“Worshipping Our God of Unconditional Love (Together, in a Variety of Ways)”

“God’s Self Is All We Need” – Zephaniah 3:14-20, Luke 3:7-18

The Hope, Peace and Joy candles are lit. Advent ties the preparation for the birth of Jesus, to the climax of redemptive history with the Second Coming of Jesus. This Third Sunday of Advent focuses on the Joy candle. My friend Dr. Steve Hayner defined joy this way, “Joy is not about my circumstances, but rather about being held and sustained by God’s love.”^[1] We participate in God’s limitless future rather than being bound by the limitations of present circumstances. Joy meets us in the exiles and threats of love.

Many people at this time of year feel exiled that is marginalized from others because of the downturns in their lives. Others won’t risk loving due to the threats of being hurt and the general brokenness of life. Do you know how loved you are? When Stephen Colbert, the host of CBS’s The Late Show, was 10 years old, his father and two of his brothers, were killed in a plane crash. Stephen was the only child still at home with his mother in the years that followed the tragic plane crash. In an interview with GQ, Colbert was asked how he dealt with the death of his Dad and two brothers without becoming angry and bitter. Colbert said, “I was raised in a Catholic tradition … That’s my context for my existence…to know God, love God, serve God…That makes a lot of sense to me. I got that from my mom. And my dad. And my siblings. I was left alone a lot after Dad and the boys died. … And it was just me and Mom for a long time. And by her example I am not bitter … She was … broken, yes. Bitter, no.”[2] Our Scripture readings today tell that story of transformation.

Zephaniah and Luke tell a story of how worshipping our God of unconditional love (Together, in a variety of ways) transforms us in the exiles and threats of love. Worship brings us face to face with God, the one who loves us the most and knows us the best. In Jesus Christ we become reconciled with our Creator and one another. Sandra Maria Van Opstal writes this about worship, “Hospitality and solidarity lead to mutuality. First, we say, ‘We welcome you.’ Then, ‘We stand with you.’ In mutuality we say, ‘We need you.’ Engaging in each other’s forms of worship, and worshipping together across differences, leads us to a deeper place of dependence.”[3] Each reading shows us how to live so that we are ready for Jesus to meet us in the warp and woof of life. The prophetic word of Zephaniah exhorts us to cling to God’s strength and salvation in the midst of condemning voices. In Luke, the preaching of John the Baptist helps us look to Jesus the one who gives us in word and deed the unconditional love of God. And both texts demonstrate that when we think all is lost in the exiles and threats to God’s unconditional love, God gives back God’s very self. When we cling to God, we experience unconditional love in a way that wipes away whatever is owning us at the time.[4]

Stephen Colbert allowed joy to transform his experience of tragedy. You can to. Joy lifts us out of exiles and threats that exercise “ownage” of us just like Mary’s knowledge of her pregnancy and the accompanying questions of how and why. Once she embraced God’s choice of her as the mother of the Messiah, society’s scorn no longer owned her although the exiles and threats continued throughout her life. Friends, we need Jesus to experience transformation and joy.

The joy promised by God is good news even though there are constant exiles and threats to love in our daily existences. Finding and experiencing joy in the midst of the exiles and threats of God’s love for you is possible. Homecoming is now, but not yet.

Be led into freedom. Make your supplications with thanksgiving and deep joy. Become the benediction. Keep being the church. Expect God’s reign of peace and justice. Manifest care and concern for others. This is the good news of Advent. Amen![5] 

This sermon was preached the Second Sunday of Advent on Sunday, 15 December 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas 

Copyright Ó 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Steve Hayner, former president of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, died of pancreatic cancer on January 31, 2015.

[2]Adapted from Joel Lovell’s article, “The Late, Great Stephen Colbert,” GQ (8-17-15).

[3]Sandra Maria Van Opstal The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2016), 71.

[4]Some ideas in this paragraph were influenced by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Alan Gregory, Kimberley L. Clayton, Cynthia M. Campbell, Theodore J. Wardlaw, Joel B. Green, and Willie James Jennings in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery and Cynthia L. Rigby, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 1 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 32-35, 35-36, 37-38, 39-40, 41-42, 43-45, 45-46.

[5]Ibid.

 

“Worshipping Our God of Unconditional Love (Together, in a Variety of Ways)”

“Hear the Urgency of the Message” – Malachi 3:1-3, Luke 3:1-6

Advent highlights the power of hope and peace.

