Love is....hard

This is the sermon I preached this past Sunday on 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. Click here to read the scripture passage first.

Love is…..hard!

Well in case you somehow managed to overlook the giant candy displays, the mountain of red balloons, the massive crates full of flowers, or the multitude of commercials with couples cuddling, today is Valentine’s Day. It’s a day when a lot of time and energy goes into celebrating our love for one another. We send cards, give candy, buy balloons, go out to dinner, order flowers, and buy things that sparkle. But it’s a day that is received with mixed emotions. It’s a day that is loved by some, a day that’s dreaded by some, and a day that, to some, feels more like an obligation than anything else.

Valentines’ Day for some is a day to tell that special someone how much you love them. For other’s it’s a day that serves only to remind them that they are alone, that they don’t have a special someone or for whatever reason, can’t be with that special someone. And there’s always a few people that say we shouldn’t need a special day to tell us to be thankful for the special people in our lives, instead every day should be Valentine’s Day. And in some ways that’s true. But regardless of how you feel about Valentine’s Day, it’s a day that causes just about all of us to think about love in one form or another.

If you asked someone to pick out a passage of scripture that talks about love, a lot of people would pick 1 Corinthians 13. Perhaps that’s because it is probably the most commonly read scripture passage at weddings. In beautiful and poetic language, Paul describes the nature of love for us. As a result, many of us have come to read and hear this familiar passage in an overly romanticized way. When we hear it we think about how beautiful it sounds, how a relationship founded on that kind of love would be seemingly ideal and how much we want to experience the kind of love that’s described. Perhaps that’s because it is used so often, in the context of such a joyous occasion.

This passage is beautiful and poetic and when we read this passage, most of us are much more focused on how this passage makes us feel than what it actually says. But when you stop to think about what it actually says. It’s basically a really nice way of saying, “Love is really really hard and a whole lot of work.” And it’s not just about the love between a husband and wife, this is the kind of love that Jesus calls us to when he says they shall know we are his disciples by our love.

Let’s look at the passage again. Paul lists several attributes of love. Let’s break them apart and spend a few minutes looking at each one. The first is, Love is patient. Someone once said, “Patients is a quality you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one in front.” It’s true though isn’t it? We all want other people to be patient with us but we aren’t so quick to be patient with others. Who can say that at the end of a long day where nothing seemed to go according to plan, you respond in a particularly patient way when you get home and find that your children didn’t do the dishes like you asked, or your spouse didn’t pick up the suit from the drycleaner that you have to wear to a meeting tomorrow? Who here can say that around day three or four of being snowed in you were feeling patient towards your little brother or sister, or your spouse for that matter? I’m guessing not too many of us. Patients is one of those qualities that sounds real nice, but not too many of us have.

Paul then goes on to say, Love is kind. Kindness is one of those qualities that is undervalued in our society. The smallest of kind gestures can make a difference in someone’s day. Maybe it’s as simple as a smile or a wave, letting a car in in front of you, or helping one of us short people reach something on the top shelf at the grocery store. Love seeks good for others in even the smallest and simplest of ways.

Love does not envy. It’s so easy in our society to think the grass is greener on the other side. We’re constantly being told to upgrade our phones and computers, to get the fastest internet out there, or to buy a bigger house. And when we for one reason or another, can’t do those things, it’s easy to become envious. We get to a point where we want those things so badly that we actually begin to have negative feelings towards people who do have them. Not only that, but all this business of upgrading and getting the latest model of something, slowly seeps into how we view relationships. Envy is one of the things that lead to affairs. Sometimes it’s tempting to think our relationship needs an upgrade, so we start looking for a newer model with sleeker packaging. Or we envy the way another person makes us feel or how they seem to have fewer responsibilities than we do. Love means not coveting other people’s position, or possessions, or partners.

Love does not boast. And by the way, boasting doesn’t have to be out loud. A lot of the times, us good Christians, keep boasting to ourselves, but we still do it. Boasting can be as simple and subtle as thinking to ourselves, “I can do that better than they did.” Or “When was the last time someone else did the dishes?!?” or when we get frustrated or impatient with someone who’s trying to fix something, and we literally take it out of their hands and say, “Just give it to me. I’ll do it!” We are being boastful anytime we think or act as if we are better than someone else. Instead, loving someone is

Love is not proud. This is similar to being boastful. I don’t think of myself as an overly proud or arrogant person. But I know I have been guilty of being prideful, it’s a subtle kind of pride. I know for me, the times it comes out the most, is when I’m wrong about something. And sometimes pride prevents me from seeing that as soon as I should, or from being willing to admit I’m wrong when I realize it. But loving others means being willing to admit we aren’t always right. Sometimes we mess up and we need to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

Asking for that forgiveness is made easier by knowing that Love is not easily angered. This is similar to being patient. Love recognizes that none of us is perfect. We all mess up and we all need forgiveness. Love recognizes that and is slow to get angry.

