A pastor answers the phone.
“Hello, is this Rev. Schmitt?”
“It is,” he said.
“This is the IRS. Can you help us?”
“I can.”
“Do you know a David Anderson?”
“I do.”
“Is he a member of your congregation?”
“He is.”
“Did he donate $10,000 to the church?”
“He will.”

It’s tax season. Does the IRS love you? No. Do they forgive your mistakes? No. Does God love you? Yes. Does God forgive your mistakes? Yes.

Our gospel reading tells us just how much God does indeed love us. You’ve heard me say in sermons before that the word “world” is a special one for John. John 3:16, “For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The word “world” occurs 75 times in John’s gospel. That averages to more than three references per chapter.

And of course John’s critique of the world is not at all good. We see right from the beginning in 1:10 that the world did not recognize the Word. It cannot receive the Spirit (14:17). It does not know the Father (17:25). The world hated Christ and his followers (15:18-19); here “hate” is not too strong a word. Jesus says the world hates him and what he does seven times in nine sentences. The world is a setting of persecution (16:33) and it is ultimately not Christ’s kingdom (18:36). It is in this context that we read, “For God so loved the world…” Maybe God even loves the IRS. Read the remainder of this entry »

We’re going to look at the temptation of Jesus today, or perhaps more appropriately called the “testing” of Jesus. But to begin we will not look at Jesus but at the other character in the story - the devil, or Satan. How you understand evil and the devil greatly influences the way you understand this text.

In our culture words like sin, evil, the devil, and Satan are all passe. People effectively consider them to be childlike myths from the ignorant past. Main stream entertainment treats temptation and desire as things to be indulged, not resisted. Look at the TV program Desperate Housewives. It and many a program suggest that a bit of naughtiness adds an acceptable bit of spice to life.

Some psychiatric explanations of evil dismiss it as a mix of ignorance, fear, and low self-esteem. Address these issues and you’ll have no problems. I find this to be the dominant behavioral model at work in our public educational system. On one hand, there is nothing wrong with this model. Well informed, confident people are usually assets to society. On the other hand, I find the idea of evil being just a mix of ignorance, fear, and low self-esteem to be lacking. Too much hatred and greed cannot be accounted for with this idea.

Okay, this may be the cultural explanation for evil, lacking or not. What is the Bible’s explanation of evil? Well, it is not as simple or flat as those who quickly dismiss the Christian understanding of evil believe.

The Bible’s understanding of evil shows that it has grown and developed over time. In the Hebrew Bible, the satan, or literally, the “accuser” was a member of the heavenly court. He was heaven’s prosecuting attorney who would implement the will of God, the heavenly Judge, by putting suspected offenders to the test. We see this idea most clearly in Job 1-2. Later, with the development of apocalyptic thought between the writing of the Old and New Testaments, Satan became a proper name for one sometimes thought to be a fallen angel who had rebelled against God, and who continued to resist God’s will in the present age by attempting to lure human beings into sin. By New Testament times we can find a significant Greek influence on the understanding of evil. St. Paul uses language of cosmic scale to describe sin, death, and the devil. For Paul these are forces, or fates, at work to undermine God’s order. Read the remainder of this entry »

For many of us, our New Years resolutions seem to resemble carbon dating – where we can establish the date of our resolution by how many “half lives” it has had. Here are some examples:

2003: I will read at least 10 books a year.
2004: I will read 5 books a year.
2005: I will finish Portals of Prayer in 2006
2006: I will read some articles in the newspaper this year.
2007: I will read at least one article this year.
2008: I will try and finish the comics section this year.

Or for those of you who are constantly worrying about your weight:

2004: I will follow my new diet religiously until I get below 200.
2005: I will try to develop a realistic attitude about my weight.
2006: I will work out 5 days a week.
2007: I will work out 3 days a week.
2008: I will try to drive past a gym at least once a week.