A friend and mentor passed away on November 19^th. Tony Campolo changed my life  with his focus on Jesus’ commitment to justice and the “least of these.” Tony Campolo wrote a book titled The Kingdom of God is a Party. In chapter one, he tells the story of a trip to Honolulu in the mid 1980’s. Having crossed far too many time zones from Philadelphia to Hawaii, he found himself awake and needing breakfast at 3:30am local time. He ended up in a greasy, dive of a place ordering a donut and a coffee.

While consuming this wholesome breakfast, eight or nine prostitutes walked in. The place was small. Campolo was surrounded and like most of us decided the best thing to do was to get out of there. Then he overheard one of them say, “Tomorrow is my birthday; I’ll be 39.” Somebody else teared into her. “So?? Whadya want me to do about it?? Want me to throw you a party, bake you a cake, sing “happy birthday???” The first shot back, “Come on! Why do you have to be so mean? I’m just telling you; you don’t have to put me down. I’ve never had a birthday party my whole life.”

If you know Tony Campolo, you probably have an idea what happened next. He hung around until they all left, then asked the guy who ran the place if those people came in every night. “They do”, the owner replied. So Campolo asked if he could throw that one prostitute a big birthday party that next night. Tony and the chef got excited about the idea and made all the arrangements. Campolo decorated the diner, the chef baked a cake, and the word went out on the street.

This is how Campolo describes the scene: “By 3:15am every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. It was wall-to-wall prostitutes… and me! At 3:30am on the dot, the door of the diner swung open and in came Agnes and her friend. I have everybody ready (after all, I was kind of the M.C. of the affair) and when they came in, we all screamed, “Happy birthday!” Never have I seen a person so flabbergasted … so stunned … so shaken. Her mouth fell open. Her legs seemed to buckle a bit. Her friend grabbed her arm to steady her. As she was led to one of the stools along the counter, we all sang “Happy Birthday” to her. As we came to the end of our singing with “happy birthday dear Agnes, happy birthday to you,” her eyes moistened. Then, when the cake was carried out with all the candles on it, she lost it and just openly cried.” She couldn’t blow out the candles. She couldn’t cut the cake. In fact, she was so overwhelmed that she asked if she could just keep the cake for a little while. The gruff chef said, “It’s your cake. Go ahead.”

And so, Agnes picked the cake up and carried it home as if it were the most precious thing imaginable. The crowd was stunned into silence. Not knowing what else to do, Campolo said; “what do you say we pray?” And he did. Tony prayed for Agnes, for her salvation, for God to turn her life around. At the end, the chef turned to him with a trace of hostility in his voice and said, “You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?” Campolo replied, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30am in the morning.”[1]

Moving from an individualistic understanding and experience of God to one that places a higher value on the community experience of God requires a change of mind. San Francisco Theological Seminary Trustee, the Rev. Aimee Moiso writes, “The science of changing minds is complicated. We humans change our minds constantly — about what we want for dinner, whether to walk or drive, how much to spend. But we are also creatures of habit, and laziness can hold more sway than novelty. A deluge of facts will rarely shift our thinking, but a well-told story can transform our vision.”[2] The texts in Malachi and Luke tell a story of and speak to the change which can occur in the core of our being, because of God’s unconditional love for us and our love for God and others.

The community in Malachi’s day was facing a crisis centered on injustice. The immediate needs of shelter , food and safety faced the Jewish people. The 400-year period of the Jews from Malachi’s day to Jesus’ birth is known as the Deus absconditus, the absence of God. You see, it’s God’s love for us which motivates us to love that makes change possible and normal. During this 400 years the people of God felt abandoned. Abandonment became normalized, until the people realized that the coming Messiah would bring justice. Sandra Maria Van Opstal writes, “Normal is something that occurs naturally: a pattern for how things should be. Describing something as normal implies it is regular and natural not only for us but for the people around us as well. We use the word normal to describe not only what is but what should be natural for everyone. We are comforted by normal. We assimilate to normal. There is a lot of power in naming something as normative.”[3] And in Luke 3:1-6, John the Baptist begins to prepare the way of Jesus to bring justice as the birth narrative in chapters 1-2 indicates. The peace promised by God is good news even though there is a level of uneasiness in it. God loves us in and through change. But real change is a matter of core beliefs and actions, not appearances.[4]

