Before we get started, if you don’t have a Bible handy, take a minute to grab one. Today’s sermon is going to be a bit of a deep-dive, so you might want to have it ready! Let us pray. Lord, we open our ears and our hearts to you. Speak to us, for we are listening. In your holy name we pray, Amen. Today, I want to talk about communication. Communication is a fundamental tool that we humans use to express ourselves, and to understand each other. Without it, there’s no way we could live together as a community; no way to share ourselves, or learn from others. Life without communication is a pretty lonely life! And it’s the same thing when it comes to our relationship with God too. When we don’t have communication with God, when we don’t both show ourselves and seek to understand God (We don’t speak to God or listen), we lose the ability to build and grow in that relationship with our God. Communication…it’s so important, vital and essential. But if it’s so important…why are we all so bad at it? Of course, some of you might be thinking, “What are you talking about? I’m not bad at communicating! I speak clearly, logically and slowly enough for people to understand!” Well, that may be true, but the art of good communication, the art of connecting to other people as well as to God, goes much deeper than that. In fact, today’s scripture passage can actually tell us quite a lot about communication, both good and bad. So, let’s dive into it together! Today’s passage opens with the phrase, Now about eight days after these sayings…” (Luke 9:28) That seems like a weird way to start a story, doesn’t it? Almost like this isn’t the beginning of the story at all… Ok then. Let’s go back a little bit, and see what happens before we get to today’s passage. Today’s scripture started at verse 28, but Luke 9:21-27 is actually a major turning point in the book of Luke. Jesus started his ministry way back in chapter 4 and, for the most part, things have gone fairly well since then; his ministry prospects have been rosy, and the work has been successful for the most part. In this first large piece of the story Jesus chooses the disciples and calls them to follow, cleanses and cures the lepers and heals the paralytic. Jesus teaches and preaches, calms the storm, brings resurrection to the dead and feeds the five thousand. (Luke 4-9) Miracles upon miracles, power and glory abound. No wonder the crowds followed Jesus and his disciples so intently that they had to withdraw to somewhere quieter. People were amazed by the things Jesus could do, moved by his teaching and healed by his hands, and they just couldn’t wait to see and hear more. They were inspired. And the disciples were probably more excited by all of this than anyone. But then, the disciples are presented with a difficult truth; something that shakes them to their core. Something that doesn’t match with the power and glory that they see before them day in and day out. Every day they see the lifegiving and merciful acts of Jesus. They see Jesus flowing with grace like a fountain; healing, forgiving, bringing new life emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. And then, in Luke 9:22, this divine source of life and goodness, radiating the power of God, turns to them and says, “The Son of Man (that is; Jesus himself) must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Luke 9:22) Imagine the shock of the disciples! How could it be that this man who can heal the sick, save the dying, and even raise the dead is going to be killed himself? The great teacher, God’s beloved, murdered by our own religious leaders? That just couldn’t be possible! But now that Jesus had said it, the disciples had to wrestle with it. And it’s interesting that we don’t see any reference to exactly how the disciples responded to this earth-shattering news that their teacher so bluntly delivered. Jesus goes on, explaining what he means even more saying that “if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) So not only are they given a terrifying, impossible prediction of what’s to come, but they’re given a warning as well. Being Christ, or being Christlike, isn’t at all what they’ve come to expect from what they’ve seen; miracles upon miracles, power upon power, glory hallelujah forever and ever. In fact, it’s not even about exercising power at all, but rather surrendering power, giving it up, and making sacrifices instead. And this is where we are when we move into today’s passage, and it says “Now about eight days after these sayings” (Luke 9:28). All of this happens, and then there’s just…an eight day break, with no response from the disciples being recorded. Now this is just my guess, but I wonder if this wasn’t a bit of an awkward topic during that 8-day period. I can imagine the disciples carefully avoiding talking about exactly what Jesus said because it was just too difficult, too shocking, and too uncomfortable to process. The severity of Jesus’ news was too much, and the disciples avoided it, rather than face it. Because…you know…that is how humans tend to respond when presented with difficult, shocking news. When we’re presented with news or information that is challenging or difficult, we tend to try and avoid it, rather than face it. And even more than that, we often avoid talking to those people who are directly involved with whatever difficult situation we’re avoiding confronting, and instead spend our time talking about it with people who aren’t involved, looking for new opinions to validate our fears. Instead of engaging in fruitful dialogue, we look to fruitless whispering so that we don’t have to do the hard work of finding clarity. As a result, we don’t find a better understanding of the situation, or learn about how God’s calling us to navigate difficulty and challenge; we just increase our own anxiety, and grow in our own fear. I don’t know whether or not Peter and the disciples were feeling anxious about all that they heard about the terrifying destiny coming for their beloved teacher. One thing we do know for certain is that after these 8 days, they climbed up into the mountains with Jesus to pray. But so far, we haven’t seen any big, dramatic actions from the disciples. They’ve received this big news from Jesus, but they still don’t quite seem to know what to do about it. But just then, something amazing happens; something incredible, which totally confirms their faith in this Jesus they’ve come to know as master, teacher, and miracle worker. Before their very eyes, this human Jesus who was simply praying on the mountainside, was changed into something that could only be described as godly. His face began to shine, and his clothes became the most dazzling white (Luke 9:29); a sign that whatever was happening was somehow of God; heavenly, in fact. In that moment, seeing Jesus transfigured into this godly form, they were able to perceive Jesus in the fullness of his glory; able to behold the savior for who and what he truly is. How amazing is that? Peter, of course, is quick to respond to the miraculous sight unfolding before him, as he witnesses this transfiguration with James and John. Now, back in Luke 9:20, Jesus had asked the disciples who they thought he might actually be, and it was Peter who gave the big answer, saying that Jesus was “The Messiah of God.” (Luke 