Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Readings for Sunday, November 1, 2015

Hello Everyone,

First, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour on Saturday night before you go to bed. Daylight Savings Time is over. If you forget then you will be an hour early to church, which may not be a bad thing.

This Sunday will be week 8 of a 9 week sermon series. Our focus is “On the Mend: Healing Power” and we will be using Mark 10:35-45 for our text. Here is what I wrote two weeks ago:

Mark 10:35-45 – OK, someone needs to slap the disciples, especially James and John, up side the head to knock a little sense into them. (Special Agent Leroy Gibbs on NCIS always did that to Agents DiNozzo and McGee when they were being a bit dense.) James and John approach Jesus to secure the seats of honor in God’s coming Kingdom. Jesus wants to know if they can “drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I will be baptized with?” Without really understanding, they of course reply, “Sure!” When the others hear what they have requested they get angry. Wouldn’t you? Once again Jesus tells them that they must become servants to be great and a slave if they want to be first. Jesus will be the ransom for many. With those last three verses in mind, go back and reread Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

This Sunday is “All Saints Sunday”. The Scriptures assigned for this day are:

Isaiah 25:6-9 – The prophet anticipates the time when God will be victorious over death. God will wipe away all tears and set a feast before all peoples.

Psalm 24 – What belongs to God? Everything and everyone. Who shall enter the temple of the Lord? Only those who have clean hands, pure hearts, are free from idolatry, and who do not swear lies. So who is left to enter the temple? Those whom God has vindicated and saved. Who is this King of Glory?

Revelation 21:1-6a – The prophet sees a time when God’s Holy City descends to earth and becomes the home for all to live with God. Death, mourning, crying, and pain will be defeated and God will wipe every tear away. (Does this sound vaguely familiar?) God will declare that God is the beginning and the end; the Alpha and the Omega.

John 11:32-44 – This is the familiar story of Jesus raising Lazarus from death. The larger story is 11:1-44 as the Lectionary skips the actual dying of Lazarus and Jesus’ delay in returning to Bethany to see his friend. We even skip the verse where Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

And, if that is not enough Bible passages to read, Sunday is also the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost and the readings are:

Ruth 1:1-18 – This is the opening and setup to the longer story of Ruth who was Jewish only by marriage and who would be the great-grandmother of King David. A man and his wife, Elimelech and Naomi, are unable to make a living in Judah during a severe famine so they moved to Moab. Unfortunately, Elimelech dies while in Moab. Their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, then marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. They continue to live in Moab for ten years but the couples remain childless. Tragedy strikes and the two sons of Naomi die, leaving the three women to fend for themselves. Naomi decides to move back to Judah where she has relatives. She sends the her two daughters-in-law back to their families. Orpah goes but Ruth insists on staying with Naomi. Ruth’s famous speech is in verses 16-17.

Psalm 146 – The psalmist praises God for all the things God has done to help the helpless. In our day and age of blaming the poor, turning away from those in need, closing borders to immigrants, and not delivering food to the starving, this psalm should be a corrective to our myopia. The Lord executes justice for the oppressed, feeds the hungry, sets prisoners free, gives sight to the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, watches over the strangers, and upholds the widows and orphans. How does God do all these things if not through us.

Hebrews 9:11-14 – This is a bit complicated and convoluted but I think it can be summed up in the old gospel hymn, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”

Mark 12:28-34 – Throughout Mark the Pharisees, scribes and priests challenge Jesus with questions to try and trip him up. Jesus always bests them. Again a scribe asks Jesus a question but when Jesus give a great answer, an answer most of the Rabbis of the time knew, the scribe is impressed. The question? “Which commandment is first of all?” The answer is not in the Ten Commandments but the Big 10 are summed up in the first and second commandment: Love God and Love Neighbor. I would also add that they go together and cannot be separate. To love God is to love others. And to love others, your neighbors, is to love God. As we think about these things let’s not forget one small detail in Jesus’ response: “as yourself”. Loving yourself is not some kind of narcissistic “me only” way, but it is the deep knowledge that God knows, forgives, and loves you. When we know that God loves us we can accept ourselves and in turn accept and love others.

Have a great week serving God by serving others.