Or for those of you with money issues:

2002: I will not spend my money frivolously.
2003: I will pay off my bank loan promptly.
2004: I will pay off my bank loans promptly.
2005: I will begin making a strong effort to be out of debt by 2006.
2006: I will be totally out of debt by 2007.
2007: I will try to pay off the debt interest by 2008.
2008: I will try to be out of the country by 2009.
(thanks to the folks at sermon central for this)

It is so easy to fail in life. We make new year’s resolutions because we know there are lots of places where we should improve. But keeping those resolutions is hard. It takes a lot of work to keep up with bills, rear kids properly, and have a secure job. And it seems to get harder every day. Time was that people felt secure that Kodak Park would be running full swing until Jesus returned. Their biggest fear was that when Jesus did return, if he wanted to take any pictures he’d have to buy a Japanese camera - and then, horror of horrors, he might even buy Fuji film! Read the remainder of this entry »

Have you ever heard the phrase, “God does not call the qualified. God qualifies the called”? It seems very fitting for our gospel reading today. Who are these fishermen? Why call them? They have no evangelism skills. No public speaking skills. They probably had little in the way of formal education. They didn’t have political connections. They knew how to fish; not evangelize. And yet God does not call the qualified. God qualifies the called.

This is a big and important lesson for us to always remember. I believe God calls on us to do lots of things all the time and we turn him down. Are we afraid? No. We just think we’re unqualified and so therefore God can’t mean us.

But look at what the disciples do. The road isn’t easy. They fail more than plenty of time. If anything, during the time they’re with Jesus they prove themselves to be most unqualified. And yet, with God’s inspiration they go on to be the founders of the biggest organization the world has ever seen. This sort of thing is not unique to New Testament times. It happens all the time in big ways and small ways.

It has become a big thing in our world today to match people to their skills. We have job skills inventories for our kids to take while they are in school. We seek to identify what they are good at and then train them for it. And we tend to shun them away from their weaknesses.

Some churches use spiritual gifts inventories; the same sort of thing. These inventories are to help put people into activities they are the most gifted to do. There is nothing wrong with these things; especially when they are being used to raise up gifts a person didn’t know he or she had. But these things can also be counterproductive. People can say, “I won’t make a good Sunday School teacher because I don’t have the gifts to do it.”

The Peter, James, and John could have certainly said, “We’re not gifted to do what you’re asking. We’re good at fishing. Try someone else.” Read the remainder of this entry »

Can you identify where this corporate slogan is from: “Good Life. New Life. Your Life.”? It’s from Eastview Mall. We’re going to use this slogan to better understand what is happening in the baptism of Jesus that we read in our gospel lesson.

In case you miss the spiritual overtones the operators of Eastview want you to have when you read, “Good Life. New Life. Your Life.” they also say, “Eastview: A Higher Form of Shopping.” Behind all of this is the assumption that Eastview’s target audience must believe that there is something wrong with their old life. If it was good you wouldn’t be interested in fixing it. And, somehow your wrong old life must not be your own. Or at least, the ‘wrong old’ is not your fault. It must be someone else’s. However, they have the answers. They can give you something good, new, and your own. Actually no - they can empower you to goodness and newness and control.

Eastview’s slogan isn’t really aimed at selling merchandise. It is aimed at creating a feeling of empowerment and control. It is this feeling of empowerment and control that sells merchandise.

Let’s look at the good life, the new life, and your life in our gospel reading. We see good life in the final verse, verse 17: “A voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’”

Truly good life comes from being loved by God. When you are loved by God, and you know you are, you find comfort and hope. Nothing can ever take you away from that. You live securely. This isn’t a security based on your own power, or on the power of a military. It is a security based solely on God’s grace.

Henri Nowen in his book Bread for the Journey writes: Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove that you are a good person.” Another voice says, “You’d better be ashamed of yourself.” There is also a voice that says, “Nobody really cares about you,” and one that says, “Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.” But underneath all these often noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, “You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.” THat’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice however requires a special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen. That’s what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us “my Beloved.” Read the remainder of this entry »

What do you do to keep a sense of perspective on life? Sometimes you have to step back and take a good look at the big picture of your life so that you can see where your headed. I’m reminded of the old story of the three blind men who were allowed to examine an elephant and then describe it. One blind man came across the elephant’s trunk. He said, “Ah, an elephant is like a snake – long and limber.” The second man felt the elephant’s leg. He said, “No, an elephant is like a tree trunk – stout, round, rough and strong.” The third blind man encountered the tail. “An elephant is really like a whip – fast and swishy.” Of course none of the men were right. They saw only part and in so doing completely missed the real nature of an elephant.

