All details regarding fees, times, etc. can be found on-line at  www.LMPeaceCenter.org or may be obtained by mail from the following address:  Lombard Mennonite Peace Center, 101 W. 22nd Street, Suite 206, Lombard, IL  60148.  (Phone:  630- 627-0507). Attendees receive a certificate – noting 32 contact hours – which can be submitted for continuing education credit.                                    Janet Hunt, LMPC Assistant Director

Coffee House Sam & Abe

Ensemble

Christmas Banquet Set Up

Christmas Banquet Bhutanese Guests

Clean Up! Christmas Banquet

Passing God's Love

Liturgical Dance Kayla Berkey

Another eventful year! Jim Kauffman

]]> http://pittsburghmennonite.org/2012/01/random-2011-photos/feed/ 0 http://pittsburghmennonite.org/2012/01/pmc-2011-highlights/ http://pittsburghmennonite.org/2012/01/pmc-2011-highlights/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:32:12 +0000 ken http://pittsburghmennonite.org/?p=1232 Year in review…2011

Submitted by Kathleen Good & Ken Zeleny

PMC is the place to be! Our 2011 was an eventful year filled with inspiring, meaningful worship services, our monthly potlucks, engaging Sunday School classes, service projects and other activities. Here are a few of the highlights and even a lowlight.

On a blistery January 29, PMC was warmed by the a cappella singing group ‘Sons of the Day.” Based in Harrisonburg, VA the group was founded in 2003 to “Present the gospel in an approachable way by combining songs of faith and everyday life…” They have performed in a wide variety of settings including several concerts at PMC. They performed their farewell concert on April 24 and PMC is grateful for being included in their final tour. Thanks for the music!

?????In the very cold month of March, the Hospitality Commission hosted a Spaghetti Dinner, turning the fellowship hall into an “Italian Bistro” complete with red checkered table clothes and flowers on all the tables. There were several guests from the community who attended.

?? April 15th brought another concert to our sanctuary, “Behold the Lamb.”  An evening of good Mennonite a cappella singing was enjoyed by all.

We congratulated our talented Emily Kolb on her successes on stage and her graduation from CAPA.

The Indian  Benefit Dinner and Auction  has been one of PMC’s most popular fund raising projects since it’s inception on Murray Avenue when Ken Zeleny approached Sushil Ganguly with the idea. Year after year Sushil Ganguly and his assistant chef Bernie Good along with a slew of dedicated volunteers have worked tirelessly to make this a success. This year was no different! Lynda Stucky organized a wonderful collection of items to auction and Tracy Baton persuaded us to bid high as the auctioneer. Karen Howard never missed an opportunity to remind us to invite our friends and family.

August brought The Mennonite Convention to Pittsburgh! After years of planning, downtown Pittsburgh became a sea of bright black and gold backpacks, Mennonites from near and far and Menno Tea being sold in local convenient stores. Our youth group did not have to travel far this time to  enjoy the excitement and activities of the convention. ??

August also brought a freakish storm to Pittsburgh the day of the beginning of the Convention which caused headaches for our administrator Ken Zeleny. The storm caused major flooding in the Day Care area of the building. There was also water damage in the Community Room and a leaky roof. Not related to the storm but our freezer which was storing freezer pops for the convention youth also went on the fritz! Ken worked diligently to resolve these problems and a special thanks goes out to Bernie and Kathleen Good, Dawn Zuckerman and Guy Smith who spent hours getting the Day Care Center in order so it could reopen the following day. A minor miracle!

Vacation Bible School- Taste and See:God is Good was held on August 8 – 11. Under the direction of Alison Gernand the children had fun learning and celebrating food and God’s bounty. This year adults also had the opportunity to attend an adult session. Friday’s activity included a meal and worship.

PMC’s Annual Retreat brought us to Laurelville Retreat Center where were we were blessed by beautiful Autumn weather. The theme this year was “The Rhythm of Life” which gave a whole new meaning to the term “movers and shakers.” Food, fellowship and fun were the main objectives of the retreat. Andrea Wetherald and the Retreat Committee did an excellent job in making this an uplifting experience. Any event that can get Pastor Bender and Pastoral Intern Joel Wildermuth dancing had to be a joyful event.

Recent college graduate Ben Stucky returned to the congregation to share he would be joining the Mennonite SALT program and would be serving in Kenya. A flurry of activity followed as Ben planned a Coffee House fund raiser featuring the talents of the Stucky Boys, Zachary Good, Holly Pruett and PMC’s locally and nationally known gifted performers Brad Yoder and Keith Hershberger. Delectable desserts and an auction helped Ben raise funds to accomplish his mission.

On October 8th PMC along with PRISM under the direction of Sandeep Thomas and Randy Kolb had an Apple Festival at the farm of Dan Hunsberger. The event included making apple butter and apple cider, a tour of the farm and a chance to milk a cow.

On October 22 PMC held it’s annual Fall Festival. Games, food, face painting and activities provided an enjoyable day for all. This event is sponsored by the Education Commission.

On December 18 PMC held it’s Christmas service and Christmas Banquet. This year PMC was honored to have as their guests the Bhutanese-Nepali Church. The service featured a jubilant choir under the direction of Holly Puett, a liturgical dance, festive songs by the Bhutanese-Nepali choir and Scripture readings.

The fellowship hall was transformed into a holiday wonderland with the aromas of several hams prepared by our master chef Everett Ramer and other goodies prepared by the congregation. Christmas cheer filled the room as we enjoyed fellowship, good food and all those wonderful desserts.

As we brought the year to a close we remember that we are a family of God and look forward to a new year to serve each other, our community and our world.

Psalm 150; Romans 12:1-2; I Cor. 14:26-33

The Psalmist proclaims – “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!”

We are to praise God in the sanctuary.

We are to praise God under the open skies.

We are to praise God with trumpets, banjos, flutes, and big bass drums.

We are to praise God with dancing, clapping and songs of praise.

Everything that has breath is to praise God!

In our new sermon series on worship I said last Sunday that we were created to praise God. Worship is our response to a gracious, merciful, and loving God.

Our human response to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ is to bow down and praise God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.

God doesn’t need our worship, but we need to worship God to stay spiritually alive. It is how we are transformed into a people of love, joy, peace, and generosity.

Last Sunday I gave the big picture – the why of worship and I said it has three major movements.

The movement is from encountering God – to offering God praise, confession, and thanksgiving – to being empowered by the Spirit to live a life of service in the world.

This morning I want to talk about “how” we worship. I want to look at some of our worship practices to better understand why we do what we do in worship.

Now the scriptures don’t tell us exactly how to worship. They give us some pointers but there is no blueprint.

In First Corinthians 14 Paul addresses the Corinthian Church because their worship services have become problematic.

A few people were dominating the service. People were not listening to each other and some were talking out loud to others while someone was preaching.

In the chaos, Paul gives some instructions on how to worship.

Now, our problem today is not usually chaos. Our services are maybe too orderly.

But Paul’s instructions about worship do point to some things that are important to remember as we worship.

1. One thing that is clear about the early church worship services is that they were highly participatory.

Paul expects all the members to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to come prepared to offer their gifts to the whole body.

In verse 26 he says – “when you come together each one is to be prepared to teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight or sing a song.”

The expectation in the early church was that God’s Spirit is at work in each person and each person has something to contribute to the whole. Worship was not primarily about getting something – it was about giving something.

The key understanding here is that there are no spectators in worship. In worship we are all players on the field. If there is an audience it is God.

As Mennonites, we have always tried to embrace this more participatory style of worship. We trust that God is at work in each one of us and that we each have something to contribute.

Sometimes this style of worship can be messier than others because it involves more people and you can’t always predict what will happen. But we trust that God’s Spirit will orchestrate everything.

At the same time, it always amazes me how often God works through the different parts of the service to speak to us.

So, I want to encourage you this morning to pay attention to what God is saying to you  and to come to worship prepared to contribute. What you have to share can be just the thing that another person needs to hear.

I find that God often speaks to us through each other.

So, if you play an instrument, want to dance, have a piece of art to display, or have a word to share please talk with me or someone on worship commission.

We want to encourage all the gifts to be utilized in our worship services.

1. Another thing I notice from Paul’s teaching about worship is that everything is to be done for the building up of the body.

