Will Rice - Sermon #55 - "Christmas Light"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Christmas Eve 2007

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.

I contend that even if we didn’t have Christmas, we would have Christmas lights and we would probably put them up about the same time of year. There is something about the end of the year. There is something about the cold (the little we get of it here in South Texas). There is something about the dark. There is something about the end of the year that has the tendency to plunge many of us into an emotional and spiritual darkness.

There is something about a tiny, twinkling light that has some temporary ability to pull us back out of that darkness. My wife and I love to take our little boy and our two not-so-little dogs out walking at night, especially when there is a little chill in the air. The other night we were out around 7 o’clock and it was already very dark. We were on a street with no functioning street lights. I have to tell you with a toddler in a stroller and two dogs, walking in the dark is a little tricky. I was having trouble keeping the whole caravan together when we rounded a corner and found our path lit by about four houses with enough lights to bring a bit of daylight to our journey.

For those of you who are new to us tonight, I have to be upfront, this is only my seventh Christmas since becoming a practicing Christian. I grew up in a home where we did not go to church on Christmas or Easter or any other time for that matter. But we did put up Christmas lights. My Dad hung them every year from the roof of our porch. We did have a tree, we bought it in town, a different child got to pick it each year. Of course we had presents and stockings and candy canes.

Some people like to differentiate between this idea of a “secular” Christmas and the real Christmas. But, in some ways they are the same thing. Whether we are hanging Christmas lights, buying a tree, hanging stocking, buying presents, or coming to church, most of us are doing it for the same reason. We are doing it for some light in the midst of darkness.

The world we live in can be a scary place. As a pastor, I get to walk with people into some dark and scary places and I get to go to some on my own. This year I have watched people stand by the graves of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses and even children. I have watched people struggle with finances and addiction, divorce and troubled children. And on this night of nights, people in our country and in our world are dealing with really frightening things. Homes are being foreclosed upon in America and lives are being threatened in Africa and the Middle East. Some of our very own brothers, sisters, sons and daughters are in harms way in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We all need a little light in the darkness. So when December comes, we put up lights.

But for all of us, those who call ourselves Christians and those who just like the ritual of celebrating Christmas, the light is more than just light. It is a light that represents hope.

We all put up lights because we are all looking for the same thing.

Here in the Christian church we know what that thing is. We know that the hope, the promise, the life and the light comes to us in Jesus Christ. We believe a very important truth about this dark and scary world. We believe that God is so in love with it and with us that he came into it. True God of True God, decided to be born, in poverty, in a stable, in a world where people suffer, where people die and where people are frightened. We celebrate at Christmas that God came into this world in Jesus Christ. We celebrate that this miracle grew into a young man who loved God’s people so much that he hung around with the poor, the outcast, the sick and the mourning. We celebrate that in Jesus, God lived with us, not to condemn us, but to save us, to bring some light into the darkness.

I have been preaching for a few years, but this is my very first time preaching Christmas Eve. I now understand the temptation that leads many preachers to try and preach the whole Bible on Christmas Eve. There are so many faces, many I know, many I don’t. I want to be able to tell you the whole story. I want to tell you the full meaning of the incarnation, God’s coming to us in Jesus. I want to tell you everything Jesus said and did, especially how he loved people so much, especially those who were hurt, sick, mourning or outcast. I want to tell you how his love for us didn’t end when we nailed him to a cross. I want to tell you how, in Jesus, God would not allow death to have the final word and gave us our other major celebration we call Easter. I want to tell you all about all of this, but you are here to celebrate.

But on this night of nights, I want to offer you an invitation. God is with us in Jesus Christ. The miracle of Christmas is that the creator of all there is came to be with us. I want to invite you into the journey of discovering what that means. Some of you here tonight have been Christians all your life, some may be sitting in a church for the first time tonight. To all of you I make the same invitation: I invite you, starting tonight, to really enter in to the journey of discovering what it means that God came to dwell with us in Jesus. What does that mean about God? What does that mean about us? What does that mean about how we are called to live our lives?

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.

In just a couple of weeks, my wife and our little boy and our dogs will take that same walk in the dark on that same street and the Christmas lights that once lit our way will be off and packed neatly back in people’s garages and attics. I will be reminded that while the light has come into the world and while the darkness did not come overcome the light, the darkness is still there. As we celebrate the coming of God into our world, I remember the world God came into. I remember that next year, I will again walk with others to scary places. That until that day that Christ comes again in final victory, there will still be death and despair and addiction and brokenness. All that stuff is still here and that is exactly why we so badly need Christmas, we so badly need Jesus and we so badly still need our Christmas lights.

Will Rice - Sermon #54 - "Patience"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

James 5:7-10

“Patience”

Christmastime, for me, is the most ironic time of the year. There is something about this time of year that brings out the absolute best in us and the absolute worst in us. While Christmas comes loaded with amazing amounts of generosity and love and kindness, it also comes wrapped with rampant consumerism, greed and impatience.

I was reflecting with my small group the other night that, for me, Advent, which gives me a chance to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas, is at its heart, counter-cultural. The consumerism, greed, impatience and other ugly stuff of the holidays is what culture has made of the season. It is our job to prepare for Christmas by centering on the radical message of love that is at the heart of the Gospel.

So, we are looking today at a rather odd passage from a book we don’t spend much time in, the Letter of James.

Before we look at it, let’s think about what it is. Scholars argue about this but what we may have here is a letter written by the brother of Jesus Christ. This seems to be a general letter, not to one individual but to Christians in general. It is a letter of encouragement and direction. So, practically speaking, this is a letter as much to us as it was to its original readers, except that they read it in Greek and we have to read it in English.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

Some more background. It is hard to get an exact date of when this letter was written, but we might guess around 60 A.D. Anyway it is some years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The earliest Christians lived with the belief that Jesus would come again and very soon. In fact, the Gospel accounts give us some clues to this. Jesus says before his death in Matthew 16:28:

28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

And speaking of his triumphant return in the second coming in Matthew 24:34, Jesus says,

34Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.

Now, around 60 A.D. the generation is starting to pass away and Jesus has neglected to return and people are getting impatient and this is what James is writing about.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

I mentioned the original hearers of this letter heard it in Greek and we are
listening in English so let me try to make this clearer.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.

