The Ascension

In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that the good news of the cross is folly for those who don't believe. In other words, the stories that are so much a part of who we are just seem silly to unbelievers, almost like fairy tales. The stories that are essential to our faith; the stories that teach us and instruct us about God are pretty unbelievable to those who are not part of the church. Think about the Biblical happenings from an outsiders view point; from someone who didn't grow up with Moses and David and Joshua as part of their basic teachings; who don’t have faith in who God is. We have a guy being swallowed by a fish? How about Elijah riding to heaven in a chariot of fire? Joshua stopping the sun for a day? We have Jacob wrestling all night with an angel. Doesn’t sound like something that is very real. Yet these seemingly preposterous accounts are integral to Christianity. And from a practical, scientific, believability viewpoint, even the life of Jesus is just as absurd; people rising from the dead, multiplying food, disease healing. An outsider would just shake their head and say "You believe what?". To someone not grounded in our faith, it just seems like foolishness - just like the Apostle Paul says. But as believers we understand that God’s work is all about miraculous happenings; incidents that are hard to believe. Jesus was born of a virgin. His ministry began with the voice of God calling out from heaven. Jesus spends three years healing people, raising people from the dead - performing miracles. He then gets killed and unbelievably raises from the dead and comes back to life. And today, we celebrate another in the strange but true stories of Jesus - his ascension.

Today is referred to as Ascension Sunday. Today however is not the actual day of the ascension, but the Sunday right after that event. We see our common number 40 as the ascension was 40 days after the resurrection. So actual Ascension Day is always on a Thursday -the Resurrection is always on a Sunday so reason follows that 40 days later is always a Thursday. So lastThursday, a few days ago, is the day about 2000 years ago, that Jesus ascends into heaven. A miraculous and wondrous event. And of course you need to hear my annual rant about how we as the church should be making a bigger deal about commemorating this important day in the life of Jesus; this important day in helping us understand all that Jesus has done for his people. We make a big deal about his birth; we make a big deal about his death and resurrection; God came to earth in the form of a human named Jesus so that he could take on our sin for us. We make a big deal about his death and resurrection celebrating Easter Sunday where we remember how he suffered and died on the cross to forgive our sin; he rose from the dead to give us eternal life ---- but without the ascension we never make it to live with God. We would remain here on earth just as we have been talking about for the last 40 days. Jesus spent the 40 days after the resurrection on earth. But through his ascension where he rises to sit at the right hand of the Father, we too, get to rise and spend eternity with God. The ascension is the completion of the work of Jesus which insures our eternal life in the presence of God - and that should be a big deal!!

Let's remember the story of the ascension. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday - the day we call resurrection Sunday. He spends 40 days with his disciples, teaching and instructing them. Of these stories of Jesus’ time with the disciples, the last account we have of this instructional time was on the beach in Galilee that we talked about last week. The disciples had gone fishing, and Jesus met them on the beach. Around the campfire Jesus and the disciples share a meal together and Jesus spends some time making sure the disciple Peter understands that he has been forgiven. Peter is carrying around a lot of guilt over the incident where three times he denied knowing Jesus. Jesus knew that Peter could never fulfill what God was calling him to do in the spreading of the Gospel with all that guilt clinging to him. A reminder for us as well that we cannot truly serve God if we are carrying around a lot of guilt and don't, or won't, except our forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Jesus then spends some alone time with Peter helping Peter understand he will have a leadership role in the foundation of the church and that his task will not be easy.

Jesus then leaves the disciples for a while and the next time they hear from him, Jesus is calling the disciples to join him on top of a mountain in Bethany. Once they get up the mountain, Jesus explains to them what is going to happen. He is going to leave them for good - but this is a good thing Jesus tells them. It is good because once he
goes and is at the right hand of the Father, Jesus will be able to be the advocate for all his people. This is really a simplistic picture, but in essence Jesus sits by God, and when we sin Jesus turns to God and says, "it's OK. They are one of ours." and God ignores our wrong. This is a great deal for us who have faith because we know that not only all of our past sin is forgiven, but our future sin as well – and that is because Jesus is sitting on the right hand of God taking up for us. But there us a cost. The forgiveness is through grace, it is a free gift but God demands a response from us; he expects us to live a life of gratitude where we appreciate what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. As Jesus meets with the disciples on the mountain, Jesus looks at the them, and at us, and says " OK. I'm going and that will be good, but now you have to take over my job here on earth. Now you have to go and do all the things I was doing. Your job is now to teach all the things I taught you." So here's the deal. Through Jesus we get life forever with God, but in the mean time we have to do Jesus' work.

