The First United Presbyterian Church of Mingo Junction Celebration Service - Sunday, March 14, 2021

Here's the podcast of the worship service I led in the First United Presbyterian Church of Mingo Junction, Ohio on Sunday, February 28, 2021. Below is a copy of our bulletin.

The First United Presbyterian Church of Brilliant Celebration Service - Sunday, March 14, 2021

Here's a copy of the order and the podcast of the worship service I led in the First United Presbyterian Church of Brilliant, Ohio on Sunday, March 7, 2021. Below was our bulletin.

Sunday's Message - When Is the Cross Like a Snake on a Pole?

Here's the message I offered during the celebration services in the First United Presbyterian Church of Mingo Junction, Ohio on Sunday, March 14, 2020.

John 3:14-21 [Contemporary English Version]

And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert. Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.

God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! No one who has faith in God’s Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn’t have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God’s only Son.

The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. People who do evil hate the light and won’t come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.

When Is the Cross Like a Snake on a Pole?

When I was in 4th grade, I got what would become my favorite book of all time. As a matter of fact, I treasure it so much that I’ve kept with me for almost 55 years, and if I had a couple weeks, I’m sure I could find it in one of boxes down in my basement. Of course, given the fact that I’m up here preaching, I wish I could say it was my first Bible, but it wasn’t. Instead, it was something far more valuable to a ten-year-old boy: 101 Elephant Jokes. Man, I used to read it over and over again. Now even though it said “jokes” on the cover, they were actually riddles. And although they were all gold, as I remember, I really loved the ones that were in series. Let me give you a couple of examples. “Why do elephants paint their toenails red? So they can hide in cherry trees. Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree? (they will say NO). Works, doesn't it?!” Or how about this: “How do you know there have been elephants in the fridge? There are footprints in the butter. Why do elephants paint their ears yellow? That's not paint, its butter.” Man, I thought those jokes were great. But my favorite, were these two riddles, and let me warn you, I’m only going to give you the first right now. You’ll have to wait for the second. OK, here it goes: “Why is it dangerous to walk in the jungle between 3 and 4 in the afternoon? That's when the elephants jump out of the trees.” Now trust me, I’ll give you the second one in a little bit. Let’s just say, when I was ten, these riddles were considered really groovy.

But I’ll tell you, we all know someone else who was into riddles: Jesus Christ. Man, he just loved them, and he used to tell them all the time. You see, the Greek word for riddle was παραβολή, in other words, parable. And if you’ve spent any time in the gospels, you know he taught with parables all over the place. And you know, I think we’ve sort of riddle right here at the beginning of the passage we read this morning, you know, when he said, “And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert.”[John 3:14, CEV] I mean, when he compared himself being lifted up with what Moses lifted up in the desert, well, it’s like he was asking the question I used as the title of the sermon: When is the cross like a snake on a pole? You see, to understand Jesus’s point, this is the question we need to answer. And I’ll tell you, that’s exactly what we’re going to do this morning. We’re going to compare the cross with that metal snake. And you know, when we do that, I think we’re going to have a better understanding of three things: first, who we are; second, what God offers; and third, how we can respond. You see, we’re going get all that when we answer the question: When is the cross like a snake on a pole? 

Of course, coming up with any kind of answer is really impossible until we understand what Jesus was talking about. And although we might have a fairly decent understanding of the cross, especially since Jesus sort of dealt with that in the rest of the passage we read, this business about a metal snake might be a little murky. As a matter of fact, we might not realize that it’s based on a story from the Old Testament, the Book of Numbers. Now this is how it goes:

The Israelites had to go around the territory of Edom, so when they left Mount Hor, they headed south toward the Red Sea. But along the way, the people became so impatient that they complained against God and said to Moses, “Did you bring us out of Egypt, just to let us die in the desert? There’s no water out here, and we can’t stand this awful food!”

Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes that bit and killed many of them.

Some of the people went to Moses and admitted, “It was wrong of us to insult you and the Lord. Now please ask him to make these snakes go away.”