Be patient (makrothumia) – remain tranquil. Literally the word means big spirited. So this sentence conveys more than the limited sense of the word patience we commonly consider.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

I love this example. One writer proposes that the opposite of patience is panic. Have you ever been sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to change and you are late for something? Either to yourself or out loud you are saying, “Come on, come on!” Think about it for a moment, no one tries to be impatient, right? Think back to a moment when you have just felt that impatience brewing inside of you, sort of taking over control. What happens in the moment, which feels an awful lot like panic is that you are trying with all your might to gain control of a situation you have no control over.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

I love that example. It sounds kind of ridiculous to think of a farmer out in his field saying “Come on grow!” Just as if my impatience will get the signal light to turn green faster.

This is such an interesting time of the year to talk about patience because this is the time of the year when it is often most lacking. The reasons for a lack of patience are pretty real. Most of us live these lives that are already over-taxed and the Christmas season can just push us over the limit. It is a though throughout the rest of the year we have had all this free time and finally we can use it buying a tree, hanging lights, buying presents, wrapping presents, mailing presents, signing cards, mailing cards, planning parties, going to parties, etc. And everybody is doing this same thing at the same time so it builds.

I am not the most patient person on the planet around Christmas, especially this year. Through amazingly good planning, the month of December for me is just crushing. Between the church, my ordination process, our efforts to adopt Joshua, it seems every day had a form to turn in or another meeting to go to. I was not particularly patient picking out our Christmas tree. I was not particularly makrothumia, tranquil, big spirited.

The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

“Strengthen your hearts” kind if misses a bit of the idea. Sterizo! It actually means fix or establish.

Let look at the word used in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 9, verse 51:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set (sterizo) his face to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus fixed his sights, he set his face, he put Jerusalem clearly in the crosshairs.

8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

How do we do that? It is really easy to say, “be patient.” But it is harder to be patient. But the answer is right in there. Strengthen, fix, establish your hearts. Fix, establish your hearts on what? On the prize on the coming King. That is what James is telling his readers. Don’t be impatient, fix your eyes on God and wait for it. I tell you, preparation for Christmas is a wonderful parable for Advent.

We get impatient because we have lost control and we are in an unconscious panic to regain it. “Come on light, turn green!” Here is the thing: in Advent, as we are trying to be patient for the coming of the King, by setting our eyes on God, we are actually preparing ourselves to be able to handle not being in control.

When we become impatient, we try, with little avail to control something beyond our control. We do that in line, but we also do that waiting for God to act. Remember, James is writing to a community waiting for Christ’s return and they are growing impatient. What are they doing? They are panicking, trying to regain control of something they can’t control. Just like us, that panicky attempt to regain control manifests itself in improper behavior. As is evidenced by what James writes next.

9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!

The preparation surrounding Christmas is a perfect parable for Advent. We are trying to be patient, big spirited, which is the opposite of panicked, trying to gain control of something out of our control.

And who is coming at Christmas, who is it that James audience and we are waiting for? Someone who will ask us to totally let go of our lives to give control over to someone else.

Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, 8:35-36

35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

At the heart of the Gospel message and contained in nearly every sermon I preach is this idea that our relationship with God is about letting go, trusting in the abundance, trusting in the grace, trusting in the promises of God, letting go of control.

We need to be patient. I am not a counselor or guru, so I am not going to give you techniques. I am not going to tell you to count to ten when you feel impatience bubbling up inside you. I am not going to even tell you to let go and let God. I am just going to say, that during this time of Advent, as we try to patiently await the coming of the Christ child, that we need to try to strengthen our hearts, set our hearts toward God and live in the promise of Christmas.

Will Rice - Sermon #53 - "A Revolution of Love and Grace"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Luke 23:33-43

The Christian calendar is a little different than the secular calendar. As the world begins seriously winding down the year we, as Christians are starting a new one. This week marks the final week on the Christian calendar. We start a new “liturgical” year next Sunday as the first Sunday of Advent. As Christians, there are certain ways we set ourselves apart from the world and our understanding of time is one of those. As the world is still counting down to the end of the year, we will already be beginning a new one. But like the rest of the world, as we come to the end of the year, it is good to reflect on the year that has passed. That is sort of what Christ the King Sunday is all about.

Over the years, I have learned to love Christ the King Sunday. Here is why: It has become, for me, a Sunday of reflection about the Christian year that is ending. Next week is the first Sunday of Advent. In Advent, we prepare ourselves for the coming of God into our world in Jesus Christ.

While television and retail outlets are telling us it is time to sing “Joy to the World.” While we will still be singing “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” Advent is the time when we prepare our heart and minds, our churches and our homes for the arrival of the new born King.

Before we enter into a time of looking forward, as we end this one year and prepare to enter another one, have we yet figured out who this king is? During another Christian year we will celebrate the birth and sing,

Hark the herald angels sing, “glory to the new born King”

But what does that mean? We will see Jesus praised by the wise men and treated like royalty,

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain. Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.

But why?

We will stop thinking in kingly terms when we hear of him calling his disciples and teaching and healing. He will look more like the leader of a rag-tag revolution as we are led up to his confrontation with authority and his arrest and crucifixion. Then the kingly image will seem more appropriate as he is raised from the dead. Royal yes, but king implies a kingdom to rule over. His resurrection will cause us to look back at what he said and did. His ascension will remind us of that he reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit now and always. And then we will end up right back here, at the end of the year, ready again to prepare our hearts for the promised coming and will we yet know what kind of king we are expecting?

So today, we look at a piece of scripture that may seem to belong closer to Easter than Christmas and reflect on Christ the King. This scripture may seem out of place and time, but it is right on because as we question the passage questions and, in doing so, reveals a lot of what we may seek.

The passage begins:

³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

What a way to start, but what a clue! We will call this clue number 1: the crucifixion. Today as we reflect on what it means to worship Christ as King we see that we that our King is a crucified King. What kind of king is crucified?

³⁴Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

It is beyond the scope of today’s message to really go into what Jesus is saying here, but let’s consider this clue number two: Jesus is asking forgiveness for those who are hanging him on a cross. What kind of king does that?

And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

Clue number three. This is one we might miss. It is clearly a reference to the Old Testament and shows us an understanding of the author of Luke’s gospel that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Old Testament, foretelling the coming of a deliverer for God’s people. Psalm 22:18 reads, “they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” This King is part of a larger plan.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”

Clue four. No one comes forth to save this King and the leaders scoff at him. What kind of king is ridiculed and questioned? Kings are powerful.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” ³⁸There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” ³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Clue five: Listen to these words being thrown around, “King of the Jews,” “Messiah,” “Chosen One.”

Let’s look at those in order of appearance.

