This was posted on Craigs List in Oklahoma City, author and Reverend Rod unknown in Mustang, OK.  I wonder if this is for real?

“Reverend Rod is your minister for wedding"s if you have a redneck fantasy wedding or just want to get married at the lake on a pontoon boat i am a flexible Reverend can also provide whole roast pig complete with apple in mouth or luau style and smoked turkey cakes desserts just ask catering photography flowers reception bartenders reception halls and service you let me know what needs are… I can bring and put on my boots and as always prayers and miracles are absolutely free please no wedding ceremonies jumping out of plane but most everything else can be arranged well OK jumping out of planes too what am I going to die and go to heaven i can show you how to go also but anyway i hope you two happiness to both of you with however you choose to get married GOD bless .”

Theme: this image reinforces the spiritual theme that death has lost its power, lost its sting (empty tomb background with stingerless bee).
       

Easter holds wonderful promise! It is the day in which God is convincing us of the resurrection and on that same day is challenging the skeptic that lives in the corner of every one of our hearts.

Death does not have the final word. Easter proclaims that death has lost its power. Life triumphs over death. We no longer have to be quite so afraid. Death loses some of its power and sting.

A father and his seven-year old daughter were riding around in the car. It was a hot summer day, and one of those great big yellow bees flew into their car. The little seven- year old daughter was very much afraid, and so was the father, and so he said: let’s get that bee out of here. But they couldn’t. It went ZZZZZZZZ, scaring them both.

They couldn’t get it out of the car, the bee flying up to the front window and then to the back window, buzzing past their heads. And now the little girl was starting to get hysterical and the father was shouting at her not to be afraid, and about that time, that great big yellow bee lit right here on the father’s neck and stung the father! And now the little girl became absolutely petrified and hysterical and began to cry and cry and cry. The father tried to calm her down and finally said to her: “Honey, you don’t need to be afraid anymore. The bee has lost its sting; its stinger is right here in my neck; the bee has lost its sting.” ….

And Jesus said: O grave where is your victory; o, death where is your sting. On Easter, the sting of death has been removed. The stinger is located in the neck of Jesus of Nazareth. We ride in our cars throughout life, still afraid, still afraid of death, like a little child is still afraid of a stingless bee. The message of Easter is so clear: there is no need to be afraid of death. It looks and sounds ferocious, but it is harmless. It has lost its sting!

Story from Rev. Edward Markquart

“Exalted or Humbled” is a sermon interpretation of Philippians 2:5-11.  The theme image plays on the common misunderstanding that Jesus came to be a political king, a Jewish ruler.  It seeks to raise the question about what kind of “King” is Jesus really?

As we hear those familiar words from Philippians, I have to ask myself, “why did God exalt Jesus Christ to be King?”

Why is it that at the name of Jesus, we and all heavenly angels are to fall on our knees? At the name of Jesus, we are to lift up our hands and say, “Jesus Christ is king.” Why? What did Jesus do that was so utterly important? What did Jesus do that placed him in such high esteem before all angels and all people?

Was it because of the quality of his miracles? Was it because he was so magical? Because he was the Happy Houdini of the Holy Land? He walked on water. He turned the water into wine. He raised Lazarus from the dead. Because Jesus was the best miracle worker who ever lived, God has exalted Jesus and made his name greater than all other names. Is that the reason why God exalted Jesus?

Is it because Jesus was raised from the dead? Never in the history of the world have we ever seen a person raised from the dead by the victorious powers of God, who came back from the dead, who came back to life in a resurrected form. Because God used his power and raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead, therefore God has exalted him above all others. Isn’t that right?

Is it because Jesus had some divine connection? Jesus is the divine kid. God had this special Son, and because the Son was so special, being of the same nature and substance of the Father, therefore God exalted him above all others. Is that why God has so exalted Jesus?

The Biblical passage for today is very clear. The Bible says, “Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but Christ humbled himself, taking the form of a servant and was perfectly obedient unto death. THEREFORE, God has exalted him above all others and has bestowed on him a name higher than any other name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

NOT because Jesus was some miracle worker, a happy Houdini from the Holy Land. NOT because he was raised from the dead by the powers of God and appeared in a resurrection body. NOT because of some divine connection that Jesus was the Son of an Omnipotent God. Why was and is Jesus exalted above all people? Why? Why? Because Jesus was the most humble person who ever lived. He took the form of a servant, walking the path of humility and obedience. THEREFORE, God has exalted him above all names on earth.

It seems to me that there is a saying of Jesus that occurs more than any other saying. Repeatedly, Jesus said, “He who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” This teaching about humility is used some five or six times in the Bible. If Jesus’ teaching about humility is mentioned in the Bible some five or six times, don’t you think that the teaching is very important? I do. Another teaching of Jesus is this: “If anyone would be my disciple, let him pick up his cross and follow me” That teaching occurs some six or seven times, and therefore it too is very important.

But there is still another teaching of Jesus that is repeated even more often: “The person who would be first will be last; and the last will be first.” That saying is found all over the New Testament. The person who is at the foot of the table will be moved up to the head of the table. He who humbles himself will be exalted; the person who exalts himself in this life will be humbled in the next. … What I am suggesting to you is that Jesus’ important teaching about humility is repeatedly laced throughout the whole New Testament.

It was on Holy Thursday and Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. As he washed the disciples’ feet, Jesus said that the greatest person in the Kingdom of God is the humble servant. Jesus took the towel of a servant girl and washed the disciples’ feet. The big disciple, Peter, said, “No, no, no. It is not right for you, our master, to wash my feet.” Jesus said to Peter, “If I cannot wash your feet, you cannot be my disciple.” Peter said, “Wash all of me. My feet, my legs, my heart. Wash all of me that I may be your humble disciple and do what you are doing.” And what was Jesus doing? Doing the job of a servant girl. On his knees, washing and wiping his disciples’ feet. Who had ever heard of such a thing from a master? Who had ever heard of such a thing from a king? Washing his disciples feet. What an absurdity.

So I ask you the question again: Why is it that Jesus is exalted above all others? Why? At the mention of his name, every knee on earth and in heaven shall bow. Why? Because of his miracles? No. Because he was the Son of God? No. Because of his divine connections? No. But because he humbled himself and walked a life of humility and obedience.

