Risen Indeed

I'm getting out of order, but I wanted to go ahead and post my Easter sermon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoilers have been a topic of conversation lately. Do you know what I mean by spoilers? When someone gives away the end or some plot twist in a book, movie or TV show. Last week, Savannah Guthrie of the Today Show caught some flak for commenting about the end of Downton Abbey’s season finale. Apparently, lots of people who had recorded the show and not watched it yet were upset.

Do you like to have things spoiled, the ending of a movie or the plot of a TV show or the twist in a novel? I’ll be honest, sometimes when I’m reading a book, I’ll read the last page when I’m half-way through. But when I do I always feel a little guilty that I spoiled the surprise.

Some people get really upset about spoilers. This is bad because we have the unfortunate combination of DVRs and Twitter. Lots of people record shows to watch them later, and lots of people watch them as they happen and then Tweet about it – sometimes as they’re watching. Then the DVR crowd gets mad because the suspense is ruined. Or the surprise is ruined.

Jesus was a fan of spoilers, but like with so many other things, most of the time his followers didn’t get it. In his three years with his disciples, Jesus spoiled the end of his story a few times. In Mark 8:31 he tells the disciples that he will suffer, that he will die, and that he will rise from the dead. He told them several times about the resurrection, but still, as we saw in our scripture this morning, they were surprised by the empty tomb. They didn’t know what to think; they didn’t know how to feel.

I think that is the way a lot of us feel about the resurrection of Jesus. We hear the stories, we read the accounts, and we look at the page and think, “Yeah, but what does it mean?”

One of the most effective ways I’ve found to read scripture, to find the meaning of scripture, is to put myself in the story. Look at the events from the point of view of one of the participants. I want to do that for our scripture from this morning. Think about the story. Put yourself there as Mary or as Peter or as John.

It has been a troubling few days – days filled with sorrow, days filled with fear and weeping. We don’t know where Mary spent the Sabbath. She spent Friday at the foot of the cross watching her friend and teacher die. But we have no record of Saturday. Maybe she went to the Temple to pray, to ask God why Jesus was taken from them, to ask God if she’d been wrong to follow Jesus.

Peter, like most of the other disciples, spent Friday running and hiding. He’d tried to watch some of Jesus’ trial, but only ended up denying that he even knew Jesus. He probably spent Friday and Saturday hiding from his shame as much as hiding from those who had Jesus arrested. Like most of the disciples, he only heard about the horror of Jesus’ death from others because they were too afraid to show their faces in public – too afraid to see it for themselves. Or maybe he didn’t want to hear, didn’t want to see – couldn’t bear to think about it.

John had been there at the crucifixion. Maybe he told Peter about it or maybe it was too much to talk about. Peter and John probably stayed in hiding on the Sabbath, afraid that they would meet the same fate as their master if they entered the Temple to worship and pray. As the sun went down Saturday, marking the end of Sabbath, maybe they considered at least going to see the tomb.

Early Sunday morning – before dawn – we find Mary on her way to Jesus’ tomb. She waited as long as she could; left almost as early as she could without breaking Sabbath laws. As she approaches the tomb, she sees the stone has been removed from the entrance. Her grief immediately turns to panic. “Oh no! Someone stole the body!” She turns and sprints back into town. She finds Peter and John and tells them what she found. Now they are panicked and they figure they’d better do something about it.

The two of them run back to the tomb – excited, scared, confused – and they see just what Mary saw. The stone is moved, the tomb is empty. Peter gets there just after John, and he goes in to get a better look. He finds the wrappings lying there empty. John enters the tomb after Peter and sees the wrappings and the cloth that covered his head folded and laid aside. John sees and he believes. Maybe they finally get it. Jesus told them he would die and he died. He also told them that he would rise again. Did he rise?

Peter, in his confusion, must wonder what it means for him. Is he even more ashamed of denying he knew Jesus? Is he excited and looking forward to a chance to apologize, a chance to redeem himself? Is he ready to see Jesus again so he can apologize or does the empty tomb fill him with dread and embarrassment?

What about John, he watched Jesus die. Jesus spoke to him from the cross – asked him to take care of his mother, or asked his mother to take care of John. And now the tomb is empty. Maybe his thoughts are practical. Do I still need to take care of Mary? Maybe his thoughts were more spiritual. Jesus said he would go to prepare a place for us – told us that we would go where he goes. Will we rise also?

