Friday, May 21, 2021

Worship Service: Pentecost May 23, 2021

Sermon May 23, 2021

 May 23,2021               “What’s A Holy Spirit?”                    Rev. Peter Hofstra

            The Holy Spirit is our focus today.  Our Acts passage is the ‘usual’ for Pentecost.  The promise of the Holy Spirit comes earlier, from Jesus, in John 15.  Jesus is going to heaven and is sending another.  As the church receives the Holy Spirit, a baptism of the Holy Spirit, as did Jesus.  From Luke 3: “John…(said)…“I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming;… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire…Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him…like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  Luke wrote Acts, notice the foreshadowing, baptizing with the Holy Spirit AND fire, the tongues of flame.

            In John 15:26, Jesus speaks of the role of the Spirit. 26”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.”  The Spirit testifying on Jesus’ behalf, by the descent upon the disciples, is establishing the church, the finalized House of God.  And as Jesus finalized so many things of God begun in the Old Testament, so it is here.  In Exodus 35, we find the Holy Spirit at the establishment of God’s first house, the Tabernacle. 

30Then Moses said to the Israelites: See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31he has filled him with divine spirit, with skill, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, 32to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 33in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft. 34And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35He has filled them with skill to do every kind of work done by an artisan or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of artisan or skilled designer.

            The last half of the Book of Exodus lays out in extraordinary detail what went into the creation of God’s house.  It can be a snooze-fest to read if we do not remember how significant this is, God dwelling among God’s people, foreshadowing what is happening here in Acts.  The tabernacle was limited, focused.  The church is not, she is the tabernacle perfected through the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, perfected by the permanent descent of the Holy Spirit to create something beyond simple human capacity for the worship of God. 

            Under the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit inspired the leaders of God’s people.  After the people settled in the Promised Land, they were led first by the judges, local leaders who rose up to deal with local emergencies and insurgencies.  The Holy Spirit is recorded as coming upon some of them, people like Joshua and Gideon and Samson.  It made them into powerful war leaders.  The Spirit came upon the kings as well.  When Samuel was going to anoint Saul as king, we read in 1 Samuel 10:10, we read  10”When they were going from there to Gibeah, a band of prophets met (Saul); and the spirit of God possessed him, and he fell into a prophetic frenzy along with them.”  But the Spirit could come and leave.  David was anointed to replace him and we read in 1 Samuel 16, “13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. 14Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.”

            What we know about the Holy Spirit in these instances is that it made those it took hold of into more than they were before.  Artisans became super-artisans.  Men became kings and war leaders.  The power of God took things up a few notches.  But it had limitations.  It did not remove sin from those it took hold of.  We see that as we watch Saul fall out of favor with God.  Even under the power of the Spirit, sin leads him away.  For David too, read the story of his life and you will see that alongside this faithful man of God there is a tremendous amount of sin and the suffering that is its consequence.  So, the Spirit upon us today is the same, it makes us more than we are by ourselves, but it does not purge sin from our souls.  Because God’s plan was never about removing the sin from our beings, but rather forgiving it by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            As we shared last week and today, as Jesus was ascending into heaven, he sent the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of another, for the Coming of the Holy Spirit, which would do for them as it did for Jesus at the beginning of his ministry.  But the difference to what came before is that the promise of the Holy Spirit is one of permanence, that God is always with us, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, in fulfillment of God’s Plan in the world.

            So what then is this Spirit?  Is it like a coat of transcendent paint over the sinful walls of our being?  Well, the bible speaks of two parts of the human construct, the spirit and the flesh.  Throughout the New Testament, the flesh part is the sinful part, while the spirit is what is being renewed by God-until the Second Coming, when the flesh will be renewed as well.  The key is renewal, of something already a part of who we are.