God wants us to have that same quality as well, to have this same inner attitude that he does. It is not only Jesus, but we ourselves are invited to possess this same quality. Humility is the highest virtue in the mind of God.

Today’s passage from Philippians comes from a larger section in the Bible. Listen to the Bible verses immediately prior to the appointed reading for this morning: “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit. But in humility, count others better than yourselves. Look not to your own interests but look to the interest of others. Have this attitude among yourselves that we find in Christ Jesus. … For Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but Christ walked the path of humility and obedience therefore God has highly exalted him.”

You can see from this Bible passage that a virtue that pleases God immensely is humility and humble obedience. According to God, the most important quality in Jesus was humility. According to Jesus, the most important virtue to be found in us is humility. Do nothing from conceit. Count others better than yourselves. Look not to your own self-fulfillment but the interest of others. Live a life of humility.

Humility doesn’t have many buyers today. Humility doesn’t have many takers at all. We live in our American culture that says, “We’re number one. I’m number one. We have the number one basketball team; the number one baseball team; the number one musician; the number one choir; the number one artist.” Our American culture infests and infects our hearts, saying that we have to be number one. The best actor. The best athlete. The best whatever. “Get the gold in the Olympics. Who remembers who came in second?”

It is not only being American that puts pressure to be number one. It is also part of our human nature. You and I struggle with trying to elevate ourselves above the next person. We take our brains, our intelligence, our gifts that God has given to us and we often use these gifts to be better than other people around us. There is a human tendency to elevate ourselves above others, and we use God’s given gifts to do this.

And so within our American culture and within our human disposition, humility does not have a lot of buyers today.

I ask you to use your imaginations again. Who is a person that you know who is really humble? Who is that person who comes to your mind? A person who does not elevate himself or herself above others? Who is such a person in your mind?

Abraham Lincoln is often selected as being the greatest giant of our presidential past. When people make a list of the greatest American presidents who ever lived, Abraham Lincoln is most often on the top of the list. Why is that? Because of his legislative accomplishments? No. Because he had the longest term of office? No. Because he was assassinated? No. Because he was opposed to slavery? No. I believe that Americans are attracted to a special quality of personality in Abraham Lincoln; there was an unusual quality of humility to him. Humble Abe. Modest Abe. One historian said about him: He stood tall, but he didn’t stand above other people. You need to hear that line again: he stood tall but not above people. That is what we are called to do. There is something very attractive to this quality of humility in Abraham Lincoln, and it is this quality of humility that has raised his name above all other names of American presidents.

Another person who “stands tall but not above others” is Nelson Mandela of South Africa. We admire that Mandela stood up against apartheid. We admire his twenty-seven years in prison. We admire the quality of forgiveness he has demonstrated for his torturers. But it is when you hear him speak, with that softness and gentleness of voice, that you become captivated by him. The gentleness of Mandela’s personality is one of the most attractive in the whole world. You see, there is this quality of humility that is very attractive to the human spirit, and his name is mentioned above all others presidents in the world today because of this humble gentleness of spirit. He stands very tall, but he is very common and humble.

Cliff Lunde was my bishop. I really appreciated Bishop Cliff Lunde and so did many other pastors. All of us loved his gentle spirit. He could have used his office as bishop to pretend that he was bigger and more powerful and more important than the rest of us, but he never did. He was one of the most unassuming, humble spirits I ever met. He never lorded it over another person. I remember him coming into our sanctuary one midweek afternoon, and several of us were working on a play. He was driving past our church and just felt like stopping in, to see what was happening. No advice. No power plays. No pomposity. No big shot feelings. Just another human being, a fine Christian, a fine as Christian as you would ever find. The word most universally used to describe him was humility. He died much too young, of a massive heart attack, while bishop. I always feel that if you have one fine bishop in your lifetime, you are lucky; and my life was most fortunate to know and appreciate the life of Cliff Lunde. You see, on the deepest level, humility is enormously attractive. Like the historian said, he stood tall but not above others.

I thought of many people in our congregation. In fact, I went through our pictorial directory, and so many faces and names jumped out at me. I hesitate to mention any names because these people would be embarrassed. There are so many in our parish who possess this inner quality, the highest virtue of God.

None of us are attacked to people who are conceited and full of themselves. In your imagination, would you think of a person or persons who are conceited, who puff themselves up and think they are better than other human beings? It is often more difficult to come up with such faces in our minds, but we do. When we think of a person who is conceited and puffed up and putting themselves above others, they are not usually likeable people. In fact, they are often insecure people, with deeper feelings of inferiority that they are over compensating for by projecting an image of superiority. I doubt that any of us are attracted to conceited people.

None of us are attacked to people who are essentially selfish, who think about themselves first on almost all occasions, who worry about what they are going to get out of it, who want you and everyone else to spend time and energy on their lives. The Bible lesson for today says that we are to do nothing from selfishness or conceit. I am suggesting to you that selfish people are not enormously attractive to us. They may have more charm, more intelligence, more personality, but if the emotional glue that holds their personality together is an essential selfishness, we don’t want to be like that person. On the other hand,  Mother Teresa was recognized the world over because of her selflessness. Her name was exalted above all other names on earth because she embodied the opposite of selfishness. She was totally selfless in her giving to others, and in some small measure, we want to be like her.

And so on this glorious Palm Sunday morning, we sing the hymn with gusto and feel the words to the song: All hail the power of Jesus’ name, let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadems and crown him, Lord of all.” Jesus said, “whoever exalts himself will be humbled; whoever is humble, will be exalted.” It is one of those strange paradoxes about life that a person gradually learns is true.

Rev. Edward Markquart, edited by Ministry Depot

Theme: the Lord God said, “Behold, I make all things new.” ” I restore that which is old, corroded and scarred into someone/something new.

That phrase is found throughout the whole Bible, including the Old Testament lesson for today in Isaiah, chapter 43. In Isaiah 43, we hear that phrase again that God makes all things new. … Isaiah 43 is read often in our church. That is, it is read every year on New Year’s Eve. “Don’t brood over past history. Don’t brood over the mistakes of the years gone by. I the Lord God am doing a new thing in your life. Can’t you see it? Can’t you perceive it? It is like a bud springing forth from the ground. It is like a small crocus poking its head through the dirt. I the Lord God am doing a new thing in your life. Don’t you see it?

