A Maundy Thursday message.

Recently authors Steven Skiena and Charles Ward devised a way to calculate the 100 most significant figures in history, using a rather modern approach: the internet.  To rank historical characters objectively they created a computer algorithm that scoured websites, counting mentions of people across all forms of media, including books, newspaper articles, even Wikipedia.

The authors then took into account how long ago the person lived, and adjusted the ranking based on that, so the list wouldn’t be dominated by today’s pop culture stars.  So if Kim Kardashian had the same amount of presence on the internet as, say,  Aristotle, who lived 2,400 years ago, then Aristotle would have a much higher rank as a significant figure in history.  Good idea, this adjustment, I think; the thought of Kim Kardashian being a significant historical figure, well, you can draw your own conclusions on that.

The Great Ones

And what did this ranking find?  Of the top 10 significant people in history six of them led major countries, either as kings, emperors or presidents.  And most of them were also considered military leaders too.  Some are remembered fondly, the top 10 includes US presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Napoleon also makes this list, loved by some, loathed by others.  And then there’s Hitler, coming in at #7.  It’s a reminder that, to be significant in this world means you have left a mark on it, but not always in a good way.

Thinking about all these significant military leaders in history I’m reminded of a recent military strategy, you may have heard of it: shock and awe.  The term was first used earlier this century during the Iraq War.  Shock and awe is a doctrine based on using overwhelming power, and spectacular force, to destroy people’s will to fight. The idea is that people are in such a state of shock, in awe of what is happening, that they simply give up.  Alexander the Great, Napoleon and Hitler, all on this top ten list, arguably used some version of shock and awe to claim their victories.

The Great ONE

Two thousand years ago many expected a Jewish messiah to be an earthly king, to unify the land of Israel once again.  Many expected this messiah to also be a military ruler, to conquer with miracles on the battlefield, to shock and awe the world with brute force.  It’s what people expected from a great leader at the time.  Perhaps it’s what we continue to expect from the great leaders of our day too.

But Jesus did none of that.  He never led an armed revolt.  Scripture has no record of him lifting a weapon.  And when his disciple cuts off the ear of someone in the Garden of Gethsemane? Well, Jesus chastises the disciple.  And then heals the ear.

Instead, in Jesus’ final days, after three years of earthly ministry, he chose to impart some final wisdom to his disciples and followers, and influence a movement that spread the world round, in some entirely unexpected ways.

Communion

The text from 1^st Corinthians chapter 11 we heard earlier likely sounds familiar; those are the words of institution spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper.  The words are repeated before we break the bread, and drink from the cup each time communion is celebrated.  Hearing these words is so common among practicing Christians perhaps we gloss over how unsettling these words really are.  Jesus, sharing a meal with the apostles just days before being crucified, is teaching them, and us, to commemorate his upcoming death, to celebrate it.

And not just to commemorate it, we’re asked to take part in it.  Take, eat, this is my body, given for you, do this in remembrance of me.  Take, drink of it, this is my blood, do this in remembrance of me.  In no small way Jesus is preparing the disciples for a time when he will no longer be with them on earth, but doing it in a way no one could have seen coming.  Asking your followers not just to look forward to your death, but to take part in it, to make your death the same place where they find life, where they find salvation, is rather shocking.  I will be with you forever, Christ says.  Remember me.
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Foot Washing

Our text today from John chapter 13 finds Jesus at a dinner party before Passover.  We listen as he gets up from the table, wraps a towel around his waist and begins to pour water in a basin.  And then he starts to wash his disciple’s feet.  What?  Why would a king do that?  That just isn’t something kings normally do, especially if you’re the King of Kings.  If you’re a king you get served all the time.  Here we see Jesus doing the opposite, instead serving the disciples with a footbath.

Peter, possibly in shock, and always one to argue, sees this and exclaims, “you will never wash my feet!” But Jesus insists, saying, “unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  Hearing this, Peter changes his mind, real quick, exclaiming, “then wash my hands and head as well!“

Jesus, always the Teacher, then explains his actions to the disciples.  “Since I have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.  Slaves are not greater than their master.  Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.  That’s not how the script goes for most earthly leaders.  That’s not the brand of shock and awe we’re used to.  To be truly great serve your fellow man, Christ says.  Serve your fellow woman.  To serve me, serve each other, he continues, and God will bless you.

