Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone! I hope you get a chance to enjoy the holiday, as well as pause to give thanks to God for all those who are serving our country. This Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, which celebrates the birthday of the church (read Acts 2 for more information). Here is the sermon from Sunday; I hope it is a blessing to you!

SCRIPTURE

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

SERMON

Babel-ing On and On
Gen. 11:1-9
May 27, 2007

This is a special day in the life of the church. It’s the day of Pentecost, on which we celebrate the events in Acts 2, which mark the birthday of the church. It’s the day when God poured out his spirit on the disciples, just as Jesus promised he would, and those tongues of fire empowered them to go out and continue Christ’s work.

One of the interesting features of this passage is the effect the outpouring of the Spirit had on the disciples. Pentecost was a big Jewish holiday, so Jews from all over the world would have gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate. That is why you had folks Phrygia and Cappadocia and Pamphylia, each coming to Jerusalem speaking their regional dialect.

When God pours out his spirit, on of the things that happens is the disciples start speaking in foreign languages so that the visitors to Jerusalem could understand them. In a sense, God was uniting the diverse crowd through the use of a common tongue. God was speaking their language, so to speak.

To understand the significance of God’s uniting people through language, you have to first understand how God used language to drive them apart, and that is the story of the
tower of Babel

In the last few years I’ve taken up an interest in climbing Mount Everest. Now let me be clear here. I don’t want to climb Mount Everest. You could put a Krispy Kreme store at the top and that still wouldn’t be enough motivation. But I’ve been captivated by the folks who have climbed it, and I’ve read several books and watched movies about their experience. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to stand at the top of the world, at the closest point on earth to heaven.

That is part of what motivated the builders of the tower of Babel to do what they did. The Bible tells us that at this time there was one common language, and the people decided to settle down and build for themselves a city. As a part of doing that, they formed bricks and used tar, both of which were expensive luxuries and were signs that what they were building was of great importance.

What they are building is what we know as the tower of Babel, but what is better known as a ziggurat, which was a common structure for ancient pagan religions. A ziggurat was a pyramid-like structure that served as the religious center of a town, much like the Temple was in Jerusalem. It also was an identity symbol. When our family is driving home from Indiana, as we’re driving along the Skyway we look for the Sears Tower, because that tells us we’re close to home. A ziggurat would have functioned in the same way for a town.

But it had religious functions, as well. On the outside of the ziggurat would be a stairway that leads all the way to the top, and at the top there would be a room with a small bed. Now the ziggurat itself wasn’t a temple; the temple was built right next to the ziggurat. The belief was that the god would dwell in the little room at the top, and descend the stairway when folks were worshipping in the temple. You know how western towns on the frontier would build train stations in hopes that the train would stop there and bring economic benefit to the town? Ziggurat builders hoped for the same thing. If they built it, they hope the god would dwell there and bring them blessings.

So that was probably in the mind of the people who are building this tower. Now, it is often believed that God scattered these folks because of their pride and disobedience, but I’m not sure those are the biggest issues here. People point to the fact that the statement, “Come, let us make a name for ourselves,” sounds self-centered and prideful. It well may be, but I also think making a name for yourself can be an admirable goal. In the Old Testament times, names were very important and carried a lot of meaning. In fact, in the next chapter, God is going to tell Abraham, “I will make your name great.” Is it wrong to want to leave a legacy and have your name outlive you?

Other people say that the people were being disobedient because God had called them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,” and yet they didn’t want to be scattered. But the command is to multiply, which the people were obviously doing. It doesn’t matter whether you have 50 people in one town or 5 people in 10 towns, you still have the same number of people. Besides, God calls us to be in relationship with each other, right? So not scattering is not disobedience to God.

So if the people weren’t being prideful or disobedient, what was their sin? What causes God to intervene? I love how the author describes God’s action. The people are working and working to build this magnificent, towering structure that reaches to the heavens, and yet we’re told that God has to “come down” to see it.” “Aw, look at the cute little building. It’s so itsy-bitsy!”

As I see it, what spurs God to respond is not pride or disobedience, but the perspective the people had developed about God. It’s the idea that God can be bought. “If we build a big enough tower, God will live there and bless us.” The people had made two very wrong assumptions: first, that God has needs; and second, that humans can meet those needs.