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Gary Taylor

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Readings for Sunday, October 25, 2015

Hello Everyone,

We continue with our Sermon Series “On the Mend”. This week’s theme is “Healing Holdouts” and will focus on Mark 10:17-31. Here is what I wrote two week ago:

Mark 10:17-31 – The very familiar story of the young man who wants to know how to gain eternal life? Jesus gives a two part answer: only God is good and keep the commandments. “Yes,” the young man says, “I do all that.” “One more thing, then,” Jesus says, “sell everything, give to the poor, and follow me.” Well that was actually three things but the young man was shocked (SHOCKED, I say) and went away grieving for he was wealthy. It is very hard for the wealthy to be a part of God’s Kingdom. Our churches pay me a little over $40,000 a year in income. I earn more money than 98% of the world’s peoples. (Check your income here: how-rich-you-are) How then can I be faithful, follow Jesus, and serve God? The answer to my problem: “For God, all things are possible.” Question: does your wealth get in the way of faith or does your faith guide how you use wealth?

Some additional thoughts: 1) We don’t know what the young man ultimately decided. We assume he didn’t sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor but Mark never tells us. What if, after a period of reflection and contemplation, he did do what Jesus asked and became part of the fledgling Christian community we read about in Acts 2 and 4? 2) Let me reframe the question. Does your wealth get in the way of faithfully following the Way of Jesus or does the Holy Spirit guide your faith in the use of your wealth?

The Lectionary Readings for October 25, 2015 are:

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 – As we saw last week, God responds to Job and his friends in Chapters 38-41. Job does try to say something in 41:4-5 but it is not enough. In our reading Job gives a slightly better response to God by acknowledging that he cannot understand God’s ways and he repents. The verses that are skipped are God’s rebuke of Job’s friends and their poor counsel. The final verses report that Job’s fortunes are restored twofold and he and his wife have ten more children, three daughters and seven sons. Aside: This means that Job’s wife, and only one wife is mentioned, had twenty children in total. Maybe we should feel more sorry for her than him.

Psalm 34:1-8 (19-22) – The psalmist promises to praise God all the time because the Lord has answered his prayers and delivered him from adversity. In verse 8, the psalmists asks us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” How can we taste the Lord and how can we see him?

Jeremiah 31:7-9 – The Lord says that he will gather all of Israel together, even those dispersed to the furthest parts of the world centuries earlier. It won’t be just the strong and able-bodied, but everyone including the blind, lame, pregnant women, and even women who are in the midst of labor. They will return with God’s consolation and become God’s children.

Psalm 126 – The psalmist rejoices that when God restores the fortunes of Jerusalem joy and laughter will return to the people and others will note what God has done.

Hebrews 7:23-28 – This continues the author’s argument that Jesus is the great High Priest that does away with our need for someone to offer sacrifices (the literal killing of animals) for our sins. There were many priests because they could only serve until they died, but now there is only One High Priest because he lives eternally. Before, the high priests had to continually sacrifice animals to redeem themselves and others from their sins, but now there is no need for sacrifices because the Great High Priests gave himself as the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus could do this because he was “holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted in heaven.” It has been posited that ALL human societies began with a human sacrifice and they maintained peace with continued human sacrifice. Eventually animals were substituted for humans in the sacrificial rituals (see Genesis 22). Different societies made the substitute sooner than others (European explorers “discovered” societies in the Americas and Pacific Islands that practiced human sacrifice as late as the Twentieth Century.) According to Hebrews, Jesus is the sacrifice that makes all sacrifices obsolescent.

Mark 10:46-52 – Jesus and the disciples are nearing Jerusalem and they pass through Jericho. As they are leaving they find blind man named Bartimaeus. (Mark is redundant here when he writes “Bartimaeus son of Timaeus”. “Bar” means “son of”. Ha Ha). This is a simple story: Jesus leaves Jericho; Bart cries out; the crowds shush him; Bart cries louder; Jesus calls him over; Bart jumps up throwing off his cloak; Jesus asks him what he wants; Bart answers, “Let me see”; and Jesus heals him with a few words. Questions: are we bold enough to cry out and name our need? Will God answer the way we want? Will we follow Jesus no matter what the answer?

May the Lord Bless you in your work and in your home as you serve your neighbors.

