Today is Reformation Sunday. The Protestant Reformation was the start of Protestantism and the split of the Western Church into Protestantism and what is now the Roman Catholic Church.
Some churches celebrate Reformation Sunday. Some do not. The Lutheran, Episcopal, Reformed Church of America, Presbyterian, Congregation and my denomination which is Methodist are some of the churches that do. My son Koh is Lutheran so his church near his seminary in Indiana will have a Reformation Sunday Service. Let me share how the Reformation began. On October 31, 1517, over 504 years ago, Martin Luther, was a 33-year-old Augustinian monk from the local monastery in Wittenberg, Germany. He thought the church needed reforming. So, he posted on the front door of the local church his 95 theses (which is a list of all the things he wanted to discuss about changing in the Catholic Church). He chose this day, October 31, because the next day was a feast day, a special day for the church – the Day of All Saints Day also known as All Hallowed Ones Day. A religious reformation followed. Martin Luther was said to have opened up the modern era. His theses spread with the help of the printing press. Besides Luther, there were other reformers in Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Scotland, and parts of France. The ones who were “protesting" became the “Protestants” and they were forced to separate from Roman Catholicism and this led to the Lutheran Church in Germany and other eastern European countries and the reformed churches in Switzerland, the Presbyterian churches in Scotland, the Anglican Church in England. The reformers taught the 5 solas of the Protestant Reformation. (sola, which means “alone")
Just like it says in scripture, Romans 3:24 - "And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Justification is a word used in the Scriptures to mean that in Christ we are forgiven and actually made righteous in our living. ... The Christian actively pursues a righteous life in the grace and power of God granted to all who continue to believe in Him. Since we are justified by faith, as scripture says, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace. What Jesus revealed to us, according to Paul, is grace. Paul talked about it in several ways. He defined grace as love, forgiveness and reconciliation. He also defined it as adoption. We are adopted as sons and daughters of God. In each instance, what he is talking about is grace. He called it grace because it is undeserved, given to us freely, without price. That was the most astounding thing to Paul, and later to Martin Luther, that God took the initiative in coming to us. Both men had been trying to reach God by becoming perfect in order to become acceptable to God. But they discovered this wonderful paradox. It was only when they admitted that they were not perfect, that they were human beings and sinners, that they received grace from God. "We are saved by our faith in God's grace, and not in our own efforts." Paul had to learn about grace. Paul was originally a Pharisee, who believed if you followed the Law then you could find salvation. He was trying so hard to be the perfect Pharisee. He was expecting himself and others to follow the Law. But we don’t follow the Law, we follow Jesus Christ. I’ll share a brief story. In a church where I served in Hawaii years ago, there was a person who would greet me after the service. He would tell me whenever there was a typographical error or misspelled word in the church bulletin. He seemed really happy to show us where we had made a mistake. (You have to realize this is before spell check and was back in the late 1980s). Someone once said, "The great thing about being imperfect is that it brings such joy to other people.” John Wesley, (1703-1791), an Anglican pastor who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism said, “We are all going on to perfection.” But Wesley never said anyone ever made it. At least not until we got to heaven. We are all seeking to follow Christ faithfully. But we make mistakes and we are also hard on ourselves when we do. Many people have a hard time with the concept of grace. The Bible says that, “Not by works of righteousness that we have done but according to his mercy he has saved us.” — Titus 3:5 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” — Ephesians 2:8 (NKJV) A lot of people think that when they stand before God at the end of their life God is going to pull out a scale and see if their good outweighs their bad. If it does, they believe they go to heaven if it doesn't, they go to hell. But this is actually the exact opposite of how God says it will go down. He says that on our own merit, ability, and power we all fall short of the glory of God. Every one of us has broken God's law and the end result of sin is death. BUT God in his great mercy saved us. As an undeserved free gift, he offers us not just a full pardon of our sins but also the very reward that he had earned with his perfect life. The son of God bore our pain as the Bible says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed.” — Isaiah 53:5 Following the Law, trying to be perfect, placing very high expectations on himself to keep the Law might have explained Paul's behavior before his conversion and why he chased the Christians so relentlessly. He hunted them down and dragged them off to Jerusalem to stand trial because they did not obey the Law. Paul thought they didn't believe the right things, and they didn't do the right things. As the Book of Acts describes Paul, "Breathing threats and murders against the disciples...." Paul was self-righteous. The temptation of self-righteous person is to be obsessed with imperfection in other people. Jesus encountered self-righteous people everywhere. They saw Jesus as the enemy. Do you know why? Because they expected Jesus to condemn people who made mistakes, who weren't living up to the Law. But instead, he forgave them. They couldn't stand that. They said to Jesus, "How can you do that? Look at them. Look at their sins. How can you forgive them without making them pay?" Jesus turned to them, and said, "Why do you point out the speck in your neighbor's eye, when you can't even see the log in your own eye?" And to the crowd that was stoning the woman taken in adultery, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." In Paul's culture the way you get to God was through the Law. If you only obey the rules, you will be perfect. The reasoning was this. Since God is perfect, then we must be perfect if we are going to approach God. If we are going to be acceptable to God, if we are going to be saved, then we must be perfect. But Paul said, it doesn't work. The Law instead of saving us, condemns us. Instead of freeing us, it binds us. Instead of blessing us, it gives us a curse. And most of all, he said, instead of allowing us to love, it leads us to hate ourselves and to be separated from our neighbors. In Acts 9 where it says Paul, "breathing threats and murder," headed for Damascus to arrest the Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and often execution. But something dramatic happened to him. In Acts 9:4 it says, “then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ " And that's when it hit him. It knocked him down, literally, and blinded him temporarily. He was led to Damascus and ironically, housed with Christians, the very people that he was hunting. The Damascus Christians loved him, because