Moses prayed, and the Lord answered, “Make a snake out of bronze and place it on top of a pole. Anyone who gets bitten can look at the snake and won’t die.”

Moses obeyed the Lord. And all of those who looked at the bronze snake lived, even though they had been bitten by the poisonous snakes. [Numbers 21:4-9, CEV]

Now that’s the story about the metal snake that was lifted up by Moses in the desert, an image that Jesus compared to what will happen to him when he is lifted up on the cross.

And you know, like I said just a minute ago, when we bring these two stories together, I believe they can offer three pretty clear reminders to us. For example, first, they remind of who we are, in other words, who we are in what you could call our natural state, you know, before God opens our eyes and touches our hearts. I mean, just like we see in the two stories, left on our own, I believe we all tend to struggle with faith, you know, trusting God and I’m talking about trusting in both his power and his love. Put another way, faith is just plain hard, especially when we look at the problems that come up in our country and community and congregation and within our friendships and families and certainly within ourselves. Let’s get real, all that make faith challenging. And since a lot of what we see ain’t good, naturally, we start to wonder about  whether the problem might be with God. My gosh, why do good, innocence, righteous people suffer? Could it be that God either can’t do anything about it or chooses not to act? Maybe, or so we might think. And I’ll tell you, that might explain some of the stuff we choose to do, and this is certainly something we see in both stories. For example, because they doubted that God was concerned about their condition, man, that’s why those Israelites in the desert “...complained against God and said to Moses, ‘Did you bring us out of Egypt, just to let us die in the desert? There’s no water out here, and we can’t stand this awful food!’” [Numbers 21:5, CEV] And when people are afraid that God really doesn’t love them, naturally, they’re going to feel this way toward God: “The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. People who do evil hate the light and won’t come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done.” [John 3:19-20, CEV] You see, I think folks who complain about and hide from God, man, they both show a lack of faith. And that’s something we can see when we bring the two stories together. And sadly, whether it involved snakes or separation, it’s also pretty clear that folks who don’t have faith also suffer the consequences. Their lack of trust results in what you could call a spiritual sickness, a poisoned relationship with God and a sense of detachment from him. You see, I believe both the cross and the snake on a pole remind us of who we are. We are sinners. And when taken together, that’s the first thing these two images do. But of course, that’s not all. 

Because second, I think they also remind us of what God offers, and I’m talking about what God offers to all those folks who complain and hide and who doubt and fear, in other, men and women who sort of struggle with their faith and trust. I mean, just think about what God did in the wilderness. When some of the people accepted their responsibility, God acted to resolve the problem for which they were responsible. You see, right there in the desert, he gave them a tangible sign of his power and his love. Remember, after the people cried out, “Moses prayed, and the Lord answered, ‘Make a snake out of bronze and place it on top of a pole. Anyone who gets bitten can look at the snake and won't die.’” [Numbers 21:7b-8, CEV] Now that’s what happened in the wilderness. And I’ll tell you something, Jesus did the same thing for all those folks who were hiding in the dark. A little later, in the Gospel of John, “Jesus went on to say, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will know who I am. You will also know that I don’t do anything on my own. I say only what my Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. I always do what pleases him, and he will never leave me.’” [John 8:28-29, CEV] And after that, he’ll say, “‘This world’s people are now being judged, and the ruler of this world is already being thrown out! If I am lifted up above the earth, I will make everyone want to come to me.’ Jesus was talking about the way he would be put to death.” [John 12:31-33, CEV] You see, in both stories, God gave his people a tangible sign of his power and authority as well as his love and grace. And these symbols are just as important for us as they were for them. In other words, they tell us that God has done all that needs to be done to address the sickness and the poison and the detachment that comes from our lack of faith. And because of that, I believe both the cross and the snake on the pole remind us of what God offers. You see, he offers healing. And when taken together, that’s the second thing these two images do.