Have you ever heard of this British product, “Spray-on-Mud?” Citing an article on the website guardian.co.uk in 2005,

Many products are designed to imitate the real thing. There is plastic decking that looks like real wood. Vinyl flooring that appears to be ceramic tile. What about a can of Spray-on Mud? Spray-on Mud is designed for use on the outside of your SUV. That way it appears you use your vehicle for more than taking the kids to soccer practice. Spray it on and friends might think you’ve just returned from a wilderness adventure. Sales of the product are going well, especially in London where the concept originated. “If they want an authentic look,” says inventor Colin Dowse, “There’s not a lot else they can do. There’s not a lot of mud in Chelsea.” Apparently, $15 a can seems a reasonable price for the appearance of authenticity.^[5]

So, I often experience in my own life and see in others, expressions of imitation Christianity: good wishes mistaken for prayer, success misconstrued as spiritual achievement, inspirational bumper stickers and symbols seen as evangelism, excellent music cover for authentic worship of the heart, humorous or emotional stories pass for inspired preaching, Christian clichés handed out as biblical wisdom and an attractive personality mistaken for a Spirit-filled life.[6]

Friends, we need Jesus, the one who embodies God’s love and shows us the way to love God and others. Change is real when we embrace love, not judgment. We worship God in the light of the real Jesus not a “Spray-on Jesus.” Again, Sandra Maria Van Opstal writes, “As long as our worship makes people feel excluded or in constant visitor status, we are not accomplishing the ministry of biblical hospitality.”[7] Who is this welcoming, inclusive, and loving Jesus? Well, it’s not the “Spray-on…”

Political Party Republican Jesus, who is against tax increases and activist judges, for family values and owning firearms or the Political Party Democrat Jesus, who is against Wall Street and Wal-Mart, for reducing our carbon footprint and printing money.

Revolutionary Jesus, who teaches us to rebel against the status quo, stick it to the man, and blame things on “the system.”

Good Example Jesus, who shows you how to help people, change the planet, and become a better you.^[8]

The welcoming, inclusive, and loving Jesus is…

the Son of the living God. God in the flesh; the one to establish God’s reign and rule; the one to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, freedom to the prisoners and proclaim Good News to the poor; the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

the Creator come to earth and the beginning of a New Creation.

the Christ predicted through the Prophets and prepared for through John the Baptist, not a reflection of the current mood or the projection of our own desires. He is our Lord and God.^[9]

Jesus is calling you by name. When you respond to God’s calling, it is good news for the world. You then represent what a human can look and behave like as envisioned in God’s desire. Believe in Jesus Christ. Repent. Change is possible. Really! This is the good news of Advent. There is hope and peace in Jesus. Just ask Agnes. Amen!

This sermon was preached the Second Sunday of Advent on Sunday, 08 December 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

                                                                                          Copyright 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Adapted from Tony Campolo, The Kingdom of God is a Party (Dallas, Texas: WORD Publishing, 1990), 1-9.

[2]Aimee Moiso, “Changing Minds” in Saving Love & Tender Mercy: Daily Devotions For Advent 2018 (San Anselmo, California: SFTS on Sunday, December 9, 2018).

[3]Sandra Maria Van Opstal The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World, 39.

[4]The two paragraphs of exegesis above are informed by the writing of Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Alan Gregory, Kimberly L. Clayton, Theodore J. Wardlaw, Joel B. Green, and Willie James Jennings in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery and Cynthia L. Rigby, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 1 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 17-19, 19-20, 21-22, 23-24, 25-27, 28-30, and 30-31.

[5]Taken from the PreachingToday.com website; Ian Sample, “Spray on Mud: The Ultimate Accessory for City 4×4 Drivers” (www.guardian.co.uk June 14, 2005).

[6]Ibid.

[7]Sandra Maria Van Opstal The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World, 63.

[8]Adapted from Kevin Young, “Who Do You Say That I Am?” from his DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed blog (posted June 10, 2009).

[9]Ibid.

Series: “Worshipping Our God of Unconditional Love (Together, in a Variety of Ways)”

“Swept Into the Vision of the Future” – Jeremiah 33:14-16, Luke 21:25-36

 

We are loved. And we are to love. We are wired this way by God.

