Bishop Willimon, in one of His Weekly Messages, wrote about Paul’s focus on the cross. He began his reflection on Paul’s preaching this way:
Imagine being asked to stand before a grand gathering of the good and the wise and being asked to make a speech about goodness, beauty, the meaning of life, the point of history, the nature of Almighty God or some such high subject and having no material at your disposal but an account of a humiliating, bloody, execution at a garbage dump outside a rebellious city in the Middle East. It is your task to argue that this story is the key to everything in life and to all that we know about God. This was precisely the position of Paul in Corinth. Before the populace of this cosmopolitan, sophisticated city of the Empire, Paul had to proclaim that this whipped, bloody, scorned and derided Jew from Nazareth who was “God with Us.”
In that setting Paul said he focused on the cross: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2; NRSV) Paul knew that such preaching “about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18; NRSV)
This may explain why this week, which we call Holy Week, no longer receives the emphasis it once did. The cross has become “foolishness” to some. Even in segments of the institutional church the cross is seen as foolishness. It was not long ago that a Bishop said that she did not need someone hanging on a cross to save her. Like the Greeks of Paul’s day, the cross is foolishness to her.
Here is how Paul addressed such foolishness:
“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where it the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and the Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:20-24; NRSV)
Later in his message, Bishop Willimon wrote:
A crucified Messiah? It is an oxymoron, a violation of Israel’s high expectations for a messianic liberator. In order to bring such a scandal to speech, Paul eschewed “lofty words or wisdom,” the stock-in-trade of the classical orator. Rather than avoiding the scandal of the cross or attempting to sugar coat its absurdity in order to make it more palatable, he limited his subject matter so that he knew, “nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” His manner of presentation, his delivery was “weakness,” “fear and trembling,” a rather peculiar demeanor for a public speaker. Why? So that nothing might move his hearers, nothing might convince them but “the power of God.”
For God the Father to allow God the Son to be crucified, dead and buried is for God to be pushed out beyond the limits of human expectation or human help. The cross is the ultimate dead end of any attempt at human self-fulfillment, human betterment or progress. Hanging from the cross, in humiliation and utter defeat, there is nothing to be done to vindicate the work of Jesus or to make the story come out right except “the power of God.”
That power of God is what we celebrate on Easter. It is the power of the resurrection that turned the cross into a cherished sign of victory. God took what seemed foolish to the world and through the touch of His Power, made it the Key Event in human history. Everything changed because of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The next two nights we have special opportunities of Worship to help us celebrate the “foolishness” of the cross. During our Maundy Thursday Service (6:30 PM) we will celebrate the meal that Christ gave to us as a means of remembering the cross. My message that evening, “Give Thanks – Christ Died!” will look at how Holy Communion is a regular reminder of the tremendous love of Christ in going to the cross.
Our Good Friday Service (6:30 PM) will also focus on the cross. Through scripture and song will we remember the depth of the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. This is sometimes called a Service of Darkness, for we leave in darkness remembering the utter despair that was felt when Jesus was placed in the tomb. It seemed that the powers of darkness had won.
But we know the tomb is not the end of the story of Jesus. The power of God transformed the cross by raising Jesus from the dead. We will have four opportunities to celebrate the resurrection this weekend: Saturday night Easter Celebration at 6:30 PM and Sunday morning Easter Celebrations at 8:30, 9:45 and 11:00.
I appreciate the commitment of the Crossfire band to give leadership to the Saturday night Celebration as well as the 9:45 service on Sunday. The “Pairs and Spares” Sunday school class is coming to the Saturday service and then many of them will be back on Sunday morning serving as Parking Ushers. Others are coming to worship on Saturday night and coming back to serve as Ushers, Greeters and Nursery Servants. And others have found guests were receptive to an invitation to come worship with them on Saturday night.
I was talking to a person this week, inviting him to worship this weekend. He had seen the announcement about the Saturday night service and said that he was thinking about coming on Saturday night. Who have you invited to worship with you this weekend?
