March 29 - 5th Sunday of Lent

"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. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." John 12:24-25.

I am not preaching this week; however, I do have a few illustrations to offer up in regards to this scripture passage. A few weeks ago, I preached on Matthew's version of this statement. In that sermon I said:

Keeping the church alive is not our mission. That’s not our primary focus. If we put all our efforts into keeping the doors open, the lights on, and keeping enough people in the pews to keep the bills paid, then we’ve become like a sports team that has all but forgotten about the game it is supposed to be playing. If all our efforts go into saving our church’s life, then we will surely lose it, because we’ve already lost our focus. But those who lose their life, those who are willing to give their life away, for Christ’s sake, for the sake of the gospel, will find that their life has been restored.

(The full sermon is here.)

Likewise I remember hearing a chaplain at a boy scout camp use an apple to illustrate this scripture: He took the apple and cut it in half. I believe he cut it in half sideways, so that the hidden star was revealed. Then he took out the seeds and asked, "how many seeds are there?" The scouts counted the seeds. Then he said, "If you plant these seeds in the ground, how many apples will they produce?" Of course there is no way of knowing, although it is likely that many, many apples will come from these few seeds. It was a simple, yet effective, object lesson.

For God So Loved the World

by Brian Kirk

John 3: 14-21

On the way to understanding this text, I think it helps to remember the situation of John’s community, living in the aftermath of the Roman-Jewish war. As Jewish life in this time begins being reconstructed around the synagogue rather than the Temple, John’s community finds itself outside the newly-drawn Jewish social boundaries. Rejected by their fellow Jews as well as the Romans, they begin to see the world as hostile and alien. In their understanding, the world persecutes them just as it persecuted Jesus.

The writer of the gospel senses the angst of his community and fears they are falling apart and that some, if not all, may be tempted to return to their old ways. He illustrates this crisis in the gospel as a crisis of faith: “Do you believe Jesus is the way? Do you trust the things that he taught?” The “I am” statements in John (I am the way, the truth, the life, the gate, the vine, etc) are likely responses to those members of John’s community who are asking “Did we make the right choice? Was Jesus really the one?” John preaches a “realized eschatology” which urges the listener to make a decision for Christ now -- not in the future. Judgement day is an existential experience -- it occurs the moment you meet Christ. Those who step into the light of this moment and choose to ignore it or reject it are already, then, living under the consequences of that decision.

And yet, notice that the real focus of the text is God's love, not God's judgement. Maybe it is our own guilt or knowledge of ourselves that makes us see the words "judgement" and "condemn" and "evil" in big bold letters when what we really need to see is the words "love," "live," and "saved" in this passage. Those are the words that lead to transformation, that lead us out of the darkness, that open our beings to be able to meet and receive Christ in our midst.

Some questions I would consider when reflecting on this text:

1) What do you make of John’s Jesus and his view of the world in this text?
2) How do you react to the counterbalance between judgment and mercy in the text?
3) Think of biblical stories where God’s judgment ultimately resolves into God’s love for the world. What are the theological implications for this motif which repeats itself throughout the biblical texts?
4) The verb pisteuo meaning"to believe/trust" repeats seven times in the text. Five times are present tense (vv. 12, 15, 16, 18, 18). The present tense suggests continual action: "don't stop trusting," "keep on believing." How do you understand the difference between belief and trust? Does such a distinction change the way we read this passage? What do you see as the implications, for John’s community and ours, of belief/trust not as a one time event but as a process leading into the future?

Year A, Seventh Sunday of Easter / Ascension of the Lord

Before we begin, I just wanted to share a few words about the nature and purpose of this blog. Each week there will be a contributor, who will read the lectionary texts and then reflect and meditate upon them. Afterwards, they'll post a bit of a reflection for the purposes of starting discussion. The key to this blog is going to be DISCUSSION. We won't be posting research papers or highly thorough exegetical analyses. We'll simply be posting thoughts, stories, or questions in hopes to get discussion going. If you're here looking for pre-made sermons you're in the wrong place. If you're here looking for ideas and discussion, and are willing to share your own, then you're in the right place.

Year A, Seventh Sunday of Easter/Ascension of the Lord

Acts 1: 6-14
I am a movie junkie. I love the art of cinema. Consequently, I find that sometimes some of the greatest theological questions or lessons can be taught and asked through the metaphors that film provide us with. On the other hand, cinema can often fall very short of providing adequacy, or it can habituate us to an expectation of things that is quite the opposite of what we find we're dealing with in scripture.

Consider the ascension of the Lord. If Hollywood made this story it would be short and sweet and would end with a "To Be Continued." Jesus, the protagonist, would be the main and only emphasis. Hollywood would see Jesus ascend into heaven and then not know what else to do. There would be the promise of his return, but without the hero the movie can't go on. But in Acts this is not the case. Jesus ascends and leaves the scene, and yes his return is promised, but in the Lukan narrative he is no longer the only focus of the story. The story can continue on without the hero. The men in the clouds ask the disciples what they're looking at, what they're waiting for, in effort to redirect their focus to its appropriate place: life on earth, here, and now. And immediately they return to Jerusalem and refocus their attention and efforts on continuing Christ's ministry.

In Hollywood, the story is dependent upon the hero.
In Acts, the story is now dependent upon the disciples. And the same remains true today. The continued story of Jesus and his ministry is dependent upon his followers. We are promised the return of Christ. And until that time we are Christ in the world. How great an opportunity we have to carry out the ministry of Christ! And how great a responsibility!

Psalm 68: 1-10, 32-35
As I read this Psalm I am struck by its marvelous imagery. As I read this Psalm, I'm not really so cognizant of the military dynamics, historical references, or much else the commenatators focus on. I see this imagery, these semantic representations of God, their depictions of God's grandeur and stature, and I wonder if perhaps my own image and vision of God is a bit too small.

1 Peter 4: 12-14, 5: 6-11
How little we understand the "fiery ordeal" the early Christians suffered, and which the writer of 1 Peter addresses. Persecution for our faith is not something 21st Century American Christians are very familiar with. We may see a court decision go a certain way and feel as if we're persecuted. But when was the last time we saw someone burned or stoned or crucified for being a Christian?

The second section of this text serves as a reminder to us to stay vigilant in our faith and to not allow the Church to be destroyed because of our willingness to give in to external forces and pressures. This was originally a call to the believers not to renounce their faith under persecution, not to give in to the political powers which sought to destroy the Church. But in our context, with our lack of persecution by physical violence, how might we understand the implications of this text? What forces are at work that seek to turn us away from Christ? What forces are at work that seek to destroy the Church? What does it look like, or what does it mean, for us to resist those forces?

John 17: 1-11
We often think about praying to God. We think about the celebrations and the burdens in our lives and about bringing those things to God in prayer. We often pray for others and ask others to pray for us. But how often do we consider Jesus' own prayers and the ways he prayed for us? This text contains a major prayer of Jesus in which he prays for himself, for his disciples, for the world, and for his future believers.

What might we learn about Jesus' desires and motivations by examining his prayer? What might that say about our own desires and motivations? What might Jesus' prayer say about our own prayers? And what difference does it make that Jesus prayed for us?

Dan Mayes