callowsermons

[callowsermons]

Trinity Sunday

The Trinity lies at the heart of our faith. When we say the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are not doing a brain teaser. The doctrine of God’s oneness and three-ness is not some problem a bunch of men with too much time on their hands thought up. It is a doctrine that gets to the core of the biblical story, a doctrine hard fought and hard won over centuries. The Triune God, the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the God of the Bible. The Triune God is the God who reveals himself, the God who calls out to us, and the God who sends us.

The God who reveals himself to us calls us to go out and make disciples of others. 

One of the smartest people who ever lived was Aristotle, a greek philosopher. I’m pretty sure he thought he was the smartest person who ever lived. He wrote on any topic under the sun, and his writings have influenced the course of western civilization. He also wrote about God, and those writings have been strongly influential on Christianity. You have to be either for or against Aristotle, that’s how important he became. 

Aristotle didn’t have the benefit of revelation. He was born almost four centuries before Jesus. He doesn’t seem to have had any knowledge of Judaism, let alone their scriptures. Aristotle comes to a belief in God through reason alone. But his God is very odd to Christian ears, almost unrecognizable. Aristotle’s God is one and absolutely perfect. His God does not change. His God doesn’t have any emotions. Aristotle’s God is completely tranquil. Aristotle argues that God, being perfect, engages in the most perfect form of activity. Contemplation. And God will only contemplate the most perfect thing in the universe. Which is God. 

So Aristotle’s God eternally contemplates God. And through that contemplation God creates. But Aristotle’s God cannot love anything but himself. Aristotle’s God does not involve himself in the world outside of creation. And, again, that creation is a product of his own contemplation. 

In the end God, for Aristotle, is a function in a philosophical system. But other than that God has very little to do with our lives. Though we too might contemplate God and be happy. His God would become a model for other greek and roman philosophers, who also believed God sits in self-contemplation, and we’d be happy if we contemplated God too.

Aristotle’s God is very different than the God revealed in the Bible. Very different than the God revealed in Christ. The God of the Bible declares creation good, and greatly cares for creation. The God of the Bible involves himself in human affairs, calling Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of the Bible hears the groaning of the hebrews in Egypt and sends Moses to deliver them. The God of the Bible will even burn with anger against those who harm his people, and will call his prophets to speak his word. Finally, the God of the Bible comes to us in Jesus Christ. He shows his love for the world on the cross. He delivers us from sin. He comes to us in the Holy Spirit to equip us, vivify us, and to point us to Christ.

The God of the Bible does not sit in endless self-contemplation, blissfully absorbed in himself. No, he is intimately related with Israel, the Church, and the world. We know his character because we know Jesus, who healed the sick and taught all who had ears to hear. But more importantly, we know the Jesus who emptied himself taking the form of a slave. Who became human. Who reaches out to us. Who beckons us. That we may know “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.”

Our Gospel reading is the Great Commission from Matthew 28. Jesus tells his disciples that he has all authority. It is on account of that authority that has been given to him that he tells them to go and make disciples. As Jesus called the disciples to follow him, so he tells the disciples to go and call others to follow him. He tells them to make disciples in two ways. First, by baptizing them in the name of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Triune God who reaches out to us, who calls us, who showers us with grace, and invites us into communion, into his family, into his life. 

Then, secondly, he says to teach them. Teach them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. Teach love. Teach obedience. Teach hope. Teach patience. Teach humility. Teach peace. In other words, teach holiness. Teach what it means to live as a holy people who have been made children of God.

The Trinity is an important doctrine that gets to the heart of the gospel because the Trinity reminds us that God is a god of mission. We know God’s triune nature because God has revealed himself to us in this way. He is not the single, alone, standoffish God blissing out on himself. No. He is the God who makes himself known. Who comes to meet us. Who loves us. Who beckons us. And sends us out. 

Because God will not stop until all who have been stamped in his image come home. We are his. And he is love.

Questions for Reflection

What is most off-putting about Aristotle’s God?

What is most wonderful about the God of the Bible?

What does Jesus tell you about God?

How can we witness to God’s love?

[callowsermons]

Pentecost

I don’t have much longer serving up here in Newberry and Engadine. By the end of next month I will be downstate, serving a different Church, in a new community, finding my way. Moving during this time of social distancing has given me a lot of time to reminisce. I think about the good times, the bad, my own mistakes. I think about the generosity I’ve received. A good deal of love, and a good deal of grace. I’ve thought of the baptisms, the marriages, and the burials. I think of how far we’ve gone, how much more is yet to come.

There are things that can only be learned in ministry. Things that cannot possibly be passed on in a classroom setting. As I reminisce I think the most important thing I learned was the priority of faithfulness. There’s a temptation to pastors, especially, but for all Christian people, to think the fate of the Church rests on our shoulders. There is a temptation to think we are that most important piece that without our knowledge, or mastery, or activity the whole thing will fall apart. As if the Church were ours. As if this was all a merely human endeavor.

Truth be told, the Church is not ours in the final instance. The head of the Church is not the pastor, or the lay leader, or the DS, or the Bishop. It’s not General Conference, either. The head of the Church is Christ. And as we have heard this morning, it is Christ who has poured his Spirit out on us. A Spirit that vivifies, a Spirit that equips, and a Spirit that witnesses to Christ’s reign. It is the Spirit, and the Spirit’s actions, that set us apart. It is by the Spirit’s work that we know “success” in whatever form that success might take. It is by faithfulness to the Spirit that we might show fruit.

I want to take each working of the Spirit in turn. That is, I want to talk about how the Spirit vivifies, equips, and witnesses.

In the first place, the Spirit vivifies. Pentecost is called the birthday of the Church because it was on Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on the Church. Before Pentecost the apostles were hiding in a room. They had met the risen Christ, they had received his teachings, they had watched him ascend into heaven. But they remained confused. They did not know what they were meant to do. They were still afraid. And so they waited. But the Spirit came down like fire from heaven, and the apostles were granted the ability to speak in all the tongues of the earth, that the Gospel might be preached to every people under heaven.

The Spirit that was on Christ, was now on the Apostles. That Spirit that called Christ into the wilderness, that Spirit by which he prayed, by which he taught, by which he healed, by which he cast out demons, by which he comforted, and by which was is raised is now poured out on the Apostles that they may be driven, that they may pray, that they may teach, that they may heal, that they may cast out demons, that they may comfort, and that they may make known to everyone on earth that Christ has victory over the grave. This is what it means for the Spirit to vivify. God’s Spirit gives us life.

We know this. When people talk about the warmth they feel in our friendships they are talking about that vivifying Spirit. When we feel especially convicted or touched in worship we know that vivifying Spirit. When people are called to generosity, when things fall into place, that is the vivifying Spirit. The Spirit was among us, I think it’s safe and in no way blasphemous to say, when we were able to acquire the Audrey Dunlap Ministry Center. That was not our plan. We had written the building off before, honestly. But God had different plans. The Spirit has his own calling. God gives life to our work, and makes us do more than we could do on our own. 

Secondly, the Spirit equips. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, God gives the Church all the gifts we need to go about the Kingdom’s work. If God puts something on or hearts, we will have the gifts to accomplish it. I have had many a lay leadership committee meeting, you know, nominations, where I and others had to wonder who might step up. But in time I learned to trust the Spirit. The Spirit still talks to everyone, and still calls people to serve. And if God has called you to serve, the Spirit equips. 

Our reading from 1 Corinthians this morning talks about the Spirit’s equipping. We are all given diverse gifts for the common good, for the upbuilding up the body of Christ. To some is given teaching, to some prophecy, to others generosity, and so on. What gifts might you have? What call might God be placing on your heart? The Spirit is alive and active, vivifying the Church, bestowing gifts for God’s glory.

Finally, the Spirit witnesses. The Holy Spirit always points to Jesus, and always glorifies God. Everything the Spirit does in vivifying and equipping the Church is for the purpose of making Jesus known. As the Spirit was poured out on Peter and so Peter preaches the death and resurrection and reign of Jesus Christ, so too when the Spirit is alive among us people ought to see Jesus. In our love, in our forgiveness, in our friendship, in our prayers people should see Jesus in our midst. The Spirit is not self-aggrandizing. The Spirit is faithful, and calls us to faithfulness.

So the Holy Sprit vivifies and equips the Church that we may witness to Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit’s work that holds the Church up. All does not depend on us, it depends on the Spirit working through us and among us. And that is why I will miss this place, will miss all of you, and look forward to what the future holds for this charge and this cooperative parish. The Spirit is active if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. And attention to the Spirit and the Spirit’s promptings will give you hope.

Questions for Reflection

Where have you seen the Spirit working?

What Spiritual Gifts do you see in others? What do others say they see in you?

What difference does the Spirit make?

What difference does the Church make in your life?

[callowsermons]

Ascension

One of the things I like to read for fun are conspiracy theories. I promise I am not a conspiracy theorist myself (but who would admit to that anyway?). I’m just fascinated by the stories people believe. One of the books in my library is None Dare Call It a Conspiracy, which explains how international capitalism and international communism are controlled by the same international bankers who want to impose such evils as an income tax and the Federal Reserve. Another example is David Icke, a former soccer player and BBC sports commentator who had an episode where he was convinced he was the Son of God. Icke went on to devise an elaborate conspiracy wherein inter-dimensional aliens are controlling us via vibrations being projected from Saturn through the Moon. Our jailers are reptilian aliens who count the Bush’s, the House of Windsor, and Kris Kristofferson in their company. Alex Jones’ conspiracy turns out to not be much different, just switch out the aliens with inter-dimensional psychic vampires and literal potbellied goblins, and replace the reptilians with elites doped up on psychadelics. 

