NO GREATER LOVE THAN THIS

There are teddy bears… and high school rings… and old photographs that mamas bring.  There’s cigarettes and there’s cans of beer and notes that say “I miss you dear.” And children who don’t say anything at all/ There’s purple hearts  and packs of gum- fatherless daughters and fatherless sons… and there’s 50,000 names carved in the wall/ They come from all across this land… in pickups trucks and mini vans, searching for a boy from long ago. They scan the wall and find his name. The teardrops fall like pouring rain and silently they leave a gift and go/ There’s stars of David and rosary beads and crucifixion figurines and flowers of all colors… large and small.  There’s a Boy Scout badge and a merit pin- little American flags waving in the wind…. and there’s 50,000 names in the wall. Lyrics from a song by George Jones... to which I can only say "amen." Many of us have stood before them in awe…. because they stand for men and women who died for our freedom,  

including my dad's co-pilot and Margaret Shetenhelm's son, Robert- both of whom died in WW2.

Indeed, the graves of those who died for us fill cemeteries throughout our land. Their names are written in stone, but their sacrifice was much bigger than that because there is no greater love than this- to lay one’s life down for another person's freedom. This weekend, we are invited to remember. It is a time to let the voices of those who really did love freedom more than life... speak to us. From the first one who died in our War of Independence to the next young soldier who will die in a foreign land, we have been blessed to walk among seemingly ordinary people who have the stuff of heroes on the inside. They stared evil in the face. They carried the fight to those who would take our lives. They've taken the narrow road, knowing that life is not worth the living if people can't be free. They were Christians, Jews, Muslims, and nothing at all; but they all loved honor and freedom more than life ... and we are called to remember them this weekend!

But as Christians, we are also called to remember the One who laid down his life to save our souls! In a far away place, almost exactly 2000 years ago, a Jew hung on a Roman cross... and died to set us free from the bondage to self and sin. Despite the warnings that the prophets gave, we were never able to love God with all of our hearts or our neighbors as ourselves. So God's Son, considering divinity as something not worth clinging to, emptied himself of it, came down to earth, and lived among us. He taught about God's love, healed the sick, and challenged practices that were punitive and unjust. He was full of beauty and grace, but still, we didn't listen. So, he paid for our sins by his stripes. rose in victory over death, and appeared to Mary and the others, commissioning them to go and tell the "good news" to men and women in every nation. He told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would empower them and help them "remember" what he had said and done. He also instituted the Lord's Supper, saying, "This is my body; take, eat, in remembrance of me," and concerning the cup, "whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me."

Remembering is an empowering thing. It keeps us connected and aware of who and whose we are. Remembering is an important thing... but it is NOT as important as living AS IF we remember, which may be why Jesus said, "those who love me keep my word." Those who know me will follow me. Those who love me will keep my words. They will take the same path that I have taken, They will mourn for a broken world, forgive 70 x 7, feed those who need to be fed, make praying a way of life, and lay down their lives for me. When it comes to those whom we love and admire, remembering is more of an embrace than a passing thought and when it comes to the One whom we call Lord, remembering is not a thought at all. It is a way of life. Amen!

O LORD, I WANT TO BE AUTHENTIC

You don't have to know much Scripture to know that Jesus didn't have much tolerance toward hypocrites because they pretended to be something they were not. They were always acting, playing a role that was meant to deceive others and perhaps even themselves. In his day, actors wore masks. They would hold a mask in front of their faces and pretend to be a person they were not. They were called "hypocrites," and on stage, it was all good fun. Some of the actors were excellent pretenders, but off-stage, in a world that relies on trust and authenticity, pretending that you're something you're not... is not worthy of applause. Instead, it merits our condemnation, and that is exactly what Jesus did. He ate with sinners, but he condemned hypocrites. He forgave adulteresses, but he condemned hypocrites. He cried for those who had lost their way and he liberated those who were "demon-possessed," but he condemned hypocrites. There are too many verses condemning hypocrisy to mention in detail, but a couple of examples will be cited. In Matthew 23:27, we find these words: "Woe to you... you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of bones of the dead and everything unclean." Jesus also has harsh words in Matthew 7:5: "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Let's be frank: hypocrites annoyed Jesus... and they annoy everyone else. They annoy us because they're phony, and because they lay burdens on us... burdens that they, themselves, do not carry. Sadly, hypocrites also separate themselves from God's forgiving love because all meaningful relationships are based on integrity and trust.

