Author: Rev. Dr. Jarrett Banks

B.S. Wingate University, 1988 M.Div. Southern Seminary, 1992 D.Min. Gardner-Webb University, 2005 Served churches in Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and North Carolina Currently serving at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lynchburg, Virginia

A Mother’s Love

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn MemorialsLeave a comment
Alawoise
Alawoise and Harold on their wedding day, April 18, 1958

The following was written for the memorial service for Alawoise Strickland Flanagan (July 29, 1935 – February 9, 2015)

In the very first chapter of our Bible, we have a beautiful portrait of the human vocation—a portrait of who we human beings were created to be, how we were created to live, during the relatively short time we have on this good earth.

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth… (Genesis 1:27-28a).

With our thoughts this hour on the enormous Flanagan family, perhaps one of the first things that we glean from this portrait of who we were created to be, and how we were created to live, is: “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Harold and Alawoise certainly fulfilled this part of the human vocation, and they wasted no time in doing so. It was on this day, Valentine’s Day in 1958, that Harold proposed marriage to his Valentine, Alawoise.

Before the luncheon today, I said, “Harold, let me get this straight. You proposed on Valentine’s Day and were married on April 18, of the same year?

Harold said, “Did you see her nursing school picture on the communion table?”

“No,” I said. “Not yet.”

He said,  “Well go look at that pretty girl, and you will understand why I did not want to wait.”

And “to be fruitful” they also did not wait as Jerry has often been called “a honeymoon baby.”

The beautiful family portrait on this table, this order of service with participation from some of the grandchildren, and this room filled with their offspring tell the rest of their story—a story of a two Valentines fulfilling their human vocation to “be fruitful and multiply.”

However, as beautiful as this story is, as beautiful as the Flanagan family is to this community and to our world, this is just a small part of Alawoise’s story. This is only part of her fulfillment of what it means to be human on this earth, a small part of her legacy. In Genesis we first read:

“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

The primary way that we fulfill our human vocation, is not to be fruitful, but to be, to live, in the image of God. The good news for all for us this day is that Alawoise more than fulfilled this purpose for which she was created. As the poem recited by her granddaughter, Leigh Kathryn, so beautifully described, Alawoise perhaps best lived in the image of her God as a mother.

In Deuteronomy 32:18 we read that the Israelites are asked to remember “the Rock” that “bore” them; the God who gave them “birth.”

Throughout the Old Testament, God is portrayed as the mother of Israel. It is God who gave birth to Israel and loves Israel as a mother loves her child, unreservedly, unconditionally, tenaciously.

Growing up in the Flanagan house, there was never any doubt that Alawoise was “the Rock” who could always be counted on to love her children in the same manner. Just ask anyone who ever tried to cross any of them! As it was spoken by the prophet Hosea of God and her love of Israel: She would “fall upon them like a [mama] bear robbed of her cubs…” (Hosea 13:8a).

She was the constant care-taker, and she was the perpetual protector. As a mother, she was tried and true. And, let’s face it, let’s be honest this afternoon, I don’t know about Gayle, but you boys often tried her.

Like the time Harold taught Mark to drive a truck. Mark, how old were you? Six or seven? In trying to reach the gas-peddle, Mark recalls slipping off the seat and stomping on the gas, all the while poor Scott was sitting up high on some hay bales in the back. Well, as you can surmise, he wasn’t sitting up there very long.

Alawoise was tried by you boys with multiple broken bones, stiches, car accidents, rattle snakes, even gunshot wounds. But her love, her devotion and commitment to you never wavered, always remained true.

Even up to the time she had to go to the nursing home, each time she heard the town’s siren go off, she instinctively possessed this hair-trigger panic button that would immediately do a family roll call, one that is reminiscent of the motherly words of Jesus himself recorded by the Gospel of Luke:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, …How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…

Even during these past difficult months, almost each time I visited her, Alawoise would do a roll call, asking me about the whereabouts of her family. Even when she was not in her right mind, lying sedated in a hospital bed, she would oftentimes ask me to help her to take things like barbeque and fried chicken off the stove for her Harold and her children.

Jerry, Gayle, Scott and Mark, and Harold, Alawoise lived her life to take care of your needs, to protect you, to love you unreservedly, unconditionally and tenaciously, and in so doing, she fulfilled the purpose for which she was created: living in the image of her motherly God and her Lord and Savior.

Now, if this was her only legacy, I believe it would be enough. However, there is much more.

The motherly love of Alawoise was in no way limited to her husband and children, or even to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Alawoise possessed a desire to gather many others under her maternal wings. She welcomed an exchange student and many others into the hospitality of her home. She lived to provide plenty of food, clean clothes, and a clean bed for anyone in need.

Her motherly love was experienced by many of us who have gathered here this day. We experienced it through Alawoise as a Sunday School Teacher, a deacon, a school nurse or as a Cub Scout Den Mother.

This broad and expansive motherly love of Alawoise was perhaps most ostensibly experienced during her twenty-six years as director of nursing and later as administer for the Guardian Care Nursing Home in Farmville. She loved the patients of the nursing home with the same tenacity with which she loved her own children.

She had absolutely no tolerance for any nursing home employee who did not treat a patient with the compassion. On the behalf of her patients, she did not hesitate to even stand against the company just as the prophet Isaiah spoke of God standing for her children: Thus says the Lord: “For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant.”

Alawoise lived in the image of God by suffering alongside and standing up for the least of these our brothers and our sisters, those who are the weakest, the most vulnerable members of society.

And for all of us who mourn this day this is truly good news. Alawoise was lived in the image of God. This means that when Alawoise suffered during these last difficult years, God, like a loving mother, also suffered. It is important for us to realize that God did not cause her suffering. God did not give her Parkinson’s disease. For what mother would do that to their child. Jesus once asked:

Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father [or Mother] in heaven give good things to those who ask!

