Begin the Begats: Cracks in the Family Tree

Begin the Begats: Cracks in the Family Tree

An Advent Sermon by Brent J. Eelman

First Presbyterian Church, Clarks Summit

December 9, 2018

Matthew 1: 1-17

An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

There is a writer’s rule that the first chapter of a book is the most important. If that opening chapter does not "hook" the reader, he or she will probably not read the rest of the book. But Matthew did not follow this rule. He began his gospel with the dullest recitation in the New Testament.  When I was growing up we used the KJV Bible in Sunday School.  We called this chapter of Matthew, the "begats".  (Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah….)  Matthew, to paraphrase a jazz standard, begins with the begats!  Matthew’s story of the incarnation, indeed Christmas, is rooted in the generations and history.  There are 42 generations in that family tree, and it goes through King David to Abraham.

After reading all these names, a number of questions come to mind:

·      "So what?"

·      Why did he begin with this? What was so important about 42 generations and 45 historic names?

·      Why didn’t he begin with Mary and Joseph, the manger, and Herod?

·      Isn’t that where Christmas begins?

·      Isn’t that where the promise of this holiday, the promise of this season is found?

·      What is so important about a family tree?

These are the questions I want to look at today.   I have 3 points: 

First, Jesus’ family tree contains cracks and skeletons. Second, Jesus’ genealogy contains a message of hope. Third, Jesus’ genealogy proclaims the value of each of us in God’s eyes and in God’s history.

I

There are cracks in that family tree of Jesus.  The “Holy Family”, Jesus’ ancestors were not wonderfully pure.  Matthew must have been aware of this as he wrote their names. Why did he include them?

Ironically, there was another king who lived at about the same time. His name was Herod. He too had a family tree or genealogy. But he went to great pains to hide it. He did not want people to know that there were some very ordinary people in his pedigree. So his family tree was hidden and his genealogical records destroyed.  The Christmas story, the incarnation in Matthew’s gospel is a fascinating contrast of two kings and two kingdoms: Herod and his kingdom, Jesus, and the Kingdom of God. 

In stark contrast, Matthew prints Jesus’ genealogy for all to read.  Those who read it carefully discover some amazing things about this man Jesus. First, Jewish genealogies rarely, if ever, contained the names of women. In those historic circumstances the role of women was not seen as important, yet there are four women named in Jesus’ genealogy, proclaiming to that ancient culture that these women had a vital role in God’s history of redemption… and it says to us today that women have a vital role in our history and our society.

But the inclusion of women was not the only anomaly.  In that list of ancestors are also foreigners. Three of the four women named were not of Hebrew birth.  They were outsiders!  Neither male, nor Jewish!  

We might overlook that today, but when Matthew wrote his gospel, Jewish consciousness and pride was at an all time high. Being an occupied land, foreigners were not appreciated and were not regarded as "God’s people"…. And yet there, in prominent relief are the names of foreigners… Ancestors of Jesus. Why?

This would be something that one might wish to hide. It suggested that Jesus was not ethnically pure. …. But it also suggests… no, it proclaims, that all nations are God’s people. It declares, that Jesus came as a savior for all people, and that "his people" were not merely the people of the covenant, (the Hebrew people), but also those who were excluded from the covenant and believed to be apart from God.

And then, there are a few of the individual names in that family tree. The Bible contains some of the stories of these individuals, and those stories are troubling. They are the scandals that "talk shows" might exploit today.

·      First there is Tamar. How did she make her contribution to Jesus’ ancestry? She dressed like a prostitute and seduced her father in law.  But she did this to continue the family line.  Her “sin” was crucial to the continuation of Jesus’ lineage! 

·      Rahab, another name in that family tree, actually made her living as a prostitute.

·      And then David, who figure prominently in this ancestry, is linked to Jesus through the adulterous relationship that he had with "Uriah’s wife": (Matthew can’t bring himself to name her!) Bathsheba.

               

Matthew did not gild his gospel. He told the truth about this man Jesus, and that truth said something very powerful about God and reality. The truth is that Jesus was a human being, and when one examined his pedigree, one would discover some pretty seamy stories, and people of questionable reputation and character.

Ironically this same truth is the cornerstone of our world’s hope.

II

Hope; it is the primary theme in Advent. The hope of the gospel is wonderfully realistic.

·      It is a hope that declares all people, regardless of reputation or history, are part of God’s wonderful plan of redemption.

·      It is a hope that declares that the principle or the law that God operates on is the law of love and grace.

