Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 119:9-16, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33

focus: God’s grace and action in our lives.
function: to encourage a response of following Jesus as we love God, love others, and to serve the world.

I. Introduction
Last Sunday, we were excited to have our new pastor, David McCann, preach for us. He shared a sermon about the grace of God, the good news of Jesus Christ, and that we are saved by grace through faith . This Sunday, we return again to the good news from our scriptures, beginning today in the Hebrew Scriptures with the prophet, Jeremiah.

Some people have the mistaken idea that God was just in a bad mood until Jesus was born. They have even talked about the God of the Old Testament (or Hebrew Scriptures) being different from the God of the New Testament. But, friends, that is not the case. There is one God, almighty and abounding in grace and steadfast love, who is being patient, kind, and just.

In Jeremiah, we learn of a new covenant that God is making with the people who have broken a previous covenant. You may be more familiar with contracts. We use contracts as formal agreements between people. Agreements that God makes with us are covenants. Instead of being equally binding, God takes on more than half of the responsibility. And now, God again promises to make a new covenant.

God has said, “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” Because God of this covenant, God has given a gift of the law and written it on our hearts. God says, “This is the covenant I will make…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” [Jeremiah 31: 33-34]

The law is the understanding of how to live a good life. We can summarize it as: love God, love others, and serve the world.
II. What is the Heart and what is written on it?
One thing you might be asking is – what is this heart, is it the organ in our bodies that pumps are blood around? Did the Hebrews even know about the heart and what it does? And why would God write the law on our hearts and make it so that we would know the Lord?

First, I’m sure the Hebrews knew about hearts. They had enough sword battles and lion hunts to have knowledge of some of our internal organs. While we think of the heart as the seat of emotions and the mind where we make our decisions, they thought of the heart as where decision making began. This is where you choose – the heart can be pure or divided, clean or corrupt, and this can be seen by the actions that a person does. A loving heart results in kind and loving actions.

And, although we say when we make a decision that we make up our minds, with more research, we have found that emotions are involved in decision making. Emotions are found in the brain which we can see in MRIs of people experiencing emotions. Likewise, we have found that the heart is more than just a pump for blood and a symbol for emotions. Recent scientific articles say that the heart has a brain. So – now we could say that the brain has a heart – and the heart has a brain.

When a person is angry or anxious, not only do centers in the brain light up but also the electromagnetic field around the heart changes. And, intriguingly, this field had been detected from as far as fifty feet away. Could the Biblical understanding be right? Will find that some of our decisions do stem from our hearts? We have for years attributed love as coming from the heart. And, in recent years have found that, after a loss, people can suffer from broken hearts which can damage their health. The heart is more than just a pump and Jeremiah know that almost three thousand years ago.

III. What Went Wrong?
Now the thing I wonder about is if God’s law is written on our hearts, what went wrong? Why doesn’t everyone have an easy time knowing and understanding the best way to live is to love and serve? Why can’t we just follow our heart and find peace and happiness? Why are there still thieves and murderers and people who say there is no God?

I do not fully understand what went wrong, but it is obvious that this promise of God is not complete. It is as if we humans have been walking through mud and falling down and getting covered in grime that covers up the words written on our heart. Or, perhaps it is that we do not stop to look and read the law written there. Or, perhaps it is that as we grow in age, our heart continues to grow around that core of the heart. In order to get back to that heart of our own heart, we need God’s help. We seem to put ourselves at the center of our world. We need Christ.

Paul writes in Galatians 2:20 – ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” In considering this passage, the Episcopal priest John Sanford writes,

In this statement Paul tells us that his personality has been reorganized in such a way that it no longer revolves around his Ego, but around a larger center within himself that he calls the Christ within. This is the essential thought…that in the course of our lifetime our personalities are to be transformed and reorganized in such a way that the Ego, with its ambitions an goals, is no longer the main reference point. [from When the Heart Waits -- Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions: Sue Monk Kidd, pp. 54-56 in the paperback version, referencing John Sanford, The Kingdom Within.]

This wonderful law of God, the guide for an abundant and full life, has been written on our hearts but covered up by society, family, friends and our desires to fit in — so that we no longer have the full benefit of this writing– but when we no longer want to live a life of trivia and banality, we can turn to Christ and allow Christ to live within us — as Paul talks about. And when Christ is that center (ala Bonhoeffer) we begin to expand from the center. We can enjoy the life giving gift of God’s law.

