Gen 12:1-5a
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and
your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a
great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will
be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I
will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was
seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai
and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and
the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the
land of Canaan.
Today is the
first Sunday of Lent
Lent is a 40
day journey with Jesus as he helps us understand his ministry and his call on
our lives.
Traditionally,
the reading for the first Sunday of Lent is the Gospel story of Jesus being
tempted in the wilderness.
Mark
1:9-15
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the
water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on
him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am
well pleased.’
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into
the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and
he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to
Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
Mark gives the
briefest report of the story --- never telling us the details of the temptation
that Jesus faced in the dessert. The
other Gospel writers add a great deal to the story.
Regardless ---
the story is our starting point for this Lenten journey --- a journey in which
we too will be tempted and pulled off course.
But also a
journey in which we can learn a great deal.
Dr. John
Sylhavey was once called the most brilliant man in America.
He was a
professor of History and Philosophy at Harvard for 35 years.
Dr.
Sylhavey grew up poor.
He
fought in World War 1,
and
afterwards he did some of the first mapping of Alaska and then he worked his
way through school.
He
acquired 2 bachelors degrees,
3
masters degrees,
and
2 PH.D.'s!
Dr.
Sylhavey wrote 36 hooks in his career, and composed 2 operas.
In 1965, just
as he was about to retire, he was asked to address the graduating class at
Harvard. This is what he said:
I
am now an old man. I am at the end of a long and hard career of teaching. And I
am amazed that you would ask me to speak to you, you who are just starting out.
But here is what I have to say.
For
over 20 years most of you have been climbing the creaky ladder of American
Academic Institutions. In that time you have read thousands of pages of text.
You have written and re-written hundreds of papers. And now you are about to go
out into the world, and you ask me what you should know. What you should know
is this: THAT YOU DON"T KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL.
You
ask me how I know? I know because I have spent many years in Academic
Institutions; I have read millions of pages of text, and written a few myself I
have tried to understand what I need to know, and yet know, as I finally leave
my post, I realize that I don't know anything compared with what I really need
to know. My job, and your job,
tomorrow and every tomorrow is to begin to learn what it is that I really need
to know in life.
Amazing, how
simple, and yet how profound. Here is a man who was one of the most learned men
in America, and yet he says that he is not yet done --------- as a matter of fact
he would say that he is only beginning!
If we are
honest, isn't that really true with all of us?
I
know that has been true in my life!
Thirty years
ago when I graduated from The Duke Divinity School --- with my hard earned and
hard won Masters of Divinity, I thought that I had learned it all --- certainly
all that I needed to know --- and I was ready to inflict that learning on the
world.
I FOUND I HAD
SOME LEARNING TO DO
I found myself
serving a basically rural church just outside Plymouth, Indiana.
•
How
does one minister to a church that has no desire to grow or have new people
attend, but are happy paying the bills and doing their thing?
After four
years I was asked to start a new church
•
I
had no clue about how one starts a new church
When they
asked me to start the church I was asked to start a "traditional United
Methodist Church" that would attract young people.
As you can
guess, that model didn't work very well. So after a year and a half, we shifted
to a "contemporary model" of worship ---> do you think I
"knew" how to do that? --- I didn’t have a clue!!
During that
time — I read everything I could get my hands on — I went to every seminar I
could — trying to figure out how to reach young people.
In the process
I met Lyle Schaller, the Church Growth Guru.
He
was fascinated with some of the things that we were doing, and used Celebration
as a case study for a seminar he lead.
He also wrote of Celebration Church, and its young upstart pastor in a
couple of his books and articles.
After six
exciting years I left Celebration,
my
precious child -
that
I nurtured and helped give birth to,
that
I sat up many sleepless nights with as it went through (and I went through) the
growing pains of childhood.
I was sent
from there to serve a church and manage a staff at Simpson, a
large
transitional church in downtown Fort Wayne --- and did I know what I was
getting myself into ---- had I learned enough?
After three
heartbreaking years of trying to convince a dying church that God had something
more for them — and realizing that I could not re-create my experience in
Warsaw; I was sent here.
To a church
that was on the verge of GREAT THINGS.
A
church that is full of Christians who are looking for ways to put their
ministry into action.
Had
I learned enough?
In the past seventeen
years we have done some amazing things together:
•
more
than doubled the budget
•
added
staff — including an associate pastor
•
added
and grown all kinds of awesome ministries
•
Built
our fellowship hall
•
getting
ready to add a columbarium
Did I have a
clue how to lead you through most of that?
NO, but I read
and studied and tried to stay one step ahead of you.
I am
constantly aware of how much learning I have yet to do!
I really
appreciate Dr. Sylhavey's when he said: “My job, and your job, tomorrow and
every tomorrow is to begin to learn what it is that I really need to know in
life.”
What I have
learned so far on my journey is that learning is something that we never
finish.
If we stop
learning, our journey is over.
Cut
short!
Robbed
of reaching its full potential.
Learning is
the never ending cycle and challenge of life!
Just as it is
with learning —> so too it is with Christianity!
Our Christian
journey is a continual process of learning and experiencing the power and the
fullness of Jesus!
Too often we
see being a Christian as a state of BEING.
Being a
Christian thus falls into the same category as:
I
am right handed,
I
am getting grey,
I
am a man
I
am a Christian
but
Christianity is not, nor can it be, a state of being.
Being
a Christian is adopting a certain lifestyle.
Too often we
view Christianity as merely subscribing to a set of beliefs.
I believe in the constitution of the
United States, therefore I am an American;
I
believe Jesus died for my sins, therefore I am a Christian.
Some take it
even farther;
I
believe in adult baptism in flowing water by immersion, therefore I am a TRUE
Christian.
Or,
I believe that one must speak in tongues or be slain by the Spirit, so I am a
true Christian.
