A man was out hiking through some mountains one day, when he stopped at the edge of a cliff to admire the sheer beauty of the view before him. The man was so awe struck, so overwhelmed by the beauty and majesty of what he saw, that he momentarily lost his balance. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself dangling from the edge of the cliff! Hanging on for dear life, the man began to frantically shout for help. Just then a voice came from above saying "I am here." The man replied "who are you?" To which the voice proclaimed "I AM God." The man immediately began to recount his story and exclaim that God was the perfect person to offer him assistance. The man then asked "Can you help me?" In response the man heard the voice of the Almighty reply "Let go." A long pause followed, with the silence being broken by the man calling out "...Is there anyone else up there?"
This story, while humorous, gets at the heart of many of the problems we face in life, and serves as a perfect introduction to our scripture lesson this week, Mark 8:31-37. In this week's scripture lesson, Jesus is sharing (for the first time) that he must die on behalf of all people. Peter, upon hearing this, thinks it's unfitting of the "Messiah" to die so soon, and certainly innappropriate to be plainly proclaiming it. Jesus rebukes Peter, even going so far as to call him "Satan", and then promptly gathers the crowd around to make use of this "teaching moment". Jesus informs those around him that in order to be true followers, they must "deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34)
Jesus offers an easy three-step plan to true discipleship, right? Well for many people this is easier said than done, and sometimes even saying it doesn't mean really understanding. I believe most of us understand self denial, and are clear on following the leader, but the second step may prove to be more elusive. What exactly does it mean to take up your cross? Many people confuse this with something that we have no choice about. For example, I am color blind, and often I have heard that that is my "cross to bear". But the cross in this statement is referring to the cross which Jesus will later be crucified upon. It is a voluntary cross, one that is chosen, not forced upon a person. As Christians, we affirm that Jesus was not tricked, or forced to be crucified, but rather that he chose it for the benefit of all humanity, and that he spoke of his impending death several times (Mark 8:31-37, 9:30-32, 10:32-34, 14:12-31 just to name a few). So to take up your cross means to take on something voluntarily. This can look like many things, both big and small, and can include doing something or even refraining from doing something.
Crystal (my wife) tells the story of her first public speaking experience. It was for a youth retreat weekend called Chrysalis. She was asked to give a talk to 20+ other teenage girls about her faith and her experiences as a Christian teenager. If you ask her about the experience she can still vividly recount how nervous she was, and how she thought she was going to faint/be sick. But if you ask her why she did it, she'll tell you because she new it was the "right thing to do." She felt it was what God would want her to do, even if she was incredibly nervous and uncomfortable doing it. Crystal's story is an example of something relatively small that required action on her part. A story from my own childhood will illustrate something larger that actually required inaction.
Many people know that my parents were divorced early on in my life, and I've shared that throughout my life I grew up with them going to court fighting for custody over me. One part of the story I haven't shared, occured when I was right around 12 years old. My father had decided that if I went to the courts and asked to come live with him, they might respect my wishes and give him full custody. He convinced me this would be better for everyone involved and so all that was left was letting my mom and stepfather know of my decision. I still remember telling my mom and stepfather that I had decided I wanted to live with my father and only visit them. They both cried (I had never seen my stepfather cry before) and my mom immediately said she wouldn't let it happen, that my father was a terrible parent, and then ordered me to my room for bed. In hindsight, her response is perfectly reasonable. I can't even imagine what it would be like if one of my own children came to me and informed me they no longer wanted to live with me!
To a pre-teen like myself, her telling me I couldn't go and live with my dad, only made me want to do it more, and so that night I resolved that I would soon be living with my dad, not these terrible, oppressive people! You see my mom and stepfather were fairly strict parents, who made sure they always new what I was up to, and had a good deal of control over what I did and didn't do growing up. This fact makes what happened next even more unusual. The next day when I got home from school, my mom sat me down to talk, and told me that she'd been up the night before praying and pleading with God. She shared that although she thought it was a bad idea, that she wouldn't try to stop me if I wanted to go live with my father. She explained that she felt like God was telling her to let go, to trust God and trust that God would take care of me. My mother understood her "cross" to be giving me up to God. She felt God's call leading her toward trusting in God's wisdom and allowing God to take care of the situation.