9:20) Specially, that he was the chosen one, anointed by God to save God’s people. And, in this moment, Peter is proven right! What they’re seeing right then and there conforms precisely to the image of the chosen messiah. They expected the messiah to be shining in glory, wrapped around him like a blanket. They expected a messiah who would hang out with Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest heroes of the Jewish faith at the time. Of course the messiah would talk with the bringer of the law(that is Moses) and the greatest of the prophets (that is Elaijah!) This is, for them, the most holy moment that could have possibly happened. No wonder Peter wanted to find a way to contain this moment, to hang on to it and never let it pass away. Peter jumps right in, saying “it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (Luke 9:33) He’s saying “this is it!” Let’s make a monument to this moment of glory, let’s build on this powerful foundation! And his idea of actually making a dwelling place isn’t some random, weird idea that Peter just suddenly had. The building of a dwelling, tent, shelter, or booth (depending on your translation) is a tradition among Jewish people, a festival celebrated even today as a way of remembering God’s goodness and providence. So, from Peter’s perspective, this idea to make a dwelling for them was probably his way of using all his knowledge and traditions to honor God’s presence in this place, to celebrate the glorious revelation of the messiah in a way that made sense to him, according to what he thought was right. Seems reasonable, right? But let’s take a look at the full text of verse 33 a moment: “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah”-not knowing what he said.” (Luke 9:33) Not knowing what he said…. Peter had no freaking clue what he was talking about! Let’s make sure we’ve got this right. First Peter, with the other disciples, avoided talking about something that was difficult to deal with; the fact that his master is destined to be killed fairly soon. At a time when maybe talking would have been good, he didn’t say anything. And now, seeing God’s glory upfront and realizing that it completely exceeds his comprehension, he just starts talking without having the faintest clue what he’s talking about! This is an epic failure to communicate, don’t you think? Why would Peter make such a weird choice both times? I think that Peter was failing to look at what was really going on deep inside of him: fear. This moment of transfiguration also shows up in the other gospels as well, and in Mark 9:2-8 we hear Peter make the same suggestion, but then it says that Peter and the others “...did not know what to say, for they were terrified.” (Mark 9:6) Consider that in that moment, Peter was not just experiencing his own fear, but sensing that of James and John too, so he jumps to that one truly human action that all of us go to from time to time. He starts talking, justifying, rationalizing, instead of listening (exploring) . “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah”-not knowing what he said.” (Luke 9:33) This is just so very human, isn’t it? We can be so quick to speak, but so slow to listen, or explore in any depth. When we’re reacting to things from places of fear, we tend to jump right to saying things that don’t make a whole lot of sense, even just to ourselves without much discernment. Same goes for a lot of other feelings, in fact; anger, embarrassment, pride, and other feelings rooted deep down in our hearts. Communication without a whole lot of self-exploration often leads to a lot of messed up communication choices. And what happens when not just one person, but many more people, spend time communicating like this? When whole communities avoid talking about difficult subjects, or say things quickly and thoughtlessly, without exploring their deep-rooted fears and insecurities? What happens when we rely only on our own knowledge and traditions in order to understand what’s happening, prioritizing bearing witness to the miracle happening right in front of us? We stop listening to God, in the way that God listens to us. Remember that Peter and the other two disciples know what’s coming, they’ve been told that the cross is on the horizon, but they didn’t connect that knowledge to what they were seeing then and there. They didn’t communicate with the God in front of them, didn’t listen to God. And what happens to communities who can’t listen, and can’t communicate with God? Confusion. Tension. Division. Understanding crumbles, alienation grows, and people fall into isolation because there is no open or mutual communication; only one-sided misunderstandings that happen over, and over again. I want to show you something called “The Cultural Adjustment Map”. This image shows the process that people go through when adjusting to a new culture. Of course, today I’m not really talking about cultural adjustment, but cultural adjustment is about how to process the new information about new culture. So (listening, speaking,communication is key; and this map can tell us a lot about how humans communicate with each other. This map shows that when we enter into certain inevitable experiences in life, such as things that cause us frustration, confusion, tension, and embarrassment, our approach usually determines how we cope with those situations. So, when we approach these things with fear, suspicion, and inflexibility, we’ll often find ourselves coping with these challenges by criticizing, rationalizing, and withdrawing and, in the end, the result we experience will be alienation and isolation. (Figure 8.1. Taken from ch.8 of “Cross-Cultural Connections” by Duane Elmer ) And what might it be like if not just one person were to respond this way on their own, but if they gathered their allies, formed a group, and all began to approach things with fear, suspicion, and inflexibility together? What might happen? The criticism, rationalization, and withdrawing will begin to multiply, leading to much greater alienation and isolation. And as these groups within a community begin to alienate and isolate, what is the result? Division. Factionation. An end to mutual understanding, support, and the peace of community. Think for just a moment about some of the situations you’ve been facing lately; situations that have caused you to feel tense, confused, frustrated, or maybe even a bit embarrassed lately. How did you approach these situations? Have you approached these inevitable situations with the openness, acceptance and trust which leads to patient listening, focused observation, and kind inquiry? Or have you taken the lower route instead?