And then they went home. Their panic turned to belief turned to uncertainty about what to do. Maybe they don’t know what to make of this just yet.

Mary returns to the tomb, still grief stricken, still panicked over the missing body. And now Peter and John are gone, too. Her mind must be swirling. He died, but now he’s gone, stolen body, rise again. She looks into the tomb and sees angels, but still she doesn’t quite get it. She doesn’t seem to notice that they are angels. “Where is he?” Then she realizes she is not alone outside of the tomb. She asks again, “Where is he?” She just wanted to see him again. To know where he was. To be near him.

Finally he calls her name. “Mary.” And her panic melts away, and the trouble and the sorrow of the last few days are replaced with absolute joy! She is near him. Christ is risen! She is ecstatic and she can’t wait to tell someone, just as he told her to. So she runs to town to find the disciples again. This time to tell them, “I have seen the Lord!”

What does the resurrection mean?

For Mary, the resurrection means that she can spend more time with her Lord. She can be in the presence of Jesus again. For John, it means that what Jesus said is true. He is truly the Son of God. He is light in the darkness. He is Lord. For Peter the resurrection means a chance at redemption.  A chance to start anew.

What about for you? What does the resurrection mean to you? We don’t typically recite the Apostle’s Creed in this service, but a part of that statement of faith says that we believe that Jesus was crucified and died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. We believe it, but what does it mean to believe it?

We can start by looking to Mary and John and Peter. Resurrection means that we worship a living God. It means that we can spend time in the presence of Jesus. It tells us that Jesus is who Jesus claimed to be. The Son of God – Jesus is light in the darkness. John’s gospel is the only one that begins the resurrection story in darkness. I imagine the sun breaking over the horizon just as Jesus calls Mary by name. The light of Jesus breaking into the darkness. Just as the light of Jesus breaks through the darkness of our lives. Resurrection means that, just like Peter, we have a chance for redemption.

In the death and resurrection of Jesus, sin and death are defeated. The death and resurrection of Jesus delivers us from the consequences of sin. Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman church that the “wages of sin is death.” Jesus defeated death. In baptism, we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we share his baptism. In sharing his baptism, we share his death. In sharing his death, we share his resurrection. For the believer, sin and death have no power.

So for us, Jesus has spoiled the ending. We know how the end will go. Life wins over death. Light wins over dark. Christ is risen! No matter what tragedy we are dealt, life wins. No matter what disastrous or just disappointing circumstances we face, life wins. Alyce McKenzie said this, “Knowing that, in the end, life wins, takes the steam out of our suspense and strengthens us to face whatever life may hold.” As Fredrick Buechner wrote, for the believer “Resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing.”

Resurrection means life wins. No matter what, the love of Jesus wins. And that is news that is so good, it has to be told. It has to be shouted. Christ is risen! Or as Mary told the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!”

Amen.

ReDo: You. Me. Us.

I haven't posted my sermons for a few weeks. I'll get caught up in a couple of weeks. This is from February 17, 2013.

------------------------------------------------

We’re continuing to talk about the process of spiritual renewal.  We’ve talked about spiritual renewal as a renovation of our lives.

Spiritual renewal is the Holy Spirit filling us, preparing us, and empowering us to fulfill God’s call in our lives.

I believe true renewal is not strictly an individual phenomenon. It begins with the individual, but the renewal of individuals leads to a renewal in their congregation, which in turn, leads to renewal throughout the community. Spiritual renewal should be like a drip into a pool. It starts at a specific point, but ripples out in all directions. Or this might be a more appropriate image… As water fills the top glass, it flows out and into the next level and then to the next and so on. Just as the Spirit flows from us to the congregation around us and out into the world.

Last week we looked at individual renewal. We looked at the story of Jonah and the personal revival he experienced in the belly of a fish. After running from God, he made a decision to accept God’s call. We also talked a little about John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Wesley’s life was a bit of a spiritual roller coaster until he experienced his own personal revival. At what was essentially a Bible study, he experienced his “heart strangely warmed” as the Holy Spirit filled him and gave him assurance of his salvation and empowered him to fulfill God’s call.

But we have to realize that a personal renewal is well and good, but what good does it do as it relates to the Kingdom of God? I can feel renewed and refreshed – like God is sitting in my living room with me each night and that is wonderful: for me. Here’s the problem with that, my mission as a disciple of Jesus Christ is not me. Your mission as a disciple is not you. If renewal stops at the personal level, well, that’s no renewal at all. That’s just me holding Jesus hostage.