Not only that but Love keeps no record of wrongs. It’s so easy in the middle of a fight to bring up past incidents. We fight with friends and we bring up every time they ever snubbed us at school, or told someone a secret. We fight with coworkers and we bring up every time they were late on a deadline or gave us wrong information so the project was all messed up. We fight with our spouses and we bring up every time the toilet seat was ever left up, or every time they spent too much money without consulting us. Sometimes we bring up past wrongs because we’re being prideful and we want to feel like we’re better than the other person. Sometimes we bring up past wrongs because we haven’t fully dealt with the issue. But love means confronting an issue head on, and working to resolve it completely, so it would be pointless and petty to bring it up again. Keeping no record of wrongs means completely resolving or completely forgiving that that act becomes like a speeding ticket that’s been expunged from your record.

Paul’s description of love is beautiful but when you stop to really read the words, it’s a whole lot of work. It’s all about how we act towards others, and nowhere in this passage does Paul talk about the feeling of love. It’s not some warm, butterflies in your stomach feeling towards someone else. Love is how we act towards others and it’s acting in profoundly self-sacrificing ways. It means giving of yourself and not counting yourself better than anyone else. When we really stop to think about love in these terms, it’s really overwhelming.

If you still don’t think it’s overwhelming, then try this little exercise. Take a minute now to read this passage silently to yourself, except every time you see the word love, replace it with your name. Take a minute and do that now.

No seriously. Try it now before reading any further. Click here for the scripture passage.

How did it feel? Good? Encouraging? Overwhelming? Convicting? I personally always find that to be really humbling and convicting. Because for each one of those things, I can almost immediately think of a time, usually quite recently, when I haven’t lived up to that. This love thing, this Christian Love thing is hard.

Christian Love requires more of us than we have to give. It’s not something that we can just will ourselves to do. We don’t just wake up one morning and say to ourselves, “well I’ve been cranky and selfish long enough. Today I’m going to be kind and really love others.” It doesn’t work that way.

This kind of love, starts be recognizing that God loves you with this kind of profound Christian love. God is patient with us. God is kind to us. Jesus wasn’t boastful or proud, instead he humbled himself and became a human to show us the extent of God’s love for us. He even died on the cross to expunge all our sins, so there would be no record of wrong. Until you truly experience the love of God, the freedom that comes with forgiveness of sins, you won’t be able to truly love others. Until then, the passage from Corinthians is just going to feel like one big list of obligations, things you really ought to do. Instead they are supposed to be a natural outgrowth of our relationship with God. We are capable of love because God first loved us.

And we grow in our capacity to love others when we walk in step with the spirit. Galatians tells us that the fruit of the spirit includes love. When we seek to live each day, each moment in step with God’s will, we become more and more loving. That’s why Jesus ties together loving God and loving our neighbor. We cannot love our neighbor, not this kind of self-sacrificing love, without loving God. And when we love God and truly enter into that relationship, we become more and more loving towards our neighbor.

When you find yourself in the midst of a moment where you don’t feel very patient or humble, or forgiving, when you find yourself in the midst of one of those moments where you’re saying to yourself, “This love thing is hard” remember that God loves you. God loves each of you just as you are. It is this love of God that makes us capable of loving at all. It’s the love of God, that is able to flow through us and into our relationships with one another. When you feel like you cannot love one another, ask God to help you see that person as God sees them, ask God to help you be a vessel of God’s love for them.

I encourage you to continue to allow God to be an active part of all your relationship, in good times and in bad, and to allow the love of God to be the basis for the love you share with one another. In doing so, you will continue to be an example to those around you. May the love of God continue to guide you and uphold you.

Amen.

How Can Sabbath Time Help?

This scripture passage this sermon was preached on is Exodus 20:8-11. Click here to read the Scripture passage first.

How can Sabbath time help?