Jesus said, "Love your enemies." When he asked them, "Why do you do this?", they told him about Jesus. And Paul, for the first time, experienced grace in his life. He felt he had been given an access to God, through grace. He couldn't do it on his own. It happened when he was loved. Paul couldn't get over that. He couldn't get over that God had come to him. He had done nothing to earn this. In fact, what he had done probably should have prevented him from receiving it. But God didn't turn away from him. He came to him. That is why he wrote in our text for this morning, While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. How did Paul experience this grace? Look at this. First, he was told about it. Second, he trusted it. And then he discovered there was a power inside of him now, enabling him to live this way. We are who we are by an act of faith. If we think that we are worthwhile, we are going to live that way. We will live lives that will give the evidence that we are worthwhile. But if we think we are worthless, or not worth very much, then we will live that way, give the evidence to prove it. Pastor Chuck shared about his foster children and how he held expectations for them and encouraged them and praised them. Their self-esteem which had been shattered before coming to Chuck and Kelly’ family grew. They still had their issues but they knew they were loved and accepted. You are who you are told to be. You accept it by faith. These children were affirmed. They learned to have a sense of self-worth. However, those who try to go out to prove by their deeds their self-worth, as Paul did, live under a Law and a curse. Those who can accept their worth, their value, by faith, are free. Jesus came to tell us who we are. He said, you do not have to prove your worth. You are a child of God. You don't have to prove anything. Just be who Jesus says you are. Jesus will help you to live and grow. How does this happen? God works in our lives according to who we are. That means, God is going to work uniquely in your life. Each of us is different in our journey of faith. When we pray to God, we confess to God that we are human beings, sinners, and be honest about our own humanity and short-comings. Confession is not self-denigration. Confession is self-revelation. It is admitting to yourself what we probably knew about you all along, that you are a human being. I have known people who have said that the opportunity for them to grow closer to God came from a crisis. Something shakes up your life and your life changes. But to go through a crisis is often a jolting experience. It leaves you uncertain about who you are. Again, look at Paul. Paul said it was God who spoke to him on the Damascus Road, so that God could tell Paul who he really was. Paul couldn't hear that before, because he was too preoccupied with hunting Christians and following the Law. God did something dramatic for Paul. We may not all have had a Damascus experience. I cannot predict how God will move in your life but know that God’s grace is there for you. Through God’s grace you will discover who you are. You will also need help of a Christian community. If you have a need to repent, that is something Paul did and we have to do as well. When Paul got up again, he didn't know who he was. That is when God told the Christians at Damascus, "You tell him who he is." So God sent Paul to the Christians, and they told him. They said, "Paul, you are a child of God. You are loved by God so much that God sent his Son just for you." You don't learn that by reason. You are told that and you accept it on faith. Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace. It is through Christ alone our hope is found. It is through Christ alone we are saved by grace. Amen.
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It is good to be able to speak with you this morning, in this way through the wonder of technology. Pastor Claudia tells me that you have been doing online church like this for a long time now! Right now in New Zealand we too are doing online church. And we’re been doing this off and on through COVID-19 - So I’m used to speaking to a camera! Some of you won’t know me – especially if you only started attending KUC after the end of 2017! I was Senior Pastor at KUC and my wife Jo and I were part of KUC family for nearly 8 years from 2010 until near the end of 2017 And we had such a wonderful time with the KUC family over those years. We know that you’ve got the 150th celebrations of KUC coming up very soon – and we would have loved to have been with you for that time – in fact we had always planned to come over for it, but of course with COVID, that’s changed everything hasn’t it. Perhaps we will get back to see you all again some time, when the world opens up again!
Well I want to share a story with you today that Jesus told. Jesus was a master storyteller. Around a third of his teachings came in the form of stories (we usually call them Parables). If you really want to know Jesus, if you really want to understand God’s Kingdom, then you need to read and wrestle with the parables of Jesus. The story I want to look at today is a great story – and you’ve probably heard it before. But as a grandfather of 4 grandchildren, I know very well, that my grandchildren love to hear the same stories over and over again. They never tire of them – and it’s the same with these stories that Jesus told. We can always find and hear new truths in them each time we read them. A few months ago Jo and I were on holiday in the South Island of New Zealand and we stopped in a tiny little town called Tarras. Tarras is famous for sheep. Actually, for one particular sheep. This sheep gained international fame when it was discovered high up on a sheep station in the NZ alps, after it had avoided capture for 6 years. This was a merino sheep. Merinos are normally shorn annually, but this sheep apparently had hidden in caves and somehow avoided being caught for 6 years. It was given a name Shrek. Shrek the sheep. And Shrek became a national icon. Shrek was shorn on NZ national TV, with a huge audience. His 6 year old fleece weighed 27 kilos – that enough wool to make 20 men’s suits. Shrek met the NZ Prime Minster, and he made plenty of charity guest appearances. Shrek the sheep made headlines in Time magazine, CNN, BBC! He even had his own Facebook page!! That was one very famous sheep! Well there’s another sheep that has had even more fame – this sheep has been talked about for 2000 years… and it’s the lost sheep in the story that we’re looking at today! This story is often put together with two other stories that Jesus told, both of them also in Luke 15. They what are known as the lost stories - the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The story of the lost son is by far the most popular story. In fact we often overlook the story of the lost sheep. It often gets pushed into the background – because, well the prodigal son story is such a great story. Let’s listen to this story from Luke 15 “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.’ 