PPC POST

"SHINING LIKE STARS IN THE UNIVERSE"

Philippians 2:12-18

Today we are celebrating Epiphany even though the actual day of Epiphany falls on January 6th each year.

"Epiphany" literally means "manifestation, striking appearance, or vision of God." Epiphany reminds us of the revelation of God as a human being in the person of Jesus Christ. In the Reformed tradition, we place great emphasis on the sovereignty of God. God is all knowing, all seeing, all powerful. God is awesome! God is so holy, so beyond description, that ancient Israel didn't even speak God's name out loud.  "Yahweh," the Hebrew word for God, has no vowels. It is uttered more than spoken-"Yah . . . weh."

So imagine this holy, awesome, beyond description God loving us so much that God almighty actually takes on flesh and lives among us. That's reason for celebration. We celebrate Epiphany because we don't want to forget the story of the wise men (Magi from the East) following the star to visit baby Jesus and thus making Jesus known to the Gentiles.

So this morning we are going to talk about stars and light . . . and darkness, and what it means to journey, to move closer and closer to this savior we call Jesus.

In our Old Testament reading this morning, the prophet Isaiah says, "Rise and shine, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord rises upon you." Earlier in Isaiah's book he tells us, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, of those living in the shadow of death, a light has dawned." Isaiah says, "Get up, and face the dark world because you, you have the light of God shining upon you."

Wow . . . imagine that! If you were here last year, do you still have your star with that special word written on it? My star was "imagine." So imagine what it means not just to follow the light, but to be the light.

I went back and read last year's Epiphany sermon. The challenge in that sermon was to follow the star. Well, what Paul is telling the Philippians and us is we are not just to follow the star, we are to be the star. Listen: "Shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life."

During Christmas there is a popular phrase you see in various advertisements that says, "Wise men still seek him." Just as the wise men followed a star to meet Jesus on that first Epiphany long ago, people today still come to Jesus by following stars. But not the stars in the sky; the starts they follow, the stars they look for in an often dark and depressing world, are the stars among them here on the ground-those of us who proclaim to be bearers of the light as Christians.

Now, we get to the crux of today's sermon-what it means to be a star. You know, the stars are always present; they are always up there in the sky. The reason we see them at night is because they stand out, they're different. It's very easy to see them against the backdrop of the dark night.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is "Do others see Jesus in us-do we not just stand out, but stand out in a positive way?" I suspect most of us are here this morning in worship because we are trying hard to love Jesus and to love his church-and that's a big challenge . . . church is hard! Paul knew this, which is why he wrote letters of encouragement to each congregation he started. Paul loved the church at Philippi, but even the Philippians had their challenges. Before they can "shine like stars," listen to what Paul tells them:

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Only after the Philippians do all of this, can they shine like stars. You see, the introduction to this morning's reading in verse 12 begins with a "therefore." "Therefore, my dear friends . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling . . . do everything without complaining and arguing."    What a challenge!

Let's reflect on the Magi who came to see Jesus on the first Epiphany. Contrary to tradition, the Magi didn't arrive at the manger on the night Jesus was born. According to Matthew, they came and saw the "child" in a "house" after several months of traveling. Do you think the wise men didn't mumble and grumble along the way? Did they question what they were doing? Did they get tired on the road? Did they argue about who would go first when they finally arrived?

I hope we can all agree that faith is a journey and not one of us has arrived! But I have to admit, it's easier to follow a star than to actually be a star.

So in 2012, without arguing or complaining, how can Palmetto be a shining light in a dark world? I want to suggest we have 4 options:

• We can isolate ourselves and just spend time in holy huddles. By separating ourselves from the world, we might shine brighter, but who would see us?
• We can give in, and just be like everyone else around us. By not standing out as Christians, by blending in with the crowd and going with the flow, if we can do that, we won't shine at all.
• We could alienate lost people with "holier than thou" attitudes and actions. We can walk around so confident that we know what is right and wrong, that we have the corner on Jesus, that we might shine, but our light actually hurts others' eyes. Lost people are so turned off by our attitudes and actions, they don't want to be found.
• Or we can illuminate the darkness by shining and sharing the word of God, not as arrogant people who have all the answers, but as humble disciples of Jesus Christ. Remember Saint Francis of Assisi-he said, "Preach the gospel, if necessary use words."

So, it's a new year and a new beginning. I've avoided saying much about Paul's admonishment to do everything without complaining and arguing. 2011 was a hard year. Many of us experienced more than our share of darkness. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." My prayer is that we will light a lot of candles in 2012.