When you lay out the elements of a conspiracy theory straightforwardly they almost always sound absurd on their face. Of course the earth isn’t flat, of course the moon landing happened, of course the Nazis didn’t survive on a base in Antarctica where they developed anti-gravity travel and now have a base on Mars. But despite the absurdity these conspiracies are attractive for two reasons. 

The first reason people find these attractive is it puts them in the know. If I believe in a conspiracy, I know something you don’t. I know the secret. I know what really makes the world tick. It’s the Illuminati. It’s the Trilateral Commission. It’s the Jesuits, the deep state, and so on and so on. It’s the same principle that makes gossiping so common, or why so many people try to get into the inner circle. We want to think we know, that we have the in, that we understand what others don’t. And, well, it’s special. The other thing about conspiracy theories is they do sometimes hinge on facts that go unreported. So there really is some kernel of knowledge only the intrepid researcher discovered. But the facts are extrapolated into absurdity.

The second reason people find conspiracy theories attractive is they beat the alternative. We can all agree things are not the best they could be. War is a constant reality, economic inequality is worsening, a pandemic sweeps the globe. Either our leaders are not up to the task, or they are in control and all this serves some grand plan. Conspiracy theories tell you someone is in control. There is a head to the beast, and the beast can be identified and defeated. But if no one is in control, if the beast has no head, that’s a far thornier problem. If Bill Gates is the face of a global elite conspiracy to depopulate the earth something might be done about it, and at least we are in capable if evil hands. If Bill Gates isn’t the face of a global elite conspiracy, if the coronavirus is beyond our leaders control, that’s a troubling reality to face. 

Today we celebrate the Ascension, which tells us two things about the universe that should strike at the core of any conspiracy theory. The first is that Christ is in control. The second is that Christ is our brother. Christ is in control, and Christ rules on our behalf. The Ascension is not Jesus’ disappearance, or his extended cosmic vacation. It’s not that Jesus has left us until his return. The Ascension is Jesus taking the reins of power. It is Jesus assuming control of the world. It is Jesus reigning until he must put all enemies under his feet, the last enemy to be destroyed being death.

Too often we Christians have put the Ascension aside not quite knowing what we are supposed to do with it. Jesus ascends into the sky? But the Ascension is of a piece with the Incarnation and of a piece with the Resurrection. The Ascension is part of God’s rescue mission, of uniting himself to humanity and overcoming sin and death. By the Ascension we know that God is in control, that chaos does not reign, that all things work together for the glory of God and the good of God’s people.

Right now we are going through a time where it may seem like no one is in control. Unless, of course, you listen to the conspiracy theorists who may want us to believe the coronavirus is all part of a dastardly plot to create a one world government, or depopulate the earth, or a communist conspiracy to defeat the west, or what have you. But from our human perspective, our limited modern perspective, the coronavirus was not supposed to happen. We were supposed to avoid it. We made errors. Our leaders were incompetent. And suffering ensues.

On Ascension we assert even in the midst of such pain and loss and error that God is in control. This virus is not stronger than God. God is not limited by our mistakes. Death has no sting. But God will bring his Church through this time, and God can even make good out of this tragedy. 

On Ascension we can assert this is not a time for despair. We need not despair at our human inabilities. We need not despair at our own tiredness or weakness. We need not despair at the enormity of what is before us. We need not despair because Christ our brother is in control. He loves us. And that is the end of the matter.

So let us not give into despair. Let us not feed our own paranoia. Christ frees us from fear. He faced death on the cross and won for us the victory. He is the one who reigns. 

You know what, maybe I was wrong to say I’m not a conspiracy theorist. There is one conspiracy I do believe in. That is the Church, which is led by her Lord. And the conspiracy of the Kingdom, which is both here and not yet. And all things work for the good of those in Christ, in the end.

Christ reigns. He is coming again. He has put all things under his feet. Alleluia. 

Questions for Reflection

What are some conspiracy theories you’ve heard?

Does it give you comfort to know God is in control?

Have you had an experience when you knew God was in control?

The Ascension should give us hope. How might we practice that hope?

[callowsermons]

So What? Mars Hill

Paul’s missionary travels take him to Athens, a city with a great history. Athens today is probably best known as a hotbed of philosophy. Socrates was from Athens, so was Plato. Aristotle moved there to learn from Plato and set up his own school. Stoics and Epicureans both, two major schools of thought in Paul’s time, could trace themselves back to that city. But Athens was also known as the city that put Socrates to death. Socrates would often lament Athenian democracy which seemed to him to be little more than mob rule at times. Athens in Socrates’ time had grown to be a great empire that covered the Mediterranean. By the time he was put to death they had lost their empire because of outsized ambition and lust for power.

So there’s a lot of connotations attached to Athens that Luke’s first readers may have had. Like how when you hear “New York City” you think of large slices of pizza and the Rockettes. Or if you hear Detroit you think of the Red Wings and cars. Athens was known for being the home of philosophy, the lust for power, the outsized wealth, the demagogues, or the history of mob rule. When Paul arrives in Athens he notices the idols.

Luke tells us, “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” Idols are statues or other figures that are dedicated to a God. The figure was thought to be so attached to the God as to be their actual presence. The Jewish prophets were vehement in denouncing idols. Isaiah said, “All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit him nothing?” The Psalmist says, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths but they cannot speak, eyes but they cannot see; they have ears but they cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” Idols are without power, they cannot save. To put trust in idols is foolishness and ignorance. The prophets of Israel called the people back to the worship of the living God, who cannot be cast into an image.

Athens is full of idols. This greatly distresses Paul because the idols crowd out the worship of the one true God. And while idols are mute, dumb, and blind, there was also a sense among Jews that idols can provoke the worst aspects of our nature. Paul would go on to argue in Romans, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking becomes futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise they became fools.” Idolatry lies at the heart of Athens’ sins, as it lies at the heart of our sinfulness as well.

John Calvin once famously said that the human heart is an idol making factory. We are made for worship. It is so deeply wired into us that if we do not worship the one true God we will worship something. Or, as Bob Dylan once sang, “you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” We can worship the living God who brings the dead to life, or we can worship dumb idols that are only mirrors for our own sinfulness. 

Idols abound today as they did in Athens. Sure we don’t worship Diana or Athena or Dionysus, or Apollo. But we may worship what they represented for the Greeks. Take Dionysus, who was the God of revelry, wine, chaos, and ecstasy. While hardly anyone would pour a libation to Dionysus today, or write tragedies in his honor, there are still people who live for wine or other alcoholic drinks. People ensnared by the spirits of spirits, who refuse to break free. Athena was the goddess of war. War can become an idol, as it did for the Athenians. We know they did not go to war to defend themselves. They went to war to profit themselves. And nations from time to time have done that throughout history. They make war their god, and millions die.

Other modern idols are money, work, status, education, the list can go on. These things are put at the center of our lives. We are willing to sacrifice everything for them. And so they become as idols for us.

I think Paul would be just as distressed to walk through the modern streets of New York City or Tokyo and see idolatry on display. He would probably be more sensitive to it than we are, sadly.

Paul is rounded up by some philosophers and given a chance to explain himself before the Athenian assembly. It is there that Paul gives his famous speech on Mars Hill. He starts with all the idols he noticed. “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: To an Unknown God. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” He then explains that the unknown God created all things, that he is more like us than any idol, and that he raised Jesus from the dead.

There is something important here for us to grasp today. Like I said we are like Athens in that we are overcome with idols. And as I said we are idol making machines. If we do not worship the almighty God we will find something else to proclaim as almighty and worship that. But Paul in his speech to the pagan philosophers reveals something else. That means we have an inborn sense. All people desire God. All people desire to worship. And all people are looking for the joy and peace and satisfaction that comes from Christ.

It is because Paul has that confidence that he even bothers to speak to the Athenians. They don’t know about Israel, they don’t know the Law or the Covenants. They have never read the prophets. What basis does Paul have to go on? But he can go on the fact that all desire to know God, and God desires to make himself known. That God has made himself known in Christ, so that all might know him. More powerful than any idolatry is the living God, and the grace in Christ that draws us to him.

So let us turn aside from idolatry, and cling to the living God. It is for him we are made. It is in him we may find true satisfaction. It is him alone who brings life.

Questions for Reflection

How can we identify idols?

What are some idols you can name?

How has God make himself known in your life?

What can’t idols do?

[callowsermons]

So What- Imitation

We are made to imitate others. Imitation is something that’s built into our brains. I’m sure we’ve all seen friends who can finish each others sentences. Or, we may have those friends. I know I have all sorts of tics and ways of speaking I picked up subconsciously imitating friends. And I’m sure we’ve all that that experience where we said something and went “oh no I sound just like my father.” Or “oh no I sound just like my mother.” There’s truth to the Progressive commercial with the horror theme where the husband is becoming his father. We learn, often times, through imitation.