(Figure 8.1) Peter took the lower route. He approached Jesus’ moment of transfiguration having not resolved his fears and anxieties about the future. So he responded to that moment with rationalization, proposing that they make dwellings for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah while completely missing the point of why they were there in the first place. They were there together to discuss Jesus’ coming trip to Jerusalem (Luke 9:31) ; a trip that was to end with a cross on a hill and a world saved. Inevitable event was coming. Of course, if things went according to this map, then Peter would be destined for alienation and isolation. And, in this case, I guess we can say he gets some of that, because he winds up being unable to truly connect with Jesus in that moment. But that’s the wonderful thing about God’s grace; it gives us the ability to go beyond what will happen according to the map. (things we see on paper, things we hear as a theory) Starting from a place of fear, inflexibility, and suspicion doesn’t always have to end in isolation, alienation, and division. With God’s intervention, we can still find our way to love, understanding, and support instead. Look at how Jesus responded to Peter, who was avoiding difficult conversations with rationalization. What would be a normal, human way to respond to someone like that? Maybe a bit of nagging? Correcting? Or maybe it would be some rebuking, or talking behind the back? Maybe you’d just tell Peter outright that he was completely missing the point, he was misunderstanding? That he was wrong? But does Jesus do any of that? No. Jesus is just there, letting Peter express his thoughts. Jesus is listening. Jesus is listening, but not in such a way that the truth is hidden or obscured. God doesn't shield Peter from anything. In fact, the voice of God tells him “This is my Son, my chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35). What is true and important remains unhidden; Jesus is the son of God, chosen to carry out this difficult and painful destiny. Listen to Jesus! Jesus never gives up. Jesus does not dismiss or looks down on Peter. Jesus continues to engage with Peter, showing patience not only to him but to all the disciples. Jesus doesn’t mind repeating what he has to say and never, never rejects. Jesus built his communication on a foundation of patience, and I think that is how Jesus is calling us to communicate with each other too. Think about a relationship you have where you feel challenged or troubled, and spend some time reflecting on how you have been communicating with that person or people. Are you approaching that relationship, with all of its challenges and complexities, with openness, trust, acceptance, and a willingness to listen? Or are you too busy defending your positions, rationalizing your thoughts, and criticizing others instead? Today, we saw an example of flawed, imperfect Peter, who kept screwing up and taking that lower route, going with fear, suspicion, and inflexibility more often than not. But in that space, we saw a God who models for us a different path; a path of kind patience, which gives us the room to move out of our fear, suspicion and inflexibility, and towards paths of kind observation, patient listening, and abiding understanding. And that is how a community becomes one. This week, it is my prayer for you, for all of us, that we can look for ways to communicate in the way God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit communicate with us. Let us learn from our triune God about how to speak and how to listen to one another. Let us pray. Almighty God, we confess that we are definitely not the best at communication. We can be quick to speak, and slow to listen. We are judgemental and closed-minded, rather than the patient and receptive listeners to your divine guidance that we should be. Please help us to be better at communicating your love and forgiveness, and better at hearing your voice when we communicate with you, and with each other. In your name we pray, Amen.
0 Comments
These days, do you often write a letter to someone using SNS? It is fun and enjoyable to send messages to your family and friends whom you now well.
But how about the person whom you never met? How about if you write someone or someplace that has a high social position or status? You might be judged and evaluated on your personal character, education and social background from your language and sentences. Someone like me often makes the wrong choice of phrases or grammatical errors, which reveals that I am weak in using English. How about you if you wrote this kind of letter? The Epistles to the Romans, was just like such a letter. It was written by Paul to the congregation at Rome, which he had never visited and he didn't have friendly relationships with those members. Look at his attitude in writing his messages, which has a certain determination and humbleness to them. Paul had much determination with great authority appointed by Jesus himself as an apostle to the Gentiles. He is bold and straightforward in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. Humbleness as a servant to Christ and the Church, we may understand his style with the word of “Love” on which he heard from Claudia-sensei’s sermon last week on 1 Corinthian chapter 13. But to the church in Rome, Paul could not gain their good understanding easily and these messages were not welcome at first. There were two reasons for that. First, one was the status of the Roman church at that time in the Christian World. The second reason was the suspicion of Paul's background as an apostle or even as a Christian among the congregation. In the Book of Revelation, there were seven prominent churches in the Christian society. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. These churches were in the Asia Minor area, and except for Ephesus, no other churches on the New Testament Table of Contents were mentioned there: Corinth, Thessalonica, Galatia, Philippe, Colossians, and of course Rome, mainly located on the Mediterranean coast. And in the context of world history in 1st century B.C., the Church in Rome was the most well-known among all those churches. A secular historian at that time mentioned the Christians in Rome negatively. A most remarkable incident was in the year of 64 A.D. there was a great fire in Rome and the Emperor Nero blamed the Christians for the cause of the fire, and started the first official persecution of Christianity in the Roman Empire. That was ten years before Paul had written his letter to Rome, and it is remarkable that it was just thirty years after Jesus’s crucifixion, a Roman Emperor already knew something about the Christian community in Rome. It is not clear how Christianity came to Rome and who brought the Gospel. Even at the time there were no good communication tools like we have now, in thirty years time, Jesus Christ was accepted and believed as their savior by so many people in Rome, known to the Emperor. Also the Church in Rome seems to have been organized with strong principles, since they had been enduring negative attitudes from the ordinary people there which led to the persecution from Nero. At the time when Paul wrote his letter to Rome, the congregation had gained some confidence in their faith and church organization, as Paul mentioned when he wrote, “your faith is being reported all over the world.” (v.8) Beside that, they might have had certain pride or superiority to live in the world capital of the Roman Empire, in other words, as “urban people”. And then they received a letter from an unknown person with a skeptical background in a remote local place in Asia Minor, who was Paul. As you can find in the Acts of Apostles, at first Paul appeared as a severe persecutor of the Christians and he himself admitted his past in the letters to the Galatians or the Philippines. And during his severe action against Christians, he was called to be an apostle, that