Two weeks ago I had the great pleasure of preaching at a service at Custer Road UMC, my home church. This service marked the beginning of youth week for the the student ministries as well as marking and honoring the ministry of Rev. John Baldwin, who is beginning ministry in a new field these days, after 20 years of youth ministry at Custer Road. It was a rare privilege to preach this service! My good friend and colleague, Rev. Dana Coker, presided at the table. Dana and I grew up together at CRUMC and have since both entered into ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. What a night! Thank you to Rev. Mike Baughman for putting it all together!
And They Went
Genesis 12:1-4
Begin w/Drum Groove (Joe, then Sarah and Matt Hammer)
“I want you to go back in time with me….to a time before this magnificent organ was here in this place, to a time before the swine flu, to a time before Jon and Kate had eight, to a time before the proliferation of the cell phone, before facebook, twitter, or even email, there was a man, a tool…of God, an instrument of the Lord’s, a servant of God. That man’s name is Baldwin, John Baldwin. But we’ll get to him later. Come back with me, farther in time, to a time before trains, planes, and automobiles, to a time before printing presses, before personal hygiene, before the Romans….their was a man, a tool of God, an instrument of the Lord’s, a servant of God and his name was Abram.”
Hear now the key story to the book of Genesis, the key piece to the first five books of the Bible, and one of the most important stories for us today as followers of Christ.
Read Genesis 12:1-4
The Word of God, for the people of God…thanks be to God.
You know this is a pretty popular verse in preaching circles! Often, however preachers stop preaching on this text after verse three, the blessing part.
But I don’t know about you, I find the fourth verse to be incredibly intriguing…
So Abram went as the Lord had told him. Abram heard from God and he went.
You know, if we listen, I think we hear from God all the time but after we calculate the costs of following, of going where we are called, as God tells us, we often, decide its much too costly, much to dangerous and we stay right where we are.
But Abram, however, gave up his security, and he went.
Consider this:
God called Abram, promised him, blessed him, saying that Abram and his descendants would bless all creation. It is important to understand what blessing means in this context, for here the word has cosmic implications. It means well-being in all aspects of life. The common good, if you will. All of the families of earth will have what they need to live, not just survive but thrive. It means that all will be blessed by the descendants of Abram.
God is promising Abram that his descendants would bless all of God’s people throughout time. It’s a big promise and a promise that Abram had to know would never see fulfilled in his lifetime…
And so Abram had a choice to make: follow God, go into the unknown, and claim God’s promises, or, he could stay where he was and stick with what he knew.
Knowing that he had a choice in the matter, Abram still chose to give up nearly everything to go and to follow God! He gave up his economic security (which is a word for us to consider in our present circumstance), his religious security (which we who worship in this beautiful place tonight without fear for our lives would do well to consider), and his social network, his social security and he went.
Abram faced this incredible dilemma when God spoke to him, as John Wesley put it, “could Abram trust God farther than he could see him?”
Could Abram have faith, could he act his faith, so that he could be a blessing to all of the peoples of God? Did Abram trust God enough to put his story into God’s story, even though he knew that he would never see the fulfillment of God’s promises of blessing to the world in his lifetime?
Could Abram do it? God had to wonder. Could he give up so much to follow? We know the answer is yes, and Abram went as the Lord told him.
What an incredible example for us of what it looks to be people of faith.
To be a tool of God, to be a servant, an instrument of God, we have to be a little bit like Abram. To be a tool of God, you have to be willing to trust more than what you can see. But, that trust is not a passive thing; rather, it is an active thing, a living thing, a vibrant way of life. You also have to work, you have to claim God’s promises by living into them and out of them, and you have to live in a way that embodies the values of the Kingdom of God as set forth by Jesus!
(pause)
To be a tool in God’s hands is to become part of something greater than ourselves. If we offer ourselves to God, we become a part of something grander than our youth group, something greater than our schools, something richer and more profound than our businesses or even our country.