Our propensity to learn through imitation is why we pick heroes. We need heroes to have someone to look up to, to model ourselves after, to hopefully become. You don’t have to tell a child they need a hero. They pick up heroes instinctively. My household was a Packer household, and Reggie White became my hero. While I think I liked Brett Favre more, White had a more powerful story, and I wanted to emulate his strength, courage, and life in Christ. I’m sure we can all think of heroes we had in our lives, whether in sports, family, politics, business, Church, or wherever. 

Paul says “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Stephen’s story is recounted this morning that we may see how he sought to imitate his hero Jesus, and how we may imitate him. Stephen was the first martyr. Martyr is a greek word meaning witness. We say that those who died for Christ are witnesses, because they imitate Jesus in his death. Stephen shows us how to be faithful even to death.

Stephen is one of the Seven, chosen along side the Twelve to “wait on tables.” In other words, he was chosen to care for the poor in the Church. In Acts 6 we hear the first grumblings of dissension among the Church in Jerusalem. There are Jews from greek lands, and Jews from Judea in the Church. The Jews from greek lands complain that their widows are being overlooked when food is being distributed among the poor of the Church. The Twelve, that is to say, the Apostles who lived with Jesus, admit that the administration of the Church has grown to be too big a job for them. They would prefer to focus on prayer and the ministry of the word, rather than serve the poor. So they select seven Jews from greek lands, Stephen among them, to perform this task. Stephen, we are told, was “a man full of God’s grace and power” and that he “did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.”

Stephen imitates Jesus in his ministry, performing wondrous acts of healing and mercy and being full of grace and the power of God. Imitating Jesus in his ministry, Stephen comes to imitate Jesus in his death. We are told members of the synagogue conspired to have him put to death, spreading rumors that Stephen has blasphemed both Moses and God. So he is seized and brought before the Sanhedrin, where he is confronted with false witnesses. But Stephen, unlike Jesus, speaks. He gives a long speech that lasts over fifty verses recounting the history of the Jewish people, and how they (like we) have been stubborn in resisting God’s gracious work among them. 

Our reading this morning picks up at the end of the speech when Stephen has gotten the Sanhedrin riled up. As they prepare to stone him he looks up, filled with the Holy Spirit he has a vision, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” In the moment of his death he looks and sees Jesus enthroned. This also recalls Jesus’ own statement to the Sanhedrin, “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” But the assembly will not hear him, instead they drag him out to stone him. 

While he is being stoned by the people Stephan prays, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Again, this is also in imitation of his Lord and brother. Because when Jesus was on the cross he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And when Stephen had said this prayer, we are told, he fell asleep. That is to say, he died.

Stephen, the first martyr, witnesses to the death of Jesus by so closely imitating Jesus in his death. As Jesus was brought before the ruling council so is Stephen, as Jesus was falsely accused so is Stephen, as Jesus announced that he would be at the right hand of God in power, so Stephen witnesses that heavenly reality and is given comfort and hope in the midst of his affliction, and as Jesus submitted to death and forgave his persecutors, so did Stephen.

Stephen was able to endure martyrdom because he knew the Risen Lord. He was willing to empty himself as Jesus emptied himself, to be humble as Jesus was humble, because Jesus’ humility is vindicated in the resurrection. Stephen knows that the only way to live, is to walk the way of the cross. To live for others, to speak truthfully, to love faithfully, and to forgive. The Resurrection changes so much, because it highlights the way of love as the way of joy and peace.

We are also called to be witnesses not only in word but also in deed. We are called to speak the truth, even when it might get us in trouble. We are called to forgive even at great personal cost. We are called to be humble, and empty ourselves that God would use us. And we are called to be loving, to the point of death. 

We may not endure exactly what Stephen endured, in fact I think it’s unlikely. But that does not mean we are off the hook. We are called to imitate Christ. The Church is given to us that we may have heroes to imitate. Heroes like Stephen, heroes like Paul, heroes like John Wesley. And that we have friends that we might imitate, friends in this Church who would offer guidance and support in our walk with Christ. We are imitating beings, God made us that way. And God sent his son that we may imitate him. For in his death there is life, in humility there is power, in weakness there is grace.

Questions for Reflection

Who was your hero growing up?

What did you pick up from imitation?

How do we imitate Christ today?

How can you witness today?

[callowsermons]

So What: Church

I have seen churches do wonderful things. I knew one church that collected food for the needy. I walked into their narthex and they had piles and piles of food that they had collected, all free for anyone to take. And you know what? They never ran out. I’ve been to another church that operates a community garden to teach people how to grow food on their own land and foster racial reconciliation. And I’ve been to yet another that did the simple act of hosting regular breakfasts for those who experienced homelessness, just so they had food to eat and people to talk to. And that’s not to mention the wonderful things we do at God’s Country Cooperative Parish. We bring in Christians from all around to share the love of Christ by doing home repair folks up here couldn’t afford otherwise. 

Churches can do wonderful things, but I think the most wonderful thing about Church is what we are about at our core. Being made one body in Christ. When we get the essentials right, then beautiful things grow out of it. Acts, this morning, draws us to what Church is about at its core. It draws us to the essentials, if we get these essentials right God works through us to do amazing things.

Luke is deceptively simple in describing the Jerusalem Church. He says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Teaching. Fellowship. Breaking of Bread. Prayer. This is Church. Or, as our own Articles of Religion say, the church is, “a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ’s ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.” So what does this mean? Can we flesh this out?

First, Luke says, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. The Church is that place where we may devote ourselves to being taught. We are the community purchased by Christ’s blood, and we are called to a new way of life following Jesus’ teaching. More than that, we are the community formed by the Holy Spirit sent from the risen Lord. We are something very strange, and since we are very strange we need to be taught. The apostles taught the first Christians who Jesus is, what he taught, what he did, how he died, and what it means that he is risen. They taught the earliest Christians how they are to live together, and what it means to receive forgiveness and be saved. We all need to be taught, so that we may be equipped as Christ followers.

Second, Luke says they devoted themselves to fellowship. Here we are getting closer to the meat of the matter. The word Luke uses to say “fellowship” is the same word that is often translated as “communion.” They devoted themselves to their communion, you might say. Or, perhaps the best way to put it is that fellowship leads to communion. They befriended one another, heard one another’s stories, joked with one another, laughed with one another, learned from one another. The Church was brought together as one. Luke then breaks down two specific ways they experienced this communion with one another.

Thirdly, Luke says, they devoted themselves to the Breaking of Bread. They ate together. Jesus is often shown eating in the gospels, and with a motley crew. Sometimes he is eating with pharisees, other times he’s eating with tax collectors. Sometimes gentiles barge in, other times the meal is interrupted by a sex worker. You never know what might happen when Jesus comes to dinner. The Church met at dinner, because when they ate together they thought they were closer to the risen Lord. This is why many people suspect “breaking of bread” is another way to say the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist. This meal says so much about who we are as a Church. It tells us about God’s abundant grace that feeds everyone, about our love for one another, and about our being made as one as we gather around one table. This is a community that was close, that leaned on each other both for emotional support, spiritual support, and financial support. Quite literally they relied on each other for food.

Fourthly, Luke says, they devoted themselves to the prayers. The Church is a praying community. The Spirit that has been poured out on us calls us to pray. We can pray because Jesus taught us how to pray, and Jesus has given us the Spirit that intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. The community that is in communion, that eats together, prays together. In that prayer we give thanks to God, and intercede for the world.

So there are the four things Luke says the first Church was. It was a community of teaching, of fellowship, of breaking of bread, and of prayer. This is what we are at our core. More than our programming, our missions, our books of discipline, or our music, we are the gathered community that learns, prays, eats, and is united by Christ. We are first, and foremost, a body. A communion. A fellowship. 

When we pray together, learn together, and lift each other up, bearing one another’s burdens, so much grows out of it. Luke says “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” The Church had brought people together from all over the known world through a common confession in Christ. Through the power of their prayer and fellowship amazing things happened. 

Right now I imagine many of us feel the yearning for that communion. We know deep down that is what we are about because we know the spiritual and emotional suffering of being apart. The Spirit may bind us, but we yearn for one another. That is good, because it is a sign of the Spirit’s work in our midst. Let’s offer that up in prayer, that when we come together God may continue to work through us and bless us because of our communion, our fellowship, and our prayers.

Questions for Reflection

What is your favorite part of Church?

Why do you need fellowship?

What unites us?

What do you want most out of Church?

[callowsermons]

So What? Repent

When I went to public school there was a great deal of bullying going on and, in my experience, it was a toxic place for everyone. I’m sure teachers and administrators would find themselves at wits end. I found myself, generally, at the bottom of the ladder. I was most likely to be bullied. I was a little awkward, not every athletic, had an early growth spurt, and did well academically, which wasn’t the best combination. There was another boy who was also bullied, and we had a strange relationship. At first, we were friendly, but before long we were trading each other off to bullies. If I was targeted he’d goad them on, and if he was targeted I’d goad them on. My recollection is really bad about this time in my life, but I think it was around the fourth grade.

One day a group of kids attacked this other kid right off the school property. I don’t recall what led to it, but I do remember that I was there and decided to cheer them on. The next day a police officer came to the school to scare some sense into us. At first I didn’t think I did anything wrong, did I touch him? But I came to realize I had done wrong. I don’t remember if I apologized, but I do know I stopped playing that game. There were real consequences, it was really hurtful, and it wasn’t worth it.