With those words the disciples watch Jesus bodily ascend into the heaven. Another of the wondrous, hard to believe moments in the scriptures. It is hard to explain a man bodily rising up into the sky all on his own. But sometimes I think this directive of Jesus to go out and do his work is sometimes harder to believe than the amazing hard to believe miracles and events; harder to believe that this amazing moment of watching Jesus ascend into heaven.. Sometimes it is easier to believe Moses really parted the Red Sea than to believe Jesus actually expects us to do what he did. Maybe we fit in here with the unbelievers the Apostle Paul talks about when he mentions that the stories are folly to unbelievers. It is so hard for us to really think that Jesus wants us to share the Gospel and to teach the good news to the world? Are you thinking “Surely that doesn’t mean me?”
But the answer is, Yes – it does. For we have to grasp the understanding that we here in this congregation are the chosen people of God – chosen not only for Salvation, but chosen to be set apart for the express purpose to be agents of God in this world. That is what this story is truly all about. Reminding us that Jesus’ ascension was not only the completion of his work for our salvation, but the beginning of our work as God’s people. Unbelievable to think he wants us to do the work of Jesus.

And what work we have to do. Most of us grew up in the hay day of the church. Everyone went to church. And the few people who didn’t go to church were considered odd and were looked down upon. But all that has changed. In the last 30 years, church membership for all denominations has plummeted. For a lot of reasons. Some people feel the church just isn’t relevant to them anymore. Some people have shied away from anything that seems to be institutionalized - any kind of group that has a hierarchy of leadership that seemingly tells you what to do. But what is even more interesting is that in today’s society, we have now have two generations of people who have no idea what church is. That is hard for us to believe, but it is reality. Most of us grew up in homes where we were nurtured in the faith. We were brought to church every Sunday and often times a couple more times during the week. If you were like me, there was no choice in the matter - if you lived in my house you went to church and you were involved in church. But in today’s society, that is no longer the case. We have 2 generations of people who have never darkened the door of a church building; they have no sense that church or Jesus are a necessary part of life. And while that is unbelievable to us and we don’t want to admit that it is true, it is what our society is like today. We don’t like it; we want to think that society thinks like we do - we who love Jesus and have a commitment to the church. But in today’s society, we are in the minority. People literally don’t ever give church a single thought because they have absolutely no experience with church and no one around them to tell them anything different.

So our task is similar to the task of the disciples - Jesus said to the disciples “Go and teach people what I have taught you”. The disciples lived in a society where no one knew Jesus or the teachings of Jesus or who Jesus was. We live in a society who may know the name Jesus; who know churches exist; but don’t have a clue what it is all about and don’t care.

Jesus makes one more statement before he flies into the sky – He said, “This is going to seem like an awesome responsibility. This is going to seem like an overwhelming task. But don’t worry. I’ll be there for you.” And this is what he says to us. Jesus says, “I expect you to do this. To carry my message to the world. – But don’t worry. I will equip you. I will give you what you need. You don’t have to do it on your own.” And so for us the first step is believing first and foremost we are supposed to teach the world about Jesus and secondly – and most important – Jesus really will help you do it.

The secret to being able to fulfill our responsibility is faith in the living power of Jesus. Jesus may have bodily ascended into heaven but he promised he would give us the power necessary to do what he asked us to do. This is not folly, this is not a fairy tale, this is not just some inspiring speech, this is not for someone else, but real power to do the work of Jesus for each and every one of you – you, the chosen people of God. We cannot just be recipients of salvation; we cannot be spectators as others share Jesus’ words – this is not an option. It is the will and direction of God for us - everyone. Go and teach the world what it means to be a believer in Christ. Believe that and believe in the power Jesus will give you to do it.

Today we celebrate the ascension! We celebrate the ascension as people who have found the stories of the Bible to be true, to be reliable and to reveal to us who God is and who we are. The result of that ascension is our everlasting life with God and the challenge to live as if we really believe we receive everything we need to do God’s work. Christ has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God!

Amen.