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent”. This is the Word of the Lord. So this is how the story starts … v 4 “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them – what do you do? You leave the other 99 sheep in the wilderness, and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it”. Now when you think about, you have to wonder “Is this the action of a sensible shepherd”? What shepherd would ever leave 99 sheep to go and find the one? Many years ago my family spent a summer in Vancouver where I was studying at a place called Regent College – and one day while I was at a class, Jo took our 3 children to a very large department store in the city. Our son Josh who was only about 3 years old at the time (he’s just turned 30!), and our two girls Holly & Elise who were 10 and 7. Well, so they’re in this huge department store, and the two girls want to go to the bathroom. And our eldest daughter Holly was a very confident outgoing bright bubbly 10 year old, and she assured Jo that she would be fine, that she could find the bathroom which she was sure was on the next floor up. She assured Jo that she & Elise would be back in 5 minutes. You know where this story is going! 5 minutes came and went .. and 10 minutes …. And 15 minutes, and Jo was really panicking! The girls had not come back – and she realized she had to go looking for her two lost girls. But did she leave Josh by himself while she went to look? NO of course she didn't. There was NO WAY she would leave 1 to go and search for the many! This shepherd in Jesus story – he leaves the 99 to go and search for the 1. To leave the 99, he ran the very real risk of losing, if not all 99 of them, at least some of them! Some interpreters try and soften the story by saying well, there must have been two shepherds, and while one went off to search for the lost sheep, the other one took care of the other 99. And then some others say, well, the shepherd must have put them safely in a sheepfold, or a cave before heading off. But the story doesn’t tell us that. It simply says that he left the 99 in the wilderness. See Jesus is trying to tell us something very important in this story - he tells what seems like a crazy story - and we haven’t finished it yet – it gets even more crazy… Listen! So, the shepherd leaves the 99, and goes and searches for the 1. And what does he do when he finds it? He throws a party! In the words of Jesus “He calls his friends and neighbours together and says ‘rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Come and celebrate with me!’. And he has this celebration - as one person writes “he had the mother of all parties as if he had recovered the 99 rather just the one”. Actually, as someone has pointed out, the party may have cost him more than the value of the lost sheep – most likely a good deal of wine would have flowed, and maybe even a fattened calf killed! Surely he wouldn’t have killed one of his fattened sheep! The more you think about this story, the more absurd that it seems! But sometimes when you tell a story, you exaggerate to make a point! And Jesus had a point to make. Now we need to understand the context of the story – so we need to look at the first couple of verses (v1-2) to see who was in the audience that day. (The Message paraphrase) “By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered this story. Now, when we hear a story like this from Jesus, we automatically want to side with Jesus….. when we read the word Pharisees we automatically think of them as the “bad guys” - but in order for us to understand the power of this story, let’s think about these Pharisees for a moment. See, these Pharisees were only trying to obey what the Bible said. They knew their scripture, and scripture talks in many places about being careful with the kind of company we keep. Proverbs 1v10,15) “when sinners tempt you , don’t give in … don’t go with people like that. Stay away from them”. Psalm 1:1 “happy are those who do not follow the example of sinners, or join with those who have no use for God”. And even in the New Testament we have this idea from Paul when he writes in 2 Corinthians 6: 14 – 18 about staying away from people who can drag you down. And many of us say the same kind of thing to our children don’t we! Be careful who you associate with …be careful the kind of friends that you have. We say “stay away from those people – they’ll only drag you down”. And so it seemed to make good Biblical sense for these Pharisees not to associate with tax collectors and sinners. Neither of these two groups had any morals - tax collectors were always trying to rip people off, and the “sinners” included people like prostitutes. And so these Pharisees could not understand Jesus - so they accused him “this man welcomes sinners and eats with them”. In the first century, to eat with someone was to accept them, but to a Pharisee the very idea of eating with immoral people just didn't seem right … it didn't make sense. So in response to this, Jesus tells this story! See, he wants to redefine what God is like. God is not just looking for people who keep all the rules. That's not what he’s about. So Jesus tells this story about this shepherd. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep” …. and immediately we’re drawn into the story. So what does this story tell us? Well, actually he’s telling us what God is like. God is like a shepherd. In the OT we find many references to God who is likened to a shepherd. Can you think of any references to God as a shepherd? (Of course! Psalm 23 “The Lord is my …. shepherd!) Perhaps one of THE most well known verses! Everyone knows that verse. The prophet Isaiah says that “God will take care of his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs together and carry then in his arms” (Isaiah 40:11). Ezekiel also talks about God as a shepherd, and so does Jeremiah. So when Jesus starts talking about a shepherd, the listeners that day , well, at least those who thought carefully about the story, would immediately have recognized that he was actually talking about God. This shepherd is passionate about his sheep. Not just sheep in general but every individual sheep. So passionate in fact, that he is prepared to leave the 99 , prepared to risk the 99, to go and look for the one. This shepherd obviously knew every one of his sheep. You think of a flock of sheep - a flock of 100 sheep - how would you even know that one of the sheep had gone missing? This shepherd must have really known his sheep. Have you ever seen a sheep up close? Most of you probably haven’t. Here in NZ there’s about 26 million of them. By the way there’s only 5 million humans. So we’re a bit outnumbered! But when you look at a sheep they all look the same don’t they? You can’t tell the difference between one sheep and another! But this shepherd could! He knew them all … he obviously knew them intimately - and he knew when one had gone missing. Friends, God knows about each one of us … he knows us intimately. Psalm 139 tells about how God knows us - he saw us being created in our mother’s womb …. he knows us intimately. He sees our every move. Even before we were born he knew all about us. Another place says even the very hairs on our head are numbered! And God even see when one goes missing. In my case there were 100 but 99 have gone missing! See God knows and loves us individually. He doesn't just love the flock. He loves us one by one. He is passionately concerned not just for the world, but for each individual. In John 3:16 we often read this verse “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”… but you know friends, the truth is that what that really means is that God so loved YOU, that he sent his only son. We could think, well what was one sheep – Sheep are bound to get lost and die from time to time. Losing one sheep is one of