I say that the environment at the school was toxic, but our world is toxic. We have all seen or experienced bullying, fighting, backbiting, gossiping, and worse. We have all seen how difficult it can be to figure out “who started it,” or who is a victim. We perpetuate a toxic cycle of sin, making any simple or easy solution impossible. 

Jesus is born into this toxic cycle of aggrievement and recrimination. Yet he is not part of it. Though he is in the toxic environment he is not of that toxic environment. He is love. That is why God accredits him with “miracles, wonders and signs.” And that is why he is put to death by wicked men. Jesus had to die because that’s the way the world is. It is vicious, abusive, and death dealing. It’s gonna get you killed. Jesus isn’t wise in the way the world would have us be wise, but he is wise in God’s wisdom. That meant he was forgiving and loving. And that meant he had no defenses against wicked men.

This morning we come to the conclusion of Peter’s first sermon. He says, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” When the people heard this, we are told, they were cut to the heart. They were cut to the heart because they had awaited this Lord and Messiah, and all participated in the guilt of murder. They yearned for the one who would free them from oppression, who would do to their enemies as had been done to them, but when he came they threw him under the bus. In other words, in raising Jesus and making him Lord, God vindicated Jesus and his way, and judged the world and its ways. They wanted revenge and recrimination. Jesus’ resurrection proved God judged revenge. 

Just imagine someone had offered you an all expenses paid vacation, and you missed it because you hadn’t sorted through your mail in time. That’s minor compared to this. Salvation had come to Israel, and they missed it because they were too busy being absorbed in their own fights. 

“Brothers, what shall we do?” The people gathered asked. Is there any hope for us? We who now stand convicted, we who participated in the death of Jesus! And do not think that you don’t stand similarly convicted. Don’t think that the same question does not belong on your own lips. We have all cheered on revenge and recrimination. We have all nursed our own grievances. We have all been full of wrath. We have all done those things that nailed Jesus to the cross. We, likely, would have missed him too, absent the grace of God.

What shall we do? They ask. We ask. Peter answers, “Repent, be baptized, be forgiven.” Let’s take them in turn.

First, repent. The world missed Jesus. The world put Jesus to death. We need to repent of the ways of the world, if we are to follow the vindicated one. Repentance means turning around. It means ceasing to go one way, but instead going another. We need to turn our whole lives around if we are going to follow Jesus. Instead of revenge we need forgiveness, instead of hating our enemies and doing bad for them, we need to learn to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us. Instead of an eye for an eye, we need to learn to give even more than is asked of us. Instead of giving seeking something in return for our generosity, we need to give expecting nothing in return, knowing that God is faithful and God is love.

Second, be baptized. Baptism is a gift from God. In Baptism we are claimed as God’s children, and we are made new. Peter says we are to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That is to say, he claims us for his own. We, who were at enmity with him, are now made his sister, his brother. In other words, Jesus is not looking for revenge. No, Jesus responds in grace.

Because finally, three, we are baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. Though crucifixion was the worst thing that could happen God used it for our salvation. Though in the cross humanity put themselves at enmity with God, that is to say we made ourselves God’s enemies, God forgives his enemies. In baptism we receive that loving grace of forgiveness when we are claimed as God’s own.

Repent. Be baptized. Be forgiven. This is the answer Peter gives to those who ask “what shall we do?” What does the resurrection mean for us? It means that God has vindicated Jesus, not Caesar. God has vindicated love not revenge. And if we want to get on the train, if we want to be part of what God’s doing, Jesus extends an open invitation. God calls us to follow him. God invites us to repent, take on baptism, and know we are forgiven. It is in this way that we are plucked out of this toxic environment the Bible calls “the world” and we are made part of what God is doing to change the world through Christ.

Questions for Reflection

What is a thorny relationship issue you need God’s help in?

How does God empower us to be peace makers?

How has repentance changed your life?

How have you changed as you’ve followed Jesus?

[callowsermons]

So What?: Witness

So what? I used to attend a bible study where, before we adjourned, one man would always ask “from what we’ve talked about today, what can I take with me and apply to my life?” In other words, what does any of this have to do with me, and why does it matter for me? It’s a question that makes a great lot of sense. As we grow up we learn all sorts of things that didn’t seem to make much of a difference in our lives, like that Beijing is capitol of China or the water cycle. But then again we also learned other things that were more relevant, like cursive and the water cycle. We all want to learn the things that matter, and we tend to retain the things that matter because we can apply them to our own lives.

Last week was Easter, and we talked about the most important event in all of human history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is an event bigger than D-Day, the end of the civil war, the French Revolution, July 4th, 1776, or any other historical event of consequence. It is the day our Lord Jesus, our brother Jesus, conquered the grave. It is the day he won victory over death. And it is the day that he met with his sisters and his brothers to share his victory. And he shares that victory with each and every one of us who follow him. That’s all well and good, one might say, but so what? What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Why does it matter? How, in other words, can I apply this in my daily living? How can it make a difference for me and for others?

The next few weeks we’ll be talking about the difference Christ makes, and we’ll talk about the calling God puts on our lives. We’re going to use the Book of Acts to help us. The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke, the same author of the Gospel. He meant the two to go together as two volumes. Volume one is the Gospel of Luke, all about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Volume two is Acts, which is all about the beginning and growth of the Church. Acts ends indefinitely with Paul in house arrest preaching to all who would visit. Luke ends the book this way to remind us that the story of the Apostles, the story of the Church, is our story. We are all part of the story Acts tells. And so what Luke tells us about the Church in Acts applies directly to us as well. 

We pick up this morning on Pentecost morning. The promised Holy Spirit has come down on the apostles gathered in the upper room, and has empowered them to preach Christ crucified and risen to all who had gathered in Jerusalem. The miracle is that as they preach everyone can hear them in their own languages, regardless of what language they speak. Some are amazed, others assume they’re drunk. Peter quells the commotion and begins to offer his own sermon, the first Christian sermon, about what has taken place. That is to say, he gives a sermon about Easter.

He says that Jesus was accredited to Israel by God as Messiah through his healings and signs, but wicked men had him crucified. God could not bear to leave Jesus to the grave, but instead vindicated him by raising him up on the third day. This was to fulfill what David had said “you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay.” This was not written about David, who is dead and buried, but it was about Jesus who is alive. He will never see corruption, he will never again taste the grave.

Of this, Peter says, we are all witnesses.

The first thing about the Resurrection that changes our life is that it makes us witnesses. We who have committed ourselves to Christ have been made witnesses of his resurrection. We are just as much witnesses of the resurrected Lord as Mary Magdalene, or Peter, or John, or even Doubting Thomas. They saw the empty tomb, and they saw Jesus in his resurrected flesh, but we too may experience the resurrected Lord. 

We experience the resurrected Lord in the reading of the scriptures, when we find ourselves comforted for convicted in ways that doesn’t come from any other book. We experience the resurrected Jesus when we pray, when we sing, when we hear the word proclaimed. We experience the resurrected Jesus in the gathering of the Church. That’s one reason we are in such pain right now. We dearly want that experience of gathering as the Body of Christ, and know that out of love for one another we can’t gather yet. We experience the resurrected Lord in our service to others, because we are told what we’ve done for the least of these we’ve done also for Jesus. 

Jesus is not dead and buried, and Jesus is not far away. Jesus did not fly off to heaven never to be seen again. But Jesus is with us in the here and now. We may experience him and know him. I have experienced the presence of Christ in the stillness of a summer afternoon, on my knees in prayer. I knew in that moment that Christ may as well have walked through that door into my room. I felt my life shattered, a shattering that comes through grace alone. And I knew I needed to trust him, and only him, and could not put my trust in anything else in my life. I have also experienced Jesus in the love of others, who cared for me at times I did not expect. Jesus is indeed alive and active. And even in social distancing we can know him, and witness to him.

We are witnesses of the fact of his resurrection. We are those called by his grace, and called to witness to his presence and action. But what that witnessing entails differs for each and every one of us, according to our gifts. My mind just happens to go to Romans 12, though there are other places my mind could wander. Paul says we are all given different gifts in proportion to our faith, all these gifts are means by which we may witness to the risen and active and ruling Lord. One gift is prophesying, that is to say, to directly and plainly call attention to how God is working in someone’s life, or in the life of a community. Another gift is serving. We may care for the least in ways that are wasteful and do not compute, and thereby show that we serve a different Lord. Another gift is teaching, we may explain to people what it means to say Jesus is alive forevermore. Or another is to encourage, another to contribute to the needs of others, another to lead, another to show mercy. These are a multitude of ways that we, as a body, witness to the fact that Jesus is risen and alive.

But however we, as individuals, may feel called to witness the fact we are witnesses ought to change our lives. Think about it, there is one who has conquered the grave. There is one who holds the keys of death. There is one who can assuage all our fears and who can forgive all our sins. One who can take away all our guilt, one who can make us whole. That is what the Resurrection shows. And this one wants to know us, to befriend us, and to remain close with us. This is the good news, and it is such tremendous news. We should see every aspect of our lives as a means of witnessing to this news. That when people see us they know we follow the beat of a different drum, so to speak. We follow the one who is stronger, and who picks us up when we fall. The one who alone is life.