For to become a willing tool of God we become agents of God’s Kingdom on earth!
And becoming an agent of God is highest calling. It requires faith, trust, community and hope, for we will not, we cannot see the end result, the final fulfillment of God’s dream in our lifetime.
But be assured…as tools of God, as tools the size of mustard seeds in the hands of God we will see the signs of Yahweh’s reign in our lives. For when we are about God’s work, when we put our story into God’s story by aligning our priorities with God’s priorities, we will see God’s Kingdom come in our lives and the world around us.
Abram was called; God blessed him, so that he would be a blessing! And, he went! And by going, he, and Lot, and Sari and the rest established a pattern for God’s people: We are called and loved by God, blessed by God and sent out by God into the world to bless others! That is part, for us, of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
They went and others followed.
Remember Moses, the one who had difficulty speaking. The one who, with God’s help, challenged and beat the most powerful man and empire in his time. And he went!
Remember David, just a small boy, who, with God’s help liberated his people from a fierce oppressor! And he went!
Remember Jesus himself, who though fully God was also fully human. He chose to speak words of love and liberation, even as he was being executed. And he went!
Remember Stephen, who acted and spoke in the love of God, even though it became the death of him. And he went!
Remember Francis of Assisi, who gave up his life of privilege to rebuild God’s church. And he went!
Remember Margaret Fell, who, while in prison in 1667 wrote Women’s Speaking Justified, citing the Bible in defense of the then crazy idea that women might have something to say of value in church. And she went!
Remember John Wesley, who though he greatly preferred the comfort of preaching in the sanctuary, chose to preach in the coalmines, thus ignited an explosion of faith in the British Isles that led to the creation of the church you worship in today! And he went!
Remember Martin Luther King, Jr., who though only 26 years old, at the urging of his colleagues decided to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Despite frequent threats and attempts against his life and the life of his family he proclaimed liberation, struggled for peace and justice. And he went!
Remember Mother Teresa, who, after her death, we learned that she had profound doubts about the very existence of God, but in spite of her doubts she chose to serve the poorest of the poor in India and thus blessed not only the poor but blessed the world by inspiring it. And she went!
Remember Shane Claiborne, our modern-day Mother Teresa, who by the way he leads his life inspires many of us to further radical love and action in the world in the name of Jesus. And he went!
And this brings us to another one of God’s faithful and precious servants, a tool of God, an instrument of the Lord. Remember our brother John Baldwin, who followed God’s call to this place, where he has been in ministry to thousands of God’s children for twenty years.
God called John to a pilgrimage life of blessing others, and John went.
We all have our own stories and memories of how John has blessed each one of us.
My initial memory of being blessed by John comes from 1990. It was the fall of my seventh grade year and the time had come for the fall retreat. Now, one of my main challenges in life, as Tim Morrison has confirmed for me on numerous occasions, is that I think too much. I had managed the week before the retreat to convince myself that there were many compelling reasons why I shouldn’t go on this retreat: I wouldn’t know very many people, I would be lonely, there was important school work to be done, I needed to practice, etc.
I had worked myself up to the point where I declared on Friday afternoon to my family that I wouldn’t be joining the other youth on Friday night. I kind of got emotional about it! I’m not saying there was a flood of tears but certainly there was moistures involved!
My mother, in her infinite grace and loving wisdom, headed up to church as people were gathering and she told John that I had decided not to come.
I will never forget the power of what happened next. I was home, feeling pretty sorry for myself and the phone rang. I picked up the phone, trying to hold back the tears from affecting my voice and said, “hello?” The voice on the other end of the phone was John’s and he said that he heard I had decided not to come to the retreat that weekend and that he was sorry to hear that because he was looking forward to getting to know me. He also said that there was still room and still time and if I changed my mind I was welcome to come. He treated me like a full person, and not a child.
Friends, to this day, I remain thankful for that phone call, and thankful that God urged me to say yes and I went.