This week we are continuing our sermon series called Restart your life. We started the series talking about how to discover our purpose in life. Last week we talked a little about how to simplify our schedules. Today I’m going to talk some about Sabbath time and next week we are going to talk about how to get personal finances under control.

In undergrad, my degree was in kinesiology, which is the study of how the body moves. Many people who get this degree end up going into physical therapy school or doing sports medicine or sports training. A few of them become personal trainers and not very many of us end up in seminary but that’s neither here nor there. Because of what my degree was in, in college and in seminary I ended up as a personal trainer to many of my friends.

Many of them wanted to learn how to lift weights so I would show them the proper technique and would spot them when necessary. With just about every person, I have ever shown how to lift weights, at some point in the process I would find myself saying to them, “Breathe! Don’t forget to breathe!” And with that, they would exhale a huge breath, they didn’t even realize they were holding. It seems really simple, like how could you forget to breathe? But they were concentrating so hard, on all the other things they were supposed to do. They were thinking about holding their arms in the right position and keeping their shoulders in the right alignment and come up this far and down this far and don’t go too far to the left or the right and oh by the way don’t drop the weight on yourself. They were so focused on all the other things they had to do that they inadvertently forgot to breathe.

It seems silly and yet it’s something that almost all of us are guilty of doing. Life gets so busy, and we get so preoccupied with all of the things we need to do that sometimes we forget to do even the most basic things that sustain our life. John Wesley said that Sabbath time is like our spiritual respiration. Sabbath time, like breath, is what sustains our spiritual lives and keeps us filled with the Spirit. Just like we won’t last very long without breathing, our spiritual lives won’t last very long without Sabbath time.

Sabbath time is time that is set aside to God. It’s a time where we rest from working. But not all rest time is considered Sabbath time. Martin Luther noted that the drunk who’s passed out on the bathroom floor is not working but he’s certainly not keeping the Sabbath either.

So what exactly is the difference between any time off and Sabbath time? As we explore the difference, I think it would be helpful for us to explore the Jewish tradition of Sabbath. Jesus was a practicing Jew and he would have been familiar with the Jewish requirements for keeping the Sabbath.

In Judaism, there are several restrictions of things you are not to do on the Sabbath. First off, you are not to do any of your regular work because God rested on the seventh day. This includes working in the fields or working around the house and doing things like cooking, cleaning, mowing the grass, etc. The Sabbath and the probation on working, reminds us that our worth does not come from what we produce. We live in a society that tells us our worth is based on what we produce, the quality of what we produce and how much we produce. But God thinks otherwise. We have value, not because of what we produce but because we are made by God and God deemed all of creation good. Sabbath is a day to rediscover that our worth lies in who we are not what we do.

Not only are you supposed to rest from working but you are not to make anyone work on your behalf. The scripture that was read for us this morning says, “On [the Sabbath] you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or your daughter, nor your manservant or maid servant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” In other words, you are not to force anyone to work on your behalf to get more work done. In Judaism today, this has led to a prohibition on commerce. You are not to go shopping or go out to eat on the Sabbath because that would require someone else to work on your behalf.

You are also not supposed to do any gardening or play a musical instrument. You are not to write anything down or draw anything. Basically, you are not to create anything because God rested from creating on the seventh day. Rabbi Harold Kushner puts it this way, “Sabbath rest is leaving the world alone.” When we stop interfering with the world we acknowledge that it is God’s world.

There are not only specific things that are prohibited for Jews on the Sabbath day, there are also some activities that are encouraged. One of the things that Jews are encouraged to do on the Sabbath is worship. That may be worshiping God together in community or worshiping God as an individual at home. This might include singing hymns or saying prayers. You might read scripture or sit in silent prayer. Worship on the Sabbath gives us an opportunity to be more aware of the presence of God in our lives and in the world.

Another thing that’s encouraged on the Sabbath is fellowship. It’s an opportunity to get together with other people to eat together and to talk with one another. When we set aside our to-do lists and stop trying to be productive every second of the day, we realize that we have time for people. Ceasing our normal routines helps us focus on people instead of tasks. We have time to actually listen to one another instead of just waiting for our turn to talk. The Sabbath is a day to remember that we were created to live in community and it’s an opportunity to truly experience that community in a way we don’t the other six days of the week.

All in all, the things that are prohibited on the Sabbath, and the things that are encouraged on the Sabbath both seek to accomplish the same thing. The Sabbath is designed to help us open our hearts to God.

