Power from on High

Luke 24:44-53

On Ascension Sunday we celebrate Jesus’ enthronement a Lord of all creation, his taking his seat at the right hand of the Father.  He has defeated evil, sin, and death through his incarnation and faithfulness in life and his death and resurrection.  All things belong to him, are in his hands.  All power is his. But, and to be frank, saying that Jesus is LORD of all creation is a bit of a hard sell these days.  It's been just shy of 2,000 years.  The world is still full of evil.  The pandemic of sin is still raging.  Death is still the leading cause of death.  What's changed?  Really, what has changed since Jesus was enthroned as LORD of all creation?  One could easily argue that Science and Technology have done way more good than him.  You could even add that religion, all religion, that great “opiate of the masses” has caused more death and suffering than any disease ever has and continues to do so.  How can we talk about Jesus reigning as LORD over all creation when reality is so “obviously” contradictory with it's facts?

One thing we do not do is play that old faith card.  Where we say that faith and reality are two different things.  You just have to have faith.  True faith is not divorced from reality.  If we are going to say Jesus is LORD and that he is ultimately reigning, then we somehow have to work in there that yes, its been 2,000 years; yes, evil, sin, and death are still around; and yes, those who claim to believe in him have done some pretty heinous things.  Indeed, to be faithful to faith, when we go looking for the reign of Jesus we have to go right smack-dab into the heart of all the brokenness and human insidiousness and there we will find both his reign and true faith.

Just before Jesus ascended his disciples asked him was right now the time he was going to set things to right.  Instead of making his victory overtly manifest by putting the world to rights, he told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the gift the Father had promised them, the Holy Spirit who would empower them to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.  They would be clothed with power from on high. 

All power is given to Jesus and he passes that power on to us.  Yet, we have to remember that his power is different than what the world calls power.  His power, the power by God created this universe and sustains it, the power by which the Father raised Jesus from the dead is that of love expressed in humilty and weakness.  Jesus on the night of his arrest did not raise a military.  He stripped down to his under clothing, picked up a towel, and washed his disciples feet and then he died on a cross.  For us, Jesus’ power becomes manifest in us through the futility of prayers and acts of humble service by those who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  His Lordship is attested by small gatherings of individuals who have been changed at heart by God's presence in them.  Let me give you and example.  This is an account of a day in the life of an Emerge nurse, Dawn Husnick, that I think speaks loudly to how Jesus is LORD:

            “In my years in the ER, I saw Jesus daily doing his kingdom work in and through a group of his followers.  It was a true expression of church.  One day stands out beyond all others and left me radically changed forever.  It was the day I saw Jesus face to face...

             'Give us hearts as servants' was the song they were singing as I left the church service, heading for my second twelve hour shift in a row.  Weekends in the ER can be absolutely brutal!  I was physically and emotionally spent as I walked up to the employee entrance.  The sound of ambulances and an approaching medical helicopter were telltale signs that I would literally be hitting the ground running.

            'Dawn...can you lock down room 15?' yelled out my charge nurse as I crawled up to the nurse's station.  (When someone asked for a lockdown it was usually a psychiatric or combative case.)  Two security guards stood outside the room, biceps flexing like bouncers anticipating a drunken brawl.  My eyes rolled as I walked past them into the room to set up.

            The masked medics arrived with N strapped and restrained to their cart.  The hallway cleared with heads turned away in disgust at the smell surrounding them.  They entered the room and I could see N with his feet hung over the edge of the cart covered with plastic bags tightly taped around the ankles.  The ER doctor quickly examined N while we settled him in.  The medics rattled off their findings in the background with N mumbling in harmony right along with them.  The smell was overpowering as they uncovered his swollen, mold-encrusted feet.  After tucking him in and taking his vital signs, I left the room to tend to my other ten patients-in-waiting.

            Returning to the nurse's station, I overheard the other nurses and techs arguing over who would take N as their patient.  In addition to the usual lab work and tests, the doctor had ordered a shower complete with betadine foot scrub, antibiotic ointment, and non-adherent wraps.  The charge nurse looked in my direction.  'Dawn, will you please take N?  Please?  You don't have to do the foot scrub—just give him a shower.'  I agreed and made my way to gather the supplies and waited for the security guard to open up the hazmat shower.

            As I waited with N, the numbness of my business was interrupted by an overwhelming sadness.  I watched N, restless and mumbling incoherently to himself through his scruff of a beard and 'stache.  His eyes were hidden behind his ratted, curly, shoulder-length mane.  This poor shell of a man had no one to love him.  I wondered about his past and what happened to bring him to this hopeless empty place?  No one in the ER that day really looked at him and no one wanted to touch him.  They wanted to ignore him and his broken life.  But as much as I tried...I could not.  I was drawn to him.