And third, right along with reminding us of who we are and what God offers, I think both the cross and the bronze snake remind us of how we can respond. And I think this is really important, because even though God has offered everything we need to be healed right here and right now, he doesn’t force us to accept it or to believe it, does he. That decision is really up to us. And that’s certainly true in both the stories we read. I mean, as it happened to the people with Moses in the wilderness, God didn’t just miraculously heal everybody nor did he take away all the snakes. Instead, according to Numbers, “And all of those who looked at the bronze snake lived, even though they had been bitten by the poisonous snakes.” [Numbers 21:9b, CEV] You see, to experience healing, people needed to look. And according to what Jesus said, “The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. People who do evil hate the light and won’t come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.” [John 3:19-20, CEV] You see, to experience life, people would need to come. And I’ll tell you, I believe we can apply this to ourselves as well. And you know, even though it might not make all the snakes go away or make the darkness completely disappear, when we choose to look and to come, when we choose to believe and to trust, man, we’re going to be healed; we’re going to live. In other words, we’re going to experience a new relationship with our creator right here and right. And isn’t this exactly what God planned from the beginning. I mean, remember, according to what Jesus said in the passage we read, “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!” [John 3:16-17, CEV] Now that’s what Jesus said. And you know, I think it’s really interesting that the word translated “save” in that last verse is the Greek word σῴζω, which can also mean “make whole” and “heal.” You see, I believe both the cross and the snake on the pole remind us of how we can respond. And brothers and sisters, we can respond by trusting him. And when taken together, I think that’s the third thing these two images do.

Now, do you remember the riddle I gave you a little while ago from my 55-year-old book, 101 Elephant Jokes: “Why is it dangerous to walk in the jungle between 3 and 4 in the afternoon? That’s when the elephants jump out of the trees.” Well, I said that there’s a second one that sort of builds on the first, and here it is: “Why are pygmies so small? They walked in the jungle between 3 and 4 in the afternoon.” Get it. Trust me, those two riddles were a big hit back in Mrs. Davis’s fourth grade class. But I’ll tell you, I think the riddle we’ve been considering this morning is even more important, certainly to us right here and right now. You see, when we consider what Jesus said and what Moses did, I believe we can understand that we’re sinners and that God offers healing and that we can respond by trusting him. And so, when it serves as a reminder of who we are and what God offers and how we can respond, my friends, that’s when the cross is like a snake on a pole.

The First United Presbyterian Church of Mingo Junction Celebration Service - Sunday, March 7, 2021

Here's a copy of the order and the podcast of the worship service I led in the First United Presbyterian Church of Mingo Junction, Ohio on Sunday, February 28, 2021. Below was our order of worship.

Our Call to Worship: Psalm 19

Leader: The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

People: Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.

Leader: There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;

People: Yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Leader: In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.

People: Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.

Leader: The law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;

People: The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes;

Leader: The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

People: More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

Leader: Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

People: But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.

Leader: Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me.

People: Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

All: Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Welcome and Announcements 

Opening prayer

Congregational Song 

Prayer of Confession

Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you. Although you’ve given us a way to relate to you without limitations and restrictions, we’ve chosen to put up barriers. Through structure and ritual, we create impediments that make is difficult for people to know and to praise you. Loving Father, forgive us and help us tear down those walls that we’ve made.

Words of Forgiveness

Gloria Patri

Special Music

Joys and Concern/ Prayers of the People/The Lord's Prayer

Offering Our Gifts to God

Doxology

Scripture Lesson: John 2:13-22

Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.

Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, “Get those doves out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace.”

The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, “My love for your house burns in me like a fire.”

The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “What miracle[a] will you work to show us why you have done this?”

“Destroy this temple,” Jesus answered, “and in three days I will build it again!”

The leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?”

But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. 22 And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus.

Sermon: A Church without Walls

Congregational Song

Charge and Blessing 

End with “Surely the Presence of The Lord”

The First United Presbyterian Church of Brilliant Celebration Service - Sunday, March 7, 2021

Here's a copy of the order and the podcast of the worship service I led in the First United Presbyterian Church of Brilliant, Ohio on Sunday, March 7, 2021. Below was our order of worship.

*****

Prelude: Incomparable Ron Retzer

Morning Announcements

Our Call to Worship: Psalm 19

Leader: The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

People: Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.

Leader: There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;

People: Yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Leader: In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.

People: Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.

