Taste and See

October 28^th, 2012        “Taste and See”         Rev. Heather Jepsen

An experiential sermon based on Psalm 34:1-8, 19-22 and Mark 10:46-52

1.    Introduction

·       Our Gospel reading is a healing story.  Jesus opens the eyes of a blind beggar.  Once his eyes are open, Bartimaeus, the beggar, follows Jesus on the way.

·       In our reading from the Psalms, the psalmist invites us to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.  Today we are going to taste in the hopes that it will open our eyes to the world around us.

·       Our sense of taste can detect five separate tastes; sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami.  Today we will explore three of these tastes as a window to open our eyes to the goodness of God.

2.    Sour – Lemon

·       First examine the lemon.  Notice the beauty of its color and texture.

·       Lemon is both sour and refreshing.  To taste a lemon is uncomfortable but it also brings clarity, it cleanses your palate so that you can better taste other things.

·       In our lives, it is often in the uncomfortable moments that we find clarity about who we are and who God is.

·       Psalmist – even the righteous suffer “many are the afflictions of the righteous”.  Bartimaeus, senses who Jesus is despite his lack of sight.

·       Sour experiences open our eyes to the world around us, taste and see

3.    Salty – Pretzel

·       First examine the pretzel.  Notice the salt on the outside, it is an addition to the actual bread of the pretzel. 

·       We don’t ever sit down and eat salt, but we crave and love the flavor of salt.  Salt makes other things taste good.

·       Think of being salt of the earth.  Salt brings out the flavors of other things, it calls our attention to what is really there.  It makes things better, it magnifies flavor.

·       In the world around us, faith calls our attention to what is really there.  It makes things better.  It magnifies the flavor of the world around us. 

·       Salt opens our eyes to flavor, taste and see

4.    Sweet – Chocolate

·       Open the wrapper, examine the chocolate, a sense of anticipation for what we know is good.

·       Chocolate is creamy and sweet, it is a joy, a blessing.

·       There are times in our lives when we totally miss the goodness around us.  Our eyes are closed to the blessings we have received.  To eat a piece of chocolate is to open our eyes to the beauty of creation and the blessings of God.  With eyes closed we can taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

5.    Conclusion

·       We often go through life like Bartimaeus.  Sitting on the edge of the path, unable to see the world around us.  The wonders of creation and God’s blessing are before us, we sense that they are there, but we cannot see them clearly.

·       The divine passes close to us and we have an opportunity for an encounter with God.  We encounter the possibility for sight.

·       God opens our eyes, and we are able to see the truth of the world around us. 

·       Like Bartimaeus, when our eyes are opened, we follow the path of God.

·       Today we had an encounter with the divine in the simple things of lemon, pretzel, and chocolate.  Today we had a chance to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

·       As you go out from this place today, go out with open eyes.  Follow along the divine path.  Taste, see, and enjoy the world around you!

 

The Power to Serve

October 21^st, 2012        “The Power to Serve”      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Mark 10:35-45

One of my favorite things to do every morning is to sit down with a cup of coffee and the day’s newspaper.  I am certain that many of you share this ritual as well.  As I sit down to read the Kansas City Star I always have a hard time with the front section.  I often find myself reading only the first paragraph of articles.  Now when it comes to the comics, I read every one, even Zippy the Pinhead; but when it comes to the news I just can’t make myself read it.  Over the years I have learned that I just can’t handle that much bad news.

          The front page these days is dominated by pre-election hype.  From reports and opinions about the latest debate, to the current amount of fundraising dollars, to the latest poll numbers, for better or worse everyone seems to have their mind on the election.  I have to admit that this is not my favorite time of the year.

          Turn the page and it’s economic news.  How are unemployment numbers, how is the stock market, where are the job creators, and whose fault is it that we are in such an economic slump?  More bad news and more folks complaining about and blaming each other.

          Get deep enough in that front section and we turn to the Middle East.  What once held hope for the revolution of freedom; now seems to be nothing but constant violence in Libya, Syria, Egypt and beyond. 

          And of course, that’s just the big stories.  We all know that the front section is host to plenty more bad news.  From the shooting of that 14 year old Pakistani girl, to the murder of that child in Denver, to the daily list of violence in Kansas City, there is plenty of bad news to go around.