For those who are visual learners, the December newsletter cover was a prelude to the January cover--a night sky with darkness and then a picture of that same "night" with the bright light of a blazing star.

I want to leave you with some lyrics from Sly and the Family Stone and words from the Apostle Paul.

Everybody is a star

I can feel it when you shine on me

I love you for who you are

not the one you feel you need to be.

May we love one another, then shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life.

Amen.

"THERE IS A TIME . . . "

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

There is a time . . . but what time is it? I guess on the first day of a new year it's reasonable to ask, "What time is it?" Some of you may think it's time to wrap up this sermon, when the reality is I have only just begun!

I don't know about you, but I take the question "What time is it?" way too literally. Even though my "smart" phone will tell me the time, I never leave home without wearing my watch, especially on Sundays. I know the "timing" of every part of the worship service and am most pleased when the benediction comes more than 60 minutes but less than sixty-five minutes after the chiming of the hour.

But what if the question "What time is it?" refers to something more than the ticking of the clock?

There was an ancient teacher of wisdom who was called in Hebrew "Quohelet." The name in Greek is translated "Ecclesiastes," and this wise person understood time quite differently from you and me. He wrote after the Babylonian exile which had taught the Israelites that time wasn't always "a piece of cake." Life can be hard. Bad times can drag on; good times go by fleetingly fast. If you read the whole book of Ecclesiastes, you might decide that ole Quohelet is something of a cynic. Thirty-eight times in his book he states that "all is vanity."

He may be a cynic but he does provide answers to the question "What time is it?" In fact, in our reading this morning in chapter 3, he provides 28 answers-14 pairs of action verbs arranged in sharp contrast to one another. It begins with the obvious when we think about life. There is a time to be born . . . and alas, there is a time to die. In the 4 ½ years we have been together as a community, we have witnessed many, many births, but it wasn't until July 31st of this past year that our dear friend Martha Johnson's life in this world came to an end, at the age of 93. We can only wonder: "Was it the right time?"

We can wonder, but old Quohelet would never ask such a question. For him, things are the way they are, set in motion by God. The universe unfolds according to God's plan, not ours. There is a season for everything-but only God knows why existence is set up the way it is. We should not waste energy railing against life; instead, Quohelet advises, "The best thing to do is to be happy and enjoy yourself for as long as you can." Since there are so many things over which we have no control, it is wise to be happy and to look for joy. There is another prescription for life in Ecclesiastes: "Always and forever, stand in awe before God, from whose mighty acts nothing can be added or taken away." God is the creator of time, and God sets the rhythm of reality. Sometimes when people ask me theological questions for which I have no good answer, I remind them that God is God . . . and we are not-end of question!

However, knowing the answer to the question "What time is it?" separates the foolish from the wise. Sometimes, we hold on to things that are actually finished and done-a relationship that is no longer enjoyable or nurturing, a building that needs to come down. Sometimes, we need to speak up for justice or to right a wrong, and sometimes we need to be silent. Let's bring the examples closer to home-people die, relationships die, churches die. When the Heritage Church closed and the property was sold, our presbytery was able to buy land and help fund our church today.

What about our loved ones who have lived long lives, but are now suffering from some debilitating disease or their bodies have just worn out-are there worse things than death? Do we know what time it is? How about killing? What was ole Quohelet thinking-to say there is a time to kill? But wait a minute-is now a good time to kill hatred, to kill incivility, prejudice and a whole list of societal ills? Maybe it's time to sow seeds of reason, seeds of compassion, to mend broken relationships, to love God and neighbor and hate anything that separates us from God.

What about weeping? You know, in 2011 for three months straight I cried every day-life was overwhelming, but with the tears came my time for silence . . . what a gift, to not talk. And in this New Year, I'm praying it's my time, and yours, to laugh.

What time is it? Suppose this is the year we all slow down and heed the advice in Ecclesiastes: "What does the worker gain from his toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on men. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. ¹³ That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-this is the gift of God."

What time is it? Is it time to be happy, is it time to be satisfied with your work, with your calling, with your station in life? Can you eat and drink and work and be fulfilled-right now, today, not regretting what happened yesterday and not fretting over what will happen tomorrow? There is a bumper sticker that reads, "Don't postpone joy." Old Quohelet couldn't have said it better!

The first day of a New Year is not the time to omit Jesus in a sermon. So how would Jesus answer the question "What time is it?" If you read the gospels, you find that Jesus lived in the present. When Jesus went to Nazareth to preach in his hometown, he began his sermon saying, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." When he was dying on the cross, Jesus assured the thief hanging beside him that "today you will be with me in paradise." And he told his followers that they needn't worry about the second coming-instead, be watchful,  be dressed ready for service today, now, right this minute.