            The smirking security guards helped me walk him to the shower.  As we entered the shower room I set out the shampoo, soaps, and towels like it was a five-star hotel.  I felt in my heart that for at least for those ten minutes, this forgotten man would be treated as a king.  I thought for those ten minutes he would see the love of Jesus.  I set down the foot sponge and decided that I would do the betadine foot scrub by myself as soon as his shower was finished.  I called the stock room for two large basins and a chair.

            When N was finished in the shower I pulled back the curtain and walked him to the 'throne' of warmed blankets and the two basins set on the floor.  As I knelt at his feet, my heart broke and stomach turned as I gently picked up his swollen rotted feet.  Most of his nails were black and curled over the top of his toes.  The skin was rough, broken, and oozing pus.  Tears streamed down my face while my gloved hands tenderly sponged the brown soap over his wounded feet.

            The room was quiet as the once-mocking security guards started to help by handing me towels.  As I patted the foot dry, I looked up and for the first time  N's eyes looked into mine.  For that moment he was alert, aware, and weeping as he quietly said, 'Thank you.'  In that moment, I was the one seeing Jesus.  He was there all along, right where he said he would be.

            '...Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of theses who are members of my family, you did it to me.'”[1]  Friends, for now it is in the prayers and little acts of love insignificant people of transformed heart do for other insignificant people that Jesus is attested as LORD.  Friends, our God reigns and you are part of it.  Never underestimate what is going on when you feel moved in your very bowels to show kindness to someone.  Amen.

---

[1]   McKnight, Scot; A Community Called Atonement; Abington Press, Nashville, 2007; p. 3.

Heart Conditions: Loving Deeply from the Heart

Acts 2:36-47, Luke 24:13-35, 1 Peter 1:17-23

You probably don’t notice it so much down here, but up in Owen Sound where I live the number of Newcomers or refugees who have come to the area is quite noticeable.  I am an immigrant to Canada myself but coming here from the States isn’t all that much of an adjustment.  These Newcomers are refugees from some pretty bad situations.  They don’t speak English.  Our houses are different.  Our bathrooms and kitchens are different.  We don’t haggle over prices in the market place.  All the basic needs and routines for daily life are different.  We, a little arrogantly, think we’re giving these Newcomers a world of opportunity here but we fail to realize how traumatic simply coming here is for them. 

Then there are the unspoken prejudices they face.  Yes, there are a handful of really nice people who are helpful to them.  But, most people are noticeably trying politely not to stare and think it’s all a novelty.  But then, there’s those who indignantly think our tax dollars should be spent on Canadians first and those who think these Newcomers are terrorists here covertly to destabilize our way of life.  Ignorance is not bliss, my friends.  It can hurt others.

Most of the Newcomers have a different faith system than we do; not that religion means anything for most Canadians anymore.  The most noticable thing about these Newcomers and probably what most Canadians get prejudiced about is that “they treat their women different.”  Like Old Order Mennonites they have very “traditional” faith and cultural values with respect to how women should dress and their role in the family and the wider community.  Not to deny that abuse against women happens in their cultures – as well l as our own – we should be careful not to judge them according to our arrogant assumption that we Westerners have a monopoly on what it is to be “civilized”.   Civilization began in their corner of the world long before there was such a things Western Liberal Democracy.  We must be careful that due to our ignorance of their ways we don’t mistake modesty for repression. 

When we take the time to get to know our Newcomers, we find them to be extremely hospitable, remarkably generous with what little they have, and they have a strong sense of honour.  Their faith plays a key role in their lives, more so than our own.  They are quite willing to discuss their faith.  Yet, they are also quite vulnerable, grieving what they’ve had to leave behind, and have suffered trauma.  They are overwhelmed by our culture and its materialism.  They notice our general lack of faith, lack of devotion.  They especially notice our immodesty.  They notice our worship of money, sex, and power.  We indeed do look and act Pagan.  They can feel persecuted by us simply because they don’t know or understand our ways and because they are just trying to be as good and faithful as they can be according to their ways.  And, they are very good at smiling and going on.  If they look sad…,maybe they are.

The situation of Newcomers coming to Western countries is much like that of the early Christians to whom Peter wrote this letter.  Exiles he calls them.  They were new Christians living in a very pagan world where idolatry abounded.  For many of them, they were driven by persecution from their homelands due to their faith in God through Christ.  In the new lands to which these early Christians fled they still faced persecution because they would not participate in idol worship. 

The early Christians were also very morally upstanding.  Roman culture was full of sex, indulgent feasting, violence, and power abuse.  Christians wanted to live pure and holy lives.

The early Christians were also known for their way of accepting everyone as equals; slaves and masters, men and women, different races and ethnicities.  They looked out after each other’s material needs sharing what they had. They were known for generosity, hospitality, and even touching lepers.  Several Ancient historians remarked on the quality of community and love the early Christians shared.

