Sermon for April 5th, 2015 - Revision history

Iraneal at 00:33, 5 April 2015

2015-04-05T00:33:15Z

Iraneal at 00:31, 5 April 2015

2015-04-05T00:31:36Z

Iraneal at 00:29, 5 April 2015

2015-04-05T00:29:32Z

Iraneal at 00:28, 5 April 2015

2015-04-05T00:28:27Z

Iraneal at 00:13, 5 April 2015

2015-04-05T00:13:01Z

Iraneal at 23:48, 4 April 2015

2015-04-04T23:48:53Z

Iraneal at 23:23, 4 April 2015

2015-04-04T23:23:47Z

Iraneal at 22:56, 4 April 2015

2015-04-04T22:56:06Z

Iraneal at 21:57, 4 April 2015

2015-04-04T21:57:57Z

Iraneal at 21:16, 4 April 2015

2015-04-04T21:16:20Z

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
   This train!
-Jesus began his message with a shout-out, a word of hope, love, and affirmation for those who needed it most.
+Jesus began his message with a shout-out, a powerful word of hope, love, and affirmation for those who needed it most.
 If we, who are gathered here on Easter Sunday some 2,000 years later, can throw open the doors of our heart...

@@ Line 79: / Line 79: @@
 Jesus began his message with a shout-out, a word of hope, love, and affirmation for those who needed it most.
-If we, who are gathered here on this Easter Sunday some 2,000 years later can throw open the doors of our heart...
 And if we can welcome a new generation of people with the same message, the same hope, the same love...
-Then--and only then!--I believe we can say with absolute conviction and passsion:
-"Jesus is risen...and he is alive in us today."
+Then (and only then!) I believe we can say with absolute conviction and passsion: Jesus is risen...and he is alive in us today.

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 Some of you know I've been on a Bruce Springsteen kick lately.  Forgive me for throwing "the Boss" at you two weeks in a row, but Springsteen's song "Land of Hope and Dreams" is about as close an image of the Kingdom of God as any song I know.  He puts it this way:
-This train carries saints and sinners
+ This train carries saints and sinners
-This train carries losers and winners
+ This train carries losers and winners
-This train carries whores and gamblers
+ This train carries whores and gamblers
-This train carries lost souls
+ This train carries lost souls
-−
-This train carries broken-hearted
+ This train carries broken-hearted
-This train, thieves and sweet souls departed
+ This train, thieves and sweet souls departed
-This train carries fools and kings
+ This train carries fools and kings
-This train--all aboard!
+ This train--all aboard!
-−
-On this train, dreams will not be thwarted
+ On this train, dreams will not be thwarted
-On this train, faith will be rewarded
+ On this train, faith will be rewarded
-This train, steel wheels singing
+ This train, steel wheels singing
-This train, bells of freedom ringing
+ This train, bells of freedom ringing
-This train!
+ This train!
 Jesus began his message with a shout-out, a word of hope, love, and affirmation for those who needed it most.
@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 And if we can welcome a new generation of people with the same message, the same hope, the same love...
 Then--and only then!--I believe we can say with absolute conviction and passsion:
-"Jesus is Risen...and he is alive in us today."
+"Jesus is risen...and he is alive in us today."

@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 It's time to throw the doors open wide. Not just to people who have their act together (if those people even exist) but to people whose lives are messy, heartbroken, lonely, vulnerable, unpredictable, and socially unacceptable.
-Some of you know I've been on a Bruce Springsteen kick lately, and I love the way he puts it in his song "Land of Hope and Dreams."  He says,
+Some of you know I've been on a Bruce Springsteen kick lately.  Forgive me for throwing "the Boss" at you two weeks in a row, but Springsteen's song "Land of Hope and Dreams" is about as close an image of the Kingdom of God as any song I know.  He puts it this way:
 This train carries saints and sinners
@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 This train, thieves and sweet souls departed
 This train carries fools and kings
-This train, all aboard
+This train--all aboard!
 On this train, dreams will not be thwarted
-This train, faith will be rewarded
+On this train, faith will be rewarded
-This train, the steel wheels singing
+This train, steel wheels singing
 This train, bells of freedom ringing

@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 It's time to throw the doors open wide.
-*Ship of Faith
+This train carries saints and sinners
-*Train bound for Jordan
+This train carries losers and winners
- This train carries saints and sinners
+On this train, dreams will not be thwarted
- This train carries losers and winners
+This train, faith will be rewarded
- This train carries whores and gamblers
+This train, the steel wheels singing
- This train carries lost souls
+This train, bells of freedom ringing
- This train--Dreams will not be thwarted
- This train--Faith will be rewarded
- This train--Hear the steel wheels singing
- This train--Bells of freedom ringing
- (Bruce Springsteen - Land Of Hope & Dreams)

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:48, 4 April 2015
Line 50:		Line 50:
	Later in his ministry, Jesus tells the story of a man who threw a dinner party, and sent out invitations to all his friends. But when the RSVP's started to come in, many sent their excuses--I'm sorry I can't make it; I'm too busy. I have this other thing I have to attend to." So the man told his servant to go out into the streets and invite "all the misfits, and homeless, and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here." When the servant did that, there was still room at the party. So the man said, "Go out into the countryside and invite anyone you can find. I want my house to be full. I want my party to be HUGE."		Later in his ministry, Jesus tells the story of a man who threw a dinner party, and sent out invitations to all his friends. But when the RSVP's started to come in, many sent their excuses--I'm sorry I can't make it; I'm too busy. I have this other thing I have to attend to." So the man told his servant to go out into the streets and invite "all the misfits, and homeless, and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here." When the servant did that, there was still room at the party. So the man said, "Go out into the countryside and invite anyone you can find. I want my house to be full. I want my party to be HUGE."