That same theme is found in the book of Revelation, chapter 21. I need to set the scene. I need to tell you the story. In the fourth chapter of Revelation, we find God described for the first time.  God is sitting on a throne. It is a beautiful throne made out of carnelian, jasper, and emerald. Over that throne are thousands upon thousands of magnificent rainbows. God is sitting silently on that throne. Surrounding God are the twenty-four elders, the twelve tribes of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the New Testament. Surrounding the faithful leaders of the Old and New Testament, are the cherubim and seraphim. Around them are the millions upon millions of angels. Still outside of them are the billions and billions of martyrs. All of them are raising their hands and wings in praise, all singing together, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

It is a magnificent scene. And God? God doesn’t say a thing. God is silent, as silent as a stone sphinx. Then come all the plagues of the world and God? God is still silent. God does not say a word. Finally, at the end of the book, the devil, Satan, is thrown into the abyss, into hell, and God still does not say a word. All the way through the book of Revelation God does not open his mouth. God sits silently on that throne until you come to chapter twenty-one. You come to the end of the book and God gets ready to speak. God draws in a breath and everything goes silent. Everything is quiet. God draws in a deep breath, and God says, … “Behold, I make all things new.”

That theme that is found in the book of Revelation; that theme that is found in the book of Isaiah. That theme is woven throughout the whole Bible. God says, “I will make a new covenant with you. I will place in you a new heart. I will give you a new spirit. I will give you a new name. You will sing a new song. I will give you new wine.” The Apostle Paul says the same thing when he writes, “If anyone is in Christ Jesus, they are a new creation. The old has passed away; the new has come.”

Paul Tillich is a famous American theologian, and when we go to the seminary, we are required to read his philosophical works. He is a very good author. One of his most famous books is entitled, “The New Being.” In it, there are a series of sermons, and one sermon is entitled, “The New Creation.” I feel it is the best sermon in the book. He says in that sermon, “If you want to summarize the message of the Christian faith, you can summarize it in two words. It is the message of the…new creation. God who sat upon the throne said, “I make all things new.”

But, what does that mean? How do we translate that word? How do we understand that phrase? “I make all things new.”

I telephoned an antique dealer the other day. Their business specializes in restoring old furniture. I asked that person, “What goes into being an excellent restorer of old furniture?” He answered me immediately, “Imagination. Creative imagination. You have to see past all the layers of paint, chips, past the mars and scars. You have to look past all the faults in the wood and the broken pieces. You need to be able to see the piece of furniture in its original beauty. Your eye and mind has to have imagination, and you actually get kind of excited about the possibilities that you see beneath the surface. Then, you have to have time and energy. Not a little bit of time and energy and a lot of time and energy. These things don’t just happen overnight. It takes time. It takes disciplined energy. The miracle doesn’t happen just at the snap of a finger and immediately. It takes the necessary time and energy. Third, he says, “Love is more important than skill.” You need to love the piece of furniture and its possibilities. The skills aren’t that hard to learn: the skills of using the right solutions to strip it, the skill of choosing the right sandpaper, the skill of fixing a broken hinge. These skills are important but not as important as loving the possibilities you can see in the furniture.” I said, “Thank you very much.” He seemed to be a wise man.

Our theme image today shows two beach chairs, one in disrepair and one new chair. If you’ve ever refinished or repaired a piece of furniture, you know that the antique dealer is right on. Scraping, sanding, painting, replacing bolts, replacing fabric, what was once a piece of junk becomes a “new chair.”

Imagination is needed to see past all the painted crud and scars. Much time and energy is needed to get rid of the crud and scars. Not a little time and energy but much time and energy. . Love is more important than skill. Loving the possibilities is important in restoring a piece of furniture.

When God says, I make all things new; that is what God means. God take that which is old and makes it new. God would not take a chair or desk and throw it out in an incinerator. God wouldn’t throw it into a garbage heap. That isn’t the way God works: throw it away and start all over. If God did throw the chair away and start all over, he would then go and get himself some seeds or plant some trees. Have the trees grow. Cut down the grown trees. Saw the wood into lumber. Build the wood into a new chair. Have the new chair sold to a store. The store would then advertise a new chair. That isn’t the way God works. What God means by “making things new” is not making a new chair to sell in a retail store, but to take that which is corroded, scarred and broken down and restore it to its original pristine beauty. That is what the phrase means, “I the Lord God will make all things new.” You need to understand how God works. You need to understand the Biblical word, new.

Now, the analogy is so easy. In many ways, our lives are like these chairs. Our lives become corroded and coated with layers of dirt and old cruddy paint. We say we carry baggage. We are layered with baggage, with junk, with cruddy stuff. As we grow older, there are layers of anger and bitterness and cynicism, where there is little joy in our lives. Through the years, we have collected innumerable habits. We have become critical, petty and short-fused about everything. We give into shallow and materialistic American values. We want to go buy this and that. … There is layer after layer after layer of crud that has accumulated in our lives.

But not only do we have crud. We also have enormous scars. We get scarred immensely by life. We all get hurt deeply. Scarred by childhood memories. Scarred by physical accidents. Scarred by emotional disasters. We know what scars are. They are the result deep cuts or terrible accidents. I don’t know one family in this parish who has not been scarred deeply by life.

We not only have crud on us and scars in us but there are broken pieces that need to be fixed. So also in life. Things get broken in life: broken families, broken marriages, broken dreams. I also don’t know anyone who has not been broken by life or will not be broken sometime in the future.

God needs to do something about the crud, the scars and the breaks in our lives. So God goes to work on us. God has a great imagination and sees the possibilities in us. God sees past the crud, sees past the scars, sees past the brokenness and sees the divine possibilities in us. And then, God strips off the old paint. God strips off the old anger, cynicism and hatred and all the other bad habits we have developed. . God goes to work and starts to sand off those deep scars in our lives and then fixes the broken pieces of our lives. This all takes time, more time than we want it to. But God doesn’t stop there. God starts to put on a layer of beautiful paint or stain, and layers of grace and peace, and layers of joy and happiness, and layers of love and affection. And when God is done with us, God says, “I make all things new.” I restore that which is old, corroded and scarred into someone new.