Love Each Other

Later in John chapter 13 we see Jesus teaching some more.  “I will only be with you a little longer,” he says.  “So I give you a new commandment: Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”  Love as a command.  Not a suggestion.  Or a path to a better life.  A command.  And not just any command, this one is also a gift, from the Father, through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son.  A thought: the next time you watch a presidential debate, count how many times the word love is used when talking about how we should treat each other.  It just isn’t part of the typical language used by leaders in our country, or leaders in our world.  Yet, shockingly, Jesus commands us to love one another, all the same.

Closing

So what about that list of the most influential people in history we talked about earlier?  Who do you think showed up #1?  I think you know; He’s the reason we’re all here.

What got Him on this historical who’s who list didn’t have anything to do with military might: there are no terrorist bombings in this story, no drone attacks, no beheadings.  Because when you’re the Son of God, come to save the world, you do things a little differently.

In the final days of Jesus’ life we see a model of much that has become central to the Christian faith, with today’s scripture imparting wisdom that continues to influence us today.  Remember me, Christ says, in the bread and the wine, for when you do I am with you always.  Serve each other, as I have served you, Christ implores. For when you do, you will be blessed.  Love each other, Christ commands, just as I have loved you.  This love will show that you are mine.

Remember, serve, love.  So simple, so surprising.  Remember, serve, love.  Those three words represent a bold and beautiful way to live as a people of faith.  And those three words, my friends, are a supremely divine way to experience the shock and the awe, of Christ.  Amen.

A story of Christmas, doubt, belief, and a twelve year old boy, all based on the text of Luke 2:41-52.  Listen or read the text below.  Enjoy!

Two days ago I’m guessing many of you spent the day unwrapping presents, gathered together with friends, family and loved ones, and shared a Christmas meal together.  Perhaps you enjoyed a bottle of wine or some eggnog too, yum.  More importantly, I hope you carved out some time that special day to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, born of a virgin Mary, in a lowly manger, surrounded by a heavenly host singing Glory to God in the Highest, Peace on Earth to All!

Or maybe you didn’t have any of that, and spent the day alone, without friends or family, dining in solitude, longing for something that next quite materialized.  This season can do that to us sometimes, setting up these lofty ideals that don’t always work out.  Heck, half the Christmas lights on my house burned out on Christmas Eve.  It made my return home from the candlelight services here on the 24^th a bit of a downer.  I still need to get those lights fixed, the way they are now just doesn’t seem right.

But here we are, on the 27^th of December, only two days after celebrating the birth of the Christ child, and we’re asked to dwell on a story of pre-teen, twelve year old Jesus.  Where has the time gone?  Jesus grew up awfully fast in those two days, didn’t he?  Scripture is surprisingly silent about what Jesus was up to as a child growing up.  A few months before the birth of Jesus we can read of visits from angels.  At the birth there are shepherds, an innkeeper, a manger, and even more angels.  And then there are the magi, who came to visit later, possibly a couple of years after the birth of Jesus.

Beyond that scripture gets really quiet about Jesus until his ministry begins at age 30.  How does Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, grow up between the ages of 2 and 30?  There’s a lot we just don’t know.  The reading today from Luke 2 is the only bit of information in the New Testament we have that covers this twenty-eight year time span.

Don’t you Believe Me?

This gap in scripture got me thinking about what life must have been like for this young family.  There is something decidedly different about a family that contains the savior of the world.  And yet here Mary and Joseph are, normal people in their own way, surrounded by normal, everyday folks.  Surrounded by friends, family, and neighbors, people probably not too different from you and I.  Imagine what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph, trying to navigate their way through everyday life while trying to raise the Son of God.

Imagine Mary, as a young mother, trying to explain to the neighbors this wondrous story.  “That’s right, an angel appeared to me,” Mary might have said.   “The angel said I was pregnant, and my baby would be born holy.  The angel told me this child of mine is the Son of God!  Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that awesome? What do you mean you don’t believe me?!?  No, I was *NOT* doing anything I shouldn’t have been doing!  I wasn’t married yet!  I was a good Jewish girl, I was!  Don’t you believe me?”

Imagine Joseph, as a young father, trying to explain to his carpenter co-workers his version of the story. “Yeah, Mary and I were engaged when I found out she was pregnant, man, that was tough.  I knew I wasn’t this baby’s daddy.  I was totally going to break off the engagement, what a mess.  But then an angel appeared to me in a dream.  And the angel told me the same thing Mary was saying.  The angel said the Holy Spirit is the father, that I should still tie the knot with Mary. And that we should name the baby Jesus.  Did you know that name, Jesus, Emmanuel, means God with us?  That’s what the angel told me.  No, I don’t think Mary was seeing anyone else, she’s a good Jewish girl.  Yes, of course I listened to that angel, wouldn’t you? Don’t you believe me?”