Worship is not only to help us grow individually, but it is also to help form us into a new community of sisters and brothers in Christ.

Worship that leads to praise and many words – but unchanged lives and broken relationships is false worship.

This is why Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, says – “if you are offering your gift at the altar and you remember that your brother or sister has something against you – leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother or sister and then come offer your gift.”

True worship of God leads to reconciliation with sisters and brothers and the edification of the body.

Too often, today, church members are seen as “consumers” and worship services are seen as “spiritual filling stations” where folks come to get their tank filled. Worship is primarily for private spiritual blessings.

I hope our worship services encourage you and inspire you, but much more than that I pray that our worship services will lead to reconciliation and strengthening of the whole body.

True worship is meant to heal the divisions in the body and strengthen the weak members so that our life together in community is a witness to the world of God’s transforming love.

So, all of the things we do in public worship – all of our rituals and practices – are meant to strengthen and build up the corporate body.

I want to look now at some of the things we do in worship and how they strengthen the whole body.

I am not going to look at everything we do in worship but just a few of the key practices.

1. I want to begin with the “greeting and welcome to worship”.

One of the first things we do when we gather is to “greet one another”.

We may not think of “greeting one another” as very significant, but I think it says a lot about our relationships in Christ.

In the NT, the early Christians were told to “greet one another with a holy kiss”. (I Cor. 16:20)

It was common in those cultures to greet family members with a kiss on the cheek. The early church, being a new family of sisters and brothers in Christ, adopted the practice of greeting one another with a kiss and called it a “Holy kiss”.

The Holy Kiss was a sign of their love and respect for one another. It was their way of saying – “you are my sister or brother in Christ. You are family”.

In that context, of people coming together from different racial and ethnic backgrounds – it was a powerful sign of reconciliation among a people who were former enemies.

Today, there are still churches and traditions that practice the “holy kiss”. In our culture, though, a handshake or a hug can communicate the same thing.

So, it is important to greet one another when we gather as a sign that we are sisters and brothers in Christ.

Along with the holy kiss, the early church leaders also practiced greeting one another with the “peace of Christ be with you.”

They took Jesus’ blessing of his disciples after his resurrection when he said to them “peace be with you” and made it into a greeting for one another.

We don’t do it here every Sunday, but often we also take a moment to bless each other by saying “the peace of Christ be with you.”

It is a way of blessing another person. It says to them – “I want God’s peace to permeate your life. I want God’s Spirit to strengthen you. I want God’s best for you.”

So, by greeting one another as sisters and brothers and passing the peace we are expressing love for one another and praying for God to bless your life. Giving a blessing to one another is a powerful expression of love.

1. Another thing we do each Sunday is to light the “peace lamp”.

This is a fairly new practice in the Mennonite Church.

In 2002 J. Daryl Byler, then Office director for MCC Washington, gave several lamps to religious leaders in Iraq as a military invasion became more imminent.

He told them – “when you see these lamps, know that Mennonites in the United States are praying for peace between our nations.”

Soon after that many Mennonite Churches also purchased these lamps and lit the lamp each Sunday as a reminder to pray for peace in the world.

Since then, at the beginning of our worship services we light the peace lamp to remind us that Christ is the light of the world, he has given us the ministry of reconciliation, and it reminds us to pray for peace in our communities and world.

We are grateful to Keith Hershberger, who made our peace lamp for us.

So, by lighting the peace lamp at the beginning of the service our attention is taken to Christ – our healer, savior, reconciler and peacemaker.

The peace lamp reminds us that we are a people of God’s peace and we have been commissioned by Christ to pray and work for peace in our world.

1. Another important thing we do each Sunday is sing.

Throughout church history, singing has been a life giving practice for Christians.

Music touches us at an emotional and bodily level. It moves the heart and not just the intellect.

Music connects us to God and each other in ways that teaching or preaching cannot.

As Mennonites, we are not opposed to having choirs – there is a place for them but we really view the whole church as the choir.

It is one activity we can all join in on and it involves our whole bodies – stomachs, tongues, lungs, and even our hands as we clap or raise them in the air.

The beauty of the Psalms, which is the oldest hymn book, is that the Psalms allow us to express the whole range of our human emotions.

They allow us to express not only praise and thanksgiving but also lament and sorrow.

I know it is not as much fun to sing songs of lament, but at times that is exactly what we need to sing as a community. And what I have always appreciated about the Psalms is that often the same Psalm connects lament with praise and thanksgiving. This is how life happens.

In some churches today enthusiastic praise music gets separated from our own suffering and the suffering of the world.

But I think if we learn how to lament better, our praise and thanksgiving will also be much deeper and with greater vitality.

So singing is one of the key ways we connect with God in worship and in strengthening the whole community.

1. Another part of worship is the giving of announcements.

Now, you might think there is nothing very spiritual about announcements. You might even think they are a hindrance to worship.

But I want to suggest this morning that our announcements are an important part of worship because they help build up the church.

Announcements tell us about our different involvements, how we can help each other, how we can serve each other and serve our community, how we can play together and so on.

If worship is to “build up the body of Christ” then something as simple as announcements can be an act of worship. Announcements can help bring us together and further the work of Christ in the world.

We can certainly improve how we do announcements but they are an act of worship as they help us serve one another and the community.

1. In worship God also speaks through scripture and the preached word.

The bible is our common text and it tells the story of God seeking to heal and restore a people that has become alienated from God and one another.

The purpose of teaching/preaching is to connect our human story with God’s story of redemption and reconciliation through Jesus.

It is through scripture and the preached word that the Holy Spirit helps us discern faithful ways to act on what we have heard.

And so each Sunday, through scripture and teaching, we announce the presence of God’s kingdom among us and invite people into a deeper relationship with God and God’s people.

1. Another act of worship is “giving”.

We take an offering each Sunday – not as a way to pay for our expenses but as an act of worship. It is an act of pure gratitude for all that God has done for us.

The world tells us to look out for ourselves. Offering our gifts to God helps us let go of the need to store up treasures for ourselves.

Giving, as an act of worship, keeps us centered in Christ as our provider and helps us remember that all of life is a gift from God.

Last Sunday, when Kim Miller lifted the offering baskets up and prayed – “Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord” –  it was a moving witness to God’s generosity and the purpose of our giving.

We give to say thank you to God. So we give our offerings as an act of worship and praise to God.

1. Sharing time and telling one another about God’s faithfulness is also an important part of worship.

For most Protestants – preaching is at the center of worship. For our Catholic sisters and brothers – the Mass is the center of worship.

For Mennonites – communion and preaching are important elements of worship, but we also value hearing how God is active and at work in people’s lives.

When we share with one another how God is at work in our lives it strengthens the whole body. When older Christians share how they have faced difficult situations it is an encouragement to younger Christians.

So sharing and prayer time is one place we can testify to what God is doing and we can support one another in prayer.

Now, there are other elements of worship that I could talk about like – children’s time, times of confession, silence, pastoral prayer, or dance.

These are all important practices that strengthen the body but I don’t have time this morning to look at them all.

1. I want to end with the final act of worship – the benediction or sending forth into the world.

Our encounter with God through worship is to empower us to serve God in our work and in relationships with family, friends and strangers.

The purpose of the benediction is to send us out into the world prepared to be agents of God’s healing and hope.

The benediction reminds us that God goes before us into the world. We can go out with confidence into the world because we know that God is with us and will go before us.

We begin the service by greeting one another as sisters and brothers in Christ, and we end the service with God’s blessing us to go out and be agents of healing and hope.

I know this is not the end of the service but I want to end this sermon by giving one of the traditional blessings in the scriptures.

“May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.” Amen.

Psalm 95:6-7; 100:1-5; Isaiah 6:1-8

This morning I am beginning a three-part sermon series on worship.

Today, I want to look at – what worship is and why we gather for corporate worship?

Next Sunday, I will look at – how we worship? I will talk about the different elements of worship and what they mean.

And then the following Sunday I will talk about one aspect of worship – Communion. And then we will share in communion together.

I know many of you have grown up in the church, but have you ever stopped to think about why Christians gather for worship? Have you ever thought about why we do certain things in worship?

Do we do things from habit or is there a purpose in what we do?