And the retreat was AMAZING! I met lots of new friends, had a wonderful time, we went to the old Texas Stadium, I fell off the top bunk of a bunk-bed, and, I can say this because she’s not here, I even kissed a girl for the first time! (Which was reason enough to go!) It was awesome! And the retreat was good too.
God was so active through John that night! Had the Spirit not prompted John, had John not said yes to the Spirit, had he not picked up the phone and called me, I don’t know that I would be standing up here, 19 years later as an ordained in full-connection United Methodist Minister, preaching!
God called John, God blessed John so that John could be a blessing to others. And, as we all know, he is.
And God has called John to a new ministry, and because John is a man of faith, a man who trusts God’s promises, he has responded to God’s new call in his life.
So it should be for us. God is calling to each and every one of us, out of love. God is blessing each and every one of us so that we will bless every family on earth. God is calling us to love the common good! May we be inspired by John’s willingness to go where God calls him!
For those of you who are former students of John’s here by yourselves, or with your spouse or even your children, for their parents and the staff of this magnificent church, and for John’s colleagues who are here tonight, be inspired by John’s example and may the fire of faith and action that live in your hearts, may it be rekindled and renewed and strengthened by the example of the saints who have gone before us and by the very breath of the Holy Spirit!
For the students who are attending youth week, wow, this is an important week for you! As I look out over this congregation, I see friends who I made on youth week, and on tours, and retreats, who still encourage me and love me today. Undoubtedly, many of you will make friendships this week that will be with you for the rest of your lives.
But just as importantly (begin to move) perhaps more importantly, you will see God at work this week, if you choose to look for it. May you be open to hearing God’s call in your life. Make no mistake; God is calling you to a life of faith, of love, of action, of blessing for all of God’s creation. May you catch glimpses of God’s work in your life and in the lives of those around you this week. And may you have the courage to go, to put yourselves in the line of endless splendor, to claim who God has made you to be: a blessing to all of God’s creation.
In the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Sermon from August 2 (Wall-E)
Yup, it's been a month since I last posted. During that time I've stepped foot in all of the time zones in the continental U.S., preached to over 1500 folks, took the kids to Disney World, and helped to produce the worship for the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts 2009 National Convocation. What a summer!
Below you will find the manuscript of the sermon I preached at AUMC on August 2 during our AUMC At the Movies sermon series. I hope you will find it stimulating! Of course, I deviated from the manuscript quite a bit!
Tomorrow I will post the manuscript for a sermon I preached this past Sunday night at Custer Road UMC in Plano, Texas.
Script for Our End is Our Beginning
Voice 1 (Recording of): Tammie Nuoci
Media
Djembe ensemble
Media: House lights and stage lights fade to black—Eno’s Under Stars begins
Live djembe groove begins
Media: Moving images of creation, transitioning from rural to urban scenes
Voice: Now it’s time for a story. Many of us in this place know the beginning of this story, but, many of us, perhaps, don’t really know its end.
The story begins like this…
In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. And God called the creation not only good, but very good! From the smallest particles that constitute every thing, to the largest interstellar event, God called all that God had made very good!
Media: Begin Wall-E clip at around the 1-minute mark (without sound)
Voice: And then, as you know, because of our own selfishness, humanity messed things up. And we messed things up pretty badly. The earth, a key part of God’s very good creation, began to change in ways that God had not intended. Life cycles and ecosystems began to fall out of balance. The kingdom of death began to expand, separating creation from its fullest life. It all began to change.
(dramatic pause, djembe crescendos to a loud stop!)
It was in a time like this that the prophet Ezekiel was led to a vision.
Media: All Light’s Full
Joe reads The Valley of the Dry Bones passage, Under Stars continues…when the passage about the bones coming together begins the drums make lots of random noise and stop at the end of that section. When the breath part begins a rain stick slowly plays to a crescendo to simulate breath.
Can these bones live?
