The encounter between Peter and Cornelius was a monumental event in the life of the early church.  It started with clearly defined boundaries between the two; Peter was a Jewish Christian and Cornelius was about as Gentile as one could get; he was a Roman centurion.  However those boundaries were soon destroyed because the Holy Spirit had something other than segregation in mind.

While Peter and Cornelius were main characters, this is not a story about them.  Rather, it is a story about the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit’s purposes are accomplished in spite of the boundaries we put between ourselves and others.  This is an important text for the church today.  Not only do the wounds of exclusion run deep in our culture and in the church; the realities of uncrossed boundaries still exist. Neither society nor the church has overcome racism, sexism, classism, nationalism, and all the other isms, phobias and prejudices that are out there.

Reflecting on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles, can we imagine what the Spirit might do with relations between different races?  Is it possible to imagine the Christian community embracing the full participation and leadership of women and men, straight and gay, young and old, poor and wealthy? Can we imagine any boundaries so rigid as to be impassable by the Holy Spirit?

On the heels of this wonderful story of breaking down boundaries that separate us enters Jesus who gives us another message of inclusiveness; Jesus wants us to love one another, without exception and on top of that he calls all of us to be his friends.  Did you hear that: we are all brothers and sisters in Christ; we are family together and friends of Christ Jesus.

Most of us can recall a childhood memory of waiting to be chosen while sides were being decided for a game or an event.  Even if we had little fondness for the activity, we wanted someone to choose us quickly.  Often it is this very innocent looking activity that creates those boundaries I mentioned earlier.  Who’s in and who’s out is very obvious by the order in which we are selected. But again it is God who steps into our lives to destroy that which separates us; it is God through His Son Jesus Christ, who declares that he has chosen us, asked us to be on his side, to become a member of his team. We didn’t pick him. He sought us out because he loves us, because he  believes in us, because he wants us to get to know him.

This is the key to understanding the message of the Bible. All we are and do as people of faith is in response to our Creator’s gracious overtures and actions on our behalf. We are called, chosen, and cherished by the One who created us. What an honor and privilege to be chosen by Christ and to be called his friend!

We all know how precious a good friend is. We all need someone to be friends with. There are times when we need a friend to sit with for a cup of coffee, shop with, and even commiserate with about life, kids, work and school. Today, friendships seem to be extra hard to build. They take time, and time is a luxury we seem to have so little of these days. Everyone is so busy, with school, work and family there’s little time left to develop a good friendship. And even when there’s time we often lack the energy. Life today is so full.

Friendship is so rare that maybe it makes Jesus’ offer of friendship a little difficult to accept. We do want him to be with us, after all we gather together here Wednesday after Wednesday to come into contact with him. We want him to listen to our problems and he promises to do just that. He promises that nothing is too small a matter for him, and we can confide in him anytime.  Jesus loves us, in spite of who we are. Jesus is the kind of friend we really want; a friend we really need.   

Jacki and Bradley on this special day in your lives; the day you will reaffirm the promises your parents made for you at your baptism.  I hope you have been listening carefully and realize that as you take another step along your journey of faith you do have a friend in Jesus who promises to be with you wherever you go and he will guide you in everything you want to do.  And remember never let anything become a barrier to your participation in the church. You are both involved in sports and other activities; and that is good.  But please do not neglect your involvement in church; keep church as a priority in your lives.  We need young people like you; we are counting on both of you to help your church be a welcoming faith community that will grow into the future with your help. 

So what can we say about Jesus calling us to be his friends?  Those words warm our hearts, but they also challenge us to be the kind of friends on whom Jesus can depend.  Friends of Jesus are to be a reflection of his love for all people.  Friends of Jesus mirror Jesus’ love by their words and through their deeds.  True friends of Jesus do not place boundaries between themselves and those who may look different, act different, worship in a different way, whose beliefs are different, or may live on the other side of the railroad tracks.    

May we all be empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God in ways that challenge the boundaries of prejudice.  May we be lead to the threshold and cross the boundaries that separate and divide.  May we speak words of love and acceptance as we reach out our hands in welcome to Jesus’ friends who once were excluded.  Amen.

To abide in Christ is a twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week, fifty-two week a year intimate fellowship with Him.  In other words abiding in Christ is a barrier-free life style we are all invited to adopt.

