Sermon: Easter 6

                                                                                         

 Acts 17:22-31

Psalm 66:8-2o

1 Peter 3:13-22

John 14: 15-21

Last week an American radio preacher Harold Camping, garnered a significant amount of attention by predicting the end of the world. He said that May 21^st would be the day. Well May 21^st has come and gone and we are all still here, and things carry on as they normally do.  Camping has revised his prediction a bit, has said that a spiritual judgment has occurred and now the world will end in October. While the date of his prediction may have been incorrect, the pastor did manage to raise a significant  amount of anxiety, even fear in the hearts of people, with comments such as “it will be a horror story we cannot possibly conceive of”.

  More than a few pastors have found it necessary to do some extra preaching and teaching on end times theology, what is technically called eschatology. If they are responsible, these pastors will be offering biblically-based critiques of the pastor’s words, and point out that it is not for us to know the date and time of Christ’s return to earth (Matthew 24:36). Undoubtedly those critical of the Christian church will use the pastor’s words as more ammunition in their charge that Christian is a far-based, judgmental religion, that feeds on fear and promotes insecurity.

            But I would invite you to contrast the pastor’s words with those of Paul, which we hear in today’s reading from Acts. These passages describes the Apostles’ visit to Athens.  Now, considering the nature of the Greek religion--its range of gods and goddesses and the visual depiction of them in statues, and the cult surrounding them--one might expect a person in Paul’s position to offer a round denunciation of what he saw, and an ardent appeal for a conversion to Christianity. One would expect words of condemnation and a warning of imminent judgment and damnation. Indeed, it would have been very easy for the Apostle to stand in front of the Areopagus spitting hell fire and brimstone.           

But we don’t read that. Instead we read about the Apostle acknowledging the religiosity of the Athenian Greeks. They are a  religious people and he tells them that plainly. He acknowledges their concern with fundamental and profound questions of being and meaning.  Paul acknowledges a fundamental concern  which has fueled the religious quest across time, culture, language and space. He says, “ I see how extremely religious you are in every way” and  in so doing he creates a bridge—a bridge between the Greek outlook and  the gospel he has been entrusted to proclaim.

The apostle builds the bridge by acknowledging how God has made himself known to the Greeks.  Even within the context of culture society, language, and religion much different from his, Paul acknowledges that God has shown himself to the Greeks.  And this revelation is the basis of Paul’s discussion.  Paul doesn’t waste his words condemning the Greeks for getting it wrong, but rather, invests his energy in showing them where God is at work. The important thing for Paul is not about getting religion right. The central plank of Paul’s platform is about what God has done, what God is doing, and what God is going to do through Christ.  The basic message of Paul to the Greeks is that they have spent a lot of time and energy searching for God—building idols and temples and systems. They have spent a lot of time at religion—at trying to reach God. What he is telling them is that the search is over. They need not look for God because God has found them. 

            A moment’s reflection shows that the place and time we live in is really not that different from the Greek culture Paul encountered all those years ago. It is said that we live in a largely irreligious society, that religion isn’t important, that religion doesn’t matter to people. I’m inclined to disagree. The religious impulse is strong, even in those who confess no religious affiliation or belief in god.  People are hungering for something—something which they cannot define, but they know that they need. There are many idols worshiped in this society. Money, success,  looks, property—whatever people place highest value on becomes gods for them. And there are many misguided spiritual paths, which are fashionable, inviting and seductive.  Simply take a look at the religion and spirituality section of the big book stores as evidence for this. And the easiest thing for a preacher to do is simply condemn, and pronounce a death sentence on it all.

             But that’s not the approach which Paul models for us. Paul is a bridge builder. He builds a bridge between the Greeks and the Gospel by acknowledging where God is working in the Greek heart and mind. It was working in their understanding of the “unknown God”. Paul tells them about the God who they are worshipping, but did not know . He said, “ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands  as though he needs anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.”

 Where is the unknown God found today? The unknown God is found just beyond the fingertips of all the searchers and gropers in this time and place and culture and society. All of those people who are looking for forgiveness but have  not found it. All of those people who long for comfort but have none—who long for peace which remains elusive.. All of those people who search for community but have not found it. All of those people who are on a never ending quest for meaning an enlightenment, but still feel empty. The unknown God lies beyond all human efforts to reach him.  The unknown God destroys all false gods and brings to ruin human attempts to be God.

            The good news of the gospel is that the reaching, the searching—all that is unnecessary.  This is what Paul said to the Greeks. Paul is telling them that God is not far from each of them. God is not far from each of us. God is closer than we could imagine or conceive. “In him we live and move and have our being”.  Where there is truth, there is God. Where there is peace, there is God. Where there is beauty there is God. Where there is justice there is God. Indeed, where there is life and breath and all good things, there is God. God is the source of all life. God brought all life into being through his Word, his living Word who is Jesus Christ—the God who has defeated death, and promised an incredible future of eternal life to all who trust in Him.