FOLLOWING THE DIRECTION OF JESUS

The 23rd Psalm is probably the best known, most loved, most quoted portion of Scripture. It is so familiar that people who seldom if ever read a Bible or go to church can often still quote a portion of this Psalm. (I will read from the New Living Translation Psalm 23)
1 The Lord is my shepherd;     I have all that I need.
2 He lets me rest in green meadows;     he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3 He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
4 Even when I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
5  You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil.     My cup overflows with blessings.
6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

This Psalm is so often requested at death-beds and funerals, we often associate the 23rd Psalm with death and dying. However the Psalm is really for the living. It speaks to us in our daily lives as we try to just get through our days and follow the direction of Jesus.
Roy Campanella, the baseball player, was in a bad accident that left him a semi invalid. In his autobiography he talks about the many nights he cried himself to sleep, about the pain that racked his body and his sinking into deep depression. He writes:
All my life whenever I was in trouble, I had turned to God for help. I asked the nurse to the get the Bible from the drawer in the night table. I opened it to the 23rd Psalm: `Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.'
"From that moment on", he wrote, "I was on my way back. I knew I was going to make it!"
There are hundreds and thousands of testimonies like this - of how people have found in this simple Psalm the comfort, strength, and the assurance that they are going to make it! I'm sure many of you can tell your own stories about what this psalm has meant to you. Psalm 23 not only gives comfort to the dying, it also gives courage, strength, and hope to those who are alive and struggling to live each day.
One of the things we realize, though, is that the 23rd Psalm is steeped in the language and customs of shepherding and sheep in Palestine back in Bible times. If we don't know anything about the customs of shepherds and the unique relationship between the good shepherd and the sheep, then much of what this Psalm has to say simply passes us by. The sheep put their total trust, their whole life in the direction of the shepherd.
As we end this season of Easter where we looked at all of those appearances of Jesus to his disciples as he tries to give them last minute instructions before he leaves them to go sit at the right hand of the Father. Jesus wants to make sure that these disciples understand who they are and what they are to do - and the appearance we will talk about today is Jesus reminding the disciples who they are - they are the Followers of Jesus. Just like we are which is why this last encounter of Jesus with the disciples before his ascension is so important for us as we learn who we are and how we are to live as Christ’s disciples.
We are still in this 40 day period between the Resurrection and the Ascension. Up til now the disciples have been locked in that upper room but apparently they have left Jerusalem and gone back to their home in Galilee and they have gone back to work - they were fishermen so they are fishing. Most fishermen on the Sea of Galilee fished during the night - this is when they caught the most fish. But on this particular night, they have been fishing all night and they have not caught anything. Morning comes and the disciples are pretty disgusted - as we can well imagine. You work all night long - or all day long for that matter - and find you have accomplished nothing - you are pretty disgusted as well! So here they are in the boat, feeling depressed and probably fussing when they hear a voice coming from the shore - “Hey! Throw your net on the other side! There are fish on the other side!” The disciples weren’t sure who was giving them this direction but they did it and they caught so many fish they could barely get the net back into the boat. As they were working to get these fish into the boat, Peter looks up at the fella on the beach who had given them this advice and he realized it was Jesus!
Following the direction of Jesus made all the difference as those fishermen tried to catch those fish…
So let’s go back for a minute to our 23rd Psalm, especially verse 4 which says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” Did you know that the Shadow of Death was an actual place? It is a valley, or a mountain pass, that got its name from shepherds because of it's steep sides and sheer rock walls. But is was a pass that enabled the shepherds to lead their sheep from one mountain pasture to another. It was a terrifying place for skittish, defenseless, fearful sheep: for in the steep cliffs on both sides of the valley there were numerous caves and rocks and crevices that were perfect hiding place for animals of prey - and for people who meant harm to passing travelers. Sounds would echo and amplify in the valley, making it even more terrifying for the sheep.
The Psalm starts with this great picture of the shepherd - he is making me lie down in green pastures and then he leads me by still waters and now he has led the sheep into the Valley of the Shadow of death….
What is this saying to us? We know that we are the sheep and that Jesus is the shepherd - so for us what is this Valley of the Shadow of Death? It is those terrifying, dark, lonely, frightening times in life -- times of sickness, tragedy, emotional stress, tension, economic disaster, loneliness, when the Good Shepherd may seem far away. But we see here in the Psalm that it is the Good Shepherd who leads the sheep into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. That doesn’t make any sense. We have been good sheep. We have followed our Shepherd and now we find ourselves in this dark place…
But we must remember that the shepherd has a purpose: The shepherd takes the sheep from pastures that are now eaten up and barren, where food is scarce and the land is parched, to new lush, green meadows. But to get there, the shepherd and the sheep have to pass through the valley. The sheep don't understand this. The sheep cannot comprehend the purposes of the shepherd. All that the sheep experience are the frightening, terrifying surroundings. But the shepherd knows the way. And the sheep have learned to trust the shepherd.
Following the direction of Jesus may mean that we find ourselves in this frightening, uncomfortable Valley of the Shadow of Death and that can be a terrifying experience for us. At that time it is good to recall how the Good Shepherd is leading us to green pastures where he will restore our souls. To remember that he is preparing a table for me -
a table that contains the bread of heaven and the wine of everlasting and abundant joy..
That is where the disciples are as well. Following the direction of Jesus they certainly caught a great number of fish….. but in the not so distant future following the direction of Jesus is going to turn their life into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Their life will be filled with danger and difficulty and hard decisions and eventually martyrdom.
But what gave the disciples the courage and the resolve to follow where Jesus leads them was remembering this Psalm; remembering how the Good Shepherd is leading us and we
as his followers know that if we follow in the direction of Jesus; if we remember the love and care of the shepherd, we will end in the house of the Lord forever.
Following the direction of the shepherd when you are in the valley of the shadow of death is a frightening experience, but imagine trying to walk through that valley alone….…
Listen and know that he is leading you to a better place.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you, O Lord, are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.