Wouldn’t it be great if the church reclaimed the word abide? To abide means more than dropping in for a visit once in a while or fitting church into your busy schedule as long as it doesn’t interfere with anything else.  Abiding is all about setting priorities in your life.  How do you know if you are truly abiding in Christ and allowing Christ to abiding in you?  You can start by asking yourselves these questions; Do I ever abide long enough to let God catch up to me? Is God truly welcomed to abide with you or is God only welcomed to tiptoe into your life for about an hour once in a while and tiptoe out again when you leave this place?

We can only maintain our connection to Christ; we will only abide in Christ when we practice the presence of God with us. And we do that when we commit to steady participation in the life of the church, and when we bear the fruit of ministry.   

Tonight we receive the good news that we are accepted by God in Christ; that He abides in us already. So now it is our turn to abide in Him.  And we do that by listening to his word.  By being constant in prayer.  By being filled with his Spirit.  Trusting in his love.  Keeping his commandments and enjoying his presence.

I know we are busy people.  We are busy with work, family, and many other responsibilities.  A great modern problem is how to balance these different responsibilities and have a sense of well-being.  Often this seems like a losing battle.   Could the reason why we can’t balance work, family, and all our other responsibilities be because we think it all depends on us?  We tend to resist outside help.  Yet our Lord’s instruction on abiding, on practicing the presence of God means God is ultimately responsible.  To be faithful means we confess God is in charge of life, and we are to abide in God’s love revealed in Christ.

We abide in Christ when we commit to steady participation in the life of the church. What can be accomplished when God’s people abide in Christ? Well guess what: There is no limit. Jesus promises, “ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” While common sense tells us that we will not have everything our way; we can take this promise seriously. Examples are all around us; God turns people’s lives around. God draws blessings out of the most tragic of events. God brings new vitality to failing churches. God heals some unexpectedly and brings great faith to others whose pleas for healing are not granted as desired.

So will you abide in the love of Christ and trust His divine presence to produce amazing results?  Will you renew your commitment to be linked with your brothers and sisters of the faith in the fellowship of the church?  Will you allow the life force of God in Christ to work in you and produce the power of his divine love?   Let us answer those questions with a resounding; yes I will! Let us always abide in Christ and let Christ abide in you to the glory of God.  Amen.

Abundant life. That phrase, as much as any in the Bible, captures what most people I know — including myself — long for. Not just more life, but abundant life. Not just more stuff, but life — real life. Jesus in this passage makes a promise, a huge promise; a life-changing promise.
However, as we all know, Jesus is not the only one to offer promises to us. Most of the ads we’re subjected to day in and day out also promise abundant life, but it is abundance understood precisely as more — more money, more possessions, more cars, more Face Book Friends, more…. You can fill in the blanks as well as I can of all the things you hear each day that promise you abundant life.

Just think of yourself in front of the television hearing things like: Thin thighs in thirty days. Sure! Make a delicious chicken dinner in ten minutes. Right! Be the owner of the most beautiful music in the world; only $10.99 per month. We have been lead to disbelief, especially in grand promises. And we become anxious and afraid when we feel we don’t measure up to the false standards of the world.  The chicken/thigh/music people don’t have the power. They just say they do.

Of course there’s a cost to buying into all that false advertisement. They are designed to make you believe you are insufficient, that you are not good enough and do not have enough; that you are not worthy of love and respect and happiness unless you purchase whatever they are trying to sell you. You see ads work precisely by creating in us a sense of lack, a sense of profound insufficiency. And the only way to satisfy that lack is to buy the product in question, and that’s the lure of those kinds of advertisements.

Now, against this backdrop, hear again the promise of Jesus: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Jesus doesn’t just make a promise here; he puts his money where his mouth is. Or, more accurately, he puts his life where his promise is: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”  But why? Why did Jesus, the good shepherd lay down his life? He did it to tell us that we are, in fact, enough.  Jesus didn’t die in order to make some kind of payment to God or to satisfy God’s wrath.  Jesus, in John’s Gospel, is the Revealer, the One who comes to make the invisible God visible and the unapproachable God accessible. Jesus comes to reveal that God loves the whole world, no exceptions. Jesus comes to tell us that we are already loved just as we are, that we are enough, that we need no shoes or books or car or reputation or lover or high status job or big bank account or list of achievements on a resume or a whole bunch of letters after our name or anything else to be deserving of God’s love. We are all recipients of the free gift of God’s unconditional and unending love.
 So many messages are trying to tell us that we are not enough, that we are not worthy of love, that we need to earn acceptance. And it’s our job and privilege to name those messages a lie and to point to the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep — for us! — Simply out of love.  

