Isaiah 66:22-23

Isaiah 66:22-23

English Standard Version 

  I don't know that many people honor the Sabbath anymore.  It's likely considered an outdated concept, one better fitted to a slower pace of life.  Youth sports and errands have likely overtaken the time once set aside for rest.  I'll freely admit that I'm not great at intentional Sabbath practices -- perhaps I'm too busy pretending that the world depends on me, that I need to be running and pushing, faster and faster, trying to build my kingdom.  

  Here at the end of Isaiah, the prophet is telling us about the Kingdom of God, trying to lift our vision up to see what God has in store, and in God's Kingdom, worship doesn't just take place on the Sabbath, but it's from Sabbath to Sabbath.  Worship fills in the gaps in our lives, finding every nook and cranny and filling it with the glory of the Lord.  We finally fulfill our purpose, which is to bring glory to God.  At that point, I believe we'll understand how all the good and wonderful things in this life pointed forwards to the glory of God, how our best art that pointed towards the beautiful and sublime was reflecting echoes of God's beauty.  Our lives will be worship, and worship will be our lives.

  It's a far cry from how many of our lives run, where the gaps between worship are filled with so many things, often which are good and important things.  But it's challenging to think of life between the Sabbaths as entirely caught up in worship -- it's simply an entirely different way of life.  I truly believe it's possible to live this way, but it's certainly not easy, and the life of faithful discipleship is one of taking small steps in the same direction, day after day.  Just as the Gospel of Luke talks about Jesus setting his face towards Jerusalem, so may we set our face towards God and lead our lives slowly towards the place where they are going, a life of continual worship in the Kingdom of God.

Isaiah 66:12-13

Isaiah 66:12-13 

English Standard Version 

  We read in many places about the power of God, and that's easy to pick up in many places in Scripture.

  What's also present throughout Scripture, although sometimes you have to look a little harder, is the tenderness and love of God.  We see God, like a mother, tenderly caring for God's children, comforting and surrounding us with love.  Like children, we can fall into the arms of our loving parent, reminded of unconditional love, accepted with warmth and grace.  

  God is both power and tenderness, overwhelming love and awe-inspiring mercy.  We need both -- we want both -- and fortunately, we have both in our awesome God!

Isaiah 66:1-2

Isaiah 66:1-2 

English Standard Version 

  I remember how challenging it was as a child to come up with Christmas gifts for my parents.  What do you get the person who is raising you, who is making great sacrifices for you, especially when you're shopping with their money?  I know they say it's the thought that counts, but you can't wrap a thought, and it's so hard to properly express gratitude to someone when there is such a large power differential.  Plus, as a kid, how do you know what your parents need or want?  (Well, except our kids always know to get Rachel a chocolate bar.)

  So it's even greater when we come to God.  It's always made me laugh when I see the line about the earth being God's footstool.  Here we are, thinking the earth is amazing, and to God, it's something to prop God's feet on at the end of a long day.  When I think of all the things I've used as footstools in my life, it doesn't give a picture of glamour to the earth.

  So what is the house that we would build for God?  How could we possibly create something to properly glorify God, especially since we can only use the things that God has made?  It's highly unlikely that we're going to come up with something new that God hasn't seen or isn't expecting.  Hard to surprise an omnipotent being!

  But God tells us what is honored -- humility and contriteness.  Let us boldly recognize that we do not have the tools or words to properly honor God, but when we confess that it is our heart's true desire to honor God, even though we often get it wrong, that brings honor and glory to God.  Humility and honesty bring us closer to the Creator of the universe.  

  We can never match what God has done.  Fortunately, we don't have to -- we can receive with grateful hearts and go forth with humility.  The world doesn't depend on us.  Let us give thanks!

Sermon for June 27, 2021 -- Joshua 3

Isaiah 65:20-25

Isaiah 65:20-25 

English Standard Version 

  The children's hospital here in Columbus has a great reputation.  They're doing a lot of expansion, including a recently opened behavioral health facility.  The Ronald McDonald House here is the largest in the world, and they're working on a massive expansion project to keep pace with the growth.  The resources dedicated to the health of children is very impressive.

