Last week I officiated my first funeral. A ninety-eight-year-old member of our congregation died early in the week; we gathered on Saturday to remember her life, mourn her passing, and celebrate the hope we have in Jesus Christ. The whole process, from my first contact with family members through planning and conducting the funeral to parting conversations after lunch, was pretty special. Funerals and the grieving process can be extremely emotional and difficult, but they're also quite sacred. They lead us to reflect on the core of our Christian beliefs. We shared memories of a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and did our best to capture the essence of who she is. We reflected on her legacy. We meditated on Psalm 23, noting how our sister has come through the valley of the shadow of death to dwell in the house of the LORD forever. We recited the first Q&A of the Heidelberg Catechism, professing our comfort of belonging to Jesus Christ "body and soul, in life and in death." We sang songs of hope. And at the gravesite, we said our good-byes, clinging to Jesus' words from John 11: "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die." The part of the day that has stuck with me the most was reciting the Apostles' Creed together at the gravesite, ending with our belief in "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." Death is not the end, for Jesus Christ is our victory. That part about resurrection is important. If only our souls lived forever, then I don't think we could say death is defeated. Part of us would be lost in death; we'd just have some sort of spiritual work-around. But with resurrection, death is truly defeated. Even our bodies come back to life in Christ. Death cannot claim any part of us forever. That gives us hope and that gives us joy, even in the most somber, solemn times.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, February 27, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
#28 Where Is God in All of This?
The men's Bible study in Kanawha just finished discussing the book of Esther. Esther is an unbelievably well-written book. The tension is real; the drama is intense; it seems no detail goes to waste. We found time after time where an event mirrored or reversed a previous event. (For example, Esther risks her life by going before King Xerxes without being summoned, while the previous queen was dismissed for not going before the king when she was summoned.) In short, Esther made for a very fun study.
Now the book of Esther is famous for never mentioning God. God's name never appears in the book, nor are there any references to worship or other religious practices. Instead, God's people are delivered through a series of events that unfold like coincidences. The events of the book of Esther take place while God's people are in exile, far from the land of Israel and the temple in Jerusalem, the symbol of God's presence with His people. So the people feel far from God's presence. God seems silent to them. And yet, the people are delivered. As best as we can tell, the book of Esther is written to show how God works on behalf of His people even when He seems absent. There doesn't seem to be any way the events of Esther could happen the way they do if God is not controlling circumstances and protecting His people. God is truly active, not absent.
The book of Esther is very relevant to our situation as God's people in the church today. God's people are scattered throughout the world. Many of us feel that God is not as active as He was in Bible times: we don't seem to see as many miracles being done, and we don't always hear God speaking so clearly when the Bible was finished nearly 2000 years ago. But Esther teaches us that God is still in control. God doesn't just leave things up to chance. He watches out for and delivers His people even when He seems absent or silent. We may be threatened; we may even suffer. But God will not let His people be destroyed. In fact, He will continue to make His church grow, and He will eventually completely defeat our enemies. Sometimes God may seem hard to find. But He never abandons us. He remains faithfully present with us and working in our midst. Always.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Now the book of Esther is famous for never mentioning God. God's name never appears in the book, nor are there any references to worship or other religious practices. Instead, God's people are delivered through a series of events that unfold like coincidences. The events of the book of Esther take place while God's people are in exile, far from the land of Israel and the temple in Jerusalem, the symbol of God's presence with His people. So the people feel far from God's presence. God seems silent to them. And yet, the people are delivered. As best as we can tell, the book of Esther is written to show how God works on behalf of His people even when He seems absent. There doesn't seem to be any way the events of Esther could happen the way they do if God is not controlling circumstances and protecting His people. God is truly active, not absent.
The book of Esther is very relevant to our situation as God's people in the church today. God's people are scattered throughout the world. Many of us feel that God is not as active as He was in Bible times: we don't seem to see as many miracles being done, and we don't always hear God speaking so clearly when the Bible was finished nearly 2000 years ago. But Esther teaches us that God is still in control. God doesn't just leave things up to chance. He watches out for and delivers His people even when He seems absent or silent. We may be threatened; we may even suffer. But God will not let His people be destroyed. In fact, He will continue to make His church grow, and He will eventually completely defeat our enemies. Sometimes God may seem hard to find. But He never abandons us. He remains faithfully present with us and working in our midst. Always.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, February 13, 2017
#27 Epiphany
Since Christmas I've been preaching on the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospel of Luke. This season after Christmas is called Epiphany in some traditions, and it focuses on how God and His purposes are revealed in Jesus the Christ. I started this sermon series because last summer I was inspired by reading one of N.T. Wright's books, How God Became King. In this book, Wright talks about how many Christians focus on the events of Jesus' death and resurrection when thinking about Jesus. While these events are certainly important--more space in the gospels is devoted to the week of Jesus' death and resurrection than any other period in His life--the majority of the space in the gospels is dedicated to Jesus' ministry before His death. Wright argues that if we unthinkingly follow the flow of the Apostles' Creed (Jesus "...was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried...) and sort of skip over Jesus' ministry, we risk misunderstanding Jesus, or at least understanding Him incompletely. It's true that Jesus' life built toward His death and resurrection. Certainly the forgiveness of sins was a central reason why Jesus came. But Jesus didn't go immediately from birth to death. The rest of His life wasn't just a waiting game. Jesus' life goes a long ways to revealing God and His purposes to us. We learn a lot about how God fulfills His promises to His people and about what God is continuing to do until Jesus' return.
