For the next few weeks we will be hearing the word from the book of Ephesians.  In our Sunday services you will hear several readings from the book…BUT what if you read the entire book of Ephesians?

Wesley taught us that we should study the scriptures.  Jesus taught us that we should study the Torah.  How much more could God speak to us if we read scripture everyday?  If you are like me you may fall short of that goal.

As a church we have the goal before us to read the entire book of Ephesians this month.  Don’t panic, Ephesians is only six chapters. As you read a chapter sign your name on the bulletin board.  Encourage each other to read each week!

Today is the first Sunday that we begin readings in the book of Ephesians.  The book of Ephesians is a book that celebrates the life of the church. It is a book that starts or is rooted in the idea that the church was established by God’s eternal propose and it’s believers already live in union with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.  It is anticipated the full union of God and church in the life to come.

The book speaks of the reconciliation to God through the death of Christ, and ow that has broken the power of evil.  The book may or may not be written by Paul.  In verse 1 it identifies Paul as author, but likely it was a follower of Paul writing in Paul’s style and tradition.  This was perfectly acceptable in the time of the writing.

The entire book is about being the church, doing church and living in the grace that God destined the church and the community of the believers to.  Each of these weeks I want us to hear the reading the lection of the week but I also want you to keep the vision of the whole book.  God chose us.  Let that sink in, we were chosen by God for God’s grace before we even gave thought to it.  We were destined for God’s grace before any of us were a twinkle in our poppy’s eye.  God pegged us for God perfect grace before the creation of all that we know or imagine.

We might think that makes us pretty special….or special-er.  But the grace of God’s, this grace for us, calls us.  It is not about being God’s special church, it is about being called to specific tasks of serving God and serving neighbor.

That’s the message that I want your heart to return to in the coming weeks and months.

We as the church, are called to specific tasks of serving God and serving neighbor.  That is what it is to live under God’s grace….even before we knew.

So we begin in the book of Ephesians.  The salutations of verse one may have been as addition to the book.  This may have been a general writing and not just to a specific group.  No matter, it isn’t long before you realize this is beautiful and rich language.  It very likely might have been used for hymns or liturgies in the early church.  Whatever the use it is rich.

It begins with a blessing to God.

….then it begins with us-God chose us…before the creation of the world.  Chosen to be holy and blameless.  To be set aside for purpose without the mare of brokenness.

We are adopted children of God…because of Jesus love.  This was the plan of grace, grace given freely.

We are us-we are not God.  We are broken, we have failures, we sin.  It is the way the world is, not quite right.  By Jesus blood, we are ransomed…paid for with overflowing grace.  Hear that…overflowing grace, poured over us with wisdom and grace.

This is God’s choosing, this is God’s plan.  God accomplishes this by Jesus Christ.

The language is thick.  We hear the words blessed, chosen, adoption, grace and it is sweet to the ear.  Do you believe?

The language of the world may be different-fated, rejected, failure, shameful and guilty Those are the words of the world.  These words are at times hurled at us.  Some more than others but we have all heard the words, some have lived the words often. ** Know that these are not the words of scripture, they are not the words or the life or the heart that God has for us.  Open your hearts I pray to hear the words that have been written….the words written and flowing with grace for us.

The author goes on-vs 10-like an informercial on late night…But wait, there’s more. God plans the climax, the best of all time…..God will bring all things together in Christ.  All things in heaven, all things on earth.  What does that even mean?  I believe that I will see all things that have gone before me, all the saints, things and persons I do not know, along with all that I know but there will not be brokenness, not be sin.  All will be quite right.

We will receive an inheritance.  This will be God’s plan. God accomplishes God’s plans.

The verses continue…you heard the good news of Christ, which is the good news of your salvation.  You were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Do you hear the baptismal promises in that?

This is our blessings.  This is what God has chosen for us, for our lives.  So in this beginning chapter of Ephesians, God choses us for God’s grace….before we even knew.  Before we even knew, and now we know

so let us live as ones who are graced by God,

and called by God to live out that grace.

Today is Everyone Serve Sunday-may we serve faithfully,

with glad hearts,

remembering for whom we serve.

I read a most interesting article the other day-The Greatest False Idol of Modern Christianity.  The article does not identify the idol up front but gives description of it.  ***share authors descriptions.  Then he says it….”Fear has become their false God.”

He goes on and describes the symptoms of Fear Idolatry.

***share examples.

The author’s last lines…I know how big my God is.  Do you?

I will go ahead and confess-you got me.  I try to rise about the fear.  Yet, in part I know I just try not to express it.  Fear is all around us.  Certainly in our political climate-this isn’t how anyone thought it would be.  But even in general-fear can get very large, with just a small feeding.  It doesn’t take long to hear fear in much of today’s conversation.

So I hate having idols!  God doesn’t want us to hold things tightly that do not lead us to God.  So what to do, what to do?

I think I have a Psalm for you.  Psalm 30.  According to Walter Bruggerman, it is a Psalm of New-Orientation.  You may recall his classification of Orientation, Disorientation, and New Orientation.

Psalm 30 describes, refers to much of the experience of disorientation but then moves us to new orientation.  I believe that we have to name the disorientation that we experience before we can move to a new orientation.

There is power in naming something.  We begin to understand it, or understand our experience of it.  I was brought up short to hear an author name the “new idol” fear.  There could be twenty other articles, essays, opinions that name the current political environment.  You could identify selfish, childish, faithless, or a host of unspoken terms even.  It is not in the exact name-it is in speaking of it, the claiming the experience, giving words to the emotional/thought experience.  By giving those words we are able to make the situation real.