Renewal is not true renewal unless it spreads. Any one of you can feel closer to God than you’ve ever felt, but what good does it do if you leave it at that? Well, for you it’s a good and wonderful thing, but we’re not called simply to feel good and wonderful about ourselves. We’re not called to feel close to God and leave it at that.

In other words, my faith is about more than me. Your faith is about more than you. Spiritual renewal is about more than me and it’s about more than you.

This week we are talking about letting the Spirit that renews us flow from me and from you and renew US.

Our scripture this morning gives us the ending of the story of Pentecost. If you remember, the disciples experienced an amazing spiritual renewal. The arrival of the Spirit empowered them to go out and preach to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem. Acts shares the sermon that Peter preached that day. Our reading this morning picks up following that sermon.

Acts 2:37-47

New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁷ Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” ⁴⁰ Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

⁴¹ Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

⁴² All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the mission statement of the North Alabama Conference. That mission can be summed up in two word. Making disciples. There are two levels to that disciple making. One is bringing people to Christ for the first time. Encouraging and enabling people to accept Jesus Christ as their savior from sin and death, and in doing so, to begin the journey of salvation. And that’s the second part. Making disciples includes helping those who have taken that first step to live as disciples. Maybe we can think of that as growing disciples. That encompasses the bulk of the people here; most of us have taken that first step. And all of us who have are living in the second step. We are growing in our faith. More importantly, we’re growing together.

Both of these levels of disciple making are seen in our scripture this morning. The first is obvious. 3000 people were baptized and added to the church that day, and “each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”

The second is there as well and it’s this second part of disciple making I want to focus on for a few minutes. Let’s look back at our scripture.

⁴² All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. ⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.

If you have your Bible, I want you to underline a few words. In verse 42, underline teaching and prayer. Then in verse 46, underline worship. These are the things those first believers devoted themselves to doing.

The first of those was teaching and being taught about Jesus. The disciples were instructed by Jesus to teach the things he taught them. Here we see they are doing just that. They are telling the stories of Jesus. They are sharing his teachings and his ministry. In doing so they are teaching these new believers how to live like disciples of Jesus.

They devoted themselves to prayer. They know that they can’t do it on their own. So they do as they learned from Jesus. They pray.

They worship. They know from whom and from where salvation comes. They know that God is good; that God is worthy of praise.

This outline of the early church gives us a good outline for what a renewed church looks like, and how to be a Spirit led, renewed church ready to fulfill the twofold mission of making disciples. Bringing people to Jesus and helping them grow into committed disciples of Jesus Christ.

But there is an important element of this formula that I haven’t mentioned. Look back at verse 42. Teaching, prayer, and fellowship. And in verse 46. They worshipped, together. Those 5 verses, 42-46, talk about sharing, meeting, and doing things together 9 times.

Which brings me back to this. Why do you think the water is able to go from this cup to those and from these to those? Because they are connected. Without that connection, they would fall apart. Without the togetherness this bond creates, the water would simply pour out of one and onto the floor.

This is what the church should look like. Connected. Together. So that when one of us is filled with the Spirit; it flows out and into all of those around us. And it flows out of them and into those around them. And on and on until it flows out of the church to transform the world.

There’s a word for the connectedness demonstrated in Acts. koinōnia. It means fellowship. But I don’t think fellowship is a strong enough word for what koinōnia means. I saw it translated in one place as “fellowship by intimate participation.” It means community. It means sharing. We are created to be in relationships. Relationship with God and relationship with one another.

To truly live into our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ, we can only do so in community. It is only through living out our faith together, through sharing our faith journey that we become true disciples. I’m going to spend a few weeks talking more about this after Easter, but let’s look at what Acts 2 tells us about a renewed church in terms of togetherness.

The essential part of this scripture is koinōnia – fellowship. Our connection to one another is essential. Our salvation journey is a shared journey. It is not an individual event. How do we live that out?

We learn about Jesus. We teach each other about Jesus. Through Bible study groups, we read and we share and together we grow closer to God and become more like Jesus.

We pray. Pray together. Pray for one another. Pray with one another. When I was in college, I worked at a small church in Opelika. On Wednesday nights the men participated in a prayer group. We sat together and went around the circle and all prayed out loud for a list of people and whatever needs we had and for one another. The first time I went I was terrified and embarrassed and didn’t want to go back. I did. After a few weeks, that group became a vital part of my faith. It helped us grow closer. It helped us grow in our faith.