“Forgive Yourself and Others”

We are in the season of Easter - a season of the church year when remember the presence of the resurrected Jesus who remains on earth for 40 days before he ascends into heaven. His purpose during these 40 days is two fold. One is to show that he was really resurrected; that he had really come back to life and the second was to teach. This is the last time Jesus is going to be able to teach his disciples face to face and so it is important for us to really think about what he taught during this time because these teachings are the points Jesus really wants his disciples to remember; its like taking a class and right before the final exam the teacher says to you “This is what I really want you to have learned from this course” and then proceeds to boil down everything you have done all semester into a few important points.
So it is significant then for us to hear what Jesus teaches during this time because it is here we really learn what Jesus wants us to remember - what is it that Jesus taught during this time that will help us be better followers and better doers of Christ.
When I use to teach, I always told my students at the beginning of the course that the more I mentioned something, the more important it was for the students to remember. And I always made sure as I structured the course that if something was critical for those in the class to know I said it a bunch……. So as we look at what Jesus teaches after the resurrection what is it he mentions more than once?
And that would be the concept of forgiveness. Jesus talks a lot about forgiveness. And perhaps this is one of the hardest teachings of Jesus - along with the loving your enemies part. Actually the two are pretty much tied together because often our enemies are our enemies because of something that needs to be forgiven. This idea that we are to ‘let someone off the hook’ by forgiving them holds us back from having a true relationship with people around us and it is a barrier to a true relationship with God. When we refuse to forgive someone the wrong they have done, or the wrong we perceive they have done - that issue is always there. It is like this little thing inside of us that never goes away - like a little pebble in our shoe that we feel each time we walk - it is always there, prickling a little bit just enough to keep it constantly in our mind. This person or this act that needs to be forgiven…
Jesus talks about forgives twice in those appearances to the disciples over the 40 days - the only thing he really brings up twice which means that he obviously thinks it is important. There are at least 20 teachings about forgiveness recorded in his ministry and it is not only a New Testament concept because forgiveness is mentioned many times in the Old Testament.
One of the great stories of forgiveness in the Old Testament is the story of Joseph. Remember Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and Joseph’s life was really harsh for a long period of time until through God’s work Joseph became 2nd in command of all of Egypt. There was a great famine and Joseph’s brothers came to Joseph to get some food. Joseph recognized them but they did not recognize Joseph. And when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, the brothers were terrified because they figured that Joseph, with all this power, would of course punish them for what they had done to Joseph. But Joseph, remarkably, forgives them for what they had done to him. There the brothers are, standing in front of him and he can do whatever he wants because he has absolute power over them - and what he chooses to do is forgiven them. Amazing…..
Jesus appears to the disciples on Sunday evening. He was resurrected Sunday morning, appears to the women, then the couple on the road to Emmaus and then to the disciples in the locked upper room. The disciples have remained there because they were afraid. They were convinced the religious authorities were looking for them and would do to them exactly what they did to Jesus.
The women and the couple from Emmaus had come and told them they saw the resurrected Jesus but they just couldn’t believe it. Then Jesus shows up and assures them he is very much alive.
It is what Jesus says then that is pertinent to our hearing today. Jesus says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” The very first direction Jesus gives the disciples after his resurrection is the directive to forgive.
Forgiveness is tough. It is hard to forgive those who have wronged us or wronged our family or wronged society. It is hard to be forgiven. You’ve done something wrong and someone says they have forgiven us and we just can’t believe it. God assures us that there is nothing we can do that he won’t forgive but we just really aren’t convinced. But probably the hardest thing to do at all is to forgive ourselves……