I have a clergy friend who has a copy of a Sanskrit poem written over 2000 years ago hanging in her study that reads: "Yesterday is but a memory, and tomorrow a vision, but today well-lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope."

So, what time is it? Ole Quohelet says it's time to stand in awe of God, to accept that God has made everything beautiful in its time. If we accept that, we can eat and drink and be happy with our station in life-today and every day.

And now it is time to wrap up this sermon.

Happy New Year.

Amen.

"TALKING WITH ANGELS"

Luke 1:26-38; 2:8-14

Of all the characters in our Christmas pageants, I guess my favorites are the angels. They are so cute in their white robes, tinsel halos and sheer gossamer wings. Of course, Christmas pageant angels tend to be giggly and shy, which is so not like the angels we read about in the Bible. Real angels are messengers from God, and they are usually quite forthcoming about their message, and if anything, they tend to be stern.

In the Christmas story, the Angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary, and not surprisingly, Mary is troubled by his appearance. But the angel says, "Don't be afraid," and then he brings her news of a future event that is both scary and joyful.

Several months later, on a starry night in the little town of Bethlehem, when this joyful event finally takes place, more angels appear-this time to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night-and again, the message is presented in the context of fear and joy: "Do not be afraid," the angel says, for behold I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all people."

I suspect most of you already know a good bit about angels: they are God's messengers; they bring good news; they appear often in scripture (at least 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament). Some of you may even know that the word "angel" is smack dab in the middle of a popular church word that strikes fear in the hearts of religious leaders today: "evangelism, " a word which literally means "sharing the good news."

 Maybe some of you are convinced that an angel has appeared to you, maybe you have even talked with an angel yourself. After all, in Hebrews 13:2 we read, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some people have entertained angels unaware."

But what is the message these angels, these "messengers from God," have for us today on this Sunday before Christmas? What is the good news for us? Is it found in the story of Mary talking to the Angel Gabriel? Maybe it's the message the angels share with the shepherds. After all, these are the angel stories we are most familiar with at Christmas.

But there is another "angelic" appearance in Luke that introduces the Christmas story. And for those of us here at Palmetto who long to be more "spiritual," maybe this is the angel story we need to focus on. Listen to this story from Luke 1:

Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

By now, you have probably figured it out. Zechariah the priest is the father of John the Baptist, who was the cousin of Jesus. Zechariah's wife, Elizabeth, was who Mary visited after the Angel Gabriel visited her. As a priest, Zechariah is chosen to go into the Holy of Holies to offer the prayers of the people to God. This was a big deal, something that happened to a priest just once in a lifetime, and only then, if he was lucky.

So Zechariah goes in, and he is terrified when an angel appears to him. "Do not be afraid, Zechariah," the angel tells him, and then the angel speaks words Zechariah had longed to hear for years, words Zechariah thought he would never hear . . . "You will have a son. He will bring you joy and gladness." But Zechariah, like many of us, questions the good news when he hears it, "How can I know for sure?"

Now, some New Testament commentaries say Zechariah's questioning is a sin, but maybe he was just being a realist. Look how long he and Elizabeth had prayed for a son. Because Zechariah talked when he should have listened, the Angel Gabriel silenced Zechariah. He was mute until his son was born. Zechariah comes out of the Holy of Holies, and the people are waiting for him to talk, to speak a blessing to them, but alas he is silent! Maybe his muteness is his punishment for his doubt. If that was the case today, I suspect many of us would be silent right now. You see, we are so used to hearing bad news, when we finally hear something good, we too have questions!

So anyway, as one daring preacher put it: Zechariah may not have been able to speak when he got home, but he was perfectly able to do something else, and it wasn't long before his wife Elizabeth conceived.

Now, what if his silence wasn't a punishment but a gift? You see, Zechariah couldn't hear, he couldn't learn anything with his mouth open. Nothing he could say could match the words of the message he heard. So what can I say this morning that we all can hear?  If we really want to be more spiritual, maybe it's time for us to claim the angel's gift of silence-to stop talking so much, to stop trying to explain, to simply shut our own mouths before the awesome, and yes, even fearful mystery of God . . . and see what the quiet has to teach us.

In a world of noise, with radio and TV constantly on, with the phone at our ear at all times, with each day someone telling us what we ought to do-would we not be like Zechariah and ask: "How will I know for sure that this is so?"

What would happen in a chaotic and noisy world like ours if Christians were to become very quiet and still? What if we offered a sanctuary for people whose ears ache and whose heads hurt from all the noise? What would happen if we stopped pretending that only we know what words are pleasing to God?