the risks of the farming business. One down, but still 99 left. And yet, for this shepherd, the fact that 99 were safe was not enough – there was a sheep lost out there somewhere and this shepherd was not going to rest until he was found and brought home. You know, I don't want to spoil your perhaps rather romantic ideal image of sheep! If you've ever been up close and personal with a sheep, you've probably known that sheep are not always the most pleasant smelling animals. There were sheep farmers in my congregation in one church where I served many years ago and I used to go visit them and I know! For all the wonderful picture we might have of them being these cute, wooly, cuddly creatures, in fact sheep are actually often really smelly, they get infected by mites & bugs, attract a lot of blow-flys. And they are very prone to disease. In fact, they really have no great concern about their own cleanliness. So, most sheep have to get what is known as dipped at least once a year – that is they get plunged into a bath of powerful chemicals! The shepherd does that actually because he cares for his sheep. Just like sheep, we too are infected! We too are unclean. We are infected by sin. And yet despite our unloveliness, despite our sinful ways, God loves us. And the good news in this story is that God will go to great lengths to find us, to forgive us, to bring us back into the safety of his flock. The Good News is that although we may be lost, we are never lost from the love of God. And so, Jesus brings the story to a close by saying when the lost sheep is found, the shepherd rejoices. He doesn't give the sheep a stern lecture about how he shouldn't have run off in the first place. He doesn’t discipline him. He just brings him home, on his shoulders and rejoices that one who was lost is now found. When a sinner like you or me repents, when God seeks us out and finds us and we repent, God rejoices. He doesn't lecture us or make us feel bad about our sin. It doesn't matter how bad we might have got our lives messed up. Doesn't matter how lost we might have been. God the shepherd forgives us, he throws a party and he rejoices.. Friends, this is the kind of God that we serve. A God who is loves and is passionate about lost people. Not just passionate about good and righteous people who attend church, live their lives obeying all the rules, and trying to be good, who give money in the offering plate, who read their bible religiously. God cares for lost people. God cares for sinners – like you and me. And he goes seeking them out. Later in Luke’s gospel we read that Jesus said “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). And so, Jesus finished this story, with these words “I tell you, that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who do not need to repent”. I don't know your situation this morning. Perhaps you feel a little like that lost sheep – perhaps for some watching today, you have never acknowledged the love of God in your life. This great God who loves you passionately. This great shepherd who is seeking you out. Perhaps for some of you listening today, God is looking for you, seeking you out, wanting to forgive your sin. Maybe some of you – you have strayed - maybe it wasn’t even deliberately – maybe you’ve just drifted off from the flock without even realizing, and its time to turn back to God again. Maybe for some of you, we’re feeling a little lost and you need to hear again that God knows you, that he cares for you, that he knows you by name. For some of you, perhaps this whole situation with COVID-19 has been really hard. And you’ve been feeling a little down, and perhaps you’ve been feeling a little far from God. Finally, there’s a little verse in a book in the Old Testament Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you… He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. Friends, whatever your situation today, this story tells me that God the shepherd loves his sheep and he is still seeking you out! Let him find you and let him rejoice over you, and may he take great delight in you today. There’s a song we used to sing at KUC back when I was there, that has these words I have a Father He calls me His own He'll never leave me No matter where I go He knows my name He knows my every thought He sees each tear that falls And He hears me when I call Friends I’m praying for you today that you would know that God cares for you. Thanks so much for joining me today. Please feel free to reach out to me at brucebradburn@gmail.com God bless. Good morning, On the first Sunday of this month, we celebrated holy communion with sisters and brothers from all over the world since World Communion Sunday, and we could feel our reality as members of the Universal Church. In 1986, if my memory is correct, I attended this celebration in London at the Royal Albert Hall, with say more than three thousand people, and my family and I were introduced to the whole congregation as coming from Japan so we were really excited to be in the spotlight at that time. Yes, Christianity is a worldwide religion and more than one third of the world population have the Christian Faith, within their own culture and language. At the same time that language may have caused some difficulty among our Christian worldwide community. In the course of Christian History of the last two thousand years, the Church was trying hard to overcome that language barrier. Since the earliest leaders of the church were more accustomed to the Greek language, and that is why our New Testament Bible was written in Greek at first, even though Jesus himself never spoke it. But later Romans dominated the Mediterranean area, and Christian faith gradually penetrated into their society, and finally took over their spiritual backbones. At that time their common language, Latin, was more familiar to the Roman world, and many Christian Fathers and Saints felt it easier for their writing and works in Latin. In the 4th century AD Christianity was accepted by the Roman Empire as the state Faith, and the old Catholic Church was organized centered in Rome. That church set Latin as their official language, after that all the worship services, ceremonies and other ritual programs were conducted solely in Latin only at every Catholic institution of the world. Thus, Latin became the first universal language in the Christian world. Actually, this language system lasted even up to the 20th century, and somehow, we members of the Kobe Union Church are accustomed to some expressions, like "Gloria In Excelsis Deo," or the Christmas carol "Adeste Fideles,” and some other old hymns that use Latin. But was Latin really becoming the universal or worldwide language after all? Yes, to a certain degree, among Church leaders and academics, but not among ordinary people like me. Interestingly, in the Middle Ages, ordinary people attended the Sunday Christian Worship Services regularly and faithfully without understanding at all what was read in the Bible, since only the Latin Bible was allowed to be printed and used. So prayers and sermons were all in Latin which was not understood and to use the idiom -all very “Greek" to the commoners in their everyday life. So, the core Christian knowledge, Bible, and even the right understandings of the faith was monopolized by the Christian elites of the society. And if some leading figure expressed an incorrect biblical interpretation or understanding in “that language,” no lay people