Questions for Reflection

How has the Resurrection changed your life?

When have you experienced the risen Lord?

How can you be a witness?

Is there anything that keeps you from witnessing?

[callowsermons]

Easter: Darkness

I have always known Easter to be a day of great festivity and joy. At Newberry we’d have a sunrise service followed by a breakfast put on by the men. At Engadine we’d follow up our service with a free meal extended to all in our community. We all knew how to be joyful, gather as family and friends, and proclaim the good news of Easter. But this Easter is the oddest and most disconcerting Easter of my life. There can be no gathering. There will be no breakfasts or dinners. There will be no joyous hymns of praise and hugs. No communal proclamation that “He is risen indeed!” This Easter we all must stay home, out of love for one another. 

It seems wrong, in a way, that we can’t gather. How can we witness to our faith? How will we proclaim our conviction that Christ has won the victory over death? Even our president said he thought it would be wonderful for all the churches to be full today. But we remain at home. We must celebrate each in our home. We must say our prayers and eat our Easter meals in our households. Even baptisms have had to be put aside.

But Easter is not cancelled. Nothing can cancel Easter. We will gather again, and in our gathering we will make our public witness to Christ’s victory. No, Easter goes on whether we gather or not. Whether we sing our hymns or not. Whether we have our meals or not. Easter, and the reality we celebrate, is not dependent on our gathering. 

In John’s gospel we are told Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ tomb while it was still dark. That darkness in which she walked was not only the darkness of the morning before the sun rises. The darkness in which she walked was also the darkness of ignorance. John is using an image here. While Mary and the other disciples were told by Jesus, repeatedly, what must all take place she remained ignorant of what had taken place. Jesus told his disciples that he must die, that he would be in the grave three days, and then would rise again. But no one could understand his words let alone believe him. Mary is in the darkness of that ignorance. She does not understand, she cannot. As she walks to the garden in the cool morning air, she has no idea what must take place.

She has no idea what has taken place.

When Mary arrives at the tomb she finds the stone rolled away, and that it is already empty. Easter has happened! Our Lord lives! The world has been turned upside down! Matthew’s gospel describes this moment as an earthquake. An angel of the Lord comes down from heaven, and his brilliance makes the guards so afraid that they look like dead men. Though the disciples were all in hiding, keeping social distance from the authorities. And though Mary had arrived with spices prepared to prepare the body for its burial, Easter still happened.

Today the world is in the dark of the morning. Many of us are afraid. Many of us are frustrated. Many of us wonder how long all this will last. We read the news and watch as numbers increase. We worry about lost jobs and economic decline. While the world is tinged with the dark of the morning, we need not be ignorant. We may yet still see with the light. 

Christ is risen! Jesus lives forevermore. That remains true, and all that that entails remains true. We still have forgiveness of our sins. Christ still reigns. God still pours upon us grace upon grace. We are still given every spiritual blessing. We are still given hope, and strength to get through the pestilence. And God remains more powerful than any virus.

In his gracious and loving act of raising his Son, God shows us something about how he operates. God shows us something about his character. And I think it’s important for us to lean on as we, like Mary, travel in the dark of the morning. God takes the worst of humanity, the highest sin, the most grievous injustice, and makes good out of it. And I don’t mean that God brings a silver lining to the horror of the Cross. No, God takes the Cross and makes it the foundation of our salvation. God takes his Son, and makes his death life. 

As God brought Jesus back to life, taking the worst and making good out of it, so today God takes the evils of this world and can make good out of it. The resurrection Christ has we may share, by and by. That is our blessed hope. But the resurrection is also a sign of God’s activity today. God brings about good out of evils, and generates hope in the midst of our despair. We know this because of Easter. And Easter takes place even in the darkness, even when we cannot gather. 

May you know the joys of Easter today.

Questions for Reflection

What is your favorite Easter memory?

What do you wonder about the resurrection?

Where do you see God working in the midst of this pandemic?

What gives you hope?

[callowsermons]

Maundy Thursday 2020

Communion is given many different names in the New Testament. In Acts it is commonly referred to as “the breaking of the bread.” Paul will call it communion, the Lord’s Supper, or the eucharist. Communion emphasizes how the meal unites us in Christ. The Lord’s Supper reminds us that Jesus is host, and that it is a memorial of that last supper he shared with his disciples the night he was betrayed. Eucharist literally means “thanksgiving,” because in this meal we offer thanks up to God the Father for what he has done for us in Christ.

One final name given to Communion in the New Testament is the love feast. In Jude 12 the author of the letter calls communion a love feast. Ignatius of Antioch, an early bishop two generations removed from the disciples, also commonly referred to the meal as a love feast. Over time, that name for the meal died out. Communion or Eucharist won out. And the name “love feast” was resuscitated pietists for a similar yet different service. One that did not include bread and wine, but was a common meal shared by people offering thanksgiving and testimony.

Perhaps we missed something by dropping “love feast” as a name for this sacrament. Communion is, in fact, a tremendous sign of Christian love on multiple levels. In the first it is a sign of reconciliation. In the second it is a sign of sacrifice. In the third it is a sign of abundance. And in the fourth it is a sign of steadfastness and longsuffering.

Communion is a sign of reconciliation because it is the reconciled body that must come before the altar. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 11 that those who take the supper unworthily, not discerning the body of Christ, are in danger of eating and drinking judgment on themselves and for that reason many died. When Paul says we need to “discern the body of Christ” he means first of all we need to discern the gathered body of Christ and be reconciled to them. There was no reconciliation or solidarity among the gathered body of Christ in Corinth. Some got drunk, others went away hungry. That was the judgment. 

But when we gather together we ask forgiveness of God, and we forgive one another. We are reconciled to God, reconciled to one another, so that we may share a common meal at the table. Part of love is the desire to make peace, to reconcile with our neighbors. We can’t say we love someone if we are not reconciled to them. Love, more than a feeling, is action. And  a large part of that action is reconciliation and peace.

Secondly, communion is a sign of sacrifice. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” In this meal we recall the sacrifice once offered by Jesus. And the grace and benefits of that sacrifice rebound for us. Love entails sacrifice. It means putting others before ourselves. It means seeking the good for others even when we might be at a loss or feel uncomfortable. Jesus gave up his life for us, and that is how we know what love is.

Thirdly, communion is a sign of abundance. God’s love is abundant. Love itself, is abundant. It is nothing you can run out of. It multiplies in being shared. In communion all are fed and there is enough to go around.

Finally, communion is a sign of steadfastness and longsuffering. In this meal we are fed. We are dependably fed. God does not sit in heaven going “gee, I wonder if I will feed my people today.” When we make our humble confession to God, God does not say, “Ok, just this one time but not again.” God rejoices that we might gather at his table. And God rejoices to feed us, to work in us, and through us. Communion reminds us of the long-suffering of love, because God stands with us even when we will almost certainly betray that love later in the week. But love is that way, it counts no record of wrongs, but always hopes, and always believes.

In John’s account of that Last Supper he says Jesus stripped himself, knelt down, and washed his disciples feet. He ordered them, therefore, to wash each other’s feet. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” That word, love, is so loaded. As we can see in the example of communion. What it means to love in Jesus’ sense is by no means obvious. That is why we are given the gospels, that we might see love modeled in his life and ministry, his death and resurrection. That is why we are given the Church, that we might serve one another and grow in that love. That is why we are given communion, by which we may be regularly refreshed by the grace and love of God.

[callowsermons]

Palm Sunday- Arrival

Jesus knows how to make an entrance. As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, we are told Jesus sends two of his disciples to acquire a donkey and her colt. Donkeys, then like today, symbolized humility and earthiness. A great king did not arrive riding a donkey, donkey’s are stubborn beasts of burden, unlike the noble stallion. But Jesus is gentle, lowly of heart, and in his humility arrives on a donkey. 

And while any other king might arrive with a great entourage, with the carpet literally rolled out for him, Jesus arrives with crowds who had followed him from Galilee. The crowds have nothing to lay before him but their cloaks on branches they’ve torn off the trees. They cry out, “Hosannah!” or “save!” “Save! to the Son of David.” Something like “God save the king!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Save in the highest!”

All of this is great theater. Jesus arrives proclaimed as King. He arrives with multitudes singing his praise, and quoting from Psalm 118, which is an enthronement psalm. That is to say, the Psalm would be sung at the coronation of a King. The message here is clear. Jesus is the King, he has come to take his throne. But he is not a King like Caesar, or Herod. He is humble, weak, and more than a little bit ridiculous. He is not a King like anyone had ever seen, not a King like any of the other Messiahs who had come and gone.

But this extravagant entrance is enough to stir up the whole city. “Who is this?” They ask. 

Palm Sunday isn’t the only time the inhabitants of Jerusalem were caught off guard by the arrival of Jesus. Recall Epiphany Sunday. I know, it seems so long ago. The Magi from the East looked to the stars and saw that the King was to be born in Judah. So they traveled to Jerusalem to worship the newborn king. “When King Herod heard this,” we are told, “he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” On Palm Sunday they are stirred, on Epiphany they are disturbed, either way they have the gospel proclaimed to them and their response is worry. The Magi tell them the King has been born, the crowds tell them that Jesus is the prophet from Galilee, that he is the Son of David. That he saves.

