Archive for January, 2005

A Sermon Delivered by The Rev. John D. Painter at Centenary United Methodist Church Metuchen, New Jersey January 30, 2005

Text: Micah 6:1-8

I have to begin with telling you that I successfully managed to avoid temptation this past week…at least in one area of my life. In an e-mail exchange with my best friend…another UM Pastor…my frugal brother shared with me that he fully intended to re-use the bulletins he had already prepared for last Sunday’s service on this Sunday, and he would preach the sermon he already had prepared: “I’m not going to waste a perfectly good sermon!” he declared. And for a moment…

After all, I had last week’s sermon 99% ready to go by Saturday afternoon, when we can-celed services. And the bulletins were all printed and in the ushers’ closet. However, by the time he e-mailed me, our service for this week was pretty much in order, Ed Stern had agreed to ac-company “What Does the Lord Require of You” on the guitar, and I was well into thinking about this week’s passage from Micah. And as for that almost-perfected sermon on “light” for last week? Well, it’s stored in a future sermon file on my computer, and if you come back on January 27, 2008, you’ll get to hear it when those wonderful lessons next appear in the Lectionary cycle.

As for “bragging” about avoiding this particular temptation this past week, I know of a pastor who has also wrestled with this issue of humility. He was asked by his Staff-Parish Rela-tions Committee to evaluate his ministry in comparison to the ministry of Jesus. (Now there’s a concept to give you pause!) His response included: “Jesus walks on water; I slip on ice. Jesus changes water into wine; I change water into coffee. Jesus welcomes the children; I have the children’s sermon. Jesus raises the dead; I wake teenagers. And Jesus cleanses lepers; I change dirty diapers.”

Micah’s prophetic words give both me and that struggling pastor some well-timed advice about humility:

[God] has told you, O mortal, what is good and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, NRSV)

Comedians have long poked fun at how mothers can sometimes nag and how they can make effective use of our guilt to make us act. Over the years there have been several television “sit-coms” based on nagging mothers and mothers-in-law who use guilt to get their way. One of Tina’s favorites…and maybe yours, too…is Everybody Loves Raymond.

In poking fun at mothers, comedians are tapping into a basic characteristic of parents and parenting. We want the best for our children. And we want to be appreciated for the work we’ve done.

But some of us are better at expressing those feelings than others. And I don’t know of many parents who haven’t wanted to say things that the comedians put into the mouths of their characters. We also know how inappropriate it is to say some of those things on occasion.

But because we know those are real thoughts and because we also know they are not to be spoken aloud, we either laugh or cringe when we hear them in the mouths of others. The sur-prise of recognizing our own thoughts spoken aloud is what makes it good humor.

Our text for today could easily be said by one of those comic characters, a mother who is ranting about her non-appreciative grown son:

“What have I done wrong? Wasn’t it enough that I gave birth to you and worked two jobs to keep food on the table? Would you rather go naked than wear the clothes I bought you? And why do you act as if your college education was a gift from some long lost uncle?

“You can ask the neighbors how often I woke up in the middle of the night to feed you when you were a baby and how many trips I made to the doctor with your sore throats, ear aches, and broken arms. Just ask the people at the school how often I volunteered to bring cookies to your class when you were growing up.
“After all I’ve done for you, is it too much to ask for you to call me on my birthday? Can’t you find some small way to show you appreciate all I’ve done for you?”

Only in our text, God is the one who is speaking. And God begins by calling the moun-tains and hills to listen as God recounts the many times and places where the people of Israel had been blessed but failed to acknowledge the One who had blessed them.

Can you imagine the guilty silence that must have followed Micah’s proclamation of that judgment of God? Like the adult children of the nagging mother, there is no excuse that can be made for their behavior.

And like the children of Israel, we know we are implicated in the accusation as well. We, too, have known God’s love and grace. We, too, have experienced the miracle of God’s accep-tance. And like the children of Israel, we have not always expressed our gratitude. We have taken God for granted.

We can all recognize our own complicity, but what can we do?

What is the appropriate response when confronted with our own self-focus in the midst of such a tremendous outpouring of love?