Jesus didn’t come just for the original group of disciples. He came also for us, and we are now invited to hear and believe this message of grace and acceptance and to share it with each other and all those we meet.
Because it is hard for some people to believe Jesus’ message of love; it needs to be said again and again and not just by the person standing behind this pulpit, but by all of Jesus’ disciples; this message of God’s love needs to be said by you to others. And so I’d like to suggest that right now here in this place each one of us turn to the person sitting next to you and say these simple words, “You are a beloved child of God, and you are enough.” That’s it. And after we hear those wonderful words; return the favor and say them back to the person who first spoke to you. You are a beloved child of God, and you are enough.  So let’s start right now.  If you are not sitting next to someone, feel free to get up and move.

What a blessing it is to hear those words spoken to us. And what a blessing it is to say them to another person. What we just experienced is what it means to be the Body of Christ — to remind each other of God’s promises and speak Jesus’ message of love, acceptance, and grace to each other. And, who knows, maybe having had the chance to practice saying these words to each here in the safety of the sanctuary we’ll find the courage to say them to others as well. Wouldn’t that be a great way to share the blessings of Christ with family, friends, and neighbors?   It all starts here tonight as we remind each other of the love and sacrifice of the Good Shepherd and that we are enough, enough to love, enough to die for, enough to live for.  Now let’s go out beyond the church doors and spread the good news of L’Chaim; to life, to abundant life for all as promised by our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The disciples, without Jesus, were hungry.  Although their stomachs may not be rumbling, their hunger is shown in their fear and unbelief without Jesus with them. Doubt and fear are like hunger to the disciples. When their hunger for truth and certainty is almost more than they can bear, Jesus walks into the room.  The answer to someone’s hunger is not to ask why they are hungry.  Neither is the answer to doubt a question about why they can’t believe.  The answer is food.  The answer is the real Jesus showing up and easing fears and feeding souls.  Everyone’s faith needs sustenance. 

Years ago there was a best-selling book called,”Do it: Let’s Get Off Our Buts;” that’s b-u-t-s.  The book reminds us that there are three groups of Christians in the world; those who bury their heads in the sand and ignore what’s happening, those who sit in the grandstand and watch things happen, and those who roll up their sleeves and make things happen.

In today’s gospel we find the disciples working their way through all three of these categories. When Jesus was taken from them they wanted to bury their heads and forgot what happened to them; it was like they were stuck in the “what if” mode; what if Jesus wasn’t killed, what if Jesus was still here to lead us? And then the buts begin; but now that he is gone, what will we do?  

What will they do; had they forgotten all Jesus taught them, couldn’t they remember the promises Jesus made them?  Well Jesus showed up and after calming their fears, proving he was not a ghost by eating a piece of boiled fish; Jesus told them exactly what they were to do; get off your buts; there is work for you to do and times- a wasting.  It was that moment that transformation took place and those disciples got their heads out of the sand, blew through the grandstand phase and rolling their sleeves up as they went made things happen

The stories from Acts, 1 John, and Luke are about forgetting and remembering. From forgetting where healing comes from, to forgetting who binds us together, to forgetting that life in Jesus is completely different we are reminded that forgetting about God happens a lot.  However there is help for all of us; hearing the word and tasting the goodness of Jesus helps all to remember.  Hearing this gospel message reminds us that just like the disciples of long ago, we are also commissioned by Jesus to be witnesses.  However before you say, but Jesus I’m too busy, but my plate is full, but I have others things I must do and besides I’m not comfortable talking about my faith; listen to Jesus say to you get off your but, get your head out of the sand, get up from the grandstand, and roll up your sleeves because we need you; your church needs you and most of all you need to be nourished by Christ’s body and blood and the fellowship of this community of faith.  It is time for all of us to give up being a spectator and become a participant. .It is time to become an active follower of our Lord Jesus Christ

It is time for all of us to remember that God loves us.  We need to hear the words of scripture over and over again so that we don’t forget that we called to repentance and receive forgiveness. Repentance is not about shame and guilt nearly so much as it is about the God-given opportunity to turn from old ways and embrace new ones. The call to repentance is a call to examine who we are, where we have been, and what our agenda is, and then to offer it all to God, that we might be transformed. It involves giving up some of our cherished ideas and habits with the promise that we can start over again.