In essence, what they were doing was thinking of God in human terms. By bringing God down to their level, they could manipulate and control God, bringing him out for display when he was needed and tucking him in his room when he wasn’t needed. Leigh and I watched the movie “The Queen” the other night, and I see a comparison here. The people wanted a God like a British monarch, someone who was good for show but had little power.

We are susceptible to the same sin. We often think that if we build a big enough tower, or give a big enough pledge, or serve enough people, then God will come down and visit us. We see that in the belief that churches with bigger sanctuaries or bigger budgets somehow have more access to God than others. But there’s not a direct correlation between our success and God’s blessings. Isn’t it true that we often experience God’s blessing the most when we are at our lowest point? Our connection to God is not made through tall towers or abundant budgets; it’s made through our hearts. The connection is forged on the inside, not the outside.

We also fall prey to the belief that we can control God and not the other way around. We love God because we need him, but we sometimes make the mistake of thinking the opposite is true as well, that God loves us because he needs us. We often forget that we worship a God who is “other,” a God to whom we simply cannot compare ourselves. Yes, he is the intimate, compassionate God we know through Christ, but he is also the powerful, majestic God who created this world and who rules the cosmos. God’s power cannot be harnessed or captured in some little room at the top of a tower, especially not for us to use only when we want. We may say to God, “Work your changes for me, but not in me,” but that is evidence of a distorted view of God.

So God, seeing what the tower represented, acts. Notice that he doesn’t destroy the tower. He knows that we would just build another one. Instead, he confuses the one common language of the people, which caused them to abandon their building plans. Building something together can be hard enough when you speak the same language; imagine what it would be like if everyone spoke a different language. And so, linguistic and cultural divisions are formed and begin to proliferate.

Which makes the day of Pentecost so important. Once again God came down, but for the purpose of uniting, not confusing. Through Jesus Christ, God has shown definitely what it means to be loved by him, and what it means to love one another. And when his spirit is poured out on the disciples, they become vessels of his command to make believers of all nations.

They do so because they do not try to control, but instead open themselves up to being led by God’s spirit. Instead of building towers they break boundaries. Instead of making a name for themselves, they boldly speak God’s name. As we celebrate the birthday of the church today, it might be good for us to stop and ask ourselves: Whose name are we promoting? Our own? Or the name above all names, the name of Jesus Christ? “God, work your changes in me, that I might glorify your name.”

 QUESTIONS

1- I took both French and Spanish in my freshman year of high school, but decided to stick with French because (confession time!) that class had the cuter girls. Did you ever learn to speak a foreign language? Which one?

2- What’s one thing you’ve done in your life that you believe will outlive you?

3- What’s one area in your life in which you could give up control to God?

 Have a great week!

Hi everyone! I pray you had a great weekend, and are ready for God to bless you this week. Here is Sunday’s sermon on the last words in the Bible. I pray that God continues to speak to you in the coming days.

SCRIPTURE – Revelation 21:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. ”Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ”I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

SERMON 

Come, Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:11-21
May 20, 2007

“Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Do you know what movie that line ends? Of course, it’s “Casablanca,” which Leigh and I watched for the first time just a few weeks ago. That’s one of the most memorable movie endings of all time.

Can you think of others? How about Orson Welles whispering, “Rosebud” at the end of “Citizen Cane.” Or “Silence of the Lambs,” in which Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, following a former nemesis of his, says, “I’m having an old friend for dinner.” I’m a big fan of the ending of “The Usual Suspects.” After the big twist is revealed, Keyser Soze says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that…he is gone.”

But my favorite movie ending is probably “The Shawshank Redemption.” The movie, which is based on a Stephen King book, tells the story of Andy DuFresne and his imprisonment for murder. While in prison he meets Red, played by Morgan Freeman. Andy and Red strike up a friendship, and Red helps Andy with his escape attempt. At the very end of the movie, Red gets released from prison, and goes in search of Andy, filled with the hope that what he has been promised will come true. His last line is, “I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”

Hope also plays a role in the ending of another favorite work of mine. If I were to ask you the very first words of the Bible, I bet a majority of you would know, “In the beginning.” But if I were to ask you how the Bible ends, would be able to come up with it? “Amen” is a pretty good guess. “I guess that’s it” wouldn’t be as close. How do you end a book like the Bible?

