On the Way to Wonder

Jesus’ final words before he ascended were, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)” Yesterday, forty days after Easter, Jesus finished his farewell to his followers with these comforting words and he was taken up to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.  We call it Ascension Day and remember it with gratitude.  The promise of presence “always” was Jesus’ closing words.

The gift of presence is one of the most wonderful gifts we can give another.  I heard this bit of wisdom as I trained to be a chaplain but it was as I sat with my husband who could no long communicate with speech that I gradually began to understand more.  So often words are inadequate.  The pain of grief is too deep or the ecstasy of joy is beyond words. We try to capture a sunsets in paintings or sounds in music but somehow it always is a bit short and words are no better.  We cannot explain how this gift and awareness of God’s presence is possible.  But it is true.

Paul expresses this belief in Romans 8: 38, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus or Lord.”  It does not depend on my feelings.  It does not depend on my ability to see or touch or hear or taste.  Likewise it is not conditional on my good behavior.  God does not reward  me for being good like Santa Clause.  Nor does he send me to my bedroom, into exile, if I’m bad.  God walks with us through the ups and downs and “through the valley of the shadow of death.”  He is with us always.

This promise is not place specific.  Many like to have designated “sacred spaces” where they focus all their attention on God and their spiritual ears open to listen.  That may be a church or a designated chair with a cup of coffee where we regularly meet with God.  Jesus does not name a place but promises to be wherever and whenever we want to meet with him.  Perhaps we are uncertain because of the silence but perhaps that is when he is listening the most intently. 

This presence is not age bound like social security.  We don’t have to qualify or wear a mask.  We do not even need an intermediary present.  God’s presence is with us “always.”  We are not alone.  We are not abandoned.  We are not forgotten.  We are not orphaned.  Jesus promises presence “always,” even to the end of the ages!  Thank you, Lord.

“Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:20)” 

Yesterday we chatted about Jesus’ farewell when he tells his followers to go and make desciples and teach them.  Jesus does not stop there.  He says to teach others to obey everything Jesus commanded.  That is a mouthful.  Netflix has been featuring a movie “Megan Leavy” and I watched it yesterday.  A young adult woman, Megan, grieving the death of her good friend, living with stepparents,  and fed up with life, joins the Marines.  She fights authority but must submit and gets teamed up with a huge German Shepherd that is very aggressive that must learn to submit to her leadership.  They become a bomb sniffing team in Iraq and save lives.  The story, though, shows how a deep bond is formed between dog and woman as both learn what “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded” means.  They are hit by an IUD and she leaves the service but the dog must keep working though hurt and is finally retired and she is allowed to adopt it.  It’s a good tear jerker but true.

I suspect Jesus was not encouraging his followers to teach theology or to teach information about God in the same way we learn facts about the history of the United States to become citizens.  Jesus’ commandments are about relationships, not rules!  His commandments teach us how life works best.  The laws in the kingdom of heaven create a just and loving society because we love God with our whole heart and our neighbor as ourselves.

I think of Jesus’ commands like “come unto me all who are weary,” or “love your enemy and forgive those who persecute you,” or all the teachings in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount.  We are told to teach others to follow the life of Christ who laid down his life for others.  Medical ministries, educational ministries, orphanages, and welfare have grown institutionally out of this.

So perhaps the point of reflection today is to turn the flashlight inward and ask ourselves how well we are obeying God’s commandments.  Is there anyone in my life that I need to take the first step to repair relationship with?  There may even be someone deceased who abused me terribly or disappointed me terribly that I no longer have direct access to but to whom I could write a letter that I will then destroy after I turn that hurt over to God.  Life is not fair and we are not perfect and often misunderstandings arise because we do not walk in the other’s shoes, but forgiveness is a choice we are always free to make.

Jesus tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  As we “go” and “make disciples” – impact others of all types, encouraging love and forgiveness, we can become new creations, baptized in the name of the triune God.  There is hope for the future no matter how dismal the present may seem.  And best of all, God walks with us and we are not alone.  Thank you, Lord.