Like a woman in labor or a mama bear, suffering and fighting for her cubs, God suffered with and fought with Alawoise. God did not take Alawoise from us with Parkinson’s Disease as some may say, but when she was in her weakest, most vulnerable, broken state, God came to her and gave her the best gift God had to give—the gift of God’s complete self. Thus, the best way to describe what happened on Monday morning of this week is that God came. God did not take, but graciously gave God’s self to her— tenaciously, completely, finally, eternally.

I don’t believe there is any other way to explain the very last words she said to me. Just days before she died, after suffering more than anyone one deserves, she opened her eyes, and spoke, not words of complaint or bitterness, but words of a loving mother, or of a child who has been comforted by her heavenly mother, asking me, “And how is your family.”

And the good news is that God will do the very same for us. God will come to each of us in our grief, in our brokenness, to each of God’s beloved children, and comfort us. In Isaiah 66 we read:

You shall nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

As Alawoise taught us by living her life in the image of God, it is in God’s very divine, maternal nature to extend God’s peace and comfort to us all, especially to those in need. It is the nature of our God to place those of us who are hurting this day in the shadow of God’s maternal wings.

I began my remarks this afternoon with some of the first words of our Bible. I would like to close my remarks with some of the last words of our Bible. Hear now these very maternal words from Revelation:

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home* of God is among mortals. He will dwell* with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;  he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.

I am thankful, and I know that her family is thankful, that Alawoise fulfilled her human vocation on this earth by being fruitful and multiplying. But I believe we are more grateful this day that Alawoise fulfilled her vocation by living as she was created to live on this good earth: in the image of our motherly God who loves us all unreservedly, unconditionally, tenaciously, and eternally.

Lifted up for Service

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Sermons Year B, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Scout_Sunday_2015_Logo

This sermon was preached for Scout Sunday at First Christian Church on February 8, 2015.

Mark 1:29-39 NRSV

These few verses found in the end of the first chapter of Mark, paint perhaps the most beautiful portrait of who our Lord is, how our Lord acts, and what our Lord desires. Listen to them again, carefully, prayerfully…

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.

Do you hear the immediacy, the urgency in this passage? “As soon as they left…” “…at once.” I hear a lot of people talk about God’s timing. They say that God will bring healing or restoration in God’s own time. They say that God’s time is usually not our time. And they say that God has reasons for God’s delay. I believe this passage teaches us that the Lord wants to heal us and restore us now: not tomorrow, not some day or one day, but today, right now, at once. It is not the Lord’s will for any of us to ever be sick, broken, or even have a fever.

Therefore, when we are sick or broken, when we are suffering in any way, we must understand that it is not because God has some twisted reason or some purpose-driven plan for it. And since suffering is not the will of God, and since we are loved by God, then when we suffer, God also suffers and is doing all that God can do to bring healing, wholeness and restoration.

He came and took her by the hand…

Perhaps more than anything else, I believe it is the will of our Lord to come to us and take us by the hand. When I was a child I learned a wonderful song:

Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water

Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea

Take a look at yourself and you will look at others differently

Put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee

Of course, we put our hands in so many other places to receive wholeness, peace and security.

Instead of putting our hand in the hand of the Lord, we often put our hand, our trust, in our own hands. We believe that if we can somehow work hard enough, serve diligently, industriously, thoroughly, and persistently enough, then we can achieve or earn wholeness or peace. We put our hands, our trust in our own hands instead of in the hands of the only one who can save us. Ephesians chapter 2 teaches us: “For by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Instead of putting our hand in the hand of the Lord, we also put our hands, all of our trust, in the hands of others. My granddaddy was not a pastor, preacher, or scholar, but he was sometimes quite the theologian. One thing that he said, and said often, was: “There’s only one man that you can trust in this world, and that is the Good Lord.”

However many of us put our trust in the hands of so many others. We put our hands in the hands of the government, in the hands of our friends and neighbors, even in the hands of the church. Then we become disillusioned when they sooner or later disappoint us. The 118th Psalm reminds us:

 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. With the Lord on my side I do not fear. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

And instead of putting our hand in the hand of the Lord, we also put our hands in our own pockets. We put our trust in our wealth and our material possessions. Our sense of well-being, wholeness and security comes from our bank accounts, 401-k’s, our homes, automobiles and clothing. In chapter six of the Gospel of Matthew we read the warning:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The good news for all of us this day is that Jesus, the Son of the God of Heaven is coming to us, and he wants to take us by the hand and give us a peace that the world simply cannot give (John 14:27).

Jesus came to her and lifted her up.

When we put our hand in the hand of the Lord, the Lord lifts us up. Preacher and Princeton Theological Seminary professor Nancy Gross observes: “There is no shortage of “down” from which people need to be lifted up. Down today are jobs, wages, the economy, church membership, our hopes, and our children’s futures. Take your pick, add your own.” The good news is when we are down in the dumps, down with despair, down with disease, down with a fever, when we put our hand in the hand of Jesus, Jesus always lifts us up.

It is important to realize that being lifted up, being healed and being made whole, does not necessarily mean in the physical sense. I do not know of anyone who has suffered as much as Alawoise Flannagan. Right now, I do not know of anyone who is more down, more low physically than she. However, when I saw her this week, when she opened her eyes and miraculously asked me how my family was doing, I saw a woman who was more whole, more lifted up spiritually than anyone I know. It was evident that, even in the midst of great suffering, that Alawoise had placed her hand in the hand of the man from Galilee, and that man had lifted her up.

Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

It is very important to notice that when her fever left her, she got up and began to serve them. We are lifted up. We are healed. Then we serve. We are lifted up for service. Jesus makes us whole, not only for ourselves alone, not to simply feel better, more hopeful and more alive, but for service to others. As Ephesians chapter 2 reads: “God will enable us [lift us up] to continue on in righteousness and to do the good works which the Lord has appointed for us.”

Like Alawoise, John Barefoot also possessed spiritual healing and wholeness, a remarkable strength and joy in the midst of great suffering. At his memorial service, I pointed out that God did not lift him up, give him that strength and fill him with that joy just so he could watch a few more NC State ballgames on TV.

As it was evident to Gayle and Mark when Alawoise miraculously asked me how my family was doing, it was evident to all who encountered John—to all who saw his smile, heard his laughter, experienced his joy—that God was the source or his strength.

Right before Christmas, a group of parents and children from our church came to John’s house to sing Christmas carols. Some who were there, including me, were not a part of any church a couple of Christmases ago. We had been struggling with what we believed about the Church, what we truly believed about Christmas.

But there, standing around John’s bed with others from the church singing Christmas carols, through John, something miraculous happened. God spoke. As we watched John donning a Santa hat and wearing a smile that was so amazing that it had to be from Heaven, as we watched him sing along with the children the best that he could, with this amazing joy, a joy that had to come from God, Christmas became real. Faith became real. God became real. Church became holy.

There is no telling how many people have been served through Alawoise and John’s amazing strength and joy in the midst of suffering, through God’s amazing grace in the midst of their lives.

This morning, I want to thank the Boy Scouts who are present today for the unique manner you make our scripture lesson come alive each day in our world.

First of all, you are young. You are strong. When the Lord lifts you up, he can lift you high. But more importantly, you live your lives by a sacred oath or promise which begins: “On my honor, I will do my best.” And how do you do you your best?

By first doing your duty to God, by first putting your hand in the hand of Jesus, for that is the only way you can truly serve your country and to obey the Scout Law. For it is Jesus who takes you by the hand, lifts you up, gives you strength, keeps you mentally awake and morally straight so you can help other people, serve other people at all times.

I’m Not Gay, But That Shouldn’t Matter

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Guest BloggersLeave a comment

Very thoughtful article by a very thoughtful person!

educatemoore's avatarLinda's Bloughts

I am coming out as not gay.  That’s right. I am not gay.

Sounds strange to tell you that and yet, I felt I had to.  The need comes from the fact that due to how I look, how I dress, what I enjoy, how short my hair is and whom I support, suddenly puts me into the category of being gay and worse, non-Christian.  Why?

Why does it even matter who I am or what I believe?  Understand that this belief comes from years of researching scripture, questioning critics, and following Jesus’ Ministry.  I IMG_1812have a master’s degree from seminary. I have another masters in patient counseling. I have 15 plus years of studying scripture and its context.  I have 20 years of being a follower of Christ.  I should have the respect that is deserved from having delved into the words of God and actions of Jesus Christ…

View original post 1,809 more words

Why Follow Jesus?

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Sermons Year B1 Comment

Why

Mark 1:14-20 NRSV

My wife Lori has always taken after her father: easy going, cool, calm and collected. She is never stressed, uptight, and never in a hurry. She is deliberate, slow, methodical, a mull-it-over kinda girl. When our realtor handed us papers to sign for the sale of the house this week, although it has been on the market for six months, Lori said she needed another day to sleep on it.

I will never forget the first time I put my moves on her. It was the last Thursday night of May 1986. We were on the campus of Wake Forest University for a week of orientation for the Baptist State Convention’s Summer Youth Corps program. We were taking a crash course to learn in one week how to be a youth minister for the summer. Following a worship service that evening, I made eye contact with Lori and sashayed myself over to meet her on the other side of the room. With words that were as smooth 19 year old face, I asked her to go outside with me to take a walk. I then turned and walked toward the door with utmost confidence that she was going to be following right behind me. As soon as I got outside just knew I was going to turn around and see her standing there smiling from ear to ear. However, I turned only to discover that I was standing outside by myself.

I stood there all alone and waited. A couple of minutes passed by, seemed like a couple of hours. I peeked in the window and saw her just sitting there inside, like she had nowhere to go. Five more minutes passed. And just as I was about to turn and give up, go back to my room rejected and dejected, she finally came outside.

The fisherman who were called by Jesus responded in a very non-Lori way. Jesus did not have to wait. There was no hesitation, no reluctance, no qualms whatsoever on the part of the fisherman. When Jesus called, Mark says that they “immediately” followed him. And not only did they follow Jesus with immediacy, Mark also tells us that without any dillydallying or shillyshallying the fisherman left their families and their businesses to follow Jesus.

I believe this is the most perplexing part of our scripture lesson this morning. It begs the question: Why? Why did these fishermen immediately leave everything behind to follow this man named Jesus?

At first glance, we might assume that these fishermen simply did not have much to leave behind. We might assume that they were poor, destitute hobos where were fishing for their next meal. And any change in their life would be a good one. Any move in their life would be one in the positive direction. In their desperate circumstance, there was only one way they could go and that was up.

However, we learn in this story that this was certainly not the case, because hobos do not work with their fathers and hired hands. These were successful fishermen who had security working in a family business. They were like most Jewish men. They had a family. They had a wife. They probably had children. But as soon as Jesus called, they immediately left it all behind to follow.

So they mystifying question is “why?” Why would these fishermen forsake all that they were and all that they have to follow Jesus?

Well, we could suppose that these fishermen believed they would somehow be rewarded for following Jesus. There was something to be gained. However there is nothing in this text that would lead us to believe this is the case. And nowhere in the gospels are we ever told that Jesus promises these fishermen any reward. There is no promise of more money, more friends, more influence, or more respect. The other thing we know they are ever promised by Jesus is persecution and conflict.