Leader: The law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;

People: The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes;

Leader: The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

People: More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

Leader: Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

People: But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.

Leader: Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me.

People: Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

All: Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Hynm: Tell Me the Story of Jesus

Prayer of Confession 

Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you. Although you’ve given us a way to relate to you without limitations and restrictions, we’ve chosen to put up barriers. Through structure and ritual, we create impediments that make is difficult for people to know and to praise you. Loving Father, forgive us and help us tear down those walls that we’ve made.

Moment of Silent Prayer

Assurance of Pardon

Gloria Patri

Joys & Concerns/Prayer of Thanks

Scripture Reading:  John 2:13-22

Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.

Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, “Get those doves out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace.”

The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, “My love for your house burns in me like a fire.”

The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “What miracle[a] will you work to show us why you have done this?”

“Destroy this temple,” Jesus answered, “and in three days I will build it again!”

The leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?”

But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. 22 And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus.

Message: A Church Without Walls

Hymn: The Church’s One Foundation

Charge & Blessing

Postlude 

Sunday's Message - A Church without Walls

Here's the message I offered during the celebration services in the First United Presbyterian Church of Mingo Junction, Ohio on Sunday, March 7, 2020.

John 2:13-22 [Contemporary English Version]

Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.

Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, “Get those doves out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace.”

The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, “My love for your house burns in me like a fire.”

The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?”

“Destroy this temple,” Jesus answered, “and in three days I will build it again!”

The leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?”

But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus.

A Church without Walls

Now, let me tell you right up front how great it is to see y’all in worship this morning. And even though saying something like that is always appropriate, I think it’s even more so given everything that we’ve gone through over the last twelve months. I mean, as I’m sure y’all remember, it was about one year ago that COVID-19 hit us like a ton of bricks, and all of a sudden, everything changed. And even advertisers realized that.

All of a sudden, we were facing a new normal. And as y’all also remember, to slow the spread of the virus, governors all over the country started closing things down, including churches. And even when things started to open up a little bit, a lot of folks, especially those who were most vulnerable, decided that it was safer to stay home. Now that’s what we’ve been facing over these last twelve months.

And to deal with this new normal, well, our church has had to adapt, hasn’t it? For example, we’ve been pushed to use some technology that we’d never used before, you know, like live streaming our services and then posting what was recorded on Facebook and YouTube. And we did it so we could connect with folks who were suddenly homebound on Sunday morning. They could, at the very least, be involved in worship, sort of. But even though this was less than ideal for folks who loved to sit in their pew surrounded by their friends, these streamed and posted services started to reach people who would never be able to come to our building on Sunday morning. You see, over the last year, we really changed in a pretty profound way. Man, folks have been able to connect with us online, and I’ll tell you, I think that’s exciting. In a real way, we’ve been forced to become a church without walls, one that touched people all over the world. 

And you know, I believe making this kind of change is reflected in the passage we read this morning, one of the few stories about Jesus that’s found in all four gospels. You see, when we consider what happened when he cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem, I think Jesus was pointing to a change that was coming in the kind of Temple-centered worship that the Jews followed. And so, for the next ten minutes or so, we’re going look at what Jesus did and what he said. And then we’re going to apply these words and actions to our own situation and see how they might shape what we do as the Body of Christ both now and into the future. Now that’s going to be our focus this morning.

Of course, I think we’d all agree that what Jesus actually did, man, that was pretty dramatic, wasn’t it? I mean, just imagine someone coming in here and overturning the pews and tossing the hymnals out the door. But isn’t that pretty much what Jesus did in the Temple. The Evangelist John wrote:

Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.

Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, “Get those doves out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace.”

The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, “My love for your house burns in me like a fire.” [John 2:13-17, CEV]

Now you tell me that something like that wouldn’t have cause a problem if it happened later in our service today. 