When we get broken down and corrupted and sick and old and rancid, God does not throw us away into a junk heap. God does not throw us away into an incinerator and go and get somebody else for a new people. No. God restores us. That is the purpose of God: to take that which is corroded, scarred and broken down and then God remakes us into new people.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many “re” words in the Bible? These are the words that begin with “re.” It is the Latin and the French prefix. It is the same for both languages. In the Bible, numerous key words use the prefix “re.” Resurrection. Rebirth. Restore. Renew. These are all key words in the Bible. These words talk about God returning us and creation to its original purpose and beauty.

Reborn. Do you remember when you were a little child of two, three, four, five, or six years old? Or if you can’t remember yourself at that age, can you remember singing to your own children or grandchildren when they were two, three, four, five, six years old? At night, they would go to bed, fold their hands, and pray to God. They knew for sure that God answered prayers. They knew for sure that God was all around them. They knew for sure that God would care for them through the night. Do you remember the absolute trust that a little child has in God? We need to be reborn; that is, we need to be returned to that time in life when we trusted God as a little child.

Reconciliation. We need to be reconciled. Do you remember those times when you had conciliatory relationships? Conciliatory relationships with your husband, your wife, when you were at peace with them? Think back on those times when you were really at peace with your husband or wife. Or really at peace with your son or daughter. Or really at peace with your mother and or father or friend. Or think back to the times in life when you were really at peace with yourself. Do you remember those times when you were conciliatory? We need to be returned to those times in life when we were the kind of people that God wanted us to be. We need to be returned to our original pristine beauty.

Restore. The whole earth needs to be restored to its original form and beauty. Do you remember when you used to go hiking out in the woods up to Mount Rainier and you didn’t see all kinds of plastic bottles all along the road up and then all along the path? Do you remember going into national parks and you didn’t see all those aluminum can rings that seem to be scattered all over the globe? Do you remember those times when you used to go walking on the ocean and you would lift up your bare feet and there was no oil on the bottom of your feet? Do you remember those days? The whole earth itself needs to be restored. It needs to be returned to its original pristine beauty. …

I will restore you to the joy of your salvation. Do you remember those times when you were happy? Think back to those times when you were really happy, when you woke up in the morning with a song in your heart and a prayer on your lips. When you felt like praising God in song. When you felt like whistling. When was the last time you happily whistled? Why don’t you whistle any more? Do you remember those times in your life where you weren’t so rushed and racing, when you weren’t so concentrated on the tasks before you, where you weren’t so sour and negative, when you were truly happy inside? I do. The Lord God says, “I want to restore you to the joy of your salvation.”

In all of these words, we hear that God wants to restore us to our original pristine beauty. “I the Lord God make all things new.”

Jesus was the same way. The whole purpose of Jesus’ life was to restore human beings to their original beauty. When you think back on Jesus’ life, his whole purpose was to restore people to be healthy and loving. The woman at the well, the sick man lowered down through the roof by his four friends, the rich young ruler. You think of every story about Jesus and his earthly life, Jesus restored those people to health, to wholeness, to goodness, to happiness. Jesus was in the restoration business. He was giving people new life. Jesus was restoring human beings, and in their restoration, those people found new life.

Rev. Edward Markquart, edited by Ministry Depot

“The Prodigal Son” is a sermon interpretation of Luke 15.  The following image portrays the rebellious son wining and dining and then a forgiving father and repentant son in the foreground.

What does this old classic parable of Jesus have to do with us? Obviously, there are three complex characters: the prodigal son, the older brother, and the father.

First, the youngest son, the prodigal himself. Here in this story we see the story of a human being like you and me, a common and ordinary person who wanted his independence. Who wanted his freedom. Who wanted to do what he wanted to do and not to have to listen to his father and older brother tell him what is right and wrong anymore. He didn’t want to live in the father’s house; he didn’t want to live in the father’s love. He wanted to go out and make it on his own, using his father’s inheritance.

Now, this story is not primarily about losing your life to alcohol or drugs. That is not the purpose of the story. That is a narrow interpretation. The broader interpretation is this: we as human beings, we take the inheritance that God has given to us. We take the money, the brains, the personality, the health, the resources; we take the inheritance that God has been given to us. We say, “God, I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore. I am going to go and live my life as if you never existed.” And so we take our God-given inheritance and we go and live as if God didn’t exist or remotely exists. That’s what this story is all about. Then, we finally come to our senses and we come home to God.

Don’t make the mistake of limiting this story to alcohol or drug addictions or people who end up in prison. Don’t make the mistake of limiting this story to someone else who destroys their life by stupid choices. The meaning of the story is broader than that. This is a story about us, about you and me, when we take our God-given inheritance and run away from God, living as if God does not exist. This story applies to all of us.

Sometimes we think we are going to find happiness…in a nice new home, in a nice new car, in a nice trip here and a nice trip there, in a nice job here and a nice new job for the spouse there. Happiness is not there. Happiness is not found in a house. Happiness is not found in an apartment. It is not found in a stereo, camcorder, new computer, not in one more wonderful vacation somewhere.

Finally, we human beings come to our senses. We finally wake up and realize that we need to return home to our heavenly father and our heavenly family. To return home to God and his love. To return home to loving relationships with a loving God. To return home to loving people and loving friends. That is what this story is all about. It is about when we take our God given inheritance and use it in such a way that we live without God.

In the story, the Bible says that the prodigal “came to” his senses. I would like to focus on that phrase for a moment. I would like you to imagine that someone has fainted. The person has fainted and is slowly waking up groggy. In the Greek language, this is a medical term and describes a person who has fainted, is out of it, and then gradually wakes up. That is what happens to us. Sometimes, we have lost our senses, are feeling faint, and then we come to our senses and we finally start to realize that happiness is not found in the material things that are part of our lives: the job, the home, the vacations, the cars. We finally wake up and come to our senses and realize that it is time to come home to God. Yes, we all take turns in our lives playing the role of the prodigal son and the village idiot.