            I think we can see this in the creation story.  In Genesis 1, it says we are created in God’s image, male and female, we were created in God’s image.  Genesis 2 talks about the mechanism.   Man was created from the dust and God breathed into this dust the breath of life.  Where theology went sideways was to impose a misogynist view of the ENTIRE bible from the creation of woman from Adam’s rib.  The church is still, all to often, stuck in ‘woman as helper’, therefore, second class.  Which, in Jesus, is plain old WRONG.  Male AND female were created in God’s image.  And despite some of Paul’s sidebars, he is the one to remind us that, in Jesus, there is neither male nor female.  We fall into the sin of hierarchy, a sin undone in the coming of the Holy Spirit.

            But that is a tangent that easily distracts us from the very idea of the breath of life.  It is specified upon humanity, as being made in the image of God.  Elsewhere, in Ecclesiastes, Solomon, the wisest person ever, builds on this when he talks about the life of humanity being like, but still different from, the life of animals.  There is something in being in God’s image, of the breath of life, that establishes humanity as a creation apart.  That folds into the language of the human spirit, something corrupted in the fall of humanity, forgiven in the resurrection of Jesus, and renewed in the Holy Spirt.

            I believe the sense of the Bible is that we, as humans, are beings of spirt and flesh, both fallen to sin.  The Holy Spirit is the divine that, when we surrender to it, renews the human spirit with the power of God’s own spirit.  I think that is where we get the stories of the calm of martyrs in the early church.  They were in the arena, facing off against lions and whatever other cruelties the Romans could come up with, but there was peace.  They knew what is next, that the pain and destruction of this life cannot match the peace we have in Christ when the renewal of our spirit and flesh is made complete in the life to come.

            It is a moment I have been privileged to witness with certain people, who have come to the end of their journey on this earth, know the peace of God as they prepare for the next step into the life to come.  But that Spirit does not just show up on the doorstep of death, it can be seen throughout the lives of people who have given themselves over to the power and wonder of Jesus Christ.  You know how every Sunday we offer the peace of Christ one to another?  It is in the power of the Holy Spirit that makes the possibility of this peace read in our midst.

            The human spirit is ultimately what makes us so powerful.  It is illustrated powerfully in the first Captain America movie.  They wanted to make a super soldier.  And who was Steve Rogers?  Was he the big, gorgeous specimen that the serum made him into?  No, he was the scrawny kid getting beat up all the time.  But with the indomitable spirit that said, “I can do this all day.”  You could kill him, but you were never going to beat him.  It was that spirit, that moral center of goodness, that sense of fairness, that made him the ideal candidate for the serum, because those qualities anchored him in his newly found physical abilities. 

            There is a modern day parable for you.  The little guy with the huge spirit, the big heart.  The power of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is that it renews our own human spirits into that huge spirit.  Jesus calls the Spirit the Advocate in the gospel of John.  The Spirit will glorify Jesus, according to verse 14, because it will take what is of Jesus and declare to we who have the Spirit within us.  And what is Jesus about?  Love, sacrifice, giving his own life in place of his friends.  It is Emmanuel, God with us.  Jesus with us.  The Holy Spirit upon us.  It pushes God from being head knowledge into heart knowledge, not just something we think about, but something we feel, something we do things about. 

            That is the lead-in to Pentecost.  Where do we go from here?  Look up the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.  Paul is very eloquent about that.  It is pretty awesome that which we receive from God, by Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.  Its what those men and women received in Jerusalem some ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven.  And, to continue through Acts, it is the Holy Spirit that is the a game changer.  A hundred and twenty then, if memory serves, to billions today.

Pentecost is a day of celebration, the birth day of the church, the renewal of the tabernacle itself.  But if we get caught up in trying to figure out the Holy Spirit, it can be a stumbling block to that celebration.  But the more we understand the Holy Spirit, the more we understand how the Holy Spirit indwells us, the more we know and can live into the renewal of our human spirits.  And remember, it is Jesus himself who promised that he would send another, an Advocate, a Comforter, who would give us the truth and love of Jesus to that day when Jesus will return to us.  May we be blessed, may we rejoice, may we be made indominable in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Order of Worship May 23, 2021

 

First Presbyterian Church

May 23, 2021

10:00 AM

Order of Worship

 

CALL TO WORSHIP  (Ps. 104)

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.