We are created to worship the Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So, longing for love is intricately bound to worship. That’s right, we are encountered by the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of life every day, particularly in our worship. My preferences in worship can get in the way of God. That is, I like liturgy and a freer expression which the two forms of worship we have at Grace express. But I miss the us. Having two different congregational experiences of worship can create two congregations.

Worship brings us face to face with God, the One who loves us the most and knows us the best. Sandra Maria Van Opstal writes, “One of the greatest challenges of our generation is that people make choices based almost exclusively on preferences…They may not understand that worship in community is more about us than about me…Like many of our faith practices (preaching, Scripture study, prayer, and leadership), both biblical principles and cultural preferences are at play.”[1] Yet, we must view our times that we worship together with high value, a blending of the 9 and 11 practices to bless us all as we move into Grace’s new future as a congregation and individual congregants.

I long for love…love from God and others. I long to love…God and others. Let me tell you the story of how Brennan Manning met Jesus.

In 1955, Brennan had a dream. He was a sophomore at the University of Missouri. Brennan’s major was journalism. The New Yorker magazine was planning to employ him following his graduation. Then came the dream.

 

In the dream, Brennan was driving a Cadillac up a steep hill. At the crest of the hill was a fourteen-room ranch-style house with a panoramic view of the valley below. He saw his name on the mailbox. Parked in the driveway were a Lincoln and a Porsche. Barbara was inside the house baking bread and the voices of their four children were in the background. On the wall in the entryway to the house was the Nobel Prize for literature that he was awarded. Brennan awakened from the dream in a cold sweat, shouting, “O God, there’s got to be more!” He began a search for God.

 

Brennan broke off his engagement to Barbara. He announced to his family that he was entering the Franciscan seminary in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Not once in Brennan’s life had he ever uttered the name of Jesus. The seminary was anything but what he thought. The routine was predictable, and the tasks were demeaning, particularly dusting the parlor. One day while dusting, Brennan was staring at an eight-day Swiss clock atop the mantel, covered with a large glass bowl. Father Augustine walked in and asked Brennan what he was doing to which he replied, “I was wondering how much beer that glass bowl would hold.” Brennan knew he needed to leave the seminary. Would Barbara take him back?

Before he could leave, however, Brennan needed to meet with Father Augustine. Prior to that meeting, Brennan visited the fourteen “Stations of the Cross.” At the first station the prayer began with the phrase, “Jesus is condemned to death.” At the twelfth station, the prayer began with the words, “Jesus died on the cross.” He began to pray. After three hours in prayer, and very suddenly, Brennan heard Jesus call his name. For the first time in his life, Brennan felt unconditionally loved. From the depths of his being, Brennan realized that Jesus Christ died on the cross for him. His mind and heart were being called to a personal engagement with God. Brennan realized that there is only Jesus. He is everything.^[2]

 

It is true. There is only Jesus! Jesus is everything. It is in Jesus that our longing for love is met. Jeremiah pronounces a future that will come to pass and is already on its way. This “future that will come to pass and is already on its way (33:14-16)” is packaged in between “pronouncements of devastation and restoration set in Jeremiah’s time (33:1-13)” and “emphatic declarations that the Lord will bring about every promise of healing and restoration in an unspecified future (33:17-26).”[3] Luke picks up this theme of a new future. Jesus engages his disciples and the crowds about questions around the end times. That discussion demonstrates that the new future is happening as the disciples and crowds understand that living for Jesus now matters most not when the end of the world was to come. Fred Craddock writes, “The life of disciples, after all is said and done, is not one of speculation or of observation but of behavior and relationships.”[4] The future is now and we are to look to Jesus as the model for how we are to live. Jesus shows us what is right and just. In Jesus we will be saved. In Jesus, our longing for love and to love are met.

We all yearn to experience the unconditional love of God. Today is the official beginning of the Christmas season in the life of the church. It is called Advent. Advent is a time of hope which points people to the new beginning made possible for life in Jesus Christ. Advent serves as a dual reminder of the original expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the nativity of Jesus as well as the second coming of Christ. Advent ties the coming of the Christmas child to the climax of redemptive history with the Second Coming of this “Christmas child.” Oh, for such love as this does the human spirit yearn. Advent brings people together.