Today we are challenged by this scripture is ask life-changing questions: What do I hunger for, how can Jesus nourish me, what is my response to God’s presence in my life,  and how can I offer my hands to do God’s work?

No matter how you answer these questions, Jesus commissions us to declare the presence and power of God to others; to invite them in to hear the words of scripture so they too may learn from them.  The risen Christ makes himself known to us in ways large and small.  As people of faith, we are to be witnesses to Christ’s presence among us, in our words and in our deeds; our faith demands nothing less – no ifs, ands, or buts.  Amen

As the conductor moved down the aisle, he looked back and noticed Einstein on his hands and knees, searching under the seat for his ticket. The conductor returned to Einstein; “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry. I know who you are. You don’t need a ticket, I’m sure you bought one.” Einstein arose and said “Young man, I too know who I am; what I don’t know is where I am going.”

Well the good news for us this Easter season is that we know where we are going. Our ticket has already been purchased for us and we are on the right track. We have been told by the Jesus that his life and death has promised us life eternal and nothing can change that promise. Unemployment doesn’t change that promise. Neither does divorce, or bankruptcy, or cancer, or depression, or felony, or failure. Through elation and deflation and every emotion in between, this truth remains; we know whose we are and we know where we are going, because the Son of God has promised. And when we believe the promise of Jesus then we show just how faithful we are.

“Behind locked doors afraid.” It is the description of Jesus’ disciples, that first Easter evening. Locking themselves in is a powerful image. How often do we lock ourselves in and refuse to get out of our self imposed isolation because we are too ashamed, or too young, or too old, or too worried about what others think or like those disciples too afraid?

But locked doors didn’t stop Jesus from offering His peace to his disciples and no matter how we might try to lock ourselves in or lock Christ out, Jesus comes to us. When doubt crowds out hope, we can be confident that Jesus will come to meet us where we are, even if it is out on the far edge of faith that has forgotten how to believe. What a strange thing to hold on to – this certainty that answers to our most profound questions about life come not because we seek them with focused determination but because God comes seeking us, stepping through the walls that hardship build around us, offering love at the very moment that grace and peace seem like an impossibility.

The risen Christ appeared in the midst of a small group of fearful, discouraged disciples. Jesus appeared to a man who questioned almost everything and doubted reports of the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus appeared to individuals who knew him intimately and Jesus also showed up among people who had never enjoyed a one-to-one conversation with him. Jesus appeared among people who spoke boldly of their faith. Jesus also appeared among individuals struggling with the possibility of faith

The powerful meaning of the resurrection of Jesus is lost when we try to put a barrier up that locks it out of our lives. The resurrection of Jesus is not a theory to be proven or a creed to be repeated as much as it is an experience to be lived. Remember what changed the doubt Thomas had into a confession of faith? It was his personal experience with the risen Jesus. How else would he be the one to proclaim “my God and my Lord” when his eyes were opened?

So do you see a pattern developing right before your eyes? Do you hear the good news being proclaimed in your ears? No one was, or is, left out! The risen Christ comes to all people – the confident, the disturbed, the discouraged, the self-assured, the doubting, the grieving, the rejoicing, the fearful, the hopeful. No time or no location – geographically or spiritually – falls outside the reach of the risen Christ. We can experience His presence when worshiping, working, playing, or struggling, whether we are in a sanctuary or an office, whether it is a festival day or a miserable day or in the middle of the night. The risen Christ comes to us, and stays with us.

The truths that spring from the affirmation of the Gospel writers and our personal experience are overwhelming. We are never alone; God is with us. The closer we are with God, the closer we are drawn to each other. There is no challenge that we cannot meet and work out together if we let Christ be at the center of our conversations.

We serve a risen Savior! God is alive and among us. You ask me how I know. You might wonder where I get this faith in the risen Christ. My answer draws from many sources, but this one is first and foremost – I know Christ lives because he lives within the fellowship of this faith community and he lives within my heart! Amen.

Wait a minute pastor, you might say. We know we are surrounded by hypocrisy and meanness of heart and misery of spirit, but at least we are not dealing with the Son of God like those people did. The problem is most of the time; we act as if we don’t even know who the Son of God is. All the imperfections, sins, and vices presented in this gospel persist in our society and plague our lives also.