  It's also incredibly sad whenever I think about it.  

  Kids shouldn't have to get sick and suffer.  It breaks my heart to think about it.  I went for a walk yesterday and saw a bunch of kids playing around in the park by my office and it brings joy to my heart.  Kids shouldn't have to deal with sickness and cancer and so many other terrible things.  We're funding a project in Shreveport that is doing some amazing work on a rare disorder in children that radically transforms the lives of the kids who have it... and yet I can't help but think about how wrong it is that any kid has to suffer.

  We hate it because it's not the way its supposed to be.  In God's Kingdom, in the fullness of time, it won't be like that.  There will be peace and health and fullness.  There won't be children suffering from rare diseases, or loved ones taken too soon.  The problems that sin and death created will be destroyed.

  We read these promises and our hearts want to dive in, because we know that we know that we know that's the way it's supposed to be.  The songs of our hearts were made for heaven.  Until we get there, all we can do is sing the best we can on earth, comforting the hurting children, showing love to the suffering, and pointing towards hope in everything we do.

Isaiah 65:17-19

Isaiah 65:17-19 

English Standard Version 

  The best way I've heard death described is as the completion of baptism.  We are immersed in the promises of God, and when we are joined with Christ in his death and resurrection, we have to go through death to obtain the resurrection.  There's no way around that -- it's like asking to win the lottery without every buying a ticket.  There's a necessary door to go through to enter eternal life, and although we know that Christ is the door, coming to us in grace and mercy, we still have to pass through it, and that isn't easy.  

  My great uncle completed his baptism after 91 years of faithfulness, and has been received into the new heavens, into the new earth, into the joy, into the gladness.  The promises of God are reliable, for God is faithful and true, and we lean into them as we mourn.  There is an empty tomb in Jerusalem that testifies to the truth of all of this.  I heard Tim Keller quote someone that the Gospel has transformed death from an executioner into a gardener.  We are planted and then grow into something remarkable, far more glorious than the humble seed that goes into the ground.  One day I, too, will rejoice and be glad, for there will be no more sounds of weeping and cries of distress.  

  What a glorious hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 61:8-11

Isaiah 61:8-11 

English Standard Version 

  My kids love to eat dessert, but they often prefer to skip the vegetables that come beforehand.  The thing is, they know they can't get dessert unless they clean their plates.

  The Bible is a little similar to this, but it's not a perfect analogy.  We often love to hear the verses about God's love for us, but we can sometimes be guilty of skipping over the verses calling us to participate in works that push for justice for all people, in lives that go out into the world and engage with righting the wrongs in society.  It's easy to accept love, while it can be challenging to go out and practice that unconditional love.

  The way that it is different is that for my kids at dinner, the vegetables and dessert have nothing to do with each other.  Broccoli and popsicles have nothing in common.  With God's love, the unconditional love and favor poured out into us naturally should lead us into the world to do works of justice.  Once we recognize that God loves us unconditionally, we should naturally realize that God loves other unconditionally, and that God's favor is poured out on all people.  If God can love me, then God can love anyone, and therefore I should love everyone, and just as God showed that in the sacrificial love of Christ, so, too, should I show this love for others.  It's a natural progression.  It isn't always easy for us, but that's the path we should follow.  To recognize that God loves us and lifts us up is to recognize that God has that some love for others, and if God loves someone with infinite love, then shouldn't we love them, too?  And if we truly love one another, what actions does that call us into?

Isaiah 61:1-4

Isaiah 61:1-4 

English Standard Version 

  Does this sound familiar?  It's what Jesus read from the scroll many years later in the synagogue, this verse that was all about him.  The people weren't expecting it to be about Jesus -- they'd probably read it so many times, they'd forgotten that it was pointing forward towards an actual person.  They never expected they would meet him in the flesh.

  The Old Testament is constantly pointing forwards to Jesus, and Jesus is referencing the Old Testament.  If you think the Old Testament doesn't matter, then you're not listening to Jesus.  He is rooted in the Old Testament, because it's all about him.  Every verse is singing his name, in some way or another.  It's pointing forward, just as he is pointing back towards the amazing things God has done, and he's pointing forwards to the amazing things God will do, and he is an amazing thing God is doing.  History is wrapped up in God, and God is in the midst of it all, reminding us of God's constant presence.