From the depths of his being, Brennan Manning realized that Jesus Christ died on the cross for him. His mind and heart were being called to a personal engagement with God. Brennan realized that there is only Jesus. He is everything. I hope you are wrestling with that reality even now. As followers of Jesus, we are sustained by God’s love in Christ. We can bank our hope on the Christmas child, because Jesus makes good on all his promises. Like Brennan Manning, Jesus is calling you by name. You are deeply loved by God. May your love for God increase. May your love for each other and others overflow. Amen!

 

This sermon was preached the First Sunday of Advent on Sunday, 01 December 2024, by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas.

Copyright Ó 2024, Steven M. Marsh, All rights reserved.

 

[1]Sandra Maria Van Opstal The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2016), 27.

[2]Adapted from Brennan Manning, Lion and Lamb (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Chosen Books, 1986), 28-34.

[3]Citations taken from L. Daniel Hawk in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery and Cynthia L. Rigby, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 1 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 2-3.

[4]Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), 248.

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are Integral For Unity Being One Race And One Blood”

“Pairing and Pressing” – 1 Samuel 1:4-20, Mark 13:1-8

Jesus says, “Beware that no one leads you astray.” Much to think about friends.

To whom do you look for guidance and wisdom in your life? To whom do you pair yourself and press forward?

Yesterday, I had a discussion with our son, Rob, about life. Rob is very successful. He is the youngest Associate Director at 34 years old with the Boston Consulting Group. Yes, Rob is up for promotion. We discussed career advancement, the salary, bonus structure, and medical care.

Rebecca and Rob’s daughter, Blake, was born in August 2023. God gifted Rebecca and Rob their beautiful daughter through invitro fertilization. Janet and are so grateful that they are in a state that would allow such a pregnancy. And they were able to harvest two other viable eggs. Rob is an amazing young man. Yes, he is wrestling with career advancement and his desire to be a responsible and loving dad to Blake and husband to Rebecca. At the end of our conversation, Rob called me wise. I wept.

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert in their book When Helping Hurts share the following story:

One Sunday I was visiting one of Africa’s largest slums, the massive Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. The conditions were simply inhumane. People lived in shacks constructed out of cardboard boxes. Foul smells gushed out of open ditches carrying human and animal excrement …. I thought to myself, This place is completely God-forsaken. Then to my amazement, right there among the dung, I heard the sound of a familiar hymn …. Every Sunday, thirty slum dwellers crammed into this ten-by-twenty foot “sanctuary” to worship [God]. The church was made out of cardboard boxes that had been opened up and stapled to studs. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a church made up of some of the poorest people on earth. I was immediately asked to preach the sermon. I quickly jotted down some notes and was looking forward to teaching this congregation [about the sovereignty of God]. But before the sermon began, I listened as some of the poorest people on the planet cried out to God: “Jehovah Jireh, please heal my son, as he is going blind.” “Merciful Lord, please protect me when I go home today, for my husband always beats me.” “Sovereign King, please provide my children with enough food today, as they are hungry.” As I listened to their heartfelt prayers, I thought about my ample salary, my life insurance policy, my health insurance policy, my two cars, my house, etc. I realized that I do not really trust in God’s sovereignty on a daily basis. What I have buffers me, shields me from most economic shocks. I realized that when these folks pray “Give us this day our daily bread” their minds don’t wander as mine so often does. I realized that these slum dwellers were trusting in God’s sovereignty just to get them through the day, and they had a far deeper intimacy with God than I probably will ever have in my entire life.[1]

 

Confrontation with the basic necessities of life brings the point home that our simple need for the basics is enough to compel gratitude for what we do have and a rejection of the complexities of life that consume our lives.

1 Samuel 1:4-20 addresses the joy of a life well lived with giving of oneself as the centerpiece. Each one of us carries the purpose and nature of God throughout life. Each encounter we have, every person we meet, gives us the opportunity, through our “giving,” to be or receive “…that mystical, hopeful, riveting, and terrifying catalyst that fuels the ongoing story of God.”[2] Hannah pursued understanding her barrenness. Her petition of God to give her a son never ceased. The circumstances of how our births and families of origin came about are as different and varied as each of our interests. Such is the case of Samuel. Hannah named her son, Samuel, from the root word “to ask.” God answered Hannah’s prayers Hannah’s prayer is much like Mary’s in that both are praying in confidence that God will end oppression and raise up the poor. Barrenness is a profound issue in Scripture. We cannot make a universal application to a miracle by God. Science has a lot to say.