Imagine Jesus, growing up, surrounded by all this drama, in some ways just like any other kid, even though he wasn’t just any other kid.  If children of that era were anything like the kids of today, then growing up as Jesus couldn’t have been any cakewalk.  Imagine the playground chatter Jesus may have overheard, as the rumors started to fly.  “I heard his parents weren’t married when his mom was pregnant.  Oh yeah, I heard Joseph isn’t even his real Dad.  Then who is his father?  I dunno, go ask Jesus, I bet he has some crazy story like usual.”

Questions of belief and doubt around the identity of Jesus as a youth must have been palpable, there’s just no getting around it.  In modern terms, there are two basic ways we can view the birth narrative of Jesus.  Either he is just another child, born of questionable events, earthly in every way, another broken part of a broken world.  Or Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, born of miraculous events, both fully human and fully divine, ready to fulfill prophecy and become the Savior of the world.

It’s a huge distinction, these two views, bigger than any family drama that’s ever been on the Jerry Springer show.  And bigger than any paternity test ever featured by Maury Pauvich.

Perhaps Mary and Joseph had conversations like this frequently as Jesus grew up.  Perhaps after hearing this unbelief from friends and family, over and over, they stopped sharing the identity of their firstborn son as much.  As a parent it’s hard to handle when others don’t think as highly of your child as you do.  At least it is for me, maybe it is for other parents too.  Did Mary and Joseph got caught up in the day-to-day todo’s of raising a family just like any other family?  Perhaps, as Jesus grew older and his birth faded into a memory Mary and Joseph began to have their doubts about the identity of their son too.  Perhaps.

Jesus in the Temple

All this leads us into our gospel reading for today.  The story begins simply enough, with Jesus and his parents traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival.  They did this every year, part family vacation, part religious pilgrimage.  But this year something was different.  When the festival ended Jesus decided to hang around the temple, unbeknownst to his parents, who began the long walk back home.

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Not seeing Jesus in the group of travelers Mary and Joseph went back to Jerusalem to search for him some more.  After three days of searching – their twelve year-old don was missing for THREE DAYS – they found Jesus, still in the temple.  If I were in Mary and Joseph’s shoes, having lost my pre-teen child that long I’d have called the cops, formed search groups, and made sure photos and information were all over social media.  I’d be in a panic, anxious and worried, not sleeping too well either.  I’d have some stern words for this kid too.  Do not stray from mom and dad kiddo, it’ll get you in trouble.

And that’s pretty much what we’re told in scripture.  After finding Jesus Mary exclaims “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been searching for you, in great anxiety.”  It sounds like Mary, a Jewish mother, is applying some old fashioned guilt here to teach her son a lesson.

Now listen to what happens next, the tables are about to turn.  Jesus, in his first speaking role of scripture, says to his parents “Why were you searching for me?  Didn’t you know I’d be in my Father’s house?”  Jesus doesn’t respond with an apology, or even act defiant.  Instead he asks a simple question followed by a rhetorical one, “Why were you searching for me?  Didn’t you know?  I’m in my Father’s house.”

I don’t know much about pre-teens, it’s been over 25 years since I’ve been one, and our two kids are still young.  To help with this knowledge gap I asked a friend, Stacey Kade, about what it is that makes pre-teens different from both children and adults.  Stacey writes books for young adults, so she thinks about what makes this age group special a lot.  She told me the thing to keep in mind is that pre-teens *feel* like adults, they are smart enough and old enough to have opinions that differ from the adults in their lives.

It’s hard for parents, perhaps even for parents like Mary and Joseph, to recognize the split between the kid who still needs guidance and the kid making the first forays into independence.  Pre-teens are working to figure out their identities, separate from their parents, and seek ways to communicate that identity with others.

Up until this moment the identity of Jesus – as the Son of God, the Emmanuel, the Christ – had been exclaimed by angels, by priests, by prophetesses.  And now, in this moment, the first speaking role for Jesus recorded in scripture, he finds his own voice to make this claim.

“Why are you searching for me?” Jesus asks.  “Didn’t you know I’d be in my Father’s house?  If you listen close enough to this text you can almost hear Jesus gently reminding his parents of this identity.  If there was any doubt in Mary and Joseph, Jesus wants them to cast that doubt aside.  Instead of two parents teaching their twelve year old son a lesson, the tables have turned.  Jesus is growing up, coming into his own; starting to sound like a teacher in his own right.  Come on mom, come on dad, you heard from the angels, the priests, the prophets.  They told you who I was.  Don’t you still believe them?  Don’t you believe me?