But even though it was all very dramatic, I’m telling you, the significance of what Jesus did was extremely important. You see, when he chased out the sheep and the cattle and the doves and when he overturned the tables of moneychangers, Jesus was literally overturning Jewish Temple worship. Let me explain. There was really only one reason for a person to go to the Temple in Jerusalem, and trust me, it wasn’t to sing hymns or to pray prayers or to hear a sermon. You did that kind of stuff in a synagogue. No, the Temple was the place where you made animal sacrifices to God, and that’s why you had an altar and whole bunch of priests. And that’s also why there were all these animals wandering around. You see, since you couldn’t sacrifice a bull or a sheep or even a dove with a blemish, it just made sense to have priest-approved animals available for worshipers to buy. And since most of the coins floating around Palestine had the head of some king stamped on it, for the priests, that meant the coin bore a “graven image,” something that violated God’s law. And because of that, this money couldn’t be used to buy an animal to sacrifice. But I’ve got to tell you, the priests, man, they were really on the ball. You see, to address this problem, they set-up these guys who’d change the money carried by the people for special Temple coins that didn’t have someone’s head on one side.  Slick, right?And now, the worshipers could then use approved, non-graven money to buy approved, non-blemished animals, something that was essential for worship. And so, when you got right down to it, without the animals and the moneychangers, sacrifices couldn’t be made. And that’s what made Jesus’s actions so radical. You see, when Jesus did his thing with his whip and their tables, in a very real way, he was ending Jewish worship as they knew it. I guess you could say, by his actions, he was creating a new normal.

And why did he do it? Why did he drive out the animals and scatter the coins? I mean, why he did put an end to Temple worship? Well, I think he explains that by what he said. Again, listen to John:

The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?”

“Destroy this temple,” Jesus answered, “and in three days I will build it again!”

The leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?” 

But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus. [John 2:18-22, CEV]

Now that’s what he said.

And just think about how that relates to what he did. I mean, no longer would the people need to go to the Temple and offer sacrifices to feel close to God. Instead, since the light was in the world and the Word had become flesh, there was a new place to encounter the divine and that would be in the one who would be destroyed on the cross and rebuild three days later, something the disciples would remember after Jesus was raised from death. You see, soon, a 46-year-old building and whole bunch of sacrifices would no longer be necessary. Why? Because their world was about to change.

And I’ll tell you, I think this is really important for us to remember. You see, we’re living on the other side of the cross and the empty tomb; therefore, for us, the Temple, all temples have been replaced, because now in and through Jesus Christ we can meet and worship God. In other words, where Jesus is, so is God. And you know, throughout his time on earth, Jesus made this point over and over again. For example, he taught about his relationship with the Father when he said to the Apostle Philip, “Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don’t you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? Don’t you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn’t said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things. Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father.” [John 14:9b-11a, CEV] And he told the disciples what they could expect when he was no longer around. He said, “I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.” [John 16:12-15, CEV] And Jesus challenged them to show their dedication through the lives they lived. He said, “If you love your life, you will lose it. If you give it up in this world, you will be given eternal life. If you serve me, you must go with me. My servants will be with me wherever I am. If you serve me, my Father will honor you.” [John 12:25-26, CEV] Now this was what Jesus told his disciples, and I’ll tell you, that’s the exact same message he says to us. In short, we sure don’t need a building to encounter God. Why? Because we can still meet the creator of the universe through Jesus Christ. In him, we can feel close to God, and that’s something we need to remember.

And because of that, I think we also need to remember that all the sacrifices and all the rituals and all the structures that were crucial to the kind of worship which was done before, well, they’re still not necessary. You see, we don’t need to approach God with a herd of cattle or a flock of sheep or a dole of doves. And we don’t need to obsess over kind of hymns we sing or prayers we pray or structure we follow. And we sure don’t need to rebuild a rigid system of rules and laws and procedures that says to the world, “Unless you learn our way, you’re not welcome here.” Man, we don’t need to do that anymore. Instead, God’s calling us to come with humility and dedication and faith. And you know, I think the Apostle Paul described this new kind of approach really well, when he wrote this to the Romans:

Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.

I realize how kind God has been to me, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you. A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. That’s how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another. [Romans 12:1-5, CEV]

You see, since we can be close to God through Christ, we don’t need to worry about the other stuff. Instead, let’s decide to approach him with what he wants us to be rather than with what we want him to have. And that’s something else I believe we need to remember.