is a Church leader, by the resurrected Jesus (see Acts chapter 9). Among the early Christians, Paul’s position was greatly doubted, and the members of the Roman Church had surely heard about it. That Paul had been writing to them as their Apostle and a leader of their faith to preach the Gospel to them. As you proceed reading this letter forward, you can realize his firm determination as an apostle using quite strong words and expressions to instruct them to turn to the right way of the Christian faith. In verse 18, he talked about “the wrath of God,” and pointed out the unfavorable elements of their Church. He seems to have had no care how he was thought of by his straightforward message, by the Roman congregation. He might have heard some of the irrespective reputation in the Roman Church and he wanted to come to them to correct and straighten their faith with “some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. “ (vv. 11-2) Paul had been longing to come to Rome since he had great expectations and hope for them. Paul’s vision of his mission was to build the Kingdom of God in this world, and the Church of Rome should be the best and most important stage to fulfill it. Rome was believed to be the the center of the world and would rule the whole world with the Imperial power of humans. The Church at the capital of the Empire or the Mediterranean World as the sign and proof of the Christianity as the Universal Faith. If the Church of Rome could be the city or town “built on a hill which cannot be hidden,” and their “ light shines before others,” people of the whole world see their“good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”(Matthew 5:14, 16) Where did Paul’s determination come from? It is from his humbleness to serve Christ and his Church. Since he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, that is Greeks and Romans, no matter how his personal background might be, he was sent out directly by Jesus Christ himself. As he was forgiven and released from his past, he should do any kind of effort to fulfill his mission with firm determination. How did the Roman congregation answer Paul's expectations? Or how could Paul transmit his message to the members? From the new year of 2022, I started to re-read the Epistle to the Romans, carefully and thoroughly, and hope to preach on from Romans this year at KUC monthly, if I am allowed to do so. And I’ll try to find out if Paul would write such a letter to our congregation in Kobe, KUC, a church in an urban area and in a representative city of Japan. How could we answer his expectations? “A new command I give you: Love one another. ... As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” --- John 13:34
13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never ends. ---1 Corinthians 13:1-8a Love. It's a word that some of us use a lot. "I love that color on you." "I love chocolate." "I love you" to our family members or our pets. And, of course, some of us, or at least people from my generation, know the famous Beatles song, “All You Need is Love.” We use this word LOVE for so many emotions. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. The origin of Valentine’s Day may slightly vary but on February 14, around the year 270 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was martyred because he wanted to help young couples and so, he illegally married them to spare the husbands from going to war. For this, he was sent to prison. According to legend, the priest signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and, by some accounts, healed from blindness. In the US, everyone gets a Valentine card. In elementary school, kids give out Valentines to the whole class, teachers included and visa versa. Couples will oftentimes give chocolates or flowers to each other. In the US, couples often go out to eat for dinner, it is the most popular night for reservations in the whole year. Now with this pandemic maybe couples will dine in. This is different than in Japan where only the men receive chocolates on Valentine’s Day. I am not really sure how that custom began. ☺ Valentine’s Day can be a time of sadness for some people. The Marlett Family lost their 5 ½ year old daughter Lucy Grace on February 8, her funeral was held on February 14, Valentine’s Day, they thought it was an appropriate day to have a funeral for a child who was so loved by her family and so many others. Lucy, (Lucy’s name means “light by the way and her middle name is “Grace”), had Mitochondrial disease which is a debilitating and fatal disease. Although a sad time, they have many amazing memories of her short life. Lucy spent a majority of her life in the hospital, Nicole stayed with Lucy in the hospital while Drew and the kids would commute the forty minutes from their home to the hospital whenever Lucy was admitted. They did so out of love, they wanted their family to be together as much as possible despite the circumstances It was not easy, but they loved her, along with the hospital staff and doctors. Through Lucy lives were changed, and you can ask the Marlett’s who have many testimonies. You know the African proverb, “it takes a village to raise a child.” This is so true when we come together as the Body of Christ to support and pray for one another. And the love of their church members was what helped to sustain them through Lucy’s life. Nicole was baptized early on in Lucy’s life. Scripture says love "bears [covers] all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7). God’s love covered them and helped them to “bear” all things. Love has the ability to weather the storms of life. Their lives were like a constant storm with Lucy as they never knew what her condition would be like day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Lucy required 24 hour care. Lucy’s life of love was an inspiration to others and God’s love worked through her. One of Lucy’s doctors was also baptized in Lucy’s lifetime and Lucy was a witness to it. The Marlett family loved Lucy so much that they made many sacrifices for her. But that is what you do when you love someone. You think of them and not yourself. Mother Teresa said; “Love until it hurts.” And sometimes love hurts. If you have a New King James version of the Bible, there is a different translation of “love is patent” in verse 4 and says that “love suffers long.” There are different interpretations of this but when love is acted upon, what does love do? How do we act in love? Look again at 1 Corinthians 13. In verse 4, Paul says that love is kind. Again, this is the active character of love, of what love is often seeking to do. There are things we do when we love someone and when we love God. We are kind. We serve one another and we give of ourselves. We may sometimes make sacrifices. We may suffer. Of course, when we think of sacrifices, we think of Jesus who gave up his life for us because God loved us so very much. (1 John 4:10, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."—1 John 4:10; "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." –John 3:16; ". . . Christ . . . loved the church and gave Himself up for her."—Ephesians 5:25.) When talking about love, there are different kinds of love. The Western tradition from the Greeks distinguishes four types of love and has a Greek word for all of them.