Then, there is the older brother. What shall we say about the older brother? The older brother represents those kinds of people who feel that my faults are better than your faults. My sins are better than your sins. My dirt is cleaner than your dirt. Therefore, God must be a little bit more pleased with me than he is with you, you who don’t love God so much. … This brother represents the “unattractive goodness” of so many people who have a good church going, worshipping, Bible studying, praying Christianity. They go to church, love Jesus, read the Bible, and feel that they are a little less sinful than people who live outside the church. They feel that those of us who are here today are a little more righteous and well behaved and well mannered than those who are outside the church. Our dirt is a little bit cleaner than “their” dirt.

This story of the older brother represents the unattractive goodness of so many self-righteous Christians who are blind to their own faults. … I like that phrase, “Lord, make the bad people good, and the good people a little more likeable and pleasant.” … It reminds me of a poem, “We are the choice selected few and all the rest are damned. There is room enough in hell for you, we can’t have heaven crammed.” The poem reveals an attitude of smug religious self righteousness, that you will be judged by God and I won’t be.

I sometimes wonder which of the two brothers was more bitter inside. The younger brother in the gutter of the far country or the older brother who had stayed home and his heart became hard? You wonder which of the two was more miserable. The one in the far country in the gutter or the one who had stayed home and whose heart had become sour and loveless to people outside his circle.

I often wonder, what would have happened if that younger brother would have been coming home, coming closer to the father’s house. What would have happened if he would not met the father first but the older brother? What do you think would have happened to the younger if he had been first met by his older brother? Do you think he would have made it into the father’s house? I don’t think so.

It could be that some of our brothers and sisters in life are kept from Christian congregations by the very fear of encountering so-called good church people. Such people may not return to the church because they fear they will encounter judgmental hearts and faultfinding attitudes. The disease of “faultfindingitis” was found in the elder brother and I am suspicious that it is often found in the church today. Finding faults may keep unchurched people away. When those who have been away from the church for a while come back, you hope that these unchurched people may meet Christians whose hearts are filled with grace. How unfortunate if they ran into someone with a judging heart.

So, basically, we have two brothers. We have one brother who is the prodigal of the flesh and the other is a prodigal of the spirit. Both are loved. Both are loved deeply by God, the father.

And then we come to the third character in this classic story of Jesus. Of course, it is the father. The father had been waiting lovingly for his son to come home. When his wayward son finally came home, he put a ring on his finger, a coat on his back, shoes on his feet, and he threw a party. This same father deeply loved the son who had stayed home, and this loving father went out onto the porch to find his older son, and said, “Son, I love you. Son, my inheritance is yours. Son, why don’t you come inside and see your brother.” And so we find that the father loved both prodigal sons.

Now, for a moment, let us talk about the father. My favorite story about the waiting father is the old classic sermon illustration. I would like to share this old favorite story with you.

The young son had gone to San Francisco (or the nearest city to you.) He was out of money, out of friends, out of options. He had hit the bottom and was at wits ends. This lost son wrote a letter home to his parents living in the Seattle area. He wrote, “Dear Mom and Dad, I have sinned deeply against you. I have sinned against you and I have sinned against God and I am not worthy to be called your son. There is no reason for you to love me or welcome me back home. I am at the bottom of the barrel and I need to come back home. I hope that you would welcome me. I have been given a ticket for a train, a ticket to get me back to Seattle. Since the train goes past our farm south of Seattle, goes around the bend and right past our farmhouse, if you want me to come home, please put a white towel on the clothesline, out in the back yard near the tracks. I will then know that you want me to come back home. If there is no towel there, I understand. I will understand that it is not right for me to come back home.”

The young man sent the letter, a week later got on the train, and started heading north. As he came closer and closer to home, he became more nervous inside and was pacing up and down the center aisle of the train. As the train came closer and closer to his farmhouse, he couldn’t bear it anymore. He was momentarily sitting next to a man, and he said to him, “Sir, around this next corner, this next bend, there is going to be a farm house of the left, a white house, an old red barn behind it, a dilapidated fence. There will be a clothesline in the back yard. Would you do me a favor and look and see if there is a white towel hanging on the clothesline? I know it sounds peculiar, but I can’t bear to look.” Well, the train came closer and closer to the bend and started to go around the bend, and the young man’s heart was racing as fast as it could. The man said, “Look, look, look. Open your eyes.” The whole clothesline was covered with white towels. The oak trees were covered with white sheets!! The barn roof was covered with sheets. The old dilapidated fence was covered with white sheets. There were sheets everywhere. The father and mother so deeply wanted their son to come back home.

And so it is with God and you and me. When we have wandered away from God and we do. When we take our God given inheritance and get wrapped up in the things of this world so that we forget God, we live and feel as if God does not exist. Sometimes, we come to our senses. Sometimes, we come to our senses and we come back home to an intimate loving relationship with God and his family. And God is so happy when we do.

And sometimes, when we stayed home in the church, and our hearts have become calloused and hard, not to our children, grandchildren and friends, but when our hearts have become calloused and hard to those outside the church…sometimes when we start to feel that our sins are better than their sins…sometimes our hearts have become sour and loveless and acidic to people who are very different than we are…sometimes, we wake up and come to our senses and we come back home to God. And we come back to a loving God who wants so deeply for us to come back and live as loving children within his house.

Rev. Edward Markquart, edited by Ministry Depot

Theme:  Jesus gives humanity a “Last Chance” to be productive and bear fruit.

Every month, most of us receive a utility bill in the mail.  If you miss just one payment, your next bill will look something like this (see image), which includes a warning of disconnection!  This is your Last Chance to pay up or be disconnected!  No kidding!  Its important to pay attention when you are on your last chance!

Jesus told a parable about Last Chances. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was traveling from Galilee up north to Jerusalem down south. It was an eighty mile journey.

While on that journey to Jerusalem, some unnamed people  came up to Jesus and told them about two nasty disasters which apparently had recently occurred.

Listen carefully. It gets a little complicated.