Friendship and love are gifts of immeasurable value. The pain in Jesus when he speaks the words “one of you will betray me,” cuts us to the core. Betrayal of friendship is bitter and affects both the betrayer and the betrayed. Judas must have had good qualities when Jesus chose him. It was probably the sin of pride that brought him to the horrible act portrayed in this gospel. Even more so, betrayal of love leaves wounds that never quite heal. Poor Peter. How sure he was of his love for his friend and teacher and how bitterly he denied him during the course of that terrible night.

In all this heartbreak, the abandonment of Jesus in the hour of his greatest need hurts the most. “Watch and pray with me,” Jesus asks his closest friends. Nothing in the gospels shows as poignantly that Jesus, like each one of us, needs his friends as he walks through the valley of death and agony. We are not meant to go through the dreadful experience of death all alone. A loved one who remains with us to the end, a friend who continues to pray fervently even when all hope is extinguished, a hospice nurse who remains to sustain the family, all these offer a service that Jesus asked of his disciples but did not receive. Again, his full humanity with all its accompanying terror of abandonment is revealed in the loneliness of the Garden of Gethsemane, and before such agony we remain speechless. All of us who pray for healing, for deliverance, for reprieve from pain, for a miracle, go back to this painful story and learn from Jesus to say, “Thy will be done.”

Outside the circle of love and friendship, the fickleness of the crowd surprises us. A few days before, they were clamoring for him because he had fed them with both bread and stories, and he had healed their sick. Now they are appalled by his weakness and, together with the mob, cry out for his blood. We like for our leaders to be invincible. Even in the church we have too little patience for any weakness we see in others, especially our clergy. We are too easily swayed and seduced by gossip, innuendo, and all the lies that slip through the airwaves. But we in the church are asked to remain faithful and not to be judgmental. Let us not be inclined to think that we would have acted with more decorum and loyalty as Palm Sunday ends and fear surround us.

Palm Sunday, so filled with triumph and hope, is already forgotten. The darkness of the events of Holy Week is beginning to cast its shadow over all of us. When we remember the events of this crucial week, we are filled with sorrow but then comes gratitude. We will not be abandoned to remain in darkness. Light will break forth again after the fear and the loneliness of that horrible death in Golgotha. Because Jesus accepted the will of his Father even unto death and when Jesus died on the cross that day he did it to take away our sins. We are forgiven people; it is in this forgiveness that we trust as we continue our journey through the darkness of Holy Week until we come to the light of the resurrection on Easter morning. Amen

When we experience broken promises, it’s almost as if a piece of ourselves, our trust and our integrity, is clipped away. And when that happens it is often replaced with suspicion and mistrust, with disappointment and anger, with frustration and despair. Each broken promise we experience reminds us that we fail regularly in our attempt to be faithful – faithful to one another and faithful to God.

We’re not alone in breaking promises. Jeremiah tells us that both Judah and Israel have been unfaithful- they have broken their promises to God. They have broken their side of the covenant that God made with them. They took an oath and didn’t hold up their end of the agreement.

Although we don’t think of is often, covenants are very much a part of our everyday life. When we buy an automobile or a house we sign a covenant, usually called a contract or an agreement and shake hands. When we get married we seal our covenant with a kiss. A covenant is an agreement between persons or parties. But today we are reminded of a very special kind of covenant; a sacred covenant between our God and all of us.

God wants us to be in relationship with Him and He has established his covenant with us. But so often like the Judah and Israel we quickly agree and just as fast turn and go our own way. But God does not give up on God’s people. This is the wonderful thing about God. Our God continues to try to win us over. Our God continues to renew covenant promises with us. Our God desires us as God’s own people. In contrast to everything we experience in our lives, God’s dedication to us is a refreshing change. Because of our loving God, in the midst of our despair, there is hope. When we experience broken relationships, we are offered healing. In the midst of sin and death, God gives us forgiveness and life. As we experience abandonment and loneliness, God continues to be at our side.