A couple of years ago I had the special privilege of going with Fred Kraybill to a Penguins hockey game during the Stanley Cup finals. The atmosphere was electric and it was a lot of fun being there.

I enjoy sports a lot, but since I have never been around hockey very much I had to keep asking Fred what was going on and what the penalties were about.

Because I didn’t know the rules – it was almost like they were talking a foreign language.

It took me a while to understand what was happening.

I think worship can feel the same way for new believers or for people new to the Mennonite Church. If you grew up Catholic or Presbyterian or Baptist – some of what we do will be familiar but other things might seem foreign.

So, periodically it is important to explain why we do what we do.

And for those of you who grew up in the Mennonite Church – it is also important to reflect on our attitudes about worship and on some of our current practices.

In Matthew 15 some Pharisees come to Jesus and ask him – “why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders and not wash their hands before they eat?”

Jesus responds in verse 8 by saying – “you hypocrites, Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said – this people honors me with their lips but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”

I think it is easy some times to say the right things and to go through the motions of worship – but to not have our hearts in it.

We act like we are worshipping God but we really aren’t.

So this morning we are going to look at what worship is and why we worship.

Now, I find it interesting that the Bible doesn’t give us a blueprint for how to worship. The early Christians borrowed the worship traditions and practices of the synagogue and temple.

Jesus, himself, went regularly to the synagogue for worship. He broke with certain traditions but other ones he honored and encouraged.

The early Christians primarily used the songs, scriptures, and prayers from their Hebrew background.

So, while the scriptures give us ideas about how to worship and point us in certain ways – there is no worship blueprint.

The primary Hebrew and Greek words for worship actually mean “to bow down” or “to bend the knee”.

It originally carried the idea of subjects falling down to kiss the ground before a king or to kiss their feet.

The idea of “bowing down” or “bending the knee” was an expression of honor and reverence to God. It was a symbol of one’s humility and willingness to serve God.

It was a way to ascribe worth or respect to another.

In our culture we don’t bow much, but in Asia bowing to another is very important.

When I was in seminary there were several Japanese students and they would always bow upon meeting you.

My understanding is that people of equal status bow to each other at a 15 degree angle. It is an expression of mutual honor.

If you are greeting someone who is a little wiser, older, or of higher status – you bow at about a 30 degree angle. This shows greater respect.

And if someone is truly great – you bend over at about a 45 degree angle.

I don’t know if you remember this or not but a few years ago President Obama got into some trouble when he bowed to the prince of Saudi Arabia. Some people thought President Obama bowed too low – giving the impression that the United States is below Saudi Arabia.

So, bowing to another can be tricky but in many cultures it is a way of showing honor to another person.

Now, as Christians the question is – if you bow to a king or president at a 45 degree angle, how far do you bow down to the king of kings or the Creator of the universe? To the one who has redeemed the world?

In Philippians 2:10-11 Paul writes that some day all people will fall down in worship of God.

He says – “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

When people come to see how God took on human form, suffered to the point of death on our behalf, and then was raised to new life – they will fall to their knees in worship and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

The idea of “falling to your knees” is a picture of complete surrender to God. It means that you yield yourself wholly to God. It is an act of worship.

Even other religions practice kneeling. Most of you know that Muslins bow down 5 times a day on their knees – with their forehead touching the ground. It is their way of saying – “I completely and wholly yield myself to Allah.”

In some Christian traditions – people bow when they enter the sanctuary. And they kneel at different times in the service.

As a child growing up, every morning our family would have devotions and then we would all kneel around the sofa for a time of prayer.

And in the church, we would usually kneel for prayer at least once in the service. It was a way of bodily yielding yourself to God and showing honor to God.

Most Mennonites today do not kneel in worship, but we often bow our heads in prayer as an act of reverence. Bowing is still a physical act of showing respect and honor to the Creator and Redeemer of the universe.

The scriptures reveal a variety of physical postures in connection with worship.

• Standing, clapping hands, dancing, lifting up hands or lifting up your head are all physical postures consistent with praising God.
• Kneeling, bowing the head, or lying prostrate are postures consistent with humility and reverence and awe towards God.

In the bible, true worship often includes not just using our mind, but also our bodies. The physical is meant to lead us to the spiritual.

Now, of course, it is possible to bow down and still not worship God. But the posture of bowing down or bending the knee is to be the posture of how we live our lives before God.

Worship of God is the purpose for which humanity has been created. Human beings are born with an impulse to worship something. If it is not God – we will worship something else.

So, true worship always begins with a deep respect or reverence for God. It is an attitude of humility and a willing surrender to our Creator and Redeemer.

Worship is our way of saying to God – “you are God and I am not. Help me to honor you and serve you with all of my life.”

Now, as I look at scripture I think there are basically three reasons or purposes for corporate worship. And the Isaiah 6 passage that was read today is a great illustration of these 3 purposes for worship.

• First of all, worship is meant to help us encounter God.
• Secondly, worship helps us engage ourselves and the community.
• And lastly, worship empowers us for mission and service in the world.

I want to look briefly at each one of these.

1. First, worship helps us encounter God.

In Isaiah 6 – the prophet Isaiah has his eyes opened to see a vision of a holy God. And when he encounters God his response is one of praise and adoration.

At its heart – worship is always a response to God’s love and grace. Worship, far from being an obligation – is our response to what God has done and is doing.

Worship is an invitation to come and enjoy God’s beauty and goodness and mercy.

We say that God is always present in the world and desires a relationship with us but we do not always recognize God’s presence.

Worship invites us to enter the presence of God so that our eyes may be opened to see God.

To have our eyes opened to see God is really a gift of grace. We can’t make it happen but we can place ourselves in the presence of God to encounter God.

I think most people are hungry for an encounter with God – not just talk about God. Just as we eat to live – we have to worship to keep our souls alive and flourishing.

We gather as a faith community, not just for fellowship or instruction or encouragement, but to meet the living God – to experience God.

So, all the things we do in worship are meant to help us encounter God. The silence, the visuals, the singing, the listening to Scripture, the praying, and the preaching and sharing.

One of the reasons we meet regularly for public worship is because our vision of God so quickly grows dim. We are easily distracted by other “gods” that cause us to lose consciousness of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

The reason God established a Sabbath day of rest was to help Israel remember how God had delivered them from slavery and set them free.

The truth is God doesn’t need our worship but we need to worship to stay spiritually alive. It is how we are shaped and re-formed into a people of love, joy, peace and generosity.

Without worship of God – we easily lose our way.

So the first reason we gather for worship is to encounter God – to keep our souls alive and flourishing.

1. The second reason we gather for worship is to have an honest engagement with ourselves and the faith community.

When the prophet Isaiah encounters the living God he begins to see the truth about himself and his community.

In verse 5 Isaiah says – “Woe is me. I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

Isaiah sees not only his personal sin but the sin of his people. All are unclean in the presence of a holy God.

So his immediate response is one of confession.

And when Isaiah confesses the truth about his life – he discovers that God is already there and is eager and ready to offer cleansing and forgiveness.

In verse 6 it says that a “Seraph took a live coal from the altar and touched his lips saying – your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”

In worship, when we encounter God we also learn about our own condition – we fall short. But the good news is that we do not have to hide our pain and sin.

God is more than ready to forgive us and to restore us to a right relationship with God and others.

It is in public worship that we find courage to name both corporate and personal sins and open ourselves to God’s grace.

I think one of the reasons we shy away from encountering God or opening ourselves to God is that we are afraid of what will happen to us.

Instinctively we know that meeting God will change us and transform us. We can’t remain the same.

It is why in the scriptures that whenever people encountered God – the first thing God said to them was “don’t be afraid”.

As the scriptures say – “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” At the same time, God is more than ready to forgive and is a God of infinite mercy and compassion.

It is truly freeing to know that we don’t have to hide our sins or brokenness any more.  In light of God’s grace we can be honest and open and know that we are loved and received just as we are.

So, worship helps us face the truth about ourselves and our community and helps us receive God’s cleansing and renewing grace in Jesus Christ.

1. But encountering God and learning the truth about our own humanity is not all that God has in mind for worship.

The third purpose of worship is to empower us for mission and service in the world.

When the prophet Isaiah listens to God’s voice he hears a call to join with God’s loving, reconciling work in the world.