Worship together. Come together and sing and praise. Don’t worry about who is watching or what else is going on in the room. We’re all here for the same reason. To worship God and to surround ourselves with others who are worshipping!

Back to this idea of a twofold concept of making disciples. That is our mission. To make disciples. Not just to “win people to Jesus” and not just to grow ourselves closer to God. But to make disciples. To bring people to Jesus and to help them grow as disciples as we grow along with them. It’s not an either/or proposition. It’s not a question of will we be a church that wants to reach out or a church that wants to reach in. Instead it is both/and. We can do both. We should do both. In fact, we are called and commanded to do both.

If we commit ourselves to allowing the Spirit to renew us, that renewal will flow from us. The Spirit will pour out and this congregation – The Bridge – will be a renewed church. Ready to let the spirit flow from here and transform the world.

Amen.

ReDo: Running form Renewal

Last week we began a sermon series on spiritual renewal. I said that spiritual renewal is not simply continuing something, like when I renew my Entertainment Weekly subscription. We looked at several verses of scripture that talk about renewal. Those scriptures tell us that renewal is a transformation, it is a change in our thoughts and attitudes. It is also a rebirth, a re-creation. Spiritual renewal means something new. We talked about spiritual renewal as a renovation. When you renovate a house you go in and tear out the old to replace it with the new.

We looked at the story of the disciples just before and following Jesus’ ascension to heaven. From that scripture, along with the story of Pentecost, we established two precursors for spiritual renewal.

Before he ascended, Jesus gave the disciples a mission. Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them everything I taught you. And then he told them to wait. To wait for the Holy Spirit. So the disciples went to Jerusalem and waited by devoting themselves to prayer. Then they experienced the renewing power of the Holy Spirit.

First, the disciples prayed. And if we expect spiritual renewal, we need to do the same. The second thing necessary for spiritual renewal is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the continuing, continuous presence of Christ on earth. It is only through the Holy Spirit that the disciples could find success in their mission. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we are empowered to continue that mission. The Apostles experienced the power of the Holy Spirit and allowed the Spirit to renew them and then to work through them as they preached to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost.

The story of Pentecost shows us that there is a progression to spiritual renewal. It begins with individuals. The disciples experienced the renewal of the Holy Spirit and were empowered to fulfill their mission of making disciples. That renewal spread to the church. These earliest believers, on that day, became the church and they committed themselves to worshipping and praying together. Then from the church the renewal and revival spread to the community. Acts tells us that the church grew daily following Pentecost. “The Lord added to their numbers day-by-day.”

Today we’re going to talk about that first stage. Personal renewal. The Holy Spirit first worked in the Apostles, empowering them to preach the good news. The disciples experienced personal renewal in a very obvious, visual way. The Holy Spirit rested on each of them like a tongue of fire and they were filled with the Spirit. The Spirit transformed these confused, dormant people into focused and effective preachers of the Gospel. They underwent a spiritual renewal that empowered them to fulfill God’s call for their lives.

A few weeks ago, I asked the question on Facebook, “What does spiritual renewal’ mean?” I got a few responses, but I wanted to share one with you. “Spiritual renewal is being refilled with the Holy Spirit for a new or renewed fruitful work.” God calls each one of us to minister to the world – to share the good news of Jesus Christ and the redemptive love of God. Spiritual renewal is the Holy Spirit filling us, preparing us, and empowering us to fulfill that call.

This morning we’re going to look at a familiar story and what it tells us about spiritual renewal. Most of you are probably familiar with the story of Jonah – at least the “belly of a whale” part of the story.

Jonah is a prophet of God. God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to the Ninevites. God tells him, “Go there and tell them they’re wicked and they’d better repent!” But Jonah, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to go to Nineveh. We learn later that he didn’t want Nineveh to be spared. So Jonah gets on a boat headed for Tarshish (the opposite direction). God calls Jonah and he runs away. By the way, this story hits a little close to home for me. But that’s another sermon.

As Jonah is in the boat on the run, a great storm comes up and tosses the boat. The entire crew is fearing for their life. They begin throwing things overboard to lighten the boat and prevent it from sinking. Finally Jonah tells them it’s his fault. The storm is there to prevent him from running away from what God called him to do. He asks the crew to throw him overboard, and they do. Jonah is swallowed by a huge fish. He spends 3 days and 3 nights in the fish until finally he prays. He prays a prayer of Thanksgiving.