The good news for today is that the love of God is grafted into our hearts, when we live in Christ and strive to follow God’s will for us. With that covenant grafted into our hearts whatever we are doing, wherever we are, we will turn to God first. We will seek the light of God’s face, follow God’s lead, and make righteous choices that reveal God’s glory. That is what we see Jesus doing in this morning’s gospel. He was trapped in the consequences of evil, about to be betrayed and handed over to his enemies for torture and execution, but what was his prayer? That in whatever was to happen; God’s name would be glorified. He surrendered his life back to the Giver of Life and was given the strength to endure through all eternity.

When we look to the cross we are reminded that we are in covenant relationship with God through our Savior Jesus Christ. Every time we come to the Lord’s Table we are again reminded of that covenant relationship. When I lift the cup and say the words, this cup is the new covenant in my blood shed for you and for all people; do this in remembrance of me. Those words that Jesus once spoke to his disciples renew that covenant between us and Christ.

Christ’s new covenant does not replace the covenant God has written upon our hearts or the covenant carved in stone and given to Moses or the rainbow covenant given to Noah that is seen in the sky. Christ’s new covenant reinforces all the others.

God wrote a covenant in our hearts so that the words He wrote would be ingrained in our total being; so we would live our lives following God’s commands. When we do that then others will know by our words and deeds that we are indeed covenant people.

God calls on us to be people of this new covenant. God then sends us out into the world to be conveyors of hope and reflectors of God’s love to all we meet. God gives us the grace and the hope that we need to make a difference in the world, not because of what we do, but because of what God can do in and through us. Let us go forth from here as covenant people ready to share the love of God in Jesus Christ with all we meet this day and in the days to come. Amen

There was a time that on the day of a birth there was a shout of surprise, “Ohhh! It’s a boy or Hoo it’s a girl!” But now through the miracle of modern medicine we know what color to paint the nursery months in advance. Mystery solved.

There was a time when the phone rang and we would ask, “Who is it?” But now the caller ID tells us. Mystery solved. Ah! Life is good.

Solving mysteries is what we like to do, but what of the ones we cannot solve? They usually have us tossing and turning. The mystery of our future can be terribly frustrating if we let it. Unless…unless you are with Christ. The writer of Ephesians, believes strongly that our future is no longer a mystery, for it has been revealed to us in our Lord Jesus. You see, the wonder of this letter is that it allowes us to see the future. Not the future that tells us whether we’ll get that job, marry that person, or have enough money to retire, but, rather, a far more all encompassing future both here on earth and for all eternity

Today we heard, “For by grace you have been saved through faith …” Did you let that sink in – This cannot be said more clearly. How are we saved? By grace! Not by what we do or don’t do. Not even by how strong our faith is. We respond in faith, but we are loved and saved by God’s free gift of grace. Grace is what God brings to us at the point of our deepest need; when the sweet mysteries of life get us down. God does not deal with us according to what we deserve, but according to what we need. That is true grace! Grace is the way God offers himself to us. God does not ask us to clean ourselves up or straighten ourselves out before we come to him. All God asks of us is that we come. If your future is a troubling mystery bring that to God and ask for help and understanding. We stand before God and God asks, “Where does it hurt and how can I help?” That is what’s so amazing about God’s grace!

This is our God who brings life in the midst of death, hope in the midst of despair, love in the midst of hatred, generosity in the midst of selfishness. So great a love is His that it doesn’t wait until one deserves mercy to offer mercy; so great a love is His that when it is experienced by one person, it can trigger a domino effect of caring and love. Our job as followers of Jesus Christ is to help others experience that wonderful love of God; especially those who are ambivalent about having any relationship with God.  The free gift of God’s grace is available to all, but there are many who do not know that and we need to bring them in so they can experience this gift of grace. The issues of light and darkness, life and death, good and evil are fought out in our lives every day and then Jesus drops by to invite us to abandon our nets by the lakeshore and follow him to become fishers of people.

One day a pastor was visiting a Sunday school class. The teacher had passed out cookies shortly before he had arrived. Being a playful person, the pastor went over to one of the children and pretended to try to take his cookie. Instinctively he pulled the cookie away. The pastor then went to the next child who did the same. It went that way, playfully of course, around half the table until something happened. You know what? Suddenly a little girl reached out her hand, offering her cookie. And suddenly there were a dozen hands with cookies in them reaching out to the pastor. 

Who will be the one to reach out the cookie at your work, at your school, in your family or in your circle of friends? Who will change the future for someone else and for this church by inviting them to sit in any one of these empty pews? Who will enable yet another person to know the depth of God’s love seen in Jesus Christ? Are you the one, am I?