In response to that call – Isaiah offers his whole self – his love, energy, and creativity to God by saying “Here am I, send me.”

Worship is always a political act. It is a dangerous activity because it challenges all of our false allegiances.

To declare one’s allegiance to God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven – is to realize that all other allegiances to nation, family, and self are secondary.

True worship of God propels us into God’s suffering world and empowers us to do the work of God in the world.

Any worship that glosses over the suffering of real people and overlooks justice is false worship.

Worship not only makes us aware of God’s grace and forgiveness but it also makes us aware of God’s love and passion for the poor and needy.

One temptation in worship is to do what Peter did on the Mount of Transfiguration. After Peter encountered Jesus on the mountain top, along with Elijah and Moses, he wanted to stay and build a monument for each of them.

But Jesus said to Peter – you can’t stay on the mountaintop. So, Jesus took Peter down the mountain and right into ministry.

True worship will always drive us out into the streets.

As the Quakers are fond of saying – “service begins right after the meeting is over with.”

Our worship, if it is true worship, must not conclude in the building but on the streets, in our homes, and in our work.

Worship enables us to hear the call to serve so that we can respond like Isaiah did when he encountered God – “Here am I, send me”.

So, worship as I have been talking about it today is an encounter with God in the midst of community which transforms us and empowers us for service in the world.

Praising God, confessing the truth about our lives, and hearing and responding to God’s word provides the basic framework for what we do in worship.

Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:22-40

The angel told the shepherds – “Don’t be afraid, because to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Simeon, when he encountered Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus in the temple – he took Jesus in his arms and said – “My eyes have seen your salvation, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

Then Simeon told Mary in verse 34 – “This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed.”

A little later in the temple the Prophet Anna, when she saw baby Jesus, she began to tell “everyone who was looking for the redemption of Jerusalem about Jesus.”

In the Christmas story we have the announcement by the shepherds, Simeon, and Anna that Jesus is the long awaited Savior of the world.

For the last two months we have been hearing this same message in the shopping malls, at parties, and over the radio and TV.

Jesus’ birth as “savior of the world” has been commercialized into big business.

We have turned Jesus from a savior into a Santa Claus.

You would think the angel had said – “Mary will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will give his people many presents” – instead of “He will save his people from their sins”.

Today, we are far more interested in the commercialized baby Jesus – we love babies – than we are in celebrating Jesus as our Savior.

We like baby Jesus in a manger, but we don’t really like the child who is “destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel”.

The Christ child – the one who speaks of justice for the poor, who calls us to eat with outcasts, and to love our enemies is not that appealing to us.

The Christ child who asks us to put others before ourselves, to share our resources instead of hoarding them, who invites us to hunger for righteousness instead of riches, and who holds us to high moral and ethical standards – this Child doesn’t appeal to us.

We would much rather have a Santa Claus than a Savior. But what we and the world really need is a Savior.

Even with all the freedom to talk openly about Jesus as Savior, I think it has become increasingly more difficult in our day to be a follower of Jesus in the United States.

On the one hand – we don’t think we need a Savior.

• We’re managing life pretty well. We have a job and we are healthy and have good friends.
• We are working hard to get things the way we want them. We have a nice home and life is good.
• Every now and then we need a little help from God to make it – but certainly not a Savior.
• People around the world, who are worse off than we are might need a Savior, but not us.

On the other hand, when we do think we need a Savior we get confused about its meaning because the message has become distorted and even polarizing.

I think there are two dominant messages we usually hear when we talk about Jesus as Savior of the world.

1. The first message is that Jesus saves us from hell so that when we die – we make the cut and get to go to heaven.

This brand of Christianity is best summed up in the slogan – “Christians aren’t perfect – just forgiven”.

Now, it certainly needs to be said that Jesus forgives our sins and that God’s forgiveness is very important.

It also needs to be said that God’s forgiveness does not depend on being perfect.

And it is good to know that when we die – all will be well and that we will live with God forever.

We need to hear this message and know it in the depths of our hearts.

But the confusion comes for us when “Jesus as Savior” gets linked only with life after death and has nothing to do with life now.

It is the idea that Jesus can forgive our sins, but he can’t change our life or the kind of persons we are becoming that distorts the meaning of Jesus as Savior.

The question is – is the essence of Jesus being our Savior – forgiveness of sins and being able to “make the cut” when we die?

Unfortunately, for many people that is all being saved means to them. Transformation of life and character is not part of the message.

1. The other dominant message we often hear is that Jesus saves us from social and structural evils.

This brand of Christianity is best summed up with the slogan – “Christians aren’t perfect – just committed to justice and liberation.”

In this view, to be Christian means one has a significant commitment to the elimination of social evils. The good news here is that God stands behind liberation.

Now, it certainly needs to be said that faith in Christ is a matter of righteous living in the social arena and that we need to stand up against social evils on behalf of the poor and oppressed.

Jesus even said his mission was to “bring good news to the poor, release to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.”

But the question here is – is the essence of Christianity the removal of social sins and structural evil?

And for some people that is all being saved means to them. It is more a cause to be involved in than a relationship to be lived.

For the religious right – being Christian is a matter of having your sins forgiven.

For the religious left – you are a Christian if you are committed to the elimination social evils.

In these views a Christian is either one who is ready to die or one who has a strong commitment to justice – that is it.

But what is often missing on both sides is opening ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit to transform our personal lives and to empower us for being agents of healing and hope in the world.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us we are left powerless to change our behavior or to bring about change in the world.

When the shepherds, Simeon, and Anna announced that Jesus is Savior of the world they were announcing that we had a savior who would begin transforming our lives and world in the here and now.

In Galatians 4:6 Paul writes – “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba Father! So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.”

The invitation to put our trust in Jesus as Savior of the world is an invitation to eternal life now right in the midst of our work, business, family, and relationships.

God desires to fill us with the divine life from above so that we can participate in “heaven coming to earth”.

Jesus came – not to give us more stuff – but to help us become more Christlike.

To be Christian means to be like Jesus.

To say Jesus is our Savior means we not only trust Christ for our future – but we trust him for our daily living.

The story of Christmas – the story of Jesus’ birth – is so important to us because it interrupts the world as we know it and reveals to us the world as it was meant to be.

I don’t have to tell you this morning that the world we live in is a world “flying upside down and out of control”.

• Poverty and war continue.
• Racism and sexism flourish.
• Personal greed and domestic violence grip us.
• Environmental abuse continues to destroy God’s good creation.
• Some of us struggle with addictions.
• Others of us struggle with unforgiveness, gossip, jealousy, lust and all sorts of sins that keep us from living a life of wholeness filled with joy.

This morning, what we all desperately need is a Savior!

One who forgives our sins and one who helps us eliminate social evils. A Savior who will transform our lives and empower us to be agents of healing and hope in our families, our communities, and in our world.

The good news Simeon and Anna announced 2000 years ago is not that we get more stuff but that we get a Savior.

A Savior who will transform our lives into the very image of Jesus and empower us to become agents of healing and hope in our broken world.

A Savior who says “I am with you always until the end of the age.” A Savior who will walk with us through our most difficult times and sustain us with hope through it all.

Both Simeon and Anna are elderly when they finally meet the Messiah. For over 50 years they would go to the temple daily to pray for the Messiah’s coming.

They lived through some very difficult times – Anna’s husband’s death, wars, famines and economic hard times. They longed for a savior.

But it was not until they were elderly that their prayers were answered. And during this whole difficult time they kept on trusting God. They kept on praying and waiting for the Messiah.

How do you do in your waiting for God to act? Is your tendency to pray for a week or maybe a month and then get disappointed with God when nothing happens? Are you prepared to pray for 50 years for something you can’t see yet?

Anna and Simeon are wonderful examples of what it is like to trust in God through the difficult times and to wait prayerfully for God to act.

They lived the description of faith in Hebrews 11:1 where it says – “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Simeon and Anna lived daily by faith and they met the Savior of the world.

This Christmas day is not only a time to remember who Jesus was as a tiny baby – it is a time to celebrate who Jesus is now – a Savior always present with us and transforming our lives and our world.

Today, through the Spirit, Jesus continues to interrupt our world as it is and reveal to us a new world that God intends.