Agape is the kind of love modeled on the love of God for humans and the love of humans for God. Agape, in the New Testament, is originating love from Jesus Christ, for others, such as the love for strangers, nature, or God. Agape love also encompasses the concept of altruism, defined as unselfish concern for the welfare of others. This is unconditional love as God has for us and as we share to others. It's the love that is given whether or not it's returned. It's the love without any self-benefit. Jesus Christ demonstrated this kind of divine love to his Father and to all humanity in the way he lived and died: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Jesus asked Peter if he loved him (agape). Peter replied three times that he did, but the word Peter used was phileo or “brotherly love” (John 21:15–19). Peter had not yet received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; so maybe was not yet fully aware of all that the Agape kind of love entails. But after Pentecost, Peter was so full of God's love that he spoke from his heart and 3,000 people were converted! Love is one of the most powerful emotions humans can experience. Through the Bible, we discover how to experience love in its many forms and to share it with others as God intended. Pastor Chuck often said, “Our agenda should be the same agenda Jesus had, ‘Love God and love your neighbor.’ It is that simple.” He said that was how we could “Be the Church” by loving God and our neighbor. Before he passed away, he helped us by putting this on our church website, “ABC: Actively Being the Church by actively Loving God and our Neighbors.” We are not passively loving God, but actively loving God. Love in action. St. Teresa of Avila said, “The Lord asks two things of us, Love of God and love of our neighbor. And the further advanced you are in this. The greater will be your love for God. Our church member, Meg had her mother, Kiyoko Miyatani, shared one of her many testimonies two Saturdays ago. Miyatani-san’s absolute favorite thing to do is to go and visit people in the hospitals. I do not have time today to share her testimony about someone she visited in the hospital. But pre-Covid, when she would visit people, she would gently rub their feet. She gave them a foot massage. She said, “the way to someone’s heart is through their feet.” ☺ It may not seem like much, but she massaged their feet and did it out of extraordinary love. (It is also the essence of Matthew 25.) Mother Teresa said; “The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action.” This is what Miyatani-san did. Compassion in action. Another way to say it is love in action which is the title of my sermon today. In John 13 Jesus shares the command “to love one another.” One of the interesting parts of this text in John 13 is the location it happened. This passage comes just before Judas left the other disciples at the last supper to betray Jesus. It is an amazing moment in the text. Jesus knows he will be crucified soon. He knows Judas will betray him but he still loves him. And in this moment, Jesus wants to prepare his disciples for the upcoming reality of his crucifixion and to command them to love one another. He commands the disciples to love one another, but he also reminds them that they will continue to feel his presence despite the fact that he will not be with them. They will show their discipleship by doing what he commands: by loving one another as he loved them. In three of the four Gospels, Jesus tells us what He expects from us, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31; Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27). It is obvious from this passage that love should be the motivation for everything we do; love for God first, then love for everyone else. There are other love passages, found in the NT. and echoing Leviticus 19:18, we hear Jesus speak of loving the neighbor. This text in John 13 focuses on love and that all of Jesus’ disciples will be known by their love of others (John 13: 34-35). For Jesus, love meant action. It meant actively loving -- putting one’s love into real world activities. We also are called to love others as a sign of our own discipleship. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jesus speaking in John 13:35). They will know we are Christians by our love. In that well known passage, 1 Corinthians 13:4-6, we here about the characteristics of love. 4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Paul does not just share what love is like or is but what love does. There are 15 verbs here, 15 action words. What love does and does not do. Paul is also pointing to the behavior of the Corinthians and he’s saying all this stuff that you Corinthians are doing, this is not the way that love behaves. Paul had been talking about the gifts of the Spirit earlier in 1 Corinthians 12. Having patience, kindness, etc. is a gift we learn or have already as Christians. These love traits in 1 Corinthians 13 are what we put in our hearts and become natural responses as we are transformed by God’s love. In reading scripture, I often think of other scriptures that are connected. 1 Corinthians I was also reminded of this passage in Galatians 5:22-23 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” -- Galatians 5:22-23. Jesus was patience each time he stopped and answered someone’s questions or responded to the disciples’ naive statements. Jesus was not jealous of those he ministered to, he didn’t boast about himself; even Jesus was mindful to give all glory to God. His manner was not prideful. He spoke from a place of sincerity and was direct and truthful in he encounters. He was not rude. Even as he rebuked the Pharisees, he still loved them (he may not have liked them ☺ but he loved them!) and wanted the best for them which was to surrender to God. He spoke from his heart. Jesus followed God’s will for him, forfeiting his right to have his own way. In this unquestioning obedience he fulfilled the greatest act of love there ever was and in so doing, he saved the world. Jesus was the mirror image of God and presenting who God is………..God is love. But we all have known Christians and non-Christians who were not patient or kind. Some Christians do mean things! What to do? Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber wrote a book called, “Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the ‘Wrong’ People” how do we find God and how do we go about finding God in people and loving the people that are challenging to love? The Holy Spirit takes possession of the us and we ask God to put the love of God in our hearts. You can say, "Lord, I can't love that person's arrogant pride, or obstinate behavior, or the selfish attitudes. I can't, but You can. Please, you do what I cannot do. Here I am, you love this person through me." This doesn’t mean we just accept bad behavior or look away if the person commits a crime. Depending on what the person did, they should still be held accountable. We do not have to “love” what the person did if it was truly a bad thing she or he did. But it means we try to use the strength of God to love the person. Sometimes these people are broken and hurt. There is a reason they are a challenge to love and you may not like the person. But Pastor Chuck used to say, “broken people do broken things.” He also said hurt people (people who are hurt) hurt people (will hurt other people). So, we may not like them but we still have to love them. Pastor Chuck did prison ministry so he knew firsthand the need for these people to find out that God loves them and also that Chuck could love them as