could ever criticize or challenge it. This is the fundamental starting point of the Reformation by the people who sought God's truth and real perception of the love of Jesus. It is important to understand the nature of the Reformation led by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other reformationists as a liberation movement of the Christian truth to the ordinary people, common people, no matter what class, status and situation they belonged. And these reformers’ first project was to translate the Bible into the vernacular - which was their own languages such as German, English, French, and so on, so that the common people could read the holy text by themselves and learn about Jesus' teachings and Paul's messages directed to them. One of the early translators of the English Bible, William Tyndale, commented his intention of his work to a leading priest at the church of his time, "If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives a plough to know more of the scriptures than you." But translating the Bible into English was not an easy task for anyone to try, not only because of the language knowledge or skill, but also because of the social and religious circumstances back then. Religiously speaking, as I mentioned before, the only holy language was Latin and to put it into their own common languages, so they could actually understand it, was seen as denigrating the holy truth as heresy. That is why Mr. Tyndale said, "If God spare my life, “since he was threatened with the death penalty for his work and indeed later on he was unfortunately burnt at the stake for what he said and did. And, as a social issue, the English language was problematic even in 16th century England. Do you know which language was officially used in the English Royal Court at that time? not English, but French! English was never thought of as sophisticated and noble, but rather noisy and even vulgar. (Well, I am sorry to say this to you Native English speakers) But, English was never considered suitable to express the truth of God and the love of Jesus at that time. But here again, French was not commonly spoken among the ordinary English people. The commoners spoke English. I am not a professor of the history of the English language, and have no ability to give this kind of lecture, especially on the expansion of the use of English in the worldwide context, however, now English is the most used and spoken universal language. For example, internationally the Air Traffic Control System is communicated only in English, no matter which country the Air Carrier belongs to. Talking about our Kobe Union Church, we claim to be an international and English-Speaking congregation. What does that really mean to us as a community in the Christian context? We share our worldwide common faith in Christ with our sisters and brothers all over the world, confessing Jesus as Christ our Savior, “in English,” the language which was once never accepted and recognized officially by the people of nobility and status. Actually, it was a language like “The stone that the builders rejected” but it has kindled the fire of the common people's faith afterward, and “has become the chief cornerstone.” (Psalm 118) When the early Christian church was taking that language policy or attitude, it lacked “love” to the people totally, as St. Paul pointed out, "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."(I Cor 13:1 NRSV) But to put it in the people’s language, it prevails the true message of Christ and our one faith in Jesus Christ to ordinary people worldwide with "LOVE”,, and we are sharing that mission here in Japan. The English language at KUC is not the language for the westerners only, but all of us from Africa, from South America, from Oceania, from the Caribbean, from the rest of Asia - all of us, for everyone in the world from everywhere and from every status. So we may use this universal language of English to communicate and share the love of Jesus Christ each other. We, at KUC, are the Church. We can convey love of Christ to the person behind the plow in the rice field and to someone like me (who has grown up not pushing a plow) but has grown up totally in the Japanese environment, joining in the voice of Psalm 118 as “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”(Ps 118:23-24) I am welcome here. You are welcome here. We can look at our KUC over the last 150 years and see by its history and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as we confess in the Apostles' Creed these words: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church.” (Apostles’ Creed, the United Methodist Ecumenical Version). Let us pray: God, thank you for your guiding the history of the whole world and our Kobe Union Church. We can see in this succession of time, you have given your message, the Gospel, to everyone who seeks your love and who seeks to serve You and one another. Please kindle the fire of your love and compassion among us to carry on our historical legacy and mission of a universal and local church in Kobe. We pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Photo 1: Tyndale Bible Photo 2: William Tyndale https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+7%3A9-12&version=NRSV
Let us pray. As we hear your Word this morning Lord, help us to open our hearts to make room for you, to turn ourselves towards you and your grace. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Last month, we spent some time talking about the heritage of our church, as well as our own heritage as Christians. We learned about the meaning behind the name given to our church; Kobe Union Church, and the significance of our coming together as one family in Christ despite the differences we might have. We gave thanks and praise to God, who continues to give hope to the people in our church, and who gave great assurance when our church went through difficult seasons, as we did in World War II. Our church is blessed to have a goodly heritage, a heritage of serving the needs of people even when we are having difficult times ourselves. We also talked about how there is a heritage which is not only given to our church, but given to all those who believe in Christ. This heritage is made manifest in us through the virtue of patience. As our God is compassionate and merciful, dealing with us with an endless supply of patience, so we are also called to be compassionate, merciful, and above all patient with one another. When we talk about heritage we think of all these bright and wonderful things but, because we think of heritage as a thing of the past, as traditions that live in the past but extend into the present then, to be blunt, we run the risk of seeing that heritage as better, brighter, and more perfect then it actually might be. When our church celebrated its 90th anniversary in 1961, Dr. Lovel, a Fulbright exchange professor at Osaka University coming from Howard University in Washington D.C., compiled stories from our church history and wrote an article titled “90 years of Kobe Union Church” for the Mainichi Daily News. [After sharing episodes of the church from 1868-1961 in six entries, in conclusion, Dr. Lovel wrote on “the central ideas of the makers” of Kobe Union Church. (From https://www.evkobe.org/deutsch/150th-anniversary-of-kobe-union-church/90-years-of-kobe-union-church-vi-the-church-of-tomorrow/)] And I want to share some of the qualities that Dr. Lovel believed made up Kobe Union Church.
