Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Theva's sermon "Difficult Decisions"



Difficult Decisions!
Psalm 44, Luke 12:49-56.
Prayer: Grant us O God a word for the living of this hour and give us a sense of unwavering awareness, that we are sons and daughters of a living God. Amen!
Dear Friends,
           Grace and peace are already yours for you belong to the family of Jesus the Christ.  Some of you may think that I am a little crazy to speak on this text today.  I know that Pastor Margret Scott has worked hard for almost three decades here to build up this congregation to its present stature. And how foolish it is on my part to invite you today saying: If you want to hate your mother come to Fairport UMC. If you want to bid good bye to your Dad come and be part of this church. Only If you  get rid of your possessions and give it to the poor, then you can join this church. Friends you may say, following Jesus and being part of a church are two different things. But as for me the main reason why I invite people to come to the fellowship of a church is to help them follow passionately the person Jesus the Christ. We have some tough words from Jesus for today. I CAME TO CAST FIRE UPON THIS EARTH.  Jesus asks: Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? And then he says “No” I have come to bring division.  I have come not to bring peace but a sword. The New Testament scholars now tell us that this kind of expressions Jesus used was so common in those days among people of north Asian culture.  I want us to reflect today on the images of “fire, sword, divisions and decision”.
        The power point picture about unity in diversity is a reminder that 50 years ago on this month Dr. Martin Luther King made that famous I HAVA A DREAM speech.it was an invitation for all people of this country to live in unity and harmony and preserve the right of every community. However even after 50 years the race relation in America is still an unfinished business. When Jesus says I have come to bring a sword and not peace he invites us to continue the civil right struggle initiated by persons like Dr. King, Gandhi, Bonheoffer and Mandala and excel in the work areas of non-violence, dismantling bigotry and establishing just peace. People like Dr. King Gandhi and Bonheoffer were assassinated and killed and Nelson Mandala was imprisoned for 27 years because in the spirit of justice they brought a great division among people. In their thirst for justice they set fire on earth. Whenever you upset a complacent society which thrives in falsehood and enjoys pretense you are in for trouble. In the name of justice and in the name of truth when you challenge a system of deceit and foul play you bring divisions in community. You set fire on earth. You carry a sword in your hand and that is part of today’s message. Sword and fire can also be used for constructive purposes of peace keeping, security, cooking, heating and purifying. The emblem of the United Methodist church is a cross and a flame, the same flame of the burning bush in which Moses heard the call to deliver God’s people from the tyranny of the Egyptians. How about that flame that fell from somewhere on that day of Pentecost as tongs of fire? Aren’t we still empowered and rejuvenated by that flame today. We have a hymn in our hymnal {2237} “As a fire is meant for burning with a bright and warming flame so the church is meant for mission, giving glory to God’s name. Not to preach our creeds or customs, but to build a bridge of care. We join hands across the nations finding neighbors everywhere”.
      The second picture of the power point is a statue across the UN building given as a gift by Soviet Union in 1947 when the building was first built. It is a man hammering a sword into the shape of the ploughshare. It is an image from Isaiah 2.When the world was tired over the two major wars World War 1 and World War 11, this statue reminded all people that we shall not wage war any more. There shall be war no more.       
      Now back to the text again. Jesus in today’s gospel appears to be a trouble maker and a rubble rouser. Brien Wren, a great hymn writer in recent times describes my point more radically and poignantly with his creed. We believe in God, maker of rainbows, spinner of chaos, and weaver of stories and dare devil gambler. We believe in Jesus Christ Rabbi of the poor, carpenter of new creation. We believe in the Holy Spirit, nudging discomforter, midwife of changes. We believe in the church as that group of people who have chosen to believe these outrageous, offensive and wonderful truths. How do you see Jesus after all these years of learning about his life? Do you really think it is glamorous to follow this Jesus today?
       Friends having worked tirelessly for many years on the building up of the institutionalized church, I now realize that it is more important to get a clear handle on the person of Jesus the Christ. A story told of a Sunday school class decided to play church one morning. They assigned roles to different children. Some were ushers and some were greeters and some in the choir and one was an organist and one was a reader and one was a liturgist and one was a preacher. And after a while when they got tired of the game one child suggested let’s play another game. And the teacher asked what do you want to play next? Someone said Let us play Jesus .And that was new game for the group and the children asked to explain the game and the boy said “We will ask someone in the class to play Jesus and we will try and be mean to him. Call, names strike him, spit at him, tie him to a tree and pretend to crucify him. That took a bit of the glow off the honor of playing Jesus. However the children went on with the game. After several minutes of absorbing the cruelty of other children the boy playing the part of Jesus called a halt to the game and uttered a profound statement: LET US NOT PLAY JESUS ANY MORE.LET US GO BACK TO PLAYING CHURCH. Friends! Sometimes playing church is easy but playing Jesus is tough. I am asking you to go beyond emulating Jesus. Can we live even a little bit like him?
          Do you remember that on one occasion a prospective follower of Jesus said Master let me first go and bury my father and then come and follow you? According to the Jewish custom it was the son’s duty to do this however the revolutionary Jesus said leave the dead to bury the dead and you come and follow me. The new teaching of Jesus does bring divisions in family? One had to put his or her life on the line, if they followed Jesus. Why? Because the Romans had their surveillance cameras focused on the followers of Jesus. Those who followed Jesus were marked as traitors of the Roman emperor. Following Jesus was a life and death choice. Thank God today we don’t have to literally die if you follow Jesus. Remember it does happen even today in some countries.
        Are we ready to follow Jesus? This final story is about a character called Narsudin and I have taken this from the ancient Persian stories of the of the 10th century C.E. One day Narsudin decided to play violin and so he went in search of a violin teacher. On finding the teacher Narsudin and the teacher agreed on the lesson plan and when Narsudin asked for the cost for the lessons, the teacher said, it will be ten gold pieces for the first month and thereafter one gold piece for each month. Excellent said Narsudin. I will begin with the second month. Another version says I will be back in a month’s time. Are we waiting to make decisions when the cost is less and the burden is light? Amen!

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