well. Chuck quoted someone once who said, “You will never look into the eyes of someone God does not love.” What about when we act that way? Do you ever demand upon your own way, do you want to protect your image, your reputation and your respect? Love doesn’t envy, love doesn’t boast, love is not arrogant. Do you think first about your neighbor? Or not? Do you get irritable when you don’t get your own way? Do you keep a record of wrong by grudges, bitterness and plans for revenge? What about the truth? Do you accept wrongdoing, do you think it’s okay as long as you see there’s justification for it carrying you beyond the boundaries that are appointed by God? Love doesn’t justify falsehood, love rejoices in the truth. If we look at the standard that Paul is giving us and about the way that love behaves, then we might see that our lives, our actions, and our attitudes don’t always match with this. Then we’re left asking how do I grow? How can I put love and these traits of love in my heart? Well, again, we can’t do it alone. We depend on God’s help. God’s spirit, through prayer, is your most important resource for transforming your heart. God promises that God will reshape not only your mind but your heart, that God will put your desires in the right order that they ought to be. We can also be part of a community of faith that loves us and helps us to grow as we allow God’s love to fill our hearts and change us. God loves us as we are but loves us so much as to not leave us unchanged but continues to help us grow in our love. God’s love transforms us. God will lead us. Because the Holy Spirit gives us the same love that our Lord Jesus had for you and me, and the same Lord Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with that love to transform us from the inside out. In closing, let me share from 1 Corinthians 13:8 “Love never ends.” In Psalm 136, this phrase, “God's love endures forever” and is repeated 26 times. (Yes. I counted. 26 times.) God’s love is always with us forever! God’s love never ends. God is love. Let us prayer. (Based on Corinthians 13) Holy God, You call us “beloved” And you love us so very much. May your Divine love dwell within us and be enacted through us so that No matter what language we speak Your Love will be known in each word we say and by our actions; When you call us to stand up for justice, Your Love will be the power that drives us and our actions; When we seek knowledge, Your Love will compel us all the way to truth; When we offer our prayers in faith, Our Love for you, O God, will fill our hearts with peace; When we give of ourselves and our possessions, Our Love for you and your people will shine above love for worldly things. Thank you, God, for the gift of love. Show us love in action as you empower us to walk the path love opens before us. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, as you reveal yourself through your Word, let us do the same and open ourselves to you. In your name, we pray, Amen.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “toxic masculinity?” I first came across this phrase when I was in seminary, and it is a broad term that describes all the negative, hurtful things that happen when men, women, and really anyone tries to force society to conform to a stereotypical view of what it means to be masculine. Let’s think about that for a moment, shall we? What are some of the stereotypical ways we think about men? Athletic? Physically strong and emotionally solid? Always the head of the household, and a dedicated problem solver but rarely good with directions? These stereotypes about what men should and shouldn’t be like place unspoken pressures and expectations on both men and women, and the results can be bad, hurtful; toxic. In some cultures for example, domestic violence is seen as something masculine, and this view means that men aren’t held accountable because, as they say, “boys will be boys.” In this way, women are very obviously hurt as violence against them is ignored. But it goes both ways, because when men are the victims of domestic violence, they’re often treated as something impossible, or completely ignored. Toxic masculinity is more complex than just blaming men for “being men;” it’s a deep-rooted social problem that cuts both ways, hurting everyone in society and making it something we all need to be aware of and look at closely. From a very early age, boys are expected to behave in stereotypically “masculine” ways; “manning up” and suppressing their feelings, especially anything that could be seen as weakness or vulnerability. And they definitely don’t cry! What toxic masculinity tells us is that it’s hard for men to connect to people, difficult for them to express vulnerable emotions or ask for help with their own needs, and this is reinforced by the ways that our families, communities, and society as a whole tell us that men should behave even from an early age; as strong, tough, stoic, and unemotional. This forces men to become self-reliant and less vulnerable as they grow, and conform to these stereotypical views of society in order to survive. But while this is a big one, it’s only one example of how harmful, toxic stereotypes can affect whole populations. Stereotypes are everywhere and they apply to gender, race, ethnicity, groups based on income, immigration status, family dynamics, and many more things. And we depend on our stereotypes because it makes us feel like we understand how the world works. But I want us to pause for a moment, and consider. I wonder if this same sort of thinking also applies to how we understand what it means to be a Christian. Are there any harmful stereotypes that come with being a Christian? Are there ways we think we are supposed to act as Christians which are just hurting us or holding us back? Is there such a thing as toxic Christianity? With these questions in mind, let’s look at today’s Scripture passage from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet who was called to serve the Southern Kingdom of Israel during the 6th century BCE. The setting in today’s Scripture is the year in which King Uzziah died. There, Isaiah records his majestic encounter with God. “I saw the lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1) The hem of God’s robe was so large that it filled the entire temple. Seraphim - burning serpents with six wings - were also seen with their wings outstretched to cover their faces and their feet. (Isaiah 6:2) Then, one Seraph calls out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) The seraphs were covering their faces but they could still feel the majesty and glory of God, praising God and saying that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. And in response to such praise, the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:4) Isaiah felt the presence of God powerfully manifest in these ways, and experienced it clearly with all his senses; his eyes, ears, nose and feet. Have you ever felt the presence of the Lord so thoroughly and completely, with all your bodily senses? God is so big and majestic, but God is not far away. You can feel how God is so close to you? You can feel God right beside you, embracing you? For me, I tend to feel this way when I worship in the sanctuary, when I have heartfelt moments of prayer, when I read the Scripture prayerfully, and when I go see the ocean at a nearby park. When I feel the presence of the Lord so close, I feel it’s ok. God is in control. God is still here, and I am loved and cared for. And It is not that I just tell those things to myself. No, these thoughts arise within me naturally