            Paul calls the Greeks to trust in God—the one true God who raised Jesus from the dead. The same God who has given you all good things is the same God who raised Jesus from the dead and promised you ultimate goodness. Amidst all of the idols you worship, the one true God is alive and active. This is Paul’s proclamation.

            But Paul would not have been able to make that proclamation if he had not first constructed a bridge—a bridge between the gospel and the understandings and outlooks of the people to whom he was speaking.  In these passages Paul gives us the model for evangelism. Paul gives us the method of proclamation, and it is based on understanding—understanding where people are and where people are coming from Christians are not called to condemn people but to engage them, so that they too would hear the good news of the Gospel. We are called to meet—to meet people where they are.  This engagement can occur in a variety of contexts and settings—perhaps in places we might least expect.

            Mission and evangelism are words which not everyone is crazy about. Much of the reason for that goes back to European colonial history, when the church across denominations co-operated with nation-states to subdue aboriginal people. The shadow left by residential schools, and laws outlawing cultural and religious practices of first nations people, is indeed a long one, and the healing journey continues.  Might things have been different had a process of bridge building and conversation occurred instead?  The model Paul gives us for evangelism is not based on force; it is based on bridge building.

But what about judgment? What about the end of the world? These are spiritual realities of which the Bible speaks, and we cannot overlook them because they might make us feel uncomfortable.  It is easy to dismiss Pastor Camping as some kind of nut, but that there will be a day of judgment is a spiritual truth. In today’s lesson Paul tells us plainly God has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness. Yes this is true. But this day is not something to be dreaded or feared: for God has made an incredible promise. And that promise says that God, through Jesus Christ, has done something incredible for you. If the day of judgment is something which creates anxiety in people, the question needs to be asked: Why am I afraid? There is no reason, because God has promised to forgive all repentant sinners. God has called the world to repent for a reason—so that all people would enjoy his incredible gift.

Through his life, death, and resurrection, has given you the gift of eternal life.  Through Christ you have been given all which you need. This gospel, this good news ,must be the basis of all Christian proclamation. In Mark 16:16, the resurrected Christ commands his disciples: “ Go into the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.”  He says nothing about announcing doom and gloom and predicting days for the end of the world. We are called to lead with Christ’s promise, and that promise is the best news ever. That promise is embodied in baptism, the visible sign of God’s love for us.

But the reality is: being a Christian in this world is not easy. It never has been. The clearest evidence for that comes from the readings presented before us today. Those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour are going to have difficulties precisely because they confess Christ. Paul did his best to build bridges with the Athenians. But as we read on past today’s lesson we hear that Paul’s message was met with mockery, that there were only three converts. But this didn’t stop Paul from proclaiming the gospel, from proclaiming the good news.  I

It is so very easy and tempting to retreat in the face of opposition and scorn—to back off. Yes, Paul models bridge-building, but about the Gospel he is uncompromising. And so we are also called to be uncompromising about the truth: for we are called to be a light to the world, not follow the world. And this involves our total being:  what we say, how we speak, how we manage our resources, what we do with our bodies. What scripture teaches us, and what the world says is the way to go is sometimes even often diametrically opposed, and we are confronted with decision. And our decision must always be for Christ.

And that’s a tough call.  It’s tough, but we  are not alone. We are not alone as we contend with the reality of sin and  temptation, and seemingly insurmountable opposition. In today’s gospel lesson Jesus assured his disciples that he would not leave them orphaned, that he would send the advocate, the Holy Spirit, the great counselor who would guide them and comfort them. Those disciples would not be alone. And we are not alone—not alone as we carry out our call to faithfulness and obedience. It is all to easy to get overly comfortable. It is tempting as a congregation to be static and inward focused, to play it safe, to settle into a nice social club mentality.  But that is not what we are called to do. We have been called to be stewards of the gospel, and effective stewardship requires courage, it requires trust. But we are not alone. God is with us—with us until the day when the world will end, when the world will be judged, and  there will no longer be any mystery about who God is. Until that day, God has promised us God’s presence. Today, we continue our celebration of Easter, of this incredible gift of the unknown God who has made himself known as the God of resurrection. Now may that peace of the God, the peace which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon: Easter 4, John 10:1-10

        

If you have been watching the news over the course of the last two weeks you will have noticed that a local story has been on the top of the headlines. It is a story of tragedy, it is a story of hope, it is a story of faith. You will have heard how a Penticton couple embarked upon a journey to Las Vegas, and got lost in the  wilderness. The GPS system upon which they were relying guided them into unfamiliar and dangerous territory. Their vehicle was stuck in the mud.  Al Chretien left the vehicle on a quest for help. he has not been found. His wife, Rita, remained behind, to survive only on water drawn from melted snow, and hard candies. She knew that she was lost, and realized that death was a  probability. But beneath this dreadful realization was something else—a confidence and a hope that her destiny was in the hands of God, that God’s will for her was ultimately good, that though she stuck in the middle of the valley of death, that the Good Shepherds guiding staff was there. That God had not forgotten—that she was not truly lost. Her testimony of faith is a powerful one. It is testimony to the guiding hand of the Good Shepherd, who finds and guides the lost to safety.