          The one theme that links all the bad news in the morning paper is power.  Humans seem drawn to power.  Some people are drawn to the power found in politics; making laws, controlling weapons, and setting the ways of nations.  Some people are drawn to star power, obsessed with the lives of movie stars and music celebrities.  These folks become caught up in every detail or scandal of a life that is not their own.  Some people are drawn to a more dangerous power, power over others in an unhealthy or hurtful way through abuse or neglect.  Throughout the paper you read of those who will use whatever means necessary to elevate themselves above the rest of the world.

          All people have a desire to get close to power, or to get some of their own.  All people are willing to attack or befriend those in power, to do whatever they can to get closer to those that have more than them in the hope that some influence or authority may rub off.  Power over people, money, or things is an attractive force and I think that even the best of us succumb to its alluring draw. 

          Our human fascination with power has been going on since the beginning of time.  Throughout history we read of those who make a grab for power and succeed or not.  Plus, we know that it is the powerful themselves who write our history books.  To the victor go the spoils, including the right to tell the story. 

          We always hope that when a new person rises from the ranks into the head chair that they will be less tyrannical than the last – but nothing can corrupt the hearts of people like power.  During election time especially we are thinking of those that are in power and those that we wish could be in power.  If only our man was in the head chair – then the world would be different, there would be change, and things would be made right.  But we all know that as one November after another passes, little change actually occurs and the big power machine just keeps on grinding, and running over the little guys in the process. 

          In our gospel lesson this morning, the Zebedee brothers are thinking about power.  It is near an election time of sorts and their heads are full of possibilities for the new regime.  They want to support their candidate, Jesus, and are also hoping to get some nice cabinet seats in the process.

          Now it is easy for us to wonder just what the Zebedee brothers were thinking.  At this point we are a fair ways into Mark’s gospel and we would hope that by now the disciples would have a clue as to what Jesus’ reign will be like.  Sometimes we wonder if they have even listened to his teachings at all.  Plus, he has just finished his third statement foreshadowing his own death.  He has just told them again about the condemnation and torture that is soon to come.  But of course, the disciples do not have the ears to hear that message, any more than we do. 

          Right now the Zebedee brothers are focused on Jesus’ power.  It has been apparent from the beginning that this man had something special, something different.  Even when he wasn’t performing miracles there was a certain gravity in his presence and teaching.  This guy was sure to be the new ruler in God’s kingdom.  The Zebedee brother’s request, though a little off, can be seen as a profession of faith.  James and John really believed that Jesus would come to power, and they wanted to have a part in it.

          “Teacher,” they ask “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”  Along with Peter; James and John have been Jesus’ closest friends, part of his inner circle, his biggest fans.  Even when Jesus tries to make it clear to them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” they respond in unison “We are able.”  They are so wrapped up in their confidence in Jesus and their desire to serve him, that they seem unaware of what they are saying. 

          In the minds of the Zebedee boys the new kingdom will be much like the old.  Jesus and his crew will kick the old rulers out of power and take their seats.  They will bring in the kingdom of God from the top, changing the world from the head of the table; a divine trickle-down system of sorts.

          But Jesus again says “no, that’s not the way it works.”  The kingdom of God turns our world on its head.  The best seats are not at the head of the table, heck they are not even at the table at all.  The best seats belong to the servants, those who bring the food and pour the wine.  Jesus says that this is the place to be.

          It is hard for us to understand that this is the kingdom of God.  Power is found at the bottom and not at the top.  This is incomprehensible to our world, yet it is the example that Jesus sets before us.  James and John are concerned about who gets to sit where at the table.  In contrast Jesus’ concern is whether everyone has enough food and if there is a place for everyone to sit. 

          Jesus is a servant through and through.  The head seats at the table are not his to give out; he doesn’t even have one himself.  The best seat he will find on this side of the grave is a lonely cross on the hill of Golgotha, at his right and left, no more than two bandits.  “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

          This is the kingdom of God, where the last shall be first and the first shall be last, where God’s concern is for the poor and outcast.  It is a kingdom of sinners and lowlifes, not a kingdom of powerful rulers.  And it is among these ranks that we cast our lot. 

As you know, our church is entering a season of stewardship.  This is a perfect time to think a bit about power in the world around you.  No one can deny that money is power; where you spend your money and what you spend it on, is one of the ways that you are able to influence the world around you.  There is a reason we call it “spending power.” 