The predominant theme of the ending of the Bible is stated right before the last line. That theme is “Come, Lord Jesus!” The Bible ends with a request, a plea, for Jesus to come again and make the world right, to end all pain and suffering and usher in the kingdom of God. These verses we read today bring to a close the book of Revelation, which uses very symbolic and disturbing imagery to paint a picture of what the end times will be like. Last year our Tuesday Bible Study focused on the book of Revelation, and after spending seven months with it I’m not sure I understand it any better than when we started. But I do know that it ends with the desire for Christ to come again.

It’s only appropriate that the Bible ends talking about the second coming of Jesus, because people haven’t stopped talking about it since. Jesus says, “No one knows the hour when I will return,” but that hasn’t discouraged people from speculating and prognosticating and marking their calendars for Jesus’ return. Obviously no one has been right yet, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying. I read this week about a pastor in Korea who talked thousands of his flock into believing that Christ was coming again on Oct. 28, 1992. His congregation made all kinds of preparations, including selling their possessions and giving the money to the church. When Oct. 28 came and went, folks grew suspicious, and the pastor was arrested for bilking over $4 million dollars from his congregation. The kicker is that he had invested a lot of the money in bonds that didn’t mature until 1993!

I think part of the problem here is how much focus is put on the event instead of the process. What I mean by that is folks spend so much time talking about the second coming but don’t talk about what we have to do as Christians to get ready. A great example of this is the “Left Behind” book series, which tell the authors’ interpretation of the Rapture. The Rapture (a word not in the Bible, by the way) is the moment when all good believing Christians are swept up into Heaven by Jesus, leaving behind those unbelievers who must face a seven-year period of pain and suffering called the Tribulation. Leonard Sweet describes the Rapture as a Heavenly Hoover that sucks up believers into the Great Beyond.

The book series has been wildly popular and fueled lots of water-cooler talk about the Rapture and the Tribulation and a bunch of other end-time terms. Well, I’ve read Revelation, and it doesn’t lay out a blueprint for what’s going to happen. I wish it did. I wish I could give you a day and a time of the Rapture, and then a checklist of what you needed to do before it happened. “Walk old lady across street.” Check. “Offer prayer at Board meeting.” Check. “Put on clean underwear.” Check. OK, I’m ready!

I have to think that the amount of energy expended figuring out how things are going to end is out of whack compared to the amount of time scripture spends on it. If the Christian life is merely about getting to Heaven, why is the Bible so thick? If all that matters is how things end, why do we have 66 books about loving our neighbors and carrying our crosses and keeping commandments? Is that busy work until the Heavenly Hoover arrives? The Bible doesn’t end with “Come Lord Jesus” in order to give a time and date for Christ’s return. Instead, I believe it’s making a statement about preparation.

We don’t know when Christ is coming again. During biblical times, they thought it would literally be any day. In fact, Paul has to tell some of the folks in the Thessalonian church to get off their duffs and get back to work, because they had dropped everything they were doing, thinking Jesus was coming any day. Paul writes to them, “Now brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write you, for you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” In other words, Paul didn’t know when Jesus is coming, so what hope do we have?

We don’t know, which accentuates our call to a constant state of preparedness. We are called to live our lives in such a way that we are ready for Christ’s return, whether it’s tomorrow or next week or in 2000 more years. The end of Revelation is an exhortation to live in such a way that helps usher in God’s kingdom here on earth. As we strive to live lives of faith, to live out the words of these 66 books, we are preparing the way for the coming of Jesus into our world.

That means, as this passage says, we are to live like we are thirsty. Have you ever been really, really thirsty? Last year on our mission trip to New Orleans, I experienced real thirst. It was our first day on the worksite, and the temperature was easily in the mid-90s. We had on these Tyvek protective suits, respirators, work boots, hard hats, and plastic gloves. And about mid-afternoon, we ran out of water. We simply had not planned on drinking as much as we did. And we were thirsty. So our site supervisor and I made a frantic run to find water, while everyone else waited in the heat. We found some and brought it back to our crew. I was half-expecting to find little piles of dust where they had been standing. We filled everyone’s jug and we drank like camels.