 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Matthew 28: 19-20

“Teaching.” When I was a teacher, I had a poster on my wall that I carried to Africa with me, “Give me a fish and I eat for a day.  Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.”  Jesus in his farewell to his followers tells them to “go and make disciples of all nations.”  He makes it clear that this involves baptism, a cleansing of the soul by God giving a new start in life and it involves teaching—learning the guidelines for a fulfilling life.  Observation is a slow tedious way to learn a new language, a new game, a new culture but having a friend who explains, who walks with you, who does not criticize, speeds up the learning process.  Teaching implies also that the student in learning will sometimes make mistakes and will not always be perfect.  The student does not have the expertise of the teacher and has not mastered the skills and knowledge.  I fear we often think that a profession of faith should be followed by a life that immediately changes and is perfect.  But in-fact making disciples involves teaching and it is a process.

Teaching is relational, takes time, and involves growth.  Perhaps reflecting on where you want to be growing in your faith right now would be a good exercise.  Perhaps identifying someone who might become a friend to teach you is worth pondering.  Find a book on a spiritual discipline you are interested in improving.  Go to a retreat center where you could be involved with a spiritual director?  Find an older saint to share with.   As a grandparent, I try to pray for specific character traits I would like to see growing in my grandchildren.  We are never too old or too young to be impacting lives of another.  Who are you wanting to teach and who are you learning from today?

 This Thursday we will celebrate the Ascension of Jesus but for now we still continue pondering Jesus’ farewell speech to his followers.  From the position of having all authority on earth and in heaven, he pointed to faith as a dynamic that is not to be just inward focused for the improvement of the followers’ lives but was intended to reach out, “go”, to make a better world.  “Making disciples” we pondered as a two sided coin.  A teacher has not taught until a student has learned.  Making a disciple or follower requires being a person worth following.  Perhaps integrity is the word we use to talk about congruency between belief and life style.  

Jesus continues, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)” Merriam-Webster defines baptize as “to purify or cleanse spiritually especially by a purging experience or ordeal.”  As Christians we baptize with water, symbolizing the washing of the soul or the cleansing of the soul by accepting the death of Christ as the payment for sin.  The baptized person is considered cleansed in God’s eyes.  It is the rite of initiation. Many churches consider it sacramental, a sacred act, for it involves confession of sin, confession of faith, and a physical act in response to God’s command. 

It is interesting to note that the Trinity is mentioned here as a unity.  Now we have the mystery named of the three-in-one God.  We baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. God, by nature is communal, and the initiation is  representing a reorientation of origin, reorientation of values, and reorientation of source of wisdom.  What a mouth full!  It is not joining a club by paying fees and learning secret codes.  It is not a reward for having achieved a level of intelligence or gathering of good deeds, and is not like having killed a lion so now you have proved yourself a man.  It is a reorientation of identity. The family, the sponsors and the congregation welcome the person into community and pledge relationship.

Religious wars have been fought over the meaning of these words and just what is implied and required.  I cannot answer all those debates but I can testify that the cleansing of one’s soul is a significant moment, whether as an infant or an adult, whether dipped or dunked, whether public or private.  Being cleansed and being given a fresh start in life is a gift worth celebrating.  Jesus charges his followers to go to others and bring health and cleanness in relationships with God and world. It is possible to start over, to wake up refreshed, and to experience forgiveness.  That for sure is good news.    

Last week we pondered the last post-resurrection appearance on the mountaintop in Galilee where Jesus gave his final talk to his followers.  “All authority in heaven on earth have been given me,” was his opener.  That is a powerful statement.  He is true God and true man.  What he is about to say is not a teary farewell speech.  

He charged them to “Go and make disciples.”  These words have inspired millions and deeply impacted the trajectory of Christianity and how we understand our faith today.  It is not passive but active, reaching out to others, and the flip side of that coin is that we are to live a life worth emanating. I noted it is also not a command to go judge who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.  It does not speak to a spiritual hierarchy.  We all have a gift to share with others. 

I cannot resist the temptation to share one of my most favorite contextualization songs,  “I Will Follow Him” which went to the top of the pop list in the early sixties during my high school years.  It was written as an instrumental about 1961 in Europe but went to the top in 1963 when sung by Little Peggy March who at age 15 became “the youngest female artist to have a U.S. chart-topping single.”

But it was Whoopi Goldberg singing this song at the end of Sister Act 1 that solidified it as one of my most favorites.  Whoopi plays a Vegas wantabee singer who witnesses a murder and is hidden in a San Francisco convent as a nun leading the choir.  She “contextualizes” songs she sang on stage by changing the words slightly and by putting them in a Christian setting so adding texture and depth to the lyrics. Martin Luther has been criticized as some of his songs similarly were make-overs from the bar.  “I Will Follow Him” captures the love of the disciple for the mentor and I believe captures in music some of the essence of this farewell by Jesus.