  So dive in the Old Testament, and find Jesus there.  Read the New Testament, and realize what the Old Testament was all about.  Sink into it, and you'll find more depth than you can ever imagine.

Isaiah 60:19-22

Isaiah 60:19-22 

English Standard Version 

  I doubt that you ever go out and stare at the sun -- you'd be blinded by its brilliance, and in the midst of summer, it's just too hot.  It's overwhelming, and somewhat mind-boggling that it is 93 million miles from earth and we're still sweltering in its presence and unable to look upon it.  

  Then Scripture tells us that God is even more brilliant than the sun -- we won't need the sun someday, for God will be our light.  We'll be able to draw near to God, despite God's radiance being brighter than the brightest sun.  Our sin should separate us from God, but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ enables us to be in the presence of God and thrive!  There is great hope for each of us due to what Christ has done for us!  May we rejoice, and every day when you experience the heat of the sun, may we give thanks for the grace of God that will enable us to be in the presence of God someday!

Sermon for June 20, 2021

Isaiah 60:4-7

Isaiah 60:4-7 

English Standard Version 

  Whenever there is a solar eclipse, there are SO many warnings to be careful not to look directly at it, because the radiance of the sun is blinding if our eyes are not shielded.

  In the same way, the radiance of God is blinding.  God's house is so beautiful, but it is beyond our capacity to view it, and so we can only think of it through a lens in our present time.  We talk about beauty in this world, about fullness in this world, and we remember that these things point to God's radiance and God's beauty, for we understand the concept of beauty, and so there is a place in our heart that can grasp the goodness of what God has set before us.  We were made for this, and although sin has separated us from being able to fully grasp it, we can still understand the concept that what is before us is an eternity of awe and wonder.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Isaiah 60:1-3

English Standard Version 

  There is plenty of darkness.  Just turn on the news if you're not certain -- darkness is surrounding us, pressing in on us, and it's within us as well.  It truly covers the earth, and we see the ways that it impacts relationships, individuals, communities, societies.  We see it in individual vices and in comfort that turns away from those in need.

  But we also know that's not the way things are supposed to be.  We're hardwired for something different, created for lasting peace and community.  We're made for this, which is why it feels so wrong that society doesn't function the way that it should.

  Our great hope is for the glory of the Lord to rise, for light to shine.  God, and God alone, can restore things, can redeem, can show us what a future of hope looks like.  The beauty of it is attractive -- it will draw people in from around the world.  We will stream to God, from north and south and east and west.  Even kings will come and bow the knee to God.

  So may we hold onto hope in the midst of whatever darkness you are facing.  Your hope is not in vain!

Isaiah 58:10-12

Isaiah 58:10-12

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever stopped to consider a fountain?  If you think about it, fountains only work because they're continually draining themselves.  Somewhere in that fountain, there is a small drain that leads to a pump that cycles water back up to the top.  Only in the act of being continuously drained can a fountain fulfill its true purpose.  

  Or picture a paintbrush.  A new paintbrush is a thing of beauty -- unmarred, pure, untainted by any color.  Only by immersing itself in colored paints, risking staining and possible deformity, can it fulfill its true purpose.  Far safer to stay in the wrapper, far from paints with conflicting colors.  But not what a paintbrush is designed for.

  We are the same.  We are made, we are called, we are created to serve, to pour ourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted, for in so doing the Lord guides us and satisfies us.  In serving others, as messy as it can be, we discover grace anew.  In feeding others, we are fed.  In pouring ourselves out, we are watered, and we are renewed by grace, restored by God.  In serving, we discover anew the love of Christ who serves us.  In loving, we discover the unconditional love of God.  

  So may we serve and love, unburdened by the risks and unrestrained by the mess of one another's lives, and in so doing, may we fall in love with God all over again.