You did it when you walked, even for a few steps, in the footsteps of Jesus, in your life, in your family, at work. Jesus did it in sacrificing himself on a cross.  Now it is your turn, now it is my turn, to reach out the cookie, to help someone experience for themselves the richness, the fullness, the overwhelming joy and grace of God’s great love found in this community of faith. All you need to do is invite. All they need to do is come. Can you imagine what it would be like if we all reached out to another person this week? In a few days Spring, a time of renewal and new growth will officially be with us. Let us pray that a sign of spring will blossom right here in our church during worship next Sunday. Remember we are created in Christ Jesus for good works – what better way is there to do our good work than to help another person take the mystery out of their future and to introduce or reintroduce them to Christ. Amen.

Our God is a great God who knows what we need. Our God sent his only Son to change our lives. In the gospel story, Jesus does more than just overturn tables and chase away a few ruthless men and their animals from his Father’s house; he caused change to happen where he knew it needed to happen.   

There are days when I stand here at this pulpit and pray to myself; come Lord Jesus, come into this sanctuary and bring change to this place; overturn the thinking of many who think they can do everything on their own without your strength, without your guidance, without the benefit of a worshipping community. Change their hearts, O Lord, help them see you in the face of others and help them reflect your love in their lives.  My brothers and sisters in Christ if only that would happened here wouldn’t we see renewal and new growth in this church.  Often, like the temple officials who allowed the money changers to conduct their business, we get complacent and forget what is really important for the good of God’s Holy House.   

There is a fascinating and very thought proving story about a man who visited a church. He parked his car and started toward the front entrance. Another car pulled up nearby, and the irritated driver said to him, “I always park there. You took my place!” The visitor went inside and found an adult class and sat down. A class member approached him and said, “That’s my seat! You took my place!” The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After the class, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down in an empty pew. Within a few moments another member walked up to him and said, “That’s where I always sit. You took my place!” The visitor was troubled, but said nothing. Later, as the congregation was praying for Jesus to be present with them, the visitor stood, and his appearance began to change. Scars became visible on his hands. Someone from the congregation cried out, “What happened to you?” The visitor replied, “I took your place.” Often, I’m afraid, we forget that the Church is the body of Christ and it was for the Church that Christ died. How can we be complacent knowing that good news; Jesus gave his life for us; he took our place.  How can that knowledge not affect our lives?

At the heart of everything Jesus did was his love for people. Law wasn’t as important to him as people, though he was a law-abiding man. Tradition wasn’t as important to him as people, though he kept most of the sacred traditions of his people. Even religion wasn’t as important to him as people were, even though the Sabbath always found him in the synagogue. But Jesus didn’t come to die for the law or for a tradition or even for religion. Jesus came and died for people. All people. 

There may be people that you disapprove of. They may not have the same moral standards you do. They may not worship as you do. They may be committed to a very different way of life, a way of life that you find disturbing. But Jesus loves them. Jesus didn’t come to condemn them, but to save them.  All Jesus cares about is people. Fortunately, that includes you and me. We’re not worthy of it, but it includes us. That’s the message of the cross. 

There is much about the theology of the cross we don’t understand. But Scripture is quite plain on this point: Jesus went to the cross to take our place. That is why Jesus drove the money-changers from the Temple. Jesus cares about people. What the money changers were doing had nothing to do with authentic religion. They were exploiting people. They were elevating the form of religion over the substance of religion. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . .” That is what authentic religion is all about. 

And that is the faith I invite you to make your own.  That is the faith you and I need to share with those who are not with us. Not legalistic faith that fills people with guilt and forgets to flood them with grace. Not moralistic faith that divides people into acceptable and unacceptable and forgets to remind us that we are all sinners saved by grace. I invite you to accept the authentic faith of Jesus, a faith that has one goal–to help us grow in love for one another and for God. A faith that tells us we really matter, not because there is anything remarkable about us, but because there is something remarkable about God. And that is what is at the heart of Lent; the season of repentance, change, and renewal.

So let us continue to pray for Christ’s church here in this place.  Pray that the hearts of those not here will be changed so that they too will come to experience the love of God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

The movement of Lent is perfect for the story of Abram and Sarai.  They are in their nineties; they are now into the evening of their lives.  The old are generally more reflective than the young, more contemplative, more aware of their mistakes they have made and the wounds they have caused – all of which is appropriate for the Lenten journey.  Sometimes we all need a slower pace and a place to listen and pray carefully. We need a time to confess our sins, turn to God and by doing that become more aware of God in our lives.  Today let’s let Abram and Sarai’s story help us see God in a new and hopefully more meaningful way.