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Gary Taylor

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Readings for Sunday, October 18, 2015

Hello Everyone,

Peace United Church and Grey Eagle UMC will continue with the sermon series “On the Mend”. This week’s topic is “Healing Trust.” Has anyone in your life broken your trust? Perhaps a spouse, or a child, or a friend? Perhaps it was the church or a pastor that broke your trust. How hard was it to reestablish that trust? We will be using Mark 10:2-16 as our starting point. Here is what I said about this passage 2 weeks ago:

Mark 10:2-16 – This is the difficult reading about divorce. The reason the alternate Old Testament reading from Genesis 2 was chosen was that Jesus quotes a line from it. Many people use this quote by Jesus along with the reading from Genesis 2 to argue that marriage is only for opposite sex couples, heterosexuals. However, the issue before Jesus in this reading is not same-sex marriage but the easy availability of divorce in which women were easily cast aside by the men of Jesus’ day. Note, Jewish law allowed only the man to divorce his wife but Roman law also allowed a woman to divorce her husband. The two divorces and remarriage by King Herod and his wife Herodias was what John the Baptist railed against and probably what led to him being beheaded (Mark 6:17-29).

I must add that in the last four verses children are again seen as vulnerable. The disciples want to keep them away but Jesus say otherwise. We also should receive the Kingdom of God like a little child. They are vulnerable and trusting. Is this where we begin in “Healing Trust”?

Our appointed lectionary readings for October 18 are:

Job 38:1-7 (34-41) – After 36 chapters of listening to his, so called, friends and defending his innocence Job finally hears from God. What does Job hear from the whirlwind? Well, not the answer he was looking for. Job wanted to question God for the misery he was suffering but here God sounds a bit indignant (“Gird up your loins like a man”). God asks Job “Where were you?” at the creation of all that exists. This is deep stuff but it is not an answer to Job’s suffering and it goes on through 41:34 (with a short interjection by Job at 40:3-5). I don’t know about you but this sounds like God is grilling Job. The result: Job withers under the questioning. Next week: Job’s final response and God’s restoration of Job.

Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c – With one small exception (at verse 35a), the Psalmist praises God for God’s good creation and provision throughout the entire Psalm.

Isaiah 53:4-12 – This is the last 2/3s of the Fourth Servant Song of Isaiah (52:13-53:12). You might as well read the entire Song. How does this line up with what you know of Jesus’ last week of life before his crucifixion?

Psalm 91:9-16 – This Psalm is the bases of a very popular Christian song “On Eagle’s Wings”. How does the promise in verse 9 and 10 that for those who love the Lord God no evil or scourge will happen to them fit with Job’s experience or the suffering servant? Or is this a Psalm of hope in which God will be present with us through times of “evil and scourge”? “Those who love me, I will deliver (through the difficult times?)” and “I will be with them in trouble”.

Hebrews 5:1-10 – First off, who is this guy Melchizedek? He was a king and a high priest of Salem (Jerusalem) in the days of Abram (Abraham). You can read a little about him in Genesis 14:17-20. He is also referenced in Psalm 110:4. In the days of the Temple, the High Priests made atonement for the people at Yom Kippur. Prior to that he had to make an atoning sacrifice for himself. This atoning process had to happen every year. The author of Hebrews argues that since Jesus was without sin there was no need for a sacrifice for himself. He then became the one-time sacrifice for everyone’s sin, “the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

Mark 10:35-45 – OK, someone needs to slap the disciples, especially James and John, up side the head to knock a little sense into them. (Special Agent Leroy Gibbs on NCIS always did that to Agents DiNozzo and McGee when they were being a bit dense.) James and John approach Jesus to secure the seats of honor in God’s coming Kingdom. Jesus wants to know if they can “drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I will be baptized with?” Without really understanding, they of course reply, “Sure!” Whey the others hear what they have requested they get angry. Wouldn’t you? Once again Jesus tells them that they must become servants to be great and a slave if they want to be first. Jesus will be the ransom for many. With those last three verses in mind, go back and reread Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

Have a blessed week serving God as you serve your neighbor.