Well, we might suppose that the disciples simply thought that fishing for people would somehow be more satisfying than fishing for fish. I have often heard this text preached contrasting the worldly occupation of fishing for fish with the more spiritual occupation of fishing for people. And I suppose I suppose that could sound rather altruistic.

The church I served in Winston-Salem had a men’s choir that sang on special Sundays. They proudly called themselves: “The Singing Fishermen.” Although many of them loved to actually fish, they also understood that Jesus had called them to also fish for people. They understood that God has called them to catch people, to rescue people from the sea, to bring them on board, put them in the boat to experience God’s grace, love and mercy.

However, there is nothing in our scripture lesson this morning that indicates that these fishermen are able to understand this concept. After years of reading and studying the words and works of Jesus, we can grasp it. But how can we possible expect these first disciples to grasp it? How can we expect these to who prove over and over that they fail to understand Jesus to grasp this? After fish are caught, they die. They are gutted, cleaned, and broiled or fried. Then they are eaten. So what happens to people when they are caught? Knowing these disciples, I suspect that they are much more than a little confused.

So we are left with the question: why? Why do these men leave everything they possess, their jobs, their families, all forms of security, to follow this man named Jesus? Why do they give up a family business with a very secure future for some business that is ill-defined at best?

New Testament scholar Beverly Gaventa comments that there is absolutely nothing in these verses that tell us why these fishermen do what they do, why they leave it all behind to follow this man whom they cannot understand, on a journey that will perplex and confuse them, to a destination that is unspecified.

Why do they act in faith without any hesitation? And what kind of faith is this? Gaventa writes: “It is not a faith that understands. It is not a faith that takes only calculated risks. And it is not a faith that seeks a reward.”

She continues: It is a faith that responds with immediacy to a call from outside, a call that must remain unclear for them, even frightening. Responding to Jesus provides the fishermen with no security, but rather with the promise of rejection and danger. But they respond nonetheless. Immediately, they follow Jesus. And we are still left scratching and shaking our heads asking: Why?[i]

Maybe this is the point that God wants us to take from this scripture passage. Could it be that our lives as disciples of Christ make too much sense?

Think about it. Is there any part of our lives that are as perplexing as the lives of the first disciples who forsook it all to follow? Do people ever look at who we are and how we act; do they ever look at our selflessness and sacrifice; do they look at our faithful and immediate response to our Lord, then scratch and shake their heads, asking: why?

Why did she agree so quickly to serve on that ministry team?

Why does he travel every year to Nicaragua?

Why does she want to go back to West Virginia?

Why does he give up a Saturday to build a handicap ramp?

Why are they bringing new underwear to church?

Why does she care so much for the poor?

Why does she visit the nursing home and spend valuable time with strangers?

Why does she tutor a kid that is not in any way related to her?

Why does he help prepare meals for people who have in no way earned it or even deserve it?

Why do they give sacrificially of their hard earned money to the church?

Why is he so kind?

Why is she so loving?

Why are they so forgiving?

Why are they so welcoming?

Why doesn’t he ever complain?

Why does he have so much joy in the midst of so much suffering?

Why did she go into the funeral home with so much hope?

 

And our only answer to these questions is because we have heard a call from outside. And with a faith that does not and cannot completely understand, we have responded to that call, and we follow.

[i] Sermon inspired from the comments of Beverly Gaventa, Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV—Year B, 1993.

Divine Strength of John Barefoot

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn MemorialsLeave a comment

Exodus 17:9-13 NRSV

In the 17th chapter of the Book of Exodus we read the amazing story of how the Israelites defeated of their enemy, the Amaleks. The Amaleks were a group of nomads who attacked the Hebrews in the desert of Mount Sinai during the Exodus from Egyptian slavery. The Amaleks swooped in on the Israelites and cowardly killed those who were lagging behind: the weary, the old, the weak and frail.

For that is what the enemies of life do. They can attack us at any time, during our strongest times when we are young, but perhaps more so, during our weakest times, often when we are older. Cancer, heart disease, and debilitating strokes swoop in on many during that precious period of life that we call retirement, during that period of life where we look forward to well-earned rest, respite, and recreation.

John Barefoot was not the first person to receive a new set of golf clubs as a retirement gift that he would never use due to sickness or a disability.

And when the enemies of this life attack us, we are faced with a choice. We can surrender to our enemies; we can succumb to their attacks; or, like an old Army veteran, we can stand our ground and fight.

“Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some men for us and go out; and fight with Amalek.”

After faithfully serving this country in the US Army, after devoting his life to what is now Southern States, after raising two beautiful children, Roger and Linda, after thirty years of service through this community through the First Christian Church, John began to suffer debilitating strokes. Many men, in John’s shoes, surrender and succumb to such illnesses, especially after retirement. After all, they are weary and old; they no longer lack the strength within to fight. They can reach down and dig deep; however, there is just nothing left. No amount of digging will see them through.

However, men with faith in the God of Abraham and Isaac, Moses and Joshua, men with faith in the God revealed in the Risen Christ, understand that true strength does not come from within, but comes from and by the grace of God.

Moses said to Joshua: “Choose an army and fight. I, myself, retired a long time ago from fighting. I left the army years ago. I am too old, too tired, but I will stand on the top of a hill and raise the staff of God with my hands and summon the grace and strength of God to defeat our enemy.”

So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of a hill.

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Moses noticed that Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, he noticed that Amalek prevailed. [This was a certain sign that it was God, and God alone, who was giving the Israelites the grace, perseverance and strength to defeat their enemy].

There can be no other explanation for the strength and the perseverance of John Barefoot, especially during these last years of his life. As I have said, many in John’s shoes would have surrendered and succumbed twenty-five years ago. Possessing no reason to live, no sense of purpose, and no strength to fight, many men die shortly after their retirement.