So what does all of this mean for how we as Christians should keep the Sabbath? Does it mean that we have to adhere to all the restriction and regulations of a Jewish Sabbath? I don’t think so because Jesus didn’t do that. In the book of Mark, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees because the disciples were picking grain as they walked through a field. When asked about it, Jesus says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus also breaks the strict observance of Sabbath by healing a man on the Sabbath. It seems that Sabbath time for Jesus wasn’t about a strict observance of a certain set of rules.

Sabbath is intended to reorient us back to God. It’s intended to honor God and to refocus us on God. In her book Mudhouse Sabbath, Lauren Winner says, “In observing the Sabbath one is both giving a gift to God and imitating him.” And Scripture tells us to keep Sabbath Holy. Holy means set apart. It means different. So while, Jesus frees us from having strict rules to follow on the Sabbath, it should be a day that we spend differently than other days. It should be a day that orients us back to God.

What are the things you need to set aside to focus on God? At a bare minimum we should set aside our work. This means we shouldn’t go into the office. We shouldn’t check our email. We should turn off our pager and our blackberry. Yes, they do actually have an off button, and one day a week we should use it. If your work is around the home then you shouldn’t cook or clean. Don’t do laundry or go grocery shopping. If your work is school then don’t do homework. Now obviously, if this is going to work then we have to do some advance planning. If you’re not going to do homework on your Sabbath day then it needs to be done before then.

Maybe on the Sabbath day you need to lay aside shopping. The Sabbath can be a time for you to remember that your worth isn’t based on how much you produce OR how much you quire. Maybe you need to lay aside your ordinary routines on that day, so it is a day that is different and set apart for God. Don’t set an alarm and sleep late on the Sabbath. Now if you’re in the choir, Beckie probably wouldn’t be happy if you slept late. So maybe Sunday isn’t your Sabbath, maybe you need to set aside another day as your Sabbath.

Sabbath is a chance to lay aside all the things we so often focus on so we can remember to breathe, so we can spend time focusing on our spiritual respiration. Just like there are some things we need to stop doing, there are something we need to start doing on the Sabbath.

I think one of the things we need to do on the Sabbath is worship. This might be individually or as a community. If your Sabbath is on Sunday, you can come to church to worship. If your Sabbath is another day of the week then maybe that means listening to music or making a joyful noise to the Lord. Maybe that means reading scripture or sitting silently in prayer. Whatever way you worship, it should be included on your Sabbath day. Because worship helps to reorient us back to God.

Another thing that’s good for us to do on the Sabbath is play, recreation. Because recreation is re-creation. The things we do on the Sabbath shouldn’t feel like work. They should be fun and playful. It should be something that opens ourselves up to God to be re-created. Maybe for you that’s playing in the garden. Maybe that’s practicing an instrument or reading a book. Maybe it’s going on a hike or playing a game of football in the backyard with your family. Whatever it is, it should be something that opens you up and allows you to be created anew by God.

Another thing that’s good for us to do on the Sabbath is fellowship. One of the ways we experience God is through one another. Setting aside our regular tasks to make room for people can be an excellent way to open ourselves up to God. Maybe that’s eating a meal together or playing a game together. Maybe it’s something as ordinary as grocery shopping but it’s something you and your spouse turn into a sort of date together. We can fellowship in all sorts of different ways.

In the end, everyone’s Sabbath is going to look differently because we all connect with God in different ways. This sermon isn’t intended to put one more item on your to-do list. It’s not meant to add one more thing to your obligations and things you have to do.

Instead it’s intended to help you realize that we all need to breathe. Our spiritual lives can be so much more vital and healthy if we pause from our regular routines to intentionally breathe in the spirit of God. Not only will it help infuse our Sabbath time with God’s presence, it will help us be more open to the presence of God throughout the rest of the week. Life gets so busy but don’t forget to breathe!

Amen.

How can I Simplify?

This sermon is based on the scripture passage Mark 1:35-39. Click here to read the Scripture passage first.

How can I Simplify?

This week we are continuing our sermon series called Restart your life. Last week Dennis talked about how we can discover the purpose of our lives. Today I’m going to talk a little about how we can simplify our lives. Next week we’ll talk about Sabbath time and the week after that we’ll talk about how to get personal finances under control.

