Date: 24 Jan 2000
Time: 22:28:28
This theme of light really is of great importance to John. It is as if he expects people to be very slow to understand and he must use this themes a thousand different ways so we will finally see the light and know that Jesus is the light.
Date: 24 Mar 2000
Time: 19:52:56
Does a lack of comments mean that it is easier for us to picutre the poison snakes from Numberrs than it is to see the cross lifted high. Does it mean to me that \i see the poison and concentrate on it to the point that \i do not lift up my head to see the cross? \A challenge to think about.. retired USAF Chaplain
Date: 25 Mar 2000
Time: 22:25:18
"Hair of the dog"? The wilderness wanderers stare at a representation of death and pain and find healing. We stare at a Roman killing apparatus, the cross and find life! There goes God again, making something out of nothing...Maybe Joseph's words to his brothers come back into play here too, "What you meant for evil God has made for good". bc in MT
Date: 25 Mar 2000
Time: 22:26:34
"Hair of the dog"? The wilderness wanderers stare at a representation of death and pain and find healing. We stare at a Roman killing apparatus, the cross and find life! There goes God again, making something out of nothing...Maybe Joseph's words to his brothers come back into play here too, "What you meant for evil God has made for good". bc in MT
Date: 26 Mar 2000
Time: 01:41:45
Talk about making something out of nothing! Our lectionary group enjoyed noticing how this happens in both the Old Testament and New Testament lessons for this Sunday. NOw who in the world would think that after spending a good bit of time and energy stepping carefully around dreaded and dangerous snakes, one would find spiritual insight and renewal in looking up at an image which mirrors the very terror they have been living with? But then, isn't the cross like that? A dreaded instrument of torure and punishment, it becomes a symbol of our hope in the very one who died upon it...for us. Rev. She in NC
Date: 26 Mar 2000
Time: 23:16:57
A few random thoughts while preparing for Sunday: Snakes. They are everywhere. Back in the Old Testament book of exodus, the people of Israel ran into snakes in their desert travels. But they weren't the last ones to do so. The snakes are still with us, but today they are often walking on two legs. We meet them in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, in political life, and even sometimes within the close circle of our own family and friends. Have you ever been bitten by a snake of the two-legged variety? I have, and I'd be very surprised if I were the only person listening who could say that. In my family we had a great-uncle David a couple of generations back, whom we would all just rather forget about. But I'll bet I'm not alone. It may be that some of you might also have a two-legged snake or two slithering around your family tree. ... But more to the point: There are even more devious snakes at large, and they are the kind that I find, not out there, but rather in here. In my own mind, my own heart, my own conscience. ... Snakes. They lie low in the grass and they sneak up on us unawares. Some of them bite, some draw blood, some spread poison and leave wounds. Snakes like that are not to be trusted. They make our lives miserable. ... Now I'm actually an animal lover, and I'm sure there are others among us who would want to protest that snakes are important in God's world, and are an essential part of our natural environment. Well, I agree. That's true, of course. But poor beast! The snake has somehow become a biblical and literary symbol, too. Beginning in Genesis, where the serpent embodied all that is evil, and tempted Adam and Eve into sin, snakes have acquired a larger-than-life identity in our culture. ... The snake stands not only for Satan and sin, but also for everything that causes woundedness in our lives. Each one of us has an area of need in our lives; and when we are injured at those vulnerable points, we say that the experience is like getting a snake bite. It's painful. ... -AL, Lexington, KY
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 05:31:10
The light that John refers to here in vs 19 is like a searchlight that reaches out to bring light so that one can see in the dark. It is as John refers to earlier, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it." This light is a verdict handed down tht the light has come and some people hate that light because they would rather not face it, but look into the darkness instead. I'm rambling here, but it is early. Joy
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 13:27:24
It's interesting to me how this passage starts off by saying: "all you have to do is believe" and then ends up talking about deeds having been done in God. I never saw that in this context. I have to admit that as a good Protestant I have preached this passage in light of the first emphasis of belief in Jesus and ignoring the second aspect of deeds. Or is belief in Jesus itself supposed to be a deed done in God? Sorry about the confusion; just trying to make sense of it. . . Chuck
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 15:08:42
Snakes...historically and in the Old testament snakes negative symbols but what about the positive symbols...in matriarchal times they were a sign of healing.Marian
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 16:06:46
From the Textweek website, I was reminded that the healing emblem for the medical profession is the symbol of the snake intwined on the staff... same image for this weeks' Hebrew Bible reading and the gospel. Sacred images infusing the secular ...which reminds me, stream of consciously, of the annual Red Mass at St Louis Cathedral New Orleans for the Louisianna legal profession....Kairos
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 16:36:37
Saved by grace...
Deeds are the evidence for salvation...
Does that work (no pun intended)?
Rick in Va
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 16:54:10
I recently saw the movie "The Green Mile". I can not help but think of it as I read this text. John Coffee(and I am not spelling it right) was what we used to call in the '60's a "Christ-figure" innocently dying so that others might live - even too long. He was a healer. He saw injustice. The film maker used the contrast of dark and light through out the movie. How do we use this example without revealing the ending for those who have not seen it? The electric chair and cross work. I need to sharpen the example of a man who usually did only good but was executed. There was one scene in which he uses violence to destroy evil. If others of you have seen "THe Green Mile" I would enjoy dialogue about using it as an example or metaphor for this week's Gospel.
Caroline in CT/USA
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 17:26:56
John Coffee's (just like the drink) death provided no salvation. He provided salvation through helping and healing others. To that extent, yes, I saw him as a Christ-figure.
Light exposing the deeds of darkness: what about the contrast of John Coffee and the sadistic guard? Who was really in darkness? As well, this particular guard's threat to expose the deeds of the other guards.
The movie served for me to illustrate the sacredness of life and how horrible it is to lose it. Great movie.