 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may God rejoice in all God has made — who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

May my meditation be pleasing, for I rejoice in the Lord.

Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!

 Let us worship the Living God.

 

*Hymn of Praise: “Come Holy Spirit, Our Hearts Inspire”

1. Come, Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire, let us thine influence prove; source of the old prophetic fire, fountain of life and love.

2. Come, Holy Ghost (for moved by thee the prophets wrote and spoke), unlock the truth, thyself the key, unseal the sacred book.

3. Expand thy wings, celestial Dove, brood o'er our nature's night; on our disordered spirits move, and let there now be light.

4. God, through the Spirit we shall know if thou within us shine, and sound, with all thy saints below, the depths of love divine.

      PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)

Merciful God, You poured your Spirit upon gathered disciples creating bold tongues and ready ears. We confess that we ignore your Spirit among us; we are silent about you when we should speak, and listen to almost any voice but your own. We do not listen for your word of grace which invites us; We do not speak the good news of your love which invites others. Have mercy on us, O God. (silence for individual prayers of confession) Gracious God, Transform our timid lives by the power of your Spirit. Fill us with a flaming desire to be a believing and witnessing people, doing your will for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

*SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Scripture announces that this is a true saying and is to be universally accepted: Christ came into the world to save sinners. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Friends, in Christ you are forgiven. Know this and be at peace.

*THE GLORIA PATRI

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

INVITATION: “Dear Lord, I need You, please come into my life today.  Amen”

LESSON: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
15:26 "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

4b "I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. 12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

LESSON: Acts 2: 1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ 13But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 “In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
     and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

SERMON:                                “What’s A Holy Spirit?”                                                 Rev. Peter Hofstra

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (The Apostle’s Creed)

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

PASSING OF THE PEACE

THE OFFERING OF OUR TITHES & GIFTS

God has blessed us to be a blessing. With the gifts we have received, we give back to God so that God’s mission in the world may be advanced and God’s glory may abound.

 

*DOXOLOGY

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Amen.

 

 

 

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION (John 17:6)

Generous God, from your abundance you have freely given; now from our abundance we give you what is yours. Receive now what we offer so that your world of which you have not grown weary, and your glory in which the world abides, may know more of your abundance. In Christ’s name we pray, amen

 JOYS AND CONCERNS

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (Christina Rossetti, 1830-94)

O God the Holy Ghost who art light unto thine elect, Evermore enlighten us. Thou who art fire of love, Evermore enkindle us. Thou who art Lord and giver of life, Evermore live in us. Thou who bestowest sevenfold grace, Evermore replenish us. As the wind is thy symbol, So forward our goings. As the dove, So launch us heavenwards. As water, So purify our spirits. As a cloud, So abate our temptations. As dew, So revive our languor. As fire, So purge out our dross.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever.  Amen.

 

*CLOSING HYMN: “Holy Spirt, Truth Divine”

1. Holy Spirit, Truth divine, dawn upon this soul of mine; Word of God and inward light, wake my spirit, clear my sight.

2. Holy Spirit, Love divine, glow within this heart of mine; kindle every high desire; perish self in thy pure fire.

3. Holy Spirit, Power divine, fill and nerve this will of mine; grant that I may strongly live, bravely bear, and nobly strive.

4. Holy Spirit, Right divine, King within my conscience reign; be my Lord, and I shall be firmly bound, forever free.

*BENEDICTION

*THREE FOLD AMEN

Elements of Order of Worship Liturgy written by Jerry Andrews, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in San Diego

Saturday, May 15, 2021

May 16, 2021 Order of Worship

 

First Presbyterian Church

May 16, 2021

10:00 AM

Order of Worship

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

We gather today in the name of our God.

We come to worship God Almighty, in whom we believe.

We place our trust in our God.

We trust in God whom Jesus called Abba, Father.

 Let us worship the Living God.

 

*Hymn of Praise: “All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name”

1. All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all. bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all.

2. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransomed from the fall, hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all. hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all.

3. Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget the wormwood and the gall, go spread your trophies at his feet, and crown him Lord of all. go spread your trophies at his feet, and crown him Lord of all.