Guilt is one of those emotions that can cripple us - and it is totally unnecessary. What are those things you feel guilty about? You haven’t lived up to the expectations you placed on yourself or someone else placed on you. You haven’t done what you thought you should or you didn’t do what you thought you should well enough. You’ve done something wrong. You did something you shouldn’t have. Whatever makes you feel guilty Jesus is telling us to get rid of it because all is forgiven. Everything. Done, forgiven, forgotten.
Think about the disciple Peter. Who deserved to feel more guilty than Peter? As Jesus and the disciples sat around the table in the upper room the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter declares his undying love for Jesus and that Peter will never deny him and that Peter is willing to go through whatever Jesus needs him to go through - even if it means his death. And Jesus very gently shakes his head and says, “Peter, you are going to deny me three times”. Peter is aghast and exclaims, “Never!”
And then after Jesus is arrested and is being drug all over Jerusalem, Peter is following behind with the other crowds and three times people say they recognize him as one of Jesus’ followers and each time Peter denies he even knows Jesus. And Peter carries with them this tremendous guilt over what he has done and he doesn’t think in a million years, Jesus could forgive him for what he has done.
Then Jesus appears to the disciples once again, but this time on the shore of the Sea of Galilee as the disciples have gone fishing and while they are sitting around a campfire eating some fish together, Jesus looks at Peter and three times points out that Peter is forgiven. Because what Jesus knew that was true of Peter, and is true of us, until we are willing to receive forgiveness we will never be able to live and work and worship as the people of God. Peter was not going to be able to do the work Jesus had laid out for him until Peter realized he was forgiven and the same is true for us. Until you really get rid of all the guilt in your life - about whatever - until you realize that regardless of what you feel guilty about is forgiven - you can’t move on and you can’t truly work or worship as God desires you. And you cannot fully experience the peace that Jesus offers you for your life.
You know a lot of our guilt is just self imagined - but some of it is real and you really did mess up and do something wrong - but to God it doesn’t matter. God forgives you and forgets what you have done and says, “Let it go and move on cause I have”.
It does’t matter what you have done, God forgives you. Let it go. It is done, over. You can’t change it. You can’t undo it. And Jesus says two things - you can’t forgive anyone else until you have let the guilt go and forgiven yourself and you can’t experience the peace I offer you without letting the guilt go and forgiving yourself.
But right before Jesus tell the disciples they have to let go their guilt and forgive themselves, and they have to forgive those around them….
I do want you to think about what the disciples have to forgive themselves of and what they have to forgive others - can you imagine the hate in the hearts of the disciples for what the Romans and the Jews did to Jesus? They watched as their beloved leader, whom they had staked their whole future on, whom they loved more than anything, had been brutalized and killed. They have to forgive them. And then they deserted Jesus in the time when Jesus needed them most - they slept while Jesus was in the garden praying, they ran away when Jesus was arrested, the treated the women poorly when the women came to tell them about Jesus’ resurrection…… And think about the people they will need to forgive in their future as they are all going to treated horribly and killed as they go to spread the message of Jesus to the world.
And Jesus says, “I bring you peace but you have to forgive those who have wronged me and wronged you and you have to forgive yourselves.” But, Jesus, says to the disciples and to us…. “you don’t have to do it on your own. I have giving you the Holy Spirit who will help you as you work through this seemingly impossible task.”
So what does Jesus want us to know as he teaches these last remaining principles before he ascends in to heaven?
Forgive. Forgive yourselves and forgive others. Remember we prayed for that earlier today as we said the Lord’s Prayer - “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”……. or in the modern translation of the prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us”.
It is not easy. It takes time. It takes you getting down on your knees and pouring it all out to God and then trusting God enough to lead you through it. It takes being willing to forgive others and the willingness to forgive yourself.
But it is part of who we are. We are the forgiven people of God.

Amen.