Many more men die shortly after their wives pass away. Several years ago when Audrey died, it would not have surprised anyone if John followed her soon after.

But John kept going, kept persevering, kept fighting. Many studies have been made to identify symptoms of depression or the giving up on life. People who give up and surrender to the enemies of life become detached and disengaged from the world around them. They no longer care what their neighbors are up to. They become disinterested in their church, the local and national headlines, and interestingly, they no longer care about sports.

John possessed none of these symptoms. John always looked forward to visits from his church family. He absolutely loved taking a stroll in his wheelchair around the neighborhood and even downtown so he could see the people he loved. He cared about what was going on in the world, and he was in no way, shape or form disengaged from sports. He was an avid fan and loved rooting for the Wolfpack of NC State and the Atlanta Braves.

It was obvious to everyone that John, though weak and weary, never gave up. For as Isaiah 40:29 reads, John was a living testimony that “God gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might God increases power.” And in the 73rd Psalm we read: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” John Barefoot was a living example to all of this great truth.

Our story continues in Exodus: “But Moses’ hands grew weary; so Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses, Aaron on one side and Hur on the other, and the hands of Moses were steady until the sun set.”

God has always used others to do God’s work in this world. God calls each of us to minister to one another. God uses us to supply God’s strength to those who are weak, to keep them steady, to help them fight the good fight, to finish the race. Such was the case in this victory of Amalek. Moses did not possess the strength to keep his hands raised through the duration of the battle, so God sent him Aaron and Hur who brought him a rock to sit upon and then held up each of his hands.

God also sent John others to give him support when he was the most weary. Church members visited. He children cared for him daily. And caregivers from Silvercare came to John’s aid. You could say that they brought him a rock and steadied his hands until the sun set. Pam Johnson, Catherine Walker and Savilla Jones were to John like Aaron and Hur were to Moses.

“And the hands of Moses were steady until the sun set. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his army.”

God always supplies us with strength for a purpose. God supplied Moses with strength through Aaron and Hur for the purpose of defeating the enemy. Thus, God did not supply John with strength, send him a rock through Pam, Catherine, Savilla and others who visited him and prayed for him just so John could watch a few more ballgames on TV. As Ephesians chapter 2 reads: “God will enable us to continue on in righteousness and to do the good works which the Lord has appointed for us.”

As God supplied Moses with the strength to keep his staff raised through the battle to defeat the enemy and to reveal the source that strength, I believe God supplied John with strength. As it was evident to all who encountered John—who saw his smile, heard his laughter, experienced his joy—that God was the source or his strength.

barefoot

A month ago, a group of parents and children from our church came to John’s house to sing Christmas carols. One of the mothers that came with her children was someone who, just a couple of years ago, was not a part of any church. She said that she even avoided church and had many doubts about faith and the power of God.

But there, standing around John’s bed with others from the church singing Christmas carols, through John, something miraculous happened. God spoke. She said as she watched John donning a Santa hat and wearing a smile that was so amazing that it had to be divine, as she watched him sing along with the children the best that he could, with a joy, this amazing joy, a joy that had to come from heaven, she said that Christmas became real to her. Faith became real. God became real.

There is no telling how many people have been changed by God, how many battles have been won by God, how many of life’s enemies were defeated by God, through John Barefoot’s amazing strength in the midst of adversity, through John’s amazing joy in the midst of suffering, through God’s amazing grace in the midst of John’s life.

And the good news for us today is, that this same God, the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God of Moses and Joshua, the God revealed in the Risen Christ and in the life of John Barefoot, will give us strength in our grief, joy in our suffering and grace in our lives. God will send others: friends and family and church members to hold our hands, to keep them steady, until the sun sets, until the battle is won.

But the really good news is that the final battle, the battle with life’s final enemy has already been won. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? Where is your sting?”

The good news for all of us today is that as God has stood by John and has given him strength to battle the enemies of life, through our resurrected Lord, God has defeated death, and John is now and forever with his Lord.

May this good news help us now to live our lives as John lived his: Persevering with the strength of God, receiving help from friends and family who provide us a rock, living with the purpose of sharing the joy and the hope of the Lord with all people, until the sun sets here and rises forever in eternity. Amen.

Repeat the Sounding Joy

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Guest BloggersLeave a comment

communionThe following was written by Alison Lord Stuart on January 12, 2015 for The Daily Reflector.

A good question to ask ourselves in the cold of January is just what will we take from Christmas into the New Year.  Maybe argyle socks, penny loafers, a cherished memory or an unspeakable loss.  Whatever it is that we fold in for the long journey, we will be different because of it.

Throughout December, I was mesmerized by certain words found in Joy To The World; “repeat the sounding joy.”  I have thought of the beauty wrapped into “sounding joy” and often wondered what it could be.  Then I heard it one morning at First Christian Church in Farmville and almost like an epiphany, I knew.  After the serving of Holy Communion, it was the sound of Communion cups being placed in pew holders. Similar, indeed, to the sound of pew benches being turned back after the serving of the same Sacrament. Both sounds indicating that our singular and corporate seeking of God’s forgiveness is fully present and fully heard.

For Believers, it is a majestic, full bodied, orchestration of sound.  The perfect balance; the fulcrum of falling short and being the beneficiary of unconditional love.  In a long week, month or year, it is a sound to be coveted. It is the sound of hope.

God’s will is that the discordance of our sin doesn’t have to be the end of our song or life story.  Forgiveness, strength and renewal are at God’s Table, there for the asking, freely given and freely received.

