought good news through his love of history.  Dad loved history.  One of my great surprises when I began attending public school was to find out that some people did not spend their vacations going to civil war battlegrounds.  Dad and mom loved to learn the heritage of family, of country, and of the Bible.  How many of you participated in or witnessed one Dad and Mom’s Last Supper drama’s, Madrigals or Living History Cemetery Stories?

There were times a person would have to scoop the Biblical Archeology magazines and books of Indiana Native Americans off the couch to find a seat. There was always a historical story to be shared or recreated.  I knew that they had been to the cemetery to check on our ancestors when the Ford Crown Victory was sagging down to its axels because they had so many broken headstones in the trunk.  They would pick up the head stones, restore them and reset them in the ground. 

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’  Dad brought good news through his love of nature.  Dad loved God’s creation.  Dad loved the beauty of the earth.  It’s fitting that across the road from his home of birth, what was the land of his grandfather’s farm is now the Baugo Creek County Park. He fed the deer. He fed the racoons.  He chased off the possums.  For some reason, they were not invited to the evening feasts of old bread and dog food. 

He was an Eagle Scout and attended and worked at Pioneer Scout Camp, on Gordy Lake in Cromwell, Indiana.  To be a child or a grandchild of Bill meant that you had to learn to steer a canoe down a river. It was a right of passage. 

            He loved to communicate with animals.  Whenever we would go on a family camping trip.  We set-up camp.  Mom cooked supper and Dad would pull two quarters out of his pocket.  He’d strike them together to make a chirping sound to see if he could raise a chipmunk or squirrel.  Dad loved to hike.  He led us through the Smokies, the Rockies and the Grand Canyon.  

            Dad loved cats.  This was a love that was passed down to his daughter but did not make it down to his son.   But here is the story of the most loved cat.  Mom had a stroke just about the time that Dad was retiring from full-time appointment.  She became sensitive to animal dander and did not want to have an animal in the house.  For years, we would visit and find a “No Pets” sign on the front door.  

            Then one day a cat showed up and needed their help.  He was a gigantic feral cat.  This cat was greatly subdued as he sat on their porch as he had a target arrow running through is upper torso.  Dad and Mom took him into town.  Woke up the vet and waited for the cat to come out of hours long surgery as the arrow was removed and the hole repaired.  Of course, he came home.  Of course, he could not go outside.  Of course, he ruled the house.  He was given the name “Con” because he conned death. 

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’  Dad brought good news through his love to create and to recreate.  He rebuilt an old fishing cottage at Epworth Forest.  

He helped me rebuild a 1941 Plymouth Business Coupe as my first car.  Rebuilt an 18ft wood ribbed Old Town canoe.  Rebuilt a wood runabout speed boat.  If he did not have it, he made it.  

He fixed things up for people.  He fixed things up for a college girls’ campout.  He led or attended many mission trips to St. Thomas, Jamaica, the middle west and Southern states.  

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’  Dad brought good news through his love for Mom.  Dad loved Mom.  He was the lanky young man, a junior in high school, walking up the to the front door of Betty’s home through a snow drift, not seeing the back doorway that was shoveled out for his arrival.  He was there to pick up his date to the winter dance. They married weeks after Mom graduated from high school.  

Let me share with you from Dad’s own words.  My dad’s love for my Mom was never separate from his love for God.  They went hand in hand. 

Corinne Reads:

I graduated from Jimtown High School the next May and started to work that July for the New York Central Railroad in the car repair yard at Elkhart. I was driving home one afternoon thinking about driving past Betty’s house when I had a head-on collision with another car. 

I awoke in the hospital corridor waiting to go to emergency surgery.  I had many stitches. Still, no life-threatening injury.  I wondered why I was spared, especially when I heard reports of the other young man, a student from Manchester College, who was still in a coma after many days.

A year later, Betty and I were married and began housekeeping in the basement of our home. At the same time, we worked on finishing the upstairs.  The next spring our pastor announced that the church would pay the $25 cost for anyone to attend a Christian vocations conference in Indianapolis on the weekend following Easter. Betty and I decided to go, and it would be an excellent way to get a weekend away.

I  signed up for classes on missions, church music, and pastoral ministry. The course on missions was helpful. The class on music was fun as the professor from DePauw, who led it took us to serval different churches to hear their pipe organs. We didn't get back in time to go to the pastoral ministry class. That evening we skipped the recreation session planned and went to a movie. "A Man Called Peter" was playing. It was the story of Dr. Peter Marshall, who was pastor of Washington D.C. Presbyterian Church and who had also been a chaplain of the US Senate.