·      It is a hope that declares that those individuals, who are regarded as impure, scandalous, or beyond redemption, are God’s people and that Jesus is their savior.

Listen carefully: Matthew has done a marvelous thing in this genealogy. This is a royal genealogy, and the blood that flows through the people of this family tree is royal blood.  But this genealogy does not end with Jesus.  It extends to throughout history to this very day.  Matthew has declared, unequivocally, that in Jesus Christ, all of us are part of Christ’s royal family. All of us are loved by God and worthy of love and respect from others.  By grace, we have been grafted into the family tree of the Messiah! That is the nature of the hope that we declare in this season of Advent.

III

We live in a society that pays a lot of attention to pedigree, much more than we should. Most often this is seen in the pedigree of animals, particularly dogs.  In the course of our married life, Karen and I have owned 4 dogs.  The first 3 were pedigreed and pure bred and we loved them dearly.  Two months ago we brought a “rescue dog” into our home.  No papers, no recognition, no pedigree… a mongrel.  (let me add the irony of this… we adopted a rescue dog who was a day away from being euthanized…. But I am coming to realize that he, (Benson) lovingly adopted us and in his own quirky way, rescued us from a dulling routine.

A while ago, I read about a woman in Scotland who was quite distressed about the treatment of "mongrel" dogs. It seems that they were not as valued, nor treated as well by authorities and shelters, as registered dogs. So she invented her own breed, and invited anyone to register his or her mongrel dog as part of this breed. You are only required to make a donation to your church and promise to provide a loving home for the dog. 

Dog stories are always touching and they go to the heart of the great act of hope that occurred in the birth of Jesus.

·      God has taken the mongrels of this world… and has declared us royalty.

·      God has declared that the kings and queens of this world are born not in palaces but in stables.

·      God has declared that hope can be found in 42 generations that contain scandal, skeletons, and cracks.  

The hope that is declared in this Advent season is that all people are God’s own and deserve to be treated as royalty.  

It is also a message of hope to this age about the future. It is easy to fall into despair about the way things are. The newspapers, the news, our lives are filled with stories that feed the sense of hopelessness that we have about the future. It is a message that in God’s history, scandal, pain, outcasts, aliens, and foreigners all play a part and contribute to salvation.

But there is a very special message of hope that comes to us individually. There are times when we wonder, "What is the use?" There are times when we feel worthless. There are times when we feel as though we are nobody and unimportant. Often it is related to circumstances in our lives: the breakup of a relationship, the loss of a job, the death of loved one. At times it is related to something that we did, something that might have been wrong, something that might have hurt someone, indeed, our own skeletons.

The advent of Jesus is a gracious message of hope to us during those moments. Jesus, born of royal blood, was a descendent of those who felt worthless, those who were nobodies, foreigners and scandalmongers. Matthew has declared clearly and with authority that the family tree of Jesus…. The royal family tree includes you and me.

There are cracks in that tree…. But those cracks are the ones through which hope flows. They are the cracks through which the grace of God enters our lives.  They are the cracks that open our history to the joy of the King… born in a manger. AMEN.

Commands, Camels and Coins - A Stewardship Sermon

Commands, Camels, and Coins

A Sermon by Brent J. Eelman

First Presbyterian Church Clarks Summit

October 21, 2018

Jeremiah 32:6-15

Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

 And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

Mark 10: 17-31

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ¹⁸Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.” ’ ²⁰He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ ²¹Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money^* to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ ²²When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ ²⁴And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is^* to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ ²⁶They were greatly astounded and said to one another,^* ‘Then who can be saved?’ ²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’
28 Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ ²⁹Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,^{* 30}who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’

A few years prior to retirement, I was in a conversation with a colleague who was also my age.  We were talking about our post ministry plans: traveling, fishing, hobbies, and actually sitting in worship with our spouses.  In the course of the conversation he said, “Just think, only three more stewardship drives and then I can retire.”  The comment struck me as funny and I gave it a good laugh.  But it was also revealing.  It revealed a great deal about how clergy feel about money and funding our churches.  Why are women and men called to the ministry? To care; to pray, to teach; to study; and to lead people in their spiritual lives.   The damnable thing about ministry is that in order to do what we are called by God to do, (preach, heal, teach, care, and pray), we also have to honor the hunger of the institution for financial resources.  It is the bane of our profession, and the few who seem to thrive at it, immediately become professional fundraisers and travel to different congregations, assisting them with their needs. 