A MOTHERING SPIRIT

We have a mother hen at our house. Now I don’t know if you are familiar with mother hens but they are a wonder to watch. I happened to catch our momma hen not long after she had hatched her babies and was fascinated by what she was doing. These chicks had just been born and they were up cheeping and she was nosing them over to the where the food was. It was a circular feeder and she would run around making sure that each chick was eating and getting what they needed. I kept watching and after they had eaten a little she nosed them once again over to the water and watched them drink - actually pushing down on their little heads to get their beaks in the water and again making sure each chick drank. I guess she thought that was enough work for the first 5 minutes of their new life and she sat down as they scurried over and slid under her wing where she could keep them warm. Over the next couple weeks you could see her teaching them what all they needed to know about being a chicken, all the while hovering around them making sure they were safe. One time the crafty little chicks managed to get through the fencing and momma hen was running up and down the other side, squawking and flapping her wings until we heard her and went out and rescued the escaping babies! I could tell, that mother hen would have done anything she could to protect those little chicks. This is the picture we have of God in the Bible – this spirit hovering over us, ready at all times to reach out and catch us when we fall, or snatch us into his arms when we need his comforting presence. We understand God just as the mother hen, watching, keeping track, providing for our needs, diligently ready to help his children whenever they may need him.
The Hebrews who wrote the OT scriptures certainly had this idea of God’s mothering nature. In the Hebrew language, all words have gender, all words are either masculine or feminine. This is shown by putting various combinations of letters at the end of the words. They didn’t have any words which are neutral – or a concept of ‘it’ rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’. So every word has a gender to it; has either a masculine or a feminine connotation. Understanding how great and large is God, the Hebrews tried to show how great God was by giving him different names which showed his different characteristics. One of the most common names used in OT for God is Elohim. Interestingly enough, Elohim is one of the rare Hebrew words that has contained within it both masculine and feminine endings. Trying to get across the idea of God’s inclusion of both masculine and feminine characteristics. One of the other names for God is El Shaddai. El means God and Shaddai refers to the birthing and nurturing nature of a mother. El Shaddai actually means God who is mother, not referring to God as woman, but the mothering spirit, the mothering nature of God. El Shaddai – the God who cares for us like a mother cares for her young……. The Psalms are often where we see this picture of God’s nurturing spirit. The Psalmists often portray God with the same characteristics we see in the mothers around us. This is especially true in Psalm 139. In this Psalm we find words used to describe this nurturing, caring nature of God. The Psalmist says, “Wherever I go” reminding us that God is wherever we are - good or bad, fun or dangerous, near or far; “Where Can I flee” – The Psalmist says reminding us that comforting promise that no bad choices or wrong decisions can take us away from God. Just like Jonah learned when he was running from God, God is always there with us and knows exactly where we are. Then there are phrases like “Ascend into heaven” or “ making my bed in the depths” – so God is with us in the good times and even in the ugly, sinful moments of our life. God loves us and is ready to come and snatch us back to his arms just like that mother hen who gathers the chicks under her wings to protect her. Through this entire Psalm 139 the writer is pointing out that God sustains, nurtures, comforts, embraces us. No matter where those little chicks are, that mother hen knows exactly where they are - and when they separate from her they are continually cheeping so that she can come find them. She will not rest until she knows where every chick is and they are within her sight. That is the picture of God in our life. That hovering, caring, ready mother – never far away and always ready to rescue us when we need it. The Psalmist is helping us to see that God’s nature is much like the nature of your mother – as you trusted your Mom to always be there – God is there. As you trusted your mother to care for you, God cares for you. As you trusted you Mom to always love you, regardless of where you found yourself, God loves you regardless of the poor or wrong decisions when you end up in desperate places. Like you mother loved you, God loves you.
Julia of Norwich is one of the saints of the Catholic church. She lived in the 14th century. In the Catholic tradition, every saint has a day and Julia of Norwich’s day always falls close to Mother’s Day. She wrote extensively about understanding the nature of God. Julia contended that by understanding mothers, we could better understand what God is like. At the age of 30, Julia entered the convent to become a nun. Speculation is that she lost her family – her husband and children in the black plague – which is why she entered the convent to become a nun at an age older than most women who usually joined as young girls. She became what was known as an anchoress – the anchoress was a nun who devoted her entire life to God in solitude and prayer. During her time as an anchoress, she became very ill. Interestingly enough she had actually prayed for God to make her ill, because then she could truly experience the love and compassion of God. During the illness she had visions which she wrote down. It was in these visions that she expressed her understanding that God is not limited to our earthly understanding of God. God is so much more than any understanding we could ever have, so much greater than any words our language can use to describe him. Julia wrote that not only could we come to a more well rounded understanding of God by remembering the love and nurturing care of our mothers – but that we need to remember that a mother’s purpose is to bring new life into the world. Just as our mother has given us life – Jesus Christ has given us a new life! Jesus told us that we needed to be born again – our mother’s gave us our first birth and Jesus Christ gave us our second. God in Jesus Christ is the very essence of motherhood – we owe our earthly lives to our earthly mothers and our spiritual lives we owe to God in his son Jesus Christ.
This Mother’s Day, we remember and honor our mothers – mothers who cared for us and loved us and picked us up when we fell down, mothers who hovered over us as we ran oblivious on the playground, mothers who were there when we did wrong, or when we needed a hug. While we remember our mothers, we are reminded that as our mothers loved and cared for us, God loves us and cares for us in the same way. A God who reaches out with the air of hospitality, inviting us to come to him where he will love us and comfort us and hover over us regardless of where we are or what we may have done or what need we may have. A mothering spirit who loves and cares for each and every one of us. Amen!