After praying about it, the following Thursday, we went over to our pastors and told him and his wife we had decided to go into pastoral ministry we felt that was where God wanted us to be.

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’  Dad brought good news through his love of God.  Dad loved God. 

Dad loved God with his mind.  He was a scholar.  I always remember him with a book or two in his hands or by his chair.  

He was a shield.  He worked long hours at the church. Many nights I woke up to the sound of someone at the door and dad would do out to find a desperate youth.  He worked for peace and justice – even in a county seat town.  Because of his working with police, the prosecutor and with local drug dealers to bring awareness and resolve to the parents of youth, someone threw a brick through his church office window to warn him off. 

Dad enjoyed a good youth party – Mom was the razzle dazzle. Dad was the cheerleader and logistics coordinator.  So many youth would gather in our home and dance that the floors gave way.  The trustees came to inspect the damage.  In a time and a church when dancing and cards where strictly prohibited, the men knew the importance that the youth find Jesus.  Rather than condemning the activities, they rebuilt and reinforced the floors so that ministry could continue. 

His faith was not just a Sunday morning in front of a congregation faith.  He lived it.  It was common for us to pick up hitch hikers on the road to Florida to see his dad and stepmom, my grandpa and grandma.  Once in Georgia, I think, in the middle of the night, the hitch hiker climbed into the back set with Corinne and I.  Dad drove the woman to her hometown.   

He was always willing to help someone at the door.  Often, it meant that the food came from our cupboards.  I do not know how many people followed a call into the clergy or into lay ministry as a result of his saying, “Yes”, to God.  I know two really well.  My sister and I are testimony to the groundwork of faith that he laid. 

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

He taught me how to dunk a donut in my coffee.

Taught how to build a campfire.

Taught how to bait a fishing hook with a worm.

Taught how to prime a hand water pump.

Taught how to shoot a rifle and change a tire 

Taught how to use a wood rasp and a plainer. 

Taught how to use a hand drill.

Taught how to hang drywall.

Taught how to be generous with those asking for help. 

Taught how to give an hour and a half of work for an hour of pay. 

Taught how to be patient and kind.

Taught how to be humble.

Taught how to practice faith. 

Taught how to love people. 

Taught how to love God.

‘How beautiful are the feet of the one who brings good news!’

How beautiful are your feet, Dad. 

2020-01-12 Age of Anxiety: Overcoming the Creeps

Age of Anxiety:  Overcoming the Creeps

John 1:1-18

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

We had some fantastic services over the Advent/Christmas season, didn’t we? The singing of Christmas carols, the decoration of our church, the retelling of these ancient, familiar, beloved stories of Christ’s incarnation. Is there anything more enjoyable for Christians than Christmas?

In anticipating this Sunday morning more than a month ago, I shared these words with you, “ever feel anxious in the dark?  Do you feel a lot of darkness in the world?”  Darkness gives me the creeps.

There is a lot to feel creepy about in the world today.  Not knowing what we know now about our world situation, I feel like the darkness is closing in upon us.  Violence in Iran and Iraq, wildfires in Australia, another church shooting, you have heard these stories and more.

As I shared those words with you, I was not thinking as much about the global darkness as I remembered experiences of darkness.  Walking into a dark room may give you the creeps.  As you may have learned, I learned to slide my hand on the inside of a doorway before entering a room when the room was dark.  Now, of course, I use the flashlight on my cell phone to find an unfamiliar light switch.  There was other darkness during my childhood that was more than creepy. I remember. 

I remember laying in on a sleeping bag in a church in Washington, D. C. listening to the pop of gunfire.  I remember looking out on parts of the city that were darkened by blackouts and seeing the glow of fire.   In the morning, walking through a burned-out street where riots had been.  I remember body counts displayed on the evening news.  I remember being on a bus and hearing about another political assassination.  To me, as a child, those were dark times.  Creepy

Here is the Good News that was proclaimed then and is for us today!  God has come and moved into our lives, overcoming the darkness around us and in us that we might dwell richly in the Light.

Remember, with me, the book of Genesis.  The books whose name means, “In the beginning.” God says “light,” and dark chaos comes alive with light.  John’s gospel reminds us that Jesus is light as the first light of creation.  Later in this gospel, Jesus will call himself, “light of the world” (8:12; 12:35).