It is these qualities that make up what we call the “heritage” of our church. This beautiful legacy that has been recorded and handed down to us, and which we are eager to pass on to future generations. We all know that there is no such thing as a perfect Christian community but, at least when it comes to writing down our history, recording, and archiving, I think we try our best to avoid speaking badly about the our shared Christian heritage, or even just our local church heritage, and instead, try to remember them as being closer to that perfect than not. That’s not to say that Christainity has not contributed a lot towards making the world a better place. It is the Christian understanding that all people are made in the good image of God which has advanced the concept of basic fundamental rights for food, safety, health, and education for all people. On the back of this ideology, hospitals have been built, orphanages have been built, food banks and homeless shelters have been built so that everyone can have a place to sleep, food to eat, access to medical treatment. These have been done because of our shared Chrsitian beliefs. But we also have to come face-to-face with the fact that, in the name of our loving God, wars have been waged and blood has been shed. Catholic kings and queens fought terribly against Protestant kings and queens, leaving thousands dead each time. Christian nations colonized other nations, taking advantage of natural resources and enslaving populations to force benefit for themselves at the expense of others. Those who defended slavery in the United States used holy scripture as a defense for their views. This past summer I learned that even the great and beautiful church buildings of my own denomination were the result of slave labor. Even these wonderful and beautiful pieces of history are not untouched by the hand of the suffering of black people in our communities. So we might then begin to wonder what it is that distinguishes us as Christians...if we sin as powerfully and painfully as the rest of the world does, legitimizing violence and oppression, colonizing nations and enslaving entire races and nations. What happened to the holiness and godliness that we are supposed to have, which are supposed to set us apart from the darkness of this world? I think that what sets us apart as children of God isn’t that we are better, more sinless people in any way, but that we are given a heart for repentance. We are given within ourselves a willingness to self-reflect, to turn our hearts always back towards God, acknowledging the ways in which we have wronged others and fallen short of the glory of God, and seeking ways to make amends for what we have done. Today’s scripture reading comes from the 2nd Corinthians, Paul founded this church in Corinth around 50CE, and stayed there among them for about a year and a half. After he left Corinth though, problems started to arise. As the church started having different leaders coming to serve, people began to take sides, favoring one leader over another. There started to be more and more arguments, people fighting over which spiritual gifts were greater than the others, which leaders they preferred, what style of worship or religious practice they preferred, whether one can eat meat from the market if it might have been used in a sacrifice to an idol, and many more. And amidst all these arguments and divisions, there grew a lack of love and care for one another, especially those who were in need. So busy were they with their arguing that the rich stopped caring about the poor, the hungry went without food, and the voiceless fell silent among them. Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians in order to address all these issues, and appeal to them that love is the answer. All these arguments were just like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal if there was no love behind it (1Corinthians 12:1) Love bears, believes, hopes and endures all things (1Corinthians 12:7), not rejoicing in wrongdoing or ignoring the suffering. In response to this, rather than saying “We are so sorry! We were wrong, we committed a sin against God and we repent!” instead, Paul was attacked. The leaders within the community called him an illegitimate leader, and said he wasn’t as charismatic a speaker as the other leaders in the community. Paul was accused of having wronged the community, having corrupted, and taken advantage of the people of Corinth. (2 Corinthians 7:1) So Paul decided to actually take a trip to Corinth, and have a talk with the people. Paul confronted the unrepentant heart of Corinth. Paul referred to this as a painful visit and, in fact, it was painful enough that he postponed his next visit to Corinth (2 Corinthians 2:1) and instead sent Titus with another letter, so he could see how they were doing after having so painfully confronted their sins. So this is the context for today’s scripture. Paul was waiting for Titus to come and meet him in Macedonia(2 Corinthians 7:5) , to hear the response from the community in Corinth after Paul had sent them this other letter (2 Corinthians 7:8). And into this situation of fear, shame, difficulty and pain, this is what Paul writes: “Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance; for you felt a godly grief….For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret…For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!” (Quoted partially from 2 Corinthians 7:9-11) It seems that the community in Corinth finally repented. But I want to ask us all; what is repentance, anyways? What does it actually mean that the community in Corinth repented? In the gospel of Mark, Jesus opened his ministry with this famous verse, saying: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15) Throughout the New Testament, we hear the words “repent” and “believe” coming hand-in-hand, so we often understand repentance in those terms, as a change in belief; a spiritual conversion, an experience through which we come to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. But today’s scripture shows that repentance is so much more than just a spiritual conversion. Repentance also includes us wrestling with all the emotions that arise when we are confronted with the evidence of our sins, all the dirty things that come up when we stray from God’s paths, when we step away from God’s commandments. The first thing we need to understand is that even though repentance, that is our “change of heart,” might seem to be our own doing, it’s actually a process that is initiated and guided by God. In today’s scripture, it says “for you felt a godly grief…” (2Corinthians 7:9) When we experience a grief that is truly Godly, when we grieve not in a human way but in the way that God grieves, this Godly griel happens because God enters into and works within our hearts. But it doesn’t end there. Paul then goes on to say that “this godly grief produces repentance.” (2 Corinthians 7:10). He explains that repentance is not just a sudden, one-time change of heart: it is a process that requires self-reflection, introspection, and self-examination. It is through this process of self-reflection that we see, “earnestness”, “eagerness to clear selves”, “indignation”, “alarm”, “longing”, “zeal”, and “punishment” this godly grief has produced in the people of Corinth. (2 Corinthians 7:10-11) True repentance always involves reflection, examination, and deep wrestling with all these thoughts and feelings. I wonder what kind of reflection and self-examination the community in Corinth had to go through, to repent for their treatment of Paul and his companion. I wonder what it might have been like for them