Love him, I love him, I love him
And where he goes I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I’ll follow

I will follow him, follow him wherever he may go
There isn’t an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep me away

I must follow him (follow him), ever since he touched my hand I knew
That near him I always must be
And nothing can keep him from me
He is my destiny (destiny)

I love him, I love him, I love him
And where he goes I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I’ll follow
He’ll always be my true love, my true love, my true love
From now until forever, forever, forever

I will follow him (follow him), follow him wherever he may go
There isn’t an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep, keep me away
Away from my love (I love him, I love him, I love him)

Sister Act- I Will Follow Him

First Reading: Acts 10:44-48

44While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Psalm: Psalm 98

Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands. (Ps. 98:4)

 1Sing a new song to the Lord, who has done marvelous things,

  whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory.

 2O Lord, you have made known your victory,

  you have revealed your righteousness in the sight of the nations.

 3You remember your steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel;

  all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

 4Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands;

  lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing. 

 5Sing to the Lord with the harp,

  with the harp and the voice of song.

 6With trumpets and the sound of the horn

  shout with joy before the | king, the Lord.

 7Let the sea roar, and all that fills it,

  the world and those who dwell therein.

 8Let the rivers clap their hands,

  and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord, who comes to judge the earth.

 9The Lord will judge the world with righteousness

  and the peoples with equity. 

Second Reading: 1 John 5:1-6

 1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

 6This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

Gospel: John 15:9-17

[Jesus said:] 9“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

CHILDREN’S SERMON:  The Lion and the Mouse by Aesop

“A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion’s nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her.

“Spare me!” begged the poor Mouse. “Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you.”

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter’s net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.

“You laughed when I said I would repay you,” said the Mouse. “Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion.

Let us pray.  Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, my Rock and my Redeemer.

SERMON

We are coming down to the end of the Easter season as we have been pondering the proofs that “The Lord is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed!”  There are historical reports that Jesus was seen and interacted with people that first Easter Sunday.  He was three dimensional and later invited Thomas to touch his wounds.  He ate with followers.  He appeared to Thomas to remove doubt and he met with Peter to remove guilt.  These were personal encounters not just announcements of victory over death.  We pondered if the risen Jesus was the same as his teachings as the incarnate Jesus.  We do find him to be our Good Shepherd today, helping us deal with the challenges of life.  Last week we looked at him as the True Vine, planted by the master gardener, God, and our source of strength and life as we abide in him.  We bear fruit and God is glorified.

Today our text again directs our thoughts to Jesus’ last words as he walked with his followers to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray before being crucified. Jesus is fleshing out what “abiding” and relationship to God mean as we seek the truth of the resurrection.  The lion let the mouse go but the story continues, and life continues after the cross and resurrection, after that moment of “faith” when we realize Jesus is real and alive now, when our baptismal vows become three dimensional.  The mouse hears the lion roaring in the jungle and realizes that relationship means involvement.

10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

Relationships are two way roads.  The days after the “I do” we start to flesh out the reality of marriage.  The days after the birth of that little child that is so cute of course, requires that we learn how to nurse or feed that demanding little person.  The new job requires “showing up”.  Faith is not just an event of conversion but is the beginning of a growing relationship with all the bumps and bruises that involves.  Jesus says we need to keep his commandments then we will learn how to abide in his love. 

Keeping commandments sounds dangerously close to being a “law abiding citizen” and that somehow challenges our independence and freedom to be our own boss. Faith has a growing edge.  Yes, I want to be happy, but must I forgive the person who has hurt me.  Yes, I want to be part of a meaningful community but I ponder that whole “tithing” thing and sharing my resources.  “Time shares” are good for vacation places but Sunday mornings, Bible study times, and prayer really ought to be a negotiable reality with God who understands how busy and stretched we are.

   Those early followers of the resurrection changed their world. They did “go public” about the reality of Christ in their life as they did life his way.  They continued to insist that he was risen.  They lived a life style that had the power to love the unlovable, the ability to die in the face of injustice, the strength to go the extra mile, and generally to live a life that was not based on natural human tendencies.  They were different from the Romans and the other people around them.  The followers were different from others because they abided in the love of God.  This abiding made a difference and marked their lives.  It was not natural for the lion to let his prey go.  Maybe he wasn’t hungry and maybe he didn’t eat mice but still, the lion did what God commands.  He did not punish the irritating mouse.