God realizes this transformation in us through Jesus Christ, through the crucifixion and resurrection. Inside our hearts is the heart of Christ, the place that Jesus dwells when we ask him to come inside our hearts. And, because he is there, the inside of that heart is larger and roomier than our heart could ever be on its own. This holds the key to them mystery of our gospel reading when Jesus talks about loving or hating our lives.

IV. What could Jesus have meant about hating or loving our lives?

Listen again as Jesus speaks to us,:
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” [John 12:24-26]

It seems Jesus speaking of the grain being buried and bearing fruit is speaking not only of his own crucifixion and resurrection, but also of our own lives, the lives of his followers, when we allow ourselves to be planted. We can bear much fruit for God.

When we think about the loving and hating, remember to not be literal. These are words use to make a point so that you can see that there are two ways to live. Those who love their lives want to live according to their own egos. They center their lives on what they think is good for themselves. They concern themselves with what other people think, with measurements that are based on things the world can measure. But those who long for more from this life than shallow living, will go to God for help and ask for the grace and peace of Jesus Christ to dwell within them. Then, a mysterious transformation begins to take place.

V. About God – About Us – and What do we do now?

Yesterday’s meditation by David Lose in the link I had given you was on this topic. I hope some of you are following this with me. And for those who love hymns, this whole sermon is contained within the hymn – Be Thou My Vision.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best Thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord; Thou my great Father, I Thy true son; Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise, Thou mine Inheritance, now and always: Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won, May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
May these words be written on our hearts, and writ large: love God; love others; and serve the world. Amen.

References

Not all references were not used in the final draft, but formed the thoughts for this day.

1. “The Heart Has Its Own “Brain” and Consciousness,” http://www.mindfulmuscleblog.com/heart-has-consciousness/
2. Sue Monk Kidd, When the Heart Waits — Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions, pp. 54-56.

3. Craddock, Fred B. (2011-04-13). The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock (Kindle Locations 731-732). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
“Do you remember in George Eliot’s novel Adam Bede, how she, the writer, predicts the tragic fall of one of the characters with one sentence? “The opinion of others formed the very air he breathed.” ”

4. Craddock, Fred B. (2011-04-13). The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock (Kindle Locations 768-772). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.

{He used the examples of a preaching student listening to praise about the sermon, King Saul going to a fortune teller, and Saul of Tarsus (Paul). The last one went to God in prayer where the other two were listening only to vain and empty praise.}

“There was, you know, another Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. A Jewish couple in Tarsus in southern Turkey had a son and because they were of the tribe of Benjamin, they named him after the first king. Saul of Tarsus; some of you know him as Paul. Saul of Tarsus of Benjamin; he, too, was in great conflict with himself. When he was fighting with himself, he made casualties of Christians. In a great crisis, a moment of truth in his life, he, too, fell to the earth with his face in the sand.

But in that moment of truth, he did not go to a fortune-teller. He went to God and it made all the difference, all the difference in the world.”

5. Be Thou My Vision — “heart of my own heart” referring to Jesus – that central place where God’s life giving law is etched on our own heart.

6. Mark 15:14-15 In the Meantime — www.DavidLose.com, March 24, 2012

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, March 25, 2012,
the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year B)

First Reading Jeremiah 31:31-34
31The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt — a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Psalm Psalm 51:1-12
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Or alternate Psalm Psalm 119:9-16
9 How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; do not let me stray from your commandments. 11 I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes. 13 With my lips I declare all the ordinances of your mouth. 14 I delight in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
Second Reading Hebrews 5:5-10
5So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Gospel John 12:20-33
20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say — ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Introduction
If you have grown up in the faith as many of us have, it is easy to think that what we believe is completely normal. Occasionally, it is good to step back and try to see what we might look like to outsiders. Paul’s letter today may help us.

Even in Paul’s day the city was one which you and I might enjoy visiting or even living. Situated between two sea ports, it was where cultures met and mixed. There were intelligent people, good food, lots of beautiful buildings. There were rich and poor, ignorant and educated, people of ethics and people with no ethics at all. It was a melting pot for all kinds of beliefs and customs. Into this cosmopolitan setting, Paul had brought the good news of God’s love and the saving death of Jesus Christ.