It is a question that has been with us for thousands of years, from Ezekiel’s time, to the time of the Israelites when Christ was alive, to folks imprisoned, oppressed, and enslaved throughout all time.
Can these bones live?
Can you and I, imprisoned as we might be by our addictions, by personal choices, by circumstance, by regret and disappointment, can we live again. Not just survive but LIVE!
This question, "can these bones live" is posed by the film Wall-E about the Earth. Can these bones live again?
Can the earth live without proper care, without love and stewardship from those who have been given dominion of her?
In the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 2 we find that God created humanity to till the earth, to be it’s steward. But over the course of thousands of years, we have traded, myself included, the amazing responsibility of being stewards of God’s good creation for things that are all together lesser than the gift we’ve been entrusted.
Friends, the science on climate change is firm: the earth is warming because of the emissions from burnt fossil fuels. Every other possible reason for the warming of the earth has been examined thoroughly by the global scientific community, including our own U.S. National Academy of Science (a non-partisan group of the nations top scientists that has over 200 Nobel Prize winners at the moment that is highly respected by folks on all places of the ideological spectrum) and found to be untenable. The best minds in the world say we’ve got problem on our hand in climate change.
Friends, this is real. The debate about whether climate change is fact or fiction is closed. But the debate about where we go from here is just beginning. As followers of the way of Christ we must have an important voice in this debate.
It would be easy for us to relegate our responsibility to other people, to the scientists and engineers, to the activists, to the politicians. It would be easy for us to ignore the groaning of creation itself and to believe that our primary goal as Christians is to be about “spiritual matters” to the exclusion of all else. To choose to follow that road would be to disregard the Bible in a massive, massive way.
Did you know that there are over 3,000 verses in the Bible that talk about how we are to care for the poor? There are over 1,000 verses in the Bible that deal with creation. There are 530 verses about love, and 490 verses about heaven. It is clear where God’s priorities are!
Can these bones live?
The apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans 8:19 when he says (read Romans 8:18-23)
Do you see it? God’s salvation is for humanity yes, but it is also for the entire cosmos! As N.T. Wright has said, “The whole creation—sun, moon, sea, sky, birds, animals, plants—is longing for the time when God’s people will be revealed as God’s glorious human agents, set in authority over the world. And if one dare say it like this, as God sent Jesus to rescue the human race, so God will send Jesus’ younger siblings (you and me) in the power of the Spirit, to rescue the whole created order, to bring that justice and peace for which the whole creation yearns.”
That’s bold claim! Given our track record, why would God trust us?
But why would Paul say something like this? He said this because Paul knew of God’s ultimate will: God’s dream’s for Creation will ultimately be fulfilled. What God began in the garden in Eden will be transformed and perfected in the New Jerusalem.
In the end of the Bible, we see glimpses of God’s ultimate dream for the fulfillment of his creation.
Read Rev. 21:1-5
Friends, God’s ultimate will is to dwell with us, in the new creation here on THIS earth, just as God dwelt with Adam and Eve in the garden!
Our final resting place will be back on this earth, where God has not made all new things, but rather, has made all things new. God will choose’s to dwell with us in this place, as newly resurrected beings.
Can these bones live? God gives a resounding, absolute YES!
So what we do on Earth and to Earth matters. How we conduct ourselves as stewards of God’s creation matters.
If this earth is to be our final resting place, if all of God’s dreams are pinned upon the reclamation and transformation of God’s creation through the life, death, resurrection and sending forth of Jesus Christ, and his people, we need to get on board with what God is doing in our midst!
We must align our priorities with God’s priorities; we must put our story into God’s story, and not the other way around.
God desperately wants us, God’s creation is groaning for us, to reclaim and to live out our original roles as stewards, as tillers of God’s creation.
And so even though the science of climate change is less than comforting and, perhaps, your personal situation might look bleak right now, we must remember that:
GOD IS IN THE TRANSFORMATION BUSINESS
And we are called to participate with God in transformation!!!!