The reason we can have hope today, even in a world like ours, is because we have a Savior who is making us and our world new.

So, let’s celebrate Jesus as our Savior and let’s continue to pray that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven.

Who knows, maybe like Simeon and Anna we too will see and experience  heaven coming to earth in our day.

Amen.

Taken from Ecc. 3:1-15

November 27, 2011

Time is a funny thing. We speak and think of it constantly. We measure it, allocate it, dice it up into sizeable blocks and chunks; we wish for more of it, yet hang on to that which has already expired.

We treasure it and cherish it; yet also waste it and forget it.

We need lots of it, yet never seem to have enough of it.

And the more time we’re given, the more time we desire.

We broadly classify time into three categories: the past, the present and the future.

We chide those who seem infatuated with living in the past or the future, and suggest that they live in the present and be attentive to the present.

Yet we realize that every present moment in which we attempt to live, instantaneously becomes the past; thereby making it seemingly impossible to, in fact, live in the present.

In all of these various ways with which we attempt to classify, record and measure time we fail to accomplish the very thing for which we strive: to control and understand time.

Indeed, any working or accurate definition of time has successfully eluded the greatest minds of science, philosophy and religion.

A simple definition is that time is what clocks measure. Too simple? Probably.

Yes, time is a funny thing. And it’s interesting how we treat time as if it’s a commodity.

But it’s not. Time can’t be bought or sold or traded, it can’t be stored, rationed, prolonged or multiplied; it can’t be grown or produced; time is not a tangible thing or object. (2 mins)

So what is time? Why is it important? Is it important? Why does it play such a significant role in the history of humankind? What is time in the grand scheme of human history? What is time in comparison to God’s scheme of things for humanity? What is time to an infinite being, for that matter?

This philosophical approach to time is to what the writer of Ecclesiastes now turns in chapter three.

So as we bring our study of Ecclesiastes to a close we’ll spend a little time with this well-known passage regarding time and see how it relates to our lives and how it points us towards God’s sovereignty.  (3 mins)

Let’s look once more to the text. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” From here the teacher goes on to list a series of fourteen sets of events or actions that oppose each other.

There is time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to keep, and time to throw away;

A time to keep silence, and time to speak

And then there are the pairs from verse 8 which leave us baffled, unsettled, and raising our eyebrows: a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

What could the teacher possibly mean here by listing all of these “times” for various occurrences? And especially telling us that there is a time to hate and time to engage in war?

If we interpret this passage as a set of prescriptions or instructions then yes, this passage would be a bit troubling. (4 mins)

But the teacher is not instructing or demanding anyone to commit any of these actions.

Nor is the teacher affirming or denouncing the acts or emotions listed here.

Rather, the teacher is simply identifying or recognizing the simple fact that all things have their time, and that those times are beyond human control.

Things happen in the world without our consent. Terrible things happen in the world without our consent or even our awareness. But good things also happen in our world…beyond our control.

John Archibald Wheeler was a prominent American theoretical physicist who spent most of his academic career teaching at Princeton University.

Wheeler once said, “Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.”

“Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.”

Perhaps the fact that there IS a time for everything is what gives us any sense of time at all.

So things happen beyond our control. And just like the writer of Ecclesiastes, we can list a number of things that have happened in the world that have had their time; that seem unexplainable.

And we can say the same thing for our own lives. Right? Plenty of things happen to us that are beyond our control

So what? Anyone can make a list. How can we take this passage and apply to our lives in a practical way?

I’ve brought with me this morning an orange. Oranges are great. They’re sweet, they taste good, they have lots of vitamin C, and there’s no other word in the English language that rhymes with it.

But this morning this orange is going to serve another purpose. It’s risky, and what I’m about to do is unplanned, but things are more fun that way.

Let’s say that any second, any moment, any time…I could chuck this orange out over you, the congregation. This orange would sail in a nice arc above your heads until gravity takes hold of it and begins to pull it towards the earth.

If you’re lucky, it could land in the isle or an empty pew; but it could also potentially collide with one of your heads or fall in your lap. It’s unknown, but here’s the point (toss the orange to someone near the front who looks like they can catch)

__________, when you saw that orange coming at you, you reacted, correct? In an instant you saw the orange flying at you, unexpected. This scene was completely beyond your control. The orange was coming at you whether you like it or not.

But even though you couldn’t control what was happening, you COULD control your reaction. And thankfully you reacted in an appropriate way! (8 mins)

Instead of emphasizing a control over what happens, we should, I suggest, focus on how we REACT to the unexpected things that inevitably have their time.

Wars are going to happen despite your efforts; disasters will befall despite anything you can do, oppression will run rampant despite your words of freedom and justice; injustice will continue to shackle multitudes of people faster than you can lose those shackles.

And we’re supposed to believe that all these things have their time, and that God makes such times suitable for God’s purpose?

That’s what we’re told in the next section of this passage. “God has made everything suitable for its time; moreover God has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

So if all of these horrible things are going to happen and take place despite anything we can do, what’s the use in speaking out against them or trying to prevent them?

It all comes back to your reaction.

When you observe the devastation of war and pointless slaughter of human life, then you hold fast to what you know is right. You hold fast to non-resistance and non-violence. You tell it, and speak it, be it, and breath it.

When you observe discrimination because of race, class, gender or sexual orientation, and you take a stand against such discrimination. Then you tell it, and speak it, be it, and breath it.

When you denounce hatred, then you tell it, speak it, be it, and breath it.

When you’re overflowing with the expression of love for people, then you tell it, and speak it, be it, and breath it.

When you speak passionately for the care of God’s creation, then you tell it, and speak it, be it, and breath it.

When you take a stand against violence and oppression, then you tell it, and speak it, be it, and breath it.

When you stand up for anything you know is right in response to whatever unexpected, uncontrollable event may be happening, then you tell it, and speak it, be it, and breath it.

Because friends, we may not be able to control time, but who’s to say that your responses to uncontrollable events may not one day positively influence times to come.

There’s a time for everything.

And your response to things that have happened in the past and things happening in the present most certainly will influence the future.

Let us not forget God’s role in all of these things. If we accept the words of Ecclesiastes then we can relax a bit in the assurance that God makes all things suitable for God’s time and purpose.

Whatever happens in this world – the uncontrollable events, the good things and bad things, and our reactions to such things – all of these are caught up into a beautiful yet mysterious plan that belongs to God.

And we can certainly find some comfort in that knowledge.

Let us live our lives then according to the teacher of Ecclesiastes, taking advantage of every present moment; having some fun; enjoying the gifts of pleasure that God has given; and recognizing that life isn’t about controlling what’s going to happen.

It’s about being a part of everything that has its time, and responding to everything that has its time.

There is a time for everything.

And although time escapes our control and understanding, all things past, present, and future escape not the sovereign hand of the Creator.