Messiah - o` cristo.j – one who has been anointed

Chosen One - o` evklekto,j

King of the Jews - basileu.j tw/n VIoudai,wn – basileus means one having royal authority over something. Jesus was one with authority over way more than just the Jews. But it is interesting that kings were anointed. They were anointed as a symbol of their taking office.

Here is the clue: Even the ones who are making fun of Jesus are getting it right. He is King. He is anointed. He is chosen.

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Clue six: Even the criminal next to him sees he has done nothing wrong. This King has ended up in the gallows for doing things like healing, forgiving, loving and teaching.

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Clue seven: The criminal knows the reach of Jesus’ rule as King. Jesus reign will not be endedon the cross!

So, let’s add up the clues and see where we are. When we say Christ is King, we are talking about a crucified king. If we think of a king as one who is empowered over us, this doesn’t work for most of us. Think about it: next year is an election year. One of the things candidates need to prove is that they are powerful, that we can trust them to keep us safe from our enemies. Jesus is different. Jesus is a crucified king. Can we accept that kind of king?

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who is crucified for what? For doing what is good and pure and true. Jesus ended up in this place by creating a movement that made the religious and state rulers of the day nervous. The religious rulers were nervous because he was messing with the status quo. The rulers of the state were nervous because he was starting a movement. There was some confusion at the time over what kind of movement. When we are talking about a king who is a messiah some were thinking a military deliverer. That would have been bad for Rome. But truly, with Jesus, a much more powerful movement was afoot.

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who forgives his enemies even as they are still doing things that make them enemies. Wouldn’t most of us be “happier with a powerful King who got even with his enemies, rather than forgive them?”[1]

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who is part of God’s plan of redemption of God’s people. Most of us can go along with that. Though it might cause us to consider the rest of what God has in mind. Especially when we reflect and consider what I just said, that this King was crucified, for doing what was good and pure and true and that his response was to forgive. If that is part of God’s plan to save God’s people what are we going to have to do? And what is being saved and redeemed going to look like?

When we say Christ is King we are talking about a king who rules this world and beyond and a king whose reign did not end on the cross.

When we say Christ is King we say a lot. When we say Christ is our King, we say even more. We are saying that the Lord of our life, the ruler of our existence is a crucified, forgiving, redeeming, appointed one of God who came to change the world, accepted the punishment for such action and whose reign never ends.

When we say Christ is our King, we need to reflect on what that means for us. Does that mean we are ready to follow him to the cross? That we are willing to accept punishment for doing what is good and pure and true? That we are willing to forgive even those who harm us? Are we willing to react to those who are against us with compassion and love rather than violence and retribution? I mean are we really ready to accept all that? We really need to think about that because we are about to start a new year that will get us ready for the birth of a savior. We will be decorating and singing and sharing presents and all that stuff leading up to the birth of a little baby King who will call us to follow him in a revolution of grace and compassion.

I have tried to say it in a many different ways, but Jesus is coming to save us, but not just as individuals, not just to ensure our safe trip into paradise upon death, but to bring a revolutionary change to the world. This whole scene that we read on this Christ the King Sunday just doesn’t even make sense if we think of Jesus as simply our own personal ticket to salvation. The scene could have been shorter. He could have simply said from the cross. “Don’t forget to believe in me so that you get to heaven.” But that is not what we have, we have this complex interaction that shows us the depth of this Christ we call King.

So, what are we supposed to do? I have two homework assignments this week. They are different because it depends who you are.

Perhaps, you are someone, who needs to know that this is the King of kings who is coming at Christmas. The holiday season is not a joy for everyone. There are always those among us who are struggling, struggling with loss, depression, loneliness, financial burden, anything that hurts and makes it hard to live in a season that is seemingly so much about family, prosperity and joy. For you, your homework is to spend some time this week just realizing that King Jesus is coming and is already here for you. King Jesus is leading a revolution of love and grace and compassion. We are in the midst of a season that seems to be solely about joy and family and presents and shopping and money, but it is really about King Jesus who is here to walk with you through your loss, bind up the wounds of your depression, give you comfort in your loneliness and even, in the word Jesus reads earlier in Luke’s Gospel, “Bring good news to the poor,”

Maybe that is not you. Maybe you love this season. Here is your homework. I want you to, this week, consider one thing you can do as we end this Christian year and begin another year with our time of preparation for the coming of the baby King one thing you can do that will start this new Christian year off on the right foot following the King that leads us in a revolution of love and grace. What might that look like? I don’t know. I do know that Americans spend a lot of money this time of year. What if we diverted some of it away from material objects that give us a quick fix of joy and then just fill our homes? What if some of our money went somewhere else? Let me give you a couple of examples. One, today is Harvest Sunday. You can give in the envelopes in the bulletin or at the rail and that money will go to feed hungry people in the valley, in San Antonio, in Palestine and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some of you are still praying over your estimate of giving cards for 2008. What a way to enter into a new Christian year, knowing that you have already committed to be a part of the revolution of love and grace here at this church. You will be committing to support ministries that reach out into our community to say that Christianity is not about judgment and wrath but about the abundant, unmerited gift of love in God’s grace.

How about something completely different? Alisha and I have really struggled over the years about how to handle Christmas gifts. We want people to know we love them and care about them but we also want to remember what this is all about. A number of our friends over the last couple of years have starting receiving gifts from Heifer International. All my friend Tina got last year was a card but the card said that the money I would have spent on her bought a flock of baby chicks that was shipped to a poor village in South America, Africa, Russia or even here in America along with the training to teach someone how to raise and care for those chicks to create a sustainable food supply that will allow a family to bring themselves out of abject poverty. One good hen can lay up to 200 eggs a year. We have been mostly sending chicks and ducks but we are working our way up to sheep and cows.

These are just some ideas, but how you complete the assignment is up to you. Just think of one thing you can do that will start this new Christian year off on the right foot following the King that leads us in a revolution of love and grace.

And have a happy new year.

---

[1] Brian Stoffregen, “Luke 23.33.43, Christ the King Sunday – Year C”, Brian P. Stoffregen Exegetical Notes at CrossMarks Christian Resources, online at www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke23x33.htm, accessed 21 November 2007, internet;

Will Rice - Sermon #52 - "Never Enough... Always Enough"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

I think scripture usually makes points much more clearly than I do. So today, I am going to read scripture to you. I am going to interject a little to help you connect with the text, but really I want the text to do the talking.

Exodus 16:
1The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

Just for background: God’s people have just been led out of slavery in Egypt through the mighty power of God and through the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron. They are a couple of months out into the desert in what will become a legendarily long journey.