In the Gospel of Mark, Mark provides a picture of the significance of our existence in the moment. Life as we know it will not remain forever. The things, institutions, and people that we cherish will not last forever. The end times have always been and so has our preoccupation with knowing when. The end of the kingdom of this world is inevitable and the new kingdom will come. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Things we think will last forever do not. I remember the Northridge Earthquake of 1994, September 11, 2001, and when the sky darkened, and a tornado devastated the community of Moore, Oklahoma in May 2013.[3]

Our life’s purpose is quite simple: to witness to the good news of the gospel, so people do not take hope in things that most certainly will be destroyed. Because of Jesus, all that we are and do in the home, retirement, office, school, neighborhood, church, and leisure, can be done with a sense of urgency in that it matters. Interactions with others can model God’s work of redemption. Our lives, the way we live in God’s purpose of loving God and others, is how we participate as best neighbors in God’s mission.

Daily living is not an end in itself, it is a means. Both God and human give of themselves for the sake of meaning to be experienced in life. As Christians, we see our lives as existing for the sake of others. Mike Slaughter in The Christian Wallet writes, “We form and grow relationships in the margins of our lives. It is also within those margins that we do acts of kindness or service toward others. Most critically, it is in the margins that we build our right relationship with God.”[4] Bearing one another’s burdens and taking responsibility for the day’s toil and cares is the call of being a follower of Jesus.

Radical dependence of the entire creation upon God is what is needed in the human experience today. Think about it. Life is a tangle of relationships. We all desire to receive comfort in our grief and to give comfort to the grieving. I concur with Richard J. Foster, the author of Freedom of Simplicity, “We have no independent existence, no self-sustaining ability. All we are and all we possess is derived.”[5] We must re-think and re-gift years of being conditioned to live for ourselves.

Enduring persistence in our dependence on God is a spiritual discipline. Pair yourself with God and others. Press forward with purpose. Experience the call of following Jesus. Amen.

This sermon was preached the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 17 November 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary

at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas 

Copyright Ó 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

[1]Adapted from Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts (Moody Press, 2012), 64-65.

[2]G. Malcolm Sinclair in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 4 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 295.

[3]In the two paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Patricia K. Tull, Jared E. Alcantara, Leigh Campbell Taylor, Oliver Larry Yarbrough, Pablo A. Jimenez, Gilberto A. Ruiz, and Theodore J. Wardlaw in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021), 439-442, 442-443, 444-446, 447-448, 449-450, 451-453, and 453-455.

[4]Mike Slaughter, The Christian Wallet (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016), 198.

[5]Richard J. Foster, Freedom of Simplicity (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1981), 16.

Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are Integral For Unity Being One Race And One Blood” – “Crushed and Waiting” : Job 38:1-7 and Mark 10:35-45

 

Grace Presbyterian Church aspires to make fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who are remembering, telling, and living the way of Jesus. Today’s Bible readings remind us that God enters our real-life circumstances and experiences. And some of those circumstances and experiences crush us and leave us waiting for rebuilding to begin.

Jesus teaches that living as a servant-leader is the key to a life that matters. And, how we live as a servant leader in those crushing and waiting circumstances and experiences is important. Let me tell you the story of Rudy:

Rudy is the true story of a young overachiever and his tenacious pursuit of his dream to attend the University of Notre Dame and play football for the Fighting Irish. However, the road leading to his goal was filled with obstacles. First, because he was small and had barely average speed, there was little chance he would be able to make the Irish’s football squad as a walk-on. Second, Rudy was dyslexic, and his high school grades had suffered as a consequence. It would be almost impossible for him to be accepted by the prestigious university in the first place. Refusing to give up, he took a Greyhound into South Bend and met Father Cavanaugh, a scholastic priest who agreed to get him into a semester of Holy Cross Junior College. If his grades were good enough there, perhaps Notre Dame might consider letting him in…. Rudy’s grades…. improved dramatically. But three semesters and three rejection letters later, he is devastated and hopeless. His next semester is his last chance, because Notre Dame never allows seniors to transfer. He…. managed his way to South Bend, labored in class, and even scraped up enough odd jobs so he can [could] eat. He has been diligent and worked every angle he knew. But it hasn’t been enough. Rudy finds himself in the chapel where he had first met Father Cavanaugh. And once again, he pours out his soul to the elderly priest. “Maybe I haven’t prayed enough,” Rudy says, almost frantic. Father Cavanaugh answers with kind, narrow eyes, “I’m sure that’s not the problem. Praying is something we do in our time. The answers come in God’s time.” Rudy isn’t satisfied. There has to be something else he can do. “Have I done everything I possibly can? Can you help me?” Father Cavanaugh’s answer is measured but sure. “Son, in 35 years of religious studies, I’ve come up with only two hard, incontrovertible facts: There is a God, and I’m not Him.”[1]