And, yet, after he has moved on to Ephesus, Paul has received news that troubles him. He writes to the church that seems to be drifting away from the Gospel and into the surrounding culture. The news that God loves them and has saved them by grace has become an excuse for not trying to live good lives, but instead to indulge themselves. They have misunderstood the meaning of the crucifixion. It has not had the power over them to transform their lives in the way that Paul had hoped. They strive for position and honors and recognition in the world, turning away from God.

Position, Honor, and Recognition
This is a message that those in the world today can hear. We love wisdom, position, honor, and recognition, too, don’t we? We construct schools from Elementary through Universities and also Medical Schools, Veterinary Schools, Law Schools and more so that we can become learned and we hope at the same time to achieve a bit of wisdom. Paul is not telling us to turn away from knowledge and wisdom, but to hold that knowledge up to the light of the scriptures and what God has done through Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. In a later part of this letter, he tells them that without love, we are just a clanging symbol.

As we are on this road of Lent that leads us inexorably to the cross, we can stand back and look at what the crucifixion looks like to the world outside of our faith. When you look at the cross, what do you see? I see the love of God, hope for the world, and on the bare cross, a sign that God has said no to sin and death. I do not see it as the Romans saw it.

The cross that is a symbol of hope and life for us was an instrument of torture and terror. The Romans used it to subdue the populations by executing criminals and those who would incite revolts. The cross helped to keep the Pax Romana or the Roman peace for over two hundred years.

Death on a cross was painful and embarrassing for the family and friends of the one who was crucified. And yet that is the way that our Lord and Savior died. Can you see how unbelievers would laugh at someone who would call Jesus Savior when he could not or would not stop himself from being killed?

To look to such a man to save you would seem foolish. Money and the military protect people in this world. To submit to death on the cross instead of fighting back was foolish. Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers. He said he would rebuild a destroyed temple in three days. That temple was his body. Such a thing is not only foolishness to unbelievers but a stumbling block to Jewish believers. How could God do such a thing?

The cross looks foolish to those who do not believe. And, yet, for those who believe, the cross is the sign of God’s power. The power that raised Jesus from the dead and gave courage to frightened disciples. The cross has become a sign of victory and not defeat. And in this cross, you and I find our identity as those who follow Christ and worship a living God. That is why we sing – “In the Cross of Christ I Glory.”

That is why we take the scriptures seriously. We learn at Jesus’ feet as we study his understandings of the writings of the law and the prophets. What he says is most important is what we understand to be important as well. We listen – as the voice told us to do at Jesus’ baptism, at Jesus’ transfiguration. Listen.

Love God.
Love other people – not just your family and friends.
Serve the world.

So few people in the world understand this importance. In our world, as in ancient Corinth, the cross is foolishness.

Jesus taught us that we cannot love God without loving each other.

The wisdom of this world is that we should love people who look like us – our family, our nation, our kind of people. We have lots of books that teach us that selfish is better – greed is good. We hear chants of “We’re number one.” We read books about looking out for number one.

There is a poet, Coleman Barks, who is the foremost interpreter of the 13th century Islamic poet, Rumi. He traveled to the Middle East for the State Department, to read poetry to gatherings in order to build bridges between our culture and theirs because they love the poetry of Rumi. We wanted our Marines to be safe.

His trip was amazingly successful because he showed respect and love for the people by respecting and loving the poet, Rumi. In the villages, the people gathered to hear poetry, as we might gather for a play or concert. He was serving U.S. interests by building bridges and goodwill by loving and respecting Rumi. This stands in stark contrast to tales we hear of other U.S. citizens burning Korans and treating civilians with disrespect. What actions do you think of when you hear Jesus tell you to love others?

Barks told a story of when he got home and took his granddaughter to a football game. Their high school lost rather badly. In the parking lot after the game, students from the other school were piling happily in cars, putting down the windows, putting down the tops of convertibles and yelling with hands in the air – “We won! We won! We’re number one!” This is common practice in America – but, that is not what I think of when I hear the words: “Love God. Love Others. Serve the world.”

His young granddaughter, heard that disrespectful chant, and, instead of letting it humiliate and silence her, she stood up, raised her arm and shouted, “We lost! We lost! We lost!” Her shouts confounded the other students. They did not know what to think of that. That someone could be proud of a team that lost was a bit of a puzzle to them. That we can lift high the cross is a puzzle to some in the world.