2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

Some days leadership is not all it is cracked up to be. Two months ago Moses and his brother Aaron were heroes for helping to free God’s people from slavery. Now they are the bad guys. Moses really should have seen this coming. These folks were complaining before they ever really got out of Egypt. We read in Exodus 14, just prior to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, the people see Pharaoh’s army coming and they panic and say:

“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Better to be in bondage than to risk freedom.

And here are the Israelites complaining again in today’s text:

3The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Fleshpot – there is a word we use a lot. Just think of a large caldron that was used to boil meat. What they are saying here is, “we had all we wanted to eat.” They were saying it was better to be in slavery and have plenty to eat that to be free and hungry. Man that is a sermon right there. Would I rather have abundance and be a slave to my abundance or would I rather be free and hungry?

4Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.

There is food on the way. But notice that, each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.

In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.

Oh great! A test! Think about that. If we were out in the desert starving and suddenly there was a ton of food everywhere and I said, go and gather food, but just enough for today, would you listen? I imagine some of you might stock up a little in case there wasn’t a repeat the next day. But this is a test.

5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”

God is going to tell them that they will get no food on the seventh day because it is a day of rest so there is one day that they can stock up.

6So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?” 8And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.

I had to look at this a few times. I want to read it to you in another translation:

7Tomorrow morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard you grumble against him. We are nothing, so you are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."
Remember at the beginning it said:

2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

Moses and his brother Aaron are saying here “When you are complaining to us, you are actually complaining to God.” I love that and I am going to try it. Next time some one calls me to complain about the service or something I said, I am going to try, “I am nothing, so you are not grumbling against me, but against God.”

So Moses tells Aaron to tell them how this is going to work.

9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’“

Yeah right, if I thought God had really overheard my complaining I would head the other way.
10And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12“I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’“

13In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’"

An omer is around one or two liters just in case you stopped listening because you were wondering what an omer was. But now let’s think about two things. First of all, this is a test right?

In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.

Now let’s also remember that they are in the desert, starving. There is now plenty of food, just take what you need. Have you ever seen images of food being delivered to where people are starving? It is usually being unloaded by or at least guarded by soldiers. Because when people are starving they are not always rational.

17The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less.

Was no one listening? I don’t know what was wrong with those who gathered less but those who gathered more weren’t listening. But they were acting quite human. Let me ask you. Do any of you have extra of anything?

We had a community garage sale last weekend and Alisha and I got rid of some stuff. It always amazes me how much extra stuff we have. I have extra clothes, extra shoes, extra tools. I realized that I had two identical brooms in my garage. You know just in case. Just in case my broom breaks and I can’t crawl the quarter mile to the place where I can buy another one for about two dollars. Now don’t think this is going to lead me to say I should be wasteful and just throw it out. But why did I ever buy a second broom?

It is not that we shouldn’t be prepared, but a lot of us have this overwhelming need to stockpile, to have, not enough but more than enough and what we find is this: there is never enough.
18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
Here is the surprise to the story. No matter how much some tried to stock up, they only had enough. Nobody had any extra. That is really interesting. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I never have enough. If I just made a little bit more money, if I could live in a little bit bigger house, if I could save a little more for retirement, I could go on a better vacation.
We live in a really complicated world. I really struggle with passages like this because they can seem so black and white.

Some gathered more and some gathered less and they all had the same amount.

We live in America and I think our grand experiment with capitalism has a lot of flaws but we basically have gotten along pretty good with the idea that, when it comes to possessions and money we don’t just say, “everybody gets the same amount.” So let me be clear that I am not sharing this scripture to make a point about economics. I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.

I also don’t want you to read this too literally and think, “Oh it doesn’t matter what I do, God will take care of me.” “Those who gathered little had no shortage.” Read that carefully, “Those who gathered.” It doesn’t mention those who stayed home and did nothing because “Dancing with the Stars” was on. I think most of us know the reality that if you don’t work, if you don’t gather, you may struggle to have enough to eat.

But I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.

As I said, we live in acomplicated world. Not many of us would feel secure if we went out each day and made just enough to pay for our expenses that day. Not many of us would be content to have just enough food and money to last until tomorrow. We work hard, we stock up, we save. We try to get on solid footing so if something happens we won’t go into debt and we try to put something away so when we are older we can retire. This is good stuff. But there is still never enough.

I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.

The theme of our emphasis on stewardship this year comes from Psalm 116:

I will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord; I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Psalm 116:17-18

If we read this wrong we might think that God is a little short and needs us to sacrifice in order to make ends meet. But God doesn’t need our money. God needs us to let go because as long as we trust in our possession we don’t really trust in God. As long as we trust in what we produce we are really nothing more than slaves to what we earn, make and buy.

‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.

For those who tried to stockpile, there was never enough. But there was always enough.
I love when people give money to the church because it means we can do amazing ministries that touch lives. And if you give because you like that you can help spread the good news of God that is great, I want you to keep doing that. But I want us to go deeper, I want us to give because God has been trying to teach us since we were wandering in the desert actually since we were in the garden that we have to stop grasping for more trying to create our own abundance, our own security. God is the only true source of our abundance and security.

This is not just the message of this passage of Exodus. Some of you may remember that Jesus disciples once asked him to teach them to pray. Christians love that prayer. Here at Grace, we pray it together every week:

Our Father, who art in heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.

Oh no. It doesn’t say “secure my retirement.” It doesn’t say “give me a bigger house.” It doesn’t say, “give me an iPod.” It goes right back to today’s passage. “Give me enough bread for today and let me trust God for tomorrow.”

The message God was giving his people in the desert is the same message Jesus had to give us again. Although we live in this complex world and we have to do certain things to survive and plan and take care of our families, at some point we have to remember to let go and trust in the true source of our life and being.

Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, Mark 8:35-36
35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

You know my generation is much more intrigued by images than words, examples rather than explanations. So whenever I think of holding on versus letting go, trusting in my own created abundance rather than the abundance of God. Whenever I think I need to gather enough bread for tomorrow and the next day and the next day instead of trusting resources into God’s hands, I don’t think of what Jesus said, but we he did. He didn’t hold back anything, but let go of his very life. I think of what God did. For God so loved the world that he have his only Son. Bread from heaven. For us.

Will Rice - Sermon #51 - "Running for the Goal Line"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Philippians 3:10-14

Let me ask, have any of you ever been to a football game? Let me ask another question, how many of you went to the game, maybe went to the concession stand, got some popcorn and a nice cold, bubbly, diet coke, found your seats, got settled in then watched as the captains and the refs came out on the field, listened for the captain to call the toss, then watched to coin fly up in the air and come down and then listened for the ref to announce it and tell who would be kicking off? And then how many of you, at that point, got up and found your way out of the stadium and home?