Jonah 2

New Living Translation (NLT)

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. ² He said,

“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble,
    and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,
    and Lord, you heard me!
³ You threw me into the ocean depths,
    and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me;
    I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
⁴ Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.
    Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

⁵ “I sank beneath the waves,
    and the waters closed over me.
    Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
⁶ I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
    I was imprisoned in the earth,
    whose gates lock shut forever.
But you, O Lord my God,
    snatched me from the jaws of death!
⁷ As my life was slipping away,
    I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
    in your holy Temple.
⁸ Those who worship false gods
    turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
⁹ But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
    and I will fulfill all my vows.
    For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

When Jonah asked the crew of the boat to throw him overboard, he expected to die. He ran from God and expected to lose his life because of his disobedience. God, though, provided the gift of a fish to save him. I’m not sure that’s such a great gift, but in this case I guess it is. Talk about a salvation story!

Jonah knows from whom his salvation comes.  Look how he ends his prayer: “Salvation comes from the Lord!” Jonah realizes he has disobeyed God. Here we get to witness Jonah’s personal revival. He realizes that he has let his own fears and prejudices turn him away from God’s call. Now, he cries out in faith. He is ready to accept the call. Ready to obey God.

Jonah tries to run, but God pursues him. Finally Jonah realizes he has turned from God’s will and he repents. And in doing so he experiences a spiritual renewal. A personal revival. But don’t think that Jonah renewed his own spirit. He agreed to let God work in his life. He agreed to answer God’s call. God took care of the spiritual renewal.

Just like we talked about last week with Jesus’ first followers at Pentecost, spiritual renewal, or revival, is not something that can be manufactured or manipulated into being. It can only come from God and often it comes when we least expect it.

John Wesley, many of you know, was the founder of the Methodist movement, or the Methodist Revival as some called it. That movement eventually became the Methodist church. We look back at Wesley today as this great pillar of faith, a theological dynamo.

But that wasn’t always the case in his life. Just to give you a little background, Wesley was born in 1703 in Epworth, England. In 1725 he was ordained as a Deacon in the Anglican Church, and then in 1728 Wesley was ordained as an Anglican priest.  But over the next 10 years or so, Wesley life was a spiritual roller coaster. It was filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. At times he was unsure of his own salvation. In 1736, he was sent to the Georgia colony as a missionary. He had high hopes for the trip. High hopes of converting Native Americans. He returned to England 2 years later discouraged and depressed. A couple of months after his return to England Wesley attended a prayer meeting at Aldersgate Street. There he had a transformative experience.

I’ll let John Wesley tell it in his own words. This is from Wesley’s journals: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

From that experience, John and his brother Charles, began a movement of renewal in the Church of England. I’d call it, as many do, a revival. John Wesley, like Jonah, felt far from God. Maybe it wasn’t of his own choosing as it was with Jonah, but it seems the feelings were similar. And in the case of John Wesley, just as in Jonah’s story, God pursues him. And God works with transformative power in his life to revive his faith and bring a spiritual renewal that spread through the Church of England and eventually into the Americas. But that’s next week’s subject matter.

Today we focus on revival within our own hearts. Each of us stands in need of revival. Each of us has a faith that needs to be renewed. Each of us is called just as Jonah was; just as John Wesley. We are all called to be ministers of the Gospel. We need to experience this same sort of spiritual renewal as we answer God’s call to fruitful works.

This is an interesting time of year to talk about spiritual renewal. Lent begins this week. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Lent consists of the 40 days leading up to Easter. All throughout Lent, we look forward to Easter and the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. We cannot, however, get to the resurrection without the crucifixion. So we look to the cross. In the cross, we see our brokenness. We see our sinfulness. We also see redemption. We see salvation displayed in Christ crucified. But only because we view the cross in the context of the resurrection.

Lent is a season of reflection and repentance. It is a time when we examine the cross and the cross examines us. A time to reflect on our own sinfulness. A time to reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus. A time to repent and prepare to celebrate resurrection and the victory over sin and death that Jesus’ resurrection won for all of us.

So Lent is a time of spiritual renewal. Traditionally people give things up for Lent. The idea is that you give something up and the absence of that thing is almost an act of penitence. It is as if we are removing something from the space between us and God in order to make that space smaller.

Well, that’s essentially what spiritual renewal is. Growing closer to God.