Many of you know that I moved around a lot growing up. Which means that I have a lot of practice packing and unpacking boxes. Every time we moved to a new house, one of the exciting things, and sometimes challenging things, was figuring out where we were going to put everything. We’d almost always start in the kitchen, deciding which tools and utensils were going to go in which drawer. We’d figure out where the silverware was going to go based on which drawer was situated closest to our kitchen table. Hotpads always went in the drawer closest to the stove and the non-stick sprays, cooking oils, and sauces always went in those small half cabinets over top the stove.

The nice thing about this process is that with each house it was like we got to start fresh. We would tell ourselves that we were going to do thing in a way that made sense this time, that every item was going to have a spot where it belonged. That things were going to be neat and organized this time. The challenge is, that there’s always that stuff, that doesn’t seem to belong anywhere. And try as we might to avoid it, every kitchen I lived in growing up had what we referred to as “the junk drawer.”

How many of you are familiar with “the junk drawer?” Now I don’t know about your house, but in our house, the junk drawer always started out as a drawer of useful things. It was where we kept pens and a pad of paper for making the grocery list, a pair of scissors for opening things while cooking, stamps and other functional things of that nature. But before we knew it, other things started to find their way into the drawer. You know those little packets of powdered food you get with flowers. Those would end up in there. And so would the extra zip-ties left over from the box of garbage bags. And rubber bands that seem to multiply on their own when the drawer is closed. And pretty soon, this drawer became the catch all for anything and everything we didn’t know what else to do with. The drawer would be overflowing with things like keys that we had no idea what they went to, or broken pieces of magnets that we always said we’d fix but never got around to, or the little toys that come in the cereal boxes, or the left over packets of soy sauce.

The junk drawer started out useful but then it gets so cluttered and unwieldy with all the extra stuff that we shoved into it that it became hard to find the useful stuff when we needed it. And sometimes, particularly in really busy and stressful times, I begin to feel a little bit like my life is just one big junk drawer. It’s got some useful, and important, and functional things in it. But it’s also got a lot of other stuff crammed into that doesn’t really need to be there. And sometimes that other stuff takes up so much space that it’s hard to make room for the things that I think are important.

How many of you have ever said, “there just aren’t enough hours in the day?” or how many of you have ever found yourself thinking, if only I had more time, if only life weren’t so busy? I know I have. Most of us live lives that are packed to the brim or overflowing. There’s work and kids, school, and homework, sports practice and music lessons, there’s grocery shopping to be done and clothes to be washed, there’s friends who want to see us and family that feels neglected. Most of us are so busy that we’re just barely managing to keep our heads above water and then something like flu season comes along, or the car breaks down and we have to add yet another thing to an already over packed schedule.

I often find myself thinking, “I would love to do this or that if only there was more time.” Or I hear of some worthy cause and wish I had time to volunteer but I don’t. So instead I just end up feeling guilty that I’m too busy to help. And I can’t help but wonder, is this how life is supposed to be? Is life supposed to be lived at such a frenzied pace? Because when I look at Jesus’ life, I don’t see him living that way. In fact, we read a lot of passages, like the one today, where Jesus gets away from everyone and everything and spends time alone. He doesn’t seem to be nearly as frenzied as I feel.

Here’s Jesus, the savior of the world, and not once do I hear him say “there just aren’t enough hours in the day.” He sometimes remarks that his time with the disciples is coming to a close, or he’ll predict his death but I can’t remember a single time we have recorded where Jesus said, “If only I had more time, if only life weren’t so busy.”

So why is it that the savior of the world, someone with a much more important and demanding job description than I have, never complains about being too busy and yet I complain about it all the time? Jesus has the slight advantage of being divine, but he was also fully human. And for all the miracle stories we read about, I don’t remember any stories about Jesus slowing time down so he can get more stuff done. In this instance, I don’t think we can use Jesus’ divinity as an excuse for why we aren’t more like him. So what is it that Jesus does differently than we do?

In the scripture passage immediately before the one that was read for us today, we read that Jesus had spent the night healing many people and driving out many demons. In fact, the passage tells us that the whole town gathered at Jesus’ door. Then the next day Jesus gets up early and goes to a solitary place to pray. The word that’s translated here as solitary place it actually eremos and many scholars agree that a better translated of the word is desert or deserted place. Here it’s translated as solitary place because there aren’t any deserts near Capernaum. But translating it as solitary place, misses the author’s parallel to the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.