Now, as it comes to COVID-19, I really think we’ve not only turned the corner, but we’re heading down the homestretch. Thanks to our willingness to be socially distant and to wear masks and now to get the vaccine, I believe most things will pretty much go back to the way they were. But even though that’s probably going to happen as we move out of the pandemic, we can never go back to that time before Jesus cleansed the Temple. I mean, based on what he did and what he said, the place people encounter and the way they approach God has changed forever. It did for them, and it has for us. 

You see, we can relate to God through Jesus and we can respond by following his word rather than our wants. I guess you could say that’s the new normal. And because that’s the way it is, as the Body of Christ, maybe there’s one thing that happened during the last twelve months that we should carry into the future. I mean, given who Jesus is and what he’s called us to be, maybe we should continue to use the technology he’s given to us and to reach beyond some of those things we used to think were important. In other words, as we look to the example of Jesus Christ himself and become for our community what he became for the world, you know, maybe we can be the place where people can encounter God without a lot of stuff that we consider important getting in the way. In other words, maybe we can truly become a church without walls.

Looking into the lectionary — Christ and snakes

SUBSCRIBE \ ABOUT \ DONATE \ CONTACT Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14-21 — March 14, 2021 4th Sunday in Lent This week’s lectionary text from the book of Numbers is a strange, even offensive, story about God inflicting poisonous snakes on cantankerous, grumpy Israelites in response to persistent complaining against God and Moses.  This week’s lectionary text from the book of Numbers is a strange, even offensive, story about God inflicting poisonous snakes on cantankerous, grumpy Israelites in response to persistent complaining against God and Moses.  Then, per God’s instruction, Moses sets a bronze snake upon a pole, and all who gaze upon it are healed of venomous snakebite. We might be tempted to dismiss the story as a primitive one, but its potent symbolism surfaces again in the Gospel of John’s narration of Jesus’ first prediction of his passion. Jesus speaks enigmatically, with a pun, of his own “lifting up” in both crucifixion and exaltation: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14). It is one of the most unusual Christological symbols in the New Testament: Christ the Snake. Odd though it may be, it is well worth pondering. In both the ancient and modern world, snakes were and are symbolic of our deepest, most ominous fears, but also of life, death and rebirth — indeed of healing. Psychologists have associated snakes in dreams as harbingers of transformation and new beginnings. The American Medical Association adopted the healing snake upon a pole as its logo. Jesus, too, speaks of healing in drawing this image to himself.   It is a timely image, given our current collective preoccupation with the urgency of vaccination — one of the miracles of modern medicine. Scientists have learned how to replicate bacteria and viruses, render them nonlethal and inject them back into the body as vaccines. When a vaccine is injected, our human immune system goes to work producing killer memory cells against various diseases. So, a disease can turn out to be a vaccine against disease.  Theologian Cornelius Plantinga highlights this intriguing analogy in his exposition of the serpent imagery in John 3:14 in his article “Christ, the Snake” published in Perspectives.  He notes that the cure for snakebite is another snake. Plantinga reads it as a reference to one of the deepest mysteries in all of life: that the only sure way to cure an infection is exposure – inoculation – which allows the memory to be activated to destroy the disease. The disease is used to cure the disease.   There may be no doubt that we are mightily in need of healing from diseases that pervade our common life. We are afflicted by greed, hatred, self-hatred, fear and apathy, both individually and collectively. Injustices and tyrannies of varied sorts plague our social, economic and political life. The intriguing, mind-bending, agonizing truth of Christianity is the claim that God took our diseases upon God’s own self in order to become the antidote. As Plantinga puts it, “Christianity is the only religion that centers around the dying and degradation of its God.” Why would anyone want to lift up such a horrific reality to gaze upon it? Because the exposure disrupts the power of the disease and reveals the love and justice of God in Christ as the antidote. The disease can cure the disease. Exposure to the varied diseases that plague our common life can evoke different responses, including anger, apathy and resignation. But with respect to anger, community organizers make an important distinction between hot anger (rage over injustices) and cold anger. Hot anger can lead to