You know that moment when your thirst is most intense, that moment right before the glass hits your lips and the water pours into your mouth, that moment when you are so close to drinking you can almost taste it, and yet you’re not quite there yet? That’s how we are called to live. We are called to live as if the Living Water of Jesus Christ is so close to us we can taste it, and yet we’re not quite there yet. We are called to live as if, at any moment, Christ might pour out his quenching spirit upon us. We don’t know when that will be, but we’re called to live as if it might be any moment. “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

So what does that look like? That’s all well and good to talk about here on Sunday morning, but what does it mean to live a life of preparedness, especially when our anticipation may be dulled by 2000 years of waiting? How do you be expectant of something that you are not sure will happen in your lifetime? I believe this passage gives us a clue as to how we can do that. At the very beginning of what we read, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” What this does is it establishes the authority of Jesus Christ as Lord. There was nothing before him and nothing after him. He is the A to Z in this world, and we should live as if he’s the A to Z in our lives.

That means we live as if he is Lord, as if Jesus presides at the head of all we do. When we come to communion each week, we talk about Christ as the host of the meal, the one presiding at the head of the table. A life of preparedness means Jesus presides as Lord at the communion table and the dinner table, and worship and work, during prayer time and during play time. If Christ is the beginning and the end, then nothing we do and nowhere we go is outside of his realm. He is Lord of all, or he is Lord of nothing.

It may feel a bit strange to talk about the end times and the rapture and such. I’ll admit that I’m not quite sure what it all means. But I do know this: I want to be prepared. I want to live as if Jesus is watching, when others are around and when no one is around. I want to live a life that testifies to the fact that the Lord of my life is Jesus, not money or work or possessions. I want to be ready. I want to live like Red, with hope that what I’ve been promised will come true.

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen, Come Lord Jesus!

QUESTIONS
1 – Do you have a favorite movie ending?

2 – What does it mean to you to be ready for the Second Coming?

3 – What’s one area of your life where you need to make Jesus the Lord?

Hello, everyone! I hope and pray that your week is off to a great start. I also pray that you experience God in new and exciting ways this week. Here is this past Sunday’s sermon. The Acts passage is an interesting commentary on freedom and captivity. I hope it is a blessing to you! 

Acts 16:16-34 – Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

Setting Us Free
Acts 16:16-34
May 13, 2007

You know the phrase “no good deed goes unpunished”? You stick your neck out for someone and you end up getting it chopped off. A man approached the gates to Heaven when St. Peter stopped him and said, “Hold on, buddy. You can’t just waltz in there. What have you done in your life that was good?”

The guy paused a second and said, “Well, in 1967, I rescued a puppy.”

“That’s not bad,” said St. Peter. “What else you got?”

“Well, in 1984, I worked in a soup kitchen.”

“That’s OK, I guess. Do you have anything truly spectacular?”

The guy thought a second and said, “Well, one time this group of skinhead bikers started harassing my mom, so I went up to the leader, kicked over the his bike, slapped him in the face, and yanked out his earring.”

“Wow!” said St. Peter. “And when did this happen?”

The guy said, “About 2 minutes ago.”

No good deed goes unpunished. Paul and Silas must have been thinking that in our passage today. You try to do something nice for someone, and all you get for your effort is trouble.

Paul and Silas were in Philippi sharing the gospel and converting believers. They had just converted a lady named Lydia, an affluent lady in the area, and as they were heading to the synagogue, the meet someone on the other end of the social scale: a slave girl with the gift of clairvoyance, who earned money for her masters by telling the future.

The girl starts following Paul and his group, bouncing around them like an eager puppy, announcing, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved!” Now at first, you might think this was a good thing. It was like having your power personal billboard following you around. Who needs an agent or a marketing person when you’ve got this kind of publicity?

But there are two problems with this scenario. First, the phrase “most high God” was often used to describe the Greek god Zeus, so the girl may not have been inaccurately representing Paul’s mission. And second, the text tells us she followed them around for many days. Now, I’m sure for the first hour of this Paul and his troops were appreciative. I’m sure in the second hour they were cordial. And I bet in the third hour they were even tolerant. But after two days of this, they get fed up. An eager puppy is cute at first, but after awhile just gets annoying.