Of course the church can't be quiet forever-not if we believe there is an angel in evangelism. But friends, no matter how often you might speak with angels, you don't speak for God.

I don't know about you, but I think the lesson for me is to speak less and listen more. Who knows, maybe in the midst of the silence, we will hear the angel say, "Fear not, for I bring you glad tidings of joy." And what are the glad tidings the angels bring? The angels tell us that we are not alone. With the birth of the Christ Child, we now have Emmanuel, God with us, and maybe that alone is enough to make us spiritual.

Merry Christmas.

Amen.            

"PREPARE THE WAY"

Mark 1:1-8

Advent is a season of preparation. During this season, the church prepares for the coming of the Christ Child. I love Christmas because the music is joyous, folks who may not worship often during the year usually come to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and the children-they are so excited, wearing their angel wings and carrying their shepherd's crooks.

In our Old Testament reading this morning, the Prophet Isaiah tells us to "Prepare the way of the Lord." In older days when a king or some important person traveled, a representative would always go ahead to prepare the road. That's true even today. Think of the preparations required when the President travels.

When someone important is coming, it seems there is always a big "to do." Yet, when Jesus, as the son of God, began his earthly ministry, who prepares the way but this rather strange, "outback" guy named John the Baptist. There was no big music, no fanfare, just the voice of one calling in the desert, calling in the wilderness, "Make straight paths for him."

During this particular Advent and the months preceding, I have personally been in the wilderness. But the wilderness is nothing new for God's people. Oh sure, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, or a long, long time, but throughout history, God's people have all spent time in the wilderness. So maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be surprised that the one who prepares for Emmanuel, God with us, is not some lofty, important person, but a voice calling from the wilderness. And what does he say? "Make straight the way."

Isaiah says, "Comfort my people, speak tenderly." I think that's why the church prepares for Christmas with a quiet, low-key, sometimes even somber Advent. We try to skip the Advent hymns in our hymnal because the Christmas carols are so much more "merry." The timbre is upbeat, the tempo is faster. But if you're living in the wilderness, maybe you need some quiet time. Maybe you need some encouragement to continue the journey. The wilderness can be a lonely, frightening place.

The Hebrew for this phrase "speak tenderly" means to "speak encouragingly." I am so grateful that Gloria and Angela answer the phone here at the church. They are polite, and they take time to listen. I, on the other hand, have this stern phone voice and even when I'm in a good mood, I sound gruff. All of us can be encouragers. The lesson in Advent is it's not the important people that prepare the way-it's the every-day people, people who have read the story of our past and are carrying our story of faith into the future, oftentimes in quiet, uneventful ways.

Surprisingly, some scholars say the ministry of John the Baptist lasted only about three months, but for 30 years John's life had been leading up to this brief period when he would build a path for the Messiah. Have you ever wondered if God has been preparing you in some special way to do something you would never have imagined?

Today the Advent journey continues, and the message John spoke so long ago is the same message today. We make the crooked path straight through our own personal repentance. Confession and contrition are roads on our journey to moving closer to God. But let's talk about this word "repentance." It doesn't always mean a 180 degree turn; it may be a small re-direction onto the right path. Or it may cause us to radically change the entire direction of our lives. Sometimes we hear the same word so often we don't really give it serious thought. What is repentance?

- It's admitting our mistakes.

- It's offering them to God.

- It's accepting the consequences of our actions (and make no mistake, we are people saved by grace, but sin does have consequences)

- And finally, repentance means leaving those persons or things that are destructive to our relationship with God.

It's discouraging to think that even though we love God and want to do what is right, we are still sinners.

The great preacher William Sloane Coffin said this about the sinfulness and brokenness of humankind: "I'm not OK, you're not OK, and that's OK!" We are sinners. But through sinners such as you and me and John the Baptist and others throughout history, God has released the mighty torrent of God's will for salvation and liberation. On the one hand, that should make us feel good about ourselves-as Christians we make a difference in people's lives. Look at all the ministry that takes place just here in this one congregation-all in the name of Christ. But on the other hand, the church, God's people, often get complacent, we take our faith for granted and we aren't always sharing the good news that even when people are living in the wilderness we have Emmanuel, God is with us.

So how do we prepare the way? Repentance, prayer, study of the scriptures, participation in the sacraments, using our gifts and talents for service and evangelism, and growing a deeper faith by being open to the Holy Spirit.

I know some of you are C. S. Lewis fans. If you desire to "go deeper" in your faith, his books are a good read. In Mere Christianity Lewis points us toward that straight path with these words, "If we let God, for we can prevent Him if we choose [but if we let Him}, He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said."