The first nasty disaster. The notorious Pontius Pilate, who had been ruling Israel for four years and had been a monstrous cruel ruler who put down riots viciously,  this Pontius Pilate had mixed the blood of Galileans that he had executed with the blood of their Jewish sacrifices. This was offensive, disgusting, revolting, sickening, nauseating. This was appalling as it gets, for Pilate to have mixed human blood with the animal blood of sacrifices. Talk about repulsive.

Jesus had this ability to read minds and know what people were thinking. Jesus said to them: “I know what some of you folks are thinking. I know that some of you are thinking that these Galileans were killed and then their blood mixed with the blood of sacrifices because they were worse sinners than others.. Isn’t that right? Aren’t some of you thinking that way? I want it to be clear to you,  that is not true. Just because people suffer a nasty, horrible death, that does not mean that they are bigger sinners than everybody else. That is just NOT true.

Rather, when someone dies so suddenly and abruptly, so tragically and brutally, as these Galileans did at the hands of Pilate, it is time for you to think about your own lives and how you are living them. That terrible tragedy is an occasion for you to come to grips with your own death, with your own unexpected end and abrupt death. How are you with the Lord God? Are you ready to die suddenly like those Galileans did? Are you ready to die? Are you ready to meet God face to face? How are you with  your poor neighbors? How are you with your wife, family and friends?

While there is time, you need to repent, turn your lives around, and come back to the Lord. Otherwise, you will die eternally. There is still time for you to change your ways.

Second disaster. Then Jesus continued. “You heard about the tragic news of eighteen people being killed when a tower fell over near Siloam, just south of Jerusalem. That was awful. Talk about tragic. A disaster. Eighteen people mind you. Men, women, children. How do you explain that?

And those eighteen who died so tragically: were they any worse than the rest of the folks who live in Jerusalem? Is that why the eighteen died? Because they were worse sinners than the rest of the town? No, of course not. They died in a moment, died in a blink, died so unexpectedly. We are to be ready at all times to meet our God face to face. Are you ready to meet the Lord God for all eternity? Are you ready?

There is still time to amend your ways, change your lives and become ready to meet God in a moment.

Jesus then them a parable to explain himself more clearly. Jesus often follows a teaching up with a parable. Jesus said, "A man planted a fig tree in his garden. The man came looking for fruit from that fig tree. For three years; yes, for three years, he came looking for fruit from that fig tree. He finally became frustrated with that fig tree and said to his gardener in exasperation, “I have been coming here for three years and that tree does not produce any figs. Cut the thing down.”

The gardener replied, “No, sir, give it another year to produce figs. One more year. Some more time. Some more space. Let me dig around the roots and put good manure on it. If after a year, it still does not produce figs, then let’s cut it down.”

That’s the gospel text for today.

Where do we do from here? There is so much in this gospel. What does this gospel mean for your life and mine?

You ALL know that if…

You own an apple tree, you expect it to produce apples. Right? Of course.

If you own a pear tree, you expect it to produce pears. Right? Of course.

If you own a cherry tree, you expect it to produce cherries. Right? Of course.

If the tree doesn’t produce fruit, we all know what to do. Right? Let’s get rid of it and find a tree that will produce apples, pears or cherries.

We all know that the unproductive tree is a waste of time, space and energy.

But the gardener reasons, “Boss. Hang on there a moment. Let’s give this tree one more chance. More time. More space. One more year.  New manure. Good water. Let’s give this tree one more chance.”

That is what the parable is about for us today. The Lord God wants to give us another chance, one more chance, another season, another year, some more space to begin living our lives in ways that the Lord God expects.

We have another chance, another moment, another space, another period of grace that begins now…to change…to live the quality of lives that God wants from  us…to produce the life of love that the Lord God expects from us. The Lord God gives us more time to shape up, to live life as God wants us to.

We all know that…

The Lord God created apple trees and expects those apple trees to produce apples.

The Lord God created cherry trees and expects those cherry trees to produce cherries.

The Lord God created pear trees, and expects those pear trees to produce pears.

The Lord God created you and me to be loving people, and expects us to live lives of love for God and our neighbors.

Those are the Lord God’s legitimate expectations of us. The Lord God has legitimate expectations of us: to produce fruits of love, for God and neighbor. It is all so very simple.

But the Lord God created  you and me for another purpose, a primary purpose, to produce fruit, to produce the fruit of love for the Almighty good God of creation who fashioned you in the first place and wants you love and adoration. The Lord God created you primarily to love God and your neighbor in need with all your heart mind and soul.

You still more time, one more day, one day more. Don’t you see? Don’t you get it? The Lord God is giving us another chance to live the way God wants us to.

Rev. Edward Markquart, edited by Ministry Depot

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“Violence Epidemic” is a sermon interpretation of Luke 13:31-35.

While it is difficult to see in the smaller image above, the middle teen has a handgun in his back pocket.

I do not need to tell you the stories about Waco, Oklahoma City, Columbine, Virginia Tech, because those words symbolize the violence found in our American society. Columbine was the seventh school in less than a decade to experience mass murders, and now we have more schools to add. Today, we are more keenly aware that we live in a culture of violence.

In l984, Dr. Everett Koop was Surgeon General of the United States. You remember the fellow, the Surgeon General with the chiseled gray beard and old-fashioned face. In 1984, he said that the number one health problem in America was the rising epidemic of violence. In years past, the United States had faced other epidemics e.g. small box and diphtheria, and these past epidemics had to be contained and controlled. Dr. Koop felt the same way about violence in America. Violence had reached epidemic proportions. Of course, almost nothing was done about this rising tide of American violence, and since 1984, we have learned new names like Waco, Oklahoma City, Columbine and Virginia .

Dr. James Gilligan has a fascinating book and study. The title of his book is VIOLENCE and the subtitle is: A RISING NATIONAL EPIDEMIC. Dr. Gilligan works at the Center for the Study of Violence and that center is located at Harvard University. Dr. Gilligan’s primary thesis is that our culture has become addicted to violence. Just as individuals can become addicted to heroine or cocaine, so also cultures also can become addicted. He cites the evidence that among the industrialized democracies of the world, the Unites States has two to twenty more times the rate of violence than these other advanced nations. He asks the question: Why? What is America so violent? His answer: we have become addicted to violence. And what is the first reaction to an addict on being confronted with his or her addiction: denial. “That’s not me. That’s somebody else.” I believe that we are a society that has become addicted to violence, have become desensitized to violence and deny our cultural addictions. Why is it that we watch TV new and programs that are interlaced with violence? Because of our addictions. The reasons for a high degree of violence on TV news and programming is that because violence sells in America to a society that is addicted to violence.