People in the pew are also familiar with the annual October drill.  There are the standard stewardship sermon texts:  “Jeremiah Purchases a Field”, “the Widow’s Mite”, and the “Rich Young Ruler”.   Congregations, hearing these passages read, have a way of bracing themselves thinking, “Here comes the stewardship sermon.”  “The commitment card must be in the mail.”  When you heard the scripture lesson today, and saw the title, I am sure that some of you must have thought: “Here it comes.”

Do stewardship sermons honestly make a difference?  I realize that I am committing pastoral heresy at this point, but I am not sure if there is a relationship between the stewardship sermon (no matter how good!) and the amount that is committed during the stewardship campaign.  

With all of that said, I believe that stewardship is important.  The issue of money and what we do with it needs to be addressed from the pulpit.  Clergy should not handle this topic with “kid gloves” because Jesus didn’t.  In fact, when we look at the teachings of Jesus, money and possessions were a primary concern.

 I want to re-examine the topic of stewardship in light of the biblical story I just read.  I have three points:  1. We do stewardship wrong.  2. How much we give is not what matters. 3. It is a matter of life and death.    Do I have your attention?

I

We do stewardship wrong.  The church and religious institutions do a good job of raising funds.  Of the total amount that is given to charities, churches and religious organizations receive the largest percentage.  Americans also tend to be very generous in comparison to other countries, (although the amount is decreasing.)  A number of years ago, Canada, our neighbor to the north, had a public service advertizing campaign called the 5% campaign.  It was designed to encourage Canadians to give more generously to charities.  Part of the reasoning behind the campaign was to emulate the United States and its support of charities.  Churches do a reasonably good job of raising funds.  But that is not the stewardship that Christ taught.  Stewardship is not about fund raising.

I fear that the way churches approach stewardship has made us one more eleemosynary institution asking for donations to support it.  There is the YMCA, the Hospital, the Red Cross, the university or our college, and public radio.  We are one more fundraising organization out there attempting to get a bite of the charity dollar.  That is not what Jesus taught.  We do it wrong. 

Stewardship is not about raising money… it is about hope, the future, and what we believe!  It is about investing in the future… a future we may not live in, but a future our children and our children’s children will.  We need to stop talking about goals and budgets during this time of year and talk about our souls, our possessions, and the future we envision for coming generations.  

 II

Stewardship is not about how much we give.  What did Jesus teach?  When I read the stories of Jesus, I am struck by two things.  First, money was his most popular topic.  Second, when he taught about money and the stewardship of things, he never gave any direction on how much to give.  This did not seem to matter.  We all know the story of the widow who gave two copper coins.  She gave the least amount of anybody and Jesus held her up as an example of good stewardship.  In this story of the wealthy man, Jesus did not give the man a percentage or an amount to give. No.  He told him to sell what he had and give it away. 

The stewardship that Jesus taught does not center on what we give, but rather what we keep for ourselves. 

Stewardship is about our lifestyle.  We keep a lot.  We worry about the future and whether we will have enough.  I know I do.  So like squirrels gathering nuts before winter, we store stuff because we fear that we will need it: “Saving for a rainy day.”  What did Jesus say?  “Do not be anxious about tomorrow. Consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air.”  God provides for them. 

Stewardship means asking the hard question of our own lives. “What do I really need?”  It is not about how much we give, but rather how much we keep. It is about how honestly we answer the questions, “What do I really need? And what should I keep for me?”   When I am honest with myself, I realize that I need a lot less than what I have.  The biblical stewardship of which Jesus taught, is a lifestyle.  A lifestyle that examines not how much we give, but how much we keep for ourselves.  When I think about it like that, I begin to understand why the man walked away dejected. 

I wonder, would I?

How true is the message of Hebrews: “The word of God is living, active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints for marrow.  It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

I wonder, would I walk away too?

III

It is a matter of life and death.  What was the question that prompted Jesus to tell the young man, “Go sell what you own and give it to the poor.”  The question was, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus was responding to a life and death question.  Eternal life, the good life, the fulfilling life, is determined by what we keep.  Why? 

Because what we keep often gets in the way of our love for God and our relationships with our fellow human beings.  Our possessions are powerful and can control our lives.  We begin to live for them and they begin to determine our behavior.  We become workaholics, consequently on those days when we are not working we are “play-aholics”. 

Where is God in the midst of this?  Where is the God whom we are called to love with our heart, our soul, and our mind?   Is our “stuff” squeezing God out of our lives?  Our possessions, and our fealty to them, cause us to keep more time for ourselves and to tend our stuff… and so we give less to others: to our families, to the church, to serving those in need, to building up the community and enabling people to be reconciled to each other. 