How many of you have ever watched a football game on television? I used to love Monday night football before it moved to ESPN. I swear they spend a couple million dollars just on the introduction. How many of you flipped that on, listened for the “Are you ready for some football?” and as soon as the players took the field, shut the television off?

Not many people do that because they would miss the game.

As we come closer to the end of our Friday Night Lights Sunday Morning Insights sermon series, I want to propose that many of us, in our Christian journeys are unintentionally missing out on the best part of the game.

On the wall of my office is a simple, black frame. Inside it is a parchment colored document complete with a golden border and the words, “Certificate of Baptism.” Below that is my name, some fancy words and a date, “January 16, 2000.”

I remember the day I got that certificate, that day that water was drizzled over my head. Honestly, in my excitement of discovering the love of God in my life, that day, I don’t think I really knew what was going on and that is certainly fine because God did and none of us really ever understand what is going on in baptism. But, I certainly didn’t understand that I was only beginning a journey. Looking back, I guess I sort of thought that what was happening was an act of completion, the end of my search for meaning that led me to church. I somehow believed that my journey toward God had been completed. I was now a Christian, I could relax.

But the trip wasn’t over. My personal journey has taken me through a discernment process, through seminary and nearly all the way to my ordination. During my journey, I have become aware that the misunderstanding I had about what was going on wasn’t just mine. It reflected a deeper misunderstanding among my fellow Christians, throughout the denomination and throughout modern Christianity.

Alright, if any of this is going to make sense, we are going to have to have a little review of grace. Pastor John gives a much in depth and certainly more accurate account of this whole thing but we just need a little background for today.

Grace is the unconditional unmerited love of God. Let me expand that. Unconditional, meaning it is for everyone. Unmerited, in other words, you can’t earn it. Grace is really one thing, but we have sort of dividing into three kinds to better understand it.

First of all, we believe that God’s grace is constantly being poured out on all of God’s children, whether or not they have an intentional relationship with God. We call this prevenient grace. Prevenient just really means “comes before.” I love this kind of grace, because it is this grace that calls us in, pulls us toward God and it is always working in us whether or not we know it or accept it or do anything about it. This the sort of grace that was in my life in the 26+ years I spent outside of the church, with no relationship with God (that I knew of.) When people ask me, what was it that made you decide to finally go to church? There is the long complex answer about a feeling of emptiness and a journey seeking a way to fill that. But then there is the short answer, “God’s prevenient grace.” God pulled me into relationship and that took place in the context of a church. (A church that had plenty of seats by the way.)

Second, we believe that as God pulls into relationship there is a moment (and I use that word loosely) that God’s justifying grace goes to work in us. This is what people often refer to as conversion or for some being “born again.” I said that you can’t earn grace, but you can choose whether or not to accept it in your life. When we do, we are justified or put into right relationship with God. “When we experience God's justifying grace, we come into that new life in Christ.”[1] Justifying grace accepts us, pardons us, forgives us and restores us into right relationship with God.

I think for a lot of Christians this part is pretty clear. Even if you are new the whole Christianity thing, this may make some amount of sense. God’s grace is always reaching out to you and at some point it convinces you and you accept it and you are changed. But it is this next part that I think we get a little fuzzy.

You see, third, we believe that after we accept God’s grace, after we allow our hearts to be accept God’s justifying grace, God really gets to work in us with something that we call sanctifying grace.

To show you how important this is let me use an analogy that is fairly weak but makes the point. In the life of a Christian, if prevenient grace, that grace that draws us in is the pre-game show and justifying grace, that grace that, if we accept it, put us in a right relationship with God is the opening kick-off, sanctifying grace is the whole rest of the game and even the post-game show.

It is very clear in the writing of John Wesley, the spiritual founder of this movement we now call the United Methodist Church that Christianity is a lifelong journey and that we are constantly in process. Although there may be a radical change and “new birth” in our justification, we have only just begun. “Sanctification is begun in us, Wesley teaches, as soon as we receive God’s gift of pardon and the Holy Spirit. But it is only begun, and most of us have a long way to go before it is completed.”

John Wesley spoke of this grace at work in us as a moving onward toward perfection. To our modern ears, that is an unfortunate turn of phrase that causes many of us to give up before we start. After all, nobody is perfect, right? But Wesley’s goal for us was that we grow into perfect love of God and neighbor. Wesley helped us to understand that God wanted to begin a lifelong relationship with us, a relationship through which we would be constantly recreated in the image of God. And his picture of this continual process of growth is straight from scripture.

Let’s look back at our scripture for today. I love this because, in my opinion, Paul is one of the most arrogant characters in scripture. But even he says.

¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ¹²Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Let me read verse 12 again.

¹²Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, who felt that Christ had personally converted him and had personally delivered the true gospel to him, who had been preaching, converting, starting churches, he knew that not even he was done yet.

¹³Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Let me try this in a different way. Many of us believe that at the moment we accept Christ into our hearts we have crossed the goal line. Actually, when we accept Christ into our hearts, we have just caught the kick off and we are at our own 20 yard line.

Sanctifying grace, sanctification. This all comes from a Greek word, a[gioj which means set apart as sacred to make holy. That’s another term that can be extremely unhelpful, holy. In one of my classes we do an exercise of defining holy and I have to tell you, a lot of the definitions are negative in nature. The word has gotten a little hijacked, but let me try to reclaim it. I think it has gotten a bad connotation because a lot of people and things claim themselves as holy that aren’t so holy. Revelation 14:4 reminds us about what is truly holy:

4 Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.

You see only God is truly Holy and only God can make us more holy. God seeks to “perfect” us, sanctify us, to make us more like God.

Here is the good news: on this journey of sanctification, this journey of holiness, this journey of perfection, God is doing all the heavy lifting. Our task is not to make ourselves holy, it is to find a way to allow God to make us holy.

Reading from a little earlier in this letter, from Philippians 2:12-13

¹²Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure

As I said, grace cannot be earned and we cannot make ourselves holy. But, “Wesley taught that there were significant practices that put men and women squarely in the path of that grace.”[2]

Wesley referred to these as the means of grace and this is how I am going to wrap up today. You are on a journey and we are all in different places. I hope there is someone in here who is still experiencing God’s prevenient grace calling you into relationship. If you are ready, I hope you come to the Why Grace? class at 1:30. There may be someone who is in the midst of or about to be or just has experienced God’s justifying grace putting them into right relationship with God. The rest of you: you are being sanctified. God’s grace is at work at you. All you need to do it put yourself squarely in the path of that grace.