Amen

PMCNovember 13, 2011Perspective on justice and worshipEcclesiastes 5:1-9; 11:7-12:8
Today is the third sermon in our series from Ecclesiastes. The theme of our series is “The search for a life that matters.”
The writer of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher as he is called, is conducting a grand experiment to discover what makes life meaningful. He wants to know what the point of living is all about.
His conclusion, which he states at the beginning, is that all of life is vapor – just a chasing after the wind.
He arrives at that conclusion by exploring different things that people often think will bring meaning and purpose in life.
The things that we have looked at so far that he examined are “wisdom, pleasure, work and wealth”. In his rigorous examination of them – he concludes that none of these things are able bring a person meaning and purpose.
Now, this morning I want to look at three more things that the Teacher observes about life in the midst of his grand experiment to find meaning and purpose in life.
The first thing he observes is that there is so much injustice on earth.The second thing he observes is this big gap between what people say in worship and what they do in life.And then lastly, even though he concludes that all is vapor, he challenges both the young and old to revere God and keep God’s commandments.
So this morning I want to comment on these three observations that the Teacher makes.
His first observation is that there is so much injustice.
In Chapter 4:1-3 he says this. “Further, I studied all the oppressions that are worked on this earth. The oppressed pour out tears, but no one intervenes on their behalf. Their oppressors have a powerful grip, and no one intervenes to save them! So I applauded the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive; but more fortunate than both of them is the one who never has existed, and has never experienced the trash that takes place on this earth.”
Or in chapter 5:8-9 he writes – “Don’t be surprised if you see the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right all around. Exploitation filters down from one official to another. Yet the land still benefits from the system as long as one works the plow.”
There is probably nothing more disturbing in life – nothing that makes us angrier – than when we see “good people suffer and poor people oppressed” while “people doing horrible things prosper”.
As he went through life the Teacher observed how the poor are oppressed and no one is doing anything to change their situation.
So his conclusion about injustice is that “it is better to not even be born”. The world is such a harsh place to live and the oppression is so great, that he thinks it is best to not even be born.
And then in chapter 5 he adds – “don’t be surprised when you see the poor oppressed and justice denied them.”
He claims we shouldn’t be surprised by oppression and injustice because we live in a very corrupt world and those in authority tend to misuse their power.
Verse 8 still seems so relevant to our day.  It says, “for every official is under orders from a higher up, and matters of justice only get lost in red tape and bureaucracy”. (Penn State situation)
The Teacher observes that way too often exploitation filters down from one official to the next. No one wants to take responsibility for the wrong or people cover up the injustice or abuse for each other.
And who suffers in all of this – the poor or the weak, the ones without resources or power.
Now, what could be troubling for us here is that he doesn’t tell us to go out and work for justice. He doesn’t tell us to correct the wrongs. He only observes what is taking place and notes the injustice.
The good news for us is that there are plenty of other places in scripture that call us to “do justice” and to “advocate for the poor and oppressed”.

I think the helpful thing the Teacher does do for us when he says “don’t be surprised when you see the poor oppressed” is that he calls attention to the potential for evil in all of us. Apart from God we can do horrible things.
As the prophet Jeremiah says – “all our hearts are corrupt.” Or as Paul says in Romans 3 – “all have sinned and fallen short of doing God’s will.”
If we don’t keep the potential for evil in all of us in perspective – it is easy to become bitter and disillusioned with life. It is easy to feel like there is no hope for change – that we can’t do anything about oppression.
The Teacaher doesn’t want that to happen to us. He doesn’t want us to become discouraged by the injustices we see.
So, while he doesn’t challenge us here to work for justice – he helps us see the potential of evil in all of us and he opens our eyes to see the power of systemic evil to oppress others.
Evil isn’t just personal – it is also systemic and it can be very oppressive and destructive.
The second thing he observes is this huge gap between what people say about God in worship and what they do in real life.
In the first seven verses of chapter 5 the Teacher turns his eyes on religion and worship. In chapter 5, God is referred to 10 times.

But what is interesting here is that the Hebrew word used for God is not the personal name for God found in most of the OT – Yahweh. Instead, he uses the more general designation for God – Elohim.
The Teachers view of God is clearly more distant and transcendent. He even says in verse 2 – “God is in heaven and you are upon earth.”
Now, that is not a new view of God. Isaiah the prophet spoke of God as “high and lifted up” and as “Holy”. So, God can be seen as wholly other and separate from us.
And Jesus even taught his disciples to pray “Our Father in heaven”.
And yet, even in Ecclesiastes, this distant God does have a deep concern for what is happening on earth. The Teacher talks about God as our Maker and Creator, as one who gives us life and as the one who takes life back from us.
So while God is concerned about us – the Teacher makes it clear that humans have trouble understanding what God is doing in the world.. In 11:5 he writes – “God’s ways are beyond figuring out, like how the breath of life comes to the fetus within a pregnant woman.”
The picture the Teacher gives of humans relating to God is that there is a bad connection between heaven and earth. We humans have lost our signal and we don’t know what God is doing.
We can’t seem to get through to God. Our prayers don’t seem to get off the ground. Even though we try hard to understand God we can’t predict the future and he notes that even our best theologians don’t understand the ways of God. (8:16-17)
So, the Teacher concludes that we humans have to learn to live with mystery, with unanswered questions, and in awe of this transcendent God.
Now, as Christians, the truth is we have always lived with the paradox of God’s transcendence (God’s distance from us), and God’s immanence (God’s closeness to us).
The very good news of the NT is that “God took on human form in Jesus and came from heaven to live among human beings.” This distant, transcendent God came close to us on earth through Jesus.
In many ways, Christians today focus almost exclusively on God’s immanence. Our sense of God is that God is close and cool and almost like a Santa Claus. We think God is here to give us what we want, when we want it – that God is our buddy.
And while God does love us and is a personal God – Ecclesiastes also reminds us of God’s transcendence. Our God is holy and we human beings are accountable to a powerful and holy God for our choices. God isn’t just our best pal.
So, in our day I think we need to recover Ecclesiastes perspective on God as holy, mysterious, and beyond us. We can’t always figure God out and we don’t always know what God is up to. While God is personal, we have to approach God with a great deal of humility.
The question then is – well, how do we live in relationship with God? How do we bridge the gap?
In chapter 5:1-7, the Teacher for the first time addresses his hearers directly and gives them counsel on what to do. His counsel comes in the form of commands.
He says in verse 1 – “Watch your steps when you go to God’s house. Enter to learn. That’s better than mindlessly going through religious motions. Such actions by fools are actually counterproductive though they don’t know it.”
His first command is that we are to approach God with an attitude of listening. Being open to learn.
This attitude of listening and learning from God is contrasted with the fool who offers sacrifices while continuing to do evil things.
The Biblical story continually warns God’s people against thinking that their religious activities can substitute for obedience to God’s commands.
In Israel, there were always those who thought they could substitute sacrifices or singing or tithing or going to the temple for doing acts of justice.
But the prophets continually reminded them that their faith in God cannot be reduced to rituals at the expense of social justice.
Amos said – “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”The Teacher, along with the prophets, does not want us to do away with worship, but for us to reform our worship so that our love for God gets expressed in care for the widow, the orphan and the poor.
Our actions need to line up with God’s commands – for our worship to be acceptable to God.
I think Psalm 51:16 captures the spirit of our listening when we gather for worship. The Psalmist writes – “God does not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; God does not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
So, the first thing God wants from us in worship is that we come to listen in order to obey God’s ways.
The second thing God asks of us is that our words be few.
Verse 2 says – “Don’t shoot off your mouth or speak to God before thinking. God is in charge, not you—the less you speak, the better.”
In other words, be quiet!
I think one of the signs that our faith has gone stale is a lot of words. We try to talk our way to God as if the more we have to say – the more acceptable we are to God.
Jesus, like the Teacher, said something very similar in Matthew 6:7. Jesus said – “when you pray do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”
The good news from the Teacher is that God is not concerned with our volume or our eloquence in prayer. He warns us against “mindless verbosity” and against substituting talk for action.
According to the Teacher, a wise person is one who is careful with his or her words.
In a world with so much noise and empty chatter the advice of the Teacher about restraint in speaking is so refreshing.
I think what the Teacher helps us see is that silence is a way to praise God. Silence actually provides for the cultivation of our inner being – nourishing what is healthy and sifting out what is deceitful in us.
Silence, rather than being a lack of something – is really a gift to us.
So his first two commands when we gather for worship might be – “Be quiet and listen to God”.
What God desires most from us is our openness and willingness to listen and learn from God.
His third command is – keep your vows and mean what you say.
He writes in 5:4 – “When you make a promise to God, do it right away. God takes no pleasure in fools who say one thing and do another. Far better not to promise in the first place than to promise without follow through.”
In that time, a vow was one way of showing how serious you were about God. A vow was binding.However, one of the things the Teacher observed was that people were making promises or vows to God but they had no intention of keeping them.
In fact, they would go to the priest and try to get out of the vow by claiming – “my vow was all a big mistake.”
What is underneath this advice is that God listens to us and takes our words and promises seriously. Our promises are a matter of integrity. What we say matters.
The Teacher’s instruction about vows really provides the backdrop to Jesus’ teaching when he says – “let your yes be yes and your no be no”.(Matt. 5:33)
God really has no interest in playing games with us. What God desires from us is “authenticity”. Worship is meaningful when we are honest and do what we say.
Throughout this book, the Teacher was not impressed by temples packed with enthusiastic worshipers. All he saw was noisy chatter, empty promises, and the lack of obedience to God.
So the way to close this gap between what we say in worship and what we do in real life is to – be quiet, listen for God’s word, and then do what we say we will do.
His last piece of advice and the way he concludes the book is that whether we are young or old, we are to rejoice, remember, and revere God.
Listen to what he says about rejoicing.
11: 8 says – “Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all.”11:9 says – You who are young, make the most of your youth. Rejoice and follow the impulses of your heart. If something looks good to you, check it out. Yet know that God will hold you accountable for all your choices. Don’t let the world get you down, but live carefree. The period of youth disappears like a fleeting vapor.”
The Teacher commands us, whether old or young, to rejoice daily.
Just as we daily brush our teeth and get exercise – we are encouraged to rejoice in the good gifts God gives us.
If we wait around for an opportunity to praise God we most likely will not recognize it when it comes. Just like our muscles, our capacity for joy atrophies if it is not used regularly.
As the Psalmist declares – “this is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” We are to try and enjoy each day and give God thanks for it.
What I find particularly interesting about this advice for the youth is that the Teacher says – “rejoice and follow the impulses of your heart”.
Well, that can be rather dangerous advice for youth because youth have some pretty wild impulses.
And yet, instead of reeling off a string of prohibitions for young people – he encourages them to follow their hearts.
I don’t know exactly what he means but maybe he doesn’t want young people to get so bogged down by the cares of this world that they don’t follow their passions in life.
Now, he does remind them that God will hold them accountable for their choices – so that is a kind of check on their impulses.
At the same time, it is a strong encouragement to follow ones passions and interests in life. It is important to listen to that “still small voice” speaking to you and to take some time to explore your interests.
So, young people rejoice in the gifts God gives you and follow the impulses of your heart. Explore your interests.
Then, in 12:1 the Teacher directs the youth to “Remember your Creator while you are young, before the years take their toll and you say, “It’s no fun getting old!” Do this before your vision dims and the world begins to fade away.”
As a young person life seems to be moving very slowly, but the truth is life really does go fast. So, to every young person, the Teacher says, now is the time to get in the habit of remembering God every day. Don’t put God off.
Don’t procrastinate when it comes to following God. Now is the time to establish a positive pattern for your life.
I am told that on the Trans-Alaska Highway there is a sign that says – “choose your rut carefully; you will be in it for the next 200 miles.”
What Ecclesiastes is telling us is – don’t wait until you are old to try and serve God. Serve God now while you are able. Allow God to direct your life.
You don’t have to “sow your wild oats” first – you can actually find real meaning and purpose in serving God.So, the most life-giving and rewarding thing you can do with your life is to make a commitment to your Creator when you are young because it will shape your whole life.
And then his last instruction is – “Revere God and live rightly.”
The last verse of Ecclesiastes is – “The final word is this: Revere God and do what he tells you. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.”
After his grand experiment and search for meaning and purpose in life – he concludes that the one duty of humankind is to “revere God and follow God’s commandments.”
The Teacher has observed that there is a lot of injustice in the world. He also noted that a lot of religious activity does not lead one to love of God and neighbor.
So, he commands us to be quiet, to listen to God, and to keep our promises.
And then he ends with “rejoice, remember, and revere God – letting God’s commandments be your guide for life.”
I pray that God’s Spirit will speak to each one of us today, right where we are, to lead us to a life that is deeply centered in God.
May our words and our deeds be one.May our worship of God lead us to express love to our neighbor.And may we always revere God and keep God’s commandments. Amen.Amen.