John near Pitts
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 18:50:08
Thanks, The Green Mile does provide a great framework for the themes of this week's scripture. Manzel
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 19:08:20
Yes, light and darkness are central to the gospel of John. In the Green Mile, there are many contrasts of light and darkness but also of life and death. Life itself is enlightened, glorified and shown to be sacred yet death too is revered as a good part of creation. Each execution was horrible, tragic and just plane wrong. Even stomping on a mouse was an atrocity. That very scene made all life seem more sacred. But death, in its own time was to be welcomed and there John Coffy was ahead of us. We need not try to make John Coffy more into the image of Jesus but in appreciateing John Coffy we have a new depth of understanding Jesus. The inoscence of John Coffey and his abscence of malice in contrast to reputation or public personan is so striking. One cannot help but love John Coffy for his purity of heart, his abscence of malace. Yet this giant image on the silver screne is but a flickering candle in comparison to the radiant Son- shine of the one Crusified for us who could say from the cross, "father forgive them for they know not what they do" ! Manzel
Date: 27 Mar 2000
Time: 23:08:04
Insightful Friends—
I see here a fun twist on the old expression "hotter than Hell." Apparently, the place of heat and light is in the presence of Christ. This would fit with the portrayal of the innermost circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. There, Satan is forever imprisoned in a mountain of ice which never melts because it is so far removed from the light and heat of Christ’s presence.
Have you ever been in a place where the light is too bright? About 30 years ago, when I was an Explorer Scout, our High Adventure Post used to do 3 or 4 survival training outings per year. One of them was out in California’s high desert. In the summer. One of the first orders of business was to either find or construct some shade. The heat of so much direct sunlight was unbearable. Though it was years ago, I vividly remember the experience of seeing myself under such stark, searching light. My skin was either too burnt or too pasty. My body seemed too thin and puny (sigh, those were the days). My face, reflected in the pocket mirror (useful for signaling or shaving), was streaked with dried sweat and grime. My features seemed misshapen and misaligned. All in all, under that broad expanse of light and heat, I was profoundly aware of just how small and inadequate I was, how ill-equipped I was to handle the simple task of surviving in that bright, unrelenting light.
There were, of course, other fears in the darkness. Most of the denizens of the desert are nocturnal. But there again, my greatest, deepest fear arose from the light–– this time from the light of myriad stars. Under the light of those stars, light that had traveled billions of miles to fill up my desert night, I felt utterly worthless and insignificant. And there, at the age of 17, completely exposed and stripped of all pretensions, is when I really heard the sheer power of God’s Good News, proclaimed by Jesus, whispered by the Holy Spirit: "Yes, you are a small, insignificant, flawed little creature. And I love you more than you can begin to imagine."
"And this is the judgment. Light has come into the world, but the people preferred darkness." Small wonder. Light shows us just how flawed and helpless we are. The desert did not judge me, nor the blazing sun, nor the night sky. I judged myself by their light and was found wanting. So it is, I think, with that last judgment. And yet, thanks be to God, the light came into the world not to condemn the world, but to save.
For more insight into this week’s text, I strongly recommend "The Great Divorce," by C. S. Lewis.
Blessings, Steve in Orange
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 02:24:54
As I read this passage along with the Ephesian passage, and try to put it into the Lenten perspective (esp. self-examination), it is the word "grace" that keeps jumping out at me. Grace is always there. The snake that Moses lifted up in the desert was there for the people to see. The cross of Christ is there, now, for us to see. Grace is there. Forgiveness is there. Before we even ask, we are forgiven. But, we must turn away from the world (flesh) to see it. We must accept God's grace. It is there for the taking. Pastor Mark in IL
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 02:30:35
As I read this passage along with the Ephesian passage, and try to put it into the Lenten perspective (esp. self-examination), it is the word "grace" that keeps jumping out at me. Grace is always there. The snake that Moses lifted up in the desert was there for the people to see. The cross of Christ is there, now, for us to see. Grace is there. Forgiveness is there. Before we even ask, we are forgiven. But, we must turn away from the world (flesh) to see it. We must accept God's grace. It is there for the taking. Pastor Mark in IL
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 16:21:08
For Lent I'm doing a series of services called "Pressure Points (felt needs) of Life." For this Sunday, the topic is "The Long Journey--when life/job/marriage gets boring."
I'll point out that the journey for Israel made no sense whatever. A journey that should have lasted 3 months lasted 40 years. What must have been the frustrations of the people as they struggled with their feelings of faith, loyalty, heritage???!!!
In our society, we have what we call "mid-life crises." That's when we've lived 40 years, and when we think we should have the feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment, we feel empty and meaningless. And we think if we had a different job, a different wife, a sports car, we'd feel better. Those are the snakes that can kill us! Destroy our very reason for living!
But right in the middle of that struggle for meaning and fulfillment is that sign of God's love: the cross. It's the sign of death, but to us a sign of life. In the middle of our pain, our boredom, our lot in life comes the message that Jesus is the one who hung between earth and heaven to join us to our God. From the perspective of the cross, we see things differently. There's a divine perspective. A God-view of life. A God-purpose for our struggles and pains.
In January we visited our son in Phoenix and saw our 4-month old granddaughter for the first time. I'll never forget the feeling when I picked her up and the first thing she did was give me a great big smile! This old grandpa heart did a million flips! It was then that I realized why I was patient with my son when he was growing up. God was using me to build character and strength in my children so that they could pass it on to theirs.
It's easy to get lost in the wilderness, and to feel like there's no point. But there is. Some day we'll see it! Looking to the sign of love will keep us faithful and focused, and will give us the strength to persevere.
Clarence in Iowa
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 16:32:45
Acouple of early week thoughts.
When I was a child, one of my important task around the house was to hold the light. My father, a very patient man, was not much of a Mr. fixit. As he would struggle to repair things I was often brought in to hold a flashlight for him. (I heard a comedian comment not long ago that if they had invented those snake lights that shine where you point them he'd have never met his father) I was young and easily distacted, and I remember the light wandering with my eyes on occassion around the room and away from the project at hand. I can still hear the harrummmph from under the sink or the hood of the car as my Dad encouraged me to return the light.
I learned that when a person wants the light nothing else will do.