Recently I heard a comedian say that the best way to remember your wife’s birthday is to forget it—once. Those of you who have romantic spouses know there is no amount of flowers that can make up for that forgotten birthday or anniversary. Bouquets of flowers, boxes of chocolates, rooms full of balloons will not change the past. We cannot make up for our mistakes with things.
Like the repentant child or a comedian’s mother, Israel asks what God wants in return to make up for the past:

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my trans-gression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6, 7, NRSV).

Or to put it in the context of church today, we could ask if we are supposed to sign up for flowers or refreshments every week, or turn over our entire retirement savings account. We might ask if God wants us to abandon our jobs and our families and our children and live the rest of our lives at the church.

We all know the truth. None of that will suffice. Nothing we will ever do can compare with what God has already done. We cannot pay God back for what God has done, just as we cannot make up for what we have not done.

God isn’t asking for the fatted calf. God doesn’t need the cattle on a thousand hills. All God wants is a living and vital relationship with each of us and all of us:

[God] has told you, O mortal, what is good and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, NRSV).

Three things: Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God. Those first two are vitally important, for sure. Especially on this day when millions of Iraqi citizens are trying to get to polling places to safely cast their votes; at the end of a week of unprecedented violence and death; and in the face of rising concerns about our ultimate “exit strategy.” Justice and Kindness are at the heart of our concern for many of the tsunami-orphaned children of South Asia who face harm at the hands of predators. I suspect many of us have been vividly reminded of the im-perative for kindness and justice as we watched the 60th anniversary observances of the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz this past week. And as Pastor Bauknight reminded us so eloquently in her message two weeks ago, we still have a long distance to go when ad-dressing justice issues in our race relationships. Our daily newspapers and TV news provide us with abundant and important kindness and justice concerns. But I really want you to hear the third part of verse 8 this morning: Walk humbly with your God. In fact, I really just want you to hear the last three words of that phrase: With your God.
Biblical commentaries remind us that that walking humbly with your God means to live dependently—not alone; to live in communion, in friendship with God. There is a relationship implied here. God is not a distant being, unknowable, unreachable. God is close, by our side. With us. The biblical commentators, together with a good dictionary, have been able to help me understand what it might mean to walk “with” our God.

There is a word-part, “com-”, that comes from the Latin meaning “with” or “together”. It is related to another word part, “commun-” which means shared. It is related then, to words like community, communicate, communion.

Com- is found in companion, a familiar word which comes from two roots (com=together, and panis=bread). Companions are literally those with whom we eat bread to-gether. They are those with whom we share the most vital parts of ourselves. Micah is saying that God wants us to be companions, to be together with God.

Com- is also found in compassion (com=with and pati=suffer). Compassion literally means “suffering with.” It means sharing the pain of another. God is described as compassionate. In fact the word that is translated for us as “Love kindness”, can also be translated as steadfast love, mercy, and compassion.

Micah tells us to follow God’s lead, doing justice, showing compassion, and most im-portantly walking humbly with our God.

When you love someone, don’t you just want to be with them. A parent, a child, a lover, a spouse, a dear friend? It doesn’t matter what you are doing—the being together is what is im-portant, isn’t it? You can be busy working and not even have time to speak, but just a glance at that one you love warms your heart. We don’t have to have elaborate plans together in order to appreciate the time we spend with each other.

We know this instinctively. We hold on to memories of time spent with those we love. Sometimes we’ve been doing things that are very important, but we could just as easily have been riding in a car together, just enjoying the scenery. It is being together that we need.

Micah tells us that this is what God wants with us. Our purpose is found in the larger purposes of God. “What does the Lord require of you?” What really matters? What is God’s pur-pose for us? In the end, we find that what really matters is relationship—relationship with God and with each other, relationships not quantified by dollars or organization charts, by ritual prac-tices or an abundance of good deeds.

At the end of the day, we will not so much be judged on what we have accomplished in a career or even in our religious expressions, but on how much we loved. Have we simply loved people enough to act justly, to be kind, and to give ourselves over to walking humbly with God and following God’s lead in our lives?
Our lives matter because we matter to God. Not because of what we can or cannot do, but because God simply loves us. If we love God in the same way, we can’t help but find real meaning and a new way of looking at life through the powerful lens of relationship.