Ecclesiastes 4:4-12; 5:10-20

We are continuing our sermon series from the book of Ecclesiastes on the theme – “The search for a life that matters”.

The title of the book – Ecclesiates is a Hebrew word meaning “one who has called a group together”. This is why Ecclesiastes is sometimes referred to as the “Teacher or Preacher”. In verse it says – “The words of the Teacher”. I will usually be referring to the writer as the Teacher.

I said last week that the author of Ecclesiastes is performing a “grand experiment” to determine what brings satisfaction and meaning to life.

The author knows from his experience that life does not always make sense. He does not want people to make the same mistakes he has made. So, he is sharing his observations about life with us in order to help us find meaning and purpose in life.

Like a scientist, he diligently researches every area of life to find out what it is that gives human beings meaning and purpose.

Last week the Teacher researched “wisdom and pleasure” and discovered that neither one brought lasting satisfaction nor purpose to life.

Neither one provided a solution to the question – “what is life all about?” He concluded that it was “all vapor, a chasing after the wind”.

So the Teacher then moves on to pursue two other things – work and wealth.

Let’s look first at his pursuit of work.

If you look at other wisdom literature in the Bible – hard work is seen as the key to success in life.

Listen to what Proverbs says about work.

• Proverbs 12:11 says – “Those who work their land will have plenty of food, but those who follow worthless pursuits have no sense.”
• Proverbs 10:4 says – “Lazy hands make a person poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”
• Proverbs 14:23 says – “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”

In that time, wisdom teachers generally taught that “hard work equals profit and wealth”.

Today we have many of the same assumptions about work as they did. I hear on a regular basis the following assumptions:

1. The most important thing in life is to look out for number one and to take care of yourself.
2. Success in life is measured in terms of material possessions.
3. And the basic assumption is that those who lack money and resources simply didn’t try hard enough.

Even one of our presidential candidates, Herman Cain, emphasized this last assumption when he said – “If you don’t have a job and are not rich – blame yourself”.

Now, what is interesting about Ecclesiastes is that the Teacher calls most of those values and assumptions about work into question.

Listen to how he starts off his book in chapter one.

1:3 “What does anyone have to show for all their exhaustive work on this earth? One generation goes, and another generation comes, but nothing changes—the earth just keeps spinning around.

1:5 The sun comes up and the sun goes down, then does it again and again. The wind blows south, and the wind blows north, round and around goes the wind, and comes right back again.

1:7 All the rivers run to the sea, but the sea never fills up; the streams keep flowing, over and over again. Talk, talk, and more talk just wears a person out; the eye is bored with seeing, the ear is bored with hearing.

1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will happen again; there is nothing new on this earth.”

Basically, Ecclesiastes says that all work being done is nothing but plodding along on a gigantic treadmill – accomplishing nothing and going nowhere.

Life is just the same old, same old. Nothing really changes.

So, how does he come to this conclusion about work?

1. Let’s look first at his observations about work in 2:18-23. Listen to what he says here:

“I hated everything I had accumulated from my hard work. I can’t take it with me; instead, I just have to leave it to those who will be here when I die. Who knows whether they will be worthy or worthless, and yet they’ll get the results of all my work and wisdom. This is definitely empty vapor. That’s when I hit rock bottom, total despair over all my efforts in this world.

What’s the point of working so hard if you hand over the results to someone who didn’t do a thing for it? This is really foul vapor, disgusting! What do humans get for all their labor and the things they try so hard to achieve on this earth? Pain during the day, frustration and restlessness at night. This is definitely foul vapor.”

The Teacher says he hates his work for three reasons:

• He can’t take what he has accumulated with him.
• He knows it will be left with someone who hasn’t worked for it.
• Work is a lot of strain and stress and all the stress of work robs him of sleep at night.

The Teacher is upset about work because he can’t control what happens to his stuff when he dies. And furthermore, the stress of work gives him insomnia.

He has a pretty bleak picture of work doesn’t he? But his negative observations are helpful because they at least make us look at our assumptions about work.

They make us ask why do we work? Is our work about building little empires for ourselves? Does our name have to be on what we do? Do we have to get the credit? Do we have to control the outcome?

He wants to control the outcome but since he can’t he hates his work.

So the positive thing about his negative observations make us ask hard questions about why we work.

The Teacher continues this conversation about what motivates us to work in chapter 4:4.

1. There he says – “I noticed that much work and ambition is motivated by envy. This is definitely empty vapor, a futile chasing after wind.”

Now, I think most people would say they work to support a family, or to contribute to the community, or in service to God.  And I am sure many people do.

But the Teacher also notices that a lot of our work can be motivated by envy of our neighbor. To often we work to keep up with our neighbors or to even get ahead of them.

So often our families, our communities, and our world get torn apart because of jealous competition. Long after we have enough to care for our needs – we keep pushing for more and more just so we can be better than others.

When workers are driven by envy rather than love, and to have more than others rather than to serve others – the Teacher says their work is just a bunch of vapor.