So Paul, who was greatly troubled by this attention, exorcises the spirit from the slave girl, freeing her from the demon’s bondage. Time to celebrate and throw a party, right? Not for her owners. They realize that their cash cow has been milked for the last time. No evil spirit, no fortune-telling, no money. So they have Paul and Silas arrested. Geez, you try to do something nice for someone…

Paul’s mistake in this situation was he tried to mixed religion with economics. I’m sure the girl’s owners have nothing against religion, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their business venture. But if saving someone’s life hurts profits, then watch out! So Paul and his gang are arrested and brought before the public court. The Philippi Chamber of Commerce knows where its bread is buttered, so instead of rejoicing at this girl’s healing, they have Paul and Silas stripped, beaten, and thrown into jail.

This was nothing new for Paul. He was used to such treatment. For us today, we can’t imagine being jailed for our beliefs. But for Paul, it was commonplace, part of the territory. So what does he do while he whittles away the hours in his cell? Does he pump iron or make license plates? No. He sings hymns. Even in the darkest of hours, he found solace in sacred song.

Apparently, either Paul had a great singing voice, or the hymns he was singing were especially meaningful, because the other prisoners starting listening to him. How could this man, body beaten and feet shackled, be singing? Knowing Paul, he wasn’t singing “Woe is me” songs. He was singing “Shine Jesus Shine” and “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.” In our darkest hour, when we are held captive by fear, can we still sing?

So Paul and Silas are harmonizing together on “How Great Thou Art” when there’s a great earthquake. Now, this was no ordinary tremor; notice that the earthquake causes the doors of the jail to open and the chains to come loose, but no walls fall down. This was a purpose-driven earthquake. This was an earthquake with a mission statement. Do you get the sense that God might be at work here?

It was thought in ancient times that earthquakes were divine interventions into the human realm, which may explain the jailer’s reaction. We haven’t heard much about him to this point. We know he’s the one who threw Paul and Silas in their cell and fastened their chains. We know he works for Rome. But we also can speculate that when Paul and Silas were singing their hymns, he was listening in, as well, maybe even humming along.

When he sees all the cell doors open, he concludes the worst: all the prisoners are gone. His decision to take his own life was the only noble thing to do for dereliction of duty, because if he didn’t kill himself, his bosses would certainly take care of it for him. So imagine the humor of the scene when, just as the jailer is about to throw himself on his sword, he hears a voice coming from the cell: “Wait! Hold on! We’re all still here!”

The jailer rushes in to find his prisoners still imprisoned, and he realizes there’s a greater force at work here than the Roman Empire. So he asks them to do what the Roman gods couldn’t do: he asks them to save him. They preach to him, and immediately he takes them home, washing their wounds (that he probably helped inflict), and the Roman jailer and his family are baptized as Christians.

There is an amazing interplay taking place in this story between freedom and captivity. When you read this story through for the first time, who is captive and who is free? Well, the slave girl is a captive, and certainly Paul and Silas become captives. The girl’s owners and the decision-makers of Philippi are free, as is the jailer who watches over and is eventually converted by Paul and Silas. It’s pretty clear-cut who is captive and who is free, right?

But freedom can be deceiving. What looks free can actually be anything but. On this Mother’s Day, think back to all the things are moms have done for us that we took for granted. When food showed up on the table, we thought it was free. When clean clothes showed up in our dresser, we didn’t give a second thought to what it took to get them there. We thought it was free. Did we think about the price our moms paid for our safety and well-being? Of course not.

Which leads me to wonder: Is anything really free? You could argue that we are, here in
America. We live in a great country that has fought blood-stained battles to ensure that we are free. But are we really free? Surrounded by burglar alarms and overflowing medicine cabinets and our own fears spurred on by the nightly news. Our kids can’t play outside without supervision, we can’t fly on a plane without passing through a security check, we are vulnerable to all sorts of addictions and vices. Is that really freedom?

We’re free all right – free to work 7-day work weeks and follow overcrowded schedules, free to sink deeper into debt, free to stuff our bodies full of artery-clogging foods. When we’re young we can’t wait to get out from under our parents’ oppressive reign and be on our own, to be free, and then the rent comes due and the car breaks down. Is this freedom? Are we really free? Or are we held captive?