violence. But cold anger over exposure to injustice compels one to nonviolent action. According to Edward Chambers in “Roots for Radicals,” Black pastors in the Industrial Areas Foundation (a faith-based community-organizing coalition) have spoken about the focused power of such anger as “rooted in our most passionate memories and dreams — a father whose spirit has been broken by demeaning work or no work; a brother or sister lost to violence or alcohol or drugs; a church burned down by an arsonist; a college career sabotaged by a substandard high school; a neighborhood of shops and families and affections and relationships ripped apart because banks wouldn’t lend to it, because insurance companies wouldn’t insure it.” Focused, cold anger evoked by exposure to such ills can disrupt the power of disease and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, enable us to act out the love and justice of God in Christ as the antidote.  I have an indelible memory of what that looks like from community-organizing days in ministry in Baltimore. Church members were meeting with fellow citizens struggling with a local bank engaged in “redlining” — a discriminatory practice of withholding loans in neighborhoods deemed to be an economic risk, which made it impossible for people who lived in them to own a home. They had tried again and again to meet with the bank’s manager but could not even get their calls returned. But cold anger moved them to creative, nonviolent action to expose and disrupt the disease of the bank’s injustice toward the neighborhood. About 200 church members from that neighborhood showed up one day when the bank opened, each with thousands of pennies in hand — all rolled up nicely and in bags, ready to use them to open bank accounts.  What happened next was what can only be described as inspired, organized chaos.  You’ve got to imagine the scene: lined up at the bank teller’s windows were deacons, ushers, church leaders, choir members, good church folk ranging in age from 20 to 80 — dressed up in their Sunday best and carrying bags upon bags of pennies. In a very orderly way, they soon tied up all the business going on in the bank — every single bank teller window. So many people were in the bank that it became impossible to get through the door. Soon one of two coin counting machines broke down, creating more and more stress for tellers who had to begin counting the pennies by hand. Then one of the older parishioners waiting in line with heavy bags of pennies in hand could hold them no longer. Accidentally dropping them on the floor, they broke open and spilled thousands of pennies all over the floor. This created further chaos as bank employees rushed to help her pick them up. Other employees were enlisted to help other older customers find a seat or even to stand in line and hold the bags of pennies for them, creating a bigger logjam. After about four hours of this organized chaos, the bank manager finally made an appearance, relenting: “OK, OK, I’ll meet with you!” Soon thereafter, needed loans were forthcoming and policies against the neighborhood residents began to change. It was pennies rather than snakes, but the effect was the same. Focused, cold anger exposed a diseased banking system that did not work for its Black neighborhood. The exposure disrupted the power of the disease as people of faith were inspired by the Holy Spirit to act on behalf of the love and justice of God in Christ. The same kind of inoculation takes place every Sunday as we confess our sin and face directly into the diseases that plague us in order to disrupt them by the Spirit of God at work within us. Praise God for Jesus Christ the Snake, who was lifted up in crucifixion and exaltation, so that all who gaze upon him might live — God’s antidote to the sins of the world.   This week: 1.     Share your reactions to the snake as a symbol of healing — and as a symbol of Jesus Christ. 2.     How might the analogy of inoculation, which allows the memory to be activated in such a way as to destroy the disease, inform your reflection on Jesus’ reference to himself as one “lifted up” in crucifixion and exaltation? 3.     What ailments in your community are in need of healing? 4.     What do you think of the distinction made between “hot anger” and “cold anger”? 5.     Share your reaction to the story of inspired church members who used pennies to challenge and expose a bank that was redlining loans in their community.   6.     How might the practice of confessing our sins serve as a moment in which disease is exposed and disrupted in order to be healed by the gift of God’s grace in Christ — by Christ the Snake? Compass for the soul In spiritual direction, participants listen for movements of the Spirit to discern a deeper relationship with the holy. Read the full article by Liz Barrington Forney Outlook feature Finding God's purpose through coaching Book review This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace when Suffering Lingers Outlook blog Who prays for you?  ‌  ‌  ‌  ‌

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