This isn’t the only time Matthew describes the stirring or disturbance of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be stirred two more times. When Jesus dies we are told, “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook (or, was stirred), and the rocks split.” And, again, when Jesus is raised, “The guards were so afraid of him,” that is, Jesus, “that they shook (or were stirred) and became like dead men.”

Jesus disturbs, disrupts, shakes, and stirs. His birth terrifies the powers that be. His arrival horrifies the authorities. His death is earth shattering and tears the temple curtain in two. His resurrection turns the world upside down.

Jesus continues to shake, disturb, and disrupt. Jesus still agitates. Jesus still turns the world upside down. He remains the King humble on a donkey, he remains the crucified messiah, he remains the resurrected Lord. 

Jesus still has the power to turn our lives upside down as well. To turn your life upside down. When Jesus arrives it tends to be like that Palm Sunday. He doesn’t arrive in the way that you expect. Jesus tends not to come into our lives loud and brashly. Jesus tends not to come into our lives with great authority and might.

When Jesus does arrive, it often is in this simple and humble form. The voice enveloped in silence. The compulsion to pray. An invitation to dinner. An opportunity to lend a helping hand. Or the unassuming words of scripture. Jesus arrives in the ordinary, in the weak, in the humble, he arrives as he does here, on a donkey. 

And it is precisely because when Jesus arrives in his ordinariness that we can be doubtful. Or we can begin to question. Or we can be stirred up. I know in my case my deepest and most profound experiences of God have not been from seeing the light but from finding him in the dark. The silent voice, and the extending hand. While the old song goes “I saw the light” for many of us God works in more ordinary and subtle ways. Perhaps in the restlessness and boredom of quarantine God may choose to speak.

As we journey to the cross, and from there to the resurrection, let us think about how Jesus arrives in our lives. Does he call you? Has he knocked? Have you let him stir you up? Does he even give you that choice? Or does his arrival force a choice? To accept the crucified as Lord, to submit to the carpenter messiah?

Questions for Reflection

How does Jesus turn the world upside down?

How has Jesus turned your world upside down?

Why does Jesus disturb Jerusalem?

When have you noticed Jesus’ arrival in your life?

[callowsermons]

The Drama of Grace- Resurrection

Sin and death go together. At the beginning of Lent we heard about Adam and Eve’s original disobedience. That by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they invited death into their lives and their world. Adam and Eve had two sons at first, Cain and Abel. When God accepted the sacrifices of Abel but rejected Cain’s sacrifice, Cain grew envious and wrathful. God warned Cain, as Cain was contemplating murder, that sin was “crouching at your door.” But he gave in to that sin, and committed the heinous act of murder. 

Sin thrives on the power of death, death gives rise to sin. So many sins are committed out of our fear of death. Take the Tower of Babel as an example. We are told humanity built the tower out of fear. Fear of the animals, fear of the land, fear of God. “Let us make a name for ourselves” the people say. By making a name for themselves, by making a tower that goes to heaven, maybe they could escape the power of death. But in doing so they sinned. How many people sin to forget about death? Addiction, sex, sloth, can work this way. Or how many people sin to try and overcome death, so that they will always be remembered? Pride and greed can work this way. The glory ancient Romans fought for was thought to be a way to be remembered when you were gone, a way to cheat death.

Sin and death walk hand in hand. When you sin, you die a little. You become callous to others, callous to your own feelings, callous most importantly to God. When you sin, you are cut off from God. Sin, in the end, kills. Paul tells us this morning, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Sin, the flesh, death, these are all allies. They all feed off each other. They all threaten to tear us apart, to leave us alienated, alone, miserable. This is the wasting disease of the world. This is why we suffer.

But it gets even worse than that. We were as dead. Sin has already done its work to a great degree. Sin has made it so that we are unable, by our own power, to turn to God. We are like the debtor who can’t pay off their debts because the interest rate is too high. Or the digger who dug a hole so deep they can’t get out. Sin has so entrapped us, that we are as good as dead left to our own devices. 

This is what we call original sin. That the human race faces a primordial wound, and it is deadly. That the primordial wound of sin leaves us unable to reach out to God. Unable to do good by our own power. We are utterly enslaved, utterly defeated, utterly crushed. We are utterly lost. And the degree between the greatest sinner and the most upright and good person in the eyes of God is miniscule. Sin has overtaken us all.

We are as dead.

But the good news is that God raises the dead.

This morning we have two accounts of resurrection. The first is the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel receives a vision, an army long dead. A valley full of bones. He is called to prophesy to the bones, and as he does the sinews and muscles reknit, the organs grow, the skin returns, and the army is restored. The Spirit of the Lord accomplishes this. And as the army is restored, so too Israel may be restored by the resurrection of God. 

The second account is more familiar, and perhaps more dearer. Lazarus falls ill and dies. Jesus returns late, when Lazarus is already in the grave. But, Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” He goes to the tomb, he calls Lazarus out, and Lazarus walks out of the tomb. He is alive. He is alive because Jesus is from God. He is alive because God in Christ loved him. And he is alive because Jesus is the resurrection and Jesus is life.

God gives life to what was dead. 

And that is our hope.

What do the dry bones in the valley contribute to their resurrection? What does Lazarus contribute? Though they are dead and their story ended, God writes a new chapter and brings them to life. Though we are yet dead in our sins, yet we may live. While all they have to contribute is death and endings, God gives life. God gives life not because we deserve it. Not because we have earned it. Not because it has to be this way. No, God gives life because God loves. As Jesus loved Lazarus so too Jesus loves us. We see the depth of Jesus’ love for Lazarus when he weeps before his grave. God has that same love for us. It is out of that love that God works resurrection.

First the resurrection from the death of our sins, then resurrection from the death of our bodies.

Do you believe as Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection, and I am life?” Because that’s what it takes. We need only to believe, and we may be raised. Do you believe that God can restore life to the dry bones? Do you believe these dry bones, this wrangled flesh, can live? You need only to believe, to profess Jesus is Lord, and you can know that life. You can be free. You can rejoice. 

Repent. Believe. And be free. This is the Gospel. Christ died for our sins. So we may have life. As Christ died and is risen, so too we may know that same resurrection. Resurrection from the state of sin, and resurrection from the power of the grave.

Questions for Reflection

How does sin kill?

How does God give life?

How does God give hope?

What does it mean to say Jesus is the life? 

[callowsermons]

Drama of Grace: Soulsick

Sometimes I’ll stop and realize that I really can’t imagine heaven. I don’t know if anyone else has this experience. I know heaven contains my deepest yearnings. I know heaven is joy, and it is peace. But trying to really bring it to mind, it’s so hard to imagine or comprehend. I think it’s rather like being ill. I’ve had the misfortune of having a protracted illness, and I know many of us here have had that same misfortune. And when you’re in the middle of it you somewhat remember what it was like to be healthy, but you can’t imagine being healthy again. It seems like a wild dream, you try to catch it and it slips through your fingers.

The reason why heaven can seem so far off, and seem so difficult to wrap our minds around, is our sinful state. Sin is our spiritual illness. Sin finds its way into our hearts, into our minds, into our souls, into our very bones. Sin tells us all sorts of lies. Sin tells us that we are bound up in it. That is to say, sin tells us that we are sin, deep into our personality. Were sin to be removed, the lie goes, we would no longer be ourselves. But the opposite is the case. It is sin that eats away at us and makes us miserable, sin makes us less than who we are. So as long as we are bound up in the illness that is sin, as long as we submit to sin’s control of our lives and our world, of course heaven will seem far off. It’s like any other illness.

I was recently reading C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, one of the Narnia books. I thought it might be used as a youth study, but we decided to do something different. There is an excellent sequence in the book on sin. In the book Edmund and Lucy find their way back into Narnia with their obnoxious cousin Eustace. Eustace is a liar, a coward, vain, proud, and reads all the wrong books. Books on how to construct a plane, say, but never a book on dragons or fairies. And that gets him into trouble, because he’s in a world of dragons. 

At one point Eustace finds an old dragons den, puts on a golden bracelet, and falls asleep. When he wakes up he discovers, to his horror, that he has become the dragon. His greed transformed him in the magical cavern. He spends some time as the dragon, the bracelet tearing into his skin causing him a great deal of pain. Just when he has resigned to always being a dragon (he’s not very happy about it), Aslan shows up in the dead of night. He explains that he needs to tear his skin off. Eustace realizes that, being a lizard of a sort, his skin peels off. But as he peels it off it never goes deep enough. Aslan explains he needs to peel the skin off. And when he does it is deep, and painful, but it turns out the real Eustace was there deep within the shell of the dragon. And he is transformed from that day on.

Sin contorts us. It pains us and engulfs us. But we can be delivered. By the grace of God we can be set free from its power, and we can know the joys of heaven. We can know the peace that comes from Christ.

This morning we heard the account of a man born blind. When you want to talk about not even imagining a life of health, or a life of heaven, this man could never imagine the faculty of sight. He doesn’t even seek Jesus out, but Jesus seeks him out. He calls the man born blind in order to show his works, to make of him a sign. Jesus spits into the dust and makes mud, and anoints the man with the mud. Jesus tells him to go to the pool of Siloam, the pool meaning sent. And there, in the sight of all the blind man’s sight is restored.