The freedom we seek is often more illusion than reality. The slave girl’s owners thought they were free, but they were held captive by their desire to make money. The jailer thought he was free, but he was held captive by his job and his fear of his boss. And those that we thought were captives in this story end up being the most free. The slave girl is released from her possession, and Paul and Silas are released from prison.

The freedom we think we know isn’t the kind of freedom we really seek – or need. That is not to downplay the sacrifices made so that our country could be free. No one is more aware and more appreciative of that than me. But true freedom doesn’t come from a government or a war; it comes from knowing Christ, who says in John 8, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

Freedom comes from knowing the truth, and that truth is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and for me. The jailer thought he knew freedom, but it wasn’t until he heard the gospel that he was truly free. And that truth can penetrate even the darkest of cells. No prison – not grief, not addiction, not anxiety – is too dark for God’s liberating power. God’s truth cannot be shackled, and its power is at our disposal if we believe.

What holds you captive? What causes the lump in your throat and the beads of sweat on your forehead? What keeps you from singing? Ask God for an earthquake. Ask God to help set you free, to release the shackles. From your vantage point right now, from the bars on your window, you may think that’s impossible. But if God can rattle the cages of a Roman prison, if God can convert a hardened jailer, if God can send his son to die on a cross and then bring him back to life, do you think God can help you out of your prison? “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set your free.”

QUESTIONS

1 – If you could know one thing about the future, what would it be?

2 – A writer once wrote, “Freedom from is freedom for.” If Christ has set us from from sin and death, what has he set us free for?

3 – What does this story say to you about how to handle difficult times?

Yesterday is worship we had our first Contemporary Hymn Sing, in which we sang some of the newer praise and worship music that’s becoming more and more a part of church culture. For some, the songs were familiar; for others, they learned to “sing a new song to the Lord.” And for everyone, there was mass celebration that there wasn’t a sermon! So I’m sharing with you an oldie but a goodie and the power of singing, preached on the Sunday we got new hymnals for our sanctuary. I pray God blesses you this week! 

“Singing our Faith”
Kory Wilcoxson

This really is a special Sunday in the life of the church. Music plays such an important part in our worship, and we have been treated to such a awesome example of that this morning. Hopefully new hymnals will make our singing together even more meaningful for us into the future.

One of the great features of the Chalice Hymnals is its variety of songs. Did you know there is even a section of Senior Citizen’s Hymns? There are! In fact, here are some of the songs in that section:

– Precious Lord, Take My Hand, and Help Me Up
– It Is Well with My Soul, but My Knees Hurt
– The Old Rugged Face
– Amazing Grace, Considering My Age
– Just a Slower Walk with Thee
– Go Tell It on the Mountain, but Speak Up!
– Blessed Insurance
– Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, I’ve Forgotten Where I Parked

Chances are, for many of us our earliest memories of worship have a musical soundtrack. The majestic pipe organ, the simple and beautiful piano, the robust choir, the woman sitting behind you who sang off-key. You may not remember any points from any sermons you heard growing up, but you can remember singing “How Great Thou Art” or “The Old Rugged Cross.” And when you sang them, you felt as if you were a part of the congregation, a part of the people of God.

Music has that kind of power. It can bring us all to the same level, so that old and young alike can join their voices to sing of their wonder and longings, their anguish and hope, their love, their lament, and their commitment to Christ. Music can conjure up old memories or point us toward the future. Regardless of our status outside the church, regardless of our theological beliefs, regardless of the amount on our pledge card, when we sing together, we truly feel as if we are one in the Spirit.

Music also helps us bridge the gap between our words and our God. We can say through music what we cannot through mere speech. Imagine the glorious strains of “Jesus Christ Has Risen Today” on a bright Easter morning. Or the sobering imagery of “Were You There When They Crucified my Lord?” Or the warm comfort of “Blessed Assurance.” Those tunes, those lyrics, allow us to speak from places in our heart that regular speech cannot penetrate. Music opens up an expressive part of us that allows us to connect with God on a different level than a sermon or prayer does. When there is absolutely no way to say what we feel, there is usually a song that can.