		+	Look around you, people of First Presbyterian Church. There is still room in here for more people. We've sent out our invitations. Some have sent back their excuses, and that's okay. Jesus' message always appeals most to those who need it most. But I believe there are still people in our community who need to hear about God's acceptance and unconditional love; people who are stuck and spinning their wheels trying to play by the impossible rules of some other kingdom; people who are not here because we have not invited them, or worse because we, the church, have rejected them or excluded them because they don't fit our small and narrow conception of who belongs in God's kingdom.
		+
		+	It's time to throw the doors open wide.

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 Sometimes we'll use the word "blessed" in the sense of lucky or fortunate, with the idea that God is somehow behind our good fortune--although usually this has more to do with the world's idea of fortune than God's:  "I'm so blessed to have a nice house, a good job, two cars and 3.5 children."
-But in the Greek of the New Testament, the word Jesus uses (that we translate "blessed") is μακάριοι.  It's where we get our English prefix "macro-" (the opposite of "micro-").  In other words, it means big, Large, HUGE!  Jesus looks out on a crowd of poor, small, and insignificant people desperate to enlarge their wealth, their power, their influence, and he says, eight times in all, "You--all of you, regardless of faction, regardless of circumstance or means--you are HUGE! You are significant!  You MATTER in the Kingdom of God. You may see yourselves as poor, as weak, as brokenhearted and rejected...but God sees you as whole, complete. And the best part? You don't have to DO anything to earn or deserve that.  You matter because God made you."
+But in the Greek of the New Testament, the word Jesus uses (that we translate "blessed") is μακάριοι.  It's where we get our English prefix "macro-" (the opposite of "micro-").  In other words, it means big, Large, HUGE!  Jesus looks out on a crowd of poor, small, and insignificant people desperate to enlarge their wealth, their power, their influence, and he says, eight times in all, "You--all of you, regardless of faction, regardless of circumstance or means--you are HUGE! You are significant!  You MATTER in the Kingdom of God. You may see yourselves as poor, as weak, as brokenhearted and rejected...but God sees you as whole, complete. And the best part? You don't have to DO anything to earn or deserve that.  You matter, unconditionally, because God made you."
-*Beatitudes are a reversal of the ten commandments:  Commandments begin with requirements in order to earn God's blessing.  Beatitudes begin with unconditional blessing...you already have god's unmerited favor.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==Matthew 5:3-12==
+==Matthew 5:1-12==
 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 They had another thing in common, too. Their solution to life's problems boiled down to this: "You're doing it wrong. Try harder."  If you want the Romans to like you, if you want your countrymen to respect you, if you want God to love you...try harder. If you want to be happy, rich, safe, free...just try harder.  And in their own unique and diverse ways, they were all trying pretty hard.  And they were all pretty exhausted.  And their problems were only getting worse.
-If you had been in that first century crowd as Jesus opened his mouth to speak, chances are you would have been listening intently to figure out which faction he would side with, and which people he would reject.  You might have been listening to hear what things Jesus thought you had to try harder in order to be happy, rich, safe, and free.
+If you had been in that first century crowd as Jesus opened his mouth to speak, you would have been listening intently to figure out which faction he would side with, and which people he would reject.  You might have been listening to hear what things Jesus thought you had to try harder in order to englarge your life in a world where, regardless of faction, chances are you were still poor, powerless, and pretty insignificant in the Roman Empire.  And so the first word out of his mouth would have caught you completely by surprise.

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 Or, you might be a traditionalist--part of the first century "religious right."  You resent all these new Roman innovations, but you know that to oppose them is suicide. Instead, you believe the solution is personal piety, a return to traditional values.  If we just pray harder, if we just obey the scriptures down to the last letter, if we refuse to tolerate any sin among us (or any sinful people among us), maybe God will finally intervene in our world, punishing the wicked and vindicating the righteous (that's us, of course!).
-All of these factions were part of 1st century Palestine, and were likely represented in the crowd that came to hear Jesus preach. I suspect those same factions (or their 21st century equivalents) are represented here today as well.  They all have two things in common: First, their solution to life's problems amounts to this: Try harder.  If you want the Romans to like you, if you want your countrymen to respect you, if you want God to love you...try harder. If you want to be happy, rich, safe, free...just try harder.  And in their own unique and diverse ways, they were all trying pretty hard.  And they were all pretty exhausted.  And their problems were only getting worse.
+All of these factions were part of 1st century Palestine, and were likely represented in the crowd that came to hear Jesus preach. I suspect those same factions (or their 21st century equivalents) are represented here today as well.
-The other thing they all had in common was a strong sense of who was in...and who was out.
+One thing they all had in common was their exclusivity and mutual rejection of each other. Those who bought into Roman ideology rejected the revolutionaries and the traditionalists as backwards and old-fashioned, part of the problem and a hinderance to progress.  The revolutionaries rejected Roman sympathizers and traditionalists as traitors who had bowed down to the enemy. The traditionalists rejected the revolutionaries as impractical and dangerous rabble-rousers, and they rejected the Roman sympathizers as sinners, part of the reason God had turned away from his people.