4. Let every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial ball, to him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all. to him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all.

5. Crown him, ye martyrs of your God, who from his altar call; extol the Stem of Jesse's Rod, and crown him Lord of all. extol the Stem of Jesse's Rod, and crown him Lord of all.

6. O that with yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall! We'll join the everlasting song, and crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song, and crown him Lord of all.

      PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)

We pray, O Lord, not due to our own wisdom, insight and strength, but through you. You intercede for us because we do not know how to pray as we ought. You even hear and know our sighs, which are too deep for words. Forgive us, O Lord, when our prayers are filled with empty phrases and meaningless platitudes. Forgive us, O Lord, when our prayers fail to express our love for you and our neighbors in need. Forgive us, O Lord, when our prayers do not lead to engagement with justice and peace. Fill us with your word and grant us a new beginning in you. Through Jesus Christ, your Son, we pray. Amen.

*SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

ASSURANCE OF PARDON (Romans 8:34)

Hear the good news. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us and Christ prays for us. My friends, hear and believe the good news of the gospel.

In Jesus Christ we are forgiven! Thanks be to God!.

*THE GLORIA PATRI

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

INVITATION: “Dear Lord, I need You, please come into my life today.  Amen”

 LESSON: Luke 24: 44-53

44 Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

SERMON:                            “Repentance Came First”                                                 Rev. Peter Hofstra

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (from The Apostle’s Creed and A Brief Statement of Faith)

We believe in God, the Maker of heaven and earth.  In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community.  Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage.  Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.

PASSING OF THE PEACE

THE OFFERING OF OUR TITHES & GIFTS

As God’s blessings shower upon us, we respond to God’s amazing grace with our hands, our feet, our hearts, our prayers and our tithes and offerings. Let us bring our gifts in gratitude and praise.

 

*DOXOLOGY

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Amen.

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION (John 17:6)

Christ has made the name of the Lord known to us, so we give thanks. In your name, O Lord, use these gifts, and the time, talents and very lives they represent, for your glory as your kingdom breaks forth in this world. Amen.

 JOYS AND CONCERNS

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (Psalm 1; John 17)

As Christ prays on behalf of his disciples, let us pray on behalf of all those Christ loves. God of grace, the world is full of those who delight in your teachings and those who scoff at your ways. We pray that we might meditate on you day and night, that we might be an influence for good in the world.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

God of wisdom, the world is full of those whose faith seeks understanding and those who discard the truth. We pray that we might receive your Word and know that you are the truth that transforms our lives.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

 God of justice, the world is full of those who seek to do what is right and those who seek only their own self-interest. We pray for those who protect the innocent and seek to overcome systems that oppress. May we carry your light until all might see your way.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

 God of healing, the world is full of those who are sick, injured, alone and in need of care; and those who dedicate their lives to caregiving and healing. We pray that your holiness and wholeness will draw near to all those who are in need, that they might be filled with your presence.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

God of unity, the world is filled with those who claim that they belong to you and those who actively work against your plans and purposes for a new creation. We pray for reconciliation, courage and faith for your church; that your followers will be sanctified in the truth; and that we might proclaim the good news of redemption in you with great joy to a world in desperate need of good news.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

 As Christ prays on behalf of his disciples, we lift up to you the prayers of our hearts for those we know and love, trusting them to your protection and care. (Silent prayer.) Hear our prayers and give us confidence and courage that we might join our voices together, praying with the words that Christ himself taught his disciples,

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever.  Amen.

 

*CLOSING HYMN: “Blest Be The Ties That Bind”

1. Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

2. Before our Father's throne we pour our ardent prayers; our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares.

3. We share each other's woes, our mutual burdens bear; and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.

4. When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain; but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.

*BENEDICTION

*THREE FOLD AMEN

Elements of Order of Worship Liturgy written by Matt Rich, pastor of Unity Presbyterian Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina

May 16, 2021 Sermon

May 16, 2021                      Luke 22:  44-53                                  Rev. Peter Hofstra

            There is a meme that shows a historic painting of Jesus ascending into heaven.  But being this little one-celled attempt at humor, the caption goes something like, “Help me you morons!  I am being kidnapped by aliens.”