Perhaps our point of reflection this morning is to briefly ponder the Ten Commandments.  Six of the Ten Commandments start with, “do not.”  Don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t slander, don’t steal, and don’t covet.  Of course we don’t do those big no-nos but how are we with gossip, gluttony, or lust.  Hummmm.  God says we will be happier if we can refuse those private addictions that color our lives.  It is as we read Luther’s explanation of the commandments that we hear a more positive focus:  “We should fear and love God so that we do the positive and refuse the negative.”  We would like to be people that give life and don’t take it, value our marriages and friendships, say good things about people by putting the best construction on our speech, share our resources, and bath the other in love and not jealousy.  Living within the boundaries of God’s love, following his guidelines maximizes our lives and does not constrict us.  But it is also different from the values lived out in society today.  We live in a tension between our natural tendencies and our obedience to God.  The lion chooses to let the mouse go free which was against his nature and shows mercy.

Abiding in God’s love and obeying his commandments brings joy.  Jesus says the outcome is that our joy may be complete.  He does not say we get all A’s on the report card of life but we get joy.  The world would like us to think that joy comes from wealth, from beauty, from winning elections, from so many things in this world.  As I reflect, it seems that those moments are for the few but we can all know the joy of hugging a friend, the laughter of receiving an unexpected gift, or the contentment of being complemented by a friend.  As we abide in God’s love and share it with others, joy explodes in our lives.  As we refrain from living outside the boundaries and relinquish the right to revenge or lust or gossip, we experience more joy.  The price we pay is laying down our life for another but the reward we experience is the joy of relationship and the satisfaction of knowing God’s love.  The mouse never forgot the kindness of the lion.

15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

Did you hear that?  If we were in a church where we could put the kneeling step down in front of us, I would have you kneel and I would pull out a sword and dub you with a new title, “Sir or Madam Friend.”  Jesus says we are no longer servants but we are friends.  We know God’s plan.  There is a story about a news paper reporter who was interviewing three people working at a construction sight.  The reporter asked each, “What are you doing?”  The first responded, “Laying cement.”  The second responded, “  Making a wall.”  The third responded, “Building a cathedral.”  The third saw the big picture, the purpose of the work.  We are not just obeying God’s commandments. We are not just finding joy.  We are partnering with God to create the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom where love, joy, peace and all the fruits of the Spirit reign.  We are not just servants carrying out orders.  We are friends journeying together.  The lion roared in distress and the mouse was drawn to the his friend’s problem,  to help out of love and gratitude, in response to a relationship.

The term “friend” acknowledges our agency in our partnership with God.  Servants are hired and are expected to perform the “to do” list of the master but friends have personage, agency and voice in a relationship that allows for give-and-take as we each get to know the other better.  There may be tough times but friendship will stand the test of time.  Perhaps some of you know the fun of meeting friends you haven’t seen for a while and the joy of sharing a cup of coffee and catching up.  We go through those silent times when we may not feel that cozy mountaintop spiritual high and when we wonder if God is listening but then invariably spring comes and winter is over.  The mouse races to help the lion.

Friends know each other and there are no secrets.  I am free to share with God the burdens of my heart and God is free to burden me with a cause he is concerned about.  Christians reach out in times of disaster, disease, and need, not to earn “do-gooder points” so we get a better place in heaven but because we know God cares about a situation.   Friends generally share similar values and goals.  They are walking along the path of life together.  They may have different gifts, be of different ethnicities, even be of different ages but we are headed in the same direction.  We know that God is building a kingdom and we are his representatives.  We know his expectations and he knows our strengths and weaknesses.   Jesus shares that he has told us about God and so we do not need to worry.  We are secure in that relationship.  The mouse uses his talent to gnaw the ropes of the lion.

16You did not choose me but I chose you.

God loves us as we build a relationship with him by trusting  his wisdom and submitting our wills to his commands.  We are no longer seen as servants to obey God but as friends working with God to build a kingdom.  And lastly, our text reminds us that we are “chosen.”  It makes me think of 1 Peter 2:9. “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  I was never chosen for one of those elementary kickball teams.  I was not chosen to be a foreign exchange student in high school.  I was not chosen for a MSW program after college.  But the God of the universe has chosen you and me to be his representatives and his friends for building his kingdom for eternity.  I think that is quite an honor.  We have value and we have purpose.  