There has been a change of time for the Community Sunrise Service. We received word this week it will be at 6:30 AM, not 6:00 AM. This is a wonderful way to begin Easter Day, joining other believers at Oakwood Memorial Gardens to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
We Can't Sneak Anything Past God
It is amazing how God uses different sources to confirm a message He wants us to get. Yesterday, (Tuesday, March 16) the scripture for The Upper Room devotional came from Psalm 139. The Psalm begins, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.” (Psalm 139:1-2; NRSV) In other words, God not only knows all our actions, God knows what we are thinking.
After reading The Upper Room devotional, I opened the Purpose Driven devotional. The title was “We can’t sneak anything past God.” It too was based on a Psalm; “My sins, O God, are not hidden from you; you know how foolish I have been.” (Psalm 69:5; Good News) In the devotional Rick Warren makes the statement: “Everything you think, everything you see, everything you do, everything you feel -- God knows all about it. He already knows all you've done wrong and He still loves you!”
There are probably some things in our lives that we wish God did not see. There are times when we’d just as soon God was not with us. But the truth is, our God is so big that he sees everything. “We can’t sneak anything past God.”
It’s because we cannot sneak anything past God that Jesus went to the cross. God does not simply overlook our sin. God does not close His eyes and pretend our sin is not there. God loves us so much that He died on the cross to deliver us from our sin. On the cross, Jesus did for us what we could have never done for ourselves. He died for our sins. That is how much God loves you and me. Knowing everything about us, God still loves us so much that He provided the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.
The worship experiences of Holy Week help us celebrate this great love of God that knows all about us and still loves us. The scriptures tell us that before Jesus entered Jerusalem in what we call the Palm Sunday Parade, He wept over the city. He loved the people so much and He knew that most of them did not return His love. He entered to the shouts of “Hosanna” knowing that the cross was before Him. Jesus must have known the mixture of heart that the crowd had. They wanted to believe He was the Messiah. But they were not ready to stake their life on Him. Still, Jesus entered Jerusalem in order to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Palm Sunday is March 28. In addition to our three morning worship services, we will join with the Church Revived to offer a Community Easter Egg Hunt and Worship Without Walls. Help spread the word about these special opportunities that will be held at the Gardendale Civic Center Amphitheater.
Before Jesus went to the cross on what we call Good Friday, Jesus gathered to celebrate the Jewish Passover. It was during the celebration of the Passover Seder Meal that Jesus broke with some of the Jewish traditions to establish what we call Holy Communion. The Passover celebrated the deliverance God brought His people through the Passover Lambs. How appropriate for the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world who take some of the symbols of that first Passover, the bread and the wine, and refocus them on Him.
We have the unique opportunity this year to have a Messianic Jewish Rabbi come to teach us about the Passover Seder. This will take the place of our Wednesday meal and classes on March 31. You will need to purchase a ticket for this experience, for the meal is part of the worship experience that night. NOTE the time for the Seder Meal on March 31st is 6:00 PM.
On Saturday of Holy Week we will have a Saturday evening Easter Celebration. Last year, we filled the gym for the 9:45 Easter Service. To make more room for guests on Easter morning, we are offering this additional Easter Celebration on Saturday, April 3, 6:30 PM. We hope some of our 8:30 Sunday School classes will decide to come to worship on Saturday night to make room both in the 9:45 service and the parking lot for guests on Easter morning. We do need some to come back on Sunday morning to serve as Parking Ushers, Greeters and Nursery Servants. Isn’t this a great situation to have?
This Sunday, we conclude our message series, “START Becoming the Good Samaritan.” We’ll look at the parable one more time to learn about how Jesus intends for us to live when he said, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37b; NRSV) The real question is; are you more aware of the needs of those around you and are you acting with compassion?
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
After reading The Upper Room devotional, I opened the Purpose Driven devotional. The title was “We can’t sneak anything past God.” It too was based on a Psalm; “My sins, O God, are not hidden from you; you know how foolish I have been.” (Psalm 69:5; Good News) In the devotional Rick Warren makes the statement: “Everything you think, everything you see, everything you do, everything you feel -- God knows all about it. He already knows all you've done wrong and He still loves you!”