They thought of themselves as family, the family of God.  They regarded each other as beloved children of God the Father adopted into the family in Christ Jesus and sharing the family bond of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  They were born anew, rebirthed, a new humanity indwelt by God.

Like the Newcomers coming into our culture, these ancient Christians were strickingly different than their surrounding culture and were being persecuted for it either subtly or overtly.  So, Peter writes to encourage them and give them guidance on how to live faithfully as exiles in a pagan land where they were not welcome.  He rather long-windedly with much theological wording and imagery reminds them that the evidence that they are reborn, rebirthed anew as children of God is the distinctive love they have for one another.  The Holy Spirit indwelt them and the proof of this was that they loved one another deeply from the heart.

Two weeks ago we talked about being cut to the heart, meaning the way we feel when we realize we’ve put our own ideas about who God is and what God is up in our lives before who God actually is and is actually doing in our midst.  Last week we talked about hearts burning with fire, the sort thing that comes upon us when Jesus gets a hold of us in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and warms our hearts.  He causes us to be impassioned with respect to him and Christian fellowship.  Burning hearts are most effectively felt in small group fellowships based in Bible study, sharing our burdens, and praying with one another.  We also become impassioned for being in mission, reaching out, being Good (with a capitol G) neighbours.  Finally, a deeply loving heart is the meringue on the pie.  Christian fellowship distinguished by unconditional, non-judgemental, and sacrificial love is what Christian faith matures into.

This forces us to think of church in a completely different way.  Our primary focus as a body of believers in Christ must be the quality of relationships that we have in our fellowship.  How are we at loving one another?

This is where I pat you folks on the back.  Small churches in general are and this small church in particular is living proof that Jesus lives and he has poured his Spirit into our hearts.  You genuinely love one another and do your best to share that love with anyone who walks through the door.  Moreover, this past year you gave I think it was about $16,000 to flood relief in Williamsford.  You could have kept that money believing you needed it for your institutional survival, but you didn’t.  You are a light in this world. 

The fowl supper is more than just a fundraiser for this church it is a way for us to feed the community with community.  The Corn Roast is more than just a good time.  When we get together, there is a warm, warm fellowship in our midst.  We are indeed the body of Christ, bread to the world.  Yet, even though I’ve stroked your ego, there is still room to grow even deeper in love and I meant what I said last week about getting together in small groups.  I would encourage that greatly. Amen.

Heart Conditions: Hearts Burning Within

Acts 2:36-47, Luke 24:13-35, 1 Peter 1:17-23

One of the main denominations that joined together to form the United Church of Canada was the Methodist Church, Canada.  As that happened back I 1925 I would suspect that most of us have no idea what a Methodist or Methodism is.  So…

Methodism began back in the 1700’s led by the highly esteemed theologian and churchman John Wesley.  Wesley was an Anglican priest who was very much committed to living a holy life.  So much so that he and his brother, the great hymn writer Charles Wesley, when they were in the university at Oxford founded what was derogatively called the “Holy Club”.  English society in their day was nominally religious.  It was a group of young men who met three hours a day for prayer and studying the Bible.  They fasted twice a week and had communion weekly.  They were very dedicated to their method of fellowship, study, and lifestyle.  It looked much like what our passage from Acts described.  Someone called them “Methodists” and Wesley adopted that term for his renewal ministry that would come a few years down the road.

In 1735, John and Charles were invited by the Governor of the Colony of Georgia to come to Savannah to minister to the colonists and be missionaries to Native Americans.  Wesley hoped to do more of the later but found himself tied down to the institutional church needs of the colonists. 

On the boat over they met some Moravians.  The Moravians were Pietists, which means they placed great emphasis like Wesley on personal devotion.  But unlike Wesley, the Moravians spoke a great deal about personal experience of Christ. Wesley remarked how he greatly admired their deeply personal faith and noted they had an inner strength that he felt he lacked.  While at sea they met a storm and the ship’s mast broke.  The Wesley’s feared for their lives but the Moravians stayed assured they would be okay and prayed and sang a lot.

Wesley was only in Georgia for about two years.  While in Georgia, Wesley met an evangelist named George Whitefield.  Whitefield was known for preaching out in the open something Wesley was a bit indignant towards.  Wesley set up many smalls groups among the colonists that resembled the Holy Club of his university days and church attendance grew because of it.  He also fell in love, but the person of interest married another man.  Predictably, Wesley felt her faith commitment had declined after she married so he barred her from communion.  That proved to be a scandal so he returned to England.