            That is how Ascension Day is locked into my mind.  A dumb cartoon.  But as I have reflected on Ascension Day for this sermon, my thoughts have been disturbed.  When Jesus ascended into heaven and the faith He brought to us really took off, it ended up leading to some really crazy stuff.  Like how many people faith has killed due to religious wars.  And this is not just like the Crusades attempting to reconquer the Holy Land back in the 1100’s and such.  It is the religious wars that tore Europe apart after the Reformation.  There is a little talked about chain of thinking that says one of the reasons that Christianity is so weak in Europe now is precisely because of the toll of violence that has been committed in the name of Jesus.  And lets not even talk about how heretics have been dealt with.  How about how Christianity continues to bleed into political debate to this day? 

            All of this has happened since Jesus left.  Makes you wonder.  But consider what Jesus said on his way up.  The Messiah was to suffer and then to rise from the dead on the third day.  That was supposed to take the place of the suffering of the world.  The new deal that Jesus was laying down for us was a two-step process.  There is the repentance and the forgiveness of sins.  That is the message that is to be proclaimed to the world.  Repentance and forgiveness, this is the mechanism of Third Level Love, that we talked about last week.

            A quick recap:  First level love is loving God with everything.  Second level love is loving neighbor as ourselves.  Third level love is to love one another as Christ has loved us.  The way to make that happen is through what Jesus speaks of today, the repentance and forgiveness of sins.  Everyone is our neighbor, not everybody is our friend, because under God’s law, we are called upon to love our neighbor but not necessarily to love one another. 

            I think I should clarify a little piece here.  Jesus speaks of the repentance of sin and the forgiveness of sin.  It is relationship building that he is talking about.  Because it was in the destruction of a relationship where this all began.  If you think about it in today’s terms, Adam and Eve ate a piece of fruit.  Yes, God told them not to.  Yes, this was a deliberate human choice to turn away from God.  But it was a fruit.  An apple, a pear, a pomegranate, a banana, something.

            And it was not that they happened to be walking past that tree and they went “Ohhhh, yummy.”  They were tricked, deceived, thrown out of Paradise due to the work of the serpent. 

            If you go back and read the story of Adam and Even getting evicted, in light of what Jesus says that the disciples are supposed to go and share with the whole world, I wonder if there was another way that story could have ended.  Because I was raised on two possible endings to the story of Adam and Eve.  They ate, they sinned, they got evicted.  Or, they did NOT eat, they did not sin and there is no need to renew the heavens and the earth because our first parents got it right.  Jesus was able to stay in heaven and compliment them as good and faithful servants. 

            But what if there was a third way?  When God confronted Adam about what happened with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what was Adam’s response?  Let me quote:  ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’  And then Jesus moved along the chain of events.  He went to Eve.  And she said, let me quote:  ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’  And it takes Jesus as the Second Adam to come along and fix everything up in our relationship with God.  So we know from Jesus’ ascending words that the forgiveness of sin is because of this founding event in the capacity of humans to screw up.

            But what if Adam and Eve did the first thing Jesus says here.  Jesus tells the disciples to proclaim the repentance of sin.  What if Adam said, “I am sorry Lord, I screwed up.  Eve came to me, it looked good, and we ate.”  What if Eve said, “I am sorry Lord.  I messed up.  The serpent got me talking and thinking and I blew off the one commandment you set before us.  I am sorry.”  What if they had repented, instead of passing the buck?  Adam blamed the woman AND he blamed God.  “The woman whom YOU gave to be with me.”  Eve blamed the snake. 

            Would it have made a difference?  What I can say for sure is it wouldn’t have hurt the situation.  In light of what Jesus is saying at his ascension into heaven, it makes me wonder.  Remember how the passage starts: "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."
24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…  What were they understanding?  That the Messiah must die and be resurrected three later.  Why?  So there is the proclamation to the world of the repentance of sin and the forgiveness of sin.  We hang so much on the forgiveness of sins as the gift of Jesus that it blinds us to the reality that the repentance of sin is ALSO the gift of Jesus from the cross.