John Wesley had two main categories for these means of grace, these ways of keeping ourselves in path of God’s sanctifying grace: acts of piety and acts of mercy. Let me run through some of these, I bet you could find some you can do, starting with works of piety (spiritual disciplines). And you know what, so these don’t sound like these unachievable things, I am going to add to each one what the church does or is doing to help you with these.

Prayer both public and private – We just finished up our course called prayer 101 and are in the midst of another class, The Way of Prayer. Also, you are going to hear next week about another opportunity to come together to pray.

Reading and meditating on scripture – We are about to start another session of Bible 101. The deadline was Friday. But I have a few more spots if you let me know today.

Celebrating Holy Communion – We do that every week in two of our services and once a month at the other.

Christian Community – Small groups, Sunday School, etc

Wesley also talked about works of mercy as means of Grace as ways of putting ourselves in the path of sanctifying grace, that grace that continually makes us more like God. Once again, with ways the church supports you in this:

Visiting the sick – We had twelve people come out this week to learn how to deliver the sacraments of Holy Communion to our homebound members. There will be another training in the spring.

Feeding and clothing people – We have food pantry that supplies very limited emergency food to folks in need. You might not realize the power of our thrift shop. Not only do they sell clothes to folks for pennies, when people come in need, they are able to give them what they need. If you want to feed people locally and around the world, you can support CROP walk.

Giving alms – Every week at our communion services you have a chance to give money to those in need. Our communion rail offering supports our five star mission goals which support various causes for the needy among us.

Consider this. Even if you have been a Christian all your life, compared to the glory that God has in store for you, you are deep in the back field; you have just caught the ball on the twenty. You have eighty yards to run for the end zone. But, if you pay attention, you will realize that God wants to carry you those eighty yards. You just need to put yourself in the path of God’s amazing sanctifying grace.

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[1] “God's Preparing, Accepting, and Sustaining Grace” , John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life – A Spiritual Growth Resource, The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/walk.stm

[2] Dan R. Dick and Evelyn Burry, A New Kind of Church, A Systems Approach, (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2000-2006) 17

Will Rice - Sermon #49 - "Learning the Playbook"

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

“Learning the Playbook”

We are in the second week of our sermon series “Friday Night Lights – Sunday Morning Insights.” Unlike Pastor John, I have never played football. Well that is not exactly true. In high school, I played flag football, which I finally figured out was just tackle football with no equipment and these little flags that you rip off when the guy with the ball is laying on the ground. But I have never played real football. However, I am a pretty smart guy. I have learned to do lots of things. I just taught myself to play guitar this year. So, I am thinking I am going to start playing football. I had a member of the church get me a football playbook. I haven’t really looked at it much. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, there are lots of circles and xs and lines, some of them straight, some of them squiggly. But I think I can do this. Since I have this book, I am wondering if some of you will follow me out on a football field. Don’t worry, we aren’t not going to take on the Dallas Cowboys but maybe a semi-pro team like the Miami Dolphins. Any takers? I do have the book and I will bring it with me.

Alright, I imagine that just having a playbook would not qualify me to play football. I do know, however, that without a playbook, a team wouldn’t be very successful. Imagine it’s the Super Bowl, the Cowboys are down by three, there are fourteen seconds on the clock, they are on the defender’s 45. No time outs. The crowd is deafening. They are at the line, the clock is ticking, Romo barks out, “Owens, you run into the end zone, but first do a squiggly thing, Barber, you run over there, you guys block and somebody else stand by me and pretend I just handed you the ball. Go!”

These guys have a playbook. But not with them. Imagine the same scenario. It’s the Super Bowl, the Cowboys are down by three, there are fourteen seconds on the clock, they are on the defender’s 45. Not time outs. The crowd is deafening. They are at the line, the clock is ticking, Romo barks out, “Everybody turn to page 15. Let’s do that one.” Now if the Buffalo Bills did this, we would understand, but we expect pro teams to know this stuff.

These teams know their plays. We would expect, with a team at the Super Bowl, they know the game so well, that with this time on the clock, this amount of yardage, this many points down, most of them could guess what they are about to do. But just to be clear, the quarterback says, “Pro 87 Fly.” And they all know what to do.

We, as Christians, have our own sort of playbook, don’t we? But do we know it? Do we know it like a pro football player knows his playbook?

The scripture we read today is from on the “pastoral letters” in the New Testament. We call them “pastoral letters” because they deal with caring for the young communities of faith or congregations that had been formed. They often deal with problems or issues of order in the life of these communities. 1st and 2nd Timothy get their name from the fact that they are to Timothy. Timothy joined Paul the apostle, who is credited with writing this letter is Lystra in SE in Asia Minor around 46 A.D. and joined him as a traveling missionary.

So, thematically, we have sort of a letter between mentor and student, from a pastor to one whom he called to serve. In what we read today, Timothy is reminded of all Paul, the apostle has done and has endured for the name of Christ.

10Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured!

So Paul has been persecuted: flogged, beaten, imprisoned, etc. But don’t worry there is good news.

Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

And then not so good news.

12Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

There is whole sermon there, but you will have to come back for that one. I will be sure to advertise that one. “Come on Sunday and hear how you are to be persecuted.”

Let’s skip ahead a bit.

14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Timothy, the guy who should have gotten this letter, grew up with a Jewish mother so would have likely been taught the scriptures of what we call the Old Testament. Those would be the sacred writing that the author is referring to here because there was, as of yet, no New Testament. And when I say, he had likely been taught, I don’t mean he knew some Bible stories. It is likely that he had some pretty significant portions memorized. The letter goes on.
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

This is fairly significant phrase in the New Testament. It gets pulled out in lots of discussion about what scripture is, where it comes from and how we are supposed to understand it. When the author says, “All scripture is inspired by God,” the whole “inspired by God” is one word qeo,pneustoj. This is an odd word in that it is not used anywhere else in the Bible. However it is pretty clear in meaning. Theo means God. Pneu is the root of pneuma or spirit, so we get God, spirited, God in-spirited, God inspired. And that it is a lot different than God written.
Sometimes the conversation gets stuck on the first part of that sentence and misses the second. Scripture is God inspired AND “is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

Look at all those things scripture is useful for: teaching, reproof (expression of disapproval), correction (improvement) and for training (discipline, instruction) in righteousness (or right living with God). I read the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible and I want to read this again as printed in there.