Back in England, Wesley sharply felt the error of his ways and was greatly ashamed and arguably depressed.  He began to worship with a Moravian fellowship.  At one of their meetings on May 24, 1738 in a place on Aldersgate Street, London he had an experience.  Wesley writes:  “About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
          Wesley soon returned to the preaching ministry and he began to organize small groups like his “Holy Club” that would meet in homes and wherever else they could. He also began to preach very evangelistically calling for personal conversion. Wesley would preach anywhere he was invited.
          His friend George Whitefield came to London and invited Wesley to preach at one of his outdoor rallies. Wesley was indignant with outdoor preaching. He felt preaching must happen if not in a church sanctuary, then at least indoors. Yet for some reason, he took Whitefield up on his offer and found it had tremendous effect. From there he became an itinerant preacher, traveling around the countryside setting up small groups of ‘Methodists” twelve to a group everywhere he went. Through Wesley our Lord started a great renewal movement in the Church of England that spread all over England and the British colonies. Unfortunately, Methodism was often harassed and taught against by the Church of England.

I find it hard not to think of Wesley when I read of those two disciples who encountered Jesus risen from the dead while on the Road to Emmaus.  They said their hearts were burning within them when Jesus explained the Scriptures to them.  Wesley reflects similarly that he felt his heart strangely warmed when realizing in that Moravian meeting that Jesus was with him and his prior abuse of his office in Georgia was forgiven.

That “burning heart” experience was Wesley’s personal Pentecost.  The day he felt the working of the Holy Spirit.  The day he realized that the Christian faith was more than beliefs one held practicing strict personal devotion under eternal threat.  He realized the Father’s great love for him, personal love for him, expressed in Christ who was with him by the presence of the Holy Spirit.  When he died on March 2, 1791, he died repeating, “The best of all is, God is with us.”

After this burning heart experience, one could say Wesley was on fire.  His heart burned with a new passion, a passion to strive to be pleasing to the God who loved him so much.  He stepped outside the confines of the ways of the Church of England and did things that were very outside the box, things that he himself was not comfortable with at first, like preaching in the open, itinerant preaching, setting up small groups, ordaining leaders when the Anglican bishops wouldn’t. 

Wesley’s preaching was powerful.  He preached personal commitment to Christ, personal transformation in Christ, and accountability in Christian fellowship groups.  He taught committed discipleship to a church and society that was content with just giving God a nod.  The Christian faith is more than just believing the right beliefs and doing good.  It is founded on knowing Christ and his personal concern for us each and results in living a life devoted to becoming more and more like him.

I think what Wesley did in his day is a good model for the renewal that needs to happen in our denomination:  Taking things outside the church walls and establishing small groups. Our goal needs to be not the continuation of the church as we know it, but rather that people come to have a personal faith rooted in Jesus Christ that we find through the Holy Spirit who “strangely warms” our hearts” and maybe, like for Wesley in Georgia, that will have a positive effect on the pews.

Why do I think this?  Well, I’ve had my heart “strangely warmed” too. Many years ago, when I was nineteen and troubled, at the encouragement of a girlfriend I stepped outside the box of my traditional Presbyterian roots and went with her to a Nazarene congregation that met in an elementary school cafeteria.  The Nazarenes are an offshoot of the Methodists.  As soon as I stepped through those cafeteria doors I felt my heart “strangely warmed”.  There was a sweet, sweet Spirit in that place.  I didn’t get struck with an assurance of my own salvation.  That’s not what I needed.  I needed to know God was real and loved me and, people, I can tell you without a doubt God is and God does. 

Knowing that and feeling that didn’t solve all my problems, but it got me going in the right direction.  The direction the Spirit led me in was into the small groups of Christian friends that I had in university where I was surrounded by people who loved and supported me and encouraged me as I prepared for the ministry.  I eventually returned to the Presbyterian way.  Believe it or not Jesus is among us too, but we’re not so methodical about it.

Using myself as an example, if our churches want people 55 and younger to know Christ then trying to find ways to make Sunday morning more appealing than hockey and soccer or a quiet morning won’t work.  People my age and younger just don’t normally do organizations and institutions.  If we’re here, we’re the anomaly with a huge onus of reaching out to folks our age.  People my age and younger aren’t to keen on being called sinners and the messed up state of the world isn’t so much our fault.  What we do need to know is that God is real and that he loves us.  We need genuine friendships and we want to make a difference. 

We need our hearts to burn within us, to be “strangely warmed”.  We need to meet Jesus.  Coming to church on Sunday morning for public worship is important.  But, small prayer groups of fellowship and study like Wesley got going are where I really got to meet Jesus and experience the presence of God and know my prayers were answered and God was looking out for me.  I think that having a few groups like that in each of the churches of our Cooperative meeting at times other than Sunday and places other than here, and groups to which we can invite people not associated with this church just might be a worthy step on the Road to Renewal.  Amen.