to realize that their actions weren’t godly or just, but actually hurtful not only to Paul, but to their own community of faith as well. What might it have been like for them to get in touch with a real, holy desire to be cleansed from their actions, to wrestle with the fear, anger, and humiliation within themselves as they confront the truth of what they had done, and who they had really been. I wonder what it might have been like for them to look that fear in the eye, imagining the consequences they would be owed for their sins. How they must have longed to be forgiven by God, to be reconciled and restored to God. And how difficult it must have been to struggle with their zeal for Paul, desiring to reconcile with him while being at the same time fearful of the consequences of their actions. This is some serious, weighty, and difficult self-reflection, isn’t it? This is heavy, emotional work. That’s why Paul calls this work grief, saying that it is grief which leads to repentance. The work of grief accompanies painful; it involves deep affliction of the soul, an anguish of the heart, sometimes moving us to tears as we deal with different thoughts and emotions. Paul says that there is now a sense of joy in that the people of Corinth had been grieved into repentance but, if you read through the earlier chapters of the letter, you know that there was so much pain and tears before arriving at this place of joy. (2 Corinthians 7:7) And it is important to know that neither you nor I can do the heavy, heart-wrenching work of reflection and re-examination within our own hearts, minds, and souls, unless we have God with us. Unless we know that our God is a God of grace. And these are God’s promises as our gracious God to us. The Lord forgives all our iniquities. (Psalm 103:3) The Lord blots out our transgressions and remembers our sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25) The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 103:8) There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) This is why we can repent, why we can self-reflect, re-examine and redirect our thoughts and our actions, no matter how difficult and painful it might be. Because God is a God of grace and mercy to us, always. Paul says to the community in Corinth, “you have proved yourselves guitless in the matter.” (2 Corinthians 7:12) In Christ, we are never truly found guilty. We are sinful, but we will not be asked for the ultimate pay for our sins because Christ has already paid for our sins on the cross. On the other side of our honest and painful self-reflection, God’s grace and mercy provide us not consequences, but freedom. A few years ago, the seminary which I attended began a process of reflection and re-examining their actions towards the black community throughout their history, with a deliberate intention to repent of their ties to slavery in the United States. This included making a public confession that even though the seminary itself never owned slaves, they did use slave labor to build their campus. They confessed that some of the donors to the school were slave owners, whose donations were made on the backs of slaves. Even the professors themselves, though they preached against the institution of slavery, still owned slaves in their private lives. But the act of confession isn’t where it stopped; the school also announced that they planned to take action as part of their repentance as well. They announced new scholarships for descendants of slaves, appointed a director to the newly funded Center for Black Studies, and adapted the curriculum to make sure that all who study and work at the seminary understand the history of slavery and the ways in which the school itself sinned in complicity to that institution. ) As the Scripture says, we are to bear fruits worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:8, Acts 26:20) Even though that invitation to repent is given by God, and the act itself is both initiated and guided by God with God’s grace, we are also called to do the work of bearing fruit worthy of repentance. Being cleansed and forgiven within ourselves isn’t repentance, and it’s not a substitute for repentance either. Repentance means changing direction, with that invisible grace poured out on us producing visible results, made manifest in both changed hearts and changed actions. But while this is a process that we must participate in, giving the fullness of our effort to bear those worthy fruit, repentance itself does not come solely from us. It is instilled, initiated, and guided by the hand of our gracious and loving God. We can reflect, re-examine, and seek to repair not because of any great ability within us, but because of God’s eternal and steadfast love for us. The Holy Spirit is poured out over us, renewing us daily so we can be more like Christ. It gives us a spirit of self-reflection and self-examination, and the courage and discipline needed to truly change our actions. Like many of us, I have moments of self-reflection and self-examination every day. When I feel that I might have said something I shouldn’t have said, when I feel that I might have done something that could have hurt someone else, or been inconsiderate of another (something I often do within my own family), God goes to work within my heart. God helps me to notice that creeping, worrying feeling in my gut. And though I don’t succeed every time, when God guides my heart to these things I try to go back, and apologize when I am confronted with the truth of my own failings. Sometimes, I’m not even aware that I have hurt others, but there are others who care deeply for me who come forward and tell me that they have been hurt by me. In time, I have learned to be grateful for these inspirations to reflection and re-examination; opportunities for true repentance. As a church community, we look at the growing historical record of our church, on every page added to our archive, knowing that for every act of Christian kindness and mercy in those pages. We also need to realize that there are things for which we need to discuss, to own up to, and for which we need to repent as well, and I hope that we have it within ourselves to approach this task with humility. Our journey of reflection, re-examination, (and course-correction) continues at Kobe Union Church. I hope that we can take pride in our Christian heritage not just for the grace we receive for ourselves, but for the strength we’re given to self-reflect and move to repentance. This is a strength we have not because we are ourselves strong, but because our God is a gracious God. Our words of confession and acts of repentance will be a witness and a testimony to all the world, telling of how gracious our God is, has been, and yet will be to our church community, despite our many human errors and failings. Because our God never fails, and never fails us. To our gracious God, we give thanks. Amen. Let’s pray. Gracious God, we come to you this morning, giving you thanks that you have spoken to us, instilling within our hearts greater thoughts of repentance. Please pour your Holy Spirit out on us, and help us to reflect more deeply, and re-examine our ways. Search us and know our hearts O Lord to see if there is any wicked way in us. (Psalm 139:23) When you reveal something in us, Lord, please give us the courage to act, and to try to make amends. Please be gracious to us, and lead us in ways of everlasting. (Psalm 139:24). Amen. I’d like to begin with a story I have shared before. God was asked by a person about what heaven was like and what hell was like so God said, “Ok I will show you. I will have one of my angels take you to both places for a visit.”