We wear crosses. We have crosses in our places of worship. We follow a leader who died instead of sitting in a palace. Our way is a way of love and self-sacrifice, not a way climbing to the top in a worldly fashion. To follow someone who tells us that we should love and serve other people and not just look out for ourselves seems strange to this world. To forgive and not seek revenge seems weak to the world. To work for peace and justice not control and dominance seems like we are naive at best. We are walking the Lenten road to the cross. And that cross is not something that is attractive to those who hold this world’s values. But those who hold the world’s values are perishing.

Conclusion
To us who are being saved, the cross shows us the power of God. We see beyond the death and shame to the life and glory that God brings forth on Easter morning. The real fools are those who live as though there is no God. The real fools are those who think that all you see is all there is. The real fools think they can control God with their prayers or actions. The real fools think they can save themselves through wisdom and strength, through the might of money or the sword. But those who are being saved know that God who saves. And we respond with love, loving God, loving others, and serving this world.

I am reading a great book, Love Wins, by the evangelical pastor, Rob Bell. I highly recommend it. That is what I think when I see the cross. Love Wins. Instead of death and shame, the cross for us is a sign of life and love. That is the foolishness of the cross – Love Wins.

That’s the kind of foolishness that I embrace – the love of God. That is why we lift high the cross – the love of God proclaim.
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, March 11, 2012,
Third Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
18For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Gospel John 2:13-22
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
First Reading Exodus 20:1-17
1Then God spoke all these words:
2I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3you shall have no other gods before me.
4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9For six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work — you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
13You shall not murder.
14You shall not commit adultery.
15You shall not steal.
16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Psalm Psalm 19:1-14
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; 4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, Psalm 58, Psalm 51:1-17, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-20

Introduction
Tonight, we begin our forty day journey through the season of Lent with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. Perhaps some of you observed Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras) last night. My husband and youngest daughter ate lots of fried fish and shrimp and hushpuppies. They had a wonderful time at La Tours in Kerrville. Some of my friends have churches that serve big pancake suppers. Both types of meals are celebrate the ending of one season as we begin the next.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a season of penitence and confession. We realize that we have parts of our lives that need to be changed. We repent of what we have been doing that does not align with our understanding of our mission as disciples of Jesus Christ. The tradition of marking the worshiper with ashes has been a part of many denominations observance of Ash Wednesday. The ashes are to remind us of the shortness of life. We do not have forever to do the things we want to do.
Sometimes people think the season of Lent is about whether or not to eat sweets or drink sodas. If you need to develop that discipline, do it. However, although these disciplines might be a step toward God, they often become ends in themselves marked more by “shoulds” than by a spirit of worship. Ash Wednesday redirects our sights not to ourselves and what we can or cannot do, but instead to God–the one who created us–who calls us to confess and offers a clean heart to those who call on him. [from The Thoughtful Christian Youth study on Ash Wednesday]
The God who loves us and blesses us with all we have, also asks much of us – for our own benefit. God gives instruction and guidance that leads us to wholeness.

Presbyterians
Presbyterians have not always liked Lent perhaps because it seems like the public piety that Jesus is warning us about in the scriptures.* I grew up Lutheran, so when I became Presbyterian more than twenty years ago, I was surprised to find that for the Presbyterian congregations, Lent was a relatively new thing. As Presbyterians, we are careful to acknowledge that how we do Lent is very individual, but always is a time for drawing closer to God, for considering just what it is to be a follower of Christ. How do we serve Christ better, bringing the good news of God’s love to those around us?

There are so many of us who are afraid of the word evangelism. But it just means sharing the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ with others. I went to an Evangelism conference this past Sunday and got back last night. The conference leader, Ray Jones, said something that I have said myself. As Presbyterians and people of the Reformed Faith, we have a wonderful theology and yet we have kept it one of the best kept secrets in the nation.

God created us and loves us. He said there are three things to remember:
1. Love God.
2. Love Others.
3. Care for creation.

Our mission in evangelism is to show our love for others by sharing with them the good news and healing love of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. Our story, in a nutshell is this:
1. God designed us for good.
2. We were damaged by evil.
3. We were restored for better.
4. And now we are sent together to heal the world around us.
[from James Choung, Big Story 1 & 2 - from the Evangelism Conference, Compassionate Evangelism: Sharing our Love, Sharing out Faith, February 2012]

Lent is a time that we look at our lives and examine just how we have been damaged by evil. And, after looking, pray and ask God to continue to work in our lives to restore us for better.
God’s Wish for Us is Wholeness
God wants wholeness for each of us. Certain disciplines may help you this Lent in your journey toward wholeness. Prayer, fasting, scripture reading, blessing others, and giving donations may help you to focus on what you need in your life so that you can move to health and into a deeper relationship with God. All these things are voluntary and between you and God.