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Gary Taylor

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Readings for Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

We are continuing our Sermon Series “On the Mend” with the subject of “Healing Division”. We will be using Mark 9:38-50 for our scripture. Here is what I said about this passage two weeks ago:

Mark 9:38-50 – At the beginning of this reading, John complains that there is another person, not one of the disciples, who is casting out demons using Jesus’ name. Jesus says to leave that person alone. Anyone who does something good using Jesus’ name will no longer be able to speak against Jesus. He also says, “Those who are not against us are for us.” He goes on to say that no one should cause a child (referring back to 9:37) to stumble. Please note that the passage from 42 to 48 has some interesting translations. The words “stumbling block” and “stumble” is a form of the Greek word “skandalon” which is related to our English word “scandal”. It is also translated as “take offense”. The word “hell” is the Greek word “Gehenna” which is a transliteration of the Jewish name of the garbage dump, which was continually burning, just outside Jerusalem and where several child sacrifices happened (see 2 Chronicles 28:3 and 33:6). Finally, notice the verses. In our modern translations verses 44 and 46 are missing and there should be a footnote about that in your Bible. The end of our passage Jesus commands us to be at peace with each other. So, how does scandal lead to the fiery garbage dump? Why is it important that we remain at peace with each other?

The Lectionary Readings assigned for October 11 are:

Job:23:1-9, 16-17 – Someone once said that Job would have been better off if his friends hadn’t joined him. Their basic argument was that Job must have done something wrong to deserve God’s punishment. (Bad Joke: Who is the shortest person in the Bible? One of Job’s friends, Bildad who was Shuhite (shoe height). Ha-ha.) In chapter 22, Eliphaz argues that Job’s wickedness was great because of all the pain Job is going through. Our reading this week is Job’s reply. Job says that he wishes he knew where God could be found. Then he would lay out his case and listen for God’s answers. The trouble is, Job cannot find God. Question: When troubles come your way, where do you find God?

Psalm 22:1-15 – You may recognize the first words of this beautiful Psalm as the words Jesus spoke while dying on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The entire Psalm is 31 verses and the stanzas alternate between cries of despair and words of comfort. Verse 3, “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Verse 6, “Bit I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.” Followed by verse 9 “Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.” Question: When you hear the first verse spoken by Jesus do you also hear the words of comfort and deliverance that are also part of this Psalm?

OR Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 – Some tough words from a prophet who saw the wealthy taking advantage of the poor. He call on the wealthy to “seek the Lord and live” (6) and to “hate evil and love good and establish justice” (15). In between these verses he lays it on pretty thick. Question: How can we who have much use what we have to help those with very little? How can we stand up for justice?

Psalm 90: 12-17 – These are the last 6 verses of the Psalm. The psalmist asks God to teach him (and us) so we may gain in wisdom, to have compassion when we fail, to make us glad in the future, and to work through us for all God’s children. Question (see verse 14): How can we allow God’s love fill us in the morning as we rise so that we may do God’s work all day?

Hebrews 4:12-16 – There seems to be two unrelated thoughts in this passage: the Word of God being living and active and a great high priest, Jesus, who has suffered as we have. What if these thoughts are related? The Word of God, active and cutting through all our innermost defenses, knows us to the very core. Since all of our hurts and sins are known, and Jesus has been tempted as we have and has experienced our pains (all without sinning) then we truly can be bold (confident?) and approach the “throne of grace” and receive God’s mercy. Question: If God’s Word knows you, how can you NOT receive God’s grace?

Mark 10:17-31 – The very familiar story of the young man who wants to know how to gain eternal life? Jesus gives a two part answer: only God is good and keep the commandments. “Yes,” the young man says, “I do all that.” “One more thing, then,” Jesus says, “sell everything, give to the poor, and follow me.” Well that was actually three things but the young man was shocked (SHOCKED, I say) and went away grieving for he was wealthy. It is very hard for the wealthy to be a part of God’s Kingdom. Our churches pay me a little over $40,000 a year in income. I earn more money than 98% of the world’s peoples. (Check your income here: how-rich-you-are) How then can I be faithful, follow Jesus, and serve God? The answer to my problem: “For God, all things are possible.” Question: does your wealth get in the way of faith or does your faith guide how you use wealth?

Have a great week serving God by serving neighbors.

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Gary Taylor