          Jesus challenges us to consider a new way to handle money.  Rather than using our money to buy the head seats at the table, we are asked to consider using our money to help those who have no seat at all.  To give our money away, is to leave behind the top-down world of power.  To give our money away, is to participate in the bottom-up world of power that Jesus talks about.  To give our money away, is to become a servant of the servant God, the one who preached an empire where power is found in the lowest ranks, an empire where the first will be last and the last will be first.

 

Like the Zebedee brothers, we are longing for a place beside Jesus, we are longing for a place in the kingdom.  Jesus teaches that if we are to join the kingdom of God, than we must come in as servants.  We offer ourselves in caring service to our neighbors near and far understanding that there is no divine trickle down, rather the divine kingdom is one that trickles up.  We will not transform the world from the top down; instead we will change it from right where we stand.  We will change the world from the bottom up. 

 

          The power of God is the power to serve.  It is the power to transform the Zebedee brother’s question from “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you” to “We want to do for you whatever you ask of us.”  Amen.    

Give to God what is God's

October 14^th, 2012      “Give to God What is God’s”   Rev. Heather Jepsen

Sermon Series: The Theology of Worship

(Based on A More Profound Alleluia  ed. Van Dyk)

Matthew 22:15-22 and 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

          This is the final sermon in our series about the theology behind our worship service.  We have made the journey from the call to worship to the prayer of confession, from the reading of Scripture to the celebration of Communion.  Today we will talk about the offering part of the service and the closing benediction.

          In our gospel reading I’ve chosen this morning, we find the Pharisees once again plotting against Jesus.  They try to trap him with a trick question but first they butter him up, sending their own disciples to say “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.”  This of course is nothing more than an attempt to get Jesus off guard.  We know you are a great teacher, but . . . and now they ask their trick question, “Tell us, then, what you think.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

          For a man of Jesus’ status and position, this is a trick question because it had no good answer.  As with many questions used to entrap people, it asks for a simple yes or no answer.  Unfortunately either answer gets Jesus in trouble.  If Jesus says, “Yes, it is lawful to pay taxes” then he risks angering his followers who are looking for him to speak out against the unjust Roman occupation.  If Jesus says, “No, don’t pay taxes” then the Pharisees will certainly turn right around, tattle on him to the Roman authorities, and Jesus will get in trouble.  Either answer he gives, he can’t win.

          Of course in our own time the issues of taxes and our money are weighing heavy on many of our hearts.  For years now the American economy has been struggling.  People have lost money, they’ve lost jobs, they’ve lost benefits, and they’ve lost homes.  In 2008 when the Great Recession began there was a spike in the level of self-inflicted violence related to the economy.  Faced with job loss and home foreclosures, many people took their own lives and some even killed their families.  As a pastor, I can’t help but look around and ask, “How did we get to this place?”  I’m not just asking how the economy got so bad, I am asking how so many people could become so entrapped by money.  How can so many people be so profoundly dismayed by their financial situation that they would take their own life?  Is money really all there is in the world?

          In our gospel reading, Jesus responds to the trick question by what appears to be side stepping the issue.  “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?  Show me the coin used for tax.  Whose image is this, and whose title?”  They respond, “The emperor’s.”  Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

          Jesus manages to avoid answering them directly and instead throws the question back at them.   The audience must now decide for themselves if it is right to pay the tax.  Jesus’ followers must decide what belongs to the emperor and what belongs to God.  But of course the issue is bigger than that.  Jesus points out that the coin bears the image of the emperor.  And if we remember our stories in Genesis then we will remember that humans on the other hand, bear the image of God.  The coin may belong to the empire but Jesus’ followers did not.

          In this time of continuous economic turmoil, we should remember that just like Jesus followers, we bear the image of God.  In this distressing time when it seems that all we hear is talk of unemployment numbers, economic downturns, and presidential race tax rhetoric, we must remember that while these issues do affect us, they do not create us.  These times of financial stress do not define us as people.  The whole of who we are is not marked by our government or our economic system.  Instead the whole of who we are is marked by the hand of our Creator.  And Jesus tells us to give to God the things that are God’s.

          You see friends, while financial issues may weigh heavy on us and cause us great stress; we do not need to let them define us as people.  When we were baptized; God defined us, God marked us as God’s own.  Not only are we made in the image of God, we bear God’s mark as a sign and seal upon our hearts.  Because the image we bear is that of God and not of this world, being chosen and marked by God is what should define our lives. 