The sounding joy given to us by a Risen Savior is grace. It is in the wiping clean of our tarnished slates, in forgiving ourselves and others, and experiencing the dignity of a new beginning.  It is best heard when we rest our weary souls in the hollow of God’s hand, listen and repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

Only Love Drives Out Hate

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Farmville EnterpriseLeave a comment

mlk_light_love1

I met a woman recently who said: “Jarrett, I cannot wait for you to meet my husband. He is a retired minister.”

“I would love to meet him,” I said. “I bet we have a lot to talk about.”

“You sure do!” she responded. “He hates a lot of things about church just like you!”

Initially, I responded to the woman by laughing and saying something like: “That’s right! I am certain that we will have a lot to talk about!” However, as I got in my car and drove back to my office, I thought about the tragedy of being primarily known in this world for what I hate.

If you have read my articles or listened to my sermons, you have heard me express some of my negative emotions regarding the church. I have criticized the church for being self-righteous, judgmental, exclusive, sexist, racist, homophobic, and ignorant. I have said that the church oftentimes looks more like a country club for the pompous than the Body of Christ doing the things Jesus did and loving the people Jesus loved. The reality is that there are many things about the church that I hate.

As I drove and reflected on the woman’s words, I was reminded of the words of Martin Luther King, Jr: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” And I ask myself: “Jarrett, what are you doing, what are you preaching and writing, how are you living, that shines the light of love?”

“Jarrett, What are you doing to be humble, accepting, and inclusive? What are you doing to do justice on the behalf of every person, to value the sacred worth of all people: male and female, black and white, Hispanic and Asian, gay and straight, open and close-minded, Christian and non-Christian? Jarrett, what are you doing to look like, act like, and be like Jesus in this world?”

If I can begin to work on these questions, maybe a time will come in my life when another person will approach me one day and say: “Jarrett, I cannot wait for you to meet my spouse. She is a retired minister. Her light shines in this dark world just like yours. She loves people and the church just like you!”

Baptism by Fire

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Sermons Year B1 Comment

baptism debate

Mark 1:9-11 NRSV

If you were to ask me what my favorite part church is, I would say that it the service of Christian baptism. I have always said that it is a good day when the preacher comes to church on Sunday with a Bible in one hand and a bathing suit and pair of dry underwear in the other.

Thus, I love this day on the Christian calendar that we call The Baptism of the Lord. Although I would much rather be getting wet this morning, and getting some of you even wetter, this day at least gives me the opportunity to reflect on the wonderful service of baptism.

Baptism is essentially about grace. Baptism is about new beginnings, fresh starts, and clean slates. Baptism is about dying to the old, broken self and rising to a new, better self. Baptism is about the confession, forgiveness and washing away of sins. It is about coming to know that there’s nothing in heaven or on earth that can ever separate us from the love of God. Baptism is about knowing God is with us, not away from us, for us, not against us. Thus, baptism is about living with a hope that is certain and eternal.

Baptism is about initiation into the Kingdom of God. Baptism is a commissioning to be the body of Christ in this world, the hands, legs, feet and mind of Jesus on this earth. There is a reason that baptism is often called a sacrament. Baptism is sacred. It is holy. It is grace, pure and unfettered.

There is perhaps nothing in the church that is more beautiful than baptism. How ironic is it then that some in the church have taken baptism and have created something very ugly. Throughout church history, baptism has created more controversy, schisms and arguments than perhaps any other ritual, service or rite.

Throughout my own ministry, I have seen people angrily walk out of church meetings over it. I have even seen people who have transferred their membership to another church over it. I know people who have written nasty emails, made harassing phone calls, and started vicious rumors—all over arguments about baptism. I know of churches that have even split over baptism.

I have had staff members threaten to resign if we changed our church’s bylaws to accept members who were baptized as infants or by sprinkling. In their eyes, they simply did not get wet enough to join God’s Kingdom. I have heard people argue that some were not old enough, mature enough, good enough, sincere enough, or even married enough to be baptized. A pastor friend of mine from Concord, North Carolina, was kicked out of the Baptist State Convention because a couple of folks he baptized were not straight enough. I even know people who have gotten upset, because the people being baptized in their church were not white enough.

The irony is that we have taken something beautiful that is essentially about God’s free and unfettered grace for all people, and created something incredibly ugly by placing restrictions, limitations and conditions on it. There have been more rules and regulations written in the bylaws of churches about baptism than any other service of the church.

Some churches believe that you can only baptize in a flowing creek or a river (the water has to be moving) because that was how Jesus was baptized. A stagnant pond, lake, and of course, a baptismal pool will simply not do. Some people believe you can only baptize when the church is gathered for a worship service. And most people believe that a baptism can only be performed by an ordained minister, who is, of course a male.

And once a person’s baptism has been accepted and approved, sanctioned by church officials as worthy of the grace of God, then one can use his or her baptism as an admission ticket to become a full-fledged member of the church. They can take communion, serve on a committee, become a voting member of the church board, and of course, one day, go to heaven.

Pastor Karoline Lewis once preached a sermon to her congregation emphasizing that baptism is not something that we do, but something that God does. She said that when we baptize someone in the name of God, we believe that it is God who is actually doing the baptizing. And she insinuated that when we make baptism something that we do, that we control, that we place limits and restrictions on, we pervert the very intentions God has for baptism, for God’s grace can never constrained.

After the sermon, a woman who was in her nineties approached her. “Karoline,” she said, “Is that really true?”

“What?” the pastor answered.

Hazel responded, “That God baptizes you.”

“Yes, it’s true. This is what we believe. Why?”

Hazel then told her pastor about her sister who was born several years before she was born. Her sister was born very ill in the home and never left the house because she was so sick. The family knew she would not live long. She lived about two months. Right before she died, Hazel says that her mother took her sister in her arms and lovingly baptized her.