There are probably some things in our lives that we wish God did not see. There are times when we’d just as soon God was not with us. But the truth is, our God is so big that he sees everything. “We can’t sneak anything past God.”
It’s because we cannot sneak anything past God that Jesus went to the cross. God does not simply overlook our sin. God does not close His eyes and pretend our sin is not there. God loves us so much that He died on the cross to deliver us from our sin. On the cross, Jesus did for us what we could have never done for ourselves. He died for our sins. That is how much God loves you and me. Knowing everything about us, God still loves us so much that He provided the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.
The worship experiences of Holy Week help us celebrate this great love of God that knows all about us and still loves us. The scriptures tell us that before Jesus entered Jerusalem in what we call the Palm Sunday Parade, He wept over the city. He loved the people so much and He knew that most of them did not return His love. He entered to the shouts of “Hosanna” knowing that the cross was before Him. Jesus must have known the mixture of heart that the crowd had. They wanted to believe He was the Messiah. But they were not ready to stake their life on Him. Still, Jesus entered Jerusalem in order to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Palm Sunday is March 28. In addition to our three morning worship services, we will join with the Church Revived to offer a Community Easter Egg Hunt and Worship Without Walls. Help spread the word about these special opportunities that will be held at the Gardendale Civic Center Amphitheater.
Before Jesus went to the cross on what we call Good Friday, Jesus gathered to celebrate the Jewish Passover. It was during the celebration of the Passover Seder Meal that Jesus broke with some of the Jewish traditions to establish what we call Holy Communion. The Passover celebrated the deliverance God brought His people through the Passover Lambs. How appropriate for the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world who take some of the symbols of that first Passover, the bread and the wine, and refocus them on Him.
We have the unique opportunity this year to have a Messianic Jewish Rabbi come to teach us about the Passover Seder. This will take the place of our Wednesday meal and classes on March 31. You will need to purchase a ticket for this experience, for the meal is part of the worship experience that night. NOTE the time for the Seder Meal on March 31st is 6:00 PM.
On Saturday of Holy Week we will have a Saturday evening Easter Celebration. Last year, we filled the gym for the 9:45 Easter Service. To make more room for guests on Easter morning, we are offering this additional Easter Celebration on Saturday, April 3, 6:30 PM. We hope some of our 8:30 Sunday School classes will decide to come to worship on Saturday night to make room both in the 9:45 service and the parking lot for guests on Easter morning. We do need some to come back on Sunday morning to serve as Parking Ushers, Greeters and Nursery Servants. Isn’t this a great situation to have?
This Sunday, we conclude our message series, “START Becoming the Good Samaritan.” We’ll look at the parable one more time to learn about how Jesus intends for us to live when he said, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37b; NRSV) The real question is; are you more aware of the needs of those around you and are you acting with compassion?
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Being the Good Samaritan
Cathy Harris recently shared with me a story about being the Good Samaritan that was shared at Birmingham Emmaus Walk #55. The Emmaus Walk is a 72 hour Spiritual Retreat or Basic School in Christianity. Participants on an Emmaus Walk share special times of worship, hear several talks about living their faith from Lay persons, and a few talks on God’s amazing grace shared by clergy persons. You may have heard me say, “If you want a better understanding of God’s Prevenient, Justifying and Sanctifying Grace, go on an Emmaus Walk.”
There are several places in Alabama where a person can attend an Emmaus Walk. The Alabama Emmaus Community, which holds it’s Walks at Camp Sumatanga, has been around the longest. The Birmingham Walk sprang out of the Alabama Walk to provide additional opportunities to go on a Walk. If you would like more information about the Emmaus Walk, let me know. I’ll be happy to share with you and put you in contact with persons who would love to sponsor you on an Emmaus Walk.
Now, back to the story from Cathy Harris from Birmingham Walk #55. One of the lay persons who shared during the Walk had been homeless, but is now the Director of the Shepherd Center in Leeds. She keeps small brown lunch bags in her car. Each bag is packed with crackers, bottled water, toothbrush, small tube of toothpaste and deodorant. When she encounters a homeless person or someone is stationed along the side of the highway asking for money, she gives them one of those bags. She has intentionally prepared herself to be the Good Samaritan.