          In the offering part of our worship service we do what Jesus tells us to do in this gospel, we give to God what is God’s.  We give because God gave to us first.  And we give because we remember that all that we have belongs to God.  And we don’t just give from our pocketbooks; rather we give of the whole of our lives, for it is our life that bears the image of God.  We give ourselves according to our love and not out of obligation.  God loved us first, God marked us as God’s own in baptism, and God gives us the greatest gift in grace.  And we respond by giving of ourselves to God.  We pledge money for God’s work in the church, we give our time in service to the church, and each of us brings our hearts to church on Sunday and offers them up to God in worship. 

          When we close the service each week we hear the charge and benediction.  The charge is a command; carry the work of the worship service out into the world. “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”  Being a Christian isn’t just about what you do on Sunday, it is about how you live your life the other 6 days of the week.  The closing charge encourages you to carry all of the worship service; adoration and praise, sacrament and scripture, prayer and self-offering out into the world.  Make the elements of Sunday worship a part of how you live during the week and in doing so; give to God what belongs to God.

          The benediction is a blessing given to you as you leave the worship service and enter the world.  The blessing I normally give on Sunday is taken from Paul’s writings, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  We know that in bearing God’s image, we have already been blessed by God.  What the blessing at the end of the service seeks to do is to remind us of God’s mark upon us.  In the blessing we ask God to make known to us the blessing we already have, and to help us reflect that in the way we live our lives.  The blessing reminds us that we ourselves belong to God, and we should give to God what belongs to God.

          This church is about to begin a discussion on stewardship.  This is the time when we as a church are most focused on how exactly we offer ourselves to God by supporting this church community.  But, stewardship is not just about making a pledge to the church.  Stewardship is a symbol of giving ourselves to God.  In these hard economic times we must remember that we have been marked with love and grace and mercy and generosity by God.  In response we give what we have to give to God first and the world second.  We give to God first of our money and time and energy, and we give them in love because God has given first to us.  Show that you bear the image of God and not of this world, by giving to God what is God’s, the whole of who you are.

          This goal of this sermon series was to draw us more deeply and meaningfully into our worship experience.  Each week as we go through the worship service we are reminded whose we are.  Through the worship service we remember the great tenants of our faith; we praise God for God’s work in the world and in our lives, we confess our shortcomings and receive the good news of God’s forgiveness, we hear God’s Word in Scripture and sermon, we celebrate at the Lord’s table, we offer prayer to God on behalf of those we love and the whole world, and every Sunday we give of ourselves back to God in response to the love God has first given to us.  We offer ourselves to God, placing our very lives in the offering plate.  We hear the charge to carry God’s work out into the world.  And we receive the blessing, reminding us that we are blessed by God and that our lives should show that.

          When you come to worship every week, don’t just go through the motions.  Now that we have taken the time to study the service, you have no excuse for that.  Instead, pay attention, participate, and offer up yourself to the work of worship, offer yourself up to God.  Sunday morning worship is not a spectator sport.  Rather, God promises to meet you here, no matter what is happening in the world of empires and economics.  If you bring the whole of who you are to this hour every week, I can guarantee you, you won’t be sorry.  My prayer for us this morning is that together as a church, we will be more fully able to give to God what belongs to God, from our pocketbooks to our worship celebration.  Amen.

The Sacraments

October 7^th, 2012        “The Sacraments”         Rev. Heather Jepsen

Sermon Series: The Theology of Worship

(Based on A More Profound Alleluia  ed. Van Dyk)

Isaiah 2:2-4 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

          This morning we are continuing in our sermon series about why we worship the way that we do.  It seems fitting that on World Communion Sunday we should have a discussion about the sacraments.  Today we are talking about communion and baptism the two sacraments in the Presbyterian Church.  We as a church recognize communion and baptism as sacraments because those are the two sacraments that Jesus participated in during his life.  Our Directory for Worship defines the sacraments as “signs of the real presence and power of Christ in the Church, symbols of God’s action.  Through the Sacraments, God seals believers in redemption, renews their identity as the people of God, and marks them for service.” (W – 1.3033)

          We will begin our discussion with communion.  Theology Professor Martha Moore – Keish points out that “Many different terms are used for this Christian meal: Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist, and Mass.  Each term has a particular history and emphasizes a particular dimension of the meal.  Lord’s Supper, for instance, recalls the last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples.  This term tends to be used in traditions that focus on that meal as precedent for what Christians do when they come to the table today.  Eucharist comes from the Greek word for thanksgiving, and so the use of this term tends to emphasize the meal as an occasion for giving thanks to God for the gifts given in the Sacrament.  The word Communion focuses attention on the gathered community sharing the meal.  And the term Mass comes from the Latin phrase that dismissed the people at the conclusion of the service and in the Catholic tradition came to refer to the service in its entirety.”