As I read Dr. Gilligan, I thought of another book by Will and Muriel Durant, THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION, and I thought of their remarks about Seneca. Seneca, a Roman philosopher, was born in 4 BC, the same year that Jesus was born. Seneca is remembered for many of his sayings e.g. “all gutters lead to Rome.” But I am recalling his contrast of the games for Athens, Greece and the games for Rome, Italy. The Athenian games featured great athletes throwing the discus, the javelin, and the hammer. These great athletes were running and jumping, in Olympian style. Whereas the games in Nero’s Rome in the year 65AD featured 400 wild bulls, wild elephants, and wild tigers thrown into the same ring, and they would fight each other until there were pools and rivers of blood and the last animal standing would win. The crowd went wild in their cheering. Here was a culture of the distant past that had become addicted to violence just as our current American culture is addicted to violence. Like most addicts, we deny how extensive this addiction is and how it is ruining our lives.

Another person who is meaningful to me is our judge, the honorable Judge Darrell Phillipson who is a member of our congregation. When perplexed, I often approach Judge Phillipson for his judgments and wise observations. In the middle of all of this, I talked to him again. He explained to me that rates of many crimes in America are going down such as larceny and robbery. For many crimes, America is as safe as any time from the 1950s.  But the rate of any crime associated with drugs is going up.

He says that there are two drugs in particular that are destroying our society: crack cocaine and methamphetymines. Crack cocaine is the drug of preference for the black culture; methamphetymines are the drugs of preference for the white culture. These drugs are lethal. These drugs are associated with paranoia, agitation and then violence. It takes twelve to eighteen hours for a person to come down from their drugs highs, and when a person comes down from these drugs, that person is very dangerous. It is like they have no conscience. They become more violent. They will kill a grandma to get these drugs. They often begin to drink alcohol as they come down from their drug high, and so the public may see them fighting or boozing but the real culprits are the drugs. These drugs are highly dangerous; if you use them one or two times, you are hooked for life. There are no known cures. The physical synaptic responses in the brain are altered, and it takes 40-50 years to get this drug out of your system. Such drug users usually die by the age of thirty-five. … Now, in our society with our automatic sentencing for drug users and dealers, there is much talk about getting drug people out of expensive prisons and into treatment programs. But the judge says there are no successful treatment programs for these two drugs. You can treat a cocaine user and get that person off cocaine in nine months but it takes 40-50 years to get them off crack cocaine. These two drugs are enormously dangerous and contribute to the rising tide of violence found in American society.

It seems as if we should ask teenagers directly why there is so much violence in their society. Studies have done that. The study that I am referring to asked teenagers what were the causes of the violence found in their young culture. What was their first answer, way at the top?  Their number one answer was the availability of guns. 86%. Number two at 84% was the Internet and its violence. Number three, at 75%, were parents that were not home.  When you bring together these three factors, easy availability of guns, the Internet, and a disintegrated family without responsible adults, this is a recipe for violence and our increasing violence in America. You will notice that all the drug deaths in our community this past week were the result of guns.

After an earlier service this morning, a school social worker approached me after hearing this sermon. In the past week, three students have come to her telling of their desires to shoot another student. A fourth student told of wanting to kill a teacher. She was stunned and numbed by the degree of potential violence in her small school.

What I am suggesting to you this morning is that Dr. Koop was right in 1984 when he said that we have a “number one” health problem in America and it is the rising epidemic of violence. I agree with Dr. Gilligan that our culture has become addicted to violence and we are into denial about the extent of our addiction.

Jesus, weeping over what was once the holy city, mourned, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning the messengers from God. Behold, your house is forsaken.”

We can imagine Jesus weeping over our city, over our nation, over our world which is deeply addicted to violence as a means of solving conflict. Our city, our nation, our world has this deeply ingrained tendency to silence the messengers from God who clearly tell us about our addictions to violence. Jesus still weeps over our city as we attempt to ignore God’s messengers of truth. God’s messengers are truth tellers about our society, and our society silences them.

Rev. Edward Markquart, edited by Ministry Depot

“Temptations” is a sermon starter for Luke 4: 1-13.

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Temptations are real and an actual part of our daily lives. Temptations are not theoretical, nor hypothetical nor imaginary. Whether you believe in the devil or not, temptation is real for you. Whether you believe Satan is real or not, your struggles with temptation are real, and so are mine.

We all know about sugar cookies, ice cream, chocolate and popcorn. We all have had experiences with these delicacies of life and they are indeed temptations for us. These are part of the everyday trivial and not so trivial temptations of our lives. It would be nice if these were the only temptations we faced in life.

We often are tempted not to live the way God wants us to live. The temptations of life vary for each one of us, yet we are all addicted to sin. We are all experts at sin. Each of us in our varied ways is an expert at sinning. … For some of you, the battle is with the bottle. Alcoholism is a terrific temptation. Some of you use booze to fill the hole in your soul…. For others of you, it is sex and lust. Some of you are on the verge of having a sexual relationship with someone outside of marriage. You may be having or about to have an affair with somebody at work. For others of you, you can’t handle your sexual fantasies and your use of erotic stimulation for your imagination. … For still others of you, your temptation comes in the form of pride and success. You want to climb higher and higher and higher on the ladder. … For still others, it is money and what money can buy. You want a fancier car, a fancier, home, a fancier trip, a fancier lifestyle.

…For still others, you are drawn to unhealthy people and unhealthy relationships where the person is abusive and destructive and you continue to live in an abusive relationship and your temptation is that you think you deserve such punishment. …Still others of you are tempted to live life for yourself and ignore the elderly, ignore the poor, ignore the people in prisons or jails. … Still others of you are tempted to ignore your own children and even worse, to ignore your husband or wife and not give them the quality of time and love they need.  … How nice it would be if the temptations of life had to do primarily with chocolate, ice cream and popcorn. But the real temptations of life have to do with the gut issues of life. The gut issue of whether or not God does real know the numbers of hairs on your head. The gut issue of whether or not you are living in ways that are pleasing to God.