Closing

As you reflect back on Christmas, that day we celebrated just two days ago, there are a couple of ways we can view this festive season.

Christmas can be just a cultural tradition, filled with all the trappings of trees, gifts, shared meals, darkened churches filled with candles, voices raised singing Silent Night once again.  Christmas can be that, a moment in time, or a day, or 12 days, or even a six-week celebration that starts after Thanksgiving, ends on Epiphany.  And that’s all well and good.  Christmas is a tradition that brings people together in special ways.  It celebrates high ideals for humanity.  It helps us pass the time.  Christmas will be here again in less than 365 days, it’ll be festive again, it’ll be fun again, I guarantee it.

Or Christmas, for you and I, can be something so much more.  It can be a bold claim, a recognition that a baby lying in a manger was about to change everything.  It can be a reminder, that a 12 year old boy, separated from his parents, spending time in his Father’s house, was wise beyond his years.  It can be a look ahead, to the life, the death and resurrection of one Man that would forever rock the world.

But for Christmas to symbolize all that asks a little more from us.  It asks to us to take a close look at ourselves, to consider any lingering doubts we may have about the miraculous birth story.  And if Mary and Joseph can doubt, even for a moment, and can miss the divine calling of their own Son, then doubt can linger within any of us.

So before you put away your nativity set in the coming days I’d like to ask you to do something.  In that nativity set notice the angels, singing glory to God in the highest.  Take heed of the miniature Mary and Joseph, given the most important job two people have ever had.  Consider the shepherds, now freed of fear, that came to worship the Christ child.  Look inward, to where you find faith.  Look inward, to where you still doubt.  Then take that baby, lying in a manger and listen.  Listen closely.  Don’t you believe me, Jesus asks?  I do.

The first week of Advent offers many signs for us, including Tesla, Bill Engvall, a wreath and four candles.  Amazingly these signs all point us to one moment in time, to not just any sign, but to THE sign.  Listen or read on, here’s your sign.

Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs

Screwing up the scenery, breakin’ my mind

Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the signs?

You may recognize those lyrics from the 1990 hit song Signs from the rock group Tesla; or if you’re a little older you might have heard the 1971 version when it was released by the Canadian group Five Man Electrical Band.

Seasonal Signs

This time of year we are absolutely inundated with signs.  If you were here for the Thanksgiving evening service a few days ago you saw a cornucopia on the table behind me.  And if you turned on a computer, watched tv or read a newspaper on Thanksgiving you saw a whole other set of signs.  BLACK FRIDAY!  STORES OPEN EARLY!  STORES OPEN ON THANKSGIVING!  Yikes.  Those are signs from marketers, telling us we need to buy more stuff.

A recent study found that people see or hear over 360 ads a day including those from television, the internet, magazines, radio and billboards.  When you include brands like the Nike swoosh symbol on a pair of shoes or the Jolly Green Giant on a can of green beans the number of brand signs we see gets really crazy.  How many brand signs are we exposed to each day?  Over 5,000.  FIVE THOUSAND, every day.  That’s insane. Each one, trying to get you to think something, feel something, and buy something.

And then there’s Christmas coming up, of course.  It’s a little harder to see the signs of Christmas in South Florida, or at least a little different than up north.  As a child I’d trek off to the local tree farm, pick out the best Christmas tree of the batch and then help Dad chop it down and tie it to the top of our car.  We’d usually have some hot cider and a cookie or two to keep us warm during tree-chopping in the winter cold.  And if we were really lucky in Baltimore that year sometimes there’d be some snow coming down too.  Taking the plastic tree out of the attic last night, sweating some in our November heat, reminded me I miss some of those seasonal signs from my youth.

This week I can almost guarantee that each of you have seen signs of families gathering together to share a meal, ads promoting Black Friday sales galore, and an image of Santa ringing a bell, encouraging you to give to the Salvation Army.  Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs.

Here’s Your Sign

Comedian Bill Engvall talks about signs a little differently.  He imagines a world where all the people that ask dumb questions would have a sign around their neck.  That way you wouldn’t ask them for anything, you’d just say Oops, never mind, I didn’t see your sign.

He then tells a few short stories about how these signs would work.  Now Bill is a country boy, so I’ll try to use my best southern accent.