Remember that question we all got asked when we were about 5 years old—“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a great question, but very soon we begin to turn be into do and get stuck cranking out life instead of creatively living into it. We become human doings rather than human beings.

Micah’s words remind us that life can be simple if we’ll only be willing to make some careful choices—if we’ll choose to love God and others and let the rest take care of itself.

…and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

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PRAYER
Gracious and loving God, you have told us what is good. Now help us to go forth into this troubled world committed to move in the ways of your justice, to fall in love with your abundant kindness, and to tread lightly as we go—humbly in your presence. Amen.
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1 From The Joyful Newsletter, quoted as “On humility” in AHA!, January 30, 2005, p. 23.
2 From Walking Humbly, a sermon based on Micah 6:1-8 by Randy L Quinn, accessed on January 29, 2005, @ http://desperatepreacher.com/sermonbuilder/feb02/1/homily.htm.
3 Ibid.
4 From With Your God, a sermon based on Micah 6:1-8 by “Pam in San Bernadino” and accessed on January 29, 2005, @ http://desperatepreacher.com/sermonbuilder/a_pool/with_your_god.htm.
5 Ibid.
6 From “My Life,” a homiletical reflection on Micah 6:1-8 in Homiletics, January-February 2005, p. 38.
7 Adapted from a “Charge” in Homiletics, p. 41.

A Sermon Delivered by The Rev. John D. Painter at Centenary United Methodist Church Metuchen, New Jersey January 9, 2005 (Baptism of Christ Sunday)

Texts: Matthew 3:13-17; Acts 10:34-43

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” –Matthew 3:17 (NRSV)

Water is a powerful creation. We need water to survive, for without it we would die. In recent days we’ve seen massive destruction and we’ve seen enormous human compassion, both the result of water. As we have witnessed so vividly in the past two weeks, too much water can kill while too little water can also take life away. While we have gathered today to remember and celebrate our baptisms, and to be reminded of the good things about water—water renews, cleanses and nurtures—we’ve also come with somber hearts. Many of us have struggled with our faith as we’ve watched the hurts of the world. We don’t blame God for the wounds of the world. Water, like the wind, moves where it wills. Still, we wish our tears could be dammed up and held back, but we ache so for the people in the tsunami’s wake. And we ask God to buoy us up on the waves of hope as we remember our baptisms and are thankful for the gift of life-giving waters. We come with hope and pray for healing this day.

One person recently wrote: “When the news first broke of the earthquake and the tsu-nami, I kept thinking, ‘Oh my, what if that was happening here, to people I love, my brothers and sisters?’ Well, guess what?! It is happening to my brothers and sisters. I don’t know a single one of them by name, but God does because they are [God’s] children. So, while many of the victims and many of the survivors may never have been baptized, I have. I am called by my baptism into relationship with Jesus Christ and with all God’s children everywhere. Who is my brother, who is my sister? The very ones who are hurting to their core right now. What do brothers and sisters do? Love each other in meaningful ways. By my baptism, I am called to respond.” By our bap-tisms we are all called to respond.

In his early thirties, Jesus came to the wilderness shores of the Jordan River and stood be-fore John the Baptist seeking baptism. And as he rose from the muddy waters, a voice from heaven declared, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

What did God “say” at your baptism and at mine? Can we still hear it? “You are my daughter…my son…my beloved. I am well-pleased with you!” We’re uncomfortable today speaking of anyone as God’s chosen. But God’s call is to service, not to privilege. Anyone who hears God’s voice in one way or another can discover she or he is God’s beloved. As Peter real-ized, God shows no partiality.
Where and when do we hear God’s voice? In the stillness of our souls? In conversation with trusted friends? Through the scriptures? When we worship? When we’re busy serving as we’re called to serve? And, often, even in the shocks and surprises of life.