My biggest problem then... is the plank in my own eye. You are not to blame, neither is the world, or my bad luck. In my quest to be understood, accepted. and even loved, the problem is me, my ego, my fear of being real, my hypocrisy! I learned the art of "acting" to get by, and now I find that it keeps me from the very thing I need most... which is to be known and loved anyway. I need to "get real," I confess it and offer this prayer: 

O God, help me live with integrity in everything I say and do. Let me be true to myself, and in that way... free, Give me the courage to practice what I preach. Give me the courage to be vulnerable and the grace to love those who are vulnerable. Teach me to be authentic, Lord, and use the experiences that you give me to shape me into something real.  Let me be what I profess to be, so that I might receive the acceptance I seek. If I preach about mercy, make me merciful, and let it be the same with forgiveness. If I boast about being in your hands, God, let me show that I believe it... by living boldly and daring to love the unlovable, and Lord... if I say that I love my neighbors, show me how to be a neighbor. Lord, let the face that I show others... be my face... so that, for better or worse, others will know the real me. My tears and laughter, Lord, let them be real. O God, let me experience the deep joy of knowing that Christ died for me- for the real me, I mean- just as I am.

"Being me" has never seemed quite enough somehow... but it was enough for Christ, who died for me and who beckons me to throw my masks away and die to him. Believing this... is real freedom... and besides, the masks that I carry have become too heavy to bear.  Amen.

YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE

Many years ago, I asked a candidate we were interviewing for the ministry  if he had ever seen the Holy Spirit at work in his church. It was meant to be a challenging question because we don’t give the work of the Holy Spirit much attention in the “mainline church.” But after giving the question a little thought, he said that people in his church seemed to enjoy one another’s company when they gathered at fellowship events. I call this the “reserved” version of the Holy Spirit and in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we see that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit do include… kindness, gentleness, joy, and love, among others. When the Holy Spirit is alive within a person and moving freely in a group, you will see God’s people at peace and in harmony, as they show His love to one another.

But in the second chapter of the book of Acts, we encounter the Holy Spirit as an agent of renewal, power, and energy. We’ll get to it in a couple of weeks, but it was moment when God’s people were energized and reborn as zealous witnesses to His ministry and resurrection. People who spoke in different languages could understand one another and there was a oneness of purpose that swept through their community. New people joined and old people embraced new possibilities. I am sure that God’s people were kind to one another. They may have also been patient, but they were neither bold nor helpful… until the Holy Spirit swept through them. In this view, the Holy Spirit is a transforming agent of change (which is hardly the church’s strong suit).

Holy Spirit, work within us so that we can love another and come to rest in a place of peace and abiding joy! Holy Spirit, get a hold of us. Wake us up and set is on fire with zeal and a iron-clad commitment to tell and show the entire world that Christ is risen! And then there is a third view of the Holy Spirit, as an unpredictable and wild part of the Holy Trinity. In many people’s eyes God is something like a stern Father who keep yelling at the neighborhood children to behave. Jesus is His loving and understanding Son, who understands that we’re doing the best that we can and who also sticks up for us when his Father gets angry. But they keep the Holy Spirit out of sight, for fear that he will get someone excited about their potential, or challenge them with the truth.

The Holy Spirit, it seems, is a Peacemaker, a radical change-agent, and an unpredictable truth-teller. But in our passage today, we meet the Holy Spirit as a Paraclete, which means someone who is “called to walk alongside.” In ancient times the term “paraclete” often had legal overtones, as in a lawyer who argues your case, but for some time now, it has meant something like, “comforter, advocate, encourager.” When Jesus came up beside Cleopas and his friend on the Road to Emmaus, he showed some of the ministry that the Holy Spirit would be doing after he ascended… when he listened to them, challenged them a bit, and explained Scripture to them… so that their hearts would be warned.

A joy-giver, change-agent, truth-teller, and paraclete- the Holy Spirit is all of these- but today, our attention is turned to our Paraclete. ¹⁵”If you love me,” Jesus said in the 14^th chapter of the gospel of John, “you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.¹⁸”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

If you love me you will love one another, Jesus noted, because love demands a response. If you love me, you will live out my words because they will burn in your hearts. As we have journeyed together, I have been your Advocate and I have showed those things that are dear to me- like mercy and justice- and now, I will give you the Spirit of Truth, who will keep my words and work alive in your hearts. He will continue showing you what you must do and reminding you that I am the Truth. There are some who won’t believe this because they are consumed with lies, but you will enjoy a deep and abiding relationship with this Advocate… and it will last forever. Oh friends, I will not leave you orphaned! No I won’t. I won’t abandon you and leave you frightened and vulnerable. I am giving you a Paraclete who will walk alongside you… when you’re dancing with joy and when your sobbing in the darkness. I will walk alongside when your running downhill as fast as you can and when your struggling to get to your feet. You and I will always be in relationship and you will draw strength, knowing that I am in the Father, that I am in you, and you are in me. You will never walk alone because the Comforter will always be at your side. This is the truth. Hold it tightly until we meet again. Amen.