and organically. In those moments, I feel God speaking to me gently. I feel God’s gentle touch on me. Isaiah also had a “personal” encounter with God, and from that encounter he confirms his calling. Isaiah hears God’s voice asking, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Eagerly, Isaiah responds, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8) This is a pretty big moment, and there is a lot to unpack here. First, we call this type of encounter a “call” or a “commission” in theological terms, but what it really is is just an invitation from God to serve. It is interesting though, that this moment for Isaiah’s, his call, comes in chapter 6 of the book. Chapter 6. Moses and Jeremiah also received a call from God, but they had personal encounters with God right from the beginning. (Exodus 3 and Jeremiah 1) But, Isaiah did not actually meet God personally until today’s chapter. Isaiah did not have a personal encounter with God at the start of his journey, didn’t truly meet God in that bodily, physical sense; as though his eyes, ears, nose, feet and heart were touched by God, until now. Even though we are Christians, it is possible to not have had such a genuine, personal encounter with God. It is possible that we might go to church, worship, have fellowship, and even serve without having met God personally in this way. Or some of us might feel like we used to have genuine fellowship with God, but don’t anymore. And if we think about it, this makes sense. Look at Isaiah. Isaiah was the same way, and did not meet God in a real, authentic, interactive way until chapter 6. The next logical question would be why? Why don’t we always get to have authentic, personal, real encounters with God? What could be blocking us from having that? I think that, just like with toxic masculinity, we Christians also struggle with stereotypical views that are harmful to ourselves and others as we walk with God and God’s community. I think that sometimes Christians jump to places of positivity and optimism rather too quickly and forcefully. I might even describe that as a kind of fear; a fear of confronting the true depth of human experiences. One time I had someone tell me that they feel that they could not show their broken and vulnerable selves in church because they were afraid of being judged. They were afraid that if they showed the truth that they were not actually feeling great, even though they are Christian, they wouldn't be welcomed. They were afraid to show that being Christian didn’t actually make things happier, better, or easier for them. Wow…this is pretty heavy to hear, but if we think about it isn’t there some truth to this? For example, as I mentioned in my last sermon, I often felt like I needed to look “happy” and “blessed” so that my family and friends might be drawn to Chrisitianity. I confess that I sometimes feel the pressure to look good and perfectly composed, to look like I have no stress at all when the truth is that I actually don’t feel that way inside. This temptation might actually be even bigger for me now, since I am in church as one of the leaders. With COVID these days, stresses are at an all-time high. The other day I came across the data from The American Psychological Association in which it shows that anywhere from one third to half of Americans, depending on age, feel so stressed out that it’s hard for them to make basic decisions in life, such as what to wear or what to eat. (Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2021/10/stress-pandemic-decision-making on February 6th, 2022) And you know what? I can very much relate to that. As COVID cases have begun to rise dramatically here in Japan, especially in schools, all my children have had to stay home from school. As a result, I find myself needing to call places and cancel after school programs and reschedule doctor's appointments; I need to make sure we have enough food at home, and apologize when our kids' friends knock on the door wanting to hang out with, and instead set up a zoom room so that the kids can still enjoy some kind of social interaction without exposing themselves to this new COVID surge. The schools send Don and I information on how kids can continue with learning at home, and managing that is almost like another part-time job! And also let’s not forget, I need to finish writing my sermon lol Also… whoops… I forgot to tell you that because kids are staying at home, I also have to stay at home today too, which means I also need to record this message for the service…but you figured that one out already, right?? No wonder it is difficult to make basic decisions in life; just doing the basic things we need to do in life requires a lot more effort, adding lot more stress these days. The stresses in your life might not, in fact probably don’t, look the same for you as they do for me. Maybe you’re wondering what you’ll do when your work contract ends this year, whether you’ll have to move, or whether you will be able to stay and keep looking for work. Maybe you wonder if you’ll have enough money for the future because you keep having to take money out of savings since you don’t get to work as much these days. Maybe you are worried because your health is deteriorating, and you worry about the risk of catching COVID from just going to the doctor. Maybe you are trying to change careers and seeking God’s guidance. Maybe you, your families or your friends have different opinions about vaccination. These stresses manifest for you, those questions seem to build up, weighing on us no matter how hard we seem to pray. And we do keep praying, but those prayers never seem to be answered…and then we worry more, wondering why our prayers seem to go unanswered. As a Christian I feel like I shouldn’t have these anxieties and worries, like I just can’t say out loud that simple truth… I AM STRESSED OUT!!!! Instead, it feels like I should always be saying that God is still in control, so everything will be OK. I feel like I’m not supposed to be stressed, because God is good, so everything will work out in the end. God is almighty, so my friends and family will all be ok. God is strong, so all these anxieties will amount to nothing, so worrying about it is just a lack of faith. Please don’t get me wrong; I fully believe that our God is a God who is good, graceful, and merciful. I fully believe in the Word which tells us that, “..all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose.” (Romans 8:26). I believe in the power of the Lord, but my point is that as a church community, we often use that power as an excuse not to make space for vulnerability, authenticity, and the honest, painful anxieties and traumas that people are struggling with in life today. We sometimes forget to make space for stress to be stress, for pain to be pain, and for trauma just to be trauma. For anger to be anger, for fear to be fear and for depression to be depression. We don’t want to face our tears, so we pretend that God takes them away before we experience them. Instead of experiencing them, we too quickly turn away and say that everything is fine because we believe in God and we have God on our side. We try to avoid the painful parts of our lives by placing ourselves in the presence of God on high and joining in the chorus of the Seraphs in singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” when the truth is that, inside of ourselves, we are not ready to be there because we have not looked at our true selves. When we do that, we fake positivity and optimism in such a way that we miss out on the point of being in God’s presence, miss out on