Life is the same way. It is easy to get caught up in daily routines. Kids have school, academic demands, social pressures, homework and often a host of sports and extra-curricular activities. Parents have jobs and houses and kids and kids’ activities plus bills, cleaning and maybe even the care of their own parents. Senior citizens have doctors, medicines, limited income and maybe children, a spouse and grandchildren to take care of.

When you wake up in the morning what are you likely to be thinking of? The bills you have to pay, the errands you have to run, the medical diagnosis you’re dreading to hear, etc. All these burdens of living in supposed prosperity press in on you hard. It is hard to step away and get a broader perspective. What do you do in order to keep a sense of perspective?

In our gospel reading Jesus reminds us that all is not as it seems. Those whose perspective is limited to their daily tasks are missing the real picture. Life is not as it seems. Richness and prosperity is not true richness and prosperity. Being accepted and well liked by others is not the same as being accepted and well liked by God. The things that you consider important are not really important.

Many people are very short sighted. They can only see to the near term future. They can’t seem to look far ahead. The recent problems with sub-prime mortgages is proof of that. Even the best, most enlightened person cannot look very far to the future with much certainty. Read the remainder of this entry »

If you were a fan of the Seinfeld TV show you’ll remember the character of Kramer. Kramer was a bit of an odd duck (I guess that’s putting it mildly!) Kramer always had connections. If anyone ever needed anything Kramer said, “I know a guy…” and it was taken care of.

The connection point is always important. A light fixture might be grand and glorious but it isn’t much use if the connection point – the light switch works. Doors and walls are both great things but you don’t have a functional doorway without the connection point: hinges.

Today’s second lesson is about connection points. We see that in verse 25 where Paul uses the Greek word, “ilasthrion”. This word has a double meaning. Our English translation of verse 25 reads, “…Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood.” And a good Bible will include a footnote there that says, “Or, a place of atonement.” Atonement isn’t a common word but it is an easy word to define. Just take it apart: at-one-ment. In our verse it means Jesus is both the sacrifice for and the place for at-one-ment with God.

When Paul wrote this he had a very specific place, a connection point, in mind – the Ark of the Covenant which used to sit in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

You may remember the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. That ark is of course the Ark of the Covenant. The movie portrays the ark as an immensely powerful object. Actually the movie does not portray it as powerful enough. According to Jewish scripture the ark was the dwelling place of God. It was the connection point between the Almighty God of creation, the all powerful, all knowing, all present God of the universe and weak and frail humanity. The top of the ark was called the Mercy Seat. And in that place the pure presence of God was said to dwell. No one unclean could touch the ark, not even to protect it. According to 2 Samuel 6:7 a guy by the name of Uzzah is killed instantly when he so much as touches the ark to protect it from falling. Again, Raiders of the Lost Ark fans will recognize that Indiana Jones, the hero of the story, never touches the ark. Those who do touch it die it graphic fashion only Hollywood can imagine. Read the remainder of this entry »

There is a very old story about a little boy who was praying, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” Then there was a long pause. He couldn’t remember what came next. His mother sought to prompt him from the doorway. “If,” she said quietly. The little boy prayed, “If… if…” Then he brightened up and said triumphantly, “If he hollers let him go, eeny, meeny, miny, mo!”

Not quite an appropriate prayer by many standards. When we think of an appropriate prayer we may imagine the classic paintings of praying hands. Or we may remember the picture of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. In the mid to late 1800’s that was the painting to hang over the altar in front of a church. Jesus is pictured kneeling, elbows on a large rock, his face turned up to heaven. The disciples are a little blurry some ways off and falling asleep. In the background is Jerusalem. You may also think of the ubiquitous picture of the old bearded may quietly praying at his rough table over a loaf of bread. These are our images of “proper” prayer – devoted, serene, simple, pure, and good.

Many of us were taught to pray with a certain dignity. Whether by tacit example or by explicit instruction, it became clear the posture, the tone, the highly proper language, the reserve, and proper reverence of prayer.

There is certainly absolutely nothing wrong with these ideas of prayer. But we can’t forget that into the midst of that propriety comes Jesus with the parable that we read for our gospel lesson. There Jesus paints a different and almost unsettling picture of prayer. Not staid, pure, and perfect. It is a woman who won’t take no for an answer.