This morning as we continue our Advent journey, I invite you to go deeper, to work on making the crooked path straight. Do whatever you have to for you to prepare the way of the Lord.

Amen.

"WE ARE ALL THE WORK OF YOUR HAND"

Isaiah 64:1-9

During our Advent candle lighting this morning, we heard about the Prophets' Candle and how sometimes prophetic words are hard to hear and harder to believe.

In our reading for today, the Prophet Isaiah speaks hard words: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!" We get the sense that something is wrong-something's very wrong. This is a desperate voice, a voice of one at the end of his rope. This is the voice of one yearning for change, for hope, for the promise of a future. This is the voice of someone calling for a savior.

This text is near the end of Isaiah, so the people have returned home to Jerusalem. The whole time they were in exile, all they could dream about was going home. They dreamed about returning to life as they remembered it. But their dreams didn't match reality. "Home" was not what they expected. The city was in a shambles and the temple in ruins. They were devastated. Something was wrong, very wrong.

Today, as we begin this new season of Advent, we might conclude the same thing: something is wrong, very wrong-natural disasters that bring death and destruction seem to occur more frequently; look at our nation, the uncertainty in our leaders, the disastrous state of our economy, the growing numbers of families suffering the effects of unemployment, homelessness and other social ills. And look at the church. In this new post-modern time, how do we define faithful living? In our list of priorities, where is the church, or more to the point, where is God?

In our personal lives we struggle with difficulties we can name and some we can't. There is illness, depression, grief, and loss of all kinds. Yes, something is wrong, very wrong. Isaiah says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."

This is a depressing text to be sure, but Isaiah is giving voice to our yearning for the presence of a savior-for a time when bad things, all our ills and misfortune, will be set right. But this is not a very promising or hopeful reading. After all, you and I know how long it was between the time of Isaiah and the coming of the Messiah, and let's just be honest-we aren't that patient. But wait a minute. The role of the prophet in the Old Testament is usually to answer one question: "Is there any word from the Lord?" And Isaiah doesn't disappoint us. In the middle of this text, the tone changes-suddenly, instead of asking God to put on a big fireworks display, the prophet brings it closer to home-his appeal to God is for closeness and intimacy. There is a plea for a personal relationship. Listen: "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are the work of your hand."

Last week I talked about us having a partnership with God. That certainly doesn't mean we are equal partners. What does it mean if God is the potter and we are the clay? If God is the potter, then God touches us and we are not alone. God molds us and shapes us, and God uses the events of our lives-our upbringing, our education, our relationships-God uses these to fashion us. God wants to make us into something useful and beautiful. But of course, we have to deal with freewill. You and I make choices; you are here this morning because you chose to be here.

Alas, in our lifetime, we all make bad choices. Sometimes, God as the potter has to pick up the broken pieces, re-fire us, and then re-shape us. The fire hurts, the re-shaping hurts, and sometimes, it seems like we don't have choices. What's that saying "bad things happen to good people"? But we have to remember, it is God who is the potter. God is the creator; we are merely the creation.

If you read this text and you start wondering how Isaiah goes from calling God to "rend the heavens" to asking God to become a potter who shapes each individual, you discover old Isaiah is pretty wise. Not only is he a prophet, bringing the people a word from the Lord, he is also a spokesman for God's people, making a request to the Lord on our behalf.

When Isaiah asks God to mold each of us, like a potter molds the clay, Isaiah is getting to the root of all our problems. You see, the problems of the world are the problems of people-individuals like you and me, people who are called into covenant with God, people who live in community with other people.

The big changes we yearn for-changes in our world, our nation, our church, our families- these big cataclysmic changes all start with changes of heart and changes of mind . . . one at a time.

Maybe that's why so many people missed the Savior when he came. They were looking for big changes in the world when he brought changes to our hearts. Yes, during this new Advent, there is still something wrong, very wrong in our world. But the good news is that we are not alone. God has heard the cries of the prophets and sent us a Savior.

I wish I could tell you how to fix our world, our nation, our church, and our families. During this Advent in the year of our Lord 2011, we might not witness a savior rending the heavens, but my prayer is that we will meet him in the still and quiet places within. We the clay will meet the potter if we are willing to entrust ourselves to be handled and held. We will meet God when we allow ourselves to be molded and shaped. We will meet God, who will knead our broken and fragmented selves together again, who will hold and mold us tenderly and welcome us home at last. For as the Prophet Isaiah said, "We are all the work of your hand."

Amen.