All too often we think God’s voice only sounds like thunder. We know God wants to speak to us, but we’re often afraid to listen. Sometimes God shakes us out of our complacency and prejudices, like a sudden thunderstorm in summer. But more often than not, what God wants us to hear is, “You are my daughter…my son…my servant…in whom my soul delights. Here is where I need you to serve. Now, let me delight in you as you share the love I’ve invested in you.”

Regardless of what else happens during the sacrament of baptism–whether the water is sprinkled or poured over the head, or the person is dipped under the water; whether the person laughs or cries or tries to climb into the font–baptism is about what God is doing. In baptism, God claims us. Adopts us. Gives us a new name: My daughter! My son! In baptism, God singles us out and says, “This one is mine!”

Christian baptism gives you a name. Gives you an identity. In earlier times children were “christened” and given a Christian name. In ancient times, the Church literally named the child. Even today among many cultures, when persons are baptized they replace their given names with Christian names. They want to express an identity change. Like when Abram becomes Abraham when he receives God’s promise to make of him a mighty nation; Like when Cephas became Peter when Jesus promised to build his church “upon this rock.” Saul the Persecutor becomes Paul the Apostle. Name changes signify a new beginning, a radical break with the old. At bap-tism, God takes you and says, “Your name is Christian.” You are mine!

Many years ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson used to begin worship in his inner-city Chicago congregation with a two-line call and response:

I was a NOBODY,

But now, thank God, I’m a SOMEBODY!

Everything around the people told them that they were nothing more than nobodies, but the Church dared to claim a different name for them and declared that because they were God’s children, they were somebodies. The Christian message is not that we should try hard to “act like somebody.” The Christian message is simply, “we are somebody.”

It may well be that we, the Church, ought to rise up at every baptism and say: “This one is ours. This one belongs to us. God has a lot of promise riding on this one. This one is set aside for God. We’re calling this one ‘Christian.’”

Baptism says that not only are we named but that we are owned by God. God keeps what God purchases, and on the cross an awesome price was paid. As we celebrate renewal and re-membrance through our baptism, we would do well to recall Martin Luther’s remark that “There is no greater comfort to a Christian than baptism.” Why? In times of great doubt, when the ref-ormation faltered and seemed about to disintegrate, Luther would frequently touch his forehead and say to himself, “Martin, be calm, be calm Martin; you are baptized.”

In those times of our greatest trials, confusion, spiritual dryness, and hopelessness, we might do well to touch our foreheads and remind ourselves who and whose we really are. So many times we are tempted to consider our relationship with God as mostly a matter of what we think, feel or believe. Baptism is an ever-present reminder of our salvation, our nearness to God as the result of what God has done. The same God who reached out and claimed us in our bap-tism continues to hold onto us in life. The source of our hope is in the active, resourceful love of God. The One who continues to declare, “This one is mine!”
In a memorable scene in the Roots series many years ago, Kunta Kinte waits beside the horses while his master attends a ball. While he sits in the buggy he hears other music coming from the slaves’ quarters. Different music. Strange rhythms. His legs quickly take him down the path to the little cabins behind the big house. There he sees a man playing African music, the music which he remembered hearing in Africa as a child—music which he had almost forgotten. Kunta Kinte found that the man was from his section of Africa. They talked excitedly in his na-tive language of home and stories. That night Kunta Kinte went home changed. He lay upon the dirt floor of his cabin and wept, weeping in sadness because he had almost forgotten; weeping for joy because he had remembered. Slavery and humiliation had almost erased his memory, but the music helped him to remember

It is easy in the confusion of this life to forget who you are and more importantly, whose you are. So this morning the Church is here to remind you—we are here, all of us, to remind each other—that we have been named and purchased. That Someone greater than John the Bap-tist has claimed us and loves us with a love that will never give up on us. That same Someone who continues to proclaim, “You are my daughter…my son…my beloved. I am well-pleased with you! You are mine!” Can you still hear it? Remember your baptism and be thankful, for this is who you are.

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PRAYER
Come all who are weary,
Come, all who yearn for joy.
As the waters of the Jordan washed over Jesus,
So the Spirit washes over you and me!
The source of life and love,
Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
Changes water to the gladness of wine,
Speaks the Word that says, “This one is mine!”. Amen.
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