The question was, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus did not give a doctrinal answer: “you have to believe this doctrine and this point of theology.”  No.  He said… “obey the commandments”  and “give.”  The man walked away dejected, not because he didn’t obey the commandments, (he kept them from his youth!).  He walked away because he had a lot, and he wanted to keep it for himself.  “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” For Christ it is a matter of life and death. 

I am sure that the stewardship committee is fearing that this homily is undercutting their important efforts.   Let me conclude by saying, if you love this church and you want to see it continue its ministry; if you love worshiping here, if you want to continue to see a rich and diversified program of music, study, and mission; if First Presbyterian Church, Clarks Summit is important enough to continue to exist, we need to support the church with our offerings and be generous.  There are unpleasant consequences if we don’t, and it is not just for the church. 1^st Presbyterian Church enriches this community beyond these walls.  It is a thinking congregation, a praying congregation that puts muscle behind its thoughts and legs to its prayers.  My prayer is that you will be generous supporting FPC because, as imperfect as it is, it does wonderful things in the name of Christ, and if we are faithful in keeping a bit less for ourselves, the work of this congregation can be multiplied.    

The message this morning is that Christ invites us to go even further in our lives.  To not merely be generous in our giving, but honest about what we need and what we keep for ourselves.  Generous support is fund raising.  Honesty in what we keep is stewardship.  This is the Good News…. Challenging, perhaps upsetting, but Good News nonetheless.  We can join the rich man and walk away, or we can believe it and live.  Amen.

Gain the World, Losing?

Gain the World, Losing?

A Lenten Sermon by Brent J. Eelman

Preached at Wyoming Valley Presbyterian Church (Wilkes Barre, PA)

February 18, 2018

Philippians 3: 4b-16

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. ⁸More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,^* the righteousness from God based on faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ^* and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;^* but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Beloved,^* I do not consider that I have made it my own;^* but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly^* call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. ¹⁶Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’   The word of the Lord…..

One of the tasks that I undertook, as I prepared to retire, was divesting myself of a rather large professional library.  I realized that I could not be hauling a few thousand books around the country with me, and they would not fit in the smaller home we currently live in.  Consequently, I made the decision that over a period of two years, I would half my books twice, leaving me with about a ¼ of my library, (the “necessary” volumes needed for preaching).  The task was not easy, but it was a very satisfying one, because I made sure that my library went to newly ordained pastors, (many who I ordained when I served as the moderator of Philadelphia Presbytery).  The remainder went to seminaries and libraries. 

As I was sorting the books, I paged through them and read some of the notes that I made in the margins.  Some of the books had papers and parts of sermons folded into them.  One book had a most intriguing paper folded into it.  It was from the 4^th or 5^th year of my ministry.  It was hand typed, (there were no word processors then). It was done for a young pastor’s workshop of some type. 

 The paper contained a list of accomplishments that I hoped to attain in my future ministry.  I was almost thirty years old.  I was newly married and our daughter was not yet on the scene.  The list contained professional as well as personal accomplishments that I hoped to realize during my career.  I listed the types of churches I wanted to serve.  I described the home that I wanted to live in with my wife.  I wrote about the type of dog I wanted.  I even mentioned the car I thought I should drive.  But most of it was professional, focusing on accomplishments that I hoped for in my career as a pastor.  It was interesting to read this list over 30 years after the fact.  Why?

Because as I went down the list, I realized I had accomplished most of those things.  One would think that there would be a great sense of satisfaction from reading my list, but there wasn’t.  Instead, there was a kind of inner pathos that came over me.  The list seemed so meaningless and superficial as I held it in my hands.  In the twilight of my career it occurred to me that yes, I had a pretty good resume…. 

But a verse from scripture haunted me as I held that paper:

  ^“For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” 

This was not a harsh self-judgment, but rather a realization that all those things that I thought were so important; those accomplishments into which I put a great deal of time, energy, sweat and tears; all those things were ultimately superfluous. 

The words of Isaac Watts’ hymn echoed in my soul: 

All the vain things that charm me most…. 

A lot of luck and a bit of hard work had given me a wonderful career. I had indeed “gained the world” that I wanted.  But was this the most important thing or mere vanity?

One of the messages of the Bible, indeed of Jesus, is that we often spend our lives, our time and our energy devoted to things that ultimately do not matter.  It is an equal opportunity sin, and clergy, too, are seduced by it.  In the words of Jesus to Peter, “we tend to set our minds on human things and not God.” 