The blind man receives the anointing of the anointed one, and he can see. The sight he receives is truly received, but it is also his own sight. Without the power of God he could never see. But with the power of God it is his eyes that are restored. So too with us. Christ wishes to anoint us with his anointing. The anointing that heals more than the body, but also the soul. He wishes to give us that healing anointing that our hearts may be restored. That the heart of stone would become a heart of flesh. That the likeness of God within us might be renewed, and we may truly know love. Whether that love be God’s love, or the experience of loving others as God loves us. As the sight of the blind man is restored, and it is truly his sight. So too we receive the love of God in our hearts through Jesus’ anointing, but it is truly our love. Love that we might extend toward God, love that we might extend toward our neighbors. Love that gives us peace through all times of trial and anxiety and doubt.

And I know it can be hard for us to imagine this love and its peace. As it would have been hard for the man born blind to imagine. As it is hard for anyone in the midst of sickness to imagine that they can be made well. Or, I might say, as hard as it is to imagine our lives returning to “normal.” It is hard to imagine loving our enemies. It is hard to imagine freedom from rage, and lust, and envy. It is hard to imagine a thoroughgoing love for all. It is hard to imagine true peace with ourselves and others. This is very difficult, because sin remains. 

But this is what God promises in Christ. As God revealed himself to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and made him zealous for Christ, so too God reveals himself to us. Anoints us. And can bring us out of our blindness.

But it takes time. This is a long passage, and I don’t have the time to break it all down. But notice how the man born blind slowly comes to spiritual sight. He may have received his physical sight right then and there. But it takes time for him to receive the spiritual sight, to come to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. He first knows he’s prophet, then he knows he’s from God, then he meets him again and knows him as Lord. He received the anointing, but the full realization of that anointing took time. Again, so too with us. Christ anoints us. We receive his anointing. But to live it out, to come to full realization of what this anointing entails, takes time.

God acts in Christ to bring us to wholeness. We are anointed by the Spirit, that we may know life in God. This seems so hard to imagine now. In the grip of sin, it may seem like we can’t break sin. Well, we can’t. But God can. Christ has. By the Spirit we may know life. No matter where we are, no matter what our circumstances. God can break the power of sin and give us life.

Questions for Reflection

How do you imagine heaven?

How does sin damage us?

How does God get rid of sin?

Why does sin seem so desireable?

[callowsermons]

Drama of Grace: Today

God may speak softly, God may speak loudly, but God always speaks with urgency. “Hear the voice of the Lord today” the Psalmist says, “Harden not your hearts.” “Today is the acceptable time,” Paul says, “Today is the day of salvation.” “Hear the voice of the Lord today.” God speaks now, in our lives, in our midst. As God spoke through the mouths of the prophets, on the lips of Jesus, God speaks today. God calls us today to be his own, to experience his grace, to be showered with love. “God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” That is, if “today” we hear the voice of the Lord.

That voice, that word, is the call that is made to each and everyone one of us. The call that says while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. The call that says that while we may be lost in the sin of Adam, drowned in the despair of our own shame and meaninglessness, we are loved. And God desires us for his own. The call that comes from the cross. The call that can be so deafening as to not be heard, and so quiet as to speak volumes. In every age and every time Christ calls, “follow me.”

“Hear the voice of the Lord today,” the Psalmist says, “Harden not your hearts.” Though God speaks today, with all the urgency of love and salvation, we can ignore God’s call. We can close our ears, and walk away. Scripture calls this a hardened heart. And many have hard hearts today. Some are outside of the walls of the Church, some are inside the walls of the Church.

The great biblical example of the hardened heart is Pharaoh. Pharaoh had all the power in the world. He was born to rule. All the lands of Egypt was his own, and many lands paid tribute out of fear of his armies. He had more wealth than anyone would know what to do with. He lived in splendor. And he engaged in tremendous construction projects on the backs of Hebrew slaves.  One day, a man he had grown up with, who had been a member of his court, arrived. Moses. Demanding that Pharaoh might let his people go, to worship their God. But Pharaoh would not listen. Though Moses spoke the word of God, words of salvation, peace, and liberation, Pharaoh would not listen. Despite all the wonders Moses performed, staffs turning to snakes, the Nile turning to blood, darkness in the day time, frogs raining down, sand turning to gnats, boils, on and on, we are told God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. 

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and so he refused to listen to the words of Moses, he refused to listen to God. He refused to listen because of his pride. If he listened to God he would lose! He would lose the benefit of slave labor. He would have to admit he was wrong. He would have to admit he is not the ultimate power in Egypt. So rather than admit his sin, he hardened his heart. Until it was too late.

But we are told the Hebrew people too hardened their hearts. “Harden not your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your forebears tested me, and they put to the proof, though they had seen my work.” What happened at Meribah and Massah? We heard it in the Old Testament lesson this morning. The people grumbled and complained. They camped, but there was no water for them to drink. Rather than trust in the God who made the Nile turn to blood and could split the sea in two, they grumbled, they complained, and they quarreled with Moses, “Give us water to drink!” “Did you bring us out here to die of thirst!?” 

Moses brought the matter to God, who told him to strike the rock so the water would flow out. And so Moses struck the rock and the water flowed. God is merciful. But, as we are reminded in the Psalm, God loathed that this generation of Hebrews would test him. “They are a people who err in their hearts, they do not know my ways… they should not enter in my rest.”

While Pharaoh hardens his heart on account of his own pride, the Hebrews harden their hearts on account of their own despair. Pharaoh cannot stand to have another stand over him, making him second best. The Hebrews cannot stand not to have God at their beck and call. Like God were the divine manager with which to present a complaint, or the divine ATM to get what they want. So Pharaoh doesn’t listen, and the Hebrews put God to the test.

When God calls us, gives us the offer of free salvation, let us not bristle like Pharaoh, or disbelieve God’s goodness like the Hebrews. Today, when we hear his voice let us not harden our hearts. God is great, and God is good. And “you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

When Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, she has no merit. She is a Samaritan, so an outsider, a woman, so second class citizen (sorry, that’s how it was then), and had been divorced five times. She was an adulteress living with another man. But yet Jesus still approaches her, against all custom and cleanliness concerns, and offers her the living water which when one drinks of it they need not drink again. He gives her the call. The same call that is made to us. The call that we may answer every day of our lives. The summons to discipleship, and to salvation. The summons to abundant life, peace, joy in the Spirit, and a great hope.

But despite her manifest sins. Despite all the reasons why she does not deserve it. She receives that living water. Why? Because God called and her heart was not hardened. She asked, and she received.

That is grace. Not to be grasped. Not a matter of our ownership, or our desert. But the free gift of God. The calling of God. Because he loves us. Simply, because God loves us. 

When you hear the call, do not harden your heart. Whether out of pride, or out of fear that you might lose control. Harden not your heart. But freely receive.

Questions for Reflection

When have you heard the calling of God the past week?

When have you hardened your heart?

Are you Pharaoh, the Hebrews, or the woman at the well?

Is God fair?

[callowsermons]

The Drama of Grace- Temptation

When I was really young, like preschool age, we lived along the highway going into Menominee from the north side. Many of you have probably passed by my childhood home many times, maybe even while I was living there. If I remember right it was a four lane highway at the time, and I wasn’t allowed to cross it. But I was allowed to play in the front yard. Life could be boring in those days, before iPads and smartphones. And I was an only child. So I had to make my own fun. I don’t know why I did it, and it seems especially stupid today, but I thought it would be fun to throw rocks from the driveway at cars driving by. 

Now I wasn’t very big, so the rocks weren’t anything more than pebbles. But the speed limit was 45 at the time, so you know the cars were at least going 55. I’m sure it could have caused damage. But I got away with it for a long time. At least I remember it being a long time. Till one day I noticed a car turn around the block and, to my horror, it drove up the gravel alley. Someone got out of the car, admonished me, and asked to talk to my parents. I remember being especially horrified seeing a big dent on the side of the car. Naturally I thought I did it. I don’t remember getting disciplined for it, I just remember my own shame at doing something so stupid. But I didn’t realize it was stupid until after I got caught.

But it was a good idea at the time, before I got caught. That’s how it is with all our sins though, they were good ideas at the time. They seemed good to us. Like Eve staring at the fruit from the tree, she sees the fruit is good to eat, pleasant to the eyes, and is desirable to making one wise. She bit because it seemed good. She desired it. We all sin because it’s what we desire. Though, we find later on what we desire is not actually what is good for us. 

God, knowing that Adam and Eve might desire the fruit of the tree, and knowing that we tend to desire the wrong things, ordered them not to eat it. “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” It’s one of those rules a parent lays down even though a child could not know why it’s being laid down until after they break it.

Another time I got in trouble also had to do with a road. We moved to a more residential neighborhood when I was in elementary school, and a block away was a busy street, but not a highway. I was told very specifically that I was allowed to ride my bike around the neighborhood but I could not cross that road. I thought it was silly because I was given the permission to cross the highway before we moved, why couldn’t I cross a simple road? So one day a group of us went across the road (their parents had no issue with it). And, of course, as these things go, my parents found out. And I believe I was grounded for a whole month. When I argued my case, I was told that when I crossed the highway they could watch. They could not watch me cross this busy road, and that was their primary concern.