This is what the psalmist has done.

His foes were rejoicing over him

He was sick.

He was crying.

His soul was in Sheol, in the Pit.

That sums up a stinking situation!  I wonder if when he re-read the words if he said-wow I had lost my way, I was disoriented (just as Bruggereman would classify it) You see that you can not depend on your own devices. Words are powerful and they identify the power of the suffering, loss, and fear.

Yet that is not what the psalm is about.  It is not a psalm of disorientation but of new-orientation.  Here the psalm- what God has done.  Responding to the despair the verses say-between the lines-we can not pretend that all will always be well or as it should be!

Yet ,they have experienced new life and grace — so they know that despair is not all powerful and evil does not have the last word.  the word sof the psalm beautifully describe our experiences in life.  The words remind us-suffering is not the absence of God, but encourages us to take refuge in God.

Nor-does suffering negate the good news that life is a gift from God.

I want to shift us at this point to our day.  The overall theme or name of this series on Psalms is “Being Church”.  How do we be church?  I think Bruggerman types it well and it is also fitting for being the church….there are chapters of orientation, disorientation and new orientation.

Today we have before us an example of new orientation-how can that inform or shape us as we be church?  We have suffering in the church and oh my do we ever name it-declining numbers, aging buildings, less money, higher cost of clergy, shortage of clergy, no interest in disciplining, busy, busy, busy.  Theological-we are all looking for bumper sticker theology that we can put on the tip of a sword and fight off every fear.

We are called to a new orientation.  We can not deny the above nor should we.  But how do we be church in a way that we faithful live out the gift of new life in Christ that God gives to us.  Our lives are busy and the world is changing.

If we die trying to Be the church, what will happen?  Will the dust praise God?  I don’t think so.  Let God turn our mourning into dancing.

Sermon from 7/2/2017

Today’s reading is likely one of your favorites from the Psalms.  Psalm 23-the shepherd’s Psalm is an image as our creator God being our shepherd, caring for us, leading us and loving us.  Many have the Psalm memorized.  We hear it frequently at funerals-where it gives us comfort and reminds us that God cares for us although we may not always feel or be aware of that.  I know I have preached on this Psalm at least twice in the past five years.  The Psalm washes over us as a salve, giving us comfort and rest for our wounded and ragged selves.

Today, I want to simply tell you a sheep story.  It is a real life, real sheep story and I will let you hear the Psalm on your own.

His name is Shrek!  Shrek did not like to be sheared.  Most sheep don’t mind being sheared.  It take about ten minutes with an experienced shearer…maybe twelve.  Most sheep are just chill about it, knowing it is part of being cared for.  They say the lambs are frisky.  Their inexperience with the process makes them more frightened but as they mature they settle into being sheared regularly.

About shearing-it’s not really that bad, or so I’ve read.  Shrek was a sheep type called Merino.  Their coat continues to grow.  The don’t shed it off or slow down on it’s growth.  Yes this can cause some problems.  The fur can become matted such that the sheep may not be able to walk.  Or if they fall onto their back they can’t get turned up right and may die.  Shrek had not read this facts and hadn’t thought of them himself.

Shrek hated shearing and devised a plan to run off, slipping out of the pen and making a break for it…..

He was “lost” for six years.  There were a series of near by caves and he roamed them without detection.  Well hidden in the caves, Shreks’s fur continued to grow, grow, and grown some more. When he was found, they were not sure what he was at first.  You couldn’t see his eyes.  But Shrek had successfully escaped being sheared.

And sheared he was then…..on national tv.  He had become a celebrity.  His wool weighed in at 60 pounds—enough to make 20 men’s suits-large men.  His wool was auctioned off for a children’s charity.

Shrek became a national favorite for the country of New Zealand.  He was loved by his owners and given private pen, reinforced no doubt and plenty of sheep chow.  Shrek passed away in 2011 at the age of 16.  Sixteen is a remarkable life for a Mirano sheep.

A slightly different story than Psalm 23.  I should remind us, you and myself, that we are the sheep in both stories.  We are lead, we are kept safe, and sometimes we think we need to slip the pen and hid out.

In some ways I saw Shrek as a hero, hiding out and doing as he wanted.  But what if he had fallen on his back.  What is his fur had matted making walking impossible! I have thought about him all week.  With a bit more honesty, I might say I have been thinking about me all week.  Perhaps recognizing my own sheep-ness.

God does lead us, and elsewhere in the scriptures we hear about the fold to keep sheep safe and following the shepherds voice.  Yet sheep are sheep and the shepherd loves the sheep but not keep them leashed or tied up.

It comes down to our freedom can allow us to be cared for and care for ourselves.  As it turns out for other sheep, freedom can lead to being left alone, but with a matted not so great load of wool to tote around.  How free is that?

This week-the 4^th of July-we celebrate our freedom.  Our freedom as a county, freedoms as individuals.  I understand the holiday, I get it.  But let’s remember that we are sheep, and our freedom is from God.  God is our shepherd who leads us, we need to recognize God’s voice.  God leads us not to be free American’s but to be the people of God, free to serve the last, the least and the lost, free to serve mercy, free to seek justice.

As we go to the table today to be served, let us go as God’s flock, giving thanks for the still waters and the green paths, knowing that surely the valleys will come, our cup will overflow and that our enemies—we will sit with them, speak with them, break bread with them.  It is a promise for a sheep such as us.  There is no need to hide in the caves, follow the voice and all shall be well and all shall be well.