It is also a temptation for churches too.  We go to workshops and learn about “effective churches.”  We tend to measure our congregations by the number of members, the size of our programs, the attendance, the buildings, and the reputation that congregations enjoy.  Congregations, too, seek to gain the whole world… wanting respect, honor, and presence in a community. 

This phenomenon is not without irony.  A few years ago, I read about a congregation that decided to remove the cross from its sanctuary and its buildings.  Why?  The minister explained that it was a “turnoff”.  From focus groups he discovered that people did not want to hear about sacrifice and crosses.  The cross was an impediment to church growth. Ironically, they put a large globe, the world, where the cross once stood.  They had the world…. And lost their soul. 

(http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/06/spring_lakes_christ_community.html)

  “What profits (a church) to gain the whole world, and lose its soul.” 

The soul of a congregation, indeed the soul of the individual Christian is the cross.   

 We are in the business of “soul-making” not church development.   

How do we gain our soul in a world that glorifies that which is ultimately empty and meaningless?  We gain our soul by taking up the cross!  This is the message of Jesus, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  We are not about winning and accomplishing.  

 We are all about losing…. Losing our lives and gaining our souls. 

How do we find our own cross?  How do we carry it and follow Christ?  Congregations I have served have taught me a great deal about this.  I am reminded of a woman who at one time had the world by the tail….  Her husband owned a high-tech manufacturing company.  They lived in a spacious home in the right neighborhood.  They had everything one could want in life… and then lost it all.  The high-tech bubble burst, and her husband embezzled funds to keep his company going.  He ended up in federal prison. They lost their home, and she had to move to an apartment with her children. She went back to work as a nurse. 

At that time our congregation was involved with a health care facility in Guatemala.  This woman went on one of our work trips there, serving as a health care screener with some of the physicians from our congregation.  Something happened on that trip. She went back again on her own, at her own expense, (which she really did not have.)  She went back again, and again.  2 and 3 times a year.  In an email to me she remarked, “I have never been happier. I have found peace.” 

She lost the world… and yet by giving of herself… she gained her soul.  She discovered her cross, and the peace of Christ which passes all understanding.

What is your cross?  What is the cross that Christ is calling you to take up?  Christ is concerned about your soul and mine… and so he calls us to a life of sacrifice.  A life where we give all… and paradoxically discover more.   

Christ is also calling Wyoming Valley Presbyterian Church to discover its true cross… The soul of this congregation is found, not in its numbers, its wealth, its beautiful building, nor its influence. No. It is found in its willingness to sacrifice, to help, to minister to others in the name of Christ. 

Let me conclude with a final story about my experience sorting books. On the day when I was going through my books, sorting and reminiscing, I came across another book with something that I tucked inside of it.  It was a card containing a letter. A member sent this card to me following my departure from my first congregation.  The letter recalled an evening when I came to the house of the family.

I was right out of seminary, 25 years old, and serving as an associate pastor.   It was a Sunday evening and I was with the youth group when I received a call that an elderly woman in the congregation died.  I went to the home to be with the family.  This was my first encounter with raw grief.  The body was still present.  The family was gathered around the table, hurt, bewildered, in sorrow and pain.  I joined them at the table… and just sat there.  I was hoping for the right words to say… but they didn’t come.  And so I sat there in silence for what seemed to be hours.  I concluded my visit there with a mumbled prayer, and departed feeling like I had done nothing.. and perhaps this was not my calling.  Empty.  A failure.  A loser. 

The thank-you note in the good-bye card recalled that evening with the family, and the daughter wrote, how important and meaningful my presence was that night. Being there was enough. Honest to goodness, I cried when I got the card… and cried again when I read it.  Because that is what the cross is all about. 

The cross is about giving when you feel you have nothing to give. 

The cross is about being with those who are in pain, and feeling the pain and shortcomings of your own humanity. 

The cross is about silence… being still when you have nothing to say… and when nothing needs to be said because “the comforter” the spirit Christ promised is present.  

I have a nice resume. I accomplished what I wanted in ministry, but in the words of Paul, ”All these things are loss.”  But my soul grew in moments like that evening when I entered into the pain of others…  It grew when I struggled not knowing the answers nor the words to say.  It grew in the silence that allowed the Spirit to speak.    

The good news that Jesus proclaims is that these moments, these times, when we are intimate with the cross, are the moments when we are closest to him. 

They are the times when our souls are formed and re-formed.

They are times when we experience eternity, but for a moment….

They are the times when the paradox of losing life and gaining it make sense and become the foundation of wisdom.

 It is the wisdom of the cross.  It is the Good News.  Amen.