the opportunity to bare our souls in true honesty before the Lord. We miss the chance to be truly and honestly seen in the presence of God , in favor of the appearance of goodness. After Isaiah witnessed God’s glory, divinity, and majesty, rather than ignoring his pain and imperfection and joining in the chorus of praise and worship, he reacted by saying; “Woe is me. I am lost.” (Isaiah 6:5) “I am ruined,” he said; “I’m cut off. I am undone…” He might as well have said “I am sad, grieved about all this. I am depressed, broken and above all stressed.” The thing is my friends, as Christians we don’t have to choose between being honest about our suffering or accepting God’s presence in our lives. When we move too quickly to the praise part, we ignore the opportunity to make a real, authentic, vulnerable expression of ourselves before the Lord. I am lonely. I am depressed. I am angry, I feel miserable, and I am stressed. Woe is me…I am sad, and grieved about all this. Are we allowing ourselves to admit this? Are we as a community allowing others to share these struggles without fear of judgment or condemnation? Or are we trying to push past these difficult feelings, and denying both ourselves and others the opportunity to have God sit with us in our pain in favor of empty praise? Of course, I’m not denying the beauty and the necessity of giving praise to God, but when we get more deeply in touch with the parts of ourselves that our wounded, when we embrace what it means to be loved by a God who knows that we’re broken and loves us still, then the praise will rise up more naturally within us. Because the truth is that, as Isaiah shows us, we can confess our brokenness and praise God’s holy name at the same time. In fact, the word “confession” in Hebrew, “Yadah” actually means “praise” also. So when we talk about confessing, we don’t always just mean “confession of sins” Confession is an authentic expression of our souls that expresses brokenness and praise in the same breath.. Let’s hear the rest of the cry from Isaiah’s soul, the rest of his confession. “Woe is me. I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) We do not have to make ourselves perfect in order to meet with God; we don’t need to put ourselves on God’s level just to be heard and seen. God comes down to us, hears our cries, hears our confessions and meets us where we are in our lives. Let’s take a moment and think about the significance of God having a Seraph come to touch the unclean lips of Isaiah. Remember that word, “unclean,” was a big deal in the Old Testament, so having “unclean lips” put a significant separation between Isaiah and God, between the people and God, which is not something easily dismissed. However, Isaiah himself could still be welcomed into God’s holy temple. Isaiah was still able to see and experience the full glory of the Lord despite still being unclean. And having witnessed this revelation, Isaiah was moved to express his weakness, to expose his vulnerability, and to own the fact that he wasn’t worthy of the honor God was showing him. “Woe is me,” he said. “I am lost.” When we share what is in our hearts honestly, our God is not a God who tells us to deal with it and figure it out on our own. Rather our God is a God who chooses to be with us in our recognition of pain just like God did to Isaiah. Jesus happily spent his time among people with leprosy, prostitutes, foreigneers, and all those who were considered unclean in society. He heard and embraced every expression of brokenness: I am lost, I am tired, I am stressed. I am sad, I am lonely, I am angry. I’m sick. I don’t even have words for what I am going through. When we are in places like these in our lives, God doesn’t ignore our pain and insist on or force praise. God doesn’t ask us to clean ourselves up before we come into the presence of the Lord. Rather, God wants to be honest with us, wants to know us for who and what we are, and to be present with us when things are difficult. God wants to hear those true, painful confessions of our hearts. I want to cry. I don’t want to make decisions. I don’t want to think anymore. I’m overwhelmed. Our God is good, faithful, and kind. Our God forgives, loves, blesses, and provides. Our God is the God of second chances, third chances, seventh chances and seventy-seventh chances. God is there when you praise, and God is just as much there when you confess. Remember that word “Yadah,” from earlier? To confess and to praise means the same thing in Hebrew. God wants to embrace every aspect of you; your happiness, your sadness, your anger, disappointment, frustration, hopelessness, anxiety, exhaustion. God wants to embrace you. ALL of you. We are all living through high-stress times during this coronavirus pandemic. Since the pandemic began, 386, 548, 962 people have come down with COVID-19, and 5,705,754 lives have been lost. Whether you have had COVID yourself or not, whether you have lost someone yourself or not, it has affected the lives of everyone on earth over the two years this pandemic has been going on. We are exhausted. We are stressed. But in the midst of it all, we can also praise God; not as a way of avoiding our exhaustion, or minimizing our stress, but as a way of presenting our full self before God, just as Isaiah did. Our eyes can see the glory of our God, the Lord of hosts, who chooses to come down to us, wanting to be present even in those not-so-pretty parts of our lives that we would otherwise not want exposed. God wants to embrace you, to be close with you, to be present with you in those parts that are causing you pain. Both confession and praise brings us closer to God. Our worship service is actually designed to do this; that’s why we have moments of confession, and moments of praise. All these things contribute to glorifying God. You can’t have a true, spiritual connection to God if you embrace one part but neglect the other. When you bring all the parts of yourself into a relationship with God, you find that God meets you there. In the same way, we as a community of God, are called to welcome all the stresses, struggles, hurts, and pains that people bring with them into our community as well. We’re called to embrace them, and be present with them in the pain. Don’t be too quick to say “You’ll be ok,” or “God is strong when you’re weak.” Take things as they are with people, just as we all need God to take us as we are. In the same way that God is willing to hear the cries of your heart, do the same for others too. Accept the fact that there is complexity in our lives, that we can confess our pain, make known our sin, and still praise the name of the Lord. Accept, and understand, that all who suffer have the right to lift up their suffering, to see their pain recognized as valid, and still be welcome in the presence of the Lord. Accept, and understand that the praises of the suffering are just as beloved as the praises of the perfect in the eyes of the Lord. Acept, and understand that our broken spirit is a fragrant and wonderful offering to the Lord. When we bring our whole selves before God, we are healed, and what’s more we are equipped to serve God. We renew our sense calling to serve God. We come face-to-face with God instead of hiding in the shadows of God’s community. We can say, “Here I am. Send me, send and use all of me!” Let us pray. Dear God. Please help us to bring our whole, honest shelves to you now in today’s worship. Please help us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
English ManuscriptsHere you can find the English manuscripts for our sermons. Archives
May 2024
Categories |