When Hazel’s parents went to the pastor of their church where they had been lifelong members to plan the funeral, the pastor refused to hold the funeral in the sanctuary because he had not baptized the baby. The funeral was held in the basement of the church.

Hazel, almost a hundred years later, then asked her pastor, “Karoline, does this mean my sister is OK? Is she really OK?”

“Yes,” she said. “Your sister is OK.”

There was Hazel standing in front of her pastor, weeping for the sister she never knew, crying tears of relief and grace.

This is what happens, says Karoline, this is the ugly consequences restricting, placing limitations on the grace of God.

Of course, such restrictions and limitations on God’s grace is nothing new. The Jewish law was full of rules and regulations controlling who can and who cannot have access to God. Throughout history people of all cultures have sought to control and tame the grace of God.

This is why we need to be reminded of Jesus’ baptism. First of all, it was not in a controlled environment such as a baptismal pool or font in the confines of a religious hall, but out in the untamed, wide-open wilderness.

And we are told that when Jesus came up out of the water, that the heavens, according to some translations, were suddenly opened. Now there is a Greek word for open, but that word is not used in Mark 1:9. The word that is used means “ripped” or “torn” apart. The word describes a God who cannot take the separation any longer. God has had about all that God could stand and rips the heavens apart.

The question for us this morning is: who closed the heavens? Who placed the restrictions and limitations on God’s grace? Who placed the barriers between God and humanity? Who creates systems and structures to mediate God’s presence? Insist on rituals and formalities to regulate God’s grace, control the means of God’s love, not for the sake of good order (like we would like to think), but for the sake of our own power?

As a minister I cannot begin to tell you the amount of trouble I have gotten myself into over the years for baptizing people outside the controlled confines of the church’s bylaws. I have baptized people on days other than Sundays in places other than the church building. I have baptized people in rivers, in swimming pools, in small ponds, even in the Atlantic Ocean. I baptized one man with his head laid back in the basin of a sink at a nursing home, trusting that it is God, and not me, who is actually doing the baptizing. It is God, and not me, who rips the heavens apart to shower God’s people with grace.

For the same reason, I honor, respect and accept all baptisms—sprinkling, dunking, pouring, infant, adolescent and adult. And I believe baptisms can be performed by any Christian, clergy or laity, male or female. I do not believe people ever need to be re-baptized because some self-appointed or otherwise-appointed baptismal authority believes their baptism somehow did not “take,” failed to meet certain clerical requirements, or was not sincere enough or wet enough. There is but one Church, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

With Karoline Lewis and other ministers who understand that expansive abundance of God’s grace, I welcome all people to the Lord’s Table, because, well, the last time I checked, it’s the Lord’s Table. While some ministers only extend the invitation to those who have been baptized a certain way, I cannot, nor can I imagine Jesus turning anyone away.

What are we going to do? Require baptismal ID cards to be presented to the deacons before receiving communion? Are we to say to those who have not been baptized or not sure they have been baptized: “Sorry, you sitting there in the pew wondering if you have been baptized or not. When the plate of bread and tray of juice come to you, don’t take anything. Just politely pass it to the more worthy person sitting next to you who has the official seal of approval? Because, here at First Self-Righteous Church, we believe it is better to hedge our bets on the side of human reason and control rather than God’s abundant and unfettered grace.”[i]

When we take something as beautiful as the service of baptism as it was performed in the wide-open wilderness, with God ripping apart the heavens to get to God’s Son, to get to God’s people, to reveal God’s love and grace to the world, and we turn it into something that is restrictive, legalistic, divisive and exclusive, some sort of qualifying test for membership, communion, and salvation, then we have missed the whole point of who God is and who we are called to be as God’s Church.

However, when we begin to understand that at our baptisms, whether we were a tiny infant or a grown adult, whether we were sprinkled, dunked or poured upon, whether by clergy or by laity, male or female—When we understand that God, the creator of all that is, ripped open the heavens to come close enough to us so we could feel God’s breath and hear God say: “I love you. I have always loved you. And there is nothing that can ever limit, restrict or constrain this love. There is nothing in heaven or on earth that will ever separate you from this love. I know all of your shortcomings and all of your sins, and I forgive you. I am with you, and I will always be with you. You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. You are my Church in this world”—When we understand this truth, this good news, then our baptisms become what they were always intended to be: pure, unfettered, abundant grace, and we can live with a hope that is as eternal as it is certain.

[i] Sermon inspired by: Karoline Lewis, Baptism of Our Lord, https://www.workingpreacher.org

Why the Christmas Tree Is Still Standing in January

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Sermons Year BLeave a comment

Chrismon TreeEphesians 1:3-14 NRSV

There are many influences in this world that guide our lives, inform our thinking, and give us direction and meaning.

One of those influences is the distinct seasons of the year. Seasons result from the yearly orbit of the Earth around the Sun, the center of our universe, and the tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis. In other words, the changing of seasons means that the entire world is changing. Seasons change us in a powerful way, because the world changes. Winter, spring, summer and fall influence the things we wear, the things we eat, our hobbies and recreation, even our general mood.

The proprietors of capitalism realize the tremendous power and influence the seasons have over our lives and culture. Notice how they have manipulated them in the name of profit. For example summer begins not on June 21st but with Memorial Day sales in the department store and the opening of the tourist season. Autumn begins not on the 23rd of September, but with Labor Day sales. And winter did not begin on December 21, but actually on the day in November we call Black Friday.

A long time ago the Christmas season began on Christmas Eve and then was celebrated for 12 days until January 6 when Jesus’ baptism was observed. However, the money makers understood that there would be a greater payback if they could convince us that the Christmas season actually begins the day after Thanksgiving and lasts through New Year’s Day.