Isaiah 58:6-9

Isaiah 58:6-9

English Standard Version

  So imagine you're driving down the freeway.  You turn your blinker on, then look over and notice that there is a car next to you.  Imagine, if you will, that you then proceed to merge into that lane anyway, forcing the other car off the road and into the ditch.  Do you feel good for using your blinker?

  This is a little like the problem that the prophet Isaiah is describing.  The Israelites were fasting to honor God, but then they went out and lived lives that completely ignored the commands God had given them to care for other people.  They still wanted credit for fasting, thinking that they were honoring God by doing so.  

  Instead, God tells them that God would rather see them commit themselves to serving the poor and oppressed.  The point of fasting, God is trying to tell them, is that their relationships be restored with God and one another.  To ignore the people around you while focusing on God doesn't solve the problem, just as ignoring God while serving the people around you doesn't.  They are linked, and while we don't have to be perfect in either, we can't completely ignore half of the equation.  Faith in God naturally translates to caring about the things God cares about, and if God has created the world and the people in it, we should be caring for the world and the people in it as part of our effort to honor God.  

Isaiah 56:1-2

Isaiah 56:1-2 

English Standard Version 

  Sometimes, the commands of the Lord seem easy.  When we read them on the page, written in black and white, we think about how we can go and do these things.

  However, when we go out into the world, things often get far more complicated.  Life is messy in the real world, where right and wrong often seem far more like shades of grey.  Justice and righteousness aren't always clear, and it's easy to wonder if anyone is on the right side at the end of the day.

  It's interesting how these verses conclude.  They talk about justice and righteousness, and yet they end at the Sabbath.  Keeping the Sabbath is mentioned right next to keeping justice and pursuing righteousness.  Isn't that interesting?  

  In America, we've about given up on the Sabbath.  Youth sports have largely taken over the day, and where there is extra space, golf and errands and work have interfered.  Sunday has become just another day to try and get more things done, often trying to build our own little kingdoms.

  And yet God has commanded us to keep it holy, set aside a day for us to rest, to trust, to lean into God, to remember that it's not us holding the world together, but rather God holding us together.  

  So let's start with some sabbath time.  Maybe, just maybe, keeping the Sabbath, even if only for a few hours in the day, will have an impact on the rest of our lives, leading us to keep justice and do righteousness.  Start small, step out in faith, and God is able to do impossibly more than we ask or imagine.

Sermon on Exodus 12 for June 13, 2021

Isaiah 55:12-13

Isaiah 55:12-13 

English Standard Version 

  Sometimes the problem is bigger than it seems.  Having children requires one to learn to be a detective.  When children act up or act out, what they say is the problem is likely not the real problem -- they are probably upset over something else.  It's like when people come home from a long day and kick the dog -- the dog isn't the problem, but the anger is transferred.

  When we think about sin, we often individualize it and think about my sin.  Occasionally, we recognize that it's not just a me problem, but it's a we problem -- we see that sin can be systematic, can be societal.  I'm currently reading Greg Grandin's The Empire of Necessity, about the tragedy of slavery and how deeply interwoven it was in all levels of society (it's a really well-done book, heartbreaking and illuminating and many other things all at once.  Grandin focuses on a particular event and then tells the story of how all those people arrived at that place and time, presenting the dynamics of the age as the reader journeys with characters and better understands how the economy and trade and society functioned in that time as a result.  Grandin also wrote Forlandia, all about Henry Ford's attempt to build a rubber plantation in Brazil, which is also a great read.).  

  Here, Isaiah is painting a picture that moves beyond even the human levels, which is helpful for us to think about how sin has infected all of creation.  In the last days, when creation is being redeemed, nature itself will rejoice.  The thorn and brier are pictures of nature in conflict with humans, and the cypress and myrtle shall replace them, as creation moves from broken to redeemed.

  All of creation shall be redeemed, and the stain of sin shall be lifted from each part of creation that is touched by it.  We shall join with the rocks and trees as we cry out our praise to God.