In that case, my desire to be with my friends led me to break a very specific rule. I knew that rule. But I rationalized that rule away. And because I rationalized the rule away I broke my parents trust. And breaking my parents trust they grounded me.

Here too, Adam and Eve rationalize the rule away. “You will not die;” the serpent lies, “for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The rule rationalized away, the fruit looking pleasant and desireable, Eve takes a bite, and hands it to Adam.

Here we see the two root causes of our sin. The first is disobedience. The disobedience that leads to broken trust, alienation from God and from one another. The second is our twisted desires, our twisted hearts, that love what is wrong and are too self-centered for our own good. Our twisted desires lead us to rationalize away the rules set by God, and lead to our disobedience.

Jesus undoes all that.

As Eve and Adam were tempted, so too Jesus is tempted. As the serpent manipulates God’s words, Satan manipulates the word of God. “If you are the son of God, make these stones become bread. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

But Jesus stands firm, he stands firm on the word of God, on the will of God, and in obedience to God. Each time Satan tempts him with wealth, power, food, safety, Jesus responds with Scripture. He remains rooted in God, and overcomes the temptation.

Paul tells us this morning that death came in a man through a trespass, but the obedience of one is the gift of justification for all. We are Adam, we are Eve, but we can be Jesus. We are given to our sinful desires and rationalizations, but we can be made righteous. As Jesus leans on God, so we must lean on Jesus. Jesus who forgives our sin, Jesus who makes us strong, Jesus who won the victory.

And how do we lean on Jesus? But we commit to one another in his body, his Church. We pray together, worship together, read scripture together, confess our sin to one another, counsel one another, and hold one another accountable. We know we are Adam, but we strive to be like Christ. God’s grace works within us and through us to make us more like Christ.

Questions for Reflection

What’s your silliest sin?

Why do we rationalize?

How can you tell when you are rationalizing or when you are not?

How do we become more like Christ?

[callowsermons]

God Talk- Solid Food

I opened this series talking about grace and gift. In the incarnation Jesus gives himself to us in love. Love is one of those things where the more and more you give, the more and more you receive. If someone loves me, and I do nothing, I never really received their love. The Gospel is the announcement of God’s love in Jesus Christ. It is not an argument, or an idea, or an ideology. It is a proclamation. It is an invitation to respond. It is the story of Christ’s death and resurrection.

In the Gospel, then, is the encounter. Knowledge of the Gospel, knowledge of Christ, and knowledge of God is all about the encounter. We don’t simply walk and talk about Jesus, but we see his face. And it is the call of God, and the encounter with God, and receiving the Spirit of God poured into our hearts, that knowledge of God is all about. 

The Gospel is not about our power, or our wisdom. It is the wisdom of God that shatters human wisdom, the power of God that overcomes all human power. And it is not for us to accomplish, but to willingly and freely receive.

These are the things the Corinthians forget. Or perhaps they never really understood them. They sought wisdom. Wisdom they could wield and control. They were enamored with golden tongues and soaring oratory. And were contemptuous of simple but profound speech. They boasted in their great works and spiritual gifts. But forgot that the greatest gift of them all is simply love. And perhaps we too forget these things from time to time. It is a constant temptation to make the Gospel into something its not. A plan, a program, an ideology, or an argument.

Paul, this morning, contrasts the spirit from the flesh. And he says he could not give the Corinthians the solid food they crave, because they are not ready. He must feed them with milk. What is the milk? What is solid food? What is spirit? What is flesh?

Paul says he knows they are of the flesh because of their divisions. The jealousy and quarreling proves they are of the flesh. The flesh names whatever is merely human in us. It is a power that leads us to jealousy and pride and quarreling. In Galatians Paul lists the works of the flesh, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Things like these, he says, because the works of the flesh are all those things that put us at enmity with one another and with God. They are all about control. Control over others, and control over God. But ultimately through them we lose self-control. Because we give ourselves away to false promises. 

They are of the flesh because they see the Gospel as something that belongs to them. Or, rather, as something that belongs to Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or Christ. They see it as something that can be written down, argued and debated, and put in their pocket. And that leads to quarrels. 

But the fruit of the Spirit, on the contrary, is, “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” The Spirit is given to us, freely, in an encounter with the one Lord. When we encounter the one who calls us in his gospel, we freely receive his love, and his joy, and his peace. We are caught up in his Kingdom. We are transformed by grace.

The people of Corinth earnestly desired to deepen their faith. But perhaps the problem was not that Paul only gave them milk. Could you imagine complaining to Paul that his letters are too easy?! The problem is that they could not see that the milk was already solid food. The more they wanted was whatever would make them richer, whatever would make them more impressive, whatever would make them more powerful. Not whatever would make them more like Christ.

Maturity in the faith is learning to be satisfied with Jesus. Maturity in the faith is learning to remain in his presence, through prayer, scripture, worship, and service, and becoming more like him. Maturity is not measured in how much greek you know, how many verses you can recite, how impressive your prayers sound, how good you talk, or how much time you spend in Church. It is not measured in your voluminous knowledge of the Bible and all the commentaries. These things can all be helpful in their ways, and God can bless them. But true spiritual maturity is measured in how patient you are. How forgiving you are. How hopeful you are. And how reconciling you are.

The whole gospel, and all knowledge is about this: love. Love of God. Love of neighbor. On this all the Law and the prophets rest. This is the solid food. This is spiritual maturity. This is why Christ came. This is why he forgives, teaches, heals, and saves. All the questions we have, all we seek to know, all they do, do they produce love? Are we willing to lay ourselves at the foot of the cross? To sit, receive, and share.

Questions for Reflection

What is the milk? What is solid food?

What does it mean to be in the flesh?

How do we come to spiritual maturity?

How can we encounter Jesus?

[callowsermons]

God Talk: I Just Want to See His Face

When I was in middle school and high school I had a voracious interest in theology. I listened to sermons, I read books, and I got into arguments. John Wesley would divide theology into three parts: speculative, controversial, and practical divinity. Speculative divinity is what we could call systematic theology today. A way to think through the world theologically. Practical divinity is looking at where the rubber meets the road, how does speculative divinity work itself out in our discipleship? Controversial divinity is how to argue for the faith, or what we would call today apologetics. I was firmly focused on controversial divinity. The others, at the time, bored me.

I was fascinated by the various arguments for the existence of God. I wanted to put them to the test and convince others. I wanted to defend the historicity of scripture and the validity of Christian moral claims. In other words, I wanted to accumulate knowledge, and wield that knowledge against others. The God I knew was the God who could be understood through argument. The God who needed to come out of the end of a proof. But that’s one way of making God too small, and putting him in your pocket to do as you will. It is a sort of idolatry, making God the sum of our arguments.

The God of argument is a God subjected to human wisdom. I thought, at the time, that God could be comprehended by our own minds. God was so bound to our comprehension, that with the right argument and the right rhetorical moves anyone, in principle, could be made to believe. And once they believe by force of argument, that’s that.

I obviously did not read Paul very closely! Look at what he says this morning, "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” He contrasts the God who can be known, sifted, argued, and debated with the mystery that is proclaimed. The God who can be known, sifted, argued, and debated is the God who is made to submit to our own minds, which is no God at all. But the God who is mystery and power is the God that we encounter. The God we encounter crucified.

Now when Paul says “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” He doesn’t mean that he knows absolutely nothing else. He quotes Isaiah, the Psalms, and even greek philosophers and poets through the course of the letter. He knows all sorts of things. But everything he knows, and everything he is, is laid at the foot of the cross. He submits to Christ and him crucified. He encounters the living one alive forevermore, and puts everything at his feet.

Our knowledge of God does not come from the books we read, the arguments we hold, or the latest discoveries that are made. Our knowledge of God comes through God’s revelation in Christ. It comes from the encounter of the Spirit. “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.” The Christian life is the life of encounter, encounter of God and the reception of his gifts.

This is, I think, the very core of what this whole series is about. If we want to go back to what the problem is in Corinth. The people of Corinth have broken off into different factions, because they are infatuated with rhetoric and wisdom and have their favorites. Paul wants to get them to see that you don’t get to Jesus through inventive argument, and you don’t know the Spirit through soaring rhetoric. Everything flows from the encounter. The encounter with the living Jesus, proclaimed by the Gospel. 

When it becomes about our argument, our knowledge, our programming, our ideology then it just becomes about us. And that leads to pride, arrogance, disunity, and acrimony. But it is first and foremost about Jesus. About is work, his life, his forgiveness, and his Spirit. The people of Corinth are so high on their spiritual gifts, that they forget who the giver is. And they are so infatuated with human wisdom that they forget what true wisdom is.

In our own case, then, so much disunity grows out of our love of human wisdom that can crowd out our love of God. Mistaking our own theories and programs for the will of God. Being so infatuated with action and pragmatism and doing something that we don’t stop to be in the presence of God in prayer. As the old song goes, “I don’t want to walk and talk about Jesus, I just want to see his face.”

The Gospel is the proclamation of the living word. And divine wisdom is illumination. It is the gift of the Spirit. It is encounter with God in prayer and the word. It is seeing his face.

Questions for Reflection

Have you ever gotten into an argument about God?

How do you know God is real?

When have you encountered Jesus?

How do we invite others to encounter Jesus?