          In our tradition we believe that communion is a threefold event.  In celebrating communion we remember what happened in the past in the work of Jesus Christ, we praise what is happening right now in our community as we gather around the table, and we look forward to what God promises to work among us in the future.  Communion is about looking back, looking around, and looking forward.

Part of our communion celebration is the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving.  You might be wondering why we always have such a long prayer before we have communion.  This is because we as a church want to name and remember the things that God has done for us in the past as well as God’s promises for us in the future. 

          First we talk about lifting our hearts up to the Lord.  “This reminds us that God does not come down to transform the elements but lifts us up to transform us into the body of Christ.” (Moore – Keish)  In the prayer we thank God for creation and God’s covenant history with Israel and with us.  We remember God’s act of salvation in Jesus Christ as well as the actions of Christ during his lifetime.  We also look to the day of Christ’s return.  Then we call upon the Holy Spirit to make the meal as well as us as a community into the body of Christ.  Then we finish with the Lord’s Prayer.  The words that are said over the bread and cup are from the Scriptures and serve to remind us that Christ, as the head of the church, is the one who first instituted this celebration.

There is meaning even in the way that we partake of communion.  When we pass the bread and juice down the rows we are reminded of the Reformed belief of the priesthood of all believers.  In our tradition, even though the Pastor is the one who presides over the table, all of us are able to serve the elements to each other rather than only the priest or pastor serving the elements.  Sometimes that method of taking communion by rows fosters too much individual piety as we each sit and quietly ponder the elements by ourselves.  That is one of the reasons we like to mix it up a bit and take communion by intinction every other month.  When we come forward to partake of the elements, we lose some of that personal focus and focus more on each other as a community, the body of Christ.  Walking up front we look at each other, we smile, we share in the moment together.  It is like a grand procession of the saints coming in thanksgiving before the Lord.

          Communion is something that is about our bodies and our souls.  When we gather around the table we are doing something that enacts our faith rather than just thinking about our faith.  Celebrating communion is a bodily experience and it serves to remind us that Christ too lived within a fleshly body.  Celebrating communion reminds us that God values and provides for our embodied selves rather than just the spiritual parts of us. 

          The other sacrament we celebrate in worship is baptism.  Like communion baptism is a threefold event; it is about looking back, looking around, and looking forward.  In baptism, the believer looks back over their lives and declares that they have sinned and want to come before God to ask for forgiveness.  The believer looks around at the community of faith and declares that they want to make a commitment to join the body of Christ.  The believer also looks ahead, declaring that they want the spirit of Christ to come into their life.

          In the Presbyterian Church baptism is a symbol of dying to an old way of life and rising to a new one.  As a believer makes a confession of faith, they are washed clean in the waters of baptism and begin a new life in Christ.  In the Presbyterian tradition we practice believer’s baptism, or the baptism of adults as well as infant baptism.  In infant baptism we celebrate and honor our belief that God is able to reach out to us before we are able to respond to God.  God reaches out to the baptized baby in love before that child is ever able to make their own response to God. 

          Just as we welcome all believers in Christ to the communion table, in the Presbyterian Church we welcome and recognize all baptisms.  We do not re-baptize people in our tradition for we believe that baptism is an act of God and not of people.  Therefore when and wherever you were baptized is a once and final act of God.  Joining the body of Christ is a onetime event and though we may continue to sin, one only need to be washed of sins once in their life. 

          It is fitting on a Peacemaking Sunday to discuss the sacraments for these are the acts that unite us with other believers in the Christian tradition.  Today’s reading from Isaiah is my favorite scripture when it comes to peace.  In this section from Isaiah we hear of God’s vision for peace among humanity.  This image of us turning our weapons of war into the tools of agriculture is one of the most powerful visions of God’s hope for us. The tools of agriculture can be used not only to sustain ourselves, but to sustain those around us that are in need.  This is a true vision of us loving our neighbors as ourselves. 