As a newly wed, I had not yet adjusted to sharing my life with another. On a few occassions my morning person happiness and the light I turned on with a happy "Good Morning !!" were met with a very similar harrrummmppphh from my dazed and unhapy bride.
Again, when people do not want the light - they really do not want it!
I am also intersted in looking at the way God takes the cause of our pain and often transforms itr - by grace - into a sign of redemption.
More as we bake our way through the week.
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 16:34:25
Sorry, forgot to identify myself -
New York Sheepdog
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 16:43:53
Adam Clarke's commentary on N.T. on v 16
Such a love as that which induced God to give his only begotten son to die for the world could not be described: Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle, "so" and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men. The same evangelist uses a similar mode of expression, 1 John 3:1: Behold, WHAT MANNER of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 16:57:08
Adam Clarke on v 17:
For God sent not, etc.—It was the opinion of the Jews that the Gentiles, whom they often term the world and nations of the world, were to be destroyed in the days of the Messiah. Christ corrects this false opinion; and teaches here a contrary doctrine. God, by giving his Son, and publishing his design in giving him, shows that he purposes the salvation, not the destruction, of the world—the Gentile people: nevertheless, those who will not receive the salvation he had provided for them, whether Jews or Gentiles, must necessarily perish; for this plain reason, There is but one remedy, and they refuse to apply it.
Clarence in Iowa
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 17:16:26
Adam Clarke on the pericope:
This is the end of our Lord’s discourse to Nicodemus; and though we are not informed here of any good effects produced by it, yet we learn from other scriptures that it had produced the most blessed effects in his mind, and that from this time he became a disciple of Christ. He publicly defended our Lord in the Sanhedrin, of which he was probably a member, John 7:50, and, with Joseph of Arimathea, gave him an honorable funeral, John 19:39, when all his bosom friends had deserted him.
Clarence in Iowa
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 17:17:41
It strikes me a little odd that with Nicodemus expressing such interest in spiritual things, Jesus did not call him to be one of the disciples.
Clarence in Iowa
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 19:51:05
As Clarence noted, this piece is a part of Jesus' discourse to Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night. In chapter 19, when Joseph asks for the body of Jesus, it is noted that he was "a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one" (19:38). Vs. 39 also notes that Nicodemus first came to Jesus by night. Could this discussion of light and darkness be directed at Nicodemus (and other secret disciples) who has "seen the light" but will not live in the light? Seems like an often repeated theme in human history. We know God, we know of God's salvation, we believe in God, but we continue to stuggle with allowing God to rule in our lives. While Nicodemus and Joseph may have hidden their discipleship publicly, they were faithful privately. Too often in today's society, we are public with our discipleship (church, language, jewlry, t-shirts), but our faith is hidden, even from ourselves. I see two actions of Christianity: seeing the light and living in the light. If we want to put this in theological terms, it may be liken to salvation and santification. This leads us right back to the earlier conversation of works vs. grace. We are saved by grace that in our sanctification we may do good works.
Just some rambling thoughts...JRinBigD
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 21:19:23
Is anyone working with John 6 within the Episcopal Lectionary?
tom in ga
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 23:42:16
I am interested in seeing how we respond to what has become the sacharinne sentimentality surrounding John 3:16.
This passage of scripture is part of Jesus' response to the question, "How can this be?" How can one be born anew. Simple answer: Believe that the light has come into the world for our salvation.
My working title for this week's sermon is "This littlle light of ...ours."
Sun City Rev
Date: 28 Mar 2000
Time: 23:42:58
Sacharinne sentimentality . . . a tough challenge, since I am preaching from John 3:16 as well. Two challenges I have found:
1. "World" is kosmos in the Greek, and I don't think it's a stretch in the translation to insist that the emotional interpretation of "God loved *me* so much . . ." is way too small. Over in the discussion section they are refering to The Green Mile, and the image of John Coffee feeling everyone's emotions makes for a good image of God loving the world.
2. At the end of the verse, "perish" is in the aorist, and "have" eternal life is in the present. From my word search through John (using Hermeneutika, an excellent computer Bible program that let me search on the Greek root and print the results in English), both of these distinctives are relatively consistent through the gospel. So the death we suffer is past, present, and future, and the eternal life is now--today. I haven't figured out how to illustrate this well yet, but it draws us away from a focus on what happens when we die.
I'll be (briefly) walking through the verse, phrase by phrase, as a sermon outline.
Date: 29 Mar 2000
Time: 12:52:22
Thanks for the good thoughts again this week. While reading Raymond Brown again on this text i was taken back when he stated that "the best attested readings" suggested the definite article "the" only Son rather than "his" only Son in v.16. Is there anything to this? Not that it would affect my preaching on this text, but sometimes these seemingly little things are there. Deke of the North
Date: 29 Mar 2000
Time: 13:18:59
v 14 again re-emphasizes the significance of covenant history breaking forth in the life of Jesus. This recapitulation faith vision opening up the present to the past or the past to the present is especially needed in this age of information explosion, future shock, dead tradition, and institutional emptiness because of the contemporary eschatological milieu wherein the chaos of change victimizes. We need the "serpent wisdom" especially in Jesus the Christ to bring the new being/life which is victorious over death. We need to see clearly the cause of our dead being. We need to see the serpent Jesus bearing our death as his own especially in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. PaideiaSCO in north GA mts.