When we participate in what God is doing in the world around us, partner with God in the transformation of this creation we ourselves are transformed!!! We do this by aligning our priorities with God’s priorities, just like we heard last week.
We can be transformed into the people God has made us to be! We can be made new! Regardless of what we are coming out of, God can transform us! And God will transform and renew his creation.
So are you ready? Are you ready to partner with God? Are you ready to put your story into God’s story? Are you ready to reclaim one of the roles you were made for? Are you ready to serve in ministry with the poor? Are you ready to become a better steward of all that God has created? Are you ready to cease doing that which separates you from God, and to be made new? Are you ready for your ending to become your beginning?
Sometimes our ends and our beginnings are magnificent! And sometimes they are culmination of small steps. One of the spiritual practices that we are going to embrace as a church is the wasting of extra bulletins. (Walk back to the church and encourage people to participate in the new recycling project by giving money for the program.)
Friends, let’s us give up the things that lead to death, and embrace that which leads to life! As you come to God’s table, be fed by Jesus, be welcomed and loved by him. And, if you are called, which you most surely are, put your story into God’s story and be ready to be transformed!
Below you will find the manuscript of the sermon I preached at AUMC on August 2 during our AUMC At the Movies sermon series. I hope you will find it stimulating! Of course, I deviated from the manuscript quite a bit!
Tomorrow I will post the manuscript for a sermon I preached this past Sunday night at Custer Road UMC in Plano, Texas.
Script for Our End is Our Beginning
Voice 1 (Recording of): Tammie Nuoci
Media
Djembe ensemble
Media: House lights and stage lights fade to black—Eno’s Under Stars begins
Live djembe groove begins
Media: Moving images of creation, transitioning from rural to urban scenes
Voice: Now it’s time for a story. Many of us in this place know the beginning of this story, but, many of us, perhaps, don’t really know its end.
The story begins like this…
In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. And God called the creation not only good, but very good! From the smallest particles that constitute every thing, to the largest interstellar event, God called all that God had made very good!
Media: Begin Wall-E clip at around the 1-minute mark (without sound)
Voice: And then, as you know, because of our own selfishness, humanity messed things up. And we messed things up pretty badly. The earth, a key part of God’s very good creation, began to change in ways that God had not intended. Life cycles and ecosystems began to fall out of balance. The kingdom of death began to expand, separating creation from its fullest life. It all began to change.
(dramatic pause, djembe crescendos to a loud stop!)
It was in a time like this that the prophet Ezekiel was led to a vision.
Media: All Light’s Full
Joe reads The Valley of the Dry Bones passage, Under Stars continues…when the passage about the bones coming together begins the drums make lots of random noise and stop at the end of that section. When the breath part begins a rain stick slowly plays to a crescendo to simulate breath.
Can these bones live?
It is a question that has been with us for thousands of years, from Ezekiel’s time, to the time of the Israelites when Christ was alive, to folks imprisoned, oppressed, and enslaved throughout all time.
Can these bones live?
Can you and I, imprisoned as we might be by our addictions, by personal choices, by circumstance, by regret and disappointment, can we live again. Not just survive but LIVE!
This question, "can these bones live" is posed by the film Wall-E about the Earth. Can these bones live again?
Can the earth live without proper care, without love and stewardship from those who have been given dominion of her?
In the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 2 we find that God created humanity to till the earth, to be it’s steward. But over the course of thousands of years, we have traded, myself included, the amazing responsibility of being stewards of God’s good creation for things that are all together lesser than the gift we’ve been entrusted.
Friends, the science on climate change is firm: the earth is warming because of the emissions from burnt fossil fuels. Every other possible reason for the warming of the earth has been examined thoroughly by the global scientific community, including our own U.S. National Academy of Science (a non-partisan group of the nations top scientists that has over 200 Nobel Prize winners at the moment that is highly respected by folks on all places of the ideological spectrum) and found to be untenable. The best minds in the world say we’ve got problem on our hand in climate change.