BUT,
Christianity is not simply believing the right things.
It is not just
subscribing to some set of beliefs.
The point of
Christianity is not to arrive at some knowledge, nor even to arrive at some
state of maturity, nor even to arrive in heaven!
The point of
Christianity is the journey that we find ourselves on as we strive to
experience the fullness of Jesus Christ.
As
we strive to be Christ like!
Christianity
is not some destination --- it is a JOURNEY.
And I know of
no one inside of this building, or even outside of it, INCLUDING MYSELF, that
has arrived!
Christianity
is a journey--- filled with struggles, trials, temptations, disappointments,
joys and sorrows ---> accomplishments and failures.
Being a
Christian means being part of a journey that sometimes sees us taking one step
forward and two steps backward --- one success and two failures --- Sometimes
we gain ground, sometimes we slip and fall --- but always we are on the
journey!
Our reading
from the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament illustrates this
perfectly.
“Now
the LORD said to Abram, ‘GO from your country and your kindred and your
father's house to the land that I will show you.’”
Go, God says.
Pack your things and be off.
Go to the
place that I will show you.
Forget the
maps, forget the travel guides, GO!
Trusting when
God says go, is awfully scary!
I
know!
There have
been times in my life where God has said very clearly to me; GO.
Nine years ago
I was blessed by receiving a Lilly Endowment Renewal Leave Grant.
Because of
your generosity and the generosity of the grant I was able to take three months
and reflect, renew and listen to God’s voice in my life.
It was an
awesome time
As
a family we were able to take a trip to Hawaii celebrating Jessica’s graduation
from High School and the beginning of her college career at Butler
I
was able to attend Duke Divinity School’s Annual Lecture series
I
was also able to attend Golf school --- it didn’t help!
And
certainly one of the highlights was the month I spent --- by myself --- in
Israel. It was amazing!
As I left for
my three months we had a great celebration --- but as I walked out the door I
left with all kinds of questions ---
I left
questioning my faith,
who
God is and who Jesus is in my life.
Those of you
who read my blog got to see some of the questions that I was --- and continue
to wrestle with.
I had become
disillusioned with the institutional church, and I questioned whether I could
continue as a part of that system --- a wrestling match that has gone on for
the last nine years.
God and I spent
many hours wrestling in the desert together.
I came back
with more questions than answers to be honest
Questions that
I have wrestled with mightily up until very recently
Often times we
do not get a clear vision as to the direction that our journey is to take.
But,
nevertheless, we are all called to the journey.
Dr. James
Dobson says:
All
too often we expect to see God's leading like the headlights of a car --
providing direction way out in front of us! In reality, God's leading is like a
flashlight, dispelling the darkness in our midst and providing direction in the
present.
On our journey
often we consume too much energy yearning for and expecting a bright beam of
light — and we refuse to move until we have it -- and we MISS the guiding light
of Christ in the present, at our feet, leading the way every day of our lives.
Christianity
is a journey, and the point of the journey is the journey!
We need to
learn to look for the unexpected in life instead of always anticipating what
hill we must climb, or next hoop we must jump through.
Look for the
unexpected--- for therein lies the Holy moments of life!
Believe me --- I have come to figure
that out
Experience the
journey rather than simply moving through life thinking that you know it all —
thinking that you have arrived, because the truth is — we all have more to
learn -- we have only just begun!
To be a
Christian means that we are involved in the here and now --- today.
Not pine-ing
for that day of reckoning when God will set the world straight.
Jesus didn't
teach us to sit down and think we have it all together and wait for eternity
--- Jesus tells all of us to GO!
Mat
28:19 - 20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.”
But as I say
all of this, we have got to quit being so obsessed with getting from here to there!
We have got to
quit looking at the end of the journey and missing out on what is happening
right here and now.
When we look
that way --- we are miserable, because we can never fully get there.
The point of
the journey IS THE JOURNEY!
People who put
all their hope on an afterlife and fail to see the beauty of God's creation in
this life --- have missed the entire point of being a Christian.
Do you
remember when you were a child and were on a trip and you would ask your
parents a question that went something like this: "Are we there yet?"
Compare the
agony and the unending nature of that trip with a trip that you have been on
and traveling was the trip.
The
traveling was an adventure in and of itself!
Which trip
would you rather go on today?
If we don't
involve ourselves in the journey--- if we are continually asking: ARE WE THERE
YET?, when it comes to our Christian journey ---> then the journey becomes
of absolute misery and our walk with Christ is an illusion.
BUT when we
are able to involve ourselves in the journey itself, we find ourselves engaged
with the living Christ and we find beauty and meaning in life.
Remember what
God said at the end of every day of creation: IT IS GOOD!
Let's not
forget that, because the beauty of God's creation can carry us through those
moments when our journey is going through those valleys that the Psalmist
called the valley of the shadow of death!
Jesus is
constantly calling us to look at today.
To
quit focusing on the illusory signs of tomorrow.
To
embrace the gift of today, to experience Jesus presence in the here and now.
Experience
Him as we journey today.
The problem
is, when we are always looking somewhere in our future for our fulfillment, we
miss the presence of the Christ in our midst --- the presence of Christ in the
present!
The point of
our Christian journey IS THE JOURNEY'
Over this
season of lent, I want to examine this concept that being a Christian means
that we are fellow travelers and with that in mind I want to examine how we can
make our journey the best it can be.
The point of
Christianity is the journey that we find ourselves on: It is a never ending
journey
The point of
the journey is the journey--the ways in which we encounter Christ along the way
--- thereby continually experiencing the fullness of Christ in new ways.
None of us
know it all!
None of us
have arrived.
May we all
open ourselves to experience the present as we continue our journey with Jesus
Christ as our guide!