Do you remember the story, supposedly true, about a priest who was being mugged? The robber wanted his wallet. Now, this was in the winter in Paris where people need heavy coats in winter. The coat had obscured the priest’s collar. As he opened the coat to remove the wallet, the robber apologized and told him to keep it. He did not realize he was robbing a priest. The priest, relieved, offered the man a cigar. The man refused it, saying that he had given up smoking for Lent.**

Obviously, the robber had missed the point. What good is giving up smoking when you are robbing people?

What about us and our lives? What good is giving up desert if we are still angry with our neighbor, holding grudges, or cheating on our taxes? What good is fasting if we cheat our workers and pay too little? The passage in Isaiah clearly says such fasting is not acceptable to God.

When you examine your life, what is it that you need to give up for your health and wholeness? How are we missing the point in our lives? What is it that is getting in the way of our relationship with God or with other people?

We give offerings, pray, and fast because this promotes spiritual health and removes barriers between us and God, as well as between us and other people. As you examine yourself and see where you need to make adjustments, remember that you can give up something, reclaim something, or add something to your life.

Last year, I told you about a teen who decided that she would do one good deed each day. She goes to sleep at night praying about what she might do the next day. She wakes up every morning, with excitement, wondering who she can help. Perhaps this can be part of your Lenten discipline.

If you fast, you can give up, perhaps, one lunch a week. Use the time for reading scriptures and devotions. Put the money into your fish bank and bring it Easter to put on the table. I will be asking the Mission Committee where we can give that money.

Perhaps, you have found that the news is making you angry. Give up the news. Take a forty day news fast.
Maybe you’ve developed a bad habit of cursing or gossiping. Give it up.
Are you envious of the good fortune of others? Give it up.

Perhaps you have not taken time for prayer. Take it up.
Perhaps you have not been reading a daily devotional. Take it up.
Perhaps you have not been giving gifts of charity. Take it up.
Perhaps you have not been inviting friends to worship. Take it up.

Take time to examine your life and see what is standing between you and others. Consider how you can improve your health and wholeness: physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Create a Lenten discipline that means something to you.

Welcome to Lent, a time of preparation of our hearts and minds and lives for acknowledging the wonderful gift of Christ. Walk with Jesus these next six weeks. Listen to him. Learn from him. You can take in our Lenten Bible study, Micah in March, at six p.m. on Wednesday evenings in March.

Join us for a soup dinner and Christian seder on Maundy Thursday, and a Tennebrae service on Good Friday in order to prepare for joy of Easter morning.

Conclusion
Welcome to Lent. Read more about it in the newsletter. Remember our story: 1. God designed us for good. 2. We were damaged by evil. 3. We were restored for better. 4. And now we are sent together to heal the world around us. Are you doing that? What is stopping you? Spend Lent getting it out of the way. God has blessed you to be a blessing to others. What needs to be changed in our lives so that we can be that blessing? Amen

Acknowledgements
*from my expert on Presbyterianism, the Rev. Dr. Doug Dalglish
**story from a sermon on-line, “Why Are You Doing That?” a sermon for Ash Wednesday based on Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18, by David Rogne
Gospel Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
1“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
16“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

First Reading Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near — 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.
12 Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
Or alternate First Reading Isaiah 58:1-12
1 Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. 3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. 4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Psalm Psalm 51:1-17
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Second Reading 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
5:20bwe entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6:1As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see — we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything

Introduction
We arrive today at the center of the Gospel of Mark, halfway between Jesus baptism and his resurrection. Rodney J. Hunter in the Feasting on the Word commentary calls this the epicenter of the Gospel. I think of it as the hinge. It is a story that to some scholars is a puzzle because it seems as if it is a glimpse of a post resurrection event through something like a star gate or a worm hole. We get a glimpse of something that we should not be able to see. We are told and shown with the disciples, the glory of God and the revelation of Jesus as God’s son.

Peter
I am afraid that I have done Peter wrong for all these years. And perhaps you have as well. What have you thought about Peter jumping in to say – “It is good for us to be here – let me build three booths for you and Elijah and Moses?” I have thought of Peter as not understanding what was happening. I have thought he was just being very excitable and energetic, the excessive extrovert among the disciples. I have felt a little bit sorry for him.