BAPTISM

I don’t think there is anyone here would could even imagine putting themselves in the place of Hannah, who takes the son she loves more than life itself, takes young Samuel, to the Tabernacle where Eli is the chief priest, and presents Samuel to Eli - giving her beloved young child to live in the tabernacle and to be forever in the service of God and his people. This is so far out of the realm of our thinking it is inconceivable.
Let’s remind ourselves of the story. Hannah is the wife of Elkanah. He loves her but she has not been able to have any children. This puts Elkanah in a difficult situation in a culture where a man having a son is the primary goal of their life. So Elkanah, out of necessity, takes another wife in addition to Hannah so that he can have a child. Now scripture is very clear that Elkanah still loves Hannah; she is still special to him and the second wife is only for the purpose of having some children. Unfortunately wife #2 was not very gracious to Hannah and would taunt her and say nasty things to her and generally try to make Hannah’s life miserable because wife #2 was having children for Elkanah. Elkanah knew this was going on and tried his best to make Hannah feel better about herself and kept reassuring her that she was the one he loved.
As the family traveled to the tabernacle in Shiloh to offer their sacrifices to God, Hannah goes on her own and falls down on her knees and begins to pray to God to allow her to give Elkanah a son. She is weeping in utter despair and crying out to God and is so out of control that the priest comes to see what all this commotion is about and thinks that she must be drunk because she is carrying on so much. He assumes that the only way a person would show such a lack of self control would be if they had been drinking. So he fusses at Hannah - how can you be drunk this time of the morning? Can’t you even refrain from drinking your wine here in the house of God. Put away that wine!
Hannah is probably mortified that he would think this of her and she answers, “Oh no! No! I’m not drunk. I am just so distraught over the events in my life that I was pouring out my heart to God. Please don’t think poorly of me. I am just so overwhelmed by the situation in my marriage that I was pleading with God to take away this curse from me.” “I am so sorry for you” Eli replied. “I’m sorry for jumping to such a conclusion. Be on your way and I will lift up my prayers to God for you as well.” “Oh thank you!” Hannah replies. She has used up so much energy in her prayers that she has to go and get something to eat. But once she has some food, and she knows that the priest is praying for her, she has a whole new outlook on life and she goes back home with a whole different attitude.
And before too long, she finds herself pregnant and she gives birth to a son and she immediately praises God for hearing her prayer and the prayer of Eli and giving her this great gift! She declares that because God has shown such favor to her, she will give this child back to God. She names the baby Samuel because the name meant - “God has heard and God has answered”. She tells her husband that when the child is weaned she is taking him and giving him to God and he understands and tells her to do what she needs to do.
So Samuel is about 3 and she packs his suitcase and prepares a sacrifice for God and heads off to the Tabernacle at Shiloh. Elkanah is with her and together they offer the proper sacrifices to God and with prayer, they take the young boy to Eli and present Samuel to him and to God. Hannah says, “Remember me? I am the one you chastised for my vehement prayer and I told you that I was distraught before the Lord and you offered to pray for me? God answered your prayer and my prayer and because he was so gracious to me, I am returning my son to him. I know that he will grow up to serve God forever.” And she hands Eli the suitcase with all of Samuel’s meager belongings, leans down and kisses him goodbye. And while she is sad, she is not grieving because she knows that he is in the hands of God and will be through the rest of his life.
And that is what we do when we bring an infant to be baptized. We are giving that child back to God and recognizing that child as a gift from God - not as a possession, not something that belongs to us, but something God has given us as a gift. And in presenting that child in baptism, we are essentially
saying, God, we trust you to take this child and make it yours. And instead of having to leave it at the altar like Hannah did, God allows us to raise that child - because in this act of baptism, we are promising that we will make sure this child knows that he or she belongs not to us - but to God.