            If we understood that, it would change everything.  Because every time power, whether military or political or social or legal or moral or whatever kind of power it is, every time power has been used in the name of Jesus to change somebody else’s behavior, it is unchristian.  Because when we use power to change someone’s behavior, in the name of Christ, we are presuming that, in so doing, we are bringing them into the forgiveness of Christ.  We justify it by presuming we are doing them a favor.  But if we have not given the person the opportunity to come to Jesus on their own, to repent of their sin of their own volition, we are NOT carrying out the word that Jesus commanded the disciples bring to the world. 

            I am NOT saying that there is not a time to use military, political, social, legal, moral, even peer power to change somebody’s behavior.  But do not presume to be doing it in the name of Jesus.  There is persuasive power and there is coercive in the world.  Christianity is built upon the principle of persuasion, not coercion-presuming the power comes from God into our hearts. 

            I think we can define pretty well what forgiveness of sin means.  To be forgiven by Jesus is to be spared the consequences of our sins, the punishment we would otherwise have inflicted upon us.  That again goes back to the story of Adam and Eve.  What was the consequence for eating of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil?  It was exactly what the serpent denied would happen, that they would surely die.  We have been dying for our sins ever since. 

            That is divine level forgiveness.  How about human level?  It is the means of repairing relationships.  Somebody screws up, there is a way to fix it.  Somebody has deliberately gone out of there way to be mean, evil, or otherwise take advantage of others and they have a change of heart, there is a way to fix it with the other person, to get that place Jesus spoke of last week, to love one another, to be friends. 

            But what does repentance really mean?  It means owning up to what you have done.  It is inclusive of asking the person whose been wronged for their forgiveness, engaging the second part.  It includes making amends, being willing, as far as possible, to fix things.  But it means something else as well.  It means forgiving yourself. 

            There is a step in the twelve step system used by AA about making amends for what you have done to others because of your alcoholism.  It is not about forcing your repentance on someone else, they may not want anything to do with you.  But the step talks about going as far as you are able.  Because there are times and moments where you will not be forgiven.  It might be by choice, someone is so hurt by what was done that they cannot find what it takes to offer forgiveness.  It might be by circumstance.  You may not know who you wronged.  Or they may not be available to you to repent to.  The best examples I have of that are broken relationships between parents and their grown children, when the parent passes on before things are resolved.

            Repentance is the mechanism by which, through the love of Christ, a person can lay their own ghosts, their own guilt, and their own fears to rest.  Because the first response to repentance is divine forgiveness.  That’s Jesus’ love, his death and resurrection on the cross.  In Christ we can lay down our ghosts, our guilts, and our fears.

            Knowing that, owning that, living into that, can be harder than offering forgiveness to someone else.  There is much truth in the statement that we are our own worst enemies.  But I believe that is why Jesus lays out repentance first as the message for the world.  It is the law of love working in us.  First, it is the love of God made manifest in God’s forgiveness of us.  Then it becomes the love of neighbor when we can, in turn, forgive and be forgiven.  That builds level 3 love, where we love one another as Christ has loved us.

            It is when sinful humanity attempts to insert human power into this process, defining what should be repented, what needs to be forgiven, that we quickly get to a place where there is blood on our hands.  Please understand that I get it, there is a place for a power and there are times and situations where there will be blood.  But do not call that Christianity.  The blood spilled and the body broken and the human killed on the cross-out of love for us-is what wound up that part of who we are and what we are as people of faith. 

            And so it will be by that new way, by repentance and forgiveness, offered, neither coerced nor demanded, that will change the world as well.  That is the power of God breaking into the power of the world.  That it will not happen as quickly as we like, or as profoundly as we hope for, that is when we fold our hands and bow our wills into God’s plan.  But when I have repented, been forgiven by God, followed that with my forgiveness of self, I stand ready to truly be God’s servant to the world in need of His love.  That is the message Jesus sent through his disciples.  Amen.   

May 16, 2021 Worship Service