Date: 29 Mar 2000
Time: 21:56:24
A member of my congregation asked people where he worked,"Who said..Jn 3:16?" it has been taken out of context so much, that almost no one knew. i am going back and including nicodemus (i'll be out of town on father's day). we imagined how the pharisees used to stay up late at night discussing scripture and theology (before T.V.) and could "see" nicodemus coming in from the dark, into the light.
didn't the hebrew people have to acknowledge their sin before they pled for help from the snakes? They admitted they had turned against God, and now God provided a way for them to turn to God and gaze upon life. a lenten theme seems to be that in confessing our turning away from God, we can turn to the cross, the symbol of our salvation, of life.
when you come in to the light, the streaks and dirt show, only then do you realize the need to clean.
thanks for your comments. blessings, rachel in tn.ms
Date: 29 Mar 2000
Time: 21:57:12
In response to Tom in Georgia, from John in Cumming, Georgia. Yes, I am focusing (or will be focusing) on John 6 especially the phrase "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." Like the text, that phrase strikes me as a powerful word of grace, especially for those of us who seem to see much that is fragmentary and broken in our lives. So, we are always thrown back on who God is (John 3:16 and "light in the darkness", along with the word of grace in Ephesians). We will be celebrating Holy Communion and I hope to be able to invite everyone (I am certainly inviting myself!) to come forward with the fragments, the broken places and receive the promise that in God's grace, nothing is lost for those who will trust in Him. But at this point my direction is still "fragmentary", so I'd love to hear some conversation about these and other possibilities. John at CFUMC in Georgia
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 02:28:16
Possibilities for this week's lection if you use both Numbers and John. 1) No Burger King Theology here! - The Israelites wanted it their way. Don't we all. They were not satisfied with what God was providing. Are we? They continue on to idolaterize the snake on the stick. Do we do the same thing to the cross? Some clergy get these huge crosses to wear. Look at me! I am something special! Think of the cross in the pocket. The cross in the pocket could also be a good idea for a children's sermon. What do we do with the gift God has given us? Do we make full use of it? Both the snake on the stick and Jesus on the cross are to point us to look up to God. The Israelites turned to idolatry and so do we. How many people worship the church building (which is to point us to God) instead of worshipping God? Something to think about. Philip in Ohio
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 04:49:08
I posted the previous two point response regarding the "saccarine sentimentality" and for got to sign my name. Sorry.
As I have been mulling over this week's sermon, I have realized that I have a straw man in the back of my mind I may make explicit this week. When I first heard and used John 3:16 in my teenage Four Steps evangelism, I tended to understand this verse as: "For God so loves me (the great saint I can become more than me now)that he sent his one and only Son so that if I say this prayer right now I will go to heaven instead of hell." I've been trying to think of a compassionate way fo saying this is true in so far as it goes, but far from complete--and the best I've come up with is this. It's like the parents who go to a high school play and see nothing more than their daughter play onlooker #3. Their and my selfishness is understandable, maybe even commendable, but they and I risk missing so much of the play and the gospel.
On another note: recently I heard a Christian speaker refer to a priest who was kill edin the Holocaust. As the story went, a prisoner escaped the concentration camp, and the guards were going to somehow horribly kill ten (?) people at random to teach others not to escape. When one man was picked, he cried out "My poor wife!" At this a priest volunteered to take his place, the guards allowed him, and the condemned were killed swiftly, singing hymns and praying. Recently the Pope was to have honored this priest, and standing in the crowd was this man, his wife, his children and grandchildren.
I remember the general story but not the specifics. Anyone have a reference for me?
Bruce in PA
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 13:33:01
To JR in Big D, Maurice Boyd has a whole sermon about "Secret Disciples" it can be found in his book A Lover's Quarrel with the World. Welch Publishing Co. Inc. - Canadian, eh! (the publisher, not the author). Deke of the North
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 14:32:42
always appreciate the insights on the gospel in this site. The comment about the severity of light in the desert reminded me of an article in our local paper this week. Our high school presented a memorial garden for students and faculty who died of cancer while attending and working at the school. The memorial garden is part of the "Shade Tree Project" which began to increase awareness of the dangers of sun exposure. Most skin cancers are preventable and excessive exposure to the sun is the leading cause of most skin cancers. Young adults and others have always worshipped the sun and the suntan maintains a glamorous status. The Shade Tree Project was conceived in an effort to reach this target audience. By having the students take note of cancer deaths in other people their age and by having them help create a living reminder in a shade tree and garden area, the hope is that the message will permeate their youth culture. Possible tie ins to the text. The sunlight is too strong for our own good. Many will not be able to survive it. Christ is also a light too intense for us to handle. But God supplied "the shade" on that Friday long ago, when the earth was darkened and His Son spoke from the cross "Father, forgive them" We are ill equipped to survive in bright unrelenting light. The light shows us how flawed and helpless we are (quote from DP!) Thankfully, John 3:16 John, Fuquay-Varina, NC
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 18:22:34
Bruce, The priest was Father Kolbe (I want to say his first name is Martin, but I'm not sure). The ten men were not killed swiftly but were locked up to starve to death. Kolbe led them in prayers and hymns and was the last to die. If I remember correctly he was shot because it was taking so long. Call your local library; a newer book on saints and heroes in the Catholic Church would have the full story. Bonnie
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 18:39:06
Bruce in Pa, You can find the story of Maximillian Kolbe (the saint of Auschwitz) at www.954.com/stmax Bruce in WI
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 19:28:46
John at CFUMC in Georgia
Thanks for your thoughts. I am only at the starting gate with this weeks attempt. At first glance the three readings carry a similiar theme: Of Emptiness and Fullness. We are empty when we are wrapped in ourselves, and full when our lives are in Christ.
Emptiness: unfaithfulness of the priests and people of Judah; the people are destroyed by the Babylonians. (2 Chronicles) We are dead to sin (Ephesians) Lack of faith and resources to feed (John 6)
Fullness: God has compassion, Cyrus comes on the scene, liberates Israel. (2 Chroniciles) God stoops to raise us up (Ephesians) In the hands of Christ, resources become more than enough (fragments left over).
I am trying to head somewhere.
Tom in GA
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 20:28:56
I am a simple thinker, and I preach simple sermons. Here is a simple thought: God gave the Israelites the bronze serpent to give them a way out of their brokenness. God gave all of humanity Jesus to give us all a way out of our brokenness. As someone else said in this forum, both are meant to point to or glorify God. It is only through God (in Jesus)that we find the antedote to the effects of the venom of evil in our lives. And it is only through the One who was raised upon the Cross that we not only find the curative for our illness, but eternal life.