In our tradition there are 2 acts in the church that we consider sacraments. The reformed perspective on sacraments is that first of all a sacrament is something Christ instructed us to do - and in our reading of scripture we only see two acts that Christ specifically instructed his church to do as a means of worship - The Lord’s Supper and Baptism. Second, we see that through reading New Testament instructions for the church, these are the two acts that have been pointed to in order to set the church apart from any other gathering of people.
Think about what is different between other organizations you are in and this time of worship? You pray at other organizations, sometimes you sing at other organizations, other organizations do good works, many organizations have a devotion so the Bible is read other places - so what sets us apart - and understand that God has said that this time, this particular gathering we call worship, is suppose to be set apart and different than other gatherings we engage in during the week. What are the things that set us apart - Communion and Baptism. The two things we do here as the people of God that are not part of the programs in other organizations we participate in. That is what makes them a sacrament - things we set apart that are only done for God in the context of God’s people and in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is really, truly present when we participate in the sacramental practice.
One more thing that is important about sacraments - Sacraments are defined within the context of faith as “Visible signs of God’s invisible grace.” - which helps us see that even though we see these two acts as something vital and important and necessary - what happens during these times is an act of God’s spirit, it is not about what we do. It isn’t the bread and juice and water in and of themselves, it is not the rituals or the words - they are just the vehicles which allow us to have a visual aid of what God is doing. God knows we are visual people and need to ‘see’ things - so he gave us these two special moments within the context of worship that allow us to see something but knowing that what is happening is not the thing we see, but what God is doing in the lives of the individuals participating.
In baptism, God is working. We see water, but what we know is happening is that God is sending his spirit to dwell within that individual being baptized. When Jesus was baptized, what is emphasized in the story is not the water, but the fact that the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended upon him. The Spirit of God is what was important at that moment. When John the Baptist was asked about baptism, he said, “I can only baptize you with water, but Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” It was the coming of the Holy Spirit that made a difference at Pentecost. When we baptize, it is not about the water, but about what God Spirit is doing during that moment - the water symbolizes the fact that God is infusing that baby or that person with his spirit and thus marking that individual as his - forever.
Everyone has their own opinion about baptism. Do we baptize infants, do we baptize adults, do we baptize people when they feel ‘saved’? Do we sprinkle, do we pour, do we immerse? And the answer is, “Yes”. We do all these things and we can look to scripture to see that all of these acts have a biblical basis. We cannot say, “But the Bible says only to: immerse or sprinkle or only baptize adults.” It says all these things: we can pull out an instance and say here is says...... but then someone else can pull out an instance were it says something else.” If God were all that concerned about the methods used for baptism, then he would have given us a specific direction - and he didn’t. It is important, however, to remember that Baptism is a once and forever act. By whatever means or whatever stage in our life we are baptized, it is not about what we feel but about what God has done and it is only done once. It is one and done act of God and we are to trust that whenever and however baptism was done, it was done and is not to be done again.
While we may not understand the mechanics of what is happening during baptism, what we do understand about God is this - we have to trust him. Bottom line. We have to ‘lean not on our own understanding’ but to trust God. And to trust that God is working and arranging and directing every part of our life. And God knows that some of us will be baptized as infants and some of us will be baptized when we are older and some of us will be baptized when we are on our deathbed and some of us will be sprinkled and some of us will be immersed and some of us will have the water poured over our heads........ And God says, “I
know what is right for you. I know when in your life this will be best for you. Baptism is my work - not yours. You just acknowledge it at some point by some method.”
What we do believe are the words from Ephesians, “We believe in one baptism.....” and whenever it happens and however it is done, we trust God enough to believe that at that moment, of baptism, regardless of how much water is involved, that infant or that child or that teen or that adult is sealed forever as Gods.

Amen!