It is with this mood that we approach the temptation story of Jesus for today. Jesus was tempted and his temptations were not sham encounters. It was no imaginary thing. It was no hypothetical situation. His temptations were real, just as your and my temptations are real. His temptations were not shadow boxing. They were not little make-believe exercises that he went through. Nor was Jesus being tempted among a gallery of spectators who were cheering him on. Like so many temptations, they occurred when he was alone, for temptation is often a lonely encounter. Temptation is often a solitary business. Jesus was alone with his thoughts, alone with his dreams, alone with his desires, alone with his fantasies, and he was tempted, just as we are often tempted when we are alone with our thoughts, our dreams, and our fantasies.

To read more about the temptations of Jesus, see Mark 1:9-15

Rev. Edward Markquart, sermon edited by Ministry Depot

Theme: the Presence of God and Glory of God is all around us… in the mountaintops, down in the valleys, and on the plains of life. The goodness of the Spirit of Christ is found in the mountaintops, down at the bottom of the valleys, and in the plains of ordinary living. 
       

First, Christ is present with us in the mountaintop experiences of life. God is present in the exotic times of life, those special moments when you know for sure that there is a God. When you know for sure that Christ has been talking with you.

In the Old Testament, these experiences are called, theophanies. Theo meaning God; epiphany meaning revelation. Revelation of God.

There is that old story about Moses. Moses was walking along in the Sinai peninsula and there was a burning bush. As Moses stood before this burning bush, he heard the voice of God say, “Moses, take off your shoes for you are on holy ground.” Moses knew. Moses knew that God had spoken to him in that moment. Moses knew that there was God and that God was real. It happened to him again a short time later. Moses had gone up to the top of Mount Sinai. For six days and nights, Moses had been up at the top of Mount Sinai. Suddenly, there was a swirling cloud that surrounded the mountain. Moses knew that it was the Presence of God and God spoke to him and gave him the Ten Moral Laws, the Ten Commandments. Moses spoke with God. Moses knew. Moses knew that God had spoken with him. He knew for sure that God was with him, that God was real.

The gospel lesson for today is a similar kind of story. Today’s gospel story is a very similar story to the Old Testament story that was read. Peter, James, and John were up on a mountain, Mount Tabor, an 1800 feet high, not far from the village of Nazareth. They were up on the top of that mountain, and they too had been on the top of that mountain for six days and six nights. Then, as with Moses, a cloud came around them and in that moment, in that exotic moment, in that theophany, in that special and sacred moment in their life, they heard the voice of God say, “This is my beloved Son, Jesus. Listen to him.” And they knew it was a rare moment, an exotic moment; they believed that God had spoken. They knew it for sure.

I would like to suggest to us this morning that God comes to us in those rare and exotic moments when you know for sure that God has been with you. When you know that God has talked with you. When you know and feel the intervention of God in your life.

Sometimes it happens on a mountaintop and sometimes it happens at a healing and sometimes it happens at a worship service. It can happen at one of those special worship services. Any kid or adult who was up at Camp Norwester two years ago, at the edge of the beach, as the stories were told, most everybody will remember that worship service until their dying day. I know that every child and adult who were present will remember that night. They will remember the Presence of God, that God was there.

Theophanies are those moments in life in which God clearly speaks to us. On a mountaintop. In a healing. In a worship service. Over a radio broadcast. In the birth of a child. In those moments, God speaks to you and you know, you know there is God.

Secondly, God never meant us to live on the mountaintop. I wish the gospel story told you the next Biblical story after the Transfiguration. This next Biblical story is never included in the lectionary series, and I feel badly about that. The next story is the key to the transfiguration story. The disciples and Jesus came off the mountain, and they came right down to the bottom of the valley. They came off the mountain and they came down into the valley and they found a boy who was having epileptic seizures. The mother and father were enormously upset and worried about the desperately sick boy, and the little boy fell into a fire and burned himself. In other words, the disciples came down off that mountaintop right into the problems of real life. Home from a mountaintop vacation and into the real world at home. And the disciples discovered that God is also down in the valley and does not live only or even primarily on the mountaintop.

I like the quotation by Henry Drummond, the Scottish theologian when he said, “God does not make the mountains in order to be inhabited. God does not make the mountaintops for us to live on the mountaintops. It is not God’s desire that we live on the mountaintops. We only ascend to the heights to catch a broader vision of the earthly surroundings below. But we don’t live there. We don’t tarry there. The streams begin in the uplands, but these streams descend quickly to gladden the valleys below.” The streams start in the mountaintops, but they come down to gladden the valleys below.

You and I experience the valleys of life. You and I both know what happens the next day coming down from the mountain. It is the real world and the real life. After Sundays of life, there are always Mondays. You know, the tough ones of life. God is with us there.

I believe that God is with us, not only on the mountaintops, but God is with us the next day at the very bottom of the mountain. You know what it is like down at the bottom of the mountain. You know what it means to experience the severe illness and death of children. You know what it means to have trauma in your marriage. You know what it means to have one of your friends die much too early and much too painfully. You know what it is like to be down at the bottom of the mountain. And you know that God is with you and you know that God speaks to you there and gives you the words of hope and strength for that time. For God is with us both on the mountaintops and in the valleys.

Thirdly, God is with us in the plains, in the ordinariness of life. Being honest, we don’t spend much time on the mountaintops nor do we spend a lot of time down in the valley. Where we spend most of our time is living plain, ordinary days. What I have found is that God is in the plain ordinariness of life as well. Such as driving to work, having breakfast, pouring the Cheerios out of the box, making a cup of coffee, a cheese sandwich, listening to the telephone as it rings, talking to a friend, sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper, listening to television, tuning in the stereo, opening the refrigerator door, feeding the dog, going for a walk. Life. Everyday life. You stand underneath the flowering plum tree in the spring time and you look up and see a million miracles, a million flower blossoms. And God is there with you as well.

God is with us on the mountain top. God is with us in the valleys of life. God is with us in the plain, ordinariness of life.

Rev. Edward Markquart, edited by Ministry Depot