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 20:29:34
I am a simple thinker, and I preach simple sermons. Here is a simple thought: God gave the Israelites the bronze serpent to give them a way out of their brokenness. God gave all of humanity Jesus to give us all a way out of our brokenness. As someone else said in this forum, both are meant to point to or glorify God. It is only through God (in Jesus)that we find the antedote to the effects of the venom of evil in our lives. And it is only through the One who was raised upon the Cross that we not only find the curative for our illness, but eternal life.
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 20:31:01
I am a simple thinker, and I preach simple sermons. Here is a simple thought: God gave the Israelites the bronze serpent to give them a way out of their brokenness. God gave all of humanity Jesus to give us all a way out of our brokenness. As someone else said in this forum, both are meant to point to or glorify God. It is only through God (in Jesus)that we find the antedote to the effects of the venom of evil in our lives. And it is only through the One who was raised upon the Cross that we not only find the curative for our illness, but eternal life. Ross in NC
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 20:32:48
Sorry about the multiple posting. Ross in NC
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 21:56:04
Good for you, Ross in NC. We need to remember that most of the people in the pews are at a 6th grade level. Several of us in our sermon group use a children's resource to help with sermons. Philip in Ohio
Date: 30 Mar 2000
Time: 22:25:29
A strong theme of judgment and grace here (and in Numbers). 3:16 has so eclipsed this passage for me that I feel as if I am seeing the rest of the passage for the first time. Such as verse 19, "This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." The verdict of judgment was the light of Christ coming into the world. We condemned ourselves by hiding from the light; and reveling in the darkness. As I write this, I am listening to Phantom of the Opera - that evil one who lures a young woman into his dark world. He sings to her, "Turn your face away from the garish light of day, turn your thoughts away from cold,unfeeling light - and listen to the music of the night" Perhaps I digress... Read what is written in the book <Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV-Year B> by Brueggemann et al, quoting from pg. 229, "God's action is simultaneously..of salvation and...of judgment....Jesus says that those who do not believe 'are condemned already.' Condemnation does not simply wait out in the future to punish those who have turned their backs to God; it exists in the present - they are 'condemned already.' Condemnation is evident from the fact that people 'loved darkness rather than light.' Just as life in the present can be said to reflect the salvation of God in Jesus Christ, so life in the present can also reflect judgment. This observation, of course, is not to be manipulated as if it were a diagnostic tool...to discern those who are already saved and others who are already condemned. Instead it reflects a larger truth about eternal life and judgment; both exist in the present in the lives people lead and in the deeds toward which they are drawn." Sorry to make all this a quote, but it is great stuff! I think I'll be talking about realizing eternal life in the here and now. Living life and living it abundantly. And light and darkness. Blessings, Rev. Jennifer in Mississippi
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 01:39:48
I think a certain amount of care must be taken to not view those in the pews as being simpletons who can't understand the gospel message unless it's proclaimed from the perspective of a 6th grader.
It smacks of pulpit arrogance, a seemingly common ailment especially in the main-line church.
I've found many to be starving for truth, for substance, to be challenged to think about what they believe and the consequences of false belief.
And here is a lectionary reading that speaks to that clearly and unequivocally. The reward of right belief, the penalty of wrong belief. Light and darkness. Salvation and doom.
In a world that places false value on murky religion, here is Christ piercing the darkness...
Preach the Word, as Truth, as Light, as Salvation, as Gospel.
Rick in Va
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 10:44:37
Bruce in PA
Another place to locate information on Maximillian Kolbe is http://www.westminster-abbey.org/Martyrs
MWW in MA
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 10:49:25
Bruce in PA,
Sorry I got a little carried away and neglected another link. There is a website dedicated to the life and witness of Maximillan Kolbe it is http://www.kolbenet.com
MWW in MA, again
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 14:36:47
"Flaming." An ugly word, I know, and admittedly, one of which I am not proud, not even now, not even several years removed. Yet, as I looked at him, I simply couldn't help the thought. There it was in all it's brutal realness, forced into my consciousness like a bolt of lightning on a moonless night. Flaming. For certainly, as he stood before me in his hot pink wind breaker, the dainty gold bracelet clipped securely about his large wrist, and the over-large eyeglasses perched on his narrow nose, overwhelming his round face, he could hardly have proclaimed more loudly the stereotype of gayness. Not even if he had carried a placard draped across his shoulders like the living commercials of old, "Eat at Joe's", "Coffee 10¢," "I am gay," would he have been more noticeable.
He quickly bounded over to where I had just departed the vehicle and hugged me in the joyous embrace of Christian meeting. I could not help but think it rather odd - here I was, meeting a flaming gay investor from Middletown, USA, a city only a few short miles from the town which I called home. Here I was, in this European city of old, meeting a flaming gay investor, a person with whom I shared close personal friends. Here we were, meeting for the first time, at this place where we had come to enter into the ministry of home construction. "Bizarre," I thought, as he loudly exclaimed, "I'm Tim and I am delighted to meet you!" I could feel the Wind beginning to rustle, and I knew the feeling. It was the kind of wind that began with just a slight shift of the air, growing until it became a hurricane, growing until one found one's self in the raging uncontrollable whirlwind of the Spirit. "Oh, oh," I silently mused, "Ready or not, Lord, ready or not."
Of course, we were assigned to be roommates. So for the next several days, much to my discomfort, we were rarely apart. We worked together, he in his spandex shorts, me in my battered military fatigues and old flight boots. We ate together, breaking bread on the edge of ditches which we were digging by hand, ditches slowly and painfully scraped from the hard unyielding clay. And we slept together, separated by a mere three feet of open space in the small cramped room on a floating barge on the Danube. Me, the hard-charging military ex-rugby player, and Tim, the guy with the cameo bracelet and spandex shorts. Yet, little by little, unlikely though it was, we began to learn of one another. He patiently listened as I spoke of refugee camps, past military experiences, and my growing feeling of unease with God's call for me to love my enemy when my nation had called for me to kill them. And I listened to him as well. The wind shifted and picked up speed.