To finish the story off for you, I didn't end up living with my father. By refraining from controlling the situation, my mom actually got the outcome she desired. Not because of her wisdom, but because of her willingness to accept God's wisdom. Sometimes taking up our cross means to pick something up, to act. Other times to take up our cross actually means to let something go. In all cases, to take up your cross is supposed to bring you closer to God.
My prayer for each and every one of you is that you not only come to better understand what it means to "take up your cross", to not only better understand what it means to be a follower/disciple of Christ, but that you are able to begin to more fully put these things into practice. My sincere hope is that when you go before your Creator, you are able to proclaim that indeed your cross was taken up (Take Up Thy Cross).
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sermon Sampler (March 15th) - Grace Upon Grace
Have you ever listened to someone drone on and on about how great God is, and how God's grace is so amazing, only to wonder what in the world they're talking about? Have you ever listened to someone talk about how God's grace has changed their lives, and then wondered why it hasn't changed your life? Or maybe you're like me, and you find yourself wondering if you really need this thing called grace at all.
The whole notion of grace can soemtimes be confusing. What is grace? What does it look like? Can I taste it? Does it smell good? Well I don't think you can taste it, and I'm fairly certain it doesn't have much of a smell, but grace is good and the best thing about it, is it's FREE! You see, God is perfect without fault or blemish, and God wants everyone else to be the same way. But unfortunately people aren't perfect, and we often fall into error (sin). So God gave people the Law (read rules) as a guide for what they should and shouldn't do. People still made mistakes, they still fell into sin, and therefore were missing the mark of being perfect like God. In an effort to make a way for humanity to be without sin, God provided grace. This grace, according to our gospel lesson (John 1:14-18) came in the form of God's son Jesus. Grace essentially looks at the law, and a person who falls short of the law, and offers another way...a second (and third, and fourth, and fifth, etc) chance if you will. Grace forgives our mistakes, and encourages us to keep walking toward God seeking deeper and fuller relationship.
A great example of grace, and especially the idea of receiving "grace upon grace" (1:16), is the story of a walk I took several years ago. It was mother's day, and our family had gone out to lunch in Owego (roughly 15 miles from our home in Berkshire). After our meal, we had all gotten back in the car, and I had promptly gotten into a disagreement with my mother. Soon after the disagreement had begun, I decided I could no longer be in the same vehicle with her, so I opened the car door (while we were stopped a red light) and got out. I still remember my mother and my sister pleading with me to get back into the car, while my father was reaching behind him to close and lock the door!
They drove away, and I began the 15 mile walk home. At first I was angry with my mother, and blamed the entire situation on her. Somewhere around mile 5 or 6 I began to notice that my footwear wasn't really the best for walking (I had on a poorly fitting pair of boots). By the time I hit mile 7 or 8 I was in a great deal of pain from blisters that had appeared all over my feet. At this point I had moved beyond blaming my mother or my father, and had begun to blame myself for being so foolish as to get out of the car, for not having the foresight to wear more comfortable footwear, and mostly for fighting with my mother in the first place...on Mother's Day!
As I neared the town of Newark Valley (10 miles from where I had begun, but still 5 miles from where I was going), I was in a lot of pain, and it had begun to grow dark. Now I was faced with a decision, should I continue walking and hope that I hit a second wind, should I begin to hitch hike and hope I got a ride, or should I break down and call home to plead for a ride. I debated this for nearly a mile, before I finally decided to swallow any pride that was left, and call home. To my great relief, my mother answered (I was sure if my father did, he would have just as quickly hung up on me) and she agreed to pick me up. When she arrived, I was glad to see her and also ashamed that I had ruined her day, and then couldn't even walk the rest of the way home. I apologized, and begged for her forgiveness. To her credit, not only did she forgive me, but the next day it was as if the incident had never happened. She truly forgave me, and did not hold the offense against me.
This story is an example of "grace upon grace". It wasn't just that I got into a fight with my mom, but that I did it on Mother's Day, and then that I ruined the rest of the day by getting out of the car, and then called her to come rescue me (from a situation entirely created by my own foolish pride). At this point I want to be clear, that grace, while bringing complete and total forgiveness for our sins, in no way means that we can sin without consequence. In my story I mentioned blisters and great pain while walking home. Even though I was almost immediately forgiven by my mother, I had to suffer with the consequences of my actions, those blisters, for nearly a week after!