We will start by listening in on a conversation from the distant past:

God, to Abram:         “Well, Abram, this is your lucky day! I, the Lord, am going to do something wonderful for you.”

Abram, to God:         “Really Lord? Have you bought us the winning Lottery ticket?”

God, to Abram:         “Better than that! You don’t have kids, right?”

Abram, to God:         “O, Lord you should know that! I’m 99, and Sarai is 90. Our biological clocks stopped ticking years ago.”

God, to Abram:         “Certain of that, are you?”

Abram, to God:         “Huh?”

God, to Abram:        “Well, old son today is, indeed, your lucky day. Sarai’s girlfriends need to plan a baby shower. You’re going to need your Social Security checks to buy a crib, a car seat, and a high chair. And Pampers; lots of Pampers.”

Abram, to God:         “Lord you got to be kidding!’

God, to Abram:         “I’m not kidding, Abram! Go start fixing up the nursery. You don’t have much time, if you want to be ready.”

Abram, to God:    “But, but…Lord”

God, to Abram: “Oh and you’ll need a blue color scheme. And a midwife. And did I mention that your baby will be the founder of a great nation?”

Abram, to God:         “But Lord, there are reproductive issues, and we’re on a fixed income!”

God, to Abram:         “Leave the details to me. Remember me? God? The Lord? Soon you’ll be a father!”

Abram:           “Oy, vey! Sarai, you’re not going to believe this…”

If you ever have doubts about whether God has a sense of humor, just reread this part of Abraham’s story. Here are two old people, people at a point in life when they surely deserve the care and respect of children and grandchildren. But instead of living on their investments and spending their declining years at a spa on the Dead Sea, they’re about to become parents for the first time.  

One thing we can take from this story; God is faithful in keeping promises. Abram and Sarai will be the ancestors of a long line of people, thereby blessing the earth.  To silence any lingering doubts they might have had, God changes their names, showing he’s serious about his promises: Abram becomes Abraham, and Sarai becomes Sarah.

These two old people, whose lives to this point have been creeping toward a faithful end, will have an important place in God’s redemption of the world. In them, God does an unexpected thing, an imaginative thing, and a wondrous thing.  Abraham listened as God told him things that Abraham though were impossible, but he believed what God was saying to him because he was faithful to his Lord.     

One way of thinking about Abraham’s faith is to see faith as trusting in an uncontrollable future. Trusting in an uncontrollable future is also an issue for us when we come to times of decision and transition. When we ask; shall we have children? Should I take this new job? Can we swing the payments on a new house? When our future seems to be beyond our control, we need to rely on our faith in God in Christ Jesus and trust as Abraham did.

Some time has passed since Abraham last spoke with God: listen once again.

God, to Abraham:     “Nice job on the nursery, Abraham.

Abraham, to God:     “Thanks. I admit that I got some weird looks at the bank when I cashed my pension check to buy the baby furniture. You have no idea how hard it was for us to find blue baby things in the desert. But hey – only the best for my baby boy!”

God, to Abraham:     “What are those dark circles under your eyes?”

Abraham, to God:     “O, Lord, that kid hasn’t slept in three days. I’m glad you didn’t forewarn me that I’d have days like this.

The gift we receive from this story is its reminder that at the center of our being rest blessings and promise, naming and covenant.  We are followers of the One who established a never-ending covenant with Abraham and brought the covenant to fullness in Jesus Christ.  In our baptism we are given a new name, “child of God,” that tells us everything we need to know about ourselves and everything we need to know about God.  Through the extravagant grace of God and the waters of baptism, the covenant established with Abraham and Sarah has been opened to us.  Even in the darkness of Lent and under the shadow of the cross, the promise that God made to Abraham remains.  God is our God, and we are God’s people.

Abraham’s story is one where skepticism becomes trust.  Faith in God’s promises opens the future in ways we can’t begin to imagine. As Jesus continues to go to Jerusalem, as Paul encourages the Roman Christians, as we seek to be Jesus’ disciples, may we come to know that our faith comes to us by God’s amazing grace.  Amen.