So, the angel took the person to hell where there was a huge magnificent banquet table filled with food from all over the world - all kinds of delicious food that you could imagine. The people were in nice clothes and from all parts of the world too. But they were really thin and looked sad and were groaning in hunger. They had to eat with these super long chop sticks (ten times longer than these chop sticks I am holding) and they were unable to get the food into their mouths. The angel asked the person, “Are you ready to see heaven?” The person said, “Yes, let’s go take a look at heaven.” The person saw the same huge magnificent banquet table filled with food from all over the world - all kinds of delicious food that you could imagine. The people were in nice clothes and from all parts of the world too. But these people looked happy and they were well-fed. These people had the same long chop sticks but in heaven they were feeding one other. Today, this first Sunday in October, Christians all over the world in different time zones celebrate World Communion Sunday. They are being fed by the bread of Christ. It is estimated that the Holy Communion table is over 40,000 kilometers long with millions of Christians around the world celebrating. It would begin on the international date line with churches in Tonga, Fiji, goes New Zealand where our former KUC Pastors Bruce Bradburn and Gerard Marks live, then onto Australia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, then Korea and Japan – and onto to the rest of the world and it is exciting to think of so many people in so many places are having communion! On this Sunday, as we can remember that we are connected to our Christian neighbors around the globe and we celebrate our oneness in Christ with all our brothers and sisters around the world. Paul tells us that we are to “discern the body” when we partake of Holy Communion, mindful that we note our relationship to all our brothers and sisters in Christ in the celebration. “ …for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk.” (I Cor. 11:21). We are one body but the Corinthians – the Christians in Corinth – were being rebuked by Paul for their wild misuse of the Lord's Supper. People just were not being respectful and were not sharing so this really upset Paul. Paul's criticism is that these believers were misunderstanding the true meaning of that sacrament. The early church practiced the celebration of the Lord's Supper much differently than most churches do today. In the very early church, the Lord's Supper was eating an actual full meal together. This was fine when handled with respect and honor towards the Lord and if everyone got enough food. But that's not what the Corinthians were doing. The problem was that they were not actually sitting down together as a church community. Because of the divisions in the church - whether the divisions were over loyalties to one apostle or another, or social and class divisions - when they were coming together some people were having their fill, thinking that it was just about the food, and not the communion that they were to have together with the Lord. In addition, some people came early, ate and drank too much and ate most of the food. They probably met in a wealthy member’s home so there would be enough space but then those who were wealthy could bring plenty of food for themselves. Then those who came later, many who had to work and who were quite poor would arrive and not find much left for them. The rich could afford to indulge in abundant alcohol. Those living in poverty, however, had little to bring and eat. Paul tells those people who were eating everything and drinking everything, “…you despise the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing.” (1 Corinthians 11:22) This was the context under which Paul wrote this passage. This was the problem he was addressing. The result of that disparity was a "communion" where some participants went hungry, just watching the wealthier believers eat and drink. In addition, drunkenness was at least common enough for Paul to mention directly. Paul warns that communion should be a time of sober self-reflection about our sin and Christ's sacrifice, as well as a time to unite the body of Christ, the church, while taking in representations of the blood and body of Christ. During communion, we give thanks and celebrate the Jesus who welcomed all people to the table - no matter who they were and no matter what others thought of them. We celebrate our oneness and unity in Christ in spite of all of our differences. We celebrate that we are offering grace to one another because we are recipients of God’s grace. We have been given God’s grace in abundance. We offer grace to one another. We celebrate that we can be the love of Christ to our neighbors. God loves us and we show this love by loving our neighbor. We do this by sharing resources and helping others. We celebrate what Jesus did and what by the power of Holy Spirit he still does for us. We celebrate the Jesus who died for us, is risen, and will come again. We celebrate that in the breaking of the bread and the lifting of the cup, we recall how God loved us so much, that he came among us and became one with us, and then suffered and died for us, so that sin and death might no longer reign over us. We are God’s bread to share and be shared with this world. God prepares us to feed others in need of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can feed the world in so many ways – we can share the Bread of Life with others. We are God’s family, a family that stretches around the world, a family that is called to love as we have been love, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to give as we have been given too. Rev. Tabuchi preached two weeks ago and used this song with the words, “We are one in the Spirit and we are one in the Lord and we pray that all unity may one day be restored and that they will know we are Christians by our love.” The title of the hymn They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love originates in a phrase that non-believers used to describe Christians believers of the early church, "Behold, how they love one another." (John 13:35) This is what we can pray for as we take in communion today – the world will know us by our love. Do you remember Pastor Chuck telling us A.B.C. - “Actively Being the Church.” How? By loving God and our neighbor. Our church embraces diversity and unity in Christ. That love expands worldwide and we unite with other Christians sharing that love. It has been exciting that our Saturday Special and our Sermon and Prayer Sunday School classes have included people from other churches and other parts of the world. We are one in Christ! Today, as we share today in our communion, give thanks that we are not alone, the Spirit of Christ is with us, the Spirit of him who was, who is, and who shall ever be one with us, and one over us, and one under us, one who truly loves us. We also give thanks that we, in spite of, or maybe even because of, our diversity can be one body in Christ worldwide because there is one Lord of all. I close with a reading, “And the Table Will Be Wide” by Jan Richardson in her book (Painted Prayerbook) A Blessing for World Communion Sunday And the table will be wide. And the welcome will be wide. And the arms will open wide to gather us in. And our hearts will open wide to receive. And we will come as children who trust there is enough. And we will come unhindered and free. And our aching will be met with bread. And our sorrow will be met with wine. And we will open our hands to the feast without shame. And we will turn toward each other without fear. And we will give up our appetite for despair. And we will taste and know of delight. And we will become bread for a hungering world. And we will become drink for those who thirst. And the blessed will become the blessing. And everywhere will be the feast. (Please now get your communion elements. Anne Morimoto will sing “sing One Bread, One Body” as her mother Keiko plays on the piano. This song expresses the unity of Christians through the ages and throughout the world. Its refrain draws directly upon I Corinthians 10:16-17: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ: The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (NRSV) Listen or sing along as our Communion Prayer.) |
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