I really started thinking after reading Wright's book. I can remember a lot of sermons about the meaning of Jesus' birth and death and resurrection. I remember hearing preaching on Old Testament stories and New Testament letters and even some of Jesus' teachings and parables. But I don't remember hearing a lot of sermons that talked about what Jesus did while here on earth. (Now it's possible that my memory simply has some gaps here.) So I've been trying to think and preach more about what Jesus did as He travelled through Galilee and Judea (and Samaria, though that hasn't come up in my sermons yet). It's been a lot of fun for me, mostly because Jesus is--forgive me if these seems a bit crude--just so cool. Jesus didn't go out of His way to get people to like Him; He was totally secure in His identity. Jesus challenged things that everybody believed, He broke social rules left and right, and He simply mesmerized many of the people who encountered Him. They'd never met anybody like this Jesus, and they often weren't sure what to make of Him. But Jesus just kept doing His thing: driving out demons, healing the sick, revolutionizing religious teaching, calling disciples, hanging out with outcasts and rejects. No matter what people may think of Christians and Christianity in our society, it's hard not to at least admire Jesus.
So let's bring this home. So what? If Jesus shows us more clearly than anything else who God is, then what do we learn about God from Jesus? Let me give just a couple examples. First, we learn that God cares about us. God's Son becomes fully human and lives as one of us. He hangs around ordinary people. He interacts with the least and the lowliest people and honors and respects them. Jesus embodies love and hospitality for every kind of person. Second, we see that God is fixing our broken world. Jesus brought God's kingdom, making God's reign more clear to us. He brought healing and restoration and hope almost everywhere He went. No power of evil or darkness or sin was even close to a match for Him. He freed people from suffering and oppression. Jesus' ministry gives us confidence that God will someday set everything right. What's more, Jesus shows what kind of people we should be and what kind of people we will be. The Bible says that God is conforming us to the image of His Son. He's making us like Jesus, making us into people who are loving and good and compassionate and courageous. Jesus calls us to follow His example and helps us to do it. So let's learn from Jesus and, with His help, go and do likewise.
Grace and peace,
BMH
I really started thinking after reading Wright's book. I can remember a lot of sermons about the meaning of Jesus' birth and death and resurrection. I remember hearing preaching on Old Testament stories and New Testament letters and even some of Jesus' teachings and parables. But I don't remember hearing a lot of sermons that talked about what Jesus did while here on earth. (Now it's possible that my memory simply has some gaps here.) So I've been trying to think and preach more about what Jesus did as He travelled through Galilee and Judea (and Samaria, though that hasn't come up in my sermons yet). It's been a lot of fun for me, mostly because Jesus is--forgive me if these seems a bit crude--just so cool. Jesus didn't go out of His way to get people to like Him; He was totally secure in His identity. Jesus challenged things that everybody believed, He broke social rules left and right, and He simply mesmerized many of the people who encountered Him. They'd never met anybody like this Jesus, and they often weren't sure what to make of Him. But Jesus just kept doing His thing: driving out demons, healing the sick, revolutionizing religious teaching, calling disciples, hanging out with outcasts and rejects. No matter what people may think of Christians and Christianity in our society, it's hard not to at least admire Jesus.
So let's bring this home. So what? If Jesus shows us more clearly than anything else who God is, then what do we learn about God from Jesus? Let me give just a couple examples. First, we learn that God cares about us. God's Son becomes fully human and lives as one of us. He hangs around ordinary people. He interacts with the least and the lowliest people and honors and respects them. Jesus embodies love and hospitality for every kind of person. Second, we see that God is fixing our broken world. Jesus brought God's kingdom, making God's reign more clear to us. He brought healing and restoration and hope almost everywhere He went. No power of evil or darkness or sin was even close to a match for Him. He freed people from suffering and oppression. Jesus' ministry gives us confidence that God will someday set everything right. What's more, Jesus shows what kind of people we should be and what kind of people we will be. The Bible says that God is conforming us to the image of His Son. He's making us like Jesus, making us into people who are loving and good and compassionate and courageous. Jesus calls us to follow His example and helps us to do it. So let's learn from Jesus and, with His help, go and do likewise.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, February 6, 2017
#26 Pitch Imperfect
I spend more time with Lanie than anybody but Tess. Lanie sleeps through a lot of our time together, which is fine. Sleeping Lanie is just as adorable as awake Lanie and cuddles up to me even better. But having Lanie awake and alert is even more fun. While she stares at me with her big blue eyes, I rock her back and forth and walk and dance around with her. I talk to her about things that are going on around us and tell her stories from my life. And, something that I didn't expect, I sing to Lanie. A lot. I'm not really sure where it comes from. I'm normally pretty self-conscious about my singing, but when I'm with Lanie, I break into song again and again. Sometimes I make things up on the spot; other times I take a familiar song like "Sweet Caroline" and reshape into something more baby-friendly, like "Sweet Baby Girl" (bum bum bummm!) I'm sure my singing is pretty terrible, but Lanie doesn't seem to mind. Maybe she thinks her daddy is hopelessly strange, and maybe she realizes that she just makes me happy.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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