Unfortunately Lent has become a sort of 2^nd New Year’s resolution. People like to give up things that are bad for them and hope the behavior sticks.

I want to encourage you to look at Lent as a time for spiritual renewal. A time for rebirth, for transformation. A time to grow closer to God and in doing so, to truly live by the Spirit.

I think the prayer that Pride read this morning gives us an excellent blueprint for seeking spiritual renewal. It gives us a map for replacing the worldly things in our lives with things of the Spirit. Love instead of hate. Pardon instead of injury. Hope for despair. Light for darkness. And puts into perspective where our efforts should be spent. Help me to seek to love others instead of seeking love.

To achieve the things St. Francis prayed, that’s what spiritual renewal looks like.

As we move toward Lent this week, what can you do to experience spiritual renewal? I want to give you a few steps.

1)    Realize the need for renewal. God calls each of us. Sometimes we run, like Jonah – sometimes we just feel like we’ve drifted away, like John Wesley. But we all stand in need of renewal.

2)    Offer yourself to God. God has a call for each and every one of us. No one is too old or too young for God to use. God is calling you. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you to help as you discern what you are called to do.

3)    Get closer to God. Let Lent be a time where instead of giving something up, you take something on. Spend time in prayer every day. Pray the Prayer of St. Francis. Read the scriptures. Put together a study group. Believe it or not, listening to others’ stories and experiences with God is a great way to know God better. We can prepare our lives for renewal by praying and reading scriptures and more importantly by spending time with other Christians in worship and study and prayer.

4)    Be ready! If you offer yourself to God ready to be renewed, ready to accept God’s call for your life, expect God to work and be ready. Allow the Spirit to guide you. Listen for the God’s call, hear God’s call, and answer God’s call.

I want to close with an altered version of the prayer of St. Francis that Pride prayed earlier. This version was prayed by Mother Teresa at the UN in 1985.

Make us worthy Lord to serve our fellow men throughout the world,

who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread

and by our understanding love give peace and joy.

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.

That where there is hatred I may bring love,

That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,

That where there is discord, I may bring harmony,

That where there is error I may bring truth,

That where there is doubt I may bring faith,

That where there is despair I may bring hope,

That where there are shadows I may bring light,

That where there is sadness I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,

To understand than to be understood,

To love than to be loved.

For it is by forgetting self that one finds.

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,

it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen.

ReDo: Spiritual Renovation

I’m going to do things a little differently today. Usually I give some sort of story or explanation before I read the scripture, but today, I’m just going to jump right in.

Acts 1:3-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

³ During the forty days after his crucifixion, Jesus appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

⁴ Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. ⁵ John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

⁷ He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. ¹⁰ As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile.¹³ When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the Zealot), and Judas (son of James).¹⁴ They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

Today we are starting a sermon series on spiritual renewal. We’re going to spend the next few weeks examining this concept of spiritual renewal. What does it mean? How do we do it?

Today we’re going to examine that first question. What is spiritual renewal? That will lead us into the second question. How do we achieve spiritual renewal?

Spiritual renewal is a theme throughout the scriptures. In Romans Paul writes about being transformed by the renewing of our minds. Ephesians says we should let the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes. 2 Corinthians says, “we are being renewed day by day.”

I have to point out the renewal these verses talk about is not renewal like renewing a magazine subscription or your insurance. That sort of renewal is continuing something. This is a different sort of renewal.

The writer of Psalm 51 asks God to “Create in me a clean heart.  Put a new and right spirit within me.” It’s not simply re-committing to the same thing. It’s something new. In Colossians, Paul says we are given a new nature and that new self is renewed in knowledge to conform us to the image of Christ. Jesus in talking with the Pharisee Nicodemus talked about rebirth. Being born anew.  Titus 3:5 says we are saved by this new birth and by the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

So spiritual renewal is a rebirth. It’s a recreation. It’s a cleansing, a reconditioning. Refreshing. Maybe a renovation. We can also talk about spiritual renewal by using an old, and to some people, troubling term. Revival. Revival is one of those words that has bad connotations for some people. Honestly, I’m one of them.

The church where I grew didn’t have revivals, at least not that I remember. The only experience I had with revival came from movies and TV. And most of those experiences were little more than someone screaming about Jesus and the devil and trying to literally scare the Hell out of their audience.

Honestly, what came to mind was this guy. Are any of you familiar with the movie Leap of Faith?