It was late at night when he spoke it. There, protected by the darkness of the room, surrounded by silence broken only by the quiet slap of water along the side of the rusting and battered hull, there, in the presence of a virtual stranger and in the place of far away land. Tim's voice drifted out of the blackness, "I need to tell you something." I waited. And then more softly, vulnerable, hesitant even, as if knowing the reaction would was sure to follow, "I'm gay." For long moments, neither of us broke the silence. I was unsure how to respond. Finally, I answered, "I know, Tim. And you dig good ditches."
The damn broke, and the pain which flowed from Tim was almost overwhelming, so overwhelming and so deep that I had to wonder why he had never drowned. He first explained that he was celibate, that he had never engaged in a gay relationship, though he was at a point in his life that he again needed a mate. And then, to my deep surprise, this middle-aged investor, who was quickly closing in on retirement, told me that he had been married, married to a most wonderful woman. He said, it had been expected, something that one did. Yet, even before they married, he knew this other thing. Then, through the course of their lives together, through the process of siring and raising three sons, he had always known this other thing. He had deeply loved his wife, though he said it was difficult to explain, but it was never with a passionate sexual longing, never with a desire to cling together flesh in flesh.
They lived together and adored one another, two lovers who rarely connected in the realm of the physical. And so their lives had been, until she fell ill. It was bad, but surely she would get better. Even after she entered the hospital, he was sure that she would soon come home. She did come home, but she did not get better. Punctuated by small sobs, and in a voice strained by grief, Tim quietly offered, "She died about two years ago. How I miss her." He continued, "It was shortly after when my brother committed suicide. The note said that he could no longer live with the lie, and he knew that no one would ever accept the truth." The voice from the darkness paused. In the stillness, all one could hear was the muffled sound of deep sadness intermingled with the gentle caress of the river as it slid past our floating room. Minutes went by and then, "He killed himself because he didn't think I would accept that he was gay. He never knew about me. He never knew." Tim's pain washed over me in a great flood. The truth enveloped me in all it's brutal realness and even the darkness would provide no solace. The hurricane broke around us, changing forever the realities of our world.
Tim was unusually quiet the next morning, not really speaking through breakfast, keeping to himself as we made the 30 minute bus trip to the construction site. His silence continued through most of the morning. I watched as this gentle and loving man battled the hard ground, the sweat from his dripping brow, mixing in the brown dirt, leaving muddy contrails along the side of his face. I watched as with each shovel full of the concrete like clay, he expressed his deep faith for the God of hope, a deep faith born and nurtured out of the brokeness of life.
During our mid-morning break, as we stood together in the shade of the bus, he quietly offered, "Thank you for last night. I've only shared that with a very few people. My sons know, and two of them have rejected me, but after my brother, I can't live a lie anymore. If it wasn't for my friends in faith and a God who loves, I would have died too. So, thank you."
I've lost track of Tim, yet I know that in the body of faith, we are still connected, he and I. Each of us seeking to proclaim Christ to the world in the actions of servanthood, connected together through the light of a God who comes not to condemn, but to love.
Shalom my friends,
Nail-Bender in NC
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 15:26:41
Hold on now, folks. When I said that I preach simple sermons I was not making any comment about the intellectual abilities of my listeners. What our people need is the saving knowledge of Jesus firmly grounded in scripture. Tradition, experience, and reason have their place as well. With that said, my people don't know who Athanasius or Augustine or Aquinas are, nor do they care. Their lack of interest in such figures is not because they are intellectually challenged, they are not. They simply want to hear how the Good News applies to them, and how they can help others to share in it. Right and wrong thinking, sin and salvation, light and darkness are all important and should be preached to God's glory. All of that is a gross oversimplification and overgeneralization, but you get my point. Let's just let the Holy Spirit guide our communication to the people. If we do that, the Word will be rightly preached in all circumstances and to all sorts of people. Grace and peace to all, Ross in NC
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 16:16:23
Dear Ross...
I don't believe you were the one that mentioned that those in the pews are much like a bunch of 6th graders.
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 16:20:51
For those still working on sermons at this late hour, a wonderful narrative approach can be found at the United Church of Espanola by Kim Gilliland.
http://www.etown.net/united church/sermons.html
I will be following the same strand, that we need to face what we fear most in order to gain life, as the Israelites had to face the bronze serpent to heal from the snakebites, and as Christians must face the cross, instrument of torture, and the death of an innocent man, who can bring us life. In connection with that I also plan to share one of the stories from a marvelous book by Michael Kearney, MD "Mortally Wounded: Stories of Soul Pain, Death and Healing." This book was recommended by an oncologist who was speaker at a seminar on palliative care put on by a regional hospital recently. Dr. Kearney is a physician in Ireland who works within a hospice setting and has come to use complementary therapies to help those dying to face what they fear most - death itself.
Rev. Sophia
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 16:44:05
Thanks for all the help regarding Maximilian Kolbe. Of course, after asking for help here and in Sermonshop on Ecunet, I found the information. The links were very helpful as well.
Bruce in PA
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 17:19:26
Nailbender,
Beautifully written. Again I marvel at the skills God has blessed you with. I am envious but thankfully that passes.
I had a similar experience to yours with a guy named Richard. He too was "flaming". This occurred almost 15 years ago, well before I came to Christ personally. The bottom line is that all in the office ostracized this young man. I chose not to. He was an extraordinarily good software developer and business analyst. And yes, he was gay. We developed a friendship and I too was ostracized to some extent by others in the office because Richard and I hung out. I took the time to treat him like I treated anybody. What I didn't do was introduce him to Christ, because at that time I didn't know Him. I too have lost contact with Richard. I hope he's still alive and I hope someone has introduced him to Christ.
Shortly after I read your note, I came across this devotional (http://www.intouch.org/myintouch/devotional/index_76096.html).
I ask you Nailbender, and I'm sincere, how is it that we can reach out to the Richard's and the Tim's of this world while holding fast to the precepts of Romans 6? I want to learn but I want to remain faithful.
I believe today that I would treat Richard the same way I did 15 years ago. The difference would be that I would hope that eventually I could tell him of the difference Christ has made in my life, and that he would see telltale evidence for those differences so that my telling would have meaning and could be trusted.