 

Rudy was pursuing something that mattered, playing football at Notre Dame. What mattered most, from Father Cavanaugh’s perspective, was Rudy to deepen his sense of belonging to God.

Succeeding and resting in the truth that you belong to God and know who you are in Christ matters most. In this regard, Bobby Schuller in Change Your Thoughts Change Your World writes, “Bonding is my greatest need. There are people in my life who love me and want to know me better.” [2] The Old Testament and Gospel Readings remind us that participating in God’s mission through service, building personal and intimate relationships with God and others, is how we grow as followers of Jesus.

Job 38:1-7

 

Job 38 demonstrates that we have no understanding of God knowing each one of us from the laying of the foundation of the world. Job has characterized God’s creative purpose as a design of darkness. Job lacks understanding. But he truly wants to know why this persecution is happening to him. Job has distorted God’s creative intent in his argument with God. Job 38:4 reads, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.”

Mark 10:35-45

 

Mark 10 exhorts the community of faith to be selfless and grasp the meaning of the prediction of Jesus’ death. Jesus knows what’s ahead for his ministry and life. He doesn’t fully understand but knows the outcome. There is a profound lesson for the disciples. It’s not about who sits on the left and right side of Jesus, but an invitation to enter the known and unknown of the path of Jesus. Disciples then and now must enter into that known and unknown path of being a follower of Jesus Christ. James and John behaved exactly how we do. Mark 10:43-44 reads, “…. but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[3]

Leaving everything, following Jesus, serving others, and being a slave to all would appear not to be a great marketing strategy. However, Jesus attracted twelve initial disciples and by the time of Pentecost thousands and thousands and thousands of new disciples were following Jesus with what appeared to be a flawed marketing plan.

James and John expected Jesus to do whatever asked of him, like who is the greatest and which one got to sit on the right or left side of Jesus. They wanted a special place in Jesus’ coming kingdom. They didn’t understand surrendering their wants in order to attain God’s. James and John struggled accepting the life God was giving them and wanted a life they were creating in their minds and hearts. They struggled with understanding the gospel, the good news, as a message of giving oneself up through service for the sake of others.

God does not abandon the faithful.[4] It’s not equal giving, but equal sacrifice. Leveraged giving spends your intellectual, emotional, spiritual, financial, physical, and time capital, sacrificially. Sacrificial and responsible giving makes the community stronger.

My friends, dependency on God combines God’s action and human action into experiencing the kingdom of God. Depend on God as you ponder your 2025 Pledge of Time and Treasure and a gift to replenish our cash reserves. Believe that dependence on God will lead you to obedient and sacrificial behavior in the volunteering and financial aspects of your Christian discipleship.

Grace Presbyterian Church exists to demonstrate and offer others a better way to live. Jesus says, “…whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave to all.” Leverage your giving by spending your intellectual, emotional, spiritual, financial, physical, and time capital, sacrificially, particularly in those crushing and waiting times. Amen.

 

This sermon was preached the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 20 October 2024

by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and  Sanctuary at

Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas

 

Copyright Ó 2024

Steven M. Marsh

All rights reserved.

 

[1]The source is the film Rudy (Tristar, 1993), directed by David Anspaugh. Found October 12, 2021, on preachingtoday.com.

[2]Bobby Schuller, Change Your Thoughts Change Your World (Nashville, Tennessee: Nelson Books, 2019), 191.

[3]In the four paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Brady Banks, Jennifer T. Kaalund, George R. Hunsberger, Alicia D. Myers, and Nontombi Naomi Tutu in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021), 389-394, 398-400, 400-401, 402-404, and 404-406.

[4]This insight is gleaned from Kathleen Bostrom in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 4 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 154.