Sometimes I preach: Advent, John 1:1-14 (SSUMC 12/7/14)

Before anything was, when there was only darkness and chaos, there was the Word, and through the Word, God spoke and from the Word came light. And God saw that it was good. I bring this up because I think it is important during this Advent season when we sing and celebrate the light of the world, to at least acknowledge to ourselves that at times we have chosen the darkness... When there was only darkness and chaos. There was the Word. This is where John’s story begins. And the Word was life and life was the light of all people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the light came into the world, but the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. We have a complicated relationship to light. History has shown this to be true. The Bible itself shows this to be true We know light is what we need, but light can unsettling Because the light shows you who you really are; shows the world for what it really is. Shows what you are not yet, but could be. It reminds me of the story in Exodus, where Moses comes down from speaking with the Lord and his face is glowing. It is literally radiant. And the people are so afraid that they beg him to cover his face. Sometimes, when faced with a glimmer of Light that created us, we turn away and beg for it to be hidden. We go and hide in the darkness. Men hated the light and loved the darkness, because their deeds were evil. And some days, it is can be pretty comfortable. We can wrap ourselves in the blanket of privilege and hide in the closet. And sure you might run into some stuff, no one can see your fears, and your insecurities and your misdeeds. I think it’s important to say that out loud: that sometimes we have loved the darkness more than we have loved the light. And yet, I think we know that despite the times we have turned to hide in the darkness, we know that we were not made for hiding in closets, Deep down, even if we are scared, that we were not made for darkness...

(Listen to the rest of the sermon here)

Sometimes I Preach: Walking with God (Back to Jerusalem), Luke 24:11-35 (SSUMC 8/24/14)

Because we believe that God walks with you down the road, surrounding your whole life with grace. We proclaim that before you took your first steps, God was with you. Even when you’re walking away from the place you should be, God meets you on the road. And if we were being technical here, I would tell you this is what prevenient grace looks like. This is the dawning of salvation in your heart. This is your heart burning within you even though you don’t know why.

This is the beginning of your walk with God, the part of the walk when you don’t realize God is with you.

But we also proclaim that we believe that when the moment comes when you realize you are in the presence of the resurrected Christ, it changes you.

John Wesley would say this is the dual moment of your justification and regeneration. But if that sounds a little ridiculous, let me put it this way. This is the moment you wake up. This is the moment who see Christ for who he is, see yourself for you are and see the world that Christ has issued in. This is the moment you are reborn.

This moment when you see the resurrected Lord in the breaking of the bread.


Listen to the rest of the sermon here



image credit: Walk to Emmaus Stain Glass in Pitman UMC's sanctuary (pitmanumc.org)

Sometimes I preach: The Reason Behind All This Time and Sand, Exodus 19:1-6,32:1-6 (SSUMC on 6/1514)

We started a new sermon series this week at SSUMC called Painting Pictures of Egypt, based on various stories from Exodus and Numbers featuring the Israelites during their time in the wilderness. I had the privilege of kicking us off last Sunday. If you are interested in the song I mention at the very beginning which the series is based on, you can hear it here

"We meet the Israelites here on the third new moon after they had gone out from Egypt. Three months had come and gone since the water of the Nile turned the blood, frogs and locusts filled the sky, since the Angel of the Lord swept through Egypt but passed over them, since they marched out Egypt with gold and silver and song. Three months since the Red Sea split in two and they walked across on dry land. Three months since they watched Pharoah’s army swept away in that same water.

Three months.

And we meet them in the wilderness.

Three months already they’ve been walking around here.

And yet today we find them camping at the base of a mountain in the wilderness.

And the glory of the God surrounds that mountain and it burns with the power of God, which they have been witness to, time and time again.

God is about to call Moses up on there on that  mountain and God’s about to hand down the covenant, the 10 commandments, the stone tablets, the whole shebang.

And as he goes, Moses leaves them with a promise from the mouth of God. “That I  who delivered you from Egypt, who brought you here on eagles’ wings, I will make you my people.”

And then Moses goes up. And the people are left

Still in the wilderness.

For forty days.

Waiting at the base of the mountain .

Still in the wilderness.

After forty days, the word goes out that Moses is late. That maybe he’s dead. That maybe its over.

That maybe this mountain in the wilderness is as far as they get..."

Listen to the rest of the sermon here

Sometimes I preach: When Jesus Says Things We Wish He Wouldn't, Matt 5:21-37 (SSUMC on 2/16/14)

Warning: I complain about the weather because let's face it. Winter is terrible, even not that bad Georgia winters. 

"The Jesus I picture in my head wears sandals all the time so obviously, he couldn't have been cold, right?

And it was strangely comforting as I thought about it. That somewhere in time, Jesus had once maybe been outside in 35 degree rain.

And it wasn't the Jesus I pictured.

But following Jesus is like sometimes. We have these  sometimes even unspoken expectations and pictures of who Jesus is in our minds, and every now then we encounter something that forces us to readjust our image."

Listen to it here

image source: http://www.kennethdowdy.com/iconography13.html

The Bible is not a love letter written directly to you

"The Bible is God's Love Letter written just for me!"

Seriously, guys. Stop saying that. Stop thinking it. Stop pinning things about it.

Because when you say stuff like that, the internet produce scary pictures like this one.

I blame you for this image. 

Traumatizing images aside, stop saying it because it makes you look like you haven't actually read the Bible.

Because if the Bible was actually was God's love letter written to me personally, I might think that somebody needs to explain to God what exactly love letters are supposed to look like...

Because this "love letter" has genocide in it. Floods. Destruction. And a whole bunch of gore, blood and death. (Don't believe me, flip open to the book of Judges...seriously, that book is crazy town)

And that's just the violent stuff. This love letter also has page after page of rules, genealogies, measurements, clothing patterns, debates about food laws, and the like.

Nothing says love like all that, right?

Even Jesus, the hero of our story, gets a bit snarky at times. Seriously, read what he actually says in there sometimes. Sometimes its all love and all inspiring, but sometimes he talks about cutting off your hands and throwing them into fire or throwing mill stones around people necks.

Oh and then there's Paul and all I'm going to say is that I'm pretty sure he would roll over in his grave if someone called him a romance author.

When you try to make the Bible become a love story written just for you, you are not getting the whole story of who God is and what the Bible can do. You end up ignoring its complexity, the multiplicity of its voices. You lose out on the stories, the tragedies, the victories.

You lose out on the anger. You lose out on the despair. Which makes the hope you find its pages lose some of its strength.

And no, I'm not saying that God's love isn't in the Bible. No, with every ounce of me I believe that Bible contains the words that lead to Life. God is love, friends and by reading its pages, I hope you begin to realize that God loves you and your neighbor and your enemy and all of creation.  And there are days when I know that the Spirit will use 3,000 year old words to speak directly to the deepest places of your heart.

But that doesn't mean the sole purpose of the Bible is to be love letter written by God directly to you.

It's a collection of stories and letters that span centuries, written for different reasons in different places. Different voices shouting through history to teach us a little bit more about who God is and about who we are and who we could be.

Barbara Brown Taylor describes the Bible like this:

[Because of the Bible] I am not an orphan. I have a community, a history, a future, a God. The Bible is my birth certificate and my family tree, but it is more: it is the living vein that connects me to my Maker, pumping me the stories I need to know about who we have been to one another from the beginning of time, and who we are now, and who we shall be when time is no more.” -   from This Preaching Life 

So call it your birth certificate. Call it your family tree. Call it your connection to the past and to the future.

Call it crazy and lovely and scary and life-giving and encouraging and difficult.

But please, stop calling it a love letter.

It is so much more.