But I also think that eventually, we'd have to read Romans 6 together, and figure out how to apply its truths.
Nailbender, how would you do this with Tim?
Rick in Va
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 17:57:52
Hello all, working late as usual, though I've thought about this sermon for weeks--gave it a title and everything long ago.
Do you remember the TV show, Mork and Mindy? For those unfamiliar, Robin Williams played an alien from the planet Ork who had arrived on earth in an egg-shaped space craft. There is a scene from an early show, maybe the first, where Mork finds eggs in the refrigerator. He tosses one in the air, crying "Save Yourself!" Needless to say, the egg was unable to save itself.....and so are we.
The title of my sermon is Save Yourself. Ill be using both the passage from Ephesians and this one. We cannot save ourselves no matter how hard we try. Eggs simply cannot fly. But God has taken care of this problem. God's love and grace can overcome our sin. God loved the world, so much. It has been well-discussed that it doesn't say God loved ME so much, but I do believe that I am a part of this world, so this love does extend to me as well.
Rick--I'm with you this week. I do believe we must challenge our congregations, and I also believe we want to talk to them at a level that fits. I choose to speak with language that is natural to me. I rarely use heavy theological language, but if I need to then I teach a while to help them make sense.
Also, Rick, your response to Nail-bender is one that speaks to my heart, as well. In seminary, I discovered that many of my friends were gay--and openly so. It was not what I expected to find. As I heard their stories, and listened to them express their faith, I learned that we were not very different, and that we all had experienced God's grace in profound ways. I have no easy answers for your question related to scripture, except what you've heard over and over about cultural context of the time and place that it was written. With this and with many other areas of life, we struggle. I find value in that struggle. I'm glad to know that God works with us, helping us wrestle through as we try to understand. Meantime, we preach what the spirit gives us to preach.
Pam in San Bernardino (being blown away by the Santa Ana winds!)
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 19:08:29
Brother Rick,
I so appreciate your question. Though I don't have the time to answer it properly (as if I can answer properly, for as you know, there have been lives of theological discourse given to your question, volumes of works, and whole schools of thought,) something which I am unable to do in just a few sentences, please allow me to offer up the "short" answer. In the passage in Romans, Paul was speaking of sin, the law, and grace. His words shouldn't be taken out of the context of the flow of the text through Romans. (And I am not suggesting that you are doing so.) As I'm sure you would agree, Paul's work is a wonderful treatise on the redemptive work of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Paul goes on in chapter seven to describe his own sinfulness and seeming inability to live a life which appears sinless, and in this, he argues that the law which points to sin, is in itself an instrument, but not a device which has the power to rectify our relationship to God to a point of reconciliation. But rather, after his lament in chapter 7, he opens chapter 8 with the beautiful statement: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."
Thus, it is through the grace of God through the person of Christ Jesus, that we find life.
As I reflect on the life of my friend Tim, I assume that Tim's life is a life in Christ. Perhaps I didn't make that clear in the story. I am sure Tim understands and abides in that life of grace. Unfortunately, I only gave you a snapshot of our time together. We actually spent 12 days in service, communion, prayer, and reflection. Tim's faith is very real and very deep. And fortunately, in the context of this week's lectionary, I experienced the abundance of God's love for Tim and God's love for me, in the love that God has for God's cosmos. The love of Christ was perfected and shined through Tim in a way that clearly proclaimed grace, and hope, and light, and life. Deeds of the light, lived in the name of Christ.
Shalom,
Nail-Bender in NC
Date: 31 Mar 2000
Time: 19:55:08
On John 6 (and the readings from 2 Chronicles and Ephesians):
In 2 Chronicles we hear of the mess God's people have gotten themselves into by forgetting him! Basically, God simply lets them sit with themselves, removing from them all sacramental signs of his presence and enslaving them in Babylon for 70 years. What an interesting phrase: In letting the land remain desolate it celebrates the Sabbath; it is as though when we are weak and empty our hands open and God is able to give us his gifts once again, calling Cyrus to restore the land and the Temple to the people.
Ephesians continues this theme of God's bounty, it is through Christ that we are recreated, given grace and life, and in spite of ourselves salvation becomes possible.
John relives these two lessons. The Christ and his disciples escape to the mountain side to be alone away from a crowd who misunderstood the miracles of healing; however they were followed and their solitude was interrupted. Philip wants to send them home, we have no supply of food for them (as though having was more important than the action of God); and Andrew laughed when he said there is a child here with a few loaves and fish (again as though the miracles of God rest with us, as though life in its fullness is something we ourselves can make); and in and through their hunger, their emptiness, their depletion he brings forth food, feeding each one himself, giving them a share in his life, a sacramental sign of God's abundance. What does this say to us about our own lives: Only when we move out in the darkness of pure faith are we met by the Lord who feeds us with himself in the wilderness of our lives.
tom in ga
Date: 01 Apr 2000
Time: 00:28:43
Does anyone see "high and lifted up" as being the resurrection as well as the cross? I have been thinking about the born again part of Nicodemus dialogue and that is life after spiritual death. I do see the cross as "magnetic" giving life through redemption/forgiveness and I know it is lent and not Easter. But I wonder if Jesus is also referring to his life - eternal life when he said, "that everyone who believes in me might have eternal life". Lots of martyrs in the world didn't give us life.
Date: 01 Apr 2000
Time: 00:54:21
About the 6th grade level. You may not know all newpapers are written on a 5th grade level.
Date: 01 Apr 2000
Time: 12:43:14
Does anyone have a good illustration on trusting God or misplaced trust in mortals?
John Deere of the Bluegrass
Date: 01 Apr 2000
Time: 20:20:07
For anyone who is spending their Saturday sweating out a sermon with this rich text:
I have been intrigued by the condemned and the non-condemned. It ocurred to me this week in a Bible study I was leading that we can be unbelieving at certain times of our lives (and certian times of the day)thus being condemned at that time. But at other times we are trusting and believing thus being under the condition of being non-condemned. If I think of a building that has been condemned it is uninhabitable. When I am unbelieving my life is not habitable, but when I do believe, trust, and rely on Jesus the my life is ever so much more habitable no matter what outer circumstances are around.