Friends, this is real. The debate about whether climate change is fact or fiction is closed. But the debate about where we go from here is just beginning. As followers of the way of Christ we must have an important voice in this debate.
It would be easy for us to relegate our responsibility to other people, to the scientists and engineers, to the activists, to the politicians. It would be easy for us to ignore the groaning of creation itself and to believe that our primary goal as Christians is to be about “spiritual matters” to the exclusion of all else. To choose to follow that road would be to disregard the Bible in a massive, massive way.
Did you know that there are over 3,000 verses in the Bible that talk about how we are to care for the poor? There are over 1,000 verses in the Bible that deal with creation. There are 530 verses about love, and 490 verses about heaven. It is clear where God’s priorities are!
Can these bones live?
The apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans 8:19 when he says (read Romans 8:18-23)
Do you see it? God’s salvation is for humanity yes, but it is also for the entire cosmos! As N.T. Wright has said, “The whole creation—sun, moon, sea, sky, birds, animals, plants—is longing for the time when God’s people will be revealed as God’s glorious human agents, set in authority over the world. And if one dare say it like this, as God sent Jesus to rescue the human race, so God will send Jesus’ younger siblings (you and me) in the power of the Spirit, to rescue the whole created order, to bring that justice and peace for which the whole creation yearns.”
That’s bold claim! Given our track record, why would God trust us?
But why would Paul say something like this? He said this because Paul knew of God’s ultimate will: God’s dream’s for Creation will ultimately be fulfilled. What God began in the garden in Eden will be transformed and perfected in the New Jerusalem.
In the end of the Bible, we see glimpses of God’s ultimate dream for the fulfillment of his creation.
Read Rev. 21:1-5
Friends, God’s ultimate will is to dwell with us, in the new creation here on THIS earth, just as God dwelt with Adam and Eve in the garden!
Our final resting place will be back on this earth, where God has not made all new things, but rather, has made all things new. God will choose’s to dwell with us in this place, as newly resurrected beings.
Can these bones live? God gives a resounding, absolute YES!
So what we do on Earth and to Earth matters. How we conduct ourselves as stewards of God’s creation matters.
If this earth is to be our final resting place, if all of God’s dreams are pinned upon the reclamation and transformation of God’s creation through the life, death, resurrection and sending forth of Jesus Christ, and his people, we need to get on board with what God is doing in our midst!
We must align our priorities with God’s priorities; we must put our story into God’s story, and not the other way around.
God desperately wants us, God’s creation is groaning for us, to reclaim and to live out our original roles as stewards, as tillers of God’s creation.
And so even though the science of climate change is less than comforting and, perhaps, your personal situation might look bleak right now, we must remember that:
GOD IS IN THE TRANSFORMATION BUSINESS
And we are called to participate with God in transformation!!!!
When we participate in what God is doing in the world around us, partner with God in the transformation of this creation we ourselves are transformed!!! We do this by aligning our priorities with God’s priorities, just like we heard last week.
We can be transformed into the people God has made us to be! We can be made new! Regardless of what we are coming out of, God can transform us! And God will transform and renew his creation.
So are you ready? Are you ready to partner with God? Are you ready to put your story into God’s story? Are you ready to reclaim one of the roles you were made for? Are you ready to serve in ministry with the poor? Are you ready to become a better steward of all that God has created? Are you ready to cease doing that which separates you from God, and to be made new? Are you ready for your ending to become your beginning?
Sometimes our ends and our beginnings are magnificent! And sometimes they are culmination of small steps. One of the spiritual practices that we are going to embrace as a church is the wasting of extra bulletins. (Walk back to the church and encourage people to participate in the new recycling project by giving money for the program.)
Friends, let’s us give up the things that lead to death, and embrace that which leads to life! As you come to God’s table, be fed by Jesus, be welcomed and loved by him. And, if you are called, which you most surely are, put your story into God’s story and be ready to be transformed!
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