          On World Communion Sunday we are reminded that we share the Christian sacraments with all of our brothers and sisters.  When we are baptized, we are joined not simply into one church, but into the greater family of faith.  Similarly, when we come to the table to celebrate communion, we never come alone.  Instead we gather here with Christians from all over the world.  This is a fitting time to collect an offering for the work of Peacemaking in our community and in our world.  When we gather at the table and proclaim “the death of the Lord until he comes again” we look forward to that day when we shall learn war no more.

           We frequently pair our Communion celebration with singing a hymn and “Let us Break Bread Together” is a favorite communion hymn for good reason.  We begin saying ““let us break bread together” – this is a reference to the breaking of bread here and now, and it is a yearning for the time when we will all break bread together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at God’s great banquet table.  The phrase “when I fall on my knees” – is present and future tense.  Each of us individually and all of us together join to affirm that here and now and in the time to come we will fall on our knees before the glory of God.  On paper, “with my face to the rising sun” is clearly a reference to the natural wonder of the sunrise, but when sung, it also celebrates the resurrection of the risen Son of God.  “O Lord, have mercy on me,” we conclude, offering a prayer in the face of the coming judgment as well as a recognition of the redeeming love of God.” (Moore – Keish)

          Whenever we gather to break bread as a community, together we do symbolically fall on our knees, and we do turn our faces to the rising Son (s-o-n).  In this moment we recognize that together as a church and with Christians the world over we are baptized believers, the body of Christ.  In celebrating the sacraments as a community we are confident that God is present here in our midst.  Thanks be to God for the wonderful gifts that are the sacraments of baptism and communion.  Amen.

Prayers of the People

September 20^th, 2012       “Prayers of the People”        Rev. Heather Jepsen

Sermon Series: The Theology of Worship

(Based on A More Profound Alleluia  ed. Van Dyk)

Matthew 6:9-13 and 1 Timothy 2:1-4

          This is the fifth Sunday in our sermon series on how and why we worship the way that we do.  Over the past month we have been studying our worship practices.  We have wound our way through the service; from being gathered in God’s name to the sermon, from confessing our sins to the importance of creeds.  Today we will talk about the Prayers of the People.

          In the Presbyterian Directory for Worship we read, “Prayer is at the heart of worship.  In prayer, through the Holy Spirit, people seek after and are found by the one true God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ.  They listen and wait upon God, call God by name, remember God’s gracious acts, and offer themselves to God.  Prayer is shaped by the Word of God in Scripture and by the life of the community of faith.  Prayer issues a commitment to join God’s work in the world.” (W – 2.1001)

          Of course we have several times of prayer throughout our worship service.  I think of our choral introit as a prayer in song that calls us to worship.  We have the prayer of confession, in which we come before God, naming ourselves as sinners and asking for redemption.  We have the prayer of illumination, in which we ask God to open our minds and hearts to the reading of Scripture and the proclamation of the word.  And we have the prayer of offering, as we give our gifts to God.

          This morning we will talk about the Prayers of the People.  This is the time when we come before the Lord in thanksgiving and supplication.  What comes to mind of course is the sharing of our joys and concerns.  This is an important chance for us to share our lives with each other as a community.  As a church family we are committed to pray for each other’s needs.  We do that here in worship every Sunday; and I am sure that many of you go home and lift up the joys and concerns mentioned in worship in your private prayers.  This praying for each other’s needs is an important way that we worship together as the body of Christ.

          But our Prayers of the People go beyond simply praying for those in our church community.  In the first letter to Timothy, the Christian community is told to offer prayers for everyone, including the authorities, who were not members of the church.  Theology professor Ronald Byars reminds us that “In its worship, the church continually rehearses its role as intercessor.  The church intercedes on behalf of the whole broken world and all its families, those who pray for themselves, and those who don’t, those who can’t pray for themselves, and those who won’t.  As we pray for those who are religiously, politically, and economically different from us – event at odds with us – we engage in a kind of reprogramming to exorcise our prejudices.  In effect, we petition God to reshape our minds and hearts so that those whom we might easily regard as enemies may become visible to us as precious in God’s sight.”