I want to tie this to John 17:3 where Jesus talks about what life is. Eternal life is not just the future but life that has no concept of time. Jesus is the alpha and omega all at the same time. Life is knowing (and living in) the truth about God. And the truth about God is Jesus.
Jonesy
Date: 01 Apr 2000
Time: 23:04:49
It occurs to me that the serpents in Numbers are prompting the people to repentance - if they do not then they will die - by turning toward the uplifted serpent the people glimpse the reality of new life.
In John, this reality becomes focussed in 'the son of man'. the difference between the venomous serpent and the healing serpent is one of the heart - the turning from the way of darkness towards the way of light.
comments please. susp Qu.
Date: 02 Apr 2000
Time: 00:52:27
HI, I'm challenged this week to incorporate the threads of tradition, lent, and readings. here is what I have so far. Would appreciate some input. thanks.
Easter is the most important festival of our Christian tradition........... Without the resurrection Jesus' birth and life would have been for nothing.......... Without the resurrection his death would have been for nothing.
Lent is the time when we remember the last days of Jesus............. we remember his determination..... his teaching.............. his denial of temptation.............. his last meal................ his entry into Jerusalem and his betrayal....... and we remember his dying on the cross........
In Lent........ we are reminded that we all fall short of the glory of God.......... that no-one will qualify on their own account......... We are reminded during Lent that it is God who continually gives us the opportunity to prepare ourselves....... To recognize our shortfalls, to repent.......... to get ourselves ready..... In every way........... To offer our old selves to die with Jesus on the cross .......... and rise again to new life in him.
This Sunday, the 4th of Lent, is a special Sunday........ Around the world in the Christian church today is celebrated as Mothering Sunday:.......
It is a religious festival, not a civil celebration..... A tradition which has its roots in Jerusalem... long before the time of Jesus................ This day is the day that the whole church, even today, is reminded of the call to be one united mother church........ to direct our lives towards the one holy church............... None of us can get there on our own....... None of us is worthy.........The one holy church .... the one Jesus talks about.......... Is the one he says will be rased to the ground ....... The one he says will raised again...............
Think for a moment about this.............. The one universal body which binds us all together............ Is it not worthy of our full attention............ is it not worthy of our lives........ Is it not this one body which will be struck down and lifted up.............. Is he not talking of himself............... And in the call for us to turn towards the mother church .... do we not....... in fact........ turn towards him..............
Is it not to him we give thanks and praise, honouring his name...... trusting that he truly calls us together and unites us in his body.
I have been haunted this week by the image of snakes in these readings ........... After struggling with the predominant view of snakes as perpetrators of evil............ as the reincarnation of Satan and the author of all our brokenness.... the truth became clear ........ The people had become so separated from God that drastic measures had to be taken......... The complaining......... the lack of faith....... this was the venom leading people towards darkness and death.......... people had come to prefer the darkness and it was killing them......... stealing them away from the opportunity to know eternal life...... they had allowed the venom to come between them and their God............... "And this is the judgment”................ John says.......... “Light has come into the world, but the people preferred darkness.".
Only when the people repented could they turn and see the light........... The venom of the snakes so filled their lives that the people could not see the goodness and truth that was right there in front of them......... The truth had been there among them all the time......
Only when many had been lost.......... did the people repent........... Only when the serpent had done its work was it lifted up..........
Jesus says........... Just as Moses lifted up the serpent so must the Son of Man be lifted up............
The venom of the serpents is still among us............ just as they were in Moses’ day...... just as they were when Jesus spoke these words......... There are still many who find the darkness more appealing......... or perhaps don’t know the difference..... darkness is the perfect place to breed and spread venom.......
There are still many who are afraid of the light............ After all..... Light reveals the flaws.......... the brokenness, the need to repent............ It doesn’t have to be this way........ God offers us a choice................ Darkness is death............. Light is life............ and to show us the way God loves us so much that he gave us Jesus......s that all who believe in him should not perish but have eternal life.
susp. qu.
Date: 02 Apr 2000
Time: 02:16:40
Question What do you think about when you see a graveyard in side or in front of a church?
Do you see light or darkness?
What do you think sinners see?
My subject is What do you see? Self-evaluation during Lent Pastor in Alabama
Date: 02 Apr 2000
Time: 02:33:59
Pam, its all the hot air out there that's blowing you around. I am convinced that nothing keeps us from the love of God. I am appalled at the attitudes of un enlightened people talking about gays. Just when did it become ok for Christians to condemn others? Christ came to save. Jesus is not the night watchman moving around with a flashlight looking for the intruders. Jesus is the lovelight that God leaves on in the dark. Welcoming us home. Guiding our steps. Spring has come here. The tulips and the daffodills are blooming. Its great. PS in Iowa
Date: 02 Apr 2000
Time: 02:52:20
Clarence in Iowa, This is a very late entry, but what a wonderful vision on of you and your son and then your grandson. The world needs more fathers who are patient with ther children and see that their role as Father is one that has a profound effect on the world to come.
God's son most certianly was the "spittin" image of God and just look at the effect of that Son on our lives. Love just keeps touchin lives with more love.
God bless you.
jmj in Wis
Date: 02 Apr 2000
Time: 02:52:39
Clarence in Iowa, This is a very late entry, but what a wonderful vision on of you and your son and then your grandson. The world needs more fathers who are patient with ther children and see that their role as Father is one that has a profound effect on the world to come.
God's son most certianly was the "spittin" image of God and just look at the effect of that Son on our lives. Love just keeps touchin lives with more love.
God bless you.
jmj in Wis
Date: 02 Apr 2000
Time: 03:29:58
ps in Iowa
What a great contribution. I love the way you have with words that paint a picture we can see clearly. I have my sermon, but your Jesus as the "Lovelight" will be my closing. Thanks and God bless you for sharing your talent we us.
jmj in Wis