However, this week, I have had the good grace to feel embarrassed for myself. Peter seems to have known the Hebrew prophets better than I do. As Professor Sarah Henrich says: “Peter, contrary to popular portrayal, makes the connection that is too obscure for us to make. According to some Jewish expectation and as stated in the book of Zechariah the prophet (see 14:16-21), God would usher in the new age, the “Day of the Lord,” during the Feast of Booths. This God-commanded festival kept by Jews for centuries, was considered a possible time for God’s taking control of God’s creation and beginning the age of shalom. So Peter’s question about building booths is neither laughable nor mistaken. Peter is clear that the end times are coming and the Feast of Booths was upon them. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus need not construct their own booths for the celebration.” [Sarah Henrich, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/19/2012]

Peter was wrong about the timing, just as we frequently are. But, he was right that it was good that the disciples were there to see Jesus transfigured, the prophets Moses and Elijah, and especially to hear God tell them to listen to Jesus.

The Framing of the Transfiguration
Our reading today is the hinge, the mountaintop experience, but it helps if we put it into perspective in the Gospel. Just before this, Jesus has been healing. He healed a blind man who had to have two healings in order to see well. Then, as Jesus and the disciples are walking, he asks what the people are saying about him, followed by asking how Peter would answer that question. When Peter answers, “The Messiah,” Jesus tells him to not tell anyone.

Then we have the mountain, the vision of the two prophets and God’s voice from the clouds telling the disciples to listen to him. Listen. Listen when Jesus tells you of the betrayal and his death and his resurrection.

After they come off the mountain, there is another difficult healing that the disciples cannot do. When Jesus casts out the demon, he says that kind of demon can be expelled only with prayer. Listen and remember.

The disciples are going to walk with Jesus from this time on into the valley where there will be more miracles before Judas betrays Jesus. They will turn away and hide in fear until that day when Jesus comes again. During that time of hiding, perhaps they might remember this time on the mountain.

You and I can also have what we call mountain top experiences. Many times they occur at camps or during worship. Like Peter, we can say, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” They help prepare us for the times – the ordinary times as we walk down the mountain and the times of tragedy when we need the presence of God the most.

I just attended a webinar about continuing the church into the next generations. One of the things that turns people in their twenties off, is when those farther in the faith journey give pat answers or formulas for becoming a Christian. What they and what we are looking for is the testimony of authentic faith. And in order to advance in our faith path, we need to spend time with Jesus and listen to him.

Conclusion

It is a good thing to listen and learn from Jesus. It is a good thing to be here. In our lives we must be satisfied with some ambiguities. There will be times when we, like Peter, will see a glimpse of the future. We live with the knowledge that Jesus brought the kingdom into this world and yet it is not fully here. We see glimpses. And we find that it is good to be here, in God’s presence. Sometimes, we may think that this is the sign that everything will change but then, we come back to our daily lives which even though they are miraculous, are much the same as before. But, we bring with us that vision of Jesus revealed on the mountaintop and our own mountaintop experiences to continue to fuel us through the ordinary miraculous days.

Lent begins this week. It is a time of prayer and fasting and self-reflection on what is truly necessary in our lives. I invite you to begin our preparation for the path to the cross this next Wednesday night at 6 pm. with our Ash Wednesday service. We will have ashes in the shape of a cross put on our foreheads or hands to remind us of our mortality. And then, we will come again to the table to take communion to remind us of our immortality and our hope in the risen Lord. God who is faithful has asked us to listen to Jesus, God’s own son.

Let’s walk together, listening through Lent. Notice that for those who have internet, there is a reflection you can sign up for on the internet. David Lose is one of those pastors whose words I read frequently in order to meditate about the scriptures before preaching. He is doing a Lenten meditation on the Passion Week as revealed in the Gospel of Mark. It is called – “In the meantime…” I have signed up as I hope many of you will as well, at www.davidlose.net. For others of you, I will have some printed versions of meditations. Let’s listen to the words of our Christ and perhaps, like Peter, we can also say, “Rabbi, it is good to be here.”
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, February 19, 2012, the Transfiguration of the Lord (Year B)

First Reading 2 Kings 2:1-12
1Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”
4Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. 5The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.”
6Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, ”As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. 7Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
9When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” 10He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” 11As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
Psalm Psalm 50:1-6
1 The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him. 4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: 5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” 6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
Second Reading 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Gospel Mark 9:2-9
2Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.