In that movie, Steve Martin plays a con-man. He is a con-man posing as an evangelist, Jonas Nightingale. He travels from town to town performing an old fashioned tent revival. He comes out with really flashy clothes, and fireworks going off, and a huge choir singing behind him. Then he whips the crowd into a frenzy by screaming about Jesus (using way too many syllables). The service climaxes with a series of faith healings which is quickly followed by the offering buckets. The crowd eats it up and fill the buckets, but we get to see the behind the scenes stuff in the movie. We see that off stage, Steve Martin’s preacher character is a foul-mouthed jerk. We see his employees talking to the crowd as they file into the seats and then passing information to his assistant in a control booth. She then gives him the information through a hidden ear-piece to convince the crowd that God is talking to him and telling him who needs to be healed.

There’s more to the story than that, but you’ll have to see movie yourself to find out what happens. I will say this, God has a history of working through scoundrels.

A few years ago, the church I served as pastor held a revival. It was customary for their new pastor to preach the first revival. So I was called on to preach, so I had to work through my preconceptions about revivals.

Some of you may have noticed I’m full of questions. When I learn about something, I usually end up with more questions than answers. When I attempt something I approach it with questions. I guess I’m the analytical type. I want to know exactly what I’m doing and where I’m going before I get started. So I needed to figure out what a revival was to get past the image of Steve Martin in a mirrored jacket.

So I began to research, and I went to most reliable source I know. Wikipedia. Are you familiar with Wikipedia? My favorite description of Wikipedia comes from Michael Scott on The Office, “Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.” That was, of course a sarcastic description. But, Wikipedia has this to say about revival – “Christian revival is a term that generally refers to a specific period of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or many churches.”

That sounds like a goal. Increased spiritual interest and a time of spiritual renewal. It also sounds like something that cannot be manufactured. Spiritual renewal doesn’t happen simply because I planned a sermon series. Increased spiritual interest and spiritual renewal are not necessarily things that happen on a schedule.

Which brings me back to our scripture for this morning. As Jesus leaves the Disciples to continue his work, he tells them to wait. Just after the scripture I read, we read about the story of Pentecost. The birth of the church. The Holy Spirit comes to the disciples with a sound like a rushing wind and rests on each of them with what Acts describes as tongues of fire. Empowered by the Spirit, those first believers go out and preach to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem. And by the end of that day, the number of believers grew from 120 to over 3000. There are some important ideas here about spiritual renewal – about revival.

First, Spiritual renewal can only happen through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit; which is demonstrated in our scripture. The Disciples see and talk to the resurrected Jesus who tells them to wait. Wait for the Holy Spirit. So they go to Jerusalem and they prepare themselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is only when the Holy Spirit comes to them that they are ready. They are renewed through the Spirit’s presence and by the Spirit’s work in and through them. Then they are prepared to, as Jesus told them, “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to all the ends of the earth.”

Second, is the importance of prayer. After Jesus ascends to heaven, the Disciples go and prepare themselves for the coming Spirit. According to our scripture they do this by “constantly devoting themselves to prayer.” By devoting themselves to prayer, they prepared for the coming Holy Spirit

There’s something else we learn from the story of Pentecost. And it’s going to be our focus for the next 3 Sundays. There are really three separate renewals going on in this story. Spiritual renewal, true renewal, does not stop with us. The Holy Spirit brought a change in the Disciples. The Holy Spirit revived and renewed their lives and their desire to serve Jesus! Through that renewal of the disciples, the church underwent a renewal as well. After the coming of the Spirit, the church began to fulfill its mission. Jesus gave the disciples a mission. Go make disciples, baptize them, and teach them. Now, empowered by the spirit they are prepared to do just that. This time of spiritual renewal caused revival in their community and “day by day the Lord added to their numbers.” People around them were so moved by what they saw that they knew they wanted to be a part of that group.

To me, this is what revival looks like. This is how renewal progresses. It begins with the individual, spreads to the church, and then spreads throughout the community.

Over the next 3 weeks we’re going to look more specifically at each of these steps. What does it mean to have a personal revival; to experience spiritual renewal? What about the renewal of a congregation? What should a church be & how can we be that church? And finally, how can we let that renewal spread throughout the community?

It begins, though, just as it did on the day of Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit. So, let’s invite the Holy Spirit. Invite the Spirit to begin working in you. Each of us is called by God to something. Each of us is called to minister. To spread the good news of Jesus Christ and the redemptive love of God. Over the next few weeks, I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you as you seek that call.