• One time when fishing Bill pulled his boat onto the dock, lifted up a big line of bass fish and a guy on the dock says, “Hey, y’all catch all them fish?” “Nope,” he says, “I talked ‘em into giving up.”  Here’s Your Sign.
• Before Bill moved across the country his house was full of boxes, and a uHaul truck was in the driveway. A friend came over and says, “Hey, you moving?”  “Nope,” he replies, “We just pack our stuff up once or twice a week.  Just to see how many boxes it takes.”  Here’s Your Sign.
• Then there was the time Bill was driving, had a flat tire, and pulled his truck into a side-of-the-road gas station. The gas station attendant walks out, looks at the truck, and asks “Tire too flat?”  Not able to resist Bill replies, “Nope, I was driving around and those other three just swelled right up on me.”  Here’s your sign.

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The message from this particular comedian is that Signs can be funny, but they can label you.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d want one of those signs hanging around my neck.

I’d like to suggest that signs aren’t inherently good or bad, they’re just signs.  Signs can be helpful, and provide good information, answers, sometimes comfort.  But with all those signs out there which ones do we pay attention to?  There’s only so much a person can process.  The signs you pay attention to makes a difference.  Over time they begin to define you.

Jesus spoke about signs an awful lot, today’s scripture reading is filled with them.

Current Signs

Our gospel reading from Luke today says: “there will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations.”  Egad, that doesn’t sound like a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Or a particularly festive holiday season either.  When you hear that, signs of distress among nations, what do you think about?  My mind wanders to words like Paris, Beirut, Isis.  If you’ve been anywhere close to a computer or television screen recently you’ve see these signs too.

Jesus then goes on to give some advice in today’s text, telling us to, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.”

So while we watch distress among the nations we are not to be weighed down with worry.  Instead we wait, in anticipation, to be ready of what is to come.

Baby Signs

That makes me feel a little better, this not worrying part, but something still seems off.  I mean why are talking about all this dark stuff?  Thanksgiving was just three days ago.  Heck, today starts the first week of Advent; earlier in the service we lit the first candle of the Advent Wreath.  This wreath is a reminder that we wait, in quiet anticipation for the coming of the Christ child.

Maybe that’s it, instead of focusing on current signs, instead we can look to the signs of the past.  Perhaps those signs will help guide our ways.

Think about those signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars that Jesus mentions in Luke 21.  The Magi were looking to the heavens for a sign, following a star to Bethlehem to worship a newborn baby.  Jesus asks us in that same chapter to “Be on guard, not weighed down with the worries of life, so that day does not catch you unexpectedly.”

Worry and a newborn baby, waiting in anticipation.   If you’re a parent that may sound really familiar.  It reminds me of getting ready for the birth of our firstborn daughter, Hannah.  My wife Kathi and I put all this effort into getting the nursery together, and then we’d worrying about whether the baby would be safe, whether the crib was set up right.  We worried about packing the hospital bag for the birth, had we put all the right things in there?  What if we forgot something?  And then there were my in-laws, oh my in-laws.  They called from Orlando on their way from Chicago, less than three hours from our home the day before Hannah was born.  Why yes, they announced, they were planning to be here for the birth of our child.  WHAT?  Our house isn’t clean enough for guests! We worried some more.

But then it happened: the birth of our beautiful daughter, Hannah Grace, on March 10, 2010.  The moment we heard her first cry, held her close, and changed that first diaper all those worries just melted away.  Kathi and I knew the birth of this child had changed us, forever, in an instant.  Our lives, our world, would never be the same.  Perhaps this isn’t so different as where we find ourselves this season, waiting for another child to be born.

Closing

So when you see signs of wars, and rumors of wars, and hear words like Beirut, Paris, and Isis, remember the angel, speaking to terrified shepherds on the night the Christ child was born.  “Do not be afraid” the angel says—I bring you good news of great joy for all people.”  That’s a sign to fear not, this baby is good news, be ye joyful.

When you see the signs trying to sell you something, those 5,000 brand signs we encounter each day, listen to that same angel describing the ultimate gift, one that didn’t cost you a thing: “This will be a sign for you,” the angel says, “you will find a child wrapped in cloth, lying in a manger.” That’s a sign as seen in scripture, and not available in stores.

And when you grow frustrated with friends, family, and co-workers – it’ll happen this time of year, I guarantee it – you may be tempted to put a not-so-nice message around their neck, saying, “here’s your sign.”  Instead, remember the multitude of angels, singing at the birth of the Christ child. “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth for all,” the angels cry out.  Take that angelic cue, sing together with your fellow women, your fellow men, giving Glory to God in the highest.  Wait well, with excited anticipation, to celebrate a very special birth.

For when you do, this busy, worrisome, sometimes expensive time of year won’t seem like any of those things at all.  Instead you will find what you’ve been looking for your whole life long.  You will find what God desires for you in this season.  You will find peace on earth, come down from the heavens, now dwells with us.