I read in this that we are blessed to be a blessing to others.  Life is communal.  We pray for each other.  We support each other.  And we care for the world, the environment God places us in.  We are God’s own people.  We are not abandoned.  Even if people do us bad, God has our back and cares.  We are on his team.   As friends we are journeying with God for eternity.  We do not love others just because it is commanded but hopefully because we see their value and realize the image of God is in them too. We want to express to them God’s love and invite them into the kingdom.  We have a perspective that looks into eternity.

Again we hear the promise that we can ask God anything in Jesus’ name.  This promise we love to pull out of context and   make God seem like Santa Clause.  We are reminded today that it is embedded in abiding in God’s love, obeying his commandments, knowing his will, and having a willingness to lay down our life for another.  It is not a blank check but a promise of a relationship that is transparent, respectful and two sided.  We are a “royal priesthood.”

17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another,” is our final sentence today.  The lion does not hurt the mouse and the mouse helps the lion.  The fable is not not a perfect match to the text as the lion does not love the mouse.  But then we can only love one another because God loved us first.  We abide in God’s love, obey his commandments realizing they are the guides to a joyful life.  As we value one another we gradually realize more and more that we, each one of us, is chosen and we are not just servants doing tasks for God but are friends that fellowship with him and his body.  What an awesome privilege.  

In the fable, the mouse helps the lion.  As friends, we are  promised that faith can move mountains and we are in relationship with the God of the universe who has the power to make it happen.  In addition to the privilege of being the friend of Jesus, we become part of a fellowship that is worldwide.  “17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”  Even a mouse like me can help a lion like God. 

Let the people of God say “AMEN!”

”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me.” 

Matthew 28: 18

This week we are looking at the closing of the Gospel of Matthew and his memories of saying farewell to Jesus before Jesus ascended.  The followers have gone to a mountain top in Gallilee. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 that more than 500 people saw the risen Christ all together.  Now Jesus gathers his friends to say farewell.

 I find farewell blessings in Scripture very interesting.  The Swahili farewell is “Mungu akubariki.”  That means “God bless you.”  In Spanish we hear “Adios,” “Go with God.”  The English “good bye” also means “God be with you,” but “bye” comes from “be with you every time.”  In our reading we are looking at how Jesus is bidding farewell to his followers.  He does not say, “It’s been great.  I hope we meet again in heaven.”  Matthew writes that Jesus starts his farewell with, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28: 18)”

Jesus starts his farewell with his trump card.  He’s the boss and what he is about to say comes from his position of authority, not as a friend and buddy.  He is not speaking as a bumper sticker on a car fender or as a mug logo on cup of coffee to calm our nerves when we feel stressed.  Jesus is speaking with authority.  He is not requesting or inviting or proposing.  He is not inviting comment.  He is speaking as God.

I fear we have familiarized the spiritual world into cute cartoon characters and Jesus has become more of a loving friend who walks with us, our good shepherd. Our tendency is to forget that the shepherd is also the one with the stick to fight the wolf and who has the responsibility to discipline the wayward.  I do not think that makes God the micromanager of reality, dictating each moment of our lives so that we are only pawns.  We do have real agency but as Jesus bids farewell to friends, he reminds us that all authority is his in all realms of reality.  He is about to give his followers an impossible job, to change the world using all he has taught them.  He knows we will not be able to depend on his physical presence and he is turning over leadership and responsibility to his church.

Perhaps today there is something in your life that is feeling impossible and insurmountable.  Perhaps you are feeling like a minority like the disciples.  Perhaps you are feeling unwanted and unpopular.  Or maybe it is just illness, dating, unemployment, and the ordinary problems of life.  It is good to stop and meditate on Jesus’ words, “All power is given to me in heaven and on earth.”  The situation may be beyond our ability to cope but it is not beyond his and he walks with us.  That is worth remembering.  Blessings as you journey.

Abide With Me – Audrey Assad

This hymn is dated somewhere around 1820 when the Scottish composer Lyte was visiting a dying friend and wrote this hymn.  The dying man kept repeating “abide with me…” that inspired Lyte.  27 years later as Lyte himself was dying from tuberculosis, remembered these lines he had written based on Luke 24:29.  Jesus on Easter evening started walking with Cleopas and friend on the road to Emmaus.  They asked Jesus to “abide” with them as evening was coming.  He broke bread with them, they recognized him, and then he vanished.