And yet, just as in my story, God too is ready and willing to come and rescue us from ourselves. God does not want us to be punished, to live in fear or in shame. God wants to forgive us, God wants to offer that free grace to each and every one of us, but we have to ask for it. Many of us are still on that road, walking home, either thinking we can do it on our own, or too afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid, don't be stubborn. God offers us grace to help us, to forgive us, to ultimately draw us closer to Him and to one another. Stop walking and make that call. Ask for the grace that will be freely given.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
The whole notion of grace can soemtimes be confusing. What is grace? What does it look like? Can I taste it? Does it smell good? Well I don't think you can taste it, and I'm fairly certain it doesn't have much of a smell, but grace is good and the best thing about it, is it's FREE! You see, God is perfect without fault or blemish, and God wants everyone else to be the same way. But unfortunately people aren't perfect, and we often fall into error (sin). So God gave people the Law (read rules) as a guide for what they should and shouldn't do. People still made mistakes, they still fell into sin, and therefore were missing the mark of being perfect like God. In an effort to make a way for humanity to be without sin, God provided grace. This grace, according to our gospel lesson (John 1:14-18) came in the form of God's son Jesus. Grace essentially looks at the law, and a person who falls short of the law, and offers another way...a second (and third, and fourth, and fifth, etc) chance if you will. Grace forgives our mistakes, and encourages us to keep walking toward God seeking deeper and fuller relationship.
A great example of grace, and especially the idea of receiving "grace upon grace" (1:16), is the story of a walk I took several years ago. It was mother's day, and our family had gone out to lunch in Owego (roughly 15 miles from our home in Berkshire). After our meal, we had all gotten back in the car, and I had promptly gotten into a disagreement with my mother. Soon after the disagreement had begun, I decided I could no longer be in the same vehicle with her, so I opened the car door (while we were stopped a red light) and got out. I still remember my mother and my sister pleading with me to get back into the car, while my father was reaching behind him to close and lock the door!
They drove away, and I began the 15 mile walk home. At first I was angry with my mother, and blamed the entire situation on her. Somewhere around mile 5 or 6 I began to notice that my footwear wasn't really the best for walking (I had on a poorly fitting pair of boots). By the time I hit mile 7 or 8 I was in a great deal of pain from blisters that had appeared all over my feet. At this point I had moved beyond blaming my mother or my father, and had begun to blame myself for being so foolish as to get out of the car, for not having the foresight to wear more comfortable footwear, and mostly for fighting with my mother in the first place...on Mother's Day!
As I neared the town of Newark Valley (10 miles from where I had begun, but still 5 miles from where I was going), I was in a lot of pain, and it had begun to grow dark. Now I was faced with a decision, should I continue walking and hope that I hit a second wind, should I begin to hitch hike and hope I got a ride, or should I break down and call home to plead for a ride. I debated this for nearly a mile, before I finally decided to swallow any pride that was left, and call home. To my great relief, my mother answered (I was sure if my father did, he would have just as quickly hung up on me) and she agreed to pick me up. When she arrived, I was glad to see her and also ashamed that I had ruined her day, and then couldn't even walk the rest of the way home. I apologized, and begged for her forgiveness. To her credit, not only did she forgive me, but the next day it was as if the incident had never happened. She truly forgave me, and did not hold the offense against me.
This story is an example of "grace upon grace". It wasn't just that I got into a fight with my mom, but that I did it on Mother's Day, and then that I ruined the rest of the day by getting out of the car, and then called her to come rescue me (from a situation entirely created by my own foolish pride). At this point I want to be clear, that grace, while bringing complete and total forgiveness for our sins, in no way means that we can sin without consequence. In my story I mentioned blisters and great pain while walking home. Even though I was almost immediately forgiven by my mother, I had to suffer with the consequences of my actions, those blisters, for nearly a week after!
And yet, just as in my story, God too is ready and willing to come and rescue us from ourselves. God does not want us to be punished, to live in fear or in shame. God wants to forgive us, God wants to offer that free grace to each and every one of us, but we have to ask for it. Many of us are still on that road, walking home, either thinking we can do it on our own, or too afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid, don't be stubborn. God offers us grace to help us, to forgive us, to ultimately draw us closer to Him and to one another. Stop walking and make that call. Ask for the grace that will be freely given.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
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