But what does it mean to be lost? Well, the most obvious way we can be lost, is to be physically lost. Most of us, at some point in our lives can relate to that. I remember as a young child getting lost in the shopping mall, separated from my mother, and being very scared.  anyone that’s gone hiking and has gone off trail, and even for but a moment, contemplated not finding the way out can relate to the anxiety of being lost. but what does it mean to be spiritually lost?

            I won’t presume to have a total answer to that question. But here is a thought to consider. To be spiritually lost, is to be disconnected from the true answer to the deep and fundamental question of “what is the meaning of life”. The answer to that question is not simply a matter of the intellect or the head.  It as a question which can only be answered in the heart.  If the heart answers this question with the words, “power”, “domination”, “worldly success,” “status,” “physical appearance”, “self aggrandizement “and “self-satisfication”, then it is a lost heart—lost because it is out of touch with the real answer. And the real answer is the love of God. The love of God, received and shared—the love we have been given by the Good Shepherd, the author and finisher of our salvation.

As we look at our television screens, and through the church window, it is easy to see all of the lost in the world. It is easy to do that, and shake our heads in dismay. But when we do that we must also remember that we have not been called just to see them the Good Shepherd has called us to do the work of his shepherding in this world. 

This is our mission. Our mission is to shephard the lost, so that they would also have life and have life abundantly. Christians are called to do this not just within the walls of the church building but also in the spheres of everyday life. We are called to be ambassadors of the good news—good news of the great work of the good shepherd, who has promised to transform us into the people God made us to be.

            And that’s really the bottom line, isn’t it? Being lost means not being the people God made us to be.

            It is indeed easy to see all of the lost out there in the world. But it is a reality that the state of being lost does not exist just outside of the church. Sin does not stop working in the hearts of believers. And Satan does not stop working to pull the faithful off course.

            The church has been around for roughly two thousand years, and individual members, congregations, denominations, have been wandering and straying for about as long.

            These days, there is a lot of anxiety in the western church . Declining numbers, divisive debates, and uncertainty about the future are realities which threaten the stability and health of congregations across this land. And the immediate  human response to anxiety is to generate a human answer, engineer a human solution.  But human answers to spiritual problems—and make no mistake what I just mentioned are practical realities but more significantly, they are spiritual problems—take us further into the wilderness. Anxiety generates panic, and panic leads to confusion and disorientation. Soon we will forget who we are. We need to be reminded, and there is only one who can do that. There is only one who can guide us back—and that is the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd is the only one who can still anxious minds and bring peace to troubled hearts.

            There is only one shepherd of the sheep and that is Jesus Christ.  For he is the only one through life in all its abundance is given. He is the life giver.  He is the one who truly orients us to life and what it means to live as a human being. He is the gate which opens the door to life in its fullness.

            We hear this we know this, and then, it can happen so quickly. We can start behaving like lost sheep, determined to move in the wrong direction away from the shepherd, becoming preoccupied with that patch of grass or that.  Or we can begin to listen to voices of those who are not the shepherd. We can begin to seek other gates into the heart of God. But there is only one. Christ is the one.  

          He is the one because he is real. He is the one because he is love. Indeed he is the one from whom all love flows.

         Some scholars say he has been invented by the church, that the idea of Christ evolved over history—that he moved from being the Jesus of history to the Christ of the church.  But that Jesus, the Jesus of historical-critical scholarship is not the Jesus who is Saviour. Jesus who is saviour was not created. The Jesus who is Saviour is God. He is God for us. He is God, the Good Shepherd.

And the good news is that the shepherd’s staff is long, and can lovingly reach us and bring us back into the fold, out of that anxious field. We need to trust his guidance. And his guidance has been made known to us. His will for us is not a secret. It is in plain sight.

 But like stubborn sheep human  beings so often choose not to see it.  The shepherds will for us is expressed in his Word, his Word proclaimed  verbally on Sunday. His Word proclaimed in the sacraments. His word proclaimed in the written words of scripture, in the Bible. Here in plain sight we hear the shepherd calling and speaking and guiding. This isn’t a complicated matter. But humans bring complication—complication and confusion born out of our own desire to be in charge.

 But there can be only one Shepherd, one gate, one God, one saviour. And the good news is that he loves us. Loves us so much that he suffered and died for us. His rod and staff are here, reaching us and guiding us—even in the darkest of valleys. Indeed He has done it all already, and we are called to be faithful in his work, and to follow he who has done all for us, he who has opened the gate, he who is the gate. Now may the peace which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.