Lyte’s daughter, Anna Maria Maxwell Hogg, recorded remembering how her father seemed to be failing and the family begged him not to preach what was to be his last sermon.  He insisted that “it was better to wear out than to rust out.”  He preached and later gave the hymn to a relative.  On November 20, 1847, Lyte  died in Nice.  The song was sung for the first time at his funeral.

As you prepare for church tomorrow and are challenged to consider again what it means to abide in Christ, may you enjoy this hymn to prepare your heart.  Blessings.

Jesus’ farewell, his famous last words from the mountaintop to his gathered followers have deeply impacted the trajectory of Christianity.  Matthew 28:19 records the speech, not as a list of thanks-yous for support and comradeship as we might do today, not as a form of blessing as the patriarch Jacob did for his twelve sons as he lay on his death bed, and not as Nathan Hale did before being hanged, “I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”  Jesus claimed all authority on heaven and earth and told his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations.”  Let’s think about that!

A disciple is “a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosopher.”  Followers by definition follow someone and usually because that someone is a model of a life or an ideal that is admired.  Gandhi set an example that changed the world by living a life of peaceful non-violent resistance.  Martin Luther King Jr. continued in those footprints, leading the Civil Rights movement. Of course we have models in other areas in life, our entertainment heroes, our athletic heroes and our financial leaders, to name a few.  

The mandate to make disciples often starts with me being a person who is believable and leads a life worth following.  Jesus did that in the incarnation.  He led a life of love and compassion, blessing people.  People listened, watched and learned.  I do not think Jesus is saying that everyone should be a missionary but he is charging us to lead lives that point to him. We need to follow his example. May we be someone who inspires others to follow the teacher, the leader,  Jesus?  Jesus is speaking to his “disciples,” his followers who are to emanate him – healing, loving, and laying down their life and fame for others.

This command challenges me to reflect on the models I try to emanate and who have deeply impacted my life.  Likewise I might reflect on whether my life embodies the qualities I pray others will seek to incorporate into their lives.  Or, am I a “do as I say and not as I do” sort of person?  Making disciples requires that I am a disciple.  So whom am I emanating today?  Who are my heroes and what qualities do I appreciate in their lives?  Think of one or two people (they can be literary, historical, or other) who have deeply impacted the values of your life and spend a moment thanking God for the gift of their presence in your life. We all impact the lives of the people around us.  Let us pray that they see the Christ we love, in us “going” to all nations, not just friends.  Blessings.

Yesterday we read from Matthew’s report of Jesus’ farewell speech to his followers,  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28:18)”  His next word is “therefore…” (roll of drums in the background), “Go.”  In Genesis the mandate for humanity was to be fruitful, multiply and care for the earth. But now the mandate is “go.”  “Go” is something we can all do with whatever talents we have.  Jesus does not say we are to preach or teach, meditate or heal, just “go” and be his representatives.

     I note that the mandate is outward focused towards community.  Faith is not just about my personal beliefs and happiness or getting to heaven.  It is also about how I interact with others.  God is building a kingdom.

I also note that there is not a qualifying statement like “go to your friends” but a general “go.”  As a sociologist, I cannot help but see the communal nature of life and God’s will.  Love is not love if it sits silent in my heart but it desires to be active with others.  My husband loved the saying, “I’m drinking from the saucer cuz my cup is overflowing.”  Love, compassion, help or any other good feeling only becomes reality when it is shared.  All the valued fruits of the Spirit that we pray are growing in our lives are interactional.  Jesus told the parable about the Good Samaritan.  A man was beaten up and left to die.  Three men passed by on the other side of the road unwilling to help the person.  But a foreigner came along and showed mercy to the wounded victim. The despised foreigner was the hero of the story.

God desires us to “go.”  It is not because it feels good and we benefit but more because it is God’s will that we be his representatives, his hands and his feet, and his heart tangibly in our world today.  Surprisingly, we will often feel better afterwards.  Perhaps today you are needing something from God and so you have prayed.  Often the answer will come in the form of someone caring about you or as you “go” about your day.

Jesus continues in his farewell but his first instruction is action based on his authority.  The “other” may not appreciate our reaching out but we reach out, not to be appreciated, but in response to how Christ reached out to us.  Perhaps take a moment and think who might appreciate an unexpected act of love like a note, a phone call, a smile, a thank you.  It’s not hard, “Go!”  Blessings.