16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

I am pretty sure from my interaction with some other Christians that there must be a translation that reads:

16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching of others, for reproof of others, for correction of others, and for training others in righteousness,

I think that some translations that read that way because it explains why I often see Christians hurling the Bible, as if a weapon at others whose moral behavior does not live up to certain standards. But let’s move on. It says that scripture is useful for all these things,

17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Here’s the thing. I have a football playbook in my hand. It does not make me proficient at football. For it to make me proficient, I would have to read it. I would have to work on it with others on my team. I would need to practice. Having a Bible does not make you proficient nor obedient. Reading a Bible is what we are called to do. And reading a Bible, trying to understand what it is saying to you in the context of your team, practicing the life of a Christian, constantly returning to playbook, for instruction, correction, further training, that is how you become proficient, equipped for every good work.

As Christians, we just don’t spend as much time reading scripture as we should and we miss the opportunity to be in conversation with God through God’s Holy Word. According to a poll conducted by Gallup in 2000, 65% of Americans agreed that the Bible, “answers all or most of the most basic questions of life.” Interestingly less than half of those 65% actually read the Bible at least weekly. More interesting is the fact that 28% of those people who agreed that the Bible “answers all or most of the most basic questions of life” rarely or never read the Bible.

Believing the Bible is our playbook and not reading it puts us in a very dangerous place. When we don’t read scripture, we don’t know what is in there are we can be misled. 75% of Americans believe that the Bible teaches, “God helps those who help themselves.” Actually it was Ben Franklin who taught that. Many of us are inundated by forwarded “Christian” emails that give us non-scriptural teaching and then tell us God will bless us if we forward them. If God blesses people in exchange for forwarding emails, I give up. And many of us don’t know that what is contained in some of these messages is not scriptural because we haven’t read the playbook. There are people out there who quote scripture to defend their hatred and bigotry and because we don’t know the playbook, we don’t know they are wrong.

If it weren’t so heretical, I would give into the temptation to put a piece of scripture up on the screen that I made up and see if anyone would notice. I would get in trouble because there are a couple of you who would catch me and perhaps call the Bishop.

Here is another problem.

16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Often, when we are confronted with issues in our life, we turn to scripture. That is a good thing. But, when we turn to scripture in times of trouble and have not spent any time previously, weird things can happen. Alisha and I have a two year old at home who is in the midst of determining who exactly is in charge and where the boundaries are. The other morning, on not wanting me to put his shoes on, he hauled off and smacked me. Not to overreact, I told him to hold on while I went to the Bible. Deuteronomy 21 is very clear:

18If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place. 20They shall say to the elders of his town, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us…” 21Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.

Perhaps, if I read a little more scripture Psalm 103 could have been more helpful:

8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

I know how to discipline, what I needed was grace.

We have to be careful. We have to be informed. We have to read.

I believe there are two issues at the root of why we don’t read. Time and skills.

Time is my biggest excuse. I work a lot of hours. I have a two year old. How can I possibly commit to reading scripture every day? There is a giant hole in my excuse. Is there nothing that I do that is less important than being familiar with the playbook the defines my identity as a child of God? I read Time Magazine every week. I read The New York Times every morning. When the fall season starts, I will watch House every week.

The other issue can be skills. Many people say, “I try, but I have trouble. There is a lot I don’t understand.” I will give you this one and I, as a representative of the church take some of the blame. We don’t spend enough time teaching Christians how to read the Bible. I am working on the big picture, but let me offer you some help in the mean time. First of all, you may need a new Bible. If you are reading the King James Bible, I know that it may bring you comfort and there may be passages that you still want to read from it, but you are going to have trouble understanding. You are going to need a new Bible. I recommend the New Revised Standard Version, that is the one we read from or the New International Version.

Next, you will need a place to start. If you flip it open and start reading Obadiah, you are going to be confused. Start with a Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Just read a little every day. Want some more guidance? We have these little books in the glass way, called the Upper Room Devotional. Every day there is a reading from scripture and a little message that goes with it. Here is another tip. Bring your Bible with you to church. We read from the Bible every week and sometimes reading along in your own will help you to become more familiar.
Here is your homework. This is the easiest and most rewarding homework I will ever give. Read the Bible every day this week. I have already put some new links on my weblog to help you. There are link on my weblog, at willatgrace.blogspot.com that can help you. I have found the cheapest NRSV Bible in print. For ten dollars including shipping you can have a Bible you can read. That will take a few days to arrive. In the mean time, you can read the text online for free at the oremus Bible browser. The Upper Room Devotional I mentioned earlier will email you the daily devotion every day for free with a link to the scripture.

Alright there is extra credit. Say you already read scripture every day. You thought you were off the hook. Nope. Help someone else. Here are some ways you can do it: Chances are if you read the Bible every day you have an extra. Give it to somebody. Chance are if you read the Bible every day you know some other Christians. I bet some of them don’t read every day. I bet of you said, “Why don’t we both read Mark’s Gospel and get together and talk about it,” they might say, “O.K.”

I told you I have never played football. But I do know this. If you are on a football team, high school, college pro and you don’t learn the playbook, you get kicked off the team. I am not going to every try to kick you off the team because I believe that God loves us and tries to grow us even when we don’t try. But I urge you, read the book. Amen.

Will Rice - Sermon #48 - “A Little Polite Dinner Conversation”

Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com

Luke 14:7-14

“A Little Polite Dinner Conversation”


Most pastors I know really like people to like them. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. It would be pretty hard to be a pastor if nobody liked you, right. Now churches have gotten a lot larger over the years and life has gotten a bit more complicated but years back, the way a pastor could judge his “likeability” would be dinner invitations. These days on Sunday nights pastors like John and I are either working or passed out from doing three services in a row, but back in the day, if a pastor didn’t have a dinner invitation on Sunday night, that pastor might question whether or not people liked him.

When I was reading the gospel for this week, it got me thinking. I have a goal that may be different from that of my colleagues. My goal is to be a pastor that people are a little reluctant to invite over for dinner. I want people to be a little nervous about hosting a meal including my company because they are afraid of what I might say. Because, you know what, that was the kind of dinner guest Jesus was. When you read the gospels, they start to sound like just a bunch of episodes of Jesus being invited over to dinner and doing or saying something so over the top that it stops every one dead in their tracks.

Look what happens in Luke 7:

36One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”

I love it. I am sure that many of you upon having me over for dinner would just love it if a woman of some ill repute followed me in and started rubbing stuff on my feel. I am not going to read the whole passage, but Jesus turns the who thing around on his host and forgives the sins of the woman, and Jesus is never, ever invited to dinner there again.