This is the reason that Christians in mainline churches that observe the Christian calendar are often a bit frustrated during Advent and this second Sunday after Christmas. Christians, who have been influenced and conditioned by the world, wonder why we have to sing those painful, solemn, anticipating, waiting hymns of Advent instead of the more cheerful Christmas carols during those Sundays after Thanksgiving. And we wonder why on earth the Christmas tree is still standing in the sanctuary and we are still singing carols days after the black-eyed peas have been consumed. After all, we have been taught by our world to believe that having any Christmas decorations up after New Year’s is, well, tacky.

However, what guides our lives, informs our thinking, and gives us direction and meaning is not anything that is of this world. The main influence on our lives is the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians we read:

With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory (Eph 1:13-14).

Like winter, spring, summer and fall, Jesus change everything. When we embrace Jesus as our Savior and Lord, it is like the whole world tilts on its axis. Our whole world revolves around Jesus the Christ who is the center of our universe. We live for the praise of his glory. We believe Christ is God’s plan for all time.

Thus, our new year does not begin on New Year’s Eve watching a ball drop in a square shining bright with the lights of commercialism and materialism joyfully singing Auld Lang Syne with a few friends. Our new year has its beginning on a dark November morning around a simple Advent wreath, lighting one meager candle solemnly singing Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.

Our new year does not begin with a celebratory toast commemorating our accomplishments of a past year. It begins with a small cup of juice confessing our sins and our shortcomings, recognizing our need for repentance, forgiveness, and a savior.

Christmas is not about the exchanging of many gifts or even the love our family and friends have for us. Christmas is about one special gift of God’s self in the birth of that Savior revealing the love of God for all people.

The first Sunday in January is not about putting Christmas and an old year behind us and looking forward to a new year. It is about reflecting on the influence the birth of the Savior has on our lives, our community and our world.

The month continues with the season of Epiphany where we witness this Savior go down the banks of the Jordan River to begin fulfilling God’s plan for all time through his public baptism.

We watch with amazement, as although he is the Savior of the World, he is still driven into the wilderness where he experiences the trials and temptations of this world, the same ones we all experience.

Then, astonishingly, we hear our names called when he calls the names of Simon, Andrew, James and John asking them to drop everything to follow him wherever he leads them. And with the other disciples, we follow. We follow courageously, anxiously, unwittingly, even somewhat reluctantly. But we follow.

We were with him when he healed the sick. We were there when he gave sight to the blind, touched and restored a leper, brought peace to a man possessed by demons, defended and forgave a sinner. We were with him when he lifted up the poor and challenged the establishment by speaking truth to power. We were there when he became angry at the religious people and turned over tables in the temple of organized religion.

The month of February features Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. It is a season of acknowledging that we were also with the disciples when they deserted him. We, too, left him in the garden of Gethsemane when he was arrested. We acknowledge our association with Peter who denied that he ever knew him, and we confess our connection with Thomas who betrayed him on that dark night.

Lent is the season that our need for forgiveness is most fully revealed, as is our need to renew our mission to deny ourselves, to pick up our own cross and die to self.

And on Good Friday, we learn that if we give ourselves away, if we die to self, if we join Jesus in that prayer to our God, “not my will, but yours be done,” when the evil of this world throws everything that it has to throw at us, when evil comes to destroy us, when evil finally seeks to take the very life from us, evil does not and cannot win. For what it has come to destroy has already been given away. Our lives have already been placed into the hands our God who holds them for all of eternity.

During the season of Easter, we celebrate this good news. We celebrate the good news that God is always working in this world working all things together for the good. God is always wringing whatever good can by wrung out of life’s most difficult moments. God is always lavishing our sins with grace, transforming our sorrows into joy, our despair into hope, our defeats into victory and our deaths into life.

During the season of Pentecost we celebrate the good news that Christ continually comes to us through God’s Holy Spirit. God continues to guides this world. We believe that the same grace and love that Jesus taught and lived out throughout his ministry is still alive in this world today.

Then we enter into a season that the Church calls “Ordinary Time.” It is a season to reflect on what the birth, the life, the death and the resurrection of the Lord mean to us and our world. However, when one truly does that, one discovers that there is no such thing as any ordinary time. All time, when Christ is influencing it, guiding it, informing it, giving it direction and meaning, all time is extraordinary. There is no secular time. There is only holy time. When our lives are directed by Jesus, even our darkest, most dreadful, difficult days are divine days.

And our year does not end on December 31, but on a Sunday in November we call Christ the King Sunday. We celebrate the good news that when it is all said and done, in the last analysis of it all, Jesus Christ, the God who is fully revealed in his birth, life, death and resurrection, is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Thus, the good news for all of us this day is that it is January 4th, and the Christmas tree is still standing, the lights are still burning, and it is not tacky or even strange. Because like winter, spring, summer and fall, when Christ came into our lives, the whole world tilted on its axis and everything on this earth, including us, changed forever. We are no longer on the world’s clock, on the world’s schedule or calendar. Our hope and our calendar is set on Christ, God’s plan for all time, and we live for his glory. It is Christ, and only Christ, who guides our lives, informs our thinking, and gives us direction and meaning. Thanks be to God.

Response to Viral Video Attacking Farmville Central High School

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment

FCHSTo avoid fueling the fire, I have been asked not to respond to the insanity surrounding Farmville Central High School regarding the reactions of Christian extremists to a vocabulary lesson set in an Islamic context. I do not always do what I am asked; however, this time, I am acquiescing. The following is my non-response:

Sometimes the actions and words of others can be so ludicrously ignorant and unreasonable that they are unworthy of any thoughtful response. People who make obviously uninformed and phobic statements regarding the race, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation or religion of another do not merit serious debate. It is like arguing with someone who does not believe in gravity.

Click here for WNCT story.