Isaiah 55:10-11

Isaiah 55:10-11 

English Standard Version 

  At work, I send a lot of emails.  A lot of emails... sometimes I wonder if my job description shouldn't be 'sending emails'.  I'm sure I could improve in my efficiency or delivery, but when I send one, it's because I have a purpose for each one -- I want to share information or am requesting information.  I want something to happen when I send an email.  

  If I send emails with purpose, how much more does God send forth God's Word with purpose?  We see the ways God's Word impacts the world in the very act of creation -- it is spoken word that has creative power in the nothingness that exists before creation.  When God speaks, God does so with purpose, transforming the world or someone's life as a result.  When we think of Jesus as the Word made flesh, Jesus came to earth with a specific purpose, to accomplish the redemption of humankind, and that purpose will be accomplished, because God's purpose is not denied.

  So when we read God's word, may we always think about the purpose behind it, and what God is trying to accomplish.  How is God trying to change you?  How is God trying to change the world?  And have you considered that God's Word has claimed you and named you as God's own forever?  God's Word has accomplished that, and God's Word will not be denied.

Isaiah 55:6-9

Isaiah 55:6-9

English Standard Version 

  Spend a few hours on a busy freeway and you'll see a broad swath of human tendencies.  You'll see people graciously letting others merge into their lanes (and some people still wave thanks!), and you'll see people angrily cutting other people off, or refusing to allow someone to merge, not wanting anyone else to get ahead.  Usually behavior on the freeway is reciprocal -- what one person does to another, they'll often receive.  But let's all be honest -- when we see someone get pulled over after driving particularly aggressively, we all take some pleasure in that, right?  The sense of justice offers satisfaction.

  Here, God is telling us that God's ways are different than our own.  God is ready to abundantly pardon -- the unrighteous and wicked are invited to return to the Lord, and told to expect compassion, not punishment.  God isn't keeping score and ready to ensure things are set equal -- God is a loving parent ready to welcome wayward children back into loving arms.  

  There's a challenge here for us.  Part of this is how we look at those in the world who we consider wicked and unrighteous.  Do we see them as beloved children that God is ready and willing to abundantly pardon?  And the other part is that we need to recognize that we are wicked and unrighteous as well, that we have the same root problem as anyone else.  All have sinned and fallen short, so we need abundant pardoning as well.  None can claim God's grace on their own merit, so let us give thanks for God's ways being different than our own!!  We receive more than we can ask or imagine thanks to God's abundant generosity.

Sermon for June 6

Isaiah 55:1-5

Isaiah 55:1-5 

English Standard Version 

  So much of my own understandings of God are rooted here in the first few verses of Isaiah 55.  There is so much that draws me in, and so much that I struggle with.

  It begins with a radical shake-up of our economic understanding.  In the world, those with more get ahead.  The one who dies with the most toys wins, right?  Not in God's economy.  In God's economy, there is this wild abundance that is given away freely to all who seek.  In God's economy, wine and milk have no price, so there is truly no distinction between rich and poor.  The categories into which we put people are dissolved before the face of God, for all come as beggars and discover a storehouse of treasure that is awaiting us.  We are invited not only to come and eat, but to delight ourselves.  God commands us to delight!  For all of those who twist religion into a joyless exercise in deprivation, the prophet Isaiah tells us that God has made us for delight and intends to bring us to a place of joy!  The exercise of our faith should be one that points to delight, and we should remember that God longs for us to find our lasting joy in God.  Whenever we experience delight in this world, we are reminded that this is what we are made for, and God wants us to enjoy that forever.  The delight we find in our earthly lives is evidence that we are made for more, and the sorrow that we experience in life is a reminder that things are not the way they should be.  In a world with heartbreak around every corner, it can be challenging to find delight.  May we not despair and lose hope.

  The prophet asks us why we spend our money on that which is not bread, on labor that does not satisfy.  It's a question for the ages.  We spend so much money on things that cannot provide the delight that God provides.  We spend money seeking pleasure, seeking entertainment, seeking diversion, and in the best cases that money can give us a hint of the delight and joy we have in God, but it cannot purchase that in full, because only God can do that.  We'll work ourselves to the bone trying to get more, trying to satisfy our cravings and our need to justify ourselves, but only God can give us true satisfaction, only God can fully justify us.  God does this willingly, but we so badly want to do this on our own, that we work and we work and we work.  We exhaust ourselves, only to discover that what our hearts needed, what our hearts longed for, is waiting as a free gift.