And what about Luke 11:

37While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. 42“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”

I love it. Someday, I am going to go somewhere for dinner and my host will say, “Will you want to wash up before dinner?” and I am going to say, “Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.” And Will was never, ever invited to dinner there again.

Maybe Jesus didn’t get too watch one those wonderful instructional films in High School about proper dinner etiquette.

Today, we gather for dinner around our family table as Christians. Too often we forget that communion is more than a ritual we go through at the end of service. It is our family meal and when we gather for it, we believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is very present at our table. So, as we gather at the table with the one who tends to make dinner a little uncomfortable, let’s begin by enjoying a little polite dinner conversation.

Today’s reading has Jesus accepting the invitation to another dinner. He was so popular.
1On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
And, in typical Jesus fashion, he starts right in.
7When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

This is not one of the most original saying of Jesus. It is sort of common sense and he could have been reading it right out of Proverbs 25:

6Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presenceor stand in the place of the great;7for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
This is not necessarily the mark of a good Christian, it is the mark of people who don’t want to make fools of themselves. I was at a luncheon a few weeks back and there were a whole lot of important people there and there was a big long table with place settings at every seat. As it was time to sit down, the one I would consider to be the most important one in the room sat down, sort of in the middle of the long table. And the rest of us sort of milled around the table like were in some sort of hold pattern over and airport not knowing where to sit, sort of waiting for others to sit down. Because you know what would have been humiliating would have been to sit down right next to the guest of honor and be told, “Excuse me Reverend Rice, that seat is for someone more important than you.”

When in doubt, sit in the bad seat and let someone tell you to move up. Then someone can say, “Oh, Reverend Rice, we reserved this important seat for you.” And I can act all humble and undeserving. “Oh gosh, for me?”

Let me clarify, this is not the same as sitting in the back row at church.

This is just common sense, but Jesus isn’t one to espouse common sense. What is he getting at? The text gives us a clue.

7When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.

Just a reminder, parable comes from the Greek word paraboley parable (alongside a throw) – the idea is that it is a placing beside – a comparison. So Jesus isn’t reminding us of this common sense issue about how to not embarrass yourself at a dinner party, he is trying to tell us something about how we love God and neighbor that is like this. So, what is the lesson? Let’s read on.

11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

So perhaps, this same sort of humility that we should show at a dinner party is how we should also align ourselves as God’s people. Let me sit here in the back and wait for God to glorify me. Hmmm. Let’s read on.

12He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Man Jesus is just ruining this lunch. Think about it: a lot of us have get-togethers at our homes. Every once in a while I get invited to one of these. Imagine we are sitting down enjoying some grilled fish and maybe some steaks and some shrimp and I ask you to go around the table and introduce everyone and tell me what they have ever done for you or could do for you. “Well that is Fred and he helped me fix my fence. That is Susan and she helped me pick out a necklace for my wife’s birthday. That is Jeff and we get together at his house for dinner once a month. And over there is Leslie and she has never really done anything for me but she is an accountant and I was thinking of asking her to help me with my taxes.

And I say, “Great, ask them all to leave. Go out and find some people who can’t do a thing for you and invite them to dinner.” After some stunned silence you might vow to invite some other people next time but I would never know because you would never ask me to dinner again.
13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

It is tempting to me to make this about mission. When we talk about the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, we tend to think about service. But this is not about reaching out in service this is about who we invite to dinner. We have set the table already. Who are we inviting to dinner? Us?

I am still a little astounded, which makes me feel as though I lack in faith that someone has offered to give this church 20 acres of prime property, on 624 for free, as a gift, with these wonderful conditions: we have to use the whole thing and we have to start building on it in two years. In other words, we have to use the gift for ministry.

You know this gift is so astounding, I just have to pause here. An anonymous donor has offered to give us a piece of land worth, right now, $650,000 and by next year the way things are going out on 624 it will probably soon be worth a million bucks. I think we just have to stop for a moment and praise God that this actually happened.

The church council on Monday unanimously voted to take this offer to the entire congregation. Over the next month, we will have a number of Town Hall meetings to discuss whether or not we will accept this offer and begin the process of building a brand new church. Now this will be a complicated and emotional conversation, but as we are beginning it I want to, in the context of today’s scripture repeat something I heard at the church council meeting on Monday night. Don Boyd, the chair of the Master Site Plan team that brought us this wonderful news said. This gift (of land) is not for us, it is for all those who aren’t here yet.”

13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

I believe this entire passage tells me is that when it comes to our relationship with God, our worship, our prayer life, our way of living out a life of service to God, it is not good to put ourselves, our needs, our desires first. As John quoted you last week, “It is so not about us.”
Alisha and I were up at University UMC in San Antonio a couple of months back for a foster parent retreat. We noticed when we were in the parking lot that nearly every spot was marked. Over here tons of visitor parking, over there, parking for folks with special needs, over there, parking for people with little ones in the nursery. We couldn’t see any plain old “member” parking. It raised the question “where do the other 2000 or so people who got to worship park?” I think the answer is, “somewhere else.” Actually they have a shuttle service from a nearby school.

10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Many of you have heard rumblings that we might move this service out of this nice cozy sanctuary and into the gym of all places. And a number of people have told me that they won’t want to worship in the gym. I can’t help think that Jesus might ask, “what about all those people who aren’t currently worshipping with you, would they like to worship in the gym?” Will more people join us for dinner if we have more seats?

13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Don’t go out and serve them, invite them to dinner and be sure there is room at the table, kick all your friends out if you have to.

We are here for a banquet today, God’s banquet, and I believe Jesus is here trying to make us all uncomfortable by saying, “where is everybody else?” God is here saying to us, “I know you, I love you, I will take care of you. But where is everybody else?” So often when I preach sermons that are mostly focused out into the hurting world, I worry. I worry because I know that there are people right here, hurting. I know some of you. I have talked to some of you. John has talked to some of you. One or both of us may have sat by you. When I point us out, I don’t mean that God doesn’t care about you. Far from. The Lord is your shepherd.

God loves you with an everlasting love that will never ever, ever let you go. And God wants everyone else to know that too. We are here for a banquet today and if we had unlimited time this morning, I would say, before we come to the table, quick, go out and find some other people to share this with. But, that is another parable and we don’t have time. So let’s make the best of it this morning. As we come to the table this morning, let’s come thankfully, let’s come expectantly, and let’s come to be transformed and empowered to create a church where everyone is invited to the banquet and there is plenty of room for all. Amen?