          Our Book of Common Worship instructs us to “pray for worldwide and local concerns, offering intercessions for: the church universal, its ministry and those who minister, including ecumenical councils, churches in other places, and this congregation; for nations and those in authority; peace and justice in the world; the earth and a right use of its resources; the community and those who govern; the poor and the oppressed; the sick, the bereaved, the lonely, all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit; and those with special needs.”  Though we may not make it through the whole list every Sunday, we do touch on these needs throughout our collective worship services. 

          “Karl Barth’s suggestion that one should preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other applies with at least equal force to the church’s prayers.  The sermon may or may not address some pressing issue in society, but the Prayers of the People will always hold up before God whatever brokenness in the world has come to our attention.  We pray for victims of natural disasters, disease, warfare, and conflict, for the homeless, and for ourselves.”  (Byars)

          After our time of vocal prayer, we take a moment for silent prayer.  Our practice of coming before God in silence is an important part of our worship.  “Modern people are not very patient with silence, often perceiving it as nothing more than empty time.  However, silence need not be simply the absence of sound.  Silence is an opportunity in worship for God to speak a word of comfort or challenge, a word of instruction or insight or warning, a word of gracious consolation or tender mercy.”  (Byars) 

          Of course, every Sunday we join together in the Lord’s Prayer.  From the time of Christ, Christians have recited the Lord’s Prayer within their daily lives and within the community of worship.  By reciting the prayer every week, we remind ourselves that we are part of a deep tradition and a great number of believers, going back in time to Christ himself.

          The elements of the Lord’s Prayer tell us a lot about who we are and who we believe God to be.  We open with the words, “Our Father”.  This language implies a level of personal intimacy between us and our creator.  The words “in heaven” immediately following reminding us that God is fundamentally otherness and holy.  These two ideas of familiarity and holiness are held in tension throughout the prayer and throughout our very relationship with God.  God is both profoundly familiar and profoundly other at the same time.

          Following the opening are three “yours” directed to God.  We praise God’s name, God’s kingdom, and God’s will.  We must focus first on the nature and person of God, before we can begin to ask for our own needs including our need for forgiveness.  In saying these words we are reminded of God’s role in our world, and in praying for God’s will to be done we are asking for the full accomplishments of God’s purposes in and among us.

          Only after we have focused on the person of God, do we ask for our own needs.  Give us bread for today, we ask.  Jesus instructs us to ask God for only one day’s rations.  How often do we worry about tomorrow, and ask God for things far off in the future?  The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that God promises to provide for us one day at a time.

          In asking for forgiveness we are told to forgive others.  This is a tough one for all of us.  We must remember that to forgive is not to forget, but it is to let go of the hateful feelings we carry toward the other person.  We know that those negative feelings only serve to hurt ourselves as they eat us up from the inside.  The Lord’s Prayer makes clear that God’s forgiveness is tied to our forgiveness of each other.

          The final prayer is to avoid temptation.  God will never lead us to temptation.  Rather, in saying these words we recognize that we are all spiritually frail and we ask for God’s presence to come among us in our time of need and lead us through our time of temptation. 

          When we say the prayer on Sunday mornings, we add more than what is written in Matthew.  “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” is a doxology added to the prayer during the times of early church.  These words serve to remind us again that all belongs to God and just as we open the prayer focused on God’s person and will, we close the prayer in praise of God.

           Again the Directory for Worship reminds us of the importance of prayer in our worship service.  “In prayer we respond to God in many ways.  In adoration we praise God for who God is.  In thanksgiving we express gratitude for what God has done.  In confession we acknowledge repentance for what we as individuals and as a people have done or left undone.  In supplication we plead for others, on behalf of others, and for the whole world.  In self-dedication we offer ourselves to the purpose and glory of God.”

          Prayer is central to our worship service and the Prayers of the People is our central prayer.  We come before God with thanksgiving and intercession for our church community and the world; we listen for a word of God in silence; and we recite the Lord’s Prayer as Christians have done for generations.  We cannot come before God in worship without coming before God in prayer.

          I want to close with a special version of the Lord’s Prayer.  This rephrasing of the Lord’s Prayer is from the New Zealand prayer book and I love the way it allows the message of the Lord’s prayer to fall fresh upon our ears and hearts.  Let us pray . . .

The Lord's Prayer from A New Zealand Prayer Book:

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom

  sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,

  now and forever. Amen.