Perhaps her first appearance before this notorious judge was marked by the kind of decorum and formality that we would expect in a court of law – and also in our prayers to our God, the supreme and ultimate judge. Perhaps the first time she appealed her case to him she did so with a posture and tone that would make her a conventional model for prayer. But by the end she is no portrait of quietness and reserve. Quite the contrary. She has become a conspicuous pest.

Beside the pictures of the old man praying and Jesus in Gethsemane we also need to have a picture of this woman: knocking at the door, calling out, pressing her face against the windows, refusing to go away. Picture a wiry elderly woman cornering a strapping and powerful man in a corner and threatening to injure him unless he gives her justice – for that is a proper translation of verse 5. Even our Bible translators soften this text about prayer when they say, “I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” No; it’s more accurately translated, “I will grant her justice so that she may not finally come and slap me in the face.” This woman has cast all propriety – and legality – aside. She is going to get the justice she deserves. Read the remainder of this entry »

A shepherd was looking after his sheep one day on the side of a deserted road, when suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt.
The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Rockport shoes, Oakleys sunglasses, Rolex watch, and a Versace tie, gets out and asks the shepherd:
“If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?”
The shepherd looks at the young man, and then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies:”Okay.”
The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to his mobile, enters a NASA Webster, scans the ground using his GPS,
opens a database with 60 Excel tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, and then prints out a 150-page report on his
high-tech mini-printer. He turns to the shepherd and says, “You have exactly 1,586 sheep here.”
Rather surprised the shepherd replies, “That’s correct, you can have your sheep.”
The young man takes an animal and puts it in the back of his Porsche.
Just as the man is about to drive off, the shepherd asks him:

“If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?”
The young man answers, “Yes, why not?”
The shepherd says, “You are an IT consultant.”
“How did you know?” asks the young man.
“Very simple,” answers the shepherd.
“Firstly, you came here without being called. Secondly, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and thirdly, you don’t understand anything about my business.
(PAUSE) Now please can I have my dog back?”

This little story makes me think of the way our gospel lesson is often interpreted. This passage is often used to teach about being thankful and about inclusivity towards people who are different from yourself. It is, after all, only the Samaritan, who would be a despised foreigner to the Jews, who returns to Jesus to give thanks. But to think this passage is to teaching inclusivity is to state the obvious and miss the point. Let’s not grab the dog and confuse it for a sheep.

To often I experience our culture’s drive for inclusivity, equal opportunity and political correctness as ends unto themselves. Accomplishing these things allows their proponents to pat themselves on the back and enjoy great hug-fests with each other – but has anything really changed? You might remember the recent trial in Louisiana regarding racial equality. If that has revealed nothing else it is that while people will tow the line of being accepting and politically correct in public the real prejudices remain. Read the remainder of this entry »

Christopher Columbus is sometimes described as the world’s first modern politician. He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t know where he was when he got there. And he did it all on someone else’s money!

Yes, we like to hate our politicians. They certainly break plenty of promises. Or did they really make the promise in the first place? Consider this campaign speech from the 1950 senatorial primary campaign in Florida. The race was between Claude Pepper and George Smathers. The facts are that Pepper was a Harvard Law School graduate. He had a niece who was a staff member of a Senate subcommittee. And he had a sister who was an actress in New York. Using these facts, Smathers developed this speech:

Are you aware, my friends, that in his youth Claude Pepper was found matriculating in Harvard, that before marriage he habitually indulged in celibacy? Not only that, he was practicing nepotism in Washington with his own niece; and he has a sister who is a thespian in wicked Greenwich Village. Worst of all, my friends, Claude Pepper is known all over Washington for his latent tendency toward overt extraversion!”

All of what he said was factually true and technically complimentary. But what impression does it leave?

When we read our second lesson from 1 Timothy 2 and find it written, “First of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” That may send us for a loop. Power and corruption go hand in hand. It’s a basic part of human nature. How are we to make thanksgivings and prayers of supplication for those in authority?

To make the message of 1 Timothy even tougher, remember that it is written to people who are actively being oppressed for their faith. This wouldn’t be all that different than asking a German Jew in World War II to make prayers and supplications for the Nazis. You couldn’t debate whether the government was wrong or not. There was no debate. It was obviously evil. Yet, make prayers and supplications for your leaders. Read the remainder of this entry »