Cathy Harris, in sharing the story said, “…isn’t that a neat idea!!” It is! It is a very simple and practical way of being the Good Samaritan.
My wife Gina recently had another practical way of being the Good Samaritan shared with her. A parent shared a card she had received when going through a fast food drive-thru. When the person pulled up to the window to pay for her order, she was given the card (We call them a “Servant Evangelism” Card) that said her meal had been paid for, Jesus loves you. It also had a little information about the church that was printed on the card.
Did you know that we have business size cards that can be used in a similar manner? They have the church name and a place to write in your name on the front and information about our worship times on the back. I encourage you to pick some up and have them available to use in inviting persons to worship with you.
Talking about inviting, at lunch yesterday, I talked with a person who had worshipped at our Ash Wednesday Service. He is a member of a church that does not have such a service. That night, he made a commitment to pray for an unchurched friend during Lent and invite him to worship on Easter. That was one of the suggested spiritual disciplines. That was February 17th. This week he received a call from his unchurched friend. The friend said he wanted to go to church with him Sunday. That is the power of prayer.
This Saturday’s Old School verses New School Basketball Game is an opportunity to invite a friend to share in some fellowship with other believers. The cost is $10.00 per person, with money raised going to the youth summer mission trip. It should be an entertaining game, but in a different manner from the games you will see on television during this week of tournament games. There will also be some halftime entertainment that you will not want to miss. For your $10.00 you not only get to enjoy the game but you get a hot dog, drink and popcorn.
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
There are several places in Alabama where a person can attend an Emmaus Walk. The Alabama Emmaus Community, which holds it’s Walks at Camp Sumatanga, has been around the longest. The Birmingham Walk sprang out of the Alabama Walk to provide additional opportunities to go on a Walk. If you would like more information about the Emmaus Walk, let me know. I’ll be happy to share with you and put you in contact with persons who would love to sponsor you on an Emmaus Walk.
Now, back to the story from Cathy Harris from Birmingham Walk #55. One of the lay persons who shared during the Walk had been homeless, but is now the Director of the Shepherd Center in Leeds. She keeps small brown lunch bags in her car. Each bag is packed with crackers, bottled water, toothbrush, small tube of toothpaste and deodorant. When she encounters a homeless person or someone is stationed along the side of the highway asking for money, she gives them one of those bags. She has intentionally prepared herself to be the Good Samaritan.
Cathy Harris, in sharing the story said, “…isn’t that a neat idea!!” It is! It is a very simple and practical way of being the Good Samaritan.
My wife Gina recently had another practical way of being the Good Samaritan shared with her. A parent shared a card she had received when going through a fast food drive-thru. When the person pulled up to the window to pay for her order, she was given the card (We call them a “Servant Evangelism” Card) that said her meal had been paid for, Jesus loves you. It also had a little information about the church that was printed on the card.
Did you know that we have business size cards that can be used in a similar manner? They have the church name and a place to write in your name on the front and information about our worship times on the back. I encourage you to pick some up and have them available to use in inviting persons to worship with you.
Talking about inviting, at lunch yesterday, I talked with a person who had worshipped at our Ash Wednesday Service. He is a member of a church that does not have such a service. That night, he made a commitment to pray for an unchurched friend during Lent and invite him to worship on Easter. That was one of the suggested spiritual disciplines. That was February 17th. This week he received a call from his unchurched friend. The friend said he wanted to go to church with him Sunday. That is the power of prayer.
This Saturday’s Old School verses New School Basketball Game is an opportunity to invite a friend to share in some fellowship with other believers. The cost is $10.00 per person, with money raised going to the youth summer mission trip. It should be an entertaining game, but in a different manner from the games you will see on television during this week of tournament games. There will also be some halftime entertainment that you will not want to miss. For your $10.00 you not only get to enjoy the game but you get a hot dog, drink and popcorn.
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
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