So, workers motivated by envy don’t help others much and they rarely accomplish anything satisfying for themselves.

But then in verse 5 the Teacher says the same thing about the person who does not want to work at all.

Verse 5 says – “Then there are the fools who sit back, take it easy, and commit a slow suicide.”

Work done out of envy isn’t helpful, but laziness has the same effect – it is a slow death.

William Brown commenting on this verse says – “As toil can be all-consuming, so idleness is self-cannibalizing.”

Obsessive competition and laziness are both destructive to self and others.

In verse 6, we get our first hint of a positive view of work. He writes – “Choose contentment: a handful with rest is better than two fistfuls with toil that chases after wind.”

The Teacher suggests that scaling down, having fewer possessions with a measure of peace – is much better than owning twice as many things, coupled with more worries and a frantic lifestyle.

This third option, between obsessive competition and laziness, is contentment. Contentment is knowing your strengths and weaknesses and learning to live within your means. You are not trying to outdo your neighbor and you are not trying to accumulate more stuff.

In a contented life – you work hard, you take time for rest, and you care about the welfare of your neighbor. The Teacher says this way of life – a life of contentment is what we are to aim for and what brings satisfaction.

1. As the Teacher looks around, though, he notices something else. In verses 7-8 he says – “Then I saw another example of foul vapor on this earth: a solitary person, completely alone without children or siblings, yet working obsessively, compulsively without end. Why am I working like a dog and never having any fun? This indeed is foul vapor, really terrible!

We might call this person today an excessive “workaholic”. Here is an individual who is obsessed with work at the expense of relationships.

Workaholics are people who have given themselves to the chase and one day they wake up and realize they are very lonely people.

They don’t know their children, their spouse is hardly recognizable, and they have no friends.

Harold Kushner, a rabbi, says – “I’ve visited many people lying on their death beds. But I have yet to hear one say, I wish I would have spent more time on my business.”

The Teacher reminds us – work done only for oneself is a miserable way to live – it is a “chasing after the wind.”

In verses 9-12, the Teacher again offers us a better way to live, a way to live and work that truly values relationships. He says – “It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the payoff. For example, if one falls down, the other helps. But how sad if there is no one to care. This applies even in simple things: two can lie together and keep warm; otherwise you shiver. And by yourself you are vulnerable, but with a friend you can resist an attack. A three-stranded rope is hard to break.”

I know this last verse – “A threefold cord is not easily broken” is often referred to in marriage ceremonies.

The three strands are seen as a husband, wife, and God. And it can be used that way.

But the context here is work and workers who are being oppressed. In contrast to the person who works alone the Teacher is building a case for life in community and working with others to meet common needs.

Work and working with others for the common good has some positive rewards.

The Teacher says the advantage of working in community is that – when one person falls, another can lift that person up. When one is cold at night – there is a companion to help stay warm. And when working together there is greater resistance against adversity.

Part of what I think the Teacher is saying here is that working together with others for the common good brings joy and satisfaction, while working alone for one’s own personal benefit brings emptiness and loss of relationships.

If I could sum up what I hear the Teacher saying about work it would be this.

Instead of work driven solely by profit (it is just a job), or by envy (keeping up with others), or work only for personal gain (workaholism) – the Teacher is promoting work in community that benefits the common good.

In place of striving after material goods – he promotes simplicity and contentment. Work, he says, has meaning when it is done with others and the reason for doing it goes beyond personal benefit.

Of course, one of our challenges is finding work that utilizes our gifts and expresses our calling. It doesn’t happen automatically and sometimes we struggle for a long time to find that place.

The Teacher suggests, though, that when our work is done unto God – we can find some satisfaction in just doing something well and in serving others – even when it is not our first choice of work and even if our work context is difficult.

He also suggests that when we don’t have work that maximizes our gifts – our work can be meaningful when done alongside others and builds up the common good.

There is a real sense of purpose and joy in working together for the common good. It brings contentment.

I want to turn, now, to look briefly at his observations about wealth.

The Teacher observes that many people do not find meaning or purpose in their work so they turn instead to the results of their work for meaning – money and wealth.

Studies have shown that many people do not enjoy their work but they continue to do it for the money. The sole reason for the work they do is for the money they can get out of it.

In chapter five the Teacher addresses those who seek meaning and purpose in attaining wealth. What does he find?

1. In verse 10 it says – “The lover of money will not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth with big profits. This is just empty vapor.”

The first thing the Teacher observes about money is that it does not satisfy.

When Rockefeller was once asked – “how much is enough? His comment was – just a little bit more.”

The engine that drives many people is – just a little more money. And the thinking is that if I just had a little bit more then I would be happy.

The definition of greed is – the lust for just a little bit more.

Our materialistic society arises out of a feeling of emptiness inside – an inner poverty that feeds all of our fears. We are so hungry for meaning and purpose in life that we are often blinded by the false security of money.

Yet, King Solomon had all the money in the world and he was still not satisfied.

His conclusion is that the pursuit of more and more money will never satisfy your spiritual longings for meaning and purpose. It is just empty vapor.

1. His second observation about money is found in verse 11-12.

He writes – “When the good things increase, the freeloaders also increase; their owner has no benefit but to watch them go out the door. Hard and honest work earns a good night’s sleep, whether eating crumbs or a feast. But the belly of the rich gives them insomnia.”

The Teacher says here that wealth attracts others and causes anxiety. The more you have – the more people want what you have.

This means the wealthy spend a lot of their time looking at those wanting what they have. They put out a lot of energy and resources just trying to protect what they have.

And then the Teacher adds – all they get from this stress and worry is insomnia. They can’t even get a good night sleep.

1. His third observation about wealth is that it is easily lost.

In verse 13 he says – “Here’s another example of the sick earth we live upon – riches were kept by their owners to their hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad business venture”.

The Teacher says first of all that wealth hoarded harms the person hoarding it. There is something about always taking and hoarding that finally destroys our souls.

We become enslaved by it. Our hearts become hardened. Wealth is meant to be shared and when it isn’t – it destroys us from within by consuming us.

But the Teacher also notes that riches can be lost in a moment. Wealth isn’t all that reliable.

For those of you who have investments in stocks or bonds or houses – you are well aware over the last few years how easily one’s wealth and savings can be gone in an instant.

So the Teacher observes that wealth not only can harm our spirit, but it is not all that reliable either. It can be gone in a minute.

1. And then his last observation about wealth is that it is not all that useful to us after death.

In verse 15 he writes – “Just as they came naked out from their mothers’ womb, so they will die, taking nothing for all their work. This indeed is bad, sick! They are born, work hard, then have nothing to show for their toiling after the wind. Only a life filled with darkness, frustration, sickness, and anger.”

With regard to our possessions the Teacher says – we leave life the same way we came into life – without any possessions.

What is really frustrating about life for the Teacher is that he makes all of this money but he can’t take any of it with him. He spends so much time trying to get more – that he does not take time to enjoy what he has.

So he concludes in verse 19 by saying – “one should make the most of God’s gifts of wealth and possessions and the capacity to enjoy them. We shouldn’t think too much about how long we will live; simply enjoy the present.”

In a way, this verse sums up his views about money and wealth. And that is – God is the giver of money and wealth. Wealth is a gift of God – it isn’t just our own doing. And wealth is meant to be shared or it has the potential to destroy our souls.

Also, his advice is – don’t try to get more and more – and don’t dwell on the shortfalls. Instead, focus on the good gifts God gives you and enjoy the present.

Now, frugality may be a good practice – but it should not be equated with closeness to God. There is a place to enjoy the good gifts of God and to celebrate life now. You can’t take wealth with you and it can be lost in a moment.

So, we are invited to embrace the joy in the present where we live and to leave the future in God’s hands.

Work and wealth – both good gifts of God, but when pursued as and end are nothing more than an empty vapor.

The question this morning is – what is God’s Spirit saying to you about work and wealth? Where are you finding meaning and purpose in life? What are you being invited to let go of? What are you being invited to embrace?

Let us learn from the Teacher when he says in verse 19 – “one should make the most of God’s gifts of wealth and possessions and the capacity to enjoy them. We shouldn’t think too much about how long we will live; simply enjoy the present.”

Amen.