John’s gospel does more than simply announce the advent of Light. John also admits (1:5) that the “light shines in the darkness and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.”

Jesus intrudes into the world’s chaos and evil. The NRSV says that the darkness “did not overcome” the light, a good rendering. The old KJV rendering is “the darkness comprehended it not.”

John delights in the use of double entendre; therefore, we are justified in both renderings as either “overcome” or “comprehend.”

The darkness has been unable either fully to comprehend or to overcome the brightness of the Light of the World.

Even a big crowd in church on Sunday morning is still a minority of people in town. Most of these non-attenders are not hostile to the Christian faith; they just don’t get it. For them, Christmas is a holiday, a grand time to eat and drink too much, to spend too much, and to travel too far. When Christians gather to sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come!” the majority of the world he came to save just doesn’t get it. They “comprehend it not.”

God, having tried to speak to us down through the ages, in the incarnation at last “spoke to us through a Son” (Heb 1:2). But most people still look at Jesus and see only a historical figure who said a few interesting things and then faded into obscurity. They “comprehend it not.”

The world that the Word created did not know him. He lived among his own, and his own didn’t receive him. What a sad irony: God finally speaks clearly, decisively in an embodied word, and the world comprehends it not.

John illustrates what kind of light Jesus brought into the world. 

For instance, John introduces Jesus at, of all places, a wedding, more accurately, the bash after the wedding. (John 2:1-11) During the festivities, the wine runs out. Jesus’s mother anxiously tells him that the wine is gone. Jesus brusquely replies, “What has that to do with us? It’s not our party.”

“Do whatever he tells you,” Mary says to the servants. Jesus tells them to fill the stone water jars to the brim.

The party is shocked that the water turns to wine. John says this was “the first of his signs” and that “many of his disciples believed in him.” The first of his “signs,” his first wonder, produced 180 gallons of wine? What’s the spiritual good in that? And what on earth did his disciples believe about him?

It is only the second chapter of the Fourth Gospel; Jesus has not yet preached or taught.  Whereas most of the people at the party probably scratched their heads, saying, “How did he do that?” a few came away from this weird moment believing in Jesus.

Questions remain. Whenever the Light of the World is present, even at an allegedly secular occasion such as a post-wedding bash, expect the unexpected. And expect confusion. In all this, John surely wants to say, “Hold on to your hats. Welcome to the world now that the light has come.”

It’s a marvel that anybody encountered the Light and said, “This is God’s light shining on us.”  It’s a theme—listening but not hearing, looking but not seeing—that recurs in the Fourth Gospel.

Jesus the Light of the World shines, but people just don’t get it. “This message is harsh,” said his disciples when he tells them that he is the bread come down from heaven whom they must devour (6:60). “Give us a word,” asks the baffled mob in Jerusalem (7:36), and Jesus says, “My word finds no place in you. You can’t take what I have to say to you” (8:37, 43).

John says that when you see the light, you are a new creation, Genesis 1 all over again. The light does shine in the darkness for you. “But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children, born not from blood nor human desire or passion, but born from God.” (John 1:12-13)

Furthermore, if you stay in the light: “If you remain faithful to my teaching...then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31-32). These words proclaim God’s gracious solution to the problem between you and God: “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you” (15:3 NRSV).

We can render the verse, “light shines in the darkness and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light,” in yet one more way than “comprehend” or “overcome.” It could also be, “The darkness has not overtaken it.”

The darkness doesn’t “get it” in the sense that the darkness doesn’t grasp the Light. In John 12, Jesus warns his disciples to walk in the light lest the darkness “overtake you.” Same verb.

Talk with any person who works for a ministry and is responsible for raising funds, like Eric Lane, at the Fellowship Mission in Warsaw.  If you ask, “How is it going?”  You may hear as the answer, “We are always one step ahead of financial disaster.”  That is all that it takes.    The darkness has not overtaken the light.

Paul says in Romans 12 that we should not “overcome evil with evil but overcome evil with good.” In other words, we respond to evil in the world as God has answered in Christ. Let light shine.

We don’t overcome evil with the ways of the world—through force, violence, retribution, or lying. We overcome evil as Christ—love showing up, light shining into our darkness.

Good news! The Light of the World has come to us, has moved in with us, and nothing will overcome this light!