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| Drawing Lines; (sermon 4/11/10) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 10 2010, 06:50 PM (97 Views) | |
| Dewey | Apr 10 2010, 06:50 PM Post #1 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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The angel of the LORD appeared to (Gideon) and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior." Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you." He responded, "But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." The LORD said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them." Then he said to him, "If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you." And he said, "I will stay until you return." So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the LORD. Then Gideon said to God, "In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said." And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew." And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew. Judges 6:12, 14-22, 36-40 ===== When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. - John 20:19-31 ===== This is one of those Sundays where I’m veering away from the Lectionary texts – at least the texts from the Old Testament. A week or so ago, we were discussing the Book of Judges in one of my classes, and we were discussing the story of Gideon, the mighty Israelite warrior in the days before Israel was ruled by kings. When I read today’s gospel text, the text from John that I read this morning, I noticed some parallels in the two stories. In the part of Gideon’s story that I read this morning, you hear the story of Gideon’s being called to go into God’s service; to stand up and do something standing on faith in God to make it happen. In the story, you heard that when the angel of the Lord came to Gideon, he was doubtful. He didn’t think that he could really accomplish what he was being asked to do in service to God. He told the angel he’s the weakest person in the smallest clan in a small tribe of all the people of Israel. Surely, he said to the angel, if God wanted something done, he could find lots of better qualified, better equipped, more likely people to get it done than him. But God told Gideon not to worry, that God would be with him – that in fact, he was being chosen to do this thing specifically because he was the small one, the weak one, the unlikely one, so that when he succeeded, people would see that it was God, not Gideon, who had been at work and made it happen. But still, Gideon had doubts. In the passage I read, you can hear Gideon ask for a sign – for proof that God was truly behind this request, and that God was going to come through for him. First in preparing the offering and the angel making it spontaneously burn, and the angel’s vanishing. And then later on, Gideon was still a bit doubtful, and he asks God for two more signs that God would be true to his word. First, that a fleece lying on the ground overnight would be soaked with dew, while everything else around it would be dry; and then that the same fleece sitting out overnight again would be bone dry when everything else around it was wet. And both times, that was exactly what happened. Gideon was having difficulty trusting in God. It was as if he kept drawing a line in the dirt, and saying, “OK God, if you step over this line, I’ll trust you.” And God steps over that line, so then Gideon backs up and draws another line in the dirt, and says “OK, this time I really mean it – if you step over this line, then I’ll trust you and do what you want.” And on and on, each time Gideon backing up and drawing another line, not wanting to step up to the plate and show trust in God, to have faith that God will provide as he’s said he’d do. You see that same sort of thing going on in our gospel reading today – the text that tells the story of the apostle Thomas – “Doubting Thomas,” as we all know him. We all know this story – Thomas wasn’t there in the room with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to him, and Thomas won’t believe he’s risen from the dead until he’s seen him with his own eyes, touched him with his own hands, a full week later. We can sympathize with Gideon, and Thomas. It’s hard sometimes to step out in faith in our walk with God, when other indicators point to take the safe route, the logical route, the concrete route over the more abstract route that requires trust and faith. I’m sure it’s hard for you; I know it’s hard for me. But time and time again throughout the Bible, we’re given examples of God doing his will through people and circumstances where faith, and trust in God’s providence, is absolutely necessary. That’s a big part of the message of the scriptures, the message that God gives us in Jesus – to have faith, and to trust in God. To take risks in our following him. If there’s anything constant throughout God’s history of revealing himself to us throughout history, it’s that we aren’t supposed to constantly play it safe and cautious, in our lives of discipleship. Doing that is us, putting ourselves in control. But God tells us to allow him to be in control, not us. That isn’t news to us. We get that; we know that’s what Jesus says, and what the scriptures say. But still, when we’re called on to maybe step out in faith, we’re uncertain. We want signs. We want to draw a line in the dirt and say “OK, God, let me see you cross this line, and then I’ll trust in you like I say I do.” Think about your life, and how many times God has indeed stepped across that line, and let you know he’s there, and he’s in control. If you really stop and think about it, I’ll bet you can come up with quite a few times when you’ve seen that happen in your life. But still, when the chips are down, and when we’re called on to take a stand, and to really live our faith, in faith - we often want to draw another line and ask God to show us for sure, this time. Let us see another sign. Then we’ll trust. Or we’ll back up and draw another line. The scriptures tell us that Thomas – “Doubting Thomas” - was known as The Twin. But we never hear anything about his twin. Who was his twin? Gideon was his twin. And we’re his twin. We doubt. We want signs. We want evidence to justify our faith, so battened-down tight and inescapable that what we want isn’t faith at all, but certainty. That isn’t what God wants from us. God wants our love - and our trust, our faith, is what shows the reality of our love. Jesus told Thomas, “blessed are they who have not seen, and who believe.” Thanks be to God. |
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"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685. "Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous "Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011 I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14 | |
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| brenda | Apr 11 2010, 12:53 PM Post #2 |
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Thanks, Dewey!
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Dewey | Apr 11 2010, 03:56 PM Post #3 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Thanks, brenda. To be honest, I didn't think this one was very good. It was prepared very quickly, without as much research and development as most. Also, the "as-delivered" version of this one was very different than the written version - lots of additional ad-lib'd scriptural references and imagery. But the sermon itself was meant to address something that the Session, the governing body of the church, has on its plate to think about in the coming weeks/months. You can read about that in a separate thread I'll start shortly. |
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"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685. "Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous "Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011 I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14 | |
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4:57 PM Jul 10