  May we delight in what God offers, and may we find wisdom in not chasing the empty promises of those things that promise, but cannot give, what only God can give.

Isaiah 54:11-17

Isaiah 54:11-17 

English Standard Version 

  There are a thousand things whispering at you right now.  There is a voice from the freezer, speaking the language of ice cream, saying 'Come and eat me!'  There is the voice of the urgent, of the deadlines, crying out for you to hurry more, to push harder, to strive more, to try and keep up because you're falling behind.  There may be the voices of children crying out in need, or parents asking for something.  There is the voice of your boss, directing you.  And there's another voice, a deeper voice, that whispers in the dark of the night, telling you that you're not good enough, that you've not done enough, that you'll never be enough (or is that just me that hears those whispers?).  These voices each whisper (ok, the children haven't yet learned how to whisper, but work with me here), and together the voices collect like the waves of the ocean, crashing upon the beachheads we've worked so hard to establish, pulling us back into the watery chaos, and leave us gasping for breath on the shore.  

  There is another voice, a deeper voice, one that speaks across the ages and whose voice resonates from eternity to eternity.  It is the creative voice that formed you out of nothing and has called you back from the depths.  This voice cries out to you and says 'O afflicted one, there is chaos behind you but beauty before you, so fear not, afflicted one, for I have made you and redeemed you and in my realm there shall be precious gems on the walls and precious peace in your heart and in the hearts of your children.  O afflicted one, the battle is not yours to fight, for the whispers that rage like a storm shall be banished like the night when the sun begins to rise.  O afflicted one, the smith labors to make all things ready for the final blow that will vanquish the enemies that rise against you.  O afflicted one, the voices that tempt you to despair shall be silenced, for greater is my voice that assures you that life shall prevail, that hope is not in vain, and that the truth is that you are precious, beloved, and free.'

  In whatever chaos crashes against your shores today, I pray that you hear God's voice, and that you know the power behind the voice that calls you by name.  In so many ways, we are each afflicted, and yet in the greatest way possible, we are free in Christ.

Isaiah 54:9-10

Isaiah 54:9-10

English Standard Version 

  I often use the phrase "it's not the end of the world if...", meaning that whatever I'm talking about probably isn't of cosmic importance.  There are other phrases we use, sometimes wondering if something is a sign of the end times, often in jest.  

  It's hard for us to fathom, but someday, it will be the end of the world.  I don't know what that will look like, and I suspect I won't be around to see it, but the mountains will depart and the hills will be removed, among other things.  Everything we know, everything we see, will fade away.  At that time, God's love will not depart from you, and the compassion of God will still dwell with you.  

  When all else is gone, God will love you still.  When nothing else remains, there will be love, and more than you can imagine.

  What will you do today to share that love with someone else?

Isaiah 54:4-8

Isaiah 54:4-8 

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever been making a recipe, following it as closely as possible, when you accidently add waaay too much of one ingredient?  At that point, you've got a very important decision to make -- how committed are you to this recipe?  (And do you have anything else to cook?)  If you've committed, you've got to find a way to compensate, to rebalance the recipe and try to salvage it.  You may still be able to taste the ingredient in the final product, but if you're done it right, the recipe will be just right after all.

  When Isaiah talks about the shame of your youth, he doesn't say you won't have it.  Isaiah doesn't pretend that sin doesn't take place, or paint an image of the church as only for the perfect.  (Reminding us, yet again, that the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints, as Augustine says.)  There is shame in the youth, but it is forgotten, for God as the chef has so perfectly prepared the final recipe that the bitterness of sin is overcome by the sweetness of the Gospel, and no trace of the shame is left.  

  So do not dwell on the sin of your youth, but rather focus on the hope of the Gospel.  God has restored you, redeemed you, and sends you out into a broken world with a message of hope and joy.  With everlasting love, God's compassion will be upon you.