Sermons
The path of life
In our lectionary readings for Sunday, David praises God for disclosing to him “the path of life” where he encounters God's presence wherein “there is fullness of joy...pleasures forevermore.” I love paths. I am grateful for many fond memories of intimate forests, expansive vistas, meandering dialogue with friends along the way, surprises around the corner that nature grants such us wildflowers, birds, insects, deer, and other creatures.
But paths are not always so agreeable. I can also recall inclimate weather, arguments, stings and bites, steep climbs, hunger and thirst, and being lost.
On Sunday, we'll actually be exploring St. Paul’s description of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, but they apparently come to those who are on a journey and “walk by the Spirit.” What do we do when we find that the “path of life” seems like it’s taking us through the wilderness rather than through the flower garden? How do we “keep in step with the Spirit” as Paul encourages us to do?
Those of you who’ve read or seen Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings will know that even though it is hard to stay on the path, we are never alone on the journey, and that makes all the difference.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
Still ’round the corner there may wait
A new road or secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.—Bilbo Baggins
Pivotal
Every part of Holy Scripture, being divinely inspired and infallible and inerrant, is equally important. But some passages of Scripture may be regarded as especially significant and pivotal given what they reveal to us. We’re well acquainted with John 3:16 for example, but I’m betting not many of us can quote John 3:15 off the top of our heads.
I consider this week’s Gospel reading from Luke 9, like John 3:16, to be one of these especially important and pivotal texts for two reasons:
For one, it definitively and emphatically answers a question that’s been thus far unanswered in Luke. A question I consider to be the most important eternally existential question that can be asked.
And two, it clearly reveals—despite prevailing assumptions—what kind of Messiah Jesus would be and how he would go about accomplishing the work he’d set out to do.
Trinity Sunday
Those of us of a certain age—and who also liked Led Zeppelin—will remember Larry Norman. He’s considered a pioneer of “Christian rock” music and released more than 100 albums during his career. A lyric from one of his songs I still remember almost five decades later goes like this, “The Beatles said all you need is love. Then they broke up.”
It’s true. Though it’s difficult to maintain—and we really struggle to get it right—love is the thing we all know we need. In fact, we’re literally made for love because we’re created in the image of a God who is love.
But “God is love” makes sense only if God is Trinity.
A solitary God cannot be love. He may yearn for love. He may even learn to love. But he cannot himself be love, since love requires an object. It requires relationship. It requires community.
And this has an implication or two for our lives together. I look forward to exploring this with you Sunday.
Partnership with God
There was a moment when the Gospel stepped into Europe for the first time. It happened in a swirl of divine directions and a dream, settling on a synagogue near the riverside and a woman named Lydia. God opened her heart and she opened her home. I like this combination! It was the foundation of the church in Philippi, a “partnership in the gospel” Paul calls it, the beginning of a “good work” that will continue until it is completed “at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Perhaps we here in Annapolis are a part of that continuing good work. Perhaps we are being called to such a partnership in the gospel.
The Marriage Supper
Lauren and I met at Pine Summit Christian Camp in Big Bear Lake, CA, August 15, 1977—the day Elvis Presley died. Three years and one day later we were married in the same place. Since the camp was about two-and-a-half hours from our hometown, we kind of had a “destination” wedding in the bucolic San Gabriel Mountains.
Our reception was held in the camp dining hall, and the food was prepared by Esther, the ancient and grumpy camp cook. It wasn’t what you’d call gourmet…but it was wonderful.
That celebratory “feast” was the culmination of three years of waiting, and the beginning of something beautiful. Nearly forty-five years, three sons, three daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren later, I look back on that day as a glorious foretaste of the life we’ve shared. And the joy, love, and community we felt were only a glimpse of the eternal celebration that awaits us as people who hope in Christ.
An ownership stake
“Skin in the game” is an aphorism popularized by Warren Buffett referring to the real benefit of executives using their own money to buy stock in the company they’re running. It’s to have a personal risk, or stake in the outcome of the business.
t’s an idea that was also important to Lauren and me over the years. Although our children are now grown and married, even when they were young we were big proponents of them having “skin in the game” in things that were important to them, rather than simply providing it for them…even when we could easily afford it.
Because it’s a simple fact of human nature that we take something more seriously when we have an ownership stake.
n the same vein, in this week’s Gospel Jesus describes himself as “The Good Shepherd”—not just a shepherd, but the good shepherd of Psalm 23. Not a hired hand who abandons the sheep at the first sign of danger, but the owner of the sheep who willingly gives himself for them.