Music is also a big part of our theological and spiritual formation. For example, we may not be able to articulate our theology of God’s redemption of humanity through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but we can sing “Amazing Grace.” Or we may be at a loss for words when asked to devise an ecological perspective of the soveriegnty of God, but we can sing “For the Beauty of the Earth.” For many of us, the hymns we sing in worship have as much influence on our beliefs as the words we hear. Music sets the tone of the service, welcomes us in, joins us together, and sends us out.

Music not only joins us together as a congregation, but as a true body of Christ. When we sing “Holy Holy Holy” or “Fairest Lord Jesus” or “Do Lord,” we aren’t just joining our voices together here in this sanctuary, but we are uniting with voices across the world and through the ages. Music has the ability to transcend boundaries of time and space, to bring together distant cultures and eras. When we sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” we are singing the same hymn sung by the followers of Martin Luther in the 1500s. Some of our hymns and tunes date back to the centuries immediately following the life of Christ.

Music not only condenses time, but space as well. Our denominational hymn book, the Chalice Hymnal, was put together with the intent to reflect the diversity of God’s people. So when we sing “Somos Uno En Christo” or the African-American spiritual “Kum Ba Yah” or the Jamaican-flavored “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ” or the South African “Siyahamba” we are opening ourselves to that culture’s language of praise and expanding our own family album of the children of God.

Now, as much as I like music, and as much as the music of worship moves me, I have to admit that for a long time, I was afraid to sing in church. I didn’t like my voice, and was afraid that others around me would be adversely affected by my off-key warbling. You all push on in spite of it very well. So instead of singing my faith, I learned the art of lip-syncing, thinking God didn’t care whether I sang or not.

And then I met Gary.

I was a member of a congregation I served a few years ago. Gary and his family were faithful worshippers, and had their accustomed spot in the pews. It was always interesting to note that people went out of their way to avoid sitting in the two or three rows in front of Gary and his family on Sunday morning.

You see, Gary, who was in his 50s, was mentally disabled, and had the mental capacity of a six- or seven-year-old. He also had one of the worst singing voices I’ve ever heard. His singing was slurred, monotone, and never anywhere close to the right key. And he didn’t have the social development to recognize his lack of singing ability. So he just sang loud. Very loud.

One Sunday, without thinking, I sat down in front of Gary. As soon as opening hymn started, I realized my mistake. I steeled myself for a service full of Gary’s singing, settling into a spirit of annoyance instead of thanksgiving. I was irritated that my worship experience was going to be ruined by Gary’s singing.

And then God hit me upside the head with this question: who has the bigger handicap here? Gary, who’s singing my praises in full voice, or you? I realized what an asset Gary was to our worship, what a gift his voice was to our singing. Because Gary was singing not from his mouth or his vocal chords, but from his heart, and every word he sang was a word of sincere praise and thanksgiving. In his child-like innocence, Gary didn’t care what he sounded like or what others thought of him. He only cared to let God know of his love and thankfulness in full voice. He was doing as Ps. 98 commanded him, making a joyful noise to the Lord. After the service, I thanked Gary for his singing.

And I say today, “Sing, Gary! Sing loud enough for everyone to hear, let your voice carry to the heavens!” And I say to everyone who thinks they can’t sing, that if God gave you voice, you can sing! Don Saliers, a professor of theology and liturgy, says “there is something about humans that needs to make music.” That’s a God-given gift, and one in which we can find true enjoyment by using it to praise and worship our God. You all do a magnificent job of praising God through song. I love our singing together. God doesn’t care what key it’s in or how many beats you skip. Ps. 5 says, “Let all who take refuge in God rejoice; let them ever sing for joy.” Isn’t that all of us? The joy of music does not come from singing well; it comes from singing sincerely.

I’ll close this morning with Psalm 150, because it says this better than anything I can say. “Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise God in his mighty firmament! Praise God for his mighty deeds; praise God according to his surpassing greatness! Praise God with trumpet sound; praise God with lute and harp! Praise God with tambourine and dance; praise God with strings and pipe! Praise God with clanging cymbals; praise God with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

QUESTION

Here’s an easy one (or maybe not!): If you had to choose, what are your three favorite hymns to sing? I’ll start. Mine are “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “Here I Am, Lord,” and “One Bread, One Body.”