It’s an important parallel here because Jesus is about to be tempted again, by other people’s expectations of him. When the disciples finally find Jesus they say to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” This isn’t a simple observation. The Greek used here has the connotation of reprimanding or rebuking Jesus. It’s more along the lines of a parent saying to a wayward child, “Where have you been? Everyone is looking for you!” And presumably they were looking for him so he could do more healings and drive out more demons. The disciples and the town are clamoring for Jesus to do more of the good things he’s been doing.

Sometimes in life it’s so easy to give into other people’s expectations of us. We want to please people and we know how messy it can be when we don’t meet certain people’s expectations. It’s especially hard to disregard those expectations when it’s a good thing to be doing. That’s how we find ourselves on committees that we aren’t excited or passionate about. Inevitably, someone comes to us and asks if we’d be willing to serve in such and such a role. It’s hard for us to say no, even though we’re not excited about it, because we know it’s a good thing. It’s a worthwhile ministry and something someone should be doing. But God hasn’t called us to that ministry so we just end up feeling overwhelmed and exhausted from a schedule packed with good things. It can be really tempting to let other people’s expectations dictate how we spend our time and energy. We have to be willing to say, “no” to some things, even some good and worthwhile things so we can say, “yes” to other better things, things that God has called us to, things that we are passionate about and excited by.

In some ways I think Jesus was probably tempted to give into those expectations as well. The town would be perfectly happy for Jesus to stay with them and be the local healer. He probably could have lived a long and prestigious life doing that. Being a local healer is a good purpose, and one to which someone is called, but Jesus was called to much more than that. Jesus response to the disciples is to say, “Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Jesus knows what his purpose is in this life. He uses that purpose to help him decide what things to say yes to and what things to say no to. While healing is a good thing, he knows he has been called to more than that. So even though the disciples and townspeople expect Jesus to come back and do more healings, he doesn’t. Instead he chooses to do what will fulfill his purpose for coming, even when that fails to fulfill other people’s expectations.

Like Jesus, one of the things we can use to help decide what to do and what not to do is to figure out what God has called us to. Last week Dennis talked a little about how to figure out your purpose in life. God calls each of us to something. Sometimes we are called to multiple things or to different things at different times in our lives. But God created each one of us with a purpose in mind.

If you feel like God has called you to be a parent, then look at that purpose and decide what’s important to you based on how well it will help you be a better parent. If you feel like God has called you to promote health and wellness, then maybe you’ll spend your time going on hikes or putting together disaster response health kits. We should decide how to spend our time based on what God has called us to, not just what other people’s expectations are.

Another thing we can do to simplify our lives and take back more control over our schedules, is to schedule the most important things first. For example, one thing that’s important to me is continuing to nurture and care for my marriage. So every Friday night, Scott and I have a standing date night. What we do on that date night varies a lot but I know I’m going to spend Friday nights with Scott. Other things, things that are not as important to me, get scheduled around that. Maybe time with your family is important to you, so while the kids are still young you can schedule a regular family night. That might be once a week, or every other week or once a month. Whatever works for you. Maybe sports, or music, or some hobby is really important to you. Schedule time for those things and treat it like it’s an important meeting with your boss that you can’t cancel.

You really can simplify your life and not run at such a frenzied pace. Simplifying, by its very nature, means letting go of some things. Realize that you can’t do everything, nor should you. Jesus was divine and he didn’t do everything. There were some things that he said no to. There will be some things that you can’t do. Maybe that means your house won’t be as neat or maybe you won’t get around to hanging outside Christmas lights this year. Maybe that means saying no to a ministry you’re asked to volunteer for so you can say yes to something you’re passionate about.

This is where the body of Christ comes in. We are all called to something. God created each of us with a purpose and gave each of us gifts for the building up of the community. A few people can’t do all the work of the community. Everyone in the community needs to be doing something, whether it’s big or small. If you are one of those people that says yes to everything, know that you don’t have to do it all. It’s likely that God has called some other person to do some of those things.

Simplifying isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work and intentionality. And unfortunately, it’s something we have to do repeatedly in life. All of the items in our junk drawer were functional at one point. Like the activities in our life, some of them have served their purpose and we need to let go of them. Others are still functional but need to be handed over to someone else who can use them. Still others are things we need to keep in our lives and need to make more space for. If we want to simplify things, we are going to have to do that more than once, just like we had to clean out our junk drawer more than once. When things start to feel too full, that’s when we need to re-evaluate things.

We aren’t called to do everything. Even Jesus didn’t do everything. What are you going to say no to so you can say yes to something you’re passionate about?

Amen.

Living in Exile

This sermon is based on the scripture passage Jeremiah 33:14-16. Click here to read the scripture passage first.


I did not write out a full manuscript for this sermon but below is the outline I used to preach from. I would have included the audio but I haven't been able to figure out how to make it work.

Living in Exile

· Jeremiah’s words came to people in exile.

o Literally deported to a foreign country.

o Exile meant God had been defeated

o Or at the very least, God doesn’t have jurisdiction here

· Many of us experience exile at some point in our lives. We may not be literally deported to a foreign land but we still experience exile. Exile is when things are not as they should be. It’s when you can’t remember who you are. Exile is when you feel far from the presence of God, far from home or a sense of security.

o Bureau of Labor statistics reported that in October the US unemployment rate rose to 10.2%

o As of 2007 an estimated 33 million people world wide are living with HIV/AIDS

o Roughly 16,000 children die every day of hunger, that’s one child every 5 seconds, that’s more than 144 children who will die due to hunger related illnesses before this sermon is over

o Addictions

o Unmanaged Depression/mental illness

o Death of a loved one

· Our response to exile is similar to Israel

o Where are you God?

o Why do bad things happen to good people?

o How long will things be this way?

· Jeremiah’s words are also for us

· The days are surely coming when God’s promises will be fulfilled

· What exactly are the promises Jeremiah is referring to?

· Jeremiah 33:6-9

o Despite all the pain and destruction, there will be restoration. In other words this time of exile will not last forever.

o Health and healing

o Abundant peace and security

o Forgiveness of sins

· God will do for Israel what they cannot do for themselves. We cannot return from exile on our own. It takes the work of God, the fulfillment of God’s promises to bring us home.

· But God promises that we will not live in exile forever.

· God will make a righteous branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.

· David is often considered to be the most prominent king of Israel. He’s certainly the most well remembered. David was not without his faults but overall he was faithful to the Lord, and sought to lead Israel in accordance with God’s will.

· But God will not raise up any descendant from the line of David, God is going to raise up one who is righteous and who does what is just and right.

· What exactly is justice and righteousness?

· It’s actually the same word in Hebrew.

· It means to be in right relationship.

o Someone who is righteous and just lives in right relationship with God. That means obey the commandments and laws of God. It means discerning and doing the will of God in every day live.

o Someone who is righteous and just lives in right relationship with their neighbors. That means caring for those who cannot care for themselves. It means upholding the covenants we make with one another. It means speaking up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. It means not being a workaholic and ignoring our families.

o Someone who is righteous and just lives in right relationship with themselves. They don’t engage in self destructive behaviors like not getting enough sleep or eating too much.

· Being righteous and just is doing not just some of those things but all of those things. Being righteous and just all the time is a tall order. In fact it’s something none of us can live up to.

· But there’s one person who did manage to live a just and righteous life. One person who was able to always be in right relationship with God, and neighbor, and self. Jesus did all of those things all the time.

· Many scholars believe the birth of Jesus is one fulfillment of this prophecy. According to the genealogy of Jesus listed in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is considered part of the Davidic line.

· Jesus managed not only to live an earthly life of justice and righteousness, but also came to set us back in right relationship.

o Right relationship with God, neighbor, and self.

· Many of us experience exile at some point in our lives. We know what it’s like to feel like things are not as they should be, where it seems like God is far away, and safety and comfort are nowhere to be found.

· But God promises that exile will not last forever. Two thousand years ago, God sent Jesus to bring us back from exile we experience when our relationship with God is not as it should be and to restore us to right relationship.

· God promises to do it again. God promises that Jesus will come again, to set the whole world in right relationship.

· During advent, we celebrate not only the birth of Jesus long ago, we also wait in anticipation and hope, for Jesus to return again and set all things right.

· Let this advent season be a time of self-reflection. What are the parts of your life that are not in right relationship with God, with your neighbor, or with yourself? What are the parts of your life God is asking you to hand over so God can set them in right relationship?

o We typically go through advent at such a frenzied pace. Instead of a time for waiting and anticipation of Christ’s return, we seem to be inundated with holiday parties and frantic shopping trips.

o Use this as a time of prayer, devotion, and reflection. I encourage you to set aside ten minutes each day to reflect on what God is telling you needs to be set right in your life.

· God